Buzz News

Esgian has published its Week 49 Rig Market Roundup highlighting new drilling activity in the North Sea and a new licensing deal in Morocco.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesSerica Energy is continuing with plans for its four-well drilling campaign in the UK North Sea, scheduled for 2024 and early 2025. The campaign will be carried out using the semisubmersible COSLInnovator. All four wells are production wells. The first well in the campaign will be a sidetrack of an existing well (B1z) on the Bittern field.

A five-person submersible vessel taking wealthy adventurers on a $250,000 trip to see the wreckage of the 1912 Titanic disaster 12,500 feet (3,800m) undersea is missing in the Atlantic off Canada.Reuters is reporting the following individuals onboard:HAMISH HARDING. The British billionaire and chairman of aviation consultancy Action Aviation is among those missing, according to his stepson. Dubai-based Harding had posted on social media that he was proud to be heading to the Titanic as a "mission specialist"…

Two load-bearing pillars of Norway’s leading maritime industry cluster in Sunmøre on the country’s west coast – offshore energy and the expedition cruise sector – took severe knocks from plunging energy prices in the 2010s followed by COVID-19. However, a recent tour of the region found the cluster in recovery mode.At the time, the cluster’s diversification strategy was to dive into the emerging expedition cruise sector: small, highly sophisticated ships designed to operate in some of the world’s most sensitive environments incorporated features including the highest ice-class…

Whether we realize it or not, robotics and robotics systems are starting to impact our daily lives. From warehouse picking systems through to high-end medical devices through to your mowbot lawnmower. Each tends to be specialized to its own task and a similar trend is now starting to play out in the offshore wind space, where it’s hoped that robots can make operations safer and more efficient.According to a report, The Economic Opportunity for Robotics in Offshore Wind and Key Energy Markets by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE Catapult)…

The year 2021 has been tough on crude oil tanker freight rates across the board so far. Consequently, the industry buzz has been all about largescale scrapping of tankers, but so far, it has been all talk and very little walk, as the secondhand market has proved a much-preferred alternative, says industry group BIMCO.Although demolitions are up from the start of last year, only two shuttle tankers and two Aframax crude oil carriers (450,000 DWT) have been confirmed demolished in the first two months of 2021, according to data from Clarksons.

Now more than ever, professional operators are opting to run outboard engines on a various small military craft, patrol boats, multi-mission workboats and other vessels that have traditionally been powered by small to midsized inboard engines.Using engines that can be mounted on the outside of a vessel instead of those requiring placement inside the hull presents a number of advantages, including space savings on board, easier access for maintenance as well as simpler, quicker replacement…

New powerboats have been delivered to the UK Royal Navy’s Tyneside headquarters to improve seafaring training for reservists.HMS Calliope in Gateshead has taken delivery of two Gemini RIBs to take the unit’s volunteers out on to the water – part of an initiative to provide numerous Royal Naval Reserve bases around the UK with fast boats again, an idea first mooted three years ago.Following hundreds of hours of hard work, dedication and commitment, that vision is now reality.Given the increasing use of reservists in seagoing billets – such as the Gibraltar Squadron or fishery protection ships –

Those shipowners looking to install marine exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS) as way of meeting global sulfur cap requirements are advised to ensure that manufacturers, shipyards and installers are using quality, high-end materials.Based on the collective experience gained from more than 1500 EGCS installations, Clean Shipping Alliance (CSA) 2020 members found the quality of materials and coatings used is the most important factor in optimizing EGCS safety and averting any corrosion problems during operation.“There are always some challenges involved when specifying ships’ machinery systems and scrubbers are no different,” said Arne Hubregtse, Executive Board Member, Spliethoff.

The State University of New York Maritime College, in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard, National Academy of Sciences, academic institutions, industry partners, and federal, state and local agencies, will host the 10th Annual Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS 2019) Nov. 13-15, 2019, at New York Maritime College located in the Bronx, New York.MRS 2019 will bring together academics, government and commercial entities to discuss the threats, challenges and risks associated with the Marine Transportation System with a focus on current and future marine transportation challenges and threats.

Laborde Products, the Gulf Coast and central U.S. engine distributor behind OXE - the world’s first high power diesel outboard, recently attended the Miami International Boat Show, where the diesel out-board created quite the buzz.The show buzz shortly went viral after the YouTube, rib, and yacht tender restoration aficionado, Al-fred Montaner, took a demo ride with the Laborde Products crew.Boarding a BRIG 730 with drone and camera in hand, Montaner documented the quiet yet powerful ride of CIMCOs diesel outboard.

The EU member states’ experts on ship recycling met in Brussels to discuss the latest developments, six months ahead of the application of the 2013 Ship Recycling Regulation. With the recent decision by the Chinese government to stop the import of end-of-life ships for scrapping, the shipping industry is quick to lament that there will not be enough recycling capacity and that there will be too few options for them under the EU List of approved recycling facilities. The industry claims that the standard set by the EU must be lowered so that beaching yards can be approved. As much as it is a pity that the Chinese yards who have already made efforts to be included on the List may now no longer be receiving EU-flagged ships for recycling…

“The future is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed,” is an observation from William Gibson, the luminary science fiction author, that sums up many of the problems with widespread adoption of technological solutions. This is certainly true of shipping. As we saw at Nor-Shipping this year, it is now expected for most businesses to have a data-driven element, and enthuse about how they are ‘embracing digital.’ But how much of this buzz around digital solutions results in better decision making on the ground?

