Marine Link
Thursday, March 28, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Sea Island News

02 Jan 2024

Germany Builds up LNG Import Terminals

© JET-PIX / Adobe Stock

German utility RWE on Jan. 1 handed over floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure at Brunsbuettel on the North Sea to state-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) as agreed when first imports arrived 10 months ago, it said.DET is now the sole operational manager and markets the capacity of the Brunsbuettel Elbehafen LNG project.Germany's quest to increase LNG capacity for regasification on its shores has intensified as it seeks to end reliance on Russian pipeline gas…

24 Oct 2023

Several Missing after Freighters Collide in German North Sea

Search and rescue vessel HERMANN MARWEDE from the DGzRS station Heligoland coordinates the search for the missing people on site.- Credit: German Maritime Search and Rescue Service

Several people are missing after two freighters collided near the German North Sea island of Heligoland, the central command for maritime emergencies said on Tuesday.The Polesie and Verity vessels collided at around 0300 GMT about 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres) southwest of Heligoland, likely causing the Verity to sink, central command said in a statement. One person was rescued from the water and is receiving medical treatment, while several others are still missing, it added.The rescue operation includes a rescue cruiser…

20 Sep 2023

German Mukran Floating LNG Terminal Seen Ready by First Quarter - Gascade Head

Illustration only - FSRU - Credit: KKF/AdobeStock

A new floating reception terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) off the German Baltic Coast should be operational from the first quarter of 2024, gas pipeline operator Gascade, which is building its onshore connection, said on Wednesday.Located off Mukran on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen, the terminal will host two floating storage and reception units (FSRUs) for LNG deliveries into the German mainland and for exports to eastern European neighbours, as the region ends reliance on Russian pipeline gas."All things going well…

26 Jul 2023

New Incat Crowther-designed Fast Ferries Delivered for Germany’s North Sea Island Residents

Credit: Incat Crowther

Three new Incat Crowther-designed fast ferries have been delivered to serve the residents of Germany’s North Sea Island communities, who are set to receive a new commuter ferry service to the mainland.The new ferries will service three busy routes between the North Frisian Islands and Neuharlingersiel, located on the north coast of Germany’s mainland.The three vessels, named WattnExpress, Inselexpress I and Watt Sprinter, have been constructed by Singapore-based Penguin Shipyard International.According to Incat Crowther…

09 Mar 2023

Denmark Investigates Yacht Linked to Nord Stream Blasts

A harbor in Christiansö  (© konradkerker / Adobe Stock)

Danish police have searched for a yacht on a tiny Baltic Sea island near the Nord Stream pipeline blast sites, the local administrator said on Thursday.German authorities confirmed on Wednesday they had raided a ship in January that may have been used to transport explosives used to blow up the pipelines."The police was searching for a specific boat that had moored here in September," Soren Thiim Andersen, the highest authority on the island of Christiansö, told Reuters.The Sept.

21 Feb 2023

Equinor Sells Its Oil Terminal in the Bahamas

(Photo: Equinor)

Norwegian energy company Equinor announced it has entered into an agreement to sell its oil terminal in the Bahamas to Estonian logistics and investment business Liwathon. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.The South Riding Point oil terminal at the Grand Bahama Island, commissioned in 1973 was purchased by Equinor in 2009 to enable the company to trade oil primarily originating from the American markets. The facility comprises 10 large storage tanks with a capacity of 6.8 million barrels (1…

10 Oct 2022

Baltic Sea Island Bornholm Suffers Temporary Power Outage

Credit: Maik Meid/AdobeStock

A Danish Baltic Sea island suffered a temporary power blackout on Monday as a local grid fault caused the transformer feeding electricity from Sweden to shut down, Energinet and E.ON said. Danish transmission system operator Energinet said the blackout had not been caused by damage to the subsea cable feeding the electricity from the transformer station, and power had returned to all consumers on Bornholm. "The fault which caused a power outage on Bornholm on Monday at (0549 GMT) was not directly related to the submarine cable between Bornholm and Sweden…

20 Jun 2022

Denmark Says Russian Warship Violated Its Territorial Waters

© WADII / Adobe Stock

A Russian warship early on Friday twice violated Danish territorial waters north of the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm where a democracy festival attended by senior officials and business people was taking place, the Danish Armed Forces said.Denmark called the action an unacceptable provocation. The Russian embassy in Copenhagen said the Danes provided no evidence.The Russian warship entered Danish waters without authorization at 0030 GMT on Friday and again a few hours later, the armed forces said in a statement.

