Hunter News

As U.S. shale oil boomed last decade, an oil pipeline company pitched an ambitious multi-billion-dollar export port off the Texas coast to ship domestic crude to buyers in Europe and Asia.In April, Enterprise Products Partners' SPOT became the first project to receive a license from the U.S. maritime regulator for a deepwater port that could load two supertankers, each of which can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil at a time.But multi-year regulatory delays, a loss of commercial backers and slowing U.S.

Austal USA delivered the future USS Kingsville (LCS 36) to the U.S. Navy March 1, 2024. Kingsville is the 18th Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) delivered by the company and the first U.S. Navy vessel to be named after the Texas city home to Naval Air Station Kingsville and directly tied to the historic King Ranch.Delivery documents were signed on board the ship and followed the successful completion of acceptance trials at the end of January during which the ship’s major systems and equipment were tested to demonstrate mission readiness.

Two British Royal Navy mine-hunter vessels were involved in a collision in a port in Bahrain, the Royal Navy said.No one was injured in the accident which occurred in Bahrain Harbor on Friday, it said. An investigation into the incident has been opened.The Royal Navy is working with the U.S. Navy in the Gulf region in an effort to protect Red Sea shipping from an upsurge in attacks by Houthi forces based in Yemen.The Houthis say they acting in solidarity with the Palestinian group Hamas, which is locked in conflict with Israel in Gaza.

Norwegian shipowner Hunter Group has entered into a three-year back-to-back charterparty for an eco-design and scrubber fitted Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) with an internationally renowned counterparty.Delivery of the 2016-built vessel is expected to take place during March/April 2024.The company will charter the vessel in at a fixed rate of $51,000 per day, before subsequently chartering the vessel out on a floating index-linked spot rate contract."This agreement is yet another…

The U.S. Navy’s newest Overlord Unmanned Surface Vessel Vanguard (OUSV3), was recently launched from Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile, Ala. Vanguard is the first USV for the Navy purpose-built for autonomous operations from the keel-up.Vanguard is being jointly developed by a team led by Austal USA and L3Harris. Once outfitting and testing is completed, Vanguard will autonomously transit to San Diego, joining sister ships, OUSV2 Ranger and OUSV4 Mariner, as part of the Navy’s USV Division 1.

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in November as imports of consumer goods fell to a one-year low amid slowing domestic demand, a trend that, if it persists in December, could result in trade having no impact on economic growth in the fourth quarter.The report from the Commerce Department on Tuesday also showed exports declined in November amid cooling demand overseas. Demand is slowing both in the United States and abroad following hefty interest rate increases by global central banks since 2022 to tackle rampant inflation.The Federal Reserve's rate hiking cycle has likely ended…

The Royal Canadian Navy’s fifth Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS), the future HMCS Frédérick Rolette, was launched December 9, 2023, at Irving Shipbuilding's Halifax Shipyard.A full two months ahead of schedule, the 103-metre future HMCS Frédérick Rolette transitioned from Halifax Shipyard’s land level facility to a submersible barge on December 8 and launched in the Bedford Basin. The ship is now pier side at Halifax Shipyard where work continues in preparation for sea trials…

Babcock has been awarded two further contracts for work on the UK’s new Dreadnought Class submarine worth a combined £121 million.The contracts include a 4.5-year £66 million contract with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide input into the development of the support solution for the UK’s new Dreadnought Class submarines. The new Class of submarine will replace the Vanguard Class in the early 2030s to maintain a Continuous At Sea Deterrent.Babcock will also provide the MOD with technical and management support…

The three incidents that resulted in damage to a gas pipeline and two telecom cables between Estonia, Finland and Sweden "are related", Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said.Finnish police leading the pipeline investigation have named the Hong Kong-flagged container carrier NewNew Polar Bear as the prime suspect in damaging the Balticconnector Finland-Estonia gas pipeline early on Oct. 8.A large anchor was found near the pipeline, and the investigators believe the pipe was…

The UK Ministry of Defense has awarded £3.95 billion (currently ~$4,81 billion) of funding to BAE Systems for the next phase of the UK's next-generation nuclear-powered attack submarine program, known as SSN-AUKUS.According to BAE Systems, SSN-AUKUS will be the largest, most powerful, and most advanced attack submarine the Royal Navy has ever operated and will eventually replace the Astute class, which BAE Systems builds at its site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.The funding follows the AUKUS announcement in March by the leaders of Australia, the UK and the United States.

The crew of a Togo-flagged general cargo ship bound for one of Ukraine's Danube river ports was evacuated early on Wednesday after an explosion on board near the Romanian port of Sulina, Romanian officials said.The Seama ship reported an explosion early on Wednesday and requested the evacuation of the 12-person crew near Sulina, where the Danube flows into the Black Sea."At the moment the causes ... are unclear, whether it was a mine or merely an explosion in the engine room," Romanian…

Tech company Leidos was recently awarded a new task order by Naval Sea Systems Command to manage, operate and maintain the U.S. Navy’s Overlord and medium unmanned surface vessels (USVs). The single-award task order has a one-year base period of performance and two one-year options. The task order has a maximum value of approximately $95 million if all options are exercised.“Leidos is leading a new era of naval operations,” said Gerry Fasano, Leidos Defense Group president. “The Leidos team has unmatched experience and expertise in autonomous vessel design and operations…

The Australian government has released its annual State of Hydrogen report, saying it reinforces that Australia has the foundations to become a global leader in green hydrogen.The report illustrates local industry is advancing hydrogen as a chemical feedstock and for export to generate electricity, but there’s an urgent need to speed up priority pilot projects and hydrogen hubs to compete internationally.In 2022, more than 100 Australian green hydrogen projects such as green ammonia and green methanol manufacturing were announced.

