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Mpv News

18 Apr 2024

Steerprop to Supply Propulsion for Canadian Coast Guard MPVs

(Image: Aker Arctic)

Steerprop announced it has been chosen to provide a Polar Class 4 (PC 4) propulsion package for the Canadian Coast Guard's Multi-Purpose Vessels (MPV) renewal program.The contract entails the supply of propulsion packages for the initial six MPVs, integral to Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). Steerprop's solution comprises two tunnel thrusters for auxiliary propulsion and two Contra-Rotating Propulsors (CRP) for main propulsion, engineered to meet the operational…

26 Mar 2024

Seaspan Awarded Contracts for Canadian Coast Guard’s Multi-Purpose Vessels

(Image: Canadian Coast Guard)

The Canadian government on Tuesday announced it has awarded a pair of contracts to Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards Co. Ltd. (VSY) to initiate the next stages of procuring the first flight of Multi-Purpose Vessels (MPV) for the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG).These contracts, which are worth $490.6 million combined (taxes included), following completion of the vessel’s basic design review in late 2023 and allow VSY to undertake pre-construction work, such as selecting specific pieces of equipment…

26 Nov 2023

Engine Room Fire Investigation Highlights Due Diligence Failings

Source: ATSB

A fire on board a multi-purpose vessel chartered by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) while transiting the Southern Ocean highlights the risks and challenges of operating in harsh, remote conditions.On April 5, 2021, the 145 meter MPV Everest was en route from Antarctica to Hobart with 37 crew and 72 Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) staff on board when a fire broke out in its port engine room.The fire was contained and eventually extinguished using the engine room water mist fixed fire-extinguishing system after about 2.5 hours…

09 Nov 2023

Australian Government Supportive of Strategic Fleet Development Proposals

© Philip Schubert / Adobe Stock

The Australian Government has released the report of the Independent Taskforce on the Strategic Fleet, along with its official response to the report, confirming a commitment to delivering a Strategic Fleet of up to 12 vessels that will help Australia build resilience to freight disruptions while supporting our maritime workforce and sovereign capability.Australia’s maritime sector has long been neglected with a shortage of Australian flagged ships and a skilled workforce, says Federal Minister for Infrastructure…

12 Oct 2022

AAL Expands Its Heavy Lift Fleet

(Photo: AAL Shipping)

AAL Shipping has added further vessels to its owned multipurpose cargo vessel (MPV) fleet. This month saw the delivery of the 2010 AAL Gunsan (ex-BBC America) and her sister vessel, the 2009 AAL Geelong (ex-BBC Valparaiso) – the latter taken a few months ago. These are the last of four 25,800 deadweight (DWT) multipurpose heavy lift sister vessels (classified by AAL as G-class) secured through an acquisition transaction penned back in 2021 by AAL / Schoeller Holdings Group.During the summer…

22 Aug 2022

US Navy Recovers Lost Fighter Jet from the Bottom of the Mediterranean Sea

(File photo: John Paul Kotara II / U.S. Navy)

The U.S. Navy said it has retrieved a fighter jet that was lost from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea last month.The F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft, which blew off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in "unexpected heavy weather" on July 8, was recovered by a team from Task Force (CTF) 68, Naval Sea Systems Command's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), Harry S. Truman, Naval Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic, and U.S. Sixth Fleet embarked on the multi-purpose…

22 Feb 2022

AAL Increases Newbuild Order from Four to Six

(Image: AAL Shipping)

Singapore-based heavy lift and bulk shipping company AAL Shipping announced it has increased the number of vessels in its latest newbuild series from four to six.In November 2021, AAL announced the launch of its third-generation newbuilding plan with the initial order of four 32,000 deadweight (DWT) Super B-Class multipurpose vessels from China’s Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard. The carrier, which already operates a fleet of 25 heavy lift multipurpose vessels (MPV) globally, has now…

13 Jul 2021

AAL Shipping Delivers Four Cranes to Port of Oslo

The four cranes had a combined weight of almost 700 tonnes and each measured 36 m in height and 28 m in length.- Credit: AAL

Shipping firm AAL Shipping has recently delivered four of the largest rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) in its history to the Port of Oslo, Norway. The mobile cranes, measuring 36 m in height and 28 m in length, were transported from Taicang in China to Oslo on a single sailing aboard the 31,000 deadweight multipurpose vessel (MPV), the AAL Pusan. The cranes were engineered and manufactured by Kalmar, part of Cargotec and Rainbow-Cargotec Industries Co. Ltd  (RCI) in Taicang,…