25 Apr 2022

Houthis Seize 'Hostile' Vessel off Yemen; Saudis Claim Ship Carried Med Equipment

Copyright Peter Hermes Furian/AdobeStock

The Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls most of northern Yemen hijacked a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo vessel engaged in "hostile acts" but which the Saudis said was carrying hospital equipment.The ship was heading to the Saudi port of Jizan, just north of Yemen, from the Yemeni Red Sea island of Socotra when it was attacked just before midnight on Sunday, Saudi state news agency SPA reported, quoting coalition spokesman Brigadier General Turki al-Malki.Saudi Arabia…

07 May 2021

Vattenfall Picks Island Offshore Vessel for Offshore Wind W2W in Germany

Island Diligence - Photo: Gunder Tande Sandersen via Island Offshore

Norwegian offshore vessel operator Island Offshore, mostly known for its offshore vessel services in the Norwegian oil and gas industry, has recently won a walk-to-work contract with Vattenfall in the offshore wind sector in Germany.Island Offshore said the contract was an important one and will see its vessel Island Diligence deployed at Vattenfall-operated DanTysk and Sandbank offshore wind farms in the German part of the North Sea.Island Diligence will provide accommodation and transfer of technicians via the vessel’s gangway solution, to the wind turbines.

19 May 2020

Passenger Ferry LNG Conversion Project Kicks Off

Royal Niestern Sander held a keel laying ceremony for the new stern of the passenger ferry MĂĽnsterland, which will be converted to LNG propulsion. (Photo: Royal Niestern Sander)

Dutch shipyard Royal Niestern Sander has begun building a new aft for a passenger ferry that will be converted to liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion for German operator AG Ems.The shipyard is designing and building a completely new stern section to replace the one existing on the 1986-built passenger ship Münsterland, which will be fited with dual fuel engines, LNG storage tanks, propulsion systems, all LNG installations, pipelines and other systems.Niestern Sander was awarded the contract to undertake the project in July 2019…

09 Jan 2019

Deutsche Bucht Completes Offshore Wind Foundations

Northland Deutsche Bucht has completed the installation of all 31 foundations for its offshore wind farm project in the North Sea.The  Canadian power producer of Northland Power's third offshore wind farm which is  about 95 kilometres to the northwet of the North Sea island of Borkum in Germany’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), pointed out that this successfully concludes the first phase of construction within the planned timeframe.Jens Poulsen, Project Director of Northland Deutsche Bucht GmbH, says: “Installation work on the construction site, which is more than 100 kilometers off the coast, is a real challenge in the winter months.

02 Nov 2017

Glory Amsterdam Refloated from German Sandbar

A rescue team freed the grounded freighter "Glory Amsterdam" from a sandbar near the North Sea island of Langeoog and ruled out an oil leak, German authorities said on Thursday. Two large towing ships pulled the freighter to deep water and 16,000 tons of ballast water were pumped out of it, said Simone Starke, spokeswoman for Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies. Environmental and fishery groups warned of dire consequences to the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage site, if the ship began leaking 1,800 tonnes of heavy oil and 140 tonnes of marine diesel on board but there was no damage to the hull, authorities said. "No leaking was found during the towing process. An oil monitoring plane will accompany the barges towards Wilhelmshaven," said Starke.

01 Nov 2017

Bulker May Remain Stuck on German Sandbar until Friday

Panama flagged bulk carrier Glory Amsterdam sits aground off the coast of Langeoog island in northern Germany. (Photo: Havariekommando)

It may take until Friday to free the grounded freighter "Glory Amsterdam" from a sand bar near the North Sea island of Langeoog, German authorities said on Wednesday, but no holes or cracks are evident in the ship's hull to trigger an oil leak. Shallow waters off the island had forced officials to revise initial plans to dislodge the 225-metre (742-foot) freighter, which ran aground during a storm that killed at least six people in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Environmental and fishery groups have warned of dire environmental consequences to the Wadden Sea…

12 Jul 2016

Taiwan Rejects Ruling on South China Sea Island of Itu Aba

Taiwan said Tuesday it does not accept a tribunal's ruling on the South China Sea, saying the decision on Itu Aba, Taipei's sole holding in the disputed Spratly Islands, had "seriously impaired" its territorial rights. The arbitration court in The Hague ruled that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and that it has breached the sovereign rights of the Philippines with its actions there, infuriating a defiant Beijing. Taiwan, formally known as the "Republic of China", is also a claimant in the South China Sea. The maps China bases its South China Sea claims on date to when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists ruled China before they fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists.

