Sabre News

U.S. Army Mariners assigned to 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) aboard the LCU 2032 Palo Alto rescued an overboard fisherman 10 miles off the western coast of Obi Island, Indonesia Sept. 1, 2023.Sgt. Seth Leonard, a watercraft engineer, was on the bridge of the ship when he observed the typical calm waters in the path of the ship were more active than usual.“I noticed what looked like someone waving their arms, which is the signal for distress in water,” said Leonard.

Classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has awarded Seaspan Corporation and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS) in collaboration with Foreship an Approval in Principle (AiP) for the design of a 15,000 TEU ammonia-powered container vessel.Ammonia is seen a promising alternative marine fuel. However, there are currently no ships capable of sailing on ammonia, ABS said.In 2022, Seaspan and the MMMCZCS jointly initiated a project to better understand the challenges and opportunities of designing a large ammonia-fueled container vessel.

The United States commissioned a warship in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday, the first time a U.S. Navy vessel joined active service at a foreign port, as the two close allies step up their military ties in response to China's expanding regional reach.The Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Canberra (LCS-30)—named after a Royal Australian Navy cruiser that was sunk while supporting the U.S. Marine landings on Guadalcanal in 1942—was commissioned at a ceremony at an Australian naval base on Sydney Harbour, officially joining the U.S.

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Solstad Offshore has sold the anchor-handling tug supply vessel Far Sabre for an undisclosed fee.The 2008-built vessel has been in layup since 2019. Delivery of the vessel to the new owner took place on Tuesday. Solstad did not say who the buyer was."The sale of the vessel will result in a minor positive accounting effect to be reflected in 1Q 2023," Solstad Offshore said.Earlier on Tuesday, Solstad said it would redeliver two anchor handlers to owner Ocean Yield upon the expiration of their current contracts.

ABS issued approval in principle (AIP) to Keppel Offshore & Marine for the ammonia-fueled ammonia bunker vessel at the heart of Project Sabre, an initiative from a consortium of organizations to develop an ammonia bunker supply chain in Singapore.As well as ABS, the consortium includes A.P. Moller – Maersk, Fleet Management Limited, Keppel Offshore & Marine, Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Sumitomo Corporation, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. and the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore.The 188-m, 33,000 cu.

P&O Maritime Logistics (P&OML), the marine services arm of global port operator DP World, has taken delivery of a Sanmar Shipyards-built tug for the DP World managed Berbera Port on behalf of Somaliland Port Authority (SPA). The M JEEX (ex. Dogancay XXV) arrived Berbera Port under P&OML management and crew on September 10, 2020. The delivery follows a previous purchase from Sanmar, the EGAL (ex. Dogancay XXVI), delivered in the summer of 2018.Powered by a pair of Caterpillar 3212B diesel engines (two 1…

Merseyside, U.K.-based boatbuilder Marine Specialised Technology (MST) has been awarded a £9.9-million ($12.9 million) contract to supply two new boats to replace the U.K. Royal Navy's Gibraltar Squadron fast patrol craft used to patrol HMNB Gibraltar and British Gibraltar territorial waters. Construction began in July, and the first vessel is due to be delivered in the third quarter of 2021 followed by the second in the first quarter of 2022. MST will provide four years of local…

With great fanfare, more than 1,500 officers and sailors have lined the decks of HMAS Canberra in the Australian Fleet’s 2017 Ceremonial Divisions. Sydney Harbour provided a spectacular backdrop as personnel from East based ships and shore establishments gathered in their finest summer uniform. The divisions were reviewed by Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer who said the occasion marked a successful – and significant – year. “This year we have reintroduced the destroyer to the Australian Fleet with the commissioning of HMAS Hobart,” he said. “We have deployed maritime task groups in complex multinational exercises such as Talisman Sabre and used them to excellent effect in the inaugural Joint Maritime Task Group deployment Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2017.