The U.S. Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), departed Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) May 7. Ronald Reagan's crew shifted colors at 11:54 a.m. and made way to conduct sea trials in the final phase of the ship's selective restricted availability (SRA) maintenance period, which began January 10. "I am extremely proud of the Reagan crew's accomplishments up to this point of our SRA period," said Capt. Buzz Donnelly, commanding officer.

The aging Pacific Northwest fishing fleet is either undergoing or about to undergo a long-overdo upgrade, judging by a major economic report commissioned by the Port of Seattle. Fisheries managers, seafood suppliers, yards and the supply chain all hope an accompanying surge in ship finance “lifts all boats”. For now, the newbuild count is growing apace, slowed just a bit by owners opting for major retrofits amid rich fish harvests. This fisheries upsurge comes with some rising stars of ship design-and-build for vessels set to ply the Bering and Beaufort seas.

The construction of up to 20 new ferries for New York City is arguably the most exciting maritime new construction project in the U.S. this year. Last month we visited with Cameron Clark, Corporate Vice President, Development and Special Projects, Hornblower, the project manager for the new Citywide Ferry by Hornblower fleet, who discussed the challenges and opportunities ahead. Hornblower has, in the span of 36 years, become the force in the U.S. ferry market, with more than 2,000 employees and 20 million passenger trips annually, including a cumulative staff of 700 in the New York City area.

All bets would have been lost if one was to predict that I would never find one of the most advanced and modern workboats in the heart of the Norwegian Fjordlands. Sure enough, if you make the trek to Flam through nearly 50 tunnels in between the prominent towns of Bergen and Oslo, you will behold such a craft. The 40 meter Vision of the Fjords was recently constructed by Brødrene Aa shipyard in Norway and delivered to The Fjords AD earlier this year in June. The vessel is simply striking…

Six ships from four navies arrived at Garden Island, Sydney in early November, creating a buzz on the harbour. The visits came ahead of the Royal New Zealand International Naval Review, which will take place in Auckland later this month. Indonesian Navy ship KRI Banda Aceh, a Makassar class landing platform dock was the first to arrive in Sydney. Chilean Navy tall ship Buque Escuela Esmeralda followed a few days later. The sail training ship, which is undertaking her 61st training cruise, was welcomed to Sydney with a 3 inch gun salute from the cannon positioned near the Royal Australian Navy Heritage Centre. She was escorted by a fleet of vessels including local tall ships Southern Swan, South Passage and James Craig and a fire tug.

Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay President Dennis Rochford has announced the tristate port vessel arrival statistics for the first six months of 2016. “On top of last year’s increase in vessel arrivals over 2014 activity, we continue to see steady growth through the first six months of 2016,” Rochford said. According to Maritime Exchange records, 1,234 ships arrived at Delaware River port facilities compared to 1,127 arrivals for the same six-month period last year, a 9.5% increase in vessel activity throughout the port.

The emerging trend of marrying the design of an articulated tug and barge (ATB) to a particular propulsion system to maximize efficiencies of that system has, of late, been taking hold in workboat markets. For example, one recent project involving a dynamic partnership between Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc, Guarino & Cox, LLC (GCL) naval architects, Nautican Research & Development Ltd., integrated propulsion unit manufacturers, and VT Halter Marine shipbuilders, aptly demonstrates the concept in practice. What the collaboration produced, is even more important.

As the region’s 2015/2016 cruise season has come to a close, Abu Dhabi Ports, the master developer, operator and manager of ports and the Khalifa Industrial Zone in the Emirate, has released its best ever Cruise Terminal performance figures. With an increase of 16 percent in passengers and 20 percent increase in vessel calls, the state-of-the-art Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal is playing a prominent role in expanding the emirate’s tourism industry and achieving its economic diversification goals.

Researchers at UCL Energy Institute use the methodology they developed for the Third IMO GHG Study 2014 and AIS data to estimate emissions from five different ship types and display this in a new interactive map that plots 250 million data points to show the movements of the world’s commercial shipping fleet over the course of the year 2012. The interactive shipping map has been developed by the UCL Energy Institute and London-based data visualisation and digital journalism studio Kiln, and was funded by the European Climate Foundation. It is based on hundreds of millions of individually recorded ship positions; plotting all of these at once shows the extraordinary extent of modern shipping’s reach.

Captain Valerie Lyzhyn and his 45 crew are stranded in Hong Kong, big losers in a gambling slump triggered by a Chinese crackdown on corruption that has scared off the high-rollers. Lyzhyn, 62, a Russian-born Ukrainian and veteran seaman, and his colleagues, refuse to leave their 140 metre (460 foot) casino cruiser the New Imperial Star until they get the six months of pay they say they are owed. Hong Kong's Marine Department has impounded the ship due to what it called "serious deficiencies" found during an inspection. Rations are running low, the ship's owners can't be reached and the cobalt blue felt covering the 16 baccarat tables is gathering dust.

A U.S. destroyer vessel operating in international waters in the Baltic Sea experienced several close interactions by Russian aircraft on April 11 and 12, the U.S. Navy announced, calling the encounter “unsafe”, “aggressive” and “unprofessional”. “April 11-12, USS Donald Cook was operating in a professional manner in international waters conducting operations and exercises with our allies in the Baltic Sea,” said Adm. Mark Ferguson, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa.