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Kim Coghill News

12 Mar 2024

First Aid Ship to Gaza Leaves Cyprus Port in Pilot Project

First aid ship to Gaza sets sail (Credit: World Central Kitchen)

A ship transporting almost 200 tons of food to Gaza left a port in Cyprus early on Tuesday in a pilot project to open a new sea route for aid to a population on the brink of famine.The charity ship Open Arms sailed out of Larnaca port in Cyprus, towing a barge containing flour, rice and protein.The 200-mile (320 km) voyage across the eastern Mediterranean to Gaza with a heavy tow barge could take up to 2 days, Cypriot officials have said.The mission, funded mostly by the United Arab Emirates, is organised by U.S.

05 Mar 2024

Philippines Summons China Diplomat Over 'Aggressive' Actions in South China Sea

© luzitanija / Adobe Stock

The Philippines summoned China's deputy chief of mission in Manila on Tuesday to protest what it called "aggressive actions" by Chinese naval forces against a resupply mission for Filipino troops stationed on a South China Sea shoal.Manila's South China Sea task force said Philippine vessels carrying out the routine mission to the Second Thomas Shoal were "harassed (and) blocked" by Chinese maritime militia and coast guard ships on Tuesday.Chinese coast guard ships fired water cannon…

26 Feb 2024

Houthis Keep Up Pressure with Near Miss on US-flagged Tanker

FILE PHOTO: Torm Thor (Photo: Torm)

Yemen's Houthis fired a missile that likely targeted the Torm Thor in the Gulf of Aden on Feb. 24 but missed the U.S.-flagged oil tanker, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday, as the Iran-aligned militia steps up attacks on ships.Shipping risks have escalated due to repeated Houthi drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait since November in support of Palestinians in Gaza. U.S. and British forces have responded with several strikes on Houthi…

15 Feb 2024

Iran Will Reciprocate If Its Ships Are Seized, Official Says

© AUUSanAKUL+ / Adobe Stock

Iran will reciprocate if its ships are seized, the legal adviser to Iran's President told state media on Thursday, in response to a statement by the United States Department of Justice.This month, the Department of Justice issued a statement announcing the seizure of more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian fuel to clamp down on the "Revolutionary Guards' financing network"."If an Iranian ship is seized, we will reciprocate and the legal way is not closed in this regard," legal adviser Mohammad Dehghan said, adding that he was not able to confirm whether U.S.

14 Jan 2024

US Says it Shot Down Missile Heading Towards USS Laboon

Lt. j.g. John Galvin monitors aircraft activity near the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon (DDG 58) while the ship operates in support of Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) in the Bab al-Mandeb, Dec. 30, 2024. (Source: US Navy)

U.S. fighter aircraft shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward a U.S. destroyer operating in the Southern Red Sea, the U.S. military said on Sunday.The midair interception is the latest incident in the Red Sea where the Houthis have been attacking international shipping in what they say is a campaign to support Palestinians under seige from Israeli forces in Gaza.It follows a series of American and British airstrikes on Houthi targets…

08 Nov 2023

US Commits $553M Financing for Adani Terminal Venture at Colombo Port

Credit: Vidu Gunaratna/AdobeStock

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) said it will provide $553 million financing for a Colombo port terminal project, partly owned by India's Adani Group, advancing the first foray by an Indian company into the sector.Sri Lanka, an island off India's southern coast, is mired in its worst financial crisis in over seven decades after its foreign exchange reserves ran to record lows last year, forcing its economy to contract by 7.8% in 2022. Ports-to-edible oils Adani group…

30 Oct 2023

St. Lawrence Seaway Reopens Following Tentative Deal to End Strike

© GrB / Adobe Stock

The union representing St. Lawrence Seaway workers in eastern Canada said it reached a tentative labor agreement on Sunday, ending a week-long strike that shut down a key North American trade route linked to the Atlantic Ocean.The Unifor union, representing some 360 workers, said it agreed to a deal with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp (Seaway) that would cover engineering, maintenance, and other worker groups in Ontario and Quebec provinces.Other details of the agreement, which would need to be ratified by the workers, were not shared.

18 Aug 2023

First Ship to Use Ukraine's Corridor Arrives in Istanbul

(Photo: Turkish Directorate General of Coastal Safety)

The first vessel that used Ukraine's Black Sea corridor is crossing through Turkey's Bosphorus Strait, a Reuters witness said on Friday.The Hong-Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte container ship that left the Russian-blocked Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa earlier this week had been in the port since Feb.

