French Atlantic Coast News

One year after Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) established a new subsea fiber route between the U.S. and France, the company is increasing network capacity and diversity, investing in a fiber pair on Grace Hopper, a subsea cable system spearheaded by Google, between New York and Bude, Cornwall in the U.K. The Grace Hopper system will use Lumen landing station and infrastructure services at both locations."Data flow and capacity demands don't know boundaries. The bandwidth explosion across continents is real and we're meeting it head on by investing in new subsea cables…

Damen Shiprepair & Conversion has been awarded a contract to undertake the conversion of a dredger to dual-fuel capability combining LNG and MGO – a first of its kind project in Europe. The contract was awarded by Rouen-based GIE Dragages-Ports with regard to its 117m, 8500m³ trailing suction hopper dredger Samuel de Champlain, and the works will take place next year at Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque. The conversion is part of an EU-supported initiative to promote LNG propulsion in short-sea vessels operating along the European Atlantic coast.

Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri S.p.A. said it has signed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of 66.66 percent of the share capital of STX France shipyard from its current shareholder STX Europe AS. The agreement entails a purchase price of €79.5 million ($89 million). Fincantieri continues to negotiate with the French State for the finalization of the shareholders’ agreement for STX France in accordance with the Heads of Terms signed on April 12. Based in Saint-Nazaire…

Euronext is to expand the number of port delivery points for wheat traded on its Paris-based futures market <0#BL2:> and is considering a system of storage certificates to cater for inland grain operators, the European exchange said on Tuesday. Its steps to reinforce its wheat futures, a price benchmark for the European market, come after it scrapped a short-lived premium wheat product, and as CME Group is moving closer to launching a rival European wheat contract. Euronext will launch an additional delivery point at the northern French port of Rouen from September 2017 after reaching an agreement with trading firm Lecureur to use its silo there, Olivier Raevel, head of commodities at Euronext, told Reuters.

A stricken cargo ship drifting on its side off the French Atlantic coast was being towed to the Spanish port of Bilbao on Monday, local officials said. The 164-metre Modern Express, which was transporting 3,600 tonnes of wood along with construction machinery from Gabon to France, had been drifting towards the coast since its crew was evacuated by helicopter last week. The extreme incline of the ship as well as the difficult sea conditions had so far prevented teams from boarding and it would have hit the French shore on Monday or Tuesday if the salvage effort had failed. However, four specialists boarded the ship on Monday as the weather improved and hooked a cable up to the vessel before being winched up into a helicopter.

A stricken cargo ship drifting on its side off the French Atlantic coast will run aground in southwest France if a renewed attempt to tow it to port fails on Monday, a French maritime official said. The 164-metre-long Modern Express, which was transporting 3,600 tonnes of wood along with construction machinery from Gabon to France, has been drifting towards the coast since its crew was evacuated by helicopter last week. Officials believe its cargo may have shifted in heavy seas, causing it to list heavily to one side. The distressed ship was about 100 kilometres from the resort town of Arcachon and would hit the French shore some time between Monday evening and Tuesday evening unless a last salvage effort on Monday is successful…

A crippled cargo ship was drifting slowly towards the French Atlantic coast on Friday as rescue teams struggled to board the distressed vessel. The Modern Express, which was transporting 3,600 tonnes of wood from Owendo in Gabon to France's northern port of Le Havre, listed heavily to one side earlier this week in rough seas and has not recovered to an upright position, leading to the evacuation of the crew by helicopter. French media reports said the problem may be due to its cargo having shifted. As of Friday morning, the vessel was less than 300 kilometres from the western port town of La Rochelle, after being estimated at around 370 km from the port on Thursday afternoon, a spokesman for the French Atlantic coast authority told Reuters.

Located at the French Atlantic coast, Terminal du Grand Ouest (TGO) has opted for its first Liebherr mobile harbour crane (LHM), type LHM 550. TGO is the single container and breakbulk terminal operator at Montoir de Bretagne/Saint-Nazaire. Moreover, the company also specializes in scrap metal handling. Due to increasing business, additional crane capacity was required. TGO offers multiple services and demanded a versatile machine. Consequently, a mobile harbour crane was the best solution for the terminal as it can be used for safe general cargo operation and efficient scrap…

In 2012 Liebherr Mobile Harbor Cranes achieved the highest annual turnover in history. In addition to this remarkable success, Liebherr received the IBJ Innovative Technology Award and the State Prize Clean Technology Austria, acknowledgements for its innovative strength and environmental awareness. Moreover, Liebherr reached a remarkable milestone with the delivery of its 1000th mobile harbour crane. Liebherr has received the Innovative Technology Award for its LHM Noise-Control Initiative at the IBJ Awards 2012.