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27 Mar 2024

Pilot Called for Tugboat Help Before Baltimore Bridge Disaster

Source: US Army Corps of Engineers

The pilot of the container ship that knocked down a highway bridge into Baltimore Harbor had radioed for tugboat help and reported a power loss minutes earlier, federal safety officials said on Wednesday, citing audio from the ship's "black box" data recorder.The head of the National Transportation Safety Board also said that Francis Scott Key Bridge, a traffic artery over the harbor built in 1976, lacked structural engineering redundancies common to newer spans, making it more…

27 Mar 2024

Divers Recover Two Bodies After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies.

Divers on Wednesday recovered the remains of two of the six workers missing since they were tossed into Baltimore Harbor from a highway bridge that collapsed into shipping lanes when a faltering cargo freighter rammed into the structure, officials said on Wednesday.The bodies were pulled from the mouth of the Patapsco River a day after the massive container ship lost power and its ability to maneuver before plowing into a support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, knocking…

27 Mar 2024

New England Offshore Wind Auction Draws Multiple Bidders

© Fokke Baarssen / Adobe Stock

Several offshore wind developers bid in a combined Connecticut-Massachusetts-Rhode Island offshore wind solicitation on Wednesday, including units of European energy firms Iberdrola and Orsted.The U.S. offshore wind industry is booming so far this year, with several projects in various stages of development and construction, after a disastrous 2023 of developers cancelling contracts and taking roughly $9.1 billion in write-offs and impairments on U.S. projects.So far, Avangrid…

26 Mar 2024

Six Presumed Dead After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies.

Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crippled by a power loss rammed into the structure, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident, U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland…

26 Mar 2024

Automakers Reroute Shipments After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

© aerial-drone / Adobe Stock

U.S. automakers General Motors and Ford will reroute affected shipments after a bridge collapse in the U.S. shuttered the Port of Baltimore, but the companies said on Tuesday the impact will be minimal."We expect the situation to have minimal impact to our operations. We are working to re-route any vehicle shipments to other ports," GM said in a statement.The Port of Baltimore is the busiest U.S. port for car shipments, handling at least 750,000 vehicles in 2023, according to data from the Maryland Port Administration.

26 Mar 2024

Cargo Ship Lost Power Before Slamming Bridge in Baltimore

Collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore (Credit: Screenshot/StreamTime Live)

A massive cargo ship smashed into a bridge while sailing out of Baltimore early on Tuesday, sending cars and people into the river below and closing one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.Rescuers pulled out two survivors, one of whom was hospitalized, and searched for more in the Patapsco River after huge metal spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the icy water around 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT).The ship reported a power issue before impact…

12 Mar 2024

US Unions ask Biden Administration to Probe Chinese Shipbuilding

© Photocreo Bednarek / Adobe Stock

Five U.S. labor unions on Tuesday filed a petition with the office of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai requesting a probe into China's alleged unfair policies and practices in the maritime logistics and shipbuilding sectors, the USTR office said.The petition was filed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a statute aimed at combating trade partners' unfair practices.Trade practices are only one component of strains in U.S.-China relations in recent years. Other contentious issues include Taiwan…

21 Dec 2023

Cruise Ship Loses Navigation Ability in North Sea During Storm

Maud (File photo courtesy Hurtigruten Group)

The Norwegian cruise ship MS Maud suffered a power outage after a rogue wave shattered windows on the bridge while it sailed in the North Sea, causing the vessel to lose its ability to navigate, Danish authorities and the ship's owner said on Thursday.The 266 passengers and 131 crew members were safe, according to the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre."There is no power on the ship. The main engine is functioning but the navigation systems and radars are not," a spokesperson for the centre…

18 Dec 2023

Record Output, Tax Dodge Pushes Up Crude Exports from US Gulf Coast

© scandamerican / Adobe Stock

Oil is flooding out of Texas in the final weeks of 2023, as traders find outlets abroad for record U.S. production and dodge a hefty year-end tax bill on their inventories.U.S. crude exports, nearly all of which leave from the U.S. Gulf coast, averaged about 4 million barrels per day (bpd) so far this year, according to U.S. government data, about 500,000 more than last year's record as oil production climbed to 13.2 million barrels per day.U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude's wider discount to the global benchmark Brent , currently at about $4.50 per barrel, is making U.S.

11 Dec 2023

Panama Canal Woes to Delay Grain Ships well into '24

Copyright searagen/AdobeStock

Bulk grain shippers hauling crops from the U.S. Gulf Coast export hub to Asia are sailing longer routes and paying higher freight costs to avoid vessel congestion and record-high transit fees in the drought-hit Panama Canal, traders and analysts said.The shipping snarl through one of the world's main maritime trade routes comes at the peak season for U.S. crop exports, and the higher costs are threatening to dent demand for U.S. corn and soy suppliers that have already ceded market share to Brazil in recent years.

28 Nov 2023

Shell Authorizes Construction Work on Manatee Gas Field

Stuart R. Young MP Minister of Energy and Energy Industries and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and Adam Lowmass, Senior Vice President and Country Chair, Shell Trinidad and Tobago. (September 2023)

Shell has authorized contractor McDermott International to start engineering work on its Manatee gas field development project off Trinidad and Tobago's east coast, the contractor disclosed on Tuesday.Trinidad is Latin America's largest LNG exporter, but its flagship Atlantic LNG project and its petrochemical plants have been operating at reduced capacity due to a shortage of natural gas.McDermott said it got the green light to proceed on an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract pending an investment decision.

