Emerald News

Boston-based Sea Machines, a developer of autonomous control systems and advanced perception technology for maritime vessels, announced it has secured $12 million from a group of capital investors.The funding round, led by cleantech venture capital specialist Emerald Technology Ventures, was joined by Nabtesco Technology Ventures (NTV), Chevron Technology Ventures, Ingram Industries, RKKVC, Level 2 Ventures and IMC Ventures. This adds to a financing in 2023 led by the Geekdom Fund.The company said the investments will help it to "hone its technological edge and grow its market presence".

Akastor's subsidiary DDW Offshore has secured a contract extension with Petrofac for its AHTS vessel that will be put on the Northern Endeavour FPSO disconnection job offshore Australia.The contract extension follows the original one-year contract Petrofac signed with DDW Offshore for the AHTS vessel Skandi Atlantic back in September 2022.Petrofac has now awarded DDW Offshore a 9-month extension of the existing contract in Australia whereby Skandi Emerald will replace Skandi Atlantic in March 2024.The contract will last until year-end 2024, DDW Offshore informed.Skandi Emerald will continue to

The first electric tugs for SAAM Towage's fleet are ready to sail from the Port of Tuzla to Vancouver, Canada, where they will join the fleet operating in that country.SAAM Towage's Engineering and Development Manager, Pablo Cáceres, said, "We are one step closer to having our electric tugs operating, which for us represents the way to advance towards more sustainable operations and move our business into the future."The Sanmar-built vessels have successfully completed their final seaworthiness trials and will soon be loaded onto the cargo ship BBC Emerald…

PD Ports in the U.K. has ordered a new dredging vessel from Dutch shipbuilder Neptune Marine.The 71-meter-long hopper dredge, which has already been named the Emerald Duchess following a competition among PD Ports employees, was ordered for £23 million and will arrive at Teesport next summer.Currently under construction at a shipyard in Poland for commissioning, ahead of trials in the Netherlands in 2024, the Emerald Duchess will replace the Cleveland County, which had served…

Ship operator United European Car Carriers (UECC) has bunkered sustainable biofuel for the first time in collaboration with GoodFuels and vessel owner NYK.GoodFuels delivered the B30 blend, 470 tonnes of VLSFO and sustainable biofuel, to time-chartered Emerald Leader in the port of Vlissingen in May. NYK, joint owner of UECC, is working closely with UECC to monitor the biofuel's performance.The use of sustainable biofuel on the Emerald Leader, which operates on UECC's North South Trade connecting the Eastern Mediterranean with Northern Europe…

A Singapore-registered containership that lost power and steering in heavy seas off the west coast of New Zealand has been towed to safety.The 5,100 TEU capacity Shiling requested assistance from Maritime New Zealand at around 8:30 a.m. local time Friday, after losing main propulsion while en route from Auckland to Wellington.The 294-meter-long containership started rolling severely after drifting into heavy swells about 22 nautical miles northwest of Farewell Spit and issued a mayday call at 11 a.m.

Dutch offshore installation firm Heerema Marine Contractors said Tuesday it had broken a world lifting record with the installation of a 17,000 metric ton TotalEnergies' Tyra TEG module in the Danish sector of the North Sea.The TEG module, described as the biggest Tyra II project topside, was installed on the last remaining bare jacket at the Tyra offshore field."The lift of the 17,000 metric tons heavy process module broke a world record as the heaviest crane lift ever undertaken at sea.

Oil and gas company Noreco on Thursday announced the sailaway of the new Tyra II process module (the "TEG"), 10.15am local time, from Batam, Indonesia and bound for the TotalEnergies-operated Tyra gas field redevelopment project in the Danish North Sea.The process module was fabricated at the McDermott yard in Batam by McDermott and TotalEnergies, and the heavy transport vessel GPO Emerald will sail the 17,000 metric tons unit to the Tyra field in the Danish North Sea, a voyage of 8,700 miles taking approximately one month.

On Wednesday, May 4, 2022, Everett Ship Repair, LLC (ESR) hosted a naming ceremony and grand opening for their newest drydock, the Emerald Lifter. The Emerald Lifter, formally the Zidell 220, was relocated to ESR’s facility at the Port of Everett last month. ESR performed maintenance and preservation before it was put into operation on May 3, with it’s first drydocking.The Emerald Lifter has a lifting capacity of 2,000 tons and a working deck of 220’ x 62’. It will be in use along with ESR’s existing dry dock the Faithful Servant…

Everett, Wash. repair yard Everett Ship Repair announced it is expanding through the addition of a crane barge and second dry dock.ESR said it recently purchased the dry dock Zidell 220 to be relocated to its facility at the Port of Everett for operation by early spring 2022. The dry dock, with lifting capacity of 2,000 tons and working deck area of 220 feet by 62 feet, will be renamed Emerald Lifter in tribute to Puget Sound, which is also known as the Emerald Sea.ESR said it will also bring in a 150-ton Link Belt LS518 lattice boom crawler crane with 150 ft.

