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Siemens and NVIDIA to Build Industrial Metaverse

Siemens is bringing immersive visualization powered by new NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs to the Siemens Xcelerator platform, driving increased use of AI-driven digital twin technology and creating an industrial metaverse.“We will revolutionize how products and experiences are designed, manufactured and serviced. On the path to the industrial metaverse, this next generation of industrial software enables customers to experience products as they would in the real world: in context…

HD Hyundai Marine Solution Partners with Accelleron on Ship Engine Optimization

HD Hyundai Marine Solution has signed an agreement with Greek operator Neptune Lines Shipping and Managing Enterprises SA to provide Engine Part Load Optimization (EPLO) services for four car carriers.HD Hyundai Marine Solution partnered with Accelleron to launch the EPLO service, receiving the first order for one ship in October last year.Most marine engines are built to provide optimal fuel efficiency and performance for the speed and environment for which the ship is designed.

The Problem with Reducing Underwater Radiated Noise

If the global commercial fleet reduced its speed by 10%, it would reduce underwater radiated noise by 40%, but nothing’s ever that simple.The main thing holding the shipping industry back from reducing its underwater radiated noise (URN) is not a lack of appropriate technology. It’s argued that many of the technologies being implemented today to reduce fuel consumption also reduce noise. So, the noise reductions could essentially come at no net cost to the shipowner, but there’s a lack of regulation and a lack of targeted incentives…

Standard Supply to Sell PSV Trio for $72.2M

Oslo-listed Standard Supply has recently agreed to sell three large platform supply vessels, Standard Viking, Standard Supplier, and Standard Defender, for a gross of $72.2 million.Adjusting for ownership, proceeds to Standard Supply will be $69.5 million gross. The transaction is contingent upon certain conditions to be lifted by the end of November, and completion is expected no later than mid-January 2024. Martin Nes, Chairman of Standard Supply said: “Standard Supply was always intended to be an asset play with an opportunistic approach towards the market.

Sustainable Shipping: Alma Clean Power, Odfjell, and DNV to Deploy Innovative Solid Oxide Fuel Cell on Chemical Tanker

Alma Clean Power, Odfjell, and DNV have this week announced a new milestone in the development of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system.The fuel cell system will be installed on a chemical tanker by the end of 2024, aiming to demonstrate the potential for significantly lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for deep-sea shipping, the trio said at an event in Singapore."As the maritime industry faces major challenges adjusting to zero emissions over the next decades, fuel cells demonstrate a promising potential for scalable use for longer distances and larger energy needs in shipping.

Container Shipping Rate Collapse Continues

The ocean freight industry saw a slump in global long-term rates of unprecedented proportions in May, as the contracted cost of shipping containers fell by 27.5%. The development, detailed by Xeneta’s Shipping Index (XSI), marks the ninth consecutive month of rates drops, and is the largest ever monthly fall recorded on the XSI.“If industry observers were left wondering just how bad it could get for carriers after the 10% fall in long-term rates seen in April, here’s the answer,” said Patrik Berglund, CEO of Oslo-based Xeneta.

Fatigue Led to OSV Striking GoM Production Platform -NTSB

Crew fatigue led to an offshore supply vessel striking an oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2021, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday.The offshore supply vessel (OSV) Elliot Cheramie was on its normal route between Port Fourchon, La. and the oil and gas production platform VR-397A in the Gulf of Mexico on June 25, 2021, with a crew of four and five offshore workers. While transiting, the Elliot Cheramie struck the oil and gas production platform EI-259A.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Warns on Weaker-than-expected Q4

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation this week warned its fourth quarter 2022 revenues and gross profit margins are expected to be lower than previously anticipated.The company said in a press release that its Q4 results were impacted by the earlier than expected retirement of the Terrapin Island hopper dredge, significant weather delays on several projects in the northeast and some project production issues.In addition, unexpected drydocking scope increases resulted in additional costs and delays for the hopper dredges Ellis Island and Padre Island, Great Lakes said.

