V Ya News

Massterly has opened its new Remote Operation Center (ROC) in Horten, Norway as the company transitions from the testing phase to fully-fledged autonomous vessel operational capabilities."The opening of the ROC is a milestone in Massterly's history and represents a big step forward for autonomous shipping," said Tom Eystø, General Manager of Massterly, a jointly owned venture between Kongsberg Maritime and the Wilhelmsen Group formed in 2018. "With the support of our owners, including our partners ASKO…

In the global quest for achieving net zero emissions and slowing down global warming, carbon capture and storage (CCUS) technology has emerged as an important solution. Among the notable projects being developed in the field is the Northern Lights offshore carbon capture and storage project in Norway, a country with long experience with offshore CO2 storage.The transition to a sustainable energy future requires innovative solutions that go beyond simply halting fossil fuel projects.

Norwegian firm Maritime Robotics said it has been given the green light to establish a freight route for its uncrewed vessels in the Trondheimsfjord in Norway.With approval from the Norwegian Coastal Administration and the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, Maritime Robotics will now operate its environmentally friendly and sustainable uncrewed surface vehicles (USV) to transport goods and equipment between its headquarters in Trondheim and production premises in Vanvikan, located on the Fosenhalvøya.Maritime Robotics’ uncrewed surface vehicle…

Hundreds of workers set up oil barriers along beach fronts in Thailand's eastern Rayong province on Friday as authorities raced to limit the environmental damage from gallons of oil that leaked from an underwater pipeline earlier this week.The leak from a pipeline owned by Star Petroleum Refining Public Company Limited (SPRC) started late on Tuesday and was brought under control a day later after spilling an estimated 50,000 litres (13,209 gallons) of oil into the ocean 20 kilometers…

Survitec’s advanced fire fighting system and safety equipment aboard Yara Birkeland – the world’s first fully autonomous containership – has successfully completed its first annual service ahead of the 3200dwt ship’s first laden voyage.The zero-emission, fully electric Yara Birkeland is preparing to carry its first fertilizer cargo on the Herøya-Brevik route in early 2022.The groundbreaking vessel, which deployed on its maiden manned voyage in November, operates a unique, automatic…

Shipping firm AAL Shipping has recently delivered four of the largest rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) in its history to the Port of Oslo, Norway. The mobile cranes, measuring 36 m in height and 28 m in length, were transported from Taicang in China to Oslo on a single sailing aboard the 31,000 deadweight multipurpose vessel (MPV), the AAL Pusan. The cranes were engineered and manufactured by Kalmar, part of Cargotec and Rainbow-Cargotec Industries Co. Ltd  (RCI) in Taicang,…

German propulsion specialist SCHOTTEL said it has delivered main propulsion units for a 42-meter ferry being built by the Netherlands-based Holland Shipyards Group. The recently launched Sandøy is the first fully electric ferry for the Norwegian operator Brevik Fergeselskap, and is equipped with two SCHOTTEL RudderPropellers.The 42-meter-long and 11-meter-wide vessel will be able to accommodate up to 98 pedestrians as well as 16 cars. Scheduled to be ready for service later this year…

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…

Aker Horizons has signed a Letter of Intent with Statkraft and Yara with the aim to establish "Europe's first industrial-scale green ammonia project in Norway, enable the hydrogen economy, and accelerate the energy transition." The company said the first project in the partnership will be to electrify Yara's existing ammonia facility in Porsgrunn, "which has the potential to be one of the largest climate initiatives in Norwegian industrial history."The partners will further target green hydrogen and green ammonia opportunities within shipping…

The supervisor of Singaporean shipping group Xihe Holdings Pte Ltd has put seven oil tankers controlled by the company up for sale as part of efforts to recoup funds owed to creditors, three sources said on Wednesday. Xihe Holdings is part of the Lim family business empire, which also includes oil trader Hin Leong Trading and fleet manager Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd, both of which were placed under court-appointed supervisors earlier this year.The sale includes three crude oil supertankers and is expected to get fully underway in the coming days, the sources said.The ships were valued at a total of just over $196 million, according to vessel…

Festøya, the first in a series of four new hybrid ferries due for delivery to Norwegian ferry operator Norled in 2020, entered service in mid-July.The double-ended RoPax ferries are being built at the Remontowa shipyard in Poland. Two of the 114.4 m long and 17.7 m wide Norled ferries will service the Festøya-Solavågen route and are capable of taking on board up to 120 cars and 296 passengers. The other two vessels will operate the Mannheller-Fodnes route and are certified to carry more…

Norwegian ferry operator Brevik Fergeselskap has ordered a new electric passenger/ vehicle double-ender ferry from Holland Shipyards in Hardingxveld-Giessendam.The keel laying ceremony of the electric ferry has taken place on Wednesday February 12, 2020 at Holland Shipyards Group.The event was attended by both the board of Brevik Fergeselskap and Holland Shipyards Group. Mr. Bjørge Fredheim from Brevik Fergeselskap had the honor of welding a part of the section.After a joint engineering process, the ceremony signifies the start of the actual building phase of the project.The vessel, the first fully electric ferry for Brevik Fergeselskap, will operate within the waters of Eidangerfjorden. The ferry service connects Brevik with Sandøya and Bjørkøya.

Norwegian energy company Equinor reached a milestone at its Hammerfest LNG facility on Melkøya Island, “the Snøhvit plant”,  by loading the 1000th cargo of the chilled fuel.The cargo consists of 140 500 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Total sales value of all the LNG cargos since the field came on stream is in the range of NOK 130-150 billion. In addition, we have the value of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate.Arctic Discoverer is the name of the tanker that will carry cargo number 1000 from the Hammerfest LNG plant. It will transport an LNG cargo from Melkøya to Bilbao in Spain.With this cargo the plant has produced and delivered LNG at a value of NOK 130-150 billion since it came on stream in 2007, depending on the prices achieved in the period.

