European News

At a high-level, there are three solutions to transferring technicians from shore bases to offshore wind farms for construction and O&M activities: crew transfer vessel (CTV), helicopter, and SOVs/CSOVs.SOVs and CSOVs generally house 60-120 technicians offshore for a few weeks at a time, allowing them to transfer to structures on integrated heave compensated gangways, by daughter craft or on CTVs. The vessels are also equipped with cranes, storage, and small workshop areas.SOV: Service operations vessels…

The last plenary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg has adopted a new law which aims to scale up industrial capacity for green technologies in Europe.European shipowners strongly welcome the inclusion of clean fuels for shipping, including advanced biofuels and e-fuels, in the list of net-zero technologies adopted under the Net-Zero Industry Act. The new law introduces a benchmark for the Commission and the EU Member States to match 40% of the deployment needs for clean fuels for shipping with production capacity.

Russia's state-owned reinsurer has given financial backing to three Russian insurance firms, allowing them to get Indian approval to provide marine insurance cover to tankers, two sources said, as Moscow seeks to facilitate trade with India amid Western sanctions.A raft of sanctions by the U.S. and allies against Moscow over its Ukraine invasion, along with tighter scrutiny of Russian oil trade, has almost cut Russia off from the global network of service providers such as insurers and brokers.Russian companies Sogaz Insurance…

While construction productivity issues continue to present immediate challenges for the U.S. offshore wind industry, the long-term outlook remains strong for the nascent sector, according to a recent report from business intelligence and consulting firm Intelatus Global Partners. Intelatus' most recent monthly report on the U.S. offshore wind industry identifies a number of factors hindering offshore construction activities--from weather delays to the scheduling and availability of necessary vessels."Construction vessel productivity to date has been below expectation…

Shipping must engage with the decarbonization realities that lie ahead by changing the way it crafts maritime legislation to reflect its place in the interconnected, interdependent world economy, says Eero Lehtovaara, Head of Regulatory & Public Affairs, ABB Marine & Ports.ABB Marine & Ports Head of Regulatory & Public Affairs, Eero Lehtovaara has carved out an unusual - and possibly unique - role in the maritime industry over recent years, as a ‘stakeholder’ simultaneously mindful of the perspectives of owners…

China is providing moorage for a U.S.-sanctioned Russian cargo ship implicated in North Korean arms transfers to Russia, according to satellite images obtained by Reuters, as U.S. concerns grow over Beijing's support for Moscow's war in Ukraine.Britain's Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank said the Russian vessel Angara, which since August 2023 has moved to Russian ports thousands of containers believed to contain North Korean munitions, has been anchored at a Chinese…

Conflict in the Red Sea has brought massive carbon emissions increases in ocean freight container shipping, according to data just released by Xeneta.The Xeneta and Marine Benchmark Carbon Emissions Index (CEI), which measures carbon emissions per ton of cargo transported across the world’s top 13 trades, hit 107.4 points in Q1 2024 - the highest it has been since the index began in Q1 2018.For containers being shipped via ocean from the Far East to Mediterranean, the CEI reveals carbon emissions increased by 63% in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023.

As the U.S. offshore wind industry endures a predictable number of stops and starts during its adolescence, common mantras are ‘learn from the established European model’ and ‘embrace technology transfer from the offshore oil and gas sector.’ In Robert Langford, the American Bureau of Shipping has all of that and more bundled in one neat package.Rob Langford has worked in the offshore industry for more than three decades, ‘cutting his teeth’ in a UK design firm working in the North Sea oil and gas platforms, the holy grail of rigorous conditions in offshore energy production.

At least five people, including a child, died in an attempt to cross the English Channel from France, hours after Britain passed a bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to try to deter the dangerous crossings.The deaths of one child, a woman and three men occurred on an overcrowded small boat carrying around 110 people attempting to cross one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The French coastguard was still searching for survivors."After becoming initially stranded on the shore, the boat set out to sea again.

Australia's BHP Group is planning to receive its first ammonia-fueled bulk carrier in 2026 as part of the company's plans to cut shipping emissions, a senior executive said.The global mining giant has shortlisted eight companies for the building, operation and fuel supply for at least one such vessel, Rashpal Singh Bhatti, vice president of maritime and supply chain excellence at BHP told Reuters late last week.However, it has not yet decided on the total number of vessels that it will order and is also assessing costs…

The leader of Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, who have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea, said on Thursday the group had carried out "operations" in the Indian Ocean and towards southern Israel.Abdul Malik al-Houthi's comments made clear that the Houthis have acted on earlier threats to expand operations to the Indian Ocean region and attacks towards southern Israel.The Houthis have repeatedly launched attacks towards the southern Israeli port of Eilat in what they have described…

Thousands of Greek striking workers, students and pensioners marched through central Athens on Wednesday to protest over wages which they are not enough to cope with rising living costs.Ships remained docked at Greek ports and train services were halted as transport workers joined the nationwide strike by private sector union GSEE, Greece's largest.City transport was also disrupted as bus and taxi drivers halted operations for a few hours.Protesters marched to parliament around noon.