Sydney has its Harbour Ferries, Hong Kong its Star Ferries and New York the instantly recognizable Staten Island Ferries. Add to that list London, for increasingly the fleet of MBNA Thames Clippers is becoming as identifiable with the British capital as its famous red double decker buses. Wight Shipyard Company has delivered to MBNA Thames Clippers the latest, most technically advanced and energy efficient fast ferries in the expanding London fleet; the 35 meter low wash catamarans Mercury Clipper and Jupiter Clipper.

As the activities of Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 17 started to draw to a conclusion in July, the crew of HMAS Darwin, took the chance of a brief time out to celebrate the final seagoing birthday of the Fleet veteran. Darwin’s cooks pooled their talents together to create a cake in the shape of ‘33’, with enough to go around to her crew of approximately 190. With most of the crew gathered in the Junior Sailors’ Café, Commanding Officer, Commander Phillip Henry took the opportunity to reflect on the team’s recent achievements and contribution to her rich history. “Darwin has spent over ten years continuously at sea,” Commander Henry said.

Australia's HMAS Ballarat has completed a port visit to Sepanggar, Malaysia as part of a three month South East Asia deployment. She was in the region to enagage with the Royal Malaysian Navy, and load supplies before she returns to Australia for further exercises. Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral David Johnston, said Ballarat’s deployment provided an opportunity to engage with many nations in South East Asia. “Our enduring military to military engagement activities contribute to security and stability in our region,” he said. HMAS Ballarat will join Exercise Talisman Sabre in the coming weeks. Talisman Sabre is a biennial combined Australian and United States training activity…

A Chinese warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by a U.S. oceanographic vessel in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday. The drone was taken on Dec. 15, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), officials said. "The UUV was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea," one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's a sovereign immune vessel, clearly marked in English not to be removed from the water - that it was U.S. property," the official said.

One of the Royal Australian Navy’s largest maritime warfare exercises has begun in several locations off the New South Wales coast. Exercise OCEAN RAIDER involves 11 warships and submarines, aircraft and more than 1,500 personnel from Australia and the United States in a three week program of maritime activities. It is the first year Navy has staged OCEAN RAIDER, which along with OCEAN EXPLORER and OCEAN HORIZON are designed to train and certify the fleet in task-group-level joint sea combat. Commander of the Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer said Navy’s aim was to generate and deploy self-supported, sustainable maritime task groups by 2018 and OCEAN RAIDER was an important step toward achieving that goal.

Russia will create a permanent naval base in Syria to expand its military footprint in its closest Middle East ally, a government official said on Monday, a week after Moscow said it was considering reopening Soviet-era bases in Vietnam and Cuba. The move, announced by Russian Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov, is further evidence Russia is building up its capabilities in Syria despite a partial drawdown in March and another sign it is digging in for the long haul to help prop up President Bashar al-Assad.

China's growing military presence in the South China Sea has drawn warnings from the United States that Beijing is seeking to exert control over one of the world's most important sea lanes, but so far the shipping industry seems less concerned. Beijing has been increasingly assertive in staking its claim to almost the whole of the sea, though which trillions of dollars of trade passes each year. This month China landed its first test flights on a new 3,000 metre (10,000 ft) runway it has built on a reef in the Spratly Islands, drawing protests from Vietnam and the Philippines which have overlapping claims in the area. Despite the diplomatic tensions, merchant shipping says operations are, as yet, unaffected.

According to the Independent, oil tankers owned by Bilal Erdogan, son President Erdogan, has involved in the illicit  oil trade with  Islamic State (ISIS). The ships are  registered in Malta and all fly the Maltese flag. Russia's allegations of Turkish involvement in ISIS' oil trade have focused primarily on the Turkish president's son, Bilal Erdogan. The 34-year-old is one of three equal partners in the BMZ group, a major Turkish oil and marine shipping company, which both the Russian and Syrian governments have accused of purchasing oil from ISIS. Officials as well as Russian and Syrian media said Bilal Erdogan is involved directly in the oil trade with IS. They said that Turkish warplanes shot down Russian mainly aimed at protecting the illicit oil trade of Bilal.

Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, embarked aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), conducted high-intensity land strike training with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as part of exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 (TS15), July 16. The land strike training was one of 10 large-force strikes against simulated land adversaries throughout TS15. "The ultimate goal of conducting these exercises is to achieve and maintain interoperability between the U.S. and Royal Australian Air Force, as well as our other maritime components," said Lt. David Robinson, CVW 5's strike operations officer. Participants included F/A-18F Super Hornets from the "Diamondbacks" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 102 and RAAF's E-7A Wedgetail and KC-30A. During the strike exercise, the U.S.

More than 33,000 U.S. and Australian personnel will participate in the biennial military training exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 in Australia July 4-19. Talisman Sabre, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Pacific Command and Australian Defence Force Headquarters Joint Operations Command, will incorporate U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal Australian Air Force as well as other government agencies from each country. Featuring 21 ships, including the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) and more than 200 aircraft and three submarines, this sixth iteration of the exercise will focus on joint training of a combined task force of U.S.

Ivory Coast said on Friday it would file a complaint with an international jurisdiction after Ghana took legal action to resolve a dispute over the two nations' maritime border in an area rich in hydrocarbons. British firm Tullow Oil has licences in Ghanaian waters near to the boundary disputed by the West African neighbours. Bruno Kone, a spokesman for Ivory Coast's government, would not give details on where the complaint would be filed. "We will take this before the competent jurisdiction, but we are not going to say more for the moment," he told Reuters. Earlier this week, Ghanaian Attorney General Marrieta Brew Appiah-Oppong said Ghana had filed a suit under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea after 10 bilateral meetings failed to resolve the issue.

Inpex has awarded contracts to AHTS Far Sword (2006, UT 712 L, 14.700 BHP) and AHTS Far Stream (2006, UT 712 L, 14.700 BHP). Commencement is expected to take place in November 2014. The duration of the contracts will be approx. 40 months, with further up to 24 months options. In addition the PSV Far Seeker (2008, UT 751 E, 4.905 DWT) has been awarded a contract by Inpex with commencement expected to be in November 2014. The contract is for a firm duration of 18 month with further up to 24 months options. The vessel is for the time being traded in the North Sea. Woodside Energy Ltd. has awarded AHTS Far Sirius (2014, UT 731 CD, 24.400 BHP) a 16 month contract, with further up to 18 months options. Commencement is expected to take place in October 2014.

Gold, crude oil and grains surged on Monday while industrial metals slid as investors reacted to escalating tensions between Moscow and Kiev after the Russian military tightened its grip on Ukraine's Crimea region. Concern about supplies pushed up crude oil prices by more than $2 a barrel and wheat and corn by 4-6 percent. Safe-haven buying sent gold prices to four-month highs. Base metals such as copper fell along with shares as investors ditched higher-risk assets and due to worries that a conflict could damage global growth. "Trade sanctions and a general ratcheting up of global tensions could also endanger the fragile global economic recovery now under way, hurting commodity prices in the process," analyst Edward Meir at broker INTL FCStone said.

Claxton Engineering Services Ltd, a member of the Acteon Group’s risers, conductors and flowlines business, has celebrated the 10th anniversary of its success with the world’s first rigless platform well abandonment operation. In that first rigless abandonment project, at the Perenco Well A1 in the Leman field, southern North Sea, Claxton used a custom conductor reaction recovery system designed and manufactured specifically to interface with the Leman platform and to retrieve and handle well trees and tubulars. Its full casing recovery package was also required.

Farstad Shipping ASA has been awarded charter contracts with a value of about US$ 58-million. Statoil has awarded contracts to PSV Far Spica (2013, PSV 08 CD, 4,000 DWT) and PSV Far Scotsman (2012, PSV 08 CD, 4,000 DWT) to support the Statoil drilling campaign on the coast of East Africa. Commencement is expected to take place in April 2013. The duration of the contracts will be approx. 9 months, with a further 9 month option. Both vessels will leave the North Sea during the month of March.