Steam Turbine News

NYK Line, Namura Shipbuilding and Sasebo Heavy Industries are collaborating to replace the main propulsion on steam turbine driven Moss-type LNG carriers to dual-fuel diesel engines and have now completed the basic design step.In October 2023, NYK was granted Approval in Principle (AiP) from ClassNK for the concept, and the three companies will now proceed with a detailed design.The aim is to improve environmental performance, make efficient use of existing vessels and contribute…

The IMO’s latest crunch meeting in early July may not have aligned global shipping with mid-century targets established in the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, its 2023 Strategy indicates a clear direction of travel. Energy supplies by sea are essential for many countries and therefore ships have a key role in supporting the world’s energy transition – not only on their own account, but at a global level.As world shipping accounts for about 3% of greenhouse gas emissions, its environmental importance attracts wide attention. And plenty of criticism.

SUNY Maritime College on Monday announced three major construction projects totaling $24.8 million that will enhance and build on the campus’s state-of-the-art facilities for students pursuing the global marine transportation industry. Ground-breaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies today with state and local leaders celebrated Maritime College’s new Student Learning Center and its fully renovated Marine Engineering Systems Laboratory, made possible through significant New York…

Fires that crippled two Equinor plants in Norway last year were caused by both technical and human errors, the energy company said on Wednesday, promising to hire and train more staff.A blaze last September at Hammerfest LNG, Europe's only large-scale liquefied natural gas plant, caused an outage expected to last 18 months, while a fire in December at the Tjeldbergodden methanol facility took two months to repair."We are bolstering our recruitment of engineering resources within electrical disciplines and up to 50 skilled workers are bound for the onshore facilities…

For most of 2020, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping market was in a depressed state like many other segments of the global gas industry. LNG export cargoes fell by 0.2% y-o-y in 2020 to reach 5,682 shipments, driven by a slowdown in LNG demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The commissioning of various LNG carriers around the world exacerbated that trend. Between the period 2018 and 2020, the market witnessed the record commissioning of LNG carriers, with 134 LNG carriers coming on line, with 41 of those being commissioned in 2020.

The following excerpts are from the new travelogue by Captain Sean P. Tortora, titled, “Steaming to Djibouti…My First Hitch on an Underway Replenishment Ship.”  Join a motivated young merchant marine officer on his first journey onboard a venerable navy auxiliary steamship. Accompany him through the convoluted reporting for duty process through his truly surreal first tour onboard. Meet the oddball characters in the crew and follow their outlandish daily routine. Listen in to the truly jaw-dropping crew interactions.

Oil and gas giant Shell has signed long-term charters for six newbuild liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.Shell has signed separate agreements for two LNG ships each with affiliates of Knutsen LNG, Korea Line Corporation, and ICBC Financial Leasing and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.The 174,000 cbm LNG ships will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. They will all be equipped with dual-fuel X-DF engines, boil-off management plants, air lubrication systems and shaft generators for auxiliary power.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said it has launched a new liquid cargo training facility at its maritime training center in Cyprus as part of a wider boost to LNG training across the whole company, reflecting increasing industry demand and more LNG vessels entering the market.The new Liquid Cargo Simulator (LCS) has been designed and developed by BSM’s inhouse technical team and uses GTT Training software. It offers realistic training on a wide range of vessel types: LNG…

Japanese public multinational corporation Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has delivered the Marvel Pelican, a 155,000 m3 capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport vessel for use by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL).The second of Kawasaki's line of 155,000 m3 capacity LNG carriers to be commissioned, this ship is designed to enable passage through the newly expanded Panama Canal, which opened for full operations in 2016.The Marvel Pelican will be used by MOL primarily to transport LNG procured via the American Cameron LNG Project in the U.S. state of Louisiana.While preserving hull dimensions to enable docking at major LNG terminals around the world…

As the marine industry evolves toward autonomous operations, one of the sticking points traditionally has been centered on maintenance and answering the question: “what happens when machinery needs fixed?”Helping to advance the technologies is the NYK Group, which recently finished a concluded a joint research agreement for developing advanced condition-based maintenance (CBM), a new maintenance and management process for ship machinery which eschews the maritime practice of time-based maintenance (TBM).

The global liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier containment market was USD 11.21 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach around USD15.56 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 4.9% between 2019 and 2025.The LNG carrier containment market is majorly driven by the rising demand for natural gas from various industries and LNG’s growing number of residential and commercial applications, said a report by Zion Market Research.Furthermore, LNG has witnessed an exponential increase in its demand as an automobile fuel in recent past, which has bolstered supportive government regulations for cleaner fuel that aims to reduce dependence on petroleum…

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries company based in Yokohama, christened Mitsui & Co.(MOL) liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier named Marvel Heron.The 297.5-meter-long vessel is Mitsubishi Shipbuilding's newest carrier that achieves significant improvements in both LNG carrying capacity and fuel performance through adoption of a more efficient hull structure and an innovative hybrid propulsion system.After completion scheduled in September, the Marvel Heron will go into service primarily transporting LNG for the Cameron LNG Project, in which Mitsui is a participating partner.The christening ceremony was held at the Koyagi Plant of MHI's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works.

