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Red Sea Disruption Could Cut Asia-Europe Capacity, Maersk Says
Disruption to Red Sea container shipping is rising, Maersk said on Monday, forecasting this will cut the industry's capacity between Asia and Europe by up to 20% in the second quarter.Maersk and other shipping companies have diverted vessels around Africa's Cape of Good Hope since December to avoid attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in the Red Sea, with the longer voyage times pushing freight rates higher."The risk zone has expanded…
Sea Drone Warfare has Arrived, and the US is Floundering
The U.S. Navy's efforts to build a fleet of unmanned vessels are faltering because the Pentagon remains wedded to big shipbuilding projects, according to some officials and company executives, exposing a weakness as sea drones reshape naval warfare.The lethal effectiveness of sea drones has been demonstrated in the Black Sea where Ukraine has deployed remote-controlled speed boats packed with explosives…
The Power of Now: Sailing Toward Shipping’s Climate Goals
When Bertrand Charrier worked with Jacques Cousteau four decades ago on the development of a revolutionary sail for the maritime industry, the time for widescale adoption of wind power wasn’t right. Now, he argues, there’s simply no time to waste.“Sometimes the best discoveries are rediscoveries.”Bertrand Charrier is a champion of simplicity. Sitting in a comfortable chair overlooking the rolling fields of rural France…
Maritime Trafficking: How Balkan Gangsters Became Europe's Top Cocaine Suppliers
In 2018, convicted cocaine trafficker Slobodan Kostovski fled a Brazilian prison and made his way back to Europe with a fake passport.The Serbian senior quickly fell into old habits, police allege. Last August, Kostovski was arrested in Belgrade, accused of shipping 2.7 metric tonnes of cocaine from Brazil aboard a 22-meter vessel apprehended near Spain’s Canary Islands.Nicknamed “the General” by his associates…
Brazil’s Import of Russian Clean Petroleum Products Jumps 135%
Since the European Union sanctioned Russian oil exports in 2022, crude oil and dirty and clean petroleum products (CPP) have found new buyers. “India and China have taken most of the crude oil and dirty products while Turkey and Brazil have emerged as the main buyers of CPP. Year-to-date, Brazil’s import of Russian CPP has increased by 135% year-on-year,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.Historically…
Pilot Error Caused Tanker to Strike Naval Pier in South Carolina
A pilot maneuvering a vessel too close to a bank, before a turn on the Cooper River led to the collapse of a 300-foot section of pier at Joint Base Charleston’s Naval Weapons Station in South Carolina, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday.The 600-foot-long tanker Bow Triumph—owned by Goldex Fortune Ltd. and operated by Odfjell Management AS— struck Naval Weapons Station Pier B while transiting the Joint Base Charleston Channel on Sept.
Concerns Voiced over Potential Restart of New Zealand’s Live Export Industry
The New Zealand government may restart the live export trade which has been banned since May 1, 2023.The ban was imposed in response to veterinarians, animal welfare advocates and the New Zealand public decrying conditions and outcomes for the animals. There have also been multiple disasters for the industry.Animal welfare group SPCA says politicians claiming to be champions of farming and business…
Italy Thwarts Houthi Drone Attack in the Red Sea
An Italian navy ship shot down a drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels and targeting a European cargo, the Italian defense ministry said in a statement on Monday.The drone was intercepted "in the late morning" near the Bab-el-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, the ministry said.It was flying toward the cargo ship and taken down while it was 5 kilometers (3.11 miles) away.
