Laurence News

Norwegian shipping firm Odfjell SE has appointed Harald Fotland as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Fotland comes from the position as Odfjell's Chief Operating Officer, and will assume the CEO position on May 6, 2022."We are pleased to have an internal candidate take over the helm at Odfjell. The appointment was made after a process including external and internal candidates. Harald has excelled at leading innovative and transformative projects during his time at the Company.

Kristian Mørch, CEO of Norway-based shipping group Odfjell, has informed the company's board of directors that he will step down after seven years in the role.The board has initiated a process to identify the next CEO, and Mørch will continue in his current role until his successor is in place. Russell Reynolds Associates in Oslo has been engaged as an advisor in the process.Chair of the board, Laurence Odfjell, said, "Kristian has led Odfjell through seven intense years of transformation.

France will increase its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, calling on Turkey to halt oil and gas exploration in disputed waters that has heightened tensions with Greece.The French leader voiced concern over "unilateral" exploration by Turkey in a call with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Macron's office said in a statement. It added that prospecting should "cease in order to allow a peaceful dialogue" between the neighboring NATO members.The standoff deepened this week with the arrival of Turkish seismic research vessel Oruc Reis in a disputed area of the Mediterranean…

UK-based investment fund  The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) has acquired stakes in four French onshore windfarms, with a total capacity of 107.8 MW. InfraRed’s listed renewables vehicle did not disclose financial details of acquisitions. Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has advised British investment fund.WFW assisted TRIG on the acquisition, from their operations manager Renewable Energy Systems (RES), and financing of the two ready to build “Rosières” and “Montigny” wind farms in the Northern French departments of Meuse and Aisne with a total installed capacity of 31.8 MW.It also assisted the acquisition from the Chinese energy…

Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT), the largest U.S.-flag tugboat company engaged in towing on the Great Lakes,  christened the new Tug OHIO into service and dedicated the historic Tug OHIO as a part of  the National Museum of the Great Lakes.A press release from GLT said that the newly constructed Tug OHIO is the second Damen Stan Tug 1907 ICE design that Great Lakes Shipyard has delivered to The Great Lakes Towing Company. The tug is 64’x24’x11’, powered by two 1,000-hp MTU 8V4000 Tier III diesel engines, and generates over 30-tons of bollard pull. Its compact size and high maneuverability make it ideal for the narrow waterways and low bridges that characterize harbor towing on the Great Lakes…

A Saudi vessel that had been due to load arms in France left the country's Le Havre port without its cargo of weapons and is now sailing towards Santander in Spain, according to ship tracking data, a local official and a lawyer.Two French human rights groups on Thursday sought to block the loading of weapons onto the ship through a legal filing, arguing the cargo contravened an international arms treaty.A French judge threw out their complaint but the Bahri-Yanbu moved off the coast of Le Havre shortly after. It had been at anchor 25 kilometres off the Le Havre, northern France, since Wednesday evening."The boat has left and without its cargo," Laurence Greig, a lawyer representing the ACAT rights group told Reuters.

The Isle of Man Department for Enterprise has announced the appointment of Cameron Mitchell as the next Director of the Isle of Man Ship Registry. He will start his post from 1st April 2019.Cameron has a strong history in the shipping industry working with leading operators Maersk, Geest Line and Farstad Shipping for over 10 years as an engineer.Cameron has also held various roles at the Isle of Man Ship Registry, working as a surveyor for 9 years before taking over as Deputy Director in 2018. Cameron has also worked on a number of projects across government with a focus on delivering performance and quality improvement.Laurence Skelly MHK, Minister for Enterprise, said: "I am delighted with the appointment of Cameron Mitchell as the new Director of the Isle of Man Ship Registry.

Dutch ship owner Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV has been fined 780.000 EUR and paid a settlement of 2.2 million EUR - totaling to a price tag of almost 3 million EUR - for having beached a ship for scrapping in India.According to a press release from NGO Shipbreaking Platform, in 2013, Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV, a subsidiary of WEC Lines BV, sold the HMS Laurence to a cash buyer, a company specialised in the trade of end-of-life vessels to beaching yards.The vessel ended up in Alang, India, where it was broken under conditions that “cause serious damage to the environment and expose the health of workers and the local population to grave danger”, according to the Dutch Public Prosecutor.