06 Jul 2021

Construction of Multipurpose Vessel for Smit Lamnalco Starts in Turkey

Image courtesy OSD-IMT

OSD-IMT recently completed the design of a new multipurpose vessel for operator Smit Lamnalco, a design for a MPV 4600 to be built in Turkey at Uzmar Shipyards.Signature features of the new design include a large (185 sq. m.) working deck area, in combination with an offshore rated crane of 6.5 ton @18.5 m. The DP2 vessel will be equipped for deck-cargo runs, towing operations, diving support, facilitating ROV operations and transferring crew and pilots. It will be able to perform standby and rescue tasks…

14 Apr 2021

Antarctic Supply Ship Returns to Australia After Engine Room Fire

(Photo: Australian Antarctic Program)

Antarctic resupply ship MPV Everest berthed in Fremantle, Australia at 5:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, after it suffered an engine room fire earlier this month, the Australian Antarctic Division said.Australia’s chartered Antarctic resupply vessel MPV Everest was about 1,700 nautical miles south of Perth when the April 5 fire engulfed the vessel's port engine room and destroyed two inflatable rubber boats on the deck. There were no injuries to the 72 expeditioners and 37 crew on board.The ice-strengthened ship…

12 Feb 2021

'Small Fire' Aboard Antarctic Supply Ship

The MPV Everest at Casey research station in Antarctica (Photo: Brett Wilks / Australian Antarctic Division)

The Australian Antarctic Division said a small fire broke out on board a vessel used to resupply Australia’s Casey research station in Antarctica.The fire was discovered around 7 a.m. local time on January 29, in a battery room above the bridge of Bahamas-flagged MPV Everest while the vessel was transiting back to Hobart following an Antarctic resupply trip.The fire was quickly put out using handheld fire extinguishers, AAD said. There were no injuries.AAD said the ship’s operator…

03 Oct 2019

AAL Adds Four MPVs

Singapore-based specialist breakbulk and project heavy lift carrier AAL is expanding its multipurpose fleet with the addition of a number of Warnow-class (W-class) 33,271 dwt ‘mega-size’ vessels.Kyriacos Panayides, managing director of AAL, said that four W-class ships  brings the company’s operated tonnage to approximately 740,000 dwt.The multipurpose passenger vehicles (MPV) will join AAL’s fleet from October and, alongside additional W-Class tonnage already employed in the fleet and multiple other MPV classes, they will boost the carrier’s global coverage, providing additional capacity on such important trades as: Asia – Australia…

16 May 2019

AAL Delivers Four New Cranes for Felixstowe

The global ocean transport operator AAL Shipping has successfully delivered a cargo of four rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs) to the Port of Felixstowe, as part of a development project that will see the UK’s busiest container port add an additional 18,000 teu of container storage capacity to meet growing demand.The ZPMC Chinese-made RTGs were loaded in Shanghai and shipped to Felixstowe aboard the 31,000 dwt mega-size mpv the A-Class AAL Kobe, for the CPIA forwarding and shipping agency. Each of the units measured 32 m x 14 m x 30 m and weighed just under 200 t.The new remote controlled RTGs will serve Berths 8 and 9 at the Port and…

13 Mar 2019

AAL Delivers Chinese Modules in Texas

Breakbulk and project heavy lift specialist AAL Shipping has shipped 22 petrochemical plant modules from Wison Heavy Industry’s facilities in China for the an ethylene-glycol plant expansion project in Point Comfort, Texas on behalf of Pacific Ocean Group.The shipment of 22 modules – 26,000 cbm in total and weighing 1,280 t – was loaded in Nantong and transported on a single sailing to Point Comfort aboard the mega-size MPV, the A-Class 31,000 dwt AAL Pusan.The project made good use of her 700 t max heavy lifting gear in loading and discharge operations, and harnessed over half of her copious intake capacity of 40,000 cbm, with several…

10 Oct 2018

Optimism in Multipurpose Shipping: Drewry

Surging growth in renewable energy generation around the world and a construction boom in South East Asia that is expected to run for the next 10 years bode well for the once ailing multipurpose shipping fleet.In the latest edition of Drewry’s Multipurpose Shipping Forecaster report we declare that we remain cautiously optimistic on the outlook for the sector. There are some caveats to this optimism as global general cargo demand is forecast to grow at a rate of just 2% per year to 2022, while the multipurpose and heavylift fleet is expected to contract at less than 1% per year over the same period.Meanwhile, the threat of a trade war…

07 Feb 2018

Hyundai Merchant Marine, AAL Shipping Join for MPV Service

AAL A-Class Vessel, with project cargo (Photo: AAL)

South Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) announced it is beginning its cooperation with Singapore based carrier, AAL Shipping, for Multi-Purpose Vessel (MPV) service. Specialist multipurpose carriers and long-standing collaborators, AAL and Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), are entering a global cooperation that will see both carriers expand their trade route coverage, sailings frequency, and MPV fleet capacity. The cooperation will create a joint Far East – Middle East MPV Liner Service, served by five MPV vessels and a scheduled bi-monthly rotation.

