Korean Peninsula News

Ship refuelling operations were temporarily halted at South Korea's Busan and Ulsan ports on Tuesday after typhoon Hinnamnor hit the country's southern region, trade sources said.The halt in operations also paused spot premiums for low-sulphur bunker fuel offered at these ports this week at about $60 per tonne over Singapore fuel oil quotes, bunker fuel traders at South Korean companies said.Operations are likely to resume gradually later in the week, though fresh slots for bunkering are likely to start only from next week onwards…

The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group is operating in waters off the Korean peninsula, the U.S. Navy said on Tuesday, amid tensions over North Korea's missile launches and concerns that it could soon resume testing nuclear weapons."The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is conducting bilateral operations with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Sea of Japan," Commander Hayley Sims, a spokesperson for the Japan-based U.S. Seventh Fleet, said in a statement.This is the first time since 2017 that a carrier group has deployed to the waters between South Korea and Japan, and comes as U.S.

A cargo ship was ordered to leave the U.S waters after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at the Port of New Orleans discovered invasive insects found in the wood used to secure its previous cargo offloaded earlier in Mexico. The ship, named Pan Jasmine, arrived at the anchorage of Davant, downriver from New Orleans at mile marker 54, on July 17, having previously offloaded a shipment of aluminum in Vera Cruz, Mexico, after coming from Paradip, India."The wood used to pack the aluminum had not been offloaded in Mexico and was left scattered on the deck of the Pan Jasmine, which is unusual. No reason was provided to CBP as to why the dunnage was refused discharge in Mexico, and this raised a red flag.

Canadian power producer Northland Power will acquire Dado Ocean Wind Farm, a development company with multiple early-stage offshore wind development sites in South Korea.Dado Ocean is currently owned by Eui Jeong Hwang, a wind power developer who will continue to support the project as a local partner, working together with Northland to achieve key milestones for the project. The acquisition is expected to close in the coming weeks, subject to customary closing conditions.According to Northland, the acquisition builds on the company's presence in Asia and specifically in South Korea. It is anticipated that South Korea’s installed capacity will more than double by 2050, with renewables accounting for approximately 59% compared to 8% in 2018.

Japan launched a second complaint at the World Trade Organization on Monday over support South Korea gives its shipbuilding industry, intensifying a wider dispute between the two Asian countries.Japan said in its filing that it had complained to South Korea on Jan. 31 over measures related to the development, production, marketing and sales of commercial vessels. Japan circulated it to other WTO members on Monday.Washington's two biggest Asian allies are embroiled in a widening…

North Korea said on Tuesday the seizure of one of its cargo ships by the United States was an illegal act that violated the spirit of a summit between the two countries' leaders, and demanded the return of the vessel without delay.The North's foreign ministry said in a statement that it rejected U.N. Security Council resolutions against it which the United States cited in impounding the vessel, as a violation of its sovereignty."The United States committed an unlawful and outrageous act of dispossessing our cargo ship," an unnamed ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency."The latest U.S.

As the Japan Coast Guard celebrates its 70th anniversary, Maritime Reporter & Engineering News offers insights on the current status and future direction of the JCG courtesy of an interview with Shuichi Iwanami, Commandant, Japan Coast Guard.*Note: At the time this interview was conducted, Shuichi Iwanami was still Vice Commandant for Operations.Could you please tell us the history and future development of the Japan Coast Guard (JCG)?The JCG, in 2018 celebrates the 70th anniversary of its foundation. When it was founded, the Japanese waters were in an eclipse period.

Shares of small Japanese shippers jumped this week after the historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sparked hopes of news business ties with the reclusive country.Japanese retail investors are snatching up shares of the firms that may benefit from a potential thaw between Tokyo and Pyongyang, even though the Japanese government has been a staunch supporter of "maximum pressure" on North Korea.Shares of Rinko Corp, a marine transportation company…

Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Saturday the country will send a military patrol aircraft to monitor North Korean vessels suspected of transferring prohibited goods in defiance of United Nations sanctions.Canada also plans to deploy patrol aircraft for such activities, and surveillance planes from both countries will be based in the U.S. military’s Kadena air base on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, the Japanese government said in a separate statement.The…

A British warship “changed its deployment” and arrived in Japan on Wednesday to join efforts to police U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs. The Royal Navy frigate HMS Sutherland arrived at Yokosuka, the headquarters of Japan’s Maritime Defence Force fleet and home port of the U.S. Seventh Fleet’s carrier strike group. It “will be contributing to the international efforts to monitor prohibited trade at sea by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)…

A court in Taiwan has released on bail a man prosecutors allege to have made false declarations in the case of a Hong Kong-flagged tanker suspected of transferring oil to North Korea in violation of international sanctions. The man, surnamed Chen, said the vessel was bound for Hong Kong, despite knowing it was bound for international waters to traffic oil products, the prosecutors' office in the southern city of Kaohsiung said on Wednesday. "The suspicion of crime is great," it said in a statement…

China on Friday denied reports it has been illicitly selling oil products to North Korea after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not happy that China had allowed oil to reach the isolated nation. Trump said on Twitter the previous day that China had been "caught" allowing oil into North Korea and that would prevent "a friendly solution" to the crisis over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes that it conducts in defiance of heavy U.N. Security Council sanctions. "I have been soft on China because the only thing more important to me than trade is war…

(Reuters) -- The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea following its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test, a move that analysts said could have a significant impact on the isolated country's struggling economy. The resolution seeks to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum product exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and demands the repatriation of North Koreans working abroad within 12 months. The U.S.-drafted resolution would also cap crude oil supplies to North Korea at 4 million barrels a year.

