Energy Value News

Analysts and commentators are quick to point out that fossil fuels will power maritime equipment, and indeed dominate the fueling marketplace, well into the future. However, they will do so alongside new fuels, and new technologies, that will be introduced to the maritime sector in the coming years. In its September, 2023 report “Beyond the Horizon: View of the Emerging Energy Value Chains”, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) explains that, “During the recent 80th meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80)…

Carl-Antoine Saverys has been named CEO of listed Belgian shipowner Exmar, the company announced Tuesday. Effective January 1, 2024, he will take over from Francis Mottrie who will stay on board as COO.After assuming various roles in the shipping industry, Carl-Antoine Saverys has held deputy roles within Exmar over the past six years, including the company’s infrastructure department and thereafter at the shipping department.Joining him at the executive top level are newly appointed CFO…

Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry are co-leading an international initiative to accelerate reduction of emissions from the shipping sector, and on December 1, during COP28, they chaired a new round of announcements under that initiative, the Green Shipping Challenge.Various countries and organizations proposed measures to reduce emissions from shipping. This year’s announcements include:• Amazon: Amazon and other…

Shipowner Naftomar Shipping announced an order for four very large ammonia carriers, to be built by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean (formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) for scheduled delivery from 2026. With a capacity of 93,000 m3, the ships are among the world’s largest ammonia carriers ordered to date.The Bureau Veritas (BV) classed ships will be fitted with a ME-LGIP LPG dual-fuel engine, ready to be converted to use ammonia as fuel when the MAN ES ammonia engine retrofit kit is made available.

The Hanwha Group has completed its take over of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), renaming it Hanwha Ocean.Hanwha Vice Chairman Kwon Hyuk-woong has been appointed as CEO of the shipyard.The Korea Times reports that DSME suffered a 1.6 trillion won operating loss last year and 1.7 trillion won the year before. During the first three months of this year, it suffered 62.8 billion won in operating losses.Hanwha has already established a network of businesses that address renewable energy.

Proman Stena Bulk, the joint venture between tanker company Stena Bulk and methanol producer Proman, announced the successful completion of the first ever barge-to-ship methanol bunkering on the U.S. Gulf Coast.The JV tankers Stena Pro Marine and Stena Prosperous were refueled with methanol via barge while discharging clean petroleum products at a terminal in the Port of Houston in the first week of April.Stena Pro Marine was bunkered with 1,408MT of methanol, and Stena Prosperous was refueled with 1,203MT during the operation.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach and C40 Cities have begun discussions to establish a green and digital shipping corridor between Singapore and the San Pedro Bay port complex. The corridor will focus on low- and zero-carbon fuels for bunkering, as well as digital tools to support deployment of low- and zero-carbon ships.This collaborative effort supports the Green Shipping Challenge launched during the World Leaders’ Summit at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this week.

Crowley has appointed Bob Karl as senior vice president and general manager of the company’s new business unit, Crowley Wind Services. As Crowley elevates the scope of its offerings in wind energy, Karl will lead the company’s wind services team in the strategic development and expansion of services to support the emerging sector. The development of a wind service business unit will see the company continue to leverage its expertise and assets to provide landside and marine logistic solutions throughout the wind lifecycle.

Talk that China may end its unofficial ban on imports of Australian coal is unlikely to result in any significant increase in shipments to the world's biggest coal buyer.Media reports last week suggested that Beijing is considering lifting the informal embargo, put in place in the second half of 2020 as tensions escalated with Canberra over a series of issues.Coal wasn't the only commodity affected, as China placed restrictions or bans on imports of barley, seafood and wine, among others.The unofficial ban was effective, with Australia going from being China's biggest supplier of coal in July

Japan has been largely forgotten as a source of demand for energy commodities, overshadowed by the rapid rise of China, but the country's new electricity generation targets will shake the market up.For many years Japan has been viewed as a largely steady source of demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and thermal coal used in power generation, with small variations in the volumes imported on a year-by-year basis.But this comfortable situation for commodity producers supplying…

NOAA on Wednesday announced two new coastal condition forecast models intended to help enhance decision making for mariners along the West Coast and Northern Gulf of Mexico. The models provide continuous quality-controlled data on water levels, currents, water temperature and salinity out to 72 hours.Forecasts from both models are used by commercial and recreational mariners, fisherman, emergency managers, search and rescue responders, and National Weather Service marine weather…

As shipowners mull the pros and cons associated with new fuels to meet tightening emissions rules, Chevron Marine is finding that some ship owners that switched older engines to  very low-sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) are reporting build-up of red deposits on piston crowns and top edges, sometimes combined with red iron burrs in scavenge ports. The deposits are associated with abnormal liner wear since the fuel switch, particularly on older two-stroke marine engines.“While newer ships do not have a problem using these fuels, engines already closer to an overhaul did struggle sometimes.