d'Amico Orders Two Product Tankers for $111m
d’Amico International Shipping S.A. subsidiary d’Amico Tankers D.A.C. signed a shipbuilding contract with Jiangsu New Yangzi ShipbuildingCo., China, for the purchase…
Dry Bulk Supply/Demand Balance Predicted to Strengthen
BIMCO has released its Dry Bulk Shipping Market Overview & Outlook for April 2024, predicting that the supply/demand balance should strengthen in 2024, but weaken in 2025.This would be the result of ships returning to the Red Sea and Panama Canal, shortening sailing distances.Supply is forecast to grow 2.5% in 2024 and 2.0% in 2025. Growth is slowing due to lower deliveries, reports, Niels Rasmussen…
One-on-One: Rob Langford, VP, Global Offshore Wind, ABS
As the U.S. offshore wind industry endures a predictable number of stops and starts during its adolescence, common mantras are ‘learn from the established European model’ and ‘embrace technology transfer from the offshore oil and gas sector.’ In Robert Langford, the American Bureau of Shipping has all of that and more bundled in one neat package.Rob Langford has worked in the offshore industry for more than three decades…
As Shale Oil Gains Slow, Deepwater Port Struggles for Customers
As U.S. shale oil boomed last decade, an oil pipeline company pitched an ambitious multi-billion-dollar export port off the Texas coast to ship domestic crude to buyers in Europe and Asia.In April, Enterprise Products Partners' SPOT became the first project to receive a license from the U.S. maritime regulator for a deepwater port that could load two supertankers, each of which can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil at a time.But multi-year regulatory delays…
Wah Kwong Orders More LNG Carriers
Hong Kong-based shipping company Wah Kwong is finalizing a deal later this month to double the number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers that it has ordered to four, as it eyes growing global trade in the superchilled fuel, its chairman said.The ships would be delivered from 2027 onwards, Wah Kwong's Executive Chairman Hing Chao told Reuters on the sidelines of the Singapore Maritime Week ShipZERO28…
When Efficiency Does Not Help Sustainability
My brother and I had a discussion about methanol where we concluded that methanol is a promising sustainable liquid fuel for transportation devices when batteries cannot do the job. While Methanol is initially not carbon zero, as long as we focus on developing zero carbon electrical energy, eventually we can produce zero carbon green methanol. Once there is plentiful green methanol, existing methanol…
Ras Al-Khair SEZ Seeking Maritime Infrastructure Investment
Saudi Arabia’s Ras Al-Khair Special Economic Zone (SEZ) said it is seeking local and foreign investors to help boost the Kingdom’s maritime infrastructure.With an initial area of 20 square kilometers, Ras Al-Khair SEZ, operated by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, is an expanding zone with two focus areas, The King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services, and the Offshore Cluster supply chain.
Maritime Risk Symposium 2024 – Great Power Competition and Gray Zone Engagement
For 15 years the Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS), an annual three-day event, has brought together government and maritime industry leaders, port representatives, international and domestic researchers and solution providers to examine current and emerging threats to maritime security. World events highlight that maritime security is increasingly at risk during the current period of great-power competition and ongoing conflicts.
Stranded Tanker Moved to Egyptian Port
A Liberian-flagged natural gas tanker that was stranded in the Gulf of Aqaba on Friday has been moved away, said two Egyptian sources at the southern Sinai nature reserves.One of the sources said the ship was moved to Sharm el-Sheikh port, with both sources saying the tanker had been empty and had suffered an engine malfunction.The Egyptian environment ministry said on Sunday that a state of environmental…
Ten Years After South Korean Ferry Disaster, Mothers Express Their Grief On Stage
For Lee Mi-kyung, whose son was one of the 250 children who died in South Korea's Sewol ferry disaster 10 years ago, coping with the grief and anger has been incredibly hard. She works through her pain on stage."I will no longer hide in darkness, nor be defeated by sorrow, nor cry in despair," Lee, 58, declares in a play in which seven mothers of children who died in the tragedy portray their journey…
Insights: Jennifer Carpenter, President & CEO, American Waterways Operators
Jennifer Carpenter joined The American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association representing the inland and coastal tugboat, towboat and barge industry, in August 1990 and became its president and CEO in January 2020. She highlights some of the greatest focus areas for the 80-year-old trade group—simultaneously looking at both the present day and the road ahead.The towboat, tug and barge industry is in a period of rapid evolution.
OpEd: Why the Wall Street Journal Got It Wrong and 74% of Their Poll Respondents Got It Right
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal claims that the assessment by 74% of poll respondents in election swing states who believe inflation moved in the wrong direction last year is incorrect. The piece went on to state that the respondents’ perceptions were “contradicted by hard economic data”.Like many of us, I just love “hard data”, especially when it’s “economic”.One great aspect of “hard data” is that we must assume it’s correct; otherwise, how could it be “hard”?
