The Big Three News

Optimarin is setting up a manufacturing base in China to boost