China's effective ban on imports of Australian coal is forcing a realignment of flows between the world's two biggest importers and two largest exporters.Indonesia and Australia dominate the global seaborne coal trade, with the Southeast Asian nation tops in thermal coal, used mainly in power plants, while Australia is the biggest shipper of coking coal, used to make steel, and the number two in thermal coal.China is the world's biggest coal importer, while India ranks second.China's major coal supplier was Australia…

The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping on Tuesday announced its management team. to join CEO Bo Cerup-Simonsen in building an organization capable of facilitating the transition to a carbon free global shipping industry.Made possible by a DKK 400 million ($63.5 million) donation by the A.P. Møller Foundation, the Center was formed in June by a group of global shipping entities committing themselves to decarbonizing the maritime industry. The Center, which recently revealed its Board of Directors and a location at the heart of the Danish Shipping cluster in Copenhagen…

The coronavirus pandemic has finally caught up with seaborne thermal coal in Asia, as soft demand in major importers India and China sends prices to multi-year lows and dents the polluting fuel's relative outperformance against other energy.The price of low-energy coal from Indonesia, the world's top exporter of thermal coal, has dropped to the lowest since assessments were started by commodity price reporting agency Argus in 2008, while higher-quality Australian supplies have slumped to a four-year low.Indonesian coal with an energy value of 4…

Japanese shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has unveiled a number of new restructuring measures effective April 1, 2020.According to a press release, the  marine transportation provider intends to establish three new divisions and integrate its two tanker divisions to achieve synergy.MOL will establish the Offshore Gas Project Division as an organization focused on businesses related to the LNG field in energy value chains (FSRU projects, LNG bunker vessel project, etc.) to accelerate the enhancement of the offshore business, in which the company is concentrating the investment of management resources, as set out in Rolling Plan 2019.The Offshore Project Division shall have specific responsibilities in crude oil fields such as FPSO projects…

Lessons learned on designing, building & operating with methanol as fuel.Generally averse to technological risk, maritime professionals lean on lessons learned, when available, to make future decisions. According to Fredrik Stübner, Director Ship Management, Marinvest, his organization’s experience running ships on methanol can be instructive for others considering emission reductions technologies, and to this end he suggests:1. VESSEL DESIGN“For other shipowners considering methanol as fuel…

On September 29, a delivery ceremony for a new 3D geophysical seismic survey vessel was held at the port of Tokyo and attended by NYK chairman Tadaki Naito.The new vessel, Tansa, will be operated by Ocean Geo-Frontier Co. Ltd (OGF), a company jointly owned by NYK and others.Through a consignment service agreement with OGF and JOGMEC, NYK is entering the geophysical survey business at the most upstream part of the energy value chain and making efforts to accumulate experience and…

GATE Energy, a player in oil and gas engineering, commissioning and specialty field services, announced the opening of its new Singapore office."This marks the first permanent location for the GATE Energy family of companies outside of the United States," said a press release.Since GATE Energy first opened its office in North America in 2000, it has continued to forge partnerships and attract customers from multiple sectors of the energy value chain.The new office expansion enables GATE Energy to solidify its international growth by setting roots in Singapore to support our projects and customers in South East Asia and around the world, said the release.GATE Energy employs over 400 people world-wide with offices in Texas, Louisiana, and its new home in Singapore.

With the United States and China about to start their respective offshore wind build-ups, grid operators wondering about the efficiency of their turbines or the emissions-areas compliance of their wind-service vessels will be warmed to know there’s someone they can talk to. Yaskawa’s The Switch — a Japanese industrial giant’s European environmental tech business — is offering one-stop wind-energy shopping. As with shipping, you can order permanent magnet generators, drives and converters for your wind turbines. Take heart.

With the United States and China about to start their respective offshore wind build-ups, grid operators wondering about the efficiency of their turbines or the emissions-areas compliance of their wind-service vessels will be warmed to know there’s someone they can talk to. Yaskawa’s The Switch — a Japanese industrial giant’s European environmental tech business — is offering one-stop wind-energy shopping. As with shipping, you can order permanent magnet generators, drives and converters for your wind turbines. Take heart. The lingo is the same.

The provider of testing and advisory services to the energy value chain including renewables and energy management, DNV GL has joined European signatories including ABB, EDP Renewables, Enel Green Power, Ge Renewable Energy, Pöyry, Prysmian, PwC, Siemens Gamesa and Vestas."DNV GL has signed a ‘declaration of intent’ to commit its interest and participation to the initiative renewAfrica, aimed at boosting renewable energy investments in Africa, alongside leading players in the African and European renewable energy market," said a statement.The renewAfrica launch event was hosted by RES4Africa and reflects the need for a strong joint effort…

North American energy infrastructure company energy infrastructure company AltaGas celebrated the grand opening of its Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (RIPET), located in Prince Rupert, British Columbia – the first marine export facility for propane in Canada.The facility began introducing propane feedstock in mid-April, and the first shipment departed the terminal on May 23, 2019 bound for Asia."The completion of this game-changing project and the shipment of our first cargo are historic milestones for AltaGas, as well as for our project partners, customers, local Indigenous Peoples, surrounding communities, and western Canada's upstream energy sector…