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The Dutch government on Friday said it had picked French defense company Naval Group to build four new submarines in coming decades in a long-brewing deal seen by politicians as a potential lifeline for the national shipbuilding industry.The government said the first two submarines would be operational within the next 10 years. It did not specify the exact value of the multi-billion euro contract.The submarines will be of a size to both operate in shallow waters and take part in missions far from base.The agreement still has to be approved by the Dutch parliament…

The volume of goods moving through Spain's top ports rose by as much as 25% in January as attacks on shipping in the Red Sea caused companies to divert Europe-bound vessels around southern Africa instead.Spain's northern ports have also seen volumes in transit jump by up to triple as traders opt to avoid moving goods by truck through Europe because of widespread blockades by farmers, Spanish retail and food industry association Aecoc says.Ports such as Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and Barcelona saw a 25.4% and 7.6% increase in the volume of merchandise respectively…

A UK-registered cargo ship reported being under attack in the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen on Sunday, said British maritime security firm Ambrey, while UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported crew abandoning a ship off Yemen after an explosion.Ambrey said on Sunday that a Belize-flagged, UK-registered and Lebanese-operated open hatch general cargo ship had reported being under attack in Bab al-Mandab Strait.The ship was heading north during its journey from Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates to Varna…

Operations at the port of Antwerp, one of Europe's biggest container ports, were seriously impacted on Tuesday as hundreds of farmers on tractors blocked the roads around the port to demand better pay and working conditions, officials said.The protest follows a large number of similar actions by angry farmers in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and beyond, as farmers also demand looser environmental rules and better protection against cheap imports."Operations are heavily disrupted," Stephan Van Fraechem, the director of the association of port companies Alfaport VOKA, told Reuters.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have targeted a cargo ship in the Red Sea which shipping analysts said on Monday had been carrying corn to Iran.It appeared to be the first time the Houthis have targeted an Iran-bound vessel since starting attacks on international shipping in solidarity with Palestinians over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, shipping sources said.A U.S. defence official said it was likely that the ship had been targeted but not hit, but provided no further comment. Earlier…

Big data, advanced computers and AI are allowing vessel designers to prepare models that leave essentially nothing to chance.“Lastly, it may be of considerable importance to form from the draught a block model of the vessel from which a still more accurate judgment may be formed of the fitness and beauty of the body. And should any defect be discovered, farther alterations must still be made, till the draught and the model are perfectly approved of. These different alterations and repeated calculations may appear very tedious…

Brazil is the world’s largest grain exporter, accounting for 24% of the world’s exports in 2022, and congestion has surged this year due to large harvests and low water levels in the Amazon River.“Congestion for ships loading grain cargoes at Brazilian ports has surged this year due to large harvests and low water levels in the Amazon River. Between January and November, the average waiting time reached 15 days, up from nine days average between 2018 and 2022 and well above the global average of five days for grain loadings in 2023…

ABB has secured a contract with Auckland Transport (AT) to deliver the maritime world’s first megawatt charging system (MCS) to recharge electric ferries using the same interface as trucks and airplanes. Lowering the barrier to entry, the standardized and highly adaptable system is expected to improve electric vessel competitiveness against fossil-fueled counterparts.As part of its Mission Electric initiative, AT has ordered two 200-seat all-electric ferries and two 300-passenger…

“At the start of October, the capesize order book was at 20 million DWT, a mere 5% of the capesize fleet. The contracting of newbuild capesize ships has gradually decreased since its peak in 2013 and only 5 million DWT were contracted so far in 2023, down 4% y/y. Low freight rates paired with a young fleet are keeping the order book small,” says Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.Contracting of newbuild ships typically increases following periods of high freight rates. For capesizes, freight rates depend heavily on China, as 63% of their cargoes have China as their destination.

The Panama Canal could further reduce the maximum number of authorized daily vessel transits if this year's drought continues, the waterway's administrator said on Tuesday.A backlog of ships is waiting to pass through the trans-oceanic canal, which handles an estimated 5% of world trade. It began restricting vessel draft and daily passage authorizations this year to conserve water.Many vessels have had to lighten cargoes before passing, and freight costs have risen ahead of the Christmas shopping season.Up to 32 ships are currently authorized to transit every day…

In a first, Brazilian oil company Petrobras last week reportedly sold the P-32 FPSO for sustainable recycling in Brazil, paving the way for the development of the local ship recycling industry.The sale of the floating unit P-32 reportedly took place on July 7, 2023. In a collaboration supervised by Petrobras, the steel company Gerdau S.A. and shipyard Ecovix have been entrusted with the responsible and environmentally sound recycling of the FPSO."This decision marks the first time a commercial vessel at the end of its lifecycle will be dismantled in Brazil.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has called for the safe and environmentally friendly recycling of the FSO Safer, currently being salvaged off the coast of Yemen.The UNDP is looking for a destination for the FSO’s recycling, and the Platform is calling on the Dutch government, one of the biggest donors to the Stop Red Sea Oil Pollution operation, to assist UNDP in identifying a suitable recycling facility. The Netherlands has shown leadership in preventing the environmental disaster an oil spill from the FSO Safer would have caused, says the Platform, along with Dutch company Boskalis, via its subsidiary SMIT Salvage, which has been tasked with the removal of the oil from the FSO.Referring to Dutch involvement in the Stop Red Sea Oil Pollution operation…

The Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) announced its president Caroline Yang has been reelected for another two-year term.In addition, seven ordinary members of the SSA were first elected during the association’s 27th AGM on June 28. The 2023/2025 council also co-opted four members into their council. There are two more members that the elected council will need to co-opt into the council.Yang has been at the helm of the association through some of shipping’s most challenging times.

