Building Blocks News

Green hydrogen producer Lhyfe has launched the first Green Hydrogen Marketplace, on its online portal Lhyfe Heroes.Since 2017, Lhyfe has been working to accelerate decarbonization through major innovations such as the world’s first industrial-scale green hydrogen production site directly connected to a wind farm in 2021, the world’s first pilot platform for producing green hydrogen at sea in 2022, and the digitalization of the sector, since 2022, with the Heroes digital platform…

Ten organizations have joined forces to combat illegal wildlife trafficking through increasing awareness and vigilance across global supply chains.Together, they have produced practical guidelines for all supply chain participants, with advice on measures to take, questions to ask to help identify criminal wildlife trade, and guidance on reporting suspicious activities. An accompanying "Red Flags" document serves as a daily reference for all individuals involved in the supply chain.

A study commissioned by the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD), in collaboration with Lloyd’s Register and ARUP, has identified low port readiness as a major hurdle bottlenecking the adoption of onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS) systems as a practicable decarbonization solution.Whilst the technologies required for offloading onboard captured CO2 exist at high levels of maturity, safe operationalisation of captured CO2 transfer by trained personnel has not been demonstrated.The report…

The competitive landscape in shipbuilding has changed dramatically, as ‘Industry 4.0’ capabilities driven by the digital revolution have given the edge to those that scout and adopt solutions that deliver on the promise of increasing efficiency while cutting costs. Juan Prieto discusses the CADMATIC suite of solutions for North American shipyards seeking to capture the competitive edge.Digital technologies are evolving at breakneck speed, unlocking tremendous efficiency gains for shipbuilders.

AET, a member of the MISC Group, held a naming ceremony in Singapore for its latest liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel very large crude carrier (VLCC), Eagle Veracruz.The Singapore-flagged 300,000 dwt tanker was named by Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) Grace Fu, who is also the Lady Sponsor of the vessel. The ceremony, which was held at the PSA Keppel Terminal, also saw attendance by Teo Eng Dih, Chief Executive of Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and senior officials from MSE…

I guess it was only a matter of time. After years of debating whether or not Celestial Navigation should be taught it is now time to debate the relevance of Terrestrial Navigation. The argument is same: why do I need to know this if there is technology available to do it for me?The answer is also the same. If you want to be a professional mariner than your knowledge base and skill sets should far exceed that of a weekend boater that follows the direction of their chart plotter…

Vard Electro’s SeaQ Integrated Bridge solution is being implemented in the offshore wind sector for the first time, following installation on Rem Offshore’s newbuild construction service operation vessel (CSOV) Rem Power to assist in optimizing environmental performance.“We are making strong investments in new low-emission technologies to cut the environmental impact of offshore wind operations in line with increasingly stringent regulations and requirements from clients, banks and other stakeholders…

Amendments to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Annex VI entered into force on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. Developed under the framework of the Initial IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships agreed in 2018, these technical and operational amendments require ships to improve their energy efficiency in the short term and thereby reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. From January 1, 2023, it will be mandatory for all ships…

The global cruise industry continues to make progress as it works to achieve its goal of net-zero carbon cruising by 2050, though the need for development and deployment of sustainable marine fuels remains.The 2022 Global Cruise Industry Environmental Technologies and Practices Report from trade group Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) reveals an increasing number of vessels launching over the new few years that will be able to incorporate zero-emissions propulsion when available as well as the growing investment to equip ships to plug in to shoreside electricity where available.

Batteries for maritime power have been picking up big momentum, benefiting from the most basic concept within Econ 101: supply and demand.On May 19 Corvus Energy announced it would establish a lithium ion battery manufacturing facility in Port Bellingham, Wash., just north of Seattle. Corvus Energy is a leading supplier of battery energy storage systems (BESS) for marine applications. Its systems already power more than 30 North American vessels, as well as 29 hybrid port cranes and 11 land-based drilling rigs.Geir Bjørkeli…

CorPower Ocean unveiled the CorPower C4, its first commercial scale Wave Energy Converter (WEC) and CorPack clusters, which the company contends will provide the building blocks for utility scale wave farms.Ultimately, the new CorPower C4 device will form part of a four-system wave array, off the coast of Aguçadoura, Portugal, creating a grid-connected wave farms.“This has been a decade-long development, with significant strides in the last few years to industrialise and optimize our wave energy technology," said Patrik Möller, Co-founder & CEO. "Following today’s launch, we aim to propel wave energy into the future green energy mix as a bankable technology through the HiWave-5 Project.”The CorPower C4…

Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and bp, awarded a contract to Maersk Supply Service for charter of its newbuild wind installation vessel (WIV). This vessel, together with US constructed barges and tugs built and operated by Kirby Offshore Wind, will be used for the installation of the project’s Vestas V236-15MW turbines.The newbuild offshore wind turbine installation vessel is planned to be ready for operation for Empire Wind I and II in the mid-2020s. Maersk…