Offshore seismic services company Shearwater GeoServices said Tuesday it was divesting the four seismic survey vessels Polar Marquis, Oceanic Challenger, SW Emerald, and SW Eagle for recycling as part of its fleet renewal strategy.The first two vessels, Polar Marquis and Ocean Challenger, have been delivered in Turkey for recycling in accordance with EU regulations and the 2009 Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, Shearwater GeoServices said.SW Emerald - Credit: Shearwater GeoServicesThe further two vessels…

China’s Fujian Southeast Shipyard has delivered four in a series of five new product tankers ordered by Malaysia’s Orkim Sdn Bhd.The 9000dwt Orkim Sapphire and Orkim Pearl, and 14,500dwt Orkim Diamond and Orkim Emerald represent the first vessels in the ship operator’s fleet to be fitted with a COMPAC seawater lubricated shafting system from Thordon Bearings.Working with the shipowner’s representative, Shanghai-based CY Engineering, Thordon’s authorized distributor in China, supplied…

A Singaporean flagged containership has been refloated hours after running aground in the Suez Canal, a local agency said.The 366-meter, 13,100 TEU Maersk Emerald grounded around noon local time on Friday after reportedly suffering engine problems while traveling south through the north end of the canal. The vessel was fifth in the convoy.Unlike the March 2020 grounding incident involving the larger 400-meter, 20,100 TEU Ever Given, the Maersk Emerald was aground for only several hours before it was refloated, clearing ship traffic to resume and causing only minor delays. The Suez Canal Authority said four tugs were used to refloat the vessel…

The bunkering operation was carried out by FueLNG Bellina, Singapore’s first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) bunkering vesselShell’s Aframax tanker ‘Pacific Emerald’ is the first oil tanker to be LNG-bunkered in SingaporeFueLNG, together with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), completed Singapore’s first bunkering of an LNG-fuelled oil tanker . FueLNG is a joint venture between Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) and Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd.FueLNG completed the gas-up and cool down operation for the LNG-powered oil tanker Pacific Emerald…

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation has secured several major dredging awards totaling $118.8 million, the U.S.' largest dredging services provider announced on Wednesday.The awarded deepening, coastal protection, and maintenance dredging work includes projects in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and New York.The Post 45 Contract 4 Charleston Lower Harbor New Work Dredging Project (Capital, S.C., $52.9 million) consists of maintenance and new work dredging of material from the Charleston Lower Harbor to Hugh Leatherman Terminal.

A 94-foot tug and barge has collided with a pontoon boat near the Emerald Isle High-Rise Bridge on the Intracoastal Waterway in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, Tuesday.The U.S. Coast Guard said it issued an urgent marine information broadcast to mariners in the region, and dispatched a 24-foot Special Purpose Craft-Shallow Water response boat crew and a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boatcrew, after they were notified that two people aboard a pontoon boat entered the water in the…

Manitowoc, Wis. boat builder Burger Boat Company announced it has launched a new passenger vessel for Chicago’s First Lady Cruises. The 98-foot steel vessel, Chicago’s Emerald Lady, can serve up to 250 passengers and is designed by Mark Pudlo, Principal, Seacraft Design in Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

The world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker vessel was officially named during a ceremony held Friday in Rotterdam. The 135.5-meter-long, 18,600-cubic-meter-capacity GTT Mark III Flex membrane vessel has been named Gas Agility.The first LNG bunker vessel owned by Emerald Green Maritime Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), she is chartered by Total’s affiliate Total Marine Fuels Global Solutions (TMFGS).In February 2018, TMFGS and MOL signed a time charter party for the vessel…

Several major cruise operators have voluntarily suspended operations in response to the developing coronavirus pandemic. For most, the reason given has been "an abundance of caution".On Wednesday, Viking became the first major cruise line to temporarily suspend operations, canceling all river and ocean cruises scheduled to embark between March 12 to April 30. It said it expected to resume sailings on May 1.Princess Cruises, the operator of two coronavirus-stricken ships -- Diamond…

Shipbuilder Metal Shark has delivered two of three new welded-aluminum “50 Defiant” monohull pilothouse fireboats to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR).Designed by Metal Shark’s in-house engineering team and built to Lloyds Registry Standard, the welded-aluminum monohull pilothouse fireboats “FB-21” and “FB-73” were acquired to boost MDFR’s maritime firefighting capability and will replace existing vessels in its fleet.Compared to MDFR’s outgoing vessels, the new 55’ x 17.5’ Metal Shark fireboats offer faster speeds enabling shorter response times…

Norwegian offshore supply vessel (OSV) operator DOF has won work for two anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) contracts to support OMV's drilling operations in New Zealand.Two  AHTS vessels, Skandi Emerald and Skandi Atlantic, have been contracted to support drilling rig COSL Prospector for two wells firm plus two options for additional wells.Both vessels are currently supporting the same rig with another Operator in New Zealand, and commencement with OMV will be on completion of this campaign during Q4 2019.Mons S. Aase, CEO DOF ASA comments "I'm very happy with this new award in New Zealand, securing good backlog for these units into 2020".The DOF Group owns and operates Anchor Handling Tug Supply vessels around the world.

Finish shipbuilder Meyer Turku delivered liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fuelled Costa Smeralda to Italian owner Costa Cruises, a brand of Carnival Corporation.The brand's new flagship Costa Smeralda becomes Carnival Corporation's fourth new ship of 2019 and its second LNG-powered ship.Costa Smeralda is the first of two new sister ships for Costa Cruises that can be powered in port and at sea by LNG. The second vessel, Costa Toscana, is currently under construction at Meyer Turku and scheduled to be delivered in 2021.In total, following the delivery of Costa Smeralda and the launch of AIDAnova at the end of 2018 as the world's first cruise vessel to be powered by LNG…

Israel accused Iran on Wednesday of being linked to a recent oil spill off its shores that caused major ecological damage, calling the incident environmental terrorism.The spill was caused by an oil tanker that was carrying pirated cargo from Iran to Syria last month, Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said.The vessel sailed through the Gulf and the Red Sea without radio contact, switching its tracking devices back on before passing through Egypt's Suez Canal, Gamliel told reporters.It turned the devices off again before entering Israeli waters in the eastern Mediterranean, and dropped oil into the sea between Feb.