27 Nov 2023

COP28 Puts Spotlight on Methane Pledges

Source: Global Methane Pledge

Delegates at this year's U.N. COP28 climate summit are anxious to boost the world's climate change agenda with concrete plans for clamping down on the second-most prominent greenhouse gas – methane.While more than 150 countries have promised since 2021 to slash their methane emissions 30% from 2020 levels by 2030 under the U.S.- and EU-led Global Methane Pledge, few have detailed how they will achieve this.What is needed now is to turn those pledges into urgent action – with financial…

24 Nov 2023

Petrobras to Invest $102 Billion in Next Five Years

Source: Petrobras

Brazil's Petrobras will invest around $102 billion within the 2024-2028 period, the firm's new strategic plan showed on Thursday, representing a major boost in expected investments by the state-run oil company.The plan, the first released by the oil giant since CEO Jean Paul Prates took the helm of the company, includes investments in a range of different segments, with most of it going into oil exploration and production.The figure represents a 31% leap from the $78 billion Petrobras…

20 Nov 2023

U.S. Coast Guard Responds to Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Credit: U.S. Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard was leading an oil spill clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, partnering with local and federal agencies and companies after a Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) underwater pipeline began leaking.The crude oil pipeline is around 19 miles (30 km) offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, east of Venice, Louisiana, the U.S.

20 Jul 2023

Argentina Turns Away Gunvor-chartered LNG Tanker, Citing Sanctions

A tanker containing liquefied natural gas (LNG) that originated from a Russia supplier and was loaded onto a Gunvor Group-chartered vessel off the coast of France was turned away this week by Argentine energy firm Enarsa, according to officials.The tanker Flex Artemis was in the South Atlantic and heading northeast on Thursday, according to Refinitiv vessel tracking. It had carried LNG from Yamal in Russia, according to a trader familiar with the matter, and had arrived in Argentine waters about July 14.The rejection is one more sign of the energy market upheavals since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and of a growing wariness of buyers involving even authorized deals with Russia-originated fuels.

25 Apr 2023

Yacht Goes Missing in the Red Sea with Five Aboard

© Sergey / Adobe Stock

A private yacht with three Russians and two Egyptians on board has been reported missing in the Red Sea near the coast of Yemen for several days by its owner and the Russian embassy in Saudi Arabia.It was not immediately clear what had happened to the pleasure yacht named 30 Minutes which its owner said was heading to Djibouti to be sent onwards by ship to Dubai.The ship, which its owner said was registered in Panama, was not fitted with the standard AIS ship tracking system which…

18 Apr 2023

India and China Snapping Up Russian Oil Above Price Cap

© moofushi / Adobe Stock

India and China have snapped up the vast majority of Russian oil so far in April at prices above the Western price cap of $60 per barrel, according to traders and Reuters calculations.That means the Kremlin is enjoying stronger revenues despite the West's attempts to curb funds for Russia's military operations in Ukraine.A G7 source told Reuters on Monday the Western price cap would remain unchanged for now, despite pressure from some European Union countries, such as Poland,…

11 Apr 2023

Chinese Aircraft, Ships Remain around Taiwan After Drills end

Chinese warplanes and navy ships were still in the waters around Taiwan, the island's defense ministry said on Tuesday after the end of three days of war games, as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen criticized Beijing for its "irresponsible" behavior.China began the exercises on Saturday after Tsai returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.China, which warned the U.S. not to allow Tsai to visit or meet McCarthy, has never renounced the use of force to bring the democratically governed island under Beijing's control.

29 Mar 2023

Cargill to Stop Grain Export Activities in Russia

©Elena/AdobeStock

Cargill said on Wednesday it would take a further step back from the Russian market by stopping handling Russian grain from its export terminal from July, although its shipping unit will continue to carry grain from Russian ports.Most international grain traders have stopped new investment in Russia since last year following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine but continued exporting Russian wheat."As grain export-related challenges continue to mount, Cargill will stop elevating Russian grain for export in July 2023 after the completion of the 2022-2023 season…

27 Mar 2023

Carnival Posts Smaller Loss on Strong Demand

© NAN / Adobe Stock

Cruise operator Carnival Corp on Monday reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and beat estimates for revenue, helped by strong demand for leisure travel, higher ticket prices and strong on-board spending.Cruise operators like Carnival, Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings are reporting resilient demand from cooped-up consumers undeterred by elevated inflation as COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions ease."We are still experiencing a record wave season…

28 Feb 2023

World Trade Boom Keeps De-globalization at Bay

© Darunrat / Adobe Stock

Globalization may have peaked, but the resilience of world trade in the face of mounting headwinds means a reversal of the past three decades is not inevitable.Since the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine shattered global supply chains, debate has raged over how integrated the global economy will be in the future compared with the previous 30 to 40 years.'Globalization' is an amorphous subject. According to the International Monetary Fund, economic globalization refers to "the increasing integration of economies around the world…

03 Feb 2023

EU Agrees on Price Caps on Russian Refined Oil Products

© momentscatcher / Adobe Stock

European Union countries agreed to set price caps on Russian refined oil products to limit Moscow's funds for its invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish presidency of the EU said on Friday.EU diplomats said the price caps are $100 per barrel on products that trade at a premium to crude, principally diesel, and $45 per barrel for products that trade at a discount, such as fuel oil and naphtha. Ambassadors for the 27 EU countries agreed on the European Commission proposal,which will apply from Sunday.The price caps…

12 Jan 2023

Russian Oil Revenues Falling Because of Price Cap -US Official

© ROMAN DZIUBALO / Adobe Stock

Russian oil revenues are falling due to the price cap that Western countries imposed on its crude oil shipments and, ahead of further caps on Russia's oil products, Europe is well positioned to manage any price pressures, a U.S. Treasury official said on Wednesday.The Group of Seven countries, Australia and the European Union will extend sanctions on Russia for its war in Ukraine by putting a price cap on its oil products, such as gasoline and diesel, on Feb. 5. The coalition…