30 Jun 2016

Hybrid RoPax Ferry Delivered to Royal TESO

Texelstroom (Photo: Anglo Belgian Corporation)

Hybrid RoPax ferry Texelstroom has been delivered to Koninklijke N.V. Texels Eigen Stoomboot Onderneming (Royal TESO). This latest generation symmetrical ferry is powered by efficient, medium speed dual fuel engines of Anglo Belgian Corporation (ABC). Texelstroom will be responsible for transporting up to 1,750 passengers and 350 vehicles between the port of Den Helder and the island of Texel. Royal TESO announced on May 8, 2014 that it had signed an agreement with the northern Spanish shipyard LaNaval for the construction of a new ferry.

06 Apr 2016

China Switches on Lighthouse on South China Sea Island

China has begun operating a lighthouse on one of its artificial islands in the South China Sea near where a U.S. warship sailed last year to challenge China's territorial claims. China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. But neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. China's transport ministry held a "completion ceremony", marking the start of operations of the 55-metre (180-ft) high lighthouse on Subi Reef, where construction began in October, state news agency Xinhua said late on Tuesday. The U.S.

24 Mar 2016

Vietnam Vexed by Taiwan Media Trip to Disputed Island

Vietnam rebuked Taiwan on Thursday for taking journalists to a disputed South China Sea island, saying the trip was "illegal and worthless" and against the international community's wishes. The foreign ministry's comment on Wednesday's trip, the first by international media to the Spratly archipelago's Itu Aba island, was an unusually fast response by Vietnam, which often takes days to raise objections about territorial disputes. Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei have competing claims to the Spratly islands. "Taiwan sending reporters ... despite concerns and objections of Vietnam and the international community…

17 Feb 2016

China Deploys Missiles on South China Sea Island

Satellite images show new missiles on Woody Island; China says entitled to necessary self defence facilities. China has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system to one of the disputed islands it controls in the South China Sea, Taiwan and U.S. officials said, ratcheting up tensions even as U.S. President Barack Obama urged restraint in the region. Taiwan defence ministry spokesman Major General David Lo told Reuters on Wednesday the missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island. The island is part of the Paracels chain, under Chinese control for more than 40 years but also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. A U.S. defence official also confirmed the "apparent deployment" of the missiles, first reported by Fox News.

27 May 2015

Philippine, Vietnamese Troops Together on Disputed Island

Vietnamese and Philippine troops played soccer and sang karaoke on a South China Sea island on Wednesday in a sign of the growing security ties between the two Southeast Asian nations most at odds with Beijing over the contested waterway. Cooperation has blossomed between Hanoi and Manila since they shelved decades of enmity over their competing claims in the Spratly archipelago to try to counter China, whose creation of artificial islands in the region will allow it to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. Senior Philippine naval officials said soccer and volleyball games were being played on the Philippine-held island of Northeast Cay.

28 Aug 2014

New Double-ended Ferry for Norderney

The shipping company Norden-Frisia AG had already selected a VSP propulsion system for the Frisia IV. (© Cai Rönnau)

Ferries operated by Norden-Frisia AG have been serving the East Frisian island of Norderney for many decades. Navigation in these coastal waters poses special challenges: in some areas the waterway only leaves a few centimeters below the keel and the water contains a significant amount of swirled-up sand. A new sister ship of the double-ended ferry MS Frisia IV equipped with Voith Schneider Propellers (VSP) is to enter service in summer 2015. The shipping company again chose Voith Schneider Propellers as these are ideally suited for the specific operating conditions in shallow tidelands.

10 Apr 2014

Philippine, Vietnamese Navies To Unite Against China

Philippine navy will soon return to a South China Sea island it lost to Vietnam 40 years ago to drink beer and play volleyball with Vietnamese sailors, symbolising how once-suspicious neighbours are cooperating in the face of China's assertiveness in disputed waters. Diplomats and experts describe the nascent partnership as part of a web of evolving relationships across Asia that are being driven by fear of China as well as doubts among some, especially in Japan, over the U.S. commitment to the region. When U.S. President Barack Obama visits Asia this month he will see signs that once-disparate nations are strategising for the future, even though he will likely seek to shore-up faith in America's "pivot" back to the region.

10 Apr 2014

Philippine, Vietnamese Navies Unite Against China: With Beers And Volleyball

The Philippine navy will soon return to a South China Sea island it lost to Vietnam 40 years ago to drink beer and play volleyball with Vietnamese sailors, symbolizing how once-suspicious neighbors are cooperating in the face of China's assertiveness in disputed waters. Diplomats and experts describe the nascent partnership as part of a web of evolving relationships across Asia that are being driven by fear of China as well as doubts among some, especially in Japan, over the U.S. commitment to the region. When U.S. President Barack Obama visits Asia this month he will see signs that once-disparate nations are strategizing for the future, even though he will likely seek to shore-up faith in America's "pivot" back to the region.