10 Aug 2023

Hapag-Lloyd Net Profit Dives 67% in H1

© Daniel / Adobe Stock

German container shipper Hapag-Lloyd HLAG.DE on Thursday posted net profit of 2.9 billion euros ($3.18 billion) for the first half of 2023, down by 67% from a year earlier, but maintained its full year earnings forecast.The net profit compared with 8.7 billion euros in 2022 when shipping, a proxy for global trade, enjoyed a boom as economic growth rebounded following the end of pandemic lockdowns and as logistics disruptions raised freight rates for customers. Rates have since fallen as logjams have eased and the economy is slowing.

03 Aug 2023

Burned-out Car Carrier Towed to Dutch Port

(Photo: Netherlands Coastguard)

A burned-out car carrier off the Dutch coast is being towed to port for salvage, Dutch authorities said on Thursday.The Fremantle Highway, which was travelling from Germany to Egypt when the blaze broke out on July 26, will be towed from its current location north of the islands Ameland and Schiermonnikoog to nearby harbour Eemshaven, the Dutch public works and water management ministry said in a statement."Most of the ship has now been inspected and there are no indications that there is still fire on board," Rijkswaterstaat said, adding that the situation on board is now stable.The fire aboa

03 Jul 2023

EU Weighs Concession to Russian Bank over Black Sea Grain Deal

© Elena / Adobe Stock

The European Union is considering a proposal for the Russian Agricultural Bank to set up a subsidiary to reconnect to the global financial network as a sop to Moscow, the Financial Times said on Monday.With the bank under sanctions, the move aims to safeguard the Black Sea grain deal that allows Ukraine to export food to global markets, the newspaper said.The European Commission had no comment while the Kremlin on Monday, in response to a question about the report, said it had…

28 Jun 2023

Mitsui OSK Gets AiP for Liquefied CO2 Vessel, Floating Storage Unit

CG rendering shows offloading CO2 from LCO2 carrier to LCO2 FSO and injection unit. - ©Mitsui OSK

Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL) 9104.T has received in-principle approvals for a liquefied CO2 vessel and a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) from the American Bureau of Shipping, its Chief Executive Takeshi Hashimoto said on Wednesday.The vessel and the FSO were developed by the company along with Malaysia's state-run oil company Petronas and Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute, Hashimoto said in a statement.The statement gave no further…

15 Jun 2023

Supertanker Freight Rates Jump as Mideast Crude Exports to Asia Rise

©Carabay/AdobeStock

The costs of chartering supertankers to move crude oil from the Middle East to Asia have jumped to the highest since April as more cargoes are being booked in June, according to industry sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon.The rate for a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) from the Middle East to China, Japan and Singapore is assessed at just above worldscale 80 on Thursday, according to shipbroking firm Meiwa International, the highest levels since April. Worldscale (W) is an industry…

26 May 2023

Chinese Ships Ignore Vietnam Demand to Leave Area Close to Russian-run Offshore Gas Fields

A Chinese research ship and five escort vessels were in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Friday, close to gas blocks operated by Russian firms in the South China Sea, a day after Vietnam urged the ships to leave.The Chinese vessel Xiang Yang Hong 10 began operating in Vietnam's EEZ on May 7, representing the most significant incursion since 2019, according to Ray Powell, who leads Stanford University's Project Myoushu on the South China Sea.He said China's conduct and Vietnam's reaction were a "worrying escalation."China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, including areas that are within Vietnam's EEZ. The 2019 standoff lasted for more than three months and largely targeted a block then operated by Russian state oil firm Rosneft ROSN.MM.

11 May 2023

Tanker Firm Euronav Beats Q1 Profit Estimates, Proposes Higher Dividend

©Euronav

Belgian oil tanker and storage operator Euronav reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue and core earnings on Thursday, supported by an improvement in freight rates, and proposed raising its dividend. "The counter seasonal strength recorded in Q1 underpins our view that strong and durable drivers are in place to continue a multi-year upcycle in large crude tanker freight markets," CEO Hugo De Stoop said in an earnings statement. Euronav, one of the largest oil tanker companies in the world…

04 May 2023

Maersk Expects Recent Drop in Container Demand to Stabilize by Mid-year

© tonyv3112 / Adobe Stock

Shipping group Maersk on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings above expectations and maintained its 2023 profit guidance as it expects a recent drop in demand for container shipments to stabilize around mid-year.Maersk, which transports goods for retailers and consumer companies such as Walmart, Nike and Unilever, said the number of containers it loaded onto ships between January and March fell by 9% from a year earlier, while freight rates fell by 37% on average."We delivered a solid financial performance in a challenging market with lower demand caused by continued destocking…