Cyprus is speaking to other European Union member states to shore up support for the shipping industry hit by sanctions on Russia, its shipping minister said on Friday.Cyprus has the third-largest shipping fleet in the EU after Malta and Greece. It has seen defections, or itself deflagged, about a fifth of its oil tanker fleet in recent months, connected one way or another to sanctions on Russia.The island's proposals include automatic extensions of so-called tonnage tax systems…

Shipping giant Maersk plans to produce up to two million tonnes of e-methanol a year in Spain by 2030 to supply its fleet of cargo ships and reduce its carbon footprint, the Spanish government said on Thursday.The project will require an investment of about 10 billion euros ($9.75 billion), according to Spanish government calculations, and Spain may enter as a strategic investor. An agreement on the project, which will be partly financed by EU recovery funds, was signed on Thursday in Madrid by Maersk CEO Søren Skou and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Stena Line reports that its travel business bouncde back in Britain and Ireland in 2022, with figures for the first half of the year show that passenger numbers are back to pre-pandemic levels, while car numbers in particular are far higher than in 2019.The increase in the number of cars is most striking on the Irish Sea, driven by the fact that the cost of car hire in Ireland isthe highest in Europe, driving people to instead travel by ferry and take their own cars to either Belfast, Dublin or Rosslare.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a fight between BP, two contractors, and an insurance company over who should pay for thousands of personal injury claims brought by cleanup workers after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and fire in 2010.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed most of a lower court’s rulings for contractors National Response Corp and O’Brien’s Resource Management, and for O’Brien’s excess-liability insurer, Navigators Insurance Co.The decision was not a complete win for BP, however.

Dutch dredging and marine services company Boskalis said it has taken delivery of its largest-ever consignment of drop-in biofuel which will be used to power two hopper dredgers on upcoming projects in northwestern Europe.The use of cleaner-burning biofuel will result in a CO2 reduction of approximately 90% for the 12,000 m3 hopper dredger Willem van Oranje and approximately 45% for the 4,500 m3 hopper dredger Strandway, the company said.The delivery of approximately 1,000 m3 of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO)…

After a successful completion of a B30 biofuel blend test on the Suezmax Statia (2006 – 150,205 dwt), Euronav has now successfully concluded a B50 biofuel blend trial on its Suezmax Marlin Sardinia (2019 – 156,607 dwt). The biofuel, by marine fuels supplier TFG Marine (the bunkering arm of Trafigura), was tested on its longevity and durability over a period of four months. This second trial confirms the potential of biofuel and the crucial role it plays in the decarbonization of shipping.In June 2021, the Suezmax Marlin Sardinia was bunkered with 240 MT of B50 biofuel blend from TFG Marine. Just as the B30 biofuel blend, the B50 was supplied in the port of Rotterdam…

Containerized cargo volumes through Alabama's Port of Mobile continue to climb in 2021 as shippers seek uncongested gateways servicing key North American markets. In August, container volumes increased 34% over August 2020 volume, while year-to-date volume posted 27% over the same period last year, the port said Thursday, attributing part of that success to a 37% increase in refrigerated containers due to nearly $74 million in refrigerated facilities investment at the port to support cold cargo supply chains.

Amazon.com Inc and IKEA are among commercial users of container shipping that will opt for zero-carbon marine fuels by 2040 in a new initiative aimed at speeding up decarbonization in the maritime sector, executives said on Tuesday.With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions and the sector is under growing scrutiny to become cleaner.The initiative, which was organized by the non-profit Aspen Institute and has nine signatories so far also including Unilever and Michelin…

Since the 1980s there has been a remarkable revival of ferry services in many U.S. waterfront cities, but COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the most profitable component of these services: the commuter runs. With post-COVID work-at-home arrangements and part-week in-office work, these ferry services have suffered a tremendous loss of income. But there are glimmers of hope that a recovery is likely, although in a different form, in a different world.Commuter runs are often the bread and butter portion of a ferry services…

Boat builder Silver Ships is partnering with Auburn University’s Industrial Design program and the Auburn University Shellfish Laboratory (AUSL) to create concepts for an oyster farming boat design.Beginning this fall, Silver Ships, AUSL and students within Auburn’s industrial design program will focus on designing several concepts for a new boat to support oyster farming operations. The class offers third-year students the opportunity to engage in their first substantial design…