Australia and the Republic of Korea participated in Exercise Haedoli-Wallaby, a bilateral anti-submarine warfare exercise, from November 1-3. The biennial exercise demonstrates a shared commitment by Australia and the Republic of Korea to regional security and security of the Korean peninsula. Royal Australian Navy frigates HMA Ships Parramatta and Melbourne and a Royal Australian Air Force P-8 maritime patrol aircraft participated with six Republic of Korea ships, a submarine and a maritime surveillance aircraft from the Republic of Korea Navy. Australian assets are in the region participating in Indo-Pacific Endeavour 17, a joint task group deployment focusing on maritime security and cooperation.

Sparks light up the night-shift at giant shipyards on Korea’s southeast coast, as welders and fitters at some of the world’s biggest marine engineers forge next-generation container ships, oil rigs and even ice-breaking tankers in a bid to clamber out of a global industry abyss. Sunk by drastic cuts in orders from customers hit by the 2008 financial crisis, South Korea’s shipping landscape has been littered with bankruptcies and billion-dollar losses. But some, like Busan’s DSME, are adding innovation to craftsmanship to tap new demand for nimbler ships and offshore energy platforms.

Task Force 70 Public Affairs (NNS) - The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group arrived in Busan for a port visit, Oct. 21. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) with embarked staff of Commander, Task Force (CTF) 70, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15 staff and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, and the guided-missile destroyers USS Stethem (DDG 63) and USS Chafee (DDG 90) pulled into Busan after participating in Maritime Counter Special Operations Force Exercise (MCSOFEX) 2017. The focus of the bilateral training exercise was to increase the readiness of U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK) forces and maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula. Shuttle tankers differ from “standard” crude oil tankers.

A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan, is conducting drills with a Japanese warship in waters around Okinawa southwest of the Korean peninsula, Japan's military said on Wednesday.   The exercise comes amid heightened tension with North Korea as the U.S. holds air drills in the region with B1-B bombers flown from Guam.   The exercise with the Reagan strike group, which began on Saturday, involves vessels sailing from the Bashi Channel, which separates the Philippines and Taiwan, to seas around Japan's southwest island nearer to North Korea, Japan's Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.   One Japanese destroyer, the Shimkaze, is accompanying the 100,000-ton Reagan, which is based in Japan, and its escort ships, the JMSDF said.   Reporting by Tim Kelly

The U.S. Navy carrier Ronald Reagan is conducting drills with Japanese warships in seas south of the Korean peninsula, Japan's military said on Friday, in a show of naval power as Pyongyang threatens further nuclear and missile tests. The Reagan strike group will conduct a separate drill with the South Korean Navy in October, the defence ministry said in a statement distributed to South Korean lawmakers on Monday. The 100,000-ton Reagan, which is based in Japan, and its escort ships have been holding drills with Japanese navy vessels since Sept 11 in waters south and west of Japan's main islands, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.

The outlook for global container port demand growth is now more optimistic, and Chinese players are on the acquisition trail in an aggressive and highly confident manner, said a report from Drewry. Major M&A deals are changing the landscape, with more to come, according to the Global Container Terminal Operators Annual Report 2017, now in its 15th year of publication by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Drewry’s container port demand forecast is more positive than in last year’s report, exhibiting a 4 percent CAGR and adding a further 152 million teu of port throughput to the global total by 2021. This is a consequence of improved port throughput growth rates in the second half of 2016 and into 2017, and a more positive general global economic outlook.

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108), along with embarked Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 1, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 1 arrived in San Diego June 23, following a five-and-a-half-month deployment to the Western Pacific. Carl Vinson, Lake Champlain, Wayne E. Meyer and embarked air wing and staffs departed San Diego for a regularly-scheduled deployment with the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group as part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet-led initiative to extend the command and control functions of U.S. 3rd Fleet into the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, Jan.

U.S. Navy ships are conducting simultaneous bilateral maritime exercises with the Republic of Korea Navy and with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force today and tomorrow (April 25-26, local time).    The destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and ROKN Wang Geon (DDH 978) are conducting combined maritime exercises in waters west of the Korean Peninsula while the destroyers USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and JMSDF JS Chokai (DDG 176) execute combined maritime exercises in waters west of Japan.    Both exercises demonstrate a shared commitment to security and stability in Northeast Asia as well as the U.S. Navy's inherent flexibility to combine with allied naval forces in response to a broad range of situations.

Aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) arrived in Busan, Republic of Korea (ROK) for a scheduled port visit, March 15. The Carl Vinson Strike Group completed two weeks of routine operations in the South China Sea and will continue on their regularly scheduled Western Pacific deployment after departing Busan. Assets from the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group and other United States forces will conduct bi-lateral exercises with forces from the ROK Navy in the waters around the Korean peninsula during the annual Foal Eagle exercise.

The U.S. Navy destroyer that sailed near Chinese-claimed islands in the South China Sea last week was under orders from the Third Fleet headquarters in San Diego, a first aimed at bolstering U.S. maritime power in the region, two sources said. The USS Decatur on Friday challenged China's "excessive maritime claims" near the Paracel Islands, part of a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which Beijing has territorial disputes with its neighbours. It was the first time such a freedom of navigation operation has been conducted without the Japan-based Seventh Fleet in command and was a test of changes aimed to allow the U.S. Navy to conduct maritime operations on two fronts in Asia at the same time, two sources told Reuters. The sources spoke on condition that they were not identified.