The sustainable energy solutions provider Vestas Wind Systems A/S has received a 34 MW order for the Haramsfjellet wind project on the island of Haramsøya in western Norway.The Danish manufacturer has developed a solution to fit the site’s wind conditions that includes eight V136-4.2 MW turbines and a long-term service contract to optimise energy production for the lifetime of the project in a high wind location."With a robust design for tough wind sites, the turbine is well-suited for the challenging climatic conditions that are commonly found on Norway’s western coastline," said a press release.The order is placed by Finnish-based Taaleri Energia investing via their SolarWind II fund in the project that will have an annual production of about 112 GWh…

Havyard’s collaboration with the Turkish shipyard Cemre has been decisive in the company’s ability to deliver top-quality competitive newbuilds from its own shipyard in Leirvik in Sogn.On Saturday, August 24, Cemre Shipyard launched the hull of Havyard Ship Technology AS’s build number 144. The hull will now be towed to Leirvik for fitting out, testing and completion and is scheduled for delivery to Fjord1 in January 2020, to operate the Sandvika - Edøya service. This marks the 50th hull built by Cemre for Havyard…

For the next month, Jan Stenløkk will trade his office in Stavanger for the vessel "M/V Seabed Constructor" in the Norwegian Sea.On this voyage, the geologist will continue the task of mapping seabed minerals for the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate on behalf of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy – which is responsible for managing the minerals."The voyage will go to the volcanic Mohns Ridge between Jan Mayen and Bjørnøya, a sea area that is still virtually unexplored. It’s exciting that the NPD has been given the task of exploring the geology and the deposits, as well as performing the mapping. We are now at the very beginning of work that could have a significant impact on Norwegian resources and industry in the future…

Somewhere on its journey from the waters off Iran, around Africa's southern tip and into the Mediterranean, the Grace 1 oil tanker lost the flag under which it sailed and ceased to be registered to Panama. Iran later claimed it as its own.The ship carrying 2 million barrels of Iranian crude was seized by British Royal Marines off Gibraltar, raising tensions in the Gulf where Iran detained a UK-flagged ship in retaliation.Grace 1 remains impounded, not because of its flag but because it was suspected of taking oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions, an allegation that Iran denies.Yet Panama's move on May 29 to strike it from its register…

Norway-based Brunvoll AS has signed a contract with the Kongsberg Group covering delivery of propulsion systems for Yara Birkeland, the world’s first fully electric and autonomous containership.Brunvoll's delivery includes two pulling azimuth propellers for propulsion and two tunnel thrusters for maneuvering, all of which will gain power from an accompanying 6.8 MWh battery pack.Fertilizer manufacturer Yara and the Kongsberg Group is behind this first autonomous ship of its kind in the world. Yara's goal of the project is to transport fertilizer by sea between its factory at Herøya and the ports of Brevik and Larvik. The vessel will reduce NOx and CO2 emissions by reducing diesel-powered truck transport by around 40…

Breakbulk and project heavy lift specialist AAL Shipping has shipped 22 petrochemical plant modules from Wison Heavy Industry’s facilities in China for the an ethylene-glycol plant expansion project in Point Comfort, Texas on behalf of Pacific Ocean Group.The shipment of 22 modules – 26,000 cbm in total and weighing 1,280 t – was loaded in Nantong and transported on a single sailing to Point Comfort aboard the mega-size MPV, the A-Class 31,000 dwt AAL Pusan.The project made good use of her 700 t max heavy lifting gear in loading and discharge operations, and harnessed over half of her copious intake capacity of 40,000 cbm, with several…

The Finnish technology group Wärtsilä has signed an agreement with the international shipping company Hagland Shipping AS for a hybrid retrofit installation.The project will take place onboard the ‘Hagland Captain’, a general cargo vessel owned by Hagland Shipping. It will be the first project of its kind ever in short-sea shipping applications. The agreement was signed in December 2018.The installation of a Wärtsilä battery hybrid propulsion solution will significantly enhance the ship’s environmental performance by reducing its emissions, fuel consumption, and noise. Included in the solution are a shore power connection to provide power for loading/unloading operations and for battery charging…

The U.S. Coast Guard response continues to the grounding of the 308-foot Chinese-flagged commercial fishing carrier Ou Ya Leng No. 6 on Taka Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Wednesday.A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules crew arrived and made contact with the mariners who remain aboard the vessel and are awaiting rescue.Initial reports from MRCC China stated the crew abandoned ship and were on the atoll, but upon arrival, the Hercules crew confirmed they are aboard the vessel and using emergency generator power.

Spanish engineering and technology group SENER has contracted the basic design of a 1,200-passenger ferry for Tanzanian shipping line Kampuni ya Huduma za Meli (Marine Services Co., Ltd.) to the Korean company GAS Entec."With this new engineering contract, SENER has the experience from having built over 1,200 ships and offshore artifacts worldwide under its own designs. With more than 60 years working in the Marine sector, nowadays SENER provides professional services to shipyards, technical offices, shipping lines, ship owners and official organizations all over the world," claimed a press release from the company.The scope of the project to be developed by SENER includes conceptual and classification engineering…

The U.S. Coast Guard today released these images of the stricken vessel.A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircrew flies over the 308-foot Chinese-flagged commercial fish carrier Ou Ya Leng No. 6 on Taka Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Jan. 3, 2019 MHT.Two fishing vessels are en route and expected to arrive Thursday. The Republic of the Marshall Islands has also dispatched their patrol vessel Lomor to respond.The vessel is reportedly a fish carrier targeting squid in the Western and…