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The oceans are inextricably connected to the health of the planet, and of humans: they absorb up to 30% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 90% of excess heat, and over 3 billion people — almost half the global population — depend directly on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods.Healthy coastal ecosystems are also critical to the world’s ability to withstand the impact of climate change. Not only do mangrove forests, for example, hold four times the amount of carbon per hectare as tropical forests…

PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH), an Asian operator of offshore support vessels, with a diversified fleet servicing offshore oil and gas E&P activities,  said its joint venture, POSH Terasea (PTPL) would be voluntarily liquidated by creditors after it defaulted on a facility with an outstanding amount of around US$27.6 million.POSH said the maximum potential financial impact arising from the liquidation will be up to $42m and no material impact to its operating cash flow is expected.PTPL is 50 percent-owned by POSH and 50 percent-owned by Terasea, which itself is a 50:50 joint venture between Ezion and Seabridge Marine Services.Independent of PTPL…

Singapore-listed operator of offshore support vessels PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH) has agreed to acquire the 50 per cent stake held by Sembcorp Marine (SMM) in harbour services provider Pacific Workboats Pte Ltd (PWPL) for over US$679,400 in cash.PWPL is a 50:50 joint venture between POSH and Dolphin Shipping Company, a 100% owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine Limited. The 50% stake actually belongs to Dolphin. PWPL offers harbour services in Singapore and across the region.The Acquisition is expected to complete by end 2019, following which PWPL will cease to be a joint venture of POSH and will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of POSH…

Denmark-based GreenSteam, a majority owned company of BP, has acquired BMT’s data collection and performance optimisation subsidiary UK-based firm SMART. The marine efficiency software solutions provider is reputable in leveraging Machine Learning methodologies and next generation fuel saving platforms to stimulate the sustainable development of Shipping and World Sea Trade.The sale of SMART, a data collection and performance optimization software solution, to GreenSteam, follows a strategic business review by BMT to focus on its core Infrastructure, Defense and Security, Commercial Shipping and Environmental divisions and, as well,…

Remi Eriksen, Group President and CEO of DNV GL, has been on the job for nearly three years, taking over at arguably one of the more challenging and pivotal times in maritime history. We met with Eriksen recently in Athens, Greece, for his insights on the markets and DNV GL’s position going forward.While Remi Eriksen’s tenure at the top of DNV GL has coincided almost perfectly with one of the maritime industry’s deepest and longest slumps, he said that there is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, with a small pick up in shipbuilding year-on-year since 2016.

Marine transport company Rickmers Maritime has been offered a credit facility worth USD 260 million in order to cover bank debt. The carrier is also considering converting its debt to bonds worth more than USD 70 million as part of an ongoing restructuring of the listed company's debt burden. Rickmers Maritime received an offer from HSH Syndicate for a restructured secured amortising term loan facility of up to US$260.2 million, says a report in Singapore Business Review. This is to refinance the company’s outstanding debt under existing facilities granted by its lenders. Rickmers revealed that a successful entry into the new loan facility would extend the maturities of a large part of the company’s secured bank debts to the first quarter of 2021…

Singapore's Marco Polo Marine Ltd, whose business includes building and chartering ships, said it has appointed KPMG Services as an adviser to conduct an independent business review of the company. The company, which has S$50 million ($37.19 million) worth of notes maturing on Oct. 18, said it would hold an informal meeting with holders of the notes on Sept. 13 to present KPMG's review and discuss various options in connection with the notes. Marco Polo is one of several companies in Singapore's offshore and marine sector whose financial results have been hit by the slump in oil prices.

Mr Vestring, 50, is a partner in Bain & Company's (Bain) Southeast Asia office. Of his 24-year career with Bain, Mr Vestring has spent over two decades in Asia advising leading companies on portfolio strategy, growth, mergers and acquisitions, merger integration, organisation and performance improvement. The companies he has advised include those in shipping, offshore & marine, industrial products, automotive, infrastructure, commodities, airlines and telecoms. Mr Vestring works closely with Asian and multinational companies to grow organically and inorganically across Asia. He is also part of Bain's Developing Market 100 initiative that partners high-growth companies in developing markets on the journey towards global leadership. and Bangkok.

Austal christened USNS Trenton (JHSV 5) January 10 at its shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. USNS Trenton is the fifth of 10 Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) that Austal has under contract with the U.S. Navy as part of an overall 10-ship block-buy contract worth over $1.6 billion. The 338-foot catamaran vessel was named Trenton by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, after the capital of the state of New Jersey and the site of George Washington's first military victory during the American Revolutionary War.

Austal christened USNS Trenton (JHSV 5) this morning at its state-of-the-art shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. USNS Trenton is the fifth of ten Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) that Austal has under contract with the U.S. Navy as part of an overall 10-ship block-buy contract worth over $1.6 billion. The 338-foot catamaran vessel was named Trenton by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, after the capital of the state of New Jersey and the site of George Washington's first military victory during the American Revolutionary War. According to Secretary Mabus, “Trenton displays American values of community, perseverance and resourcefulness at their very best.

Info-X Software Technology, provider of software solutions and back-office support to U.S.-based transportation companies, introduced its newly renovated and expanded $5 million headquarter facility situated in Gurgaon, the high-tech capital of India. The facility expansion accommodates the growing number of new employees, which increases 15-20% a year. “The success of our back-office business for the forwarding and NVO business in particular is driving the need for more space,” said Rishi Parti, Director, Info-X Software Technology.