US Gives Grace Period to Cargoes Under Russia Oil Product Price Cap

The U.S. Treasury Department said late on Wednesday that shipments facing the G7's upcoming price cap on oil products such as diesel and gasoline from Russia will have a grace period to arrive at their destination.G7 democracies and Australia are planning to cap prices on two oil products from Russia from Feb. 5 as part of their effort to reduce Moscow's export revenues as it wages war in Ukraine. The move will follow the G7's cap on Russia's seaborne crude oil exports that went into effect on Dec. 5.The measures seek to limit Russia's revenues gradually.

US Container Freight is Shrinking

Container freight volumes at the largest U.S. ports were down 3.8% in September compared with the same month a year earlier, confirming the slackening of merchandise trade and downturn in the business cycle.The ports of New York-New Jersey, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Savannah, Houston, Norfolk, Charleston, Seattle and Oakland account for the overwhelming majority of container ocean freight into and out of the United States.The total volume of loaded containers handled by these nine ports amounted to 2.67 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in September 2022…

Finnlines Adds Two New RoPax Vessels Between Sweden and Finland

Finnlines will make major investments in its route between Sweden and mainland Finland via Åland during 2023 as the freight and passenger shipping company continues to bounce back from the pandemic slowdown.The company announced on Tuesday that it is introducing two new Superstar cargo-passenger vessels as part of general plans for increasing passenger comfort on the Kapellskär–Långnäs–Naantali route, with the first ro-pax vessel set to start operating on the route in autumn 2023.The new vessels Finnsirius and Finncanopus are part of Finnlines EUR 500 million investment program…

Ukraine Grain Backlog Prompts UN Call for Faster Ship Checks

With nearly 100 grain-laden ships reaching towards the horizon off Istanbul, the U.N. official overseeing exports from Ukraine is asking Russia and other parties to end "full-blown" inspections of outgoing vessels to ease the backlog.Ukraine has exported more than 6.8 million tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs, about a third of its storage, since a sea corridor from the war-torn country opened in July.The U.N. says the safe passage deal signed by Moscow and Kyiv eased a global food crisis.

Geotechnical, Marine, and Coastal Design Solutions for Marshaling Ports to meet US Offshore Wind Power Policy Targets

As reported in a Maritime Reporter and Engineering News February 2022 article, Offshore Wind Development Gains Speed in the United States, the offshore wind (OSW) market is beginning to heat up. The White House policy target of 30 GW of offshore wind power by 2030, increasing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) leasing awards, and permitting target approval dates, together with more state energy procurement awards, are creating demand for more port infrastructure, Jones Act compliant vessels, and manufacturing facilities for wind farm components.

Swedish Tanker Firm Terntank Takes Delivery of 'Green' Tanker

Swedish tanker operator Terntank has said it has taken delivery of TERN FORS tanker.Designed by Terntank and Kongsberg Maritime CM AS, TERN FORS is the second of a series of two 15000 DWT chemical and product tankers, that combine LNG/LNG engine-powered engines, are 100% biofuel compatible, emit no greenhouse gases or carbon particulates during port operations and facilitate enhanced digital solutions for Just-in-Time management."We are thrilled to announce that TERN FORS has been delivered today from China Merchants Jinling Shipyard…

Demand Shock Behind Global Bottlenecks Should Ease in Months -WTO

Global trade bottlenecks are more the result of demand spikes than supply chain snags, with pressure likely to ease in the coming months, the World Trade Organization's chief economist said on Monday.The WTO had thought in October that demand for goods would slow early in 2022. However, that was before the Omicron variant of coronavirus led to curbs on activity, including the postponement of the WTO's ministerial meeting.Chief economist Robert Koopman said consumers had then continued…

Pandemic Setback Strengthens Resolve to Remain Positive

Interferry CEO Mike Corrigan looks beyond the latest COVID-19 complications to explain why the global trade association has reasons to believe the industry’s future is ultimately secure.If I had been writing this column just a few weeks earlier than late December, my opening remarks would have been decidedly upbeat. After two devastating years under the cloud of COVID-19, the pandemic seemed to be in ever-growing retreat and the passenger ferry sector was poised to turn the corner toward ‘business as normal’ in 2022.Now, however, that hope has been somewhat diluted by a single word: Omicron.