The Methanol Institute (MI) and SEA-LNG, key representatives of the methanol and LNG industries respectively, have expressed their deep concerns following the recent announcement by the European Commission impacting the trade of biomethane and biomethane-based biofuels such as biomethanol.The Commission has noted the intention to exclude the automatic certification of biomethane and biomethanol-based fuels produced through mass balance chain of custody in third-party countries outside the EU gas grids within the Union Database (UDB)…

The Biden administration said it would not renew a license set to expire early on Thursday that had broadly eased Venezuela oil sanctions, moving to reimpose punitive measures in response to President Nicolas Maduro’s failure to meet his election commitments.Just hours before the deadline, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on its website that it had issued a replacement license giving companies 45 days to “wind down” their business and transactions in the OPEC country's oil…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has signed a basic contract for the marine transport of offshore wind components with JFE Engineering Corporation, while also agreeing to build a new module carrier vessel with Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering.This will be first coastal module carrier in Japan to transport components for offshore wind turbine foundation components, according to MOL. MOL DrybulkThe vessel is scheduled for delivery in the spring of 2026, and will then engage in the coastal transport of offshore wind turbine foundations from JFE Engineering's manufacturing base in Kasaoka-shi…

Provaris Energy and Norwegian Hydrogen AS have announced a new agreement to jointly progress the identification and development of several sites in the Nordic region for the large-scale production and export of hydrogen to European markets.The projects will utilize locally available renewable energy to produce hydrogen for shipment to European ports. This will assist energy-intensive industries in making an impact on their decarbonization plans and target a scale and level of…

UK-based offshore vessel designer Chartwell Marine has started the construction of its new Brevity Class crew transfer vessel (CTV) at the Diverse Marine shipyard, becoming the latest in its growing pipeline of new vessel builds to supply the global offshore wind market.Chartwell Marine’s current new build pipeline now exceeds 15 vessels across six local shipyards – with 14 offshore wind vessels launched and operational at major offshore wind farms, including two in U.S. waters.The company’s latest CTV entered build in March 2024…

China and Europe face a "slow motion train accident" as a rising tide of protectionism threatens to become a full trade war, the head of a European business lobby group warned on Wednesday, a day after Germany's chancellor conveyed European concerns to Beijing.Jens Eskelund, president of the European Chamber in China, said that while some worries about trade in both countries were legitimate, there was a risk of unproductive decoupling if European and Chinese leaders did not increase…

Nine people, including a baby, have died after their boat capsized while trying to cross the Mediterranean in stormy weather, and another 15 people are feared missing, Italy's coast guard said on Thursday.The Italian coast guard said it received a cooperation request from the Maltese search and rescue (SAR) authority after the boat capsized approximately 30 miles (50 km) southeast of the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday .The coast guard said it dispatched its own patrol boat to the scene…

X-Press Feeders has signed of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with six European ports: Port of Antwerp Bruges (Belgium), Port of Tallinn (Estonia), Port of Helsinki (Finland), Port of HaminaKotka (Finland), Freeport of Riga (Latvia) and Klaipeda Port (Lithuania).The agreement signifies a joint commitment to accelerate the establishment of green shipping corridors and the broader decarbonization of the marine sector in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.X-Press Feeders and the…

Greenpeace activists painted slogans on an Estonian-owned tanker in the middle of the Baltic Sea on Friday, and said the ship supplied bunker fuel to vessels transporting Russian oil that posed a danger to the environment and would fuel conflict."Oil fuels war," the campaigners, who arrived in small boats, scrawled in large white letters on the side of the Zircone tanker, pictures provided by Greenpeace showed.The vessel, sitting in international waters off the Swedish island of Gotland, has supplied fuel to more than 50 oil tankers travelling to or from Russian ports in the last two months, S

Danish shipping and logistics firm DFDS said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy the international transport network of Turkey's Ekol Logistics for 1.9 billion crowns ($277 million) and lifted its sales growth forecast for the year.The network connects Turkey and Europe and the acquisition will add road transport to its Mediterranean ferry network, DFDS said in a statement, adding that it was in line with its strategy to move goods in trailers by ferry, road and rail."Turkey's role…

Chinese automakers and shippers are ordering a record number of car-carrying vessels to support a boom in EV exports, data showed, putting China on course to amass the world's fourth-largest fleet by 2028.China currently has the world's eighth-largest fleet with 33 car-carrying ships, showed data from shipping consultancy Veson Nautical. Japan has the world's largest with 283 ships, followed by Norway's 102, South Korea's 72 and Isle of Man's 61.But Chinese companies have 47 ships on order, accounting for a quarter of all orders globally.