Every year there are countless books written about leadership and management, supplemented by a mountain of similarly themed magazine articles and scholarly treatises, eagerly snapped up by legions of wanna-be bosses and officers. As a culture, we are obsessed with leadership, especially leaders as heroic figures, and we are constantly seeking the right formula to make us so. But all those would-be captains of industry – and the oceans – might find it a lot easier to step away from the stacks and take a page from a leader extraordinaire…

Former USCG Admiral Thad Allen is a transformational leader in the history of the service, a rock through thick and thin. Today he talks about resource allocation, risk management and homeland security. As part of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Justice and Homeland Security business group, Executive Vice President and former U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen leads the development of thought leadership and client engagements regarding the future direction of law enforcement and homeland security. The Coast Guard is under pressure to either pare its mission mix or downscale what it does.

International maritime lawyers Jason R. Margulies and Michael A. Winkleman, of Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman, P.A. , have secured the top verdict in Florida for admiralty and maritime law in 2012 for the case: William C. Skye v. Maersk Line Limited Corporation, doing business as Maersk Line Limited. The verdict was published in the 'Daily Business Review' a legal and business periodical that ranks and publishes Florida Top Verdicts. Attorneys Margulies and Winkleman secured the successful verdict on May 16, 2012 under the Jones Act for the plaintiff, William Skye, a commercial ship crew member who sustained permanent physical injuries to the heart as a result of the negligent working environment created by his employer, Maersk Line Limited.

International classification society Bureau Veritas has issued its annual group global Activity Report and its separate Marine and Offshore Business Review. The Bureau Veritas 2012 Activity Report provides a global picture of the group's performance and key achievements in 2012 and highlights the diversity of services delivered. The group revenues grew strongly in 2012 to Euro 3.9bn, up 16%. The group is active globally in eight major sectors: marine, industry, in-service inspection, construction, certification, commodities, consumer products and government services.

Elliott Bay Design Group LLC (EBDG) announced that its management and employees have purchased the firm from its parent company, American Commercial Lines (ACL). The transaction closed on December 1, 2011. Following an internal business  review, ACL decided to divest itself of EBDG to focus on its core businesses – inland towing and barge construction. Both EBDG and ACL look forward to working together on future vessel building projects. EBDG is also in the process of re-opening its second office in New Orleans, La. “We effected the management buyout with the goal of growing the firm, pursuing a wider range of projects and having greater flexibility to hire outstanding employees,” said John Waterhouse, Chief Concept Engineer at EBDG.

Bureau Veritas says continuing pressure on environmental emissions, coupled with rising oil prices, puts a new focus on operational efficiency. Writing in the Bureau Veritas Marine Business Review 2011 Bernard Anne, managing director of BV’s Marine Division said, “Efficiency has to take on a new meaning. To be efficient means more than optimising a ship to burn less fuel when loaded and at its design service speed. It must burn less fuel and cleaner fuel across a wide range of loading conditions and a wide range of speeds. “To be efficient means more than saving fuel, it means burning the right fuel in the right place, making a pathway for the use of gas, nuclear and fuel cell solutions.

LEADING international classification society Bureau Veritas says continuing pressure on environmental emissions, coupled with rising oil prices, puts a new focus on operational efficiency. Writing in the Bureau Veritas Marine Business Review 2011 Bernard Anne, managing director of BV’s Marine Division says, “Efficiency has to take on a new meaning. To be efficient means more than optimising a ship to burn less fuel when loaded and at its design service speed. It must burn less fuel and cleaner fuel across a wide range of loading conditions and a wide range of speeds.

Brazilian oil and gas firm OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes has discovered hydrocarbons in the Albian and Aptian sections of the 1-OGX-31-RJS well in the Campos basin, offshore Brazil.   (Source: Energy Business Review)

Bureau Veritas has topped 8,000 ships in its classed fleet, which now totals over 60m gt. With the delivery of the high speed passenger ferry Superstar from Fincantieri to its owners Tallink in April 2008, the BV classed fleet reached more than 60.2 m gt and 8,000 ships. The continuing strong fleet growth follows excellent financial results reported in April, with the BV group posting a turnover of Euro2.067bn, up 12 percent on 2006, and adjusted net profit up 19 per cent. Both figures reflected guidance given before a successful IPO in October 2007, and the forecast for group growth in 2008 is 15 per cent overall. However the Marine Division outperformed the rest of the group in 2007 and continues to grow strongly, not only in the classed fleet but in a wide range of services to owners.

Bureau Veritas has posted annual results which show the eight consecutive year of annual growth averaging over 17 percent. up 12 per cent on 2002. EBIT grew 25 per cent to Euro155.4m ($183m). Consolidated net profit grew 10 per cent to Euro95.9m (US$113m). June. Since 1995 the group turnover has multiplied by almost four times. skilled workforce has been increased from 6,000 to over 19,000 today. services to industry. offshore industries. to put BV in second position globally. backbone of the group. backed by a strong performance in newbuilding markets. fleet stands now at over 6,700 vessels of more than 41.2mgt. strong growth in associated services and consulting. containment systems. maintenance of their floaters. during 2003. IACS benefits the whole industry.

Leadership Excellence Award by the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the United States Naval Academy and the Harvard Business Review. employee development, and deliver consistent results at U.S.-based companies. Ronald D. Sugar, chairman and chief executive officer for Northrop Grumman. discussion, How Leaders Make a Difference. decision making.