Tracing News

The U.S. Navy on Friday celebrated the keel laying of the lead ship of the Constellation class of guided-missile frigates, the future USS Constellation (FFG 62), at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Marinette, Wis.Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti participated in the ceremony along with Wisconsin governor Tony Evers and Fincantieri Marine Group CEO Marco Galbiati.Hundreds of FMM shipbuilders gathered with guests inside the shipyard’s massive new climate-controlled Building 34…

The Baltic exchange's main sea freight index tracing rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities recorded its first monthly decline in three months on Thursday, pressured by lower rates for the larger capesize and panamax vessel segments.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, edged down by 8 points, to 1,086.The main index shed 3.6% for the month of August.The capesize index fell 29 points or 2.6% to 1,094 on Thursday, its lowest level in almost six months.

Credeblug and Tecnalia have teamed to improve the maintenance and repair operations carried out on underwater power cables. The end result: the manufacture and validation of s cutting and clamping tool, designed to secure one end of a cable after it has been cut, aiming to save time and money.“This functionality has been called for by offshore cable repair teams all over the world since such operations began in the 19th century," said Joannes Berquè, a TECNALIA researcher. "To this day, current cutting tools mean that the ends of the cable drop off after they have been cut.

The Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) has published a green steel and shipping report calling for circularity in shipbuilding. Steel is the primary shipbuilding material, making over 75% of a vessel by weight, and the steel industry is responsible for 7-9% of global GHG emissions. Addressing steel emissions is critical to decarbonizing across the ship lifecycle, says SSI, and provides opportunities for collaboration with the steel sector and other steel demand sectors. The report identified drivers and barriers to closing the loop on steel in shipping…

An emerging technology to fish for lobsters virtually ropeless to prevent whale entanglements is exciting conservationists, but getting a frigid reception from harvesters worried it will drive them out of business and upend their way of life.Injuries to endangered North Atlantic Right Whales ensnared in fishing gear have fueled a prominent campaign by environmental groups to pressure the industry to adopt on-demand equipment that only suspends ropes in the water briefly before traps are pulled from the water.The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch…

Romania and Poland are in talks with the European Commission over export tracing mechanisms for Ukrainian grains to ensure local farmers are not hurt by a flood of cheap imports, the Polish and Romanian prime ministers said on Tuesday.Ukraine, one of the world's largest grain exporters, has seen its Black Sea ports blocked since Russia invaded more than a year ago and has been forced to find alternative shipping routes through European Union states Poland and Romania.But logistical bottlenecks mean that large quantities of Ukrainian grains…

Biofuels provider GoodFuels announced the results of a new partnership with global certification organization Control Union and France’s IDS Group to test the effectiveness of a unique isotopic tracer for biofuels.A successful pilot, conducted during a recent delivery of 500 tonnes of biofuel to the Norden-owned tanker Nord Gardenia, has proven the effectiveness of the tracer technology in real-life applications.The partnership, which commenced in early 2022, has seen the companies collaborate to create the new tracer…

Japan's Marubeni Corporation announced it has conducted a trial voyage onboard one of its chartered ethylene carriers using a marine biofuel blend, from Vlissingen, the Netherlands to Morgan's Point, Texas, as the maritime industry continues to explore ways to decarbonize its operations."To the best of our knowledge, this is the first biofuel supply to an ethylene carrier in the world," the company said. "The voyage was aimed at understanding whether technical issues such as combustibility…

South Korea's prime minister and defense minister apologized as hundreds of COVID-19-infected sailors were flown to Seoul on Tuesday after a navy destroyer patrolling the waters off Africa was found to be riddled with the coronavirus.Almost 250 of the 301 unvaccinated crew aboard the destroyer Munmu the Great were infected, sparking a public furor at the government's failure to protect those serving abroad. read moreThe whole crew arrived home on Tuesday after the government carried out an emergency air evacuation…

New Zealand authorities said Monday that two symptomatic crew members onboard the Mattina container ship, currently in quarantine in Bluff, have tested positive for COVID-19.The Marshall Island-flagged vessel came into port Sunday night and all 21 crew members were tested Monday morning."Rapid tests were ordered for the two symptomatic cases. Health officials report their condition is regarded as improving. The test results for the remainder of the crew are due back later tonight," New Zealand's Ministry of Health said."Both crew members who've tested positive, joined the ship in Singapore on 2 July after providing negative pre-departure tests," the Ministry said."Health officials in Southern DHB are working with other agencies to determine the next steps for the ship.

