Lomar Shipping News

Americraft Marine, one of the maritime subsidiaries of Libra Group that owns and operates a Jones Act shipbuilding facility in Palatka, Fla., has announced the appointment of Peter Fetten as Chairman of Americraft.A seasoned leader with four decades in the marine engineering and shipbuilding sectors, Fetten will help shape the strategic direction of Americraft Marine as it works to advance U.S. shipbuilding and the demand for Jones Act vessels. Americraft Marine's St. Johns Ship Building…

Libra Group subsidiary Seapath has launched a Jones Act leasing business offering maritime leasing and financing solutions and a growing portfolio of vessels valued at approximately $25 million.The group said it sees significant unmet demand for the supply of Jones Act compliant transport assets.Joshua Lubarsky, president of Seapath, said, “Domestic maritime transportation is the backbone of the U.S. transportation system. By launching our new Jones Act leasing business, Seapath…

Lomar Shipping, the maritime subsidiary of Libra Group, has announced two key promotions - Peter Cotopoulis as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Mark Kethisouaran as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), both effective from September 1. Based in the company’s London office, Mark succeeds Dennis Psachos, who held the role since joining in December 2021 and has decided to return to his native Greece.Lomar CEO Nicholas Georgiou said, “Over the last 12 months, Peter and Mark have both stepped up in their roles…

U.K.-based shipowner Lomar Shipping announced it has acquired three Supramax bulk carriers as part of its ongoing bulker fleet expansion program.The company, a subsidiary of New York-based Libra Group, said it has taken delivery of the 57,038-dwt Oslo Trader (ex Ariadne, built in 2010), while the 2012-built 56,702-dwt Lima Trader (ex Universal Bangkok) and 57,075-dwt Rome Trader (ex Haut Brion), built in 2011, will be delivered later this month.All three Dolphin 57 vessels are Chinese-built, increasing Lomar's bulk carrier fleet to nine ships.

Libra Group's shipping subsidiary Lomar Shipping announced the appointment of Marius Bujor as its new Technical Director. Based in the company’s Bremen office, he succeeds Stylianos Papageorgiou who has been promoted to the position of Managing Director of lomarlabs, a new venture to collaborate with deep-tech start-ups.Bujor has been with Lomar for eight years, having joined in 2014 as a Technical Superintendent. He became a Fleet Manager four years later, and was promoted to Deputy Technical Director in late 2022, as Lomar prepared for the launch of lomarlabs.

Libra's global ship owning and management unit Lomar Shipping last week delivered the chemical tanker Apollo to new owner Navigator Line Ship Management and Operation, in Sharjah, UAE.Built in 2003, the 24,000 DWT vessel was sold for close to $10 million as part of Lomar's ongoing fleet renewal program, the company said.The vessel was the oldest of six chemical tankers, including four 38,000-dwt chemical/products tankers, that joined the Lomar fleet following the October 2022 acquisition of Germany’s Bremen-based tanker specialist Carl Büttner Group…

Americraft Marine, a maritime subsidiary of the Libra Group, announced it has acquired U.S. shipyard St. Johns Ship Building.Based in Palatka, Fla., near Jacksonville, St. Johns Ship Building performs new construction and repair of a wide variety of steel and aluminum vessels, including ferries, tugs, deck and tank barges, landing crafts, and general cargo vessels. It is also one several U.S. shipyards currently building vessels that support and service offshore wind farms.With facilities including a storm-protected 100-acre inland campus with a 850-ton floating drydock, St.

Freeport-based Grand Bahama Shipyard announced that it drydocked its first vessel since reopening the shipyard after Hurricane Dorian hit The Bahamas.The Taipei Trader, a 9,932-ton container ship operated by Lomar Shipping Limited, docked at the No. 3 dock this week, for its ongoing drydock, which was interrupted by the hurricane.Taipei Trader first docked at the yard on August 25 for a routine program including propulsion and thruster maintenance, and preparation of the hull for protective coating application. On August 30, in accordance with the shipyard's hurricane procedures, the vessel had to be undocked and depart the shipyard due to the projected path of Hurricane Dorian.Following the return and docking of Taipei Trader…

Delaware Trader, the first of two 2,700TEU newbuild containerships that China’s Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard is delivering to Lomar Shipping this year, has been fitted with a seawater lubricated propeller shaft bearing system from Thordon Bearings.The vessel represents another breakthrough for Thordon Bearings’ COMPAC seawater lubricated propeller shaft bearing system in the European-owned containership segment.London-headquartered Lomar Shipping, a privately-owned ship owning and management company…

Three weeks after the grounding of Kea Trader on a reef off New Caledonia, the removal of heavy fuel oil from the 2017-built containership is now underway and could be completed next week. According to Radio New Zealand, helicopters are being used to remove fuel from a ship stuck on a reef off New Caledonia. Oil is being moved from the vessel in tanks onto the nearby Chasseloup barge, London-based Lomar Shipping, the ship’s owner, informed. "The swells reportedly prevented the salvage teams to dock a barge next to the stricken ship as they plan to pump out the 750000 litres of fuel in its tanks. Due to the adverse sea conditions have made it impossible to extract the fuel direct to barges, hence helicopters are being used to shift the fuel," said the report.

Ship owners trend towards larger ship sizes in the latest round of newbuilding orders reported in Clarkson Hellas S&P Weekly Bulletin. Oldendorff Carriers has contracted for four firm plus up to four option 208,000 dwt Newcastlemax from Taizhou CATIC. The first two vessels are due for delivery in 2015 with the remaining firm vessels and options lined up for delivery in 2016. Also in China, SWS are understood to have taken an order for four firm 208,000 dwt Kamsarmax from Clients of Cardiff Marine. Similarly delivery of the firm vessels is split between 2015 and 2016.

Rizhao Steel (Cara Shipping) are understood by Clarkson Hellas to have contracted two firm 180,000 DWT Capesize at both Dalian and Qingdao Beihai, with an additional two options at the latter. These orders are understood to have been concluded in the middle of this year, with delivery of the first vessel from Beihai lined up for 2015 and the remainder all due in 2016. Following a limited number of new orders so far this year, the VLCC orderbook, which currently stands at around 50 vessels, has seen the addition of two firm plus two option 300,000 DWT crude tankers from Metrostar at HHI. Although pricing remains undisclosed delivery of both firm vessels is planned for the first half of 2016.