SCHOTTEL has signed a contract with Damen Shipyards to equip the first fully-electric vessels to operate in Canada.The new Amherst Island and Wolfe Island ferries will be propelled by four SCHOTTEL Twin Propellers STP 260 FP, each with an input power of up to 550 kW. The main propulsion is provided by batteries with a diesel engine as backup to ensure mobility. The propulsion concept implies a power intake increase up to 650 kW due to an enhanced draught provided by the batteries. In accordance with their field of operation in the Lake Ontario/St.

ICHCA International, the global NGO and membership association for cargo handling operations, technical, HSSE and risk professionals has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) to pursue cooperative projects of mutual interest. This includes the sharing of the research and findings of ICHCA’s Technical Panel (ITP) with the IAPH membership through its own working groups. The ICHCA Technical Panel has recently launched four new working groups on Dangerous Goods, Digital & Innovation, Straddle Carrier Safety and Dry Bulk Cargoes. The four new working groups were established following consultation with the ITP’s 80+ members who represent cross-sectoral private and public-sector experience from the worlds of shipping…

Watson Farley Williams  (WFW) advised NYK Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha  (NYK) on the execution on 26 January 2018 of its long-term charter contract with EDF LNG Shipping, a subsidiary of the electricity major, Electricité de France (EDF). The contract is for the chartering of a newly built liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier for seven years, with optional extension periods for up to thirteen additional years. WFW also worked closely with the commercial and in-house legal teams at NYK, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and EDF on the construction arrangements for the vessel for the project. The LNG carrier will be built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in Korea and is due for delivery in 2020.

CEMEX UK Marine Limited has placed an order for the first Damen Marine Aggregate Dredger (MAD). The vessel, which will be built at Damen Shipyards Galati, in Romania, is designed to extract sand and gravel from the sea bed up to depths of 55 meters, including in the challenging conditions experienced in the North Sea. Damen said the MAD is the result of extensive market research and customer consultation. A new, future-facing vessel of this type is aligned with an aggregate industry faced with an aging fleet of vessels and an increased focus on marine activity.

U.S. coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year due to soaring demand from Europe and Asia, according to a Reuters review of government data, allowing President Donald Trump's administration to claim that efforts to revive the battered industry are working. The increased shipments came as the European Union and other U.S. allies heaped criticism on the Trump administration for its rejection of the Paris Climate Accord, a deal agreed by nearly 200 countries to cut carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels like coal. The previously unpublished figures provided to Reuters by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed exports of the fuel from January through May totaled 36.79 million tons, up 60.3 percent from 22.94 million tons in the same period in 2016.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he wanted to review the terms of a recent deal to sell a large stake in the STX France shipyard to Italian group Fincantieri. Speaking at the launch of a new cruise ship, Macron said the STX France's shareholder structure should neither put jobs at risk nor jeopardise its capacity to win new business. "I want to see the initial balance agreed in April to be revised," Macron said, adding that he was nonetheless in favour of the tie-up with the Italian company.

France may intervene in the sale of the Saint-Nazaire shipyard by bankrupt South Korean shipbuilder STX if the French government's conditions are not met, Industry Minister Christophe Sirugue said. "The government is fully mobilised and will not hesitate to use all of the levers at its disposal," Sirugue told French daily Les Echos in an interview published on Friday. The French state, which owns a third of STX France and its western Saint-Nazaire shipyard, has a right of refusal on the sale of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding's majority stake once a winning bid has been selected, which is expected next week. Italy's Fincantieri is the sole bidder for the French assets, a source said on Dec. 27, and the Seoul bankruptcy court said only one offer had been received.