LS Cable & System to Buy 'Largest' Cable Laying Barge in South Korea

South Korean subsea cable firm LS Cable & System said Wednesday it would soon acquire the largest submarine cable laying barge in Korea, targeting offshore wind opportunities."LS Cable & System is planning to strengthen its position in the submarine cable business through the acquisition of its first submarine cable laying barge, the 8,000-ton GL2030, to proactively prepare for the rapidly growing offshore wind power generation projects being developed at home and abroad," the company said.With the investment in GL2030…

Remazel to Deliver Monopile Installation System For Jan De Nul's 'Les Alizés'

Offshore installation firm Jan De Nul Group has awarded the Italian engineering firm Remazel a contract for the delivery of a set of cradles, a skidding system and an upending hinge for its new offshore installation vessel Les Alizés to handle and install large monopiles."The design of this fully automated monopile installation system is tailor-made for Les Alizés and ideally suited to work in challenging weather conditions and harsh sea states. This mission equipment will allow Les Alizés to safely and efficiently install monopiles in offshore conditions…

Ship Recycling Rates Approach $600/LDT

Sub-continent markets continue to fire on during the summer / monsoon months, as firmer steel plate prices and an increasing lack of available tonnage has invariably pushed sub-continent offerings on to previously unthinkable levels.Not since the boom year of 2008 have we seen levels quite so high, and as the mythical $600/LDT draws ever closer, we will certainly see some fresh sales records being set from over the past decade.Notwithstanding, what comes up must eventually come…

ABS Platform Offers Advanced Weather Forecasting

ABS announced it is adding on-demand, high-resolution historical and forecast weather data on its ABS My Digital Fleet risk management platform together with weather service provider Meteomatics.This latest addition to the ABS My Digital Fleet Alliance Program unlocks weather data that enables actionable insights for users to help them understand and lower fuel consumption, improving bunker costs and carbon intensity levels, the classification society said. Additionally, the potential…

Seacor Power Bow Section Raised

Salvors have raised the bow section of the liftboat Seacor Power, which overturned in heavy seas in the Gulf of Mexico in April.The Donjon-SMIT salvage team lifted the bow section to the surface of the water and transported it by barge on Saturday to the Modern American Recycling Services, Inc. (M.A.R.S.) facility in Houma, La.Meanwhile, salvage work continues at the wreck site, where crews recently conducted more acoustic surveys of the stern and accommodation sections. The updated surveys will be used to complete the rigging configuration to prepare the stern section for removal.

Chinese Ports Choke Over 'Zero Tolerance' COVID-19 Policy

Several Chinese ports are facing congestion as vessels due to call at Ningbo are being diverted and cargo processing is slowed partly due to stricter disinfection measures under China's "zero-tolerance" coronavirus policy.On Tuesday, more than 50 container vessels were queuing at Ningbo port, China's second largest marine center, Refinitiv data showed, up from 28 on Aug. 10 when a COVID-19 case was reported at one of its terminals.Leading international shipping groups have warned their clients of delays and route adjustments.

Euronav Suezmax Completes Biofuel Trial

Belgian shipowner Euronav said it has tested a biofuel blend marine fuel for its Suezmax tanker Statia in an effort to test the operational readiness and emissions reduction potential of biofuels.The 2006-built, 150,205 dwt vessel took on board 1,502 MT of a BP-manufactured B30 biodiesel blend in the Port of Rotterdam, where there is a government incentive in place to allow for cost effective blending of biofuels into marine fuels (Incentive Scheme for Climate-Friendly Shipping).The biofuel is composed of 30% advanced carbon neutral biofuel mixed with 70% of a conventional VLSFO bunker fuel.