The UK Royal Navy has awarded a £15.4 million (currently around $18,8 million) contract for a crewless submarine to the Plymouth-based company MSubs. The submarine is expected to be delivered to the Navy in two years. The Navy expects the submarine to further advance the UK’s ability to protect our critical national infrastructure and monitor sub-sea activity."Project Cetus – named after a mythological sea monster – enhances the Royal Navy’s experimentation with autonomous underwater systems.

In an era of great power competition, navies – by virtue of their ability to span the globe and effectively deliver combat power – are likely to be the sine qua non of military power. This leads, naturally, to the tendency to count numbers of ship hulls when comparing the strength of navies. Lost on no one is the fact that the size of China’s Navy now exceeds that of the U.S. Navy, and the gap in ship numbers is growing.During the Cold War, while the quality of their ships might not have been equal to that of the U.S.

NETSCo, a naval architecture and marine engineering firm located in Columbia Station, Ohio, has promoted two of its senior employees to new leadership roles. David Hossenlopp, P.E, has been promoted to the position of Chief Naval Architect, and Nick Hunter, P.E. to Senior Naval Architect / Marine Engineer.“David has been with NETSCo since 2013,” said Richard Mueller, CEO/President, “and throughout this time he has very successfully been involved with a large variety of projects…

On September 14, 2022, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I Committee), Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, held a hearing which indicated a potential revitalization, and new enforcement regime, of U.S.-flag requirements under the Cargo Preference Act of 1954 (the CPA). The hearing occurred on the heels of a Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report regarding the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) lack of COA enforcement, with significant recommendations to revamp oversight by the agency to ensure a growing…

Equatorial Guinea has detained an oil tanker capable of carrying 2 million barrels after it attempted to load in Nigeria without proper paperwork, both countries said this week.The Nigerian navy said in a statement that the Heroic Idun, a very large crude carrier (VLCC), was attempting to load oil at the Akpo SBM on Aug. 8 without due clearance from state oil company NNPC, and that it "resisted arrest" when ordered to stop.It was not immediately clear who was the vessel's owner or operator.

Last year experts raised their eyebrows when the Morrison government announced Australia would abandon its contract for French-built Attack class submarines, in favor of eight nuclear-powered submarines delivered under the AUKUS partnership.Retired Royal Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer Greg Jones was one key individual who questioned whether the choice is appropriate for Australia’s defense needs (at least in the short to medium term).One particularly controversial point is the time it will take for the nuclear submarines to become operational.

Harland & Wolff's Appledore site in the UK's southwest has won a £55 million (around $65 million) contract to regenerate a former Royal Navy mine-hunting vessel, HMS Quorn. "On behalf of the Lithuanian Government, the Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA) awarded the contract that will see HMS Quorn renovated and restored, bolstering NATO maritime capability in Europe," the UK Ministry of Defence said Thursday."Supporting ambitions to bolster British shipbuilding, laid out in the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh, the regeneration will support 100 jobs at the south-west shipyard.

Nordic American Tankers said it has added two suezmax tankers to its fleet. The newbuilds, NAT's first delivered since 2018, both have long term contracts.The 157,094 dwt Nordic Harrier was delivered on May 13 from Samsung shipyard in South Korea. The second vessel, to be named Nordic Hunter, is 156,800 dwt and will be delivered from Samsung within the next few days, NAT said. The ships were ordered in 2020.Both tankers have six-year contracts with Oman's ASYAD Shipping Company. The time charters will generate an aggregate revenue of more than $100 million, New York-listed NAT said when it announced the deals in February.The newbuilds are fully financed via Ocean Yield, a company controlled by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), which is headquartered in the U.S.

The historic Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff announced it has secured its first newbuild order since being bought out of administration in 2019.The shipyard, best known for having built the Titanic, is returning to action after being purchased by London-based InfraStrata. The yard said on Wednesday that it was awarded an initial contract worth approximately £8.5 million to build 11 barges for U.K.-based waste management and recycling company Cory, setting in motion the yard's…

The 2022 biennial, multi-national Rim of the Pacific's (RIMPAC) exercise has come to a close.This year’s exercise with the theme of “Capable Adaptive Partners,” featured 26 participating nations and 38 surface ships, three submarines, more than 30 uncrewed systems, approximately 170 aircraft, and more than 25,000 personnel.RIMPAC 2022 featured a wide range of capabilities--projecting the inherent flexibility of maritime forces and helping to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, and took place in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California, June 29 to Aug.