International law firm, Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”), advised CMB Financial Leasing Co. Ltd (“CMB”) in respect of: (i) the sale of eight container vessels by NOL Liner (Pte.) Ltd to certain Singapore incorporated SPVs wholly owned by CMB International Leasing Management Ltd; and (ii) the bareboat charter of each vessel by the relevant buyer to APL Co. Pte. Ltd. The transaction was backed by French incorporated CMA CGM, of which both NOL Liner Pte Ltd and APL Co Pte Ltd are indirect subsidiaries. The WFW maritime team was led by Hong Kong Partner Christoforos Bisbikos, supported by Associates Andrew Chou and Ryan Tan and Legal Assistant Dongchen Shi. Hoff and Juliette Vroom. market is depressed, leasing remains one of the strongest sources of equity in the sector”.

PSA Peugeot Citroen is in advanced talks over an Iranian carmaking venture with historic partner Iran Khodro and expects rapid progress following the diplomatic breakthrough lifting sanctions against the country, the French company said. The deal struck between Iran and western powers "should clear the way for significant progress in our discussions", Peugeot Africa and Middle East chief Jean-Christophe Quemard told Reuters on Tuesday in an emailed response. Unlike their existing partnership, under which Iran Khodro re-assembles older Peugeot models made in European plants, the new venture would manufacture cars from scratch using the French group's latest vehicle architectures and engines, Quemard said. "This project will deliver a generational leap," he said.

A new fishing vessel being built by Simek AS in Norway on behalf of the U.K. operator Antares (Whalsay) Fishing Company Ltd, will feature an integrated Wärtsilä propulsion solution including main engine, controllable pitch propeller and gearbox. According to Wärtsilä, its two-speed gearbox, PTO/PTI and floating frequency solution will provide the vessel with high levels of operational efficiency and flexibility in different operating modes, which were important considerations in the award of this contract signed in June.

The Chinese government on Wednesday rolled out more details of the building work it is undertaking in the disputed South China Sea, listing lighthouses, communications stations and other facilities for civilian and emergency use. China stepped up its creation of artificial islands last year, alarming several countries in Asia and drawing criticism from Washington. There have been recent tensions between the Chinese navy and the U.S. military around the Spratlys. China, which said this week some of the reclamation work will be completed soon, says the construction on the islands will help with maritime search and rescue, disaster relief, environmental protection and offer navigational assistance as well as have undefined military purposes.

Taiwan's coast guard on Saturday commissioned its biggest ships for duty in the form of two 3,000-ton patrol vessels, as the island boosts defences amid concerns about China's growing footprint in the disputed South China Sea. The new vessels will be able to dock at a new port being constructed on Taiping Island, the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, before the end of this year. Taiwan's coast guard has had direct oversight of the 46-ha (114-acre) island, also known as Itu Aba, since 2000. "Taiping Island's defence capabilities will not be weak," said Wang Chung-yi, minister of the Coast Guard Administration…

Since being thrust onto the world stage, residents of a once obscure part of China have rallied round to help those affected by the sinking of a cruise ship, an outpouring of kindness in a country more used to worrying about a decline in public morals. The 1.5 million people of Jianli, which sits on a bend of the mighty Yangtze River in the central province of Hubei, have offered free food, car rides and even hair-dressing services to the relatives, rescuers, officials and reporters who have rushed there after the ship carrying more than 450 people sank in a storm on Monday. Residents have tied bright yellow scarves to their arms, car mirrors, buildings and gates to show solidarity with those impacted by the disaster.

Towns on France's North Atlantic coast braced for their first giant tide of the millennium on Saturday as the full moon and this week's solar eclipse combined to create an ocean surge not seen since 1997. At the picturesque Mont Saint Michel island where some of the biggest tides in the world occur, visitors gathered to watch the tide disappear out of sight, exposing areas of beach and rock visible only every 18 years. The next peak tide is not due until 2033. France's National Hydrographic Service was expecting to measure more than 14 metres (15.3 yards) between low and high water around the famous Abbey-topped rock off France's north-west coast. Average tides in the area measure 8.7 metres.

Norchem AS in Denmark, in which Laurence Odfjell, Chairman of the Board in Odfjell SE, has a controlling interest, has today acquired 1,121,287 Odfjell B-shares in Odfjell at NOK 18.85 per share, the company reported.   Following this transaction, Norchem AS owns 25,966,492 A-shares and 3,536,381 B-shares in Odfjell SE, equivalent to 34% of the total outstanding stock of Odfjell SE.