31 Mar 2017

Damen Unveils Emergency Response Vessel

Image: Damen

Damen has introduced a new first line assistance vessel, the Responder 5413, engineered specifically for assistance in disaster relief and emergency response operations. Developed partly in response to the increasing number of extreme weather events across the globe, the versatile 54-meter vessel is designed to be a first response vessel for unrestricted service. Based on Damen’s multipurpose vessel MPV 5413 design, the Responder 5413 demonstrates proven seakeeping behavior. The vessel includes a spacious aft deck…

28 Mar 2017

Silver Lining for the Multipurpose Shipping Market

Following another poor year for multipurpose shipping with further erosion of rates making it the worst market in over 10 years, signs of recovery are now evident with momentum expected to build over the next few years, according to the latest Multipurpose Shipping Market Annual Review and Forecast 2017 report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Dry cargo demand is forecast to grow by around 3% in 2018, but within that figure it is the market share available to multipurpose vessels which is more interesting. Drewry estimates that the multipurpose (MPV) share of bulk trades in the peak year of 2007 was about 17%, while the share of general cargo trades was nearer 20%.

04 Jan 2017

Multipurpose Shipping Freight Rates Expected to Improve

Photo: Drewry Maritime Research

The multipurpose shipping market will see the first signs of recovery by the end of 2017, following in the steps of the dry bulk and container shipping markets, according to the latest Multipurpose Shipping Market Review and Forecaster report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Dry cargo demand is weak but strengthening with multipurpose shipping market share expected to grow at just under 2% per year to 2020. Demolition levels are up in both the multipurpose and competing sectors…

04 Jan 2017

Multipurpose Shipping Freight Rates to Improve by End 2017

The multipurpose shipping market will see the first signs of recovery by the end of 2017, following in the steps of the dry bulk and container shipping markets, according to the latest Multipurpose Shipping Market Review and Forecaster report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Dry cargo demand is weak but strengthening with multipurpose shipping market share expected to grow at just under 2% per year to 2020. Demolition levels are up in both the multipurpose and competing sectors, whilst newbuilding ordering has waned, which will result in minimal aggregate multipurpose fleet growth to 2020. The future market prospects for the multipurpose shipping sector are not only dependent on the supply-demand balance for that segment…

15 Apr 2016

Multipurpose Shipping Awaits an Elusive Recovery

The multipurpose shipping market is not expected to recover until the end of 2017, when it is anticipated that there will be more bulk demand for the Handy vessels and therefore more breakbulk cargoes for multipurpose vessels, according to the latest Multipurpose Shipping Market Review and Forecast 2016 report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. The last 12 months have been dreadful for the multipurpose vessel (MPV) market with rates at rock bottom and competition for cargo from every angle. Weak demand, coupled with falling commodity prices and the oversupply of tonnage in competing sectors has brought rates down to levels not seen since just after the global financial crisis.

07 Oct 2016

No Reprieve for Multipurpose Shipping Until 2018: Drewry

The last three months have been some of the worst the multipurpose and project carrier sector has endured in living memory. The breakbulk and project cargo sector remain weak, with little suggestion that volumes will improve significantly until the end of 2017, according to the latest Multipurpose Shipping Market Review and Forecaster report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Rates have continued to slide to barely cover operating expenses, as the competing sectors of container ships and bulk carriers have weakened the MPV market ever further in their search for market share. The container lines lost billions of dollars as they filled slots no matter what…

07 Oct 2016

Palfinger Wins Deck Equipment Package

Illustration of Havyard 832 MPV, where Palfinger Marine will deliver and extensive deck equipment package of cranes, winches and offshore equipment. (Copyright: Palfinger Marine GmbH, Havyard Group)

Palfinger Marine signed a contract with Turkish shipyard Cemre to supply a deck equipment package to a Havyard 832 MPV vessel being built for Esvagt. The package from Palfinger consists of cranes, winches and offshore equipment. The MPV will measure 81.9 x 17.16 m, with a  deck area of 620 sq. m., a speed of 15 knots and a bollard pull of 100 tons. The delivery of the equipment is scheduled for 2017.