3D digital design can save ‘dollars on the deck plate’ during construction while maintaining safety, says to Patrick Ryan, Senior Vice President, Global Engineering and Technology, ABS.Last year ABS, Robert Allan, Signet and USCG collaborated on a project that would be the first commercial vessel in U.S. history to be produced using only 3D models in design and construction for all structures. While the process used to deliver this RAL-designed Advanced Rotortug (ART) is historic…

Equinor and BP on Friday announced the finalization of the Purchase and Sale Agreements (PSAs) with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), for Empire Wind 2 and Beacon Wind 1 offshore wind projects.Empire Wind is located 15-30 miles southeast of Long Island and spans 80,000 acres, with water depths of between 65 and 131 feet. The lease was acquired in 2017 and is being developed in two phases (Empire Wind 1 and 2) with a total installed capacity of more than 2 GW (816 + 1…

Danish offshore crew transfer specialist MHO has earlier this week taken delivery of two hybrid crew transfer vessels, after what was described as an ultimate sea trial.Namely, the vessels arrived in Esbjerg, Denmark after a 12,000 nautical mile journey from China, for which developers of propulsion technology Volvo Penta and Danfoss Editron said was a voyage of discovery, with the many lessons learned helping to create a tailor-made solution fit for the owner’s requirements.Measuring 34.4 meters in length and with an 11-meter beam…

Damen Shipyards Galati performed the traditional keel-laying ceremony on June 2, 2021, for the Combat Support Ship (CSS) Den Helder for the Royal Netherlands Navy.The yard carried out the steel cutting for this new vessel in December last year, and following the keel-laying, all the building blocks for the actual construction of the ship in Romania are now ready. The next ceremonial milestone is the naming of the vessel, but not before the building of the ship is completed in 2023.

After what has seemed like the longest year ever, the offshore energy sector is emerging from a position of strength, from the standpoint of both economics and sustainability. Between the lockdowns implemented to reduce COVID-19, which reduced energy demand, to the oil price war between state-backed producers, 2020 was an unprecedented storm that hit the American offshore energy market. Now, there are unmistakable signs of a recovery, and policy makers in Washington, D.C. should embrace the opportunity before us to for sustained economic…

North America is increasingly adopting energy storage systems (ESS) to use in combination with combustion engines or as the sole energy carrier in fully electric-powered systems.We clearly see a transition from ‘consideration’ to ‘execution’ of hybrid and all-electric maritime projects. Stakeholders want to explore how to make vessels more energy efficient and less polluting. Corvus Energy has deployed over half of the ESSs aboard vessels globally, totaling over 300 megawatt hours (MWh).In North America, Corvus has deployed 24 MWh of energy storage capacity, and there are 13 vessels under U.S.

The maritime industry is undergoing a massive shift as vessels transform into sophisticated sensor hubs, generating data and connecting through satellites in an expanding interconnected web. To enable the uptake of these systems and unlock the associated efficiencies, DNV GL is launching a new chapter to its rules for ship classification: Digital Features. The new chapter was launched with three new notations (D-INF, DDV, REW) on October 28 and will enter into force on January 1, 2021.

The past few months have been full of uncertainties and even as we look ahead, we don’t know exactly what the future will hold. But we do know that as an industry, we’ll need to prioritize and plan differently. Within the Volvo Penta organization, the team is working hard to understand how to adapt our business as the world around us continues to adjust to a changing economic and societal landscape.As I reflect on what’s transpired since the start of the pandemic, I’m proud of the professionalism and creativity shown by our Volvo Penta team in rising to the challenges.I’ll give you an example.

Kongsberg announced Wednesday it has acquired Danish software company COACH Solutions, expanding the Norwegian maritime technology company's range of solutions for vessel performance and monitoring.The newly rebranded KONGSBERG COACH Solutions will be integrated within Kongsberg Digital’s Maritime Digital Solutions portfolio, supplying vessel operators, owners, pool managers and technical managers with a suite of software tools for vessel performance, weather routing and noon…

Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) has signed a letter of intent with the ferry operator Kvarken Link for the construction of a dual fuel ferry.The vessel order will have a value of approximately EUR120 million (USD137.63 million), said a press release.The vessel commissioned by Kvarken Link, a company owned by the cities of Umeå (Sweden) and Vaasa (Finland), will operate between the two cities.he vessel order will have an impact on employment totalling around 800 person-years. The formal construction agreement is to be signed in early 2019, with the design and construction work set to start immediately thereafter, says Jyrki Heinimaa, CEO of RMC.”RMC won the public international tender thanks to our expert knowledge and technology.

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has issued approval in principle (AiP) to Wison for its 300MW capacity floating storage, regasification, power plant (FSRP) concept design.A relatively new design concept, FSRPs are essentially floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants that receive LNG from ships and store it within tanks below deck, before regasifying the LNG and using it to fuel an onboard power plant.LR, Wison and Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) are working together in developing this 300MW barge-type FSRP unit that will be moored at a jetty or placed near-shore.