South Korea is sending a medical team to the Middle East to tackle a coronavirus outbreak on one of its ships on anti-piracy patrol while at home, new daily infections are hovering around record levels with 1,600 reported on Thursday.South Korea was for months a coronavirus success story as it kept outbreaks under control with testing, tracing and social distancing but the Delta variant has been fueling a new wave of persistent infections in recent weeks.The outbreak on the South Korean destroyer with some 300 service members on board operating in the Gulf of Aden is another headache for the a

A Genting Cruise Lines ship on a "cruise to nowhere" has returned to Singapore after a confirmed case of COVID-19 in a passenger, and the nearly 3,000 passengers and crew on board were confined to their cabins through most of Wednesday.The 40-year-old passenger tested positive onboard and the result was confirmed after the person was taken to hospital once the ship docked early on Wednesday, the Singapore Tourism Board said, following the detection of the suspected case."The passenger was identified as a close contact of a confirmed case on land…

Royal Caribbean Group and Carnival Corp will push ahead with a return to cruises this summer despite two guests onboard Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Millennium ship testing positive for COVID-19.A year after several cruise ships were host to major coronavirus outbreaks and with large numbers of Americans now vaccinated, cruise lines have been striving to get the business going.Shares in Royal Caribbean, Carnival Corp, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd fell between 1% and 2% in response to the report of the positive tests.Asked by Reuters on Friday…

Cruise operator Royal Caribbean said on Thursday two guests onboard its Celebrity Millennium ship have tested positive for COVID-19, but are asymptomatic and currently in isolation.The guests, who were sharing a room, are being monitored by the company’s medical team, the cruise operator said, adding that it was conducting contact tracing, expediting testing for all close contacts of the individuals.Celebrity Millennium was one of the first cruises in North America to restart sailing last week, after more than a year.Royal Caribbean started sailing in June after meeting the Centers for Disease

Indonesia reported a new cluster of 42 coronavirus infections among medical workers who treated 13 Filipino ship crew who were sick with COVID-19, and is tracing dozens of others, a government official said on Sunday.About 140 other medical workers came into close contact with the crew of the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Hilma Bulker, who tested positive for the new coronavirus after docking in Central Java on April 25, the province's governor, Ganjar Pranowo, told Reuters. The vessel had come from India.Genome sequencing showed the crew had the highly infectious B.1617.2 variant first identified in India, Ganjar said, adding that one of them had later died in hospital."For now we're actively tracing their nurses.

In early 2021, the somber news from the cruise sector continued. For some cruise brands, their own version of “lockdowns” will have spanned an entire year. By late January, 2021, Carnival and others were hesitantly pegging their restarts for April/May 2021, and for some markets, late summer, under a Conditional Sail Order promulgated late last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).What else to do but look ahead?In preliminary earnings guidance, Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL)…

A Royal Caribbean “cruise-to-nowhere” from Singapore began disembarking its nearly 1,700 passengers who were confined to their cabins for more than 16 hours on Wednesday after a COVID-19 case was detected onboard, forcing the ship back to port.All passengers aboard the Quantum of the Seas had cleared a mandatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the virus up to three days before the four-day cruise began on Monday.Authorities said close contacts of the COVID-19 patient among the 1,680 guests and 1,148 crew members on board had so far tested negative.

Nearly 1,700 passengers on a Royal Caribbean ‘cruise-to-nowhere’ from Singapore remained confined in their cabins for more than 14 hours on Wednesday after a COVID-19 case was detected on board, forcing the ship back to port.All passengers aboard the Quantum of the Seas vessel had cleared a mandatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the virus up to three days before the four-day cruise started on Monday.Authorities said close contacts of the patient among the 1,680 guests and 1…

Hit by cabin fever, hundreds of Singapore residents itching to get out of the tiny country boarded a “cruise to nowhere” on Friday, a rare chance to sail the seas after the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the cruise industry.Before starting their short “seacation” on the 335-meter World Dream, passengers underwent coronavirus swab tests before boarding the vessel, which was operating at half capacity to prevent crowding.Retiree Ang Sen Hock, 73, said he had no fear about getting infected and had booked several more trips later in the month.“Not worried.

The Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Charles Ray, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. He was tested the same day, after feeling mild symptoms over the weekend, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.The Coast Guard's second-in-command will quarantine from home in line with the Coast Guard's coronavirus policy. Any Coast Guard personnel that were in close contact with Admiral Ray will also quarantine.Other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are also quarantining at…

Today would have been the day that SMM 2020 opened its doors if it hadn't been for the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, organizers of the maritime industry's largest trade fair are preparing for the rescheduled date in February 2021."Of course, the entire SMM team is a bit sad the fair isn't starting today. But increasingly, this regret is giving way to a sense of anticipation of a rather unique SMM in February 2021," says Claus Ulrich Selbach, Business Unit Director – Maritime and Technology Fairs & Exhibitions at Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH (HMC).

On Sunday the first major cruise ship to take to the Mediterranean in almost five months sailed out of the Italian city of Genoa. Passengers on the MSC Grandiosa were tested for coronavirus before stepping on board. The ship—which has brought in an array of strict measures to limit the spread of the virus—will stop at three Italian ports and the Maltese capital Valletta in a seven-day voyage. But will these measures be enough to help the sector survive the pandemic? A lot is riding on the success of this Italian cruise.After all…

Salvage operations to remove the overturned car carrier Golden Ray from St. Simons Sound in Georgia have resumed after work was paused due to coronavirus concerns and Hurricane Isaias.Due to the potential impact of the Hurricane to the St. Simons Sound area, the Unified Command (UC) response team implemented its Heavy Weather Plan which required the repositioning and securing of all response assets in advance of the storm’s passing.“Our advanced planning for heavy weather paid dividends.