Japanese ocean transport company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) named the newbuilding LNG carrier Sohshu Maru ordered by Trans Pacific Shipping 8, a joint venture between MOL and JERA Co., Inc., the world's biggest LNG buyer.The naming ceremony was held at the Sakaide Works of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kobe city, Hyogo.Among those on hand for the event were JERA Chairman Toshihiro Sano, who named the vessel the Sohshu Maru, after which his wife, Mrs. Eiko Sano cut the rope.Sohshu Maru is equipped with DFDE (Dual Fuel Diesel Electric) propulsion system(Note2). This system achieves heat efficiency, and is a more environment-friendly, economically superior design than normal Steam Turbine propulsion system.DFDE system can use both heavy fuel oil and natural gas…

Infrastructure continues to expand, and pricing incentives will continue to shift as the market matures. The LNG markets look like they may resemble the clean product tanker market in several years, which is highly arbitrage driven. We look to see an increased number of portfolio players working the spot market, which will drive the commoditization of the space and enable further demand.The total ton-mile demand for LNG carriers has increased over the past several years. More than 60 countries have imported LNG cargoes in the past quarter…

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipper Golar announced that it has decided to proceed with a spin-off of its Tri-Fuel Diesel Electric (TFDE) LNG carrier business as well as to focus its activities primarily on floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) and downstream assets.According to a stock exchange announcement, this will allow LNG shipping investors more direct exposure to the LNG shipping market and reposition Golar's core business toward LNG infrastructure on long-term contracts.Golar are in talks with other owners of similar tonnage to join the new shipping company and have discussed with Golar Power exchanging one of their LNG carriers for the FSRU Golar Tundra.Management of Golar's vessels will remain with Golar Management Norway AS…

On May 14, a naming ceremony was held at the Nagasaki shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that NYK and JERA Co. will jointly own. The ceremony was attended by Satoshi Onoda, president of JERA Co. Inc.; Tadaaki Naito, president of NYK; and a number of related parties.At the ceremony, the ship was named “Bushu Maru” by Mr. Onoda, and the ceremonial rope holding the vessel in place was cut by his wife. The ship derives its name from Musashi province…

On April 19, a naming ceremony was held at the Nagasaki Shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier owned by a joint company established by NYK, the Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), Toho LNG Shipping Co. Ltd. (Toho LNG Shipping),* and Tohoku Electric Power Co. Inc. (Tohoku Electric Power).At the ceremony, the ship was named “Diamond Gas Sakura” by Yoshiro Tominari, representative director and president of Toho Gas Co. Ltd., and Toshinori Abe…

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding held a christening ceremony on February 21 for the next-generation LNG (liquefied natural gas) carrier currently under construction for Mitsui & Co., Ltd.The new ship, named Marvel Crane, is a design that significantly improves both LNG carrying capacity and fuel performance due to the adoption of efficient hull structure and hybrid propulsion system. Completion is scheduled for March 2019, after which the Marvel Crane will be put into service, transporting LNG for the Cameron LNG Project in the U.S., in which Mitsui & Co.

BP Shipping took delivery of British Partner, the first of a half dozen new 173,400 cu. m. capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers to be delivered through 2018 and 2019 from the DSME shipyard in South Korea. BP Shipping, which launched a fleet rejuvenation program in 2016 that includes 32 new vessels for delivery over a three-year period, said the six new Partnership class ships will increase its ability to transport LNG in emerging new markets, such as Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt and Bangladesh, in addition to established markets, such as India, China, the U.S.

The first Sayaringo STaGE type LNG carrierMitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (MHIMSB) delivered the first Sayaringo STaGE type liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, named Diamond Gas Orchid in June, 2018. The Sayaringo STaGE, which was developed based on MHIMSB's cutting-edge technology, has a continuous cover over the cargo tanks, a feature inherited from its predecessor the “Sayaendo”, and while keeping this merit, incorporates apple-shaped MOSS-type cargo tanks and a twin-shaft hybrid propulsion system “STaGE” plant, enhancing economic efficiency, environment friendliness, and versatility.

Japan's largest oil and gas exploration and production company INPEX Corporation has installed ClassNK-NAPA GREEN for monitoring operations on three of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.NAPA said that Inpex awarded a deal to the company for the provision of a solution for monitoring and follow-up of ship operations on two LNG carriers built to service the Ichthys project and one LNG carrier for Shell’s Prelude FLNG project.With the core motivation of accurately verifying the technical performance of these highly complex carriers, INPEX chose ClassNK-NAPA GREEN for the combination of NAPA’s LNG carrier design understanding and market leading performance monitoring software.The Oceanic Breeze…

With less than a week until Christmas and most of our presents bought, we're feeling the pinch. However, that's nothing compared to the amount that some have been spending this year. VesselsValue's Senior Analyst Court Smith gives a rundown on which countries have splashed the most cash on second hand vessel purchases over 2018.USAJP Morgan Global Maritime is the US company who has spent the most on second hand vessels: 308 million USD so far in 2018. However, they have changed their purchasing strategy half way through the year.

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. held a christening ceremony for a next-generation LNG (liquefied natural gas) carrier under construction for TRANS PACIFIC SHIPPING 5 LTD., a joint venture of JERA Co., Inc. (JERA) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL). The new ship, named Nohshu Maru, is the fourth vessel of the latest model "Sayaringo STaGE" type, featuring significant improvements in both LNG carrying capacity and fuel performance due to the adoption of a more efficient hull structure and an innovative hybrid propulsion system.