23 Apr 2023

WW2 Shipwreck Found 81 Years After Tragic Sinking

The SS Montevideo Maru, an unmarked prisoner of war transport vessel missing since being sunk off the Philippines' coast in July 1942, was discovered northwest of Luzon island. (Image courtesy of Silentworld Foundation)

Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Saturday that the wreck of a Japanese merchant ship, sunk in World War Two with 864 Australian soldiers on board, had been found in the South China Sea, ending a tragic chapter of the country's history.Marles said the SS Montevideo Maru, an unmarked prisoner of war transport vessel missing since being sunk off the Philippines' coast in July 1942, had been discovered northwest of Luzon island.The ship was torpedoed en route from what is now Papua New Guinea to China's Hainan by a U.S. submarine, unaware of the POWs onboard.

24 Feb 2023

Singapore Companies Should Manage Own Risks in Russian Oil Trade, Minister Says

© mrnai / Adobe Stock

Companies in Singapore will have to consider and manage any potential impact on their business activities, transactions, and customer relationships when dealing with Russian crude oil and refined products, a government official said on Friday.Russia's oil trade faces multiple restrictions imposed by the West and Moscow in the wake of the Ukraine war.The European Union has imposed bans on Russian crude and oil products imports while the Group of Seven nations, EU and Australia agreed to ban the use of Western-supplied maritime insurance, finance and brokering for seaborne Russian oil priced abo

16 Jan 2023

Cargo Ship Refloated After Grounding Near Istanbul

(Photo: turkey Directorate General of Coastal Safety)

The cargo ship MKK 1, travelling from Ukraine to Turkey, was grounded in Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait on Monday and traffic in the strait was suspended for a few hours, shipping agents Tribeca said.Several tugs were among vessels sent to provide assistance to the ship, the coastguard authority said.

30 Nov 2022

US Coast Guard Says Calcasieu, Louisiana Oil Spill Contained

Illustration only ©Studio Barcelona/AdobeStock

An estimated 3,500 gallons of used lubricant oil that spilled near Calcasieu Point Landing, in Louisiana, has been contained, U.S. Coast Guard officials said in a statement on Tuesday.The discharge, reported on Monday, was discovered to have escaped from the secondary containment at Martin Energy Services, the Coast Guard told Reuters in an emailed statement."The source of the spill has been secured and the oil has been contained with boom along the banks of the Lake Charles Industrial…

31 Oct 2022

COSCO Shipping to Buy $2.7B Port Assets from Parent. Enters $2.9B Shipbuilding Deal

©Wolfgang Jargstorff/AdobeStock

COSCO Shipping Holdings Co Ltd  said on Monday it has agreed to buy port assets from its parent for an aggregate 19.7 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) as it aims to build a global digital supply chain for its customers. The Chinese shipping group said it would buy 14.9% of Shanghai International Port (Group) from its indirect controlling parent China COSCO Shipping Corp Ltd for 18.9 billion yuan, and a 3.2% stake in Guangzhou Port for 778.7 million yuan. COSCO Shipping Holdings also…

03 Nov 2022

China Says U.S. has 'No right' to Interfere in Hamburg Port Deal

eyewave - stock.adobe.com

The U.S has "no right" to interfere in Chinese cooperation with Germany, China's foreign ministry said Thursday, after Washington cautioned against Beijing getting a controlling stake in Hamburg's port terminal. U.S. interference is symptomatic of its practice of coercive diplomacy, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing in Beijing. "Pragmatic cooperation between China and Germany is a matter for the two sovereign countries, the United States should not attack it without reason and has no right to meddle and interfere…

05 Sep 2022

S. Korea Shipyards Set to Halt Operations as Typhoon Hinnamnor Approaches

Credit: Korea Meteorological Administration

South Korea issued weather advisories and raised its typhoon alert level on Monday as typhoon Hinnamnor neared, with heavy rain and strong wind already lashing southern parts of the country.The typhoon, travelling northward at a speed of 19 km per hour (12 mph), is expected to land 90 kilometres southwest of the port city Busan early on Tuesday, after reaching waters off Jeju Island around Monday midnight."Very strong winds and heavy rains are expected across the country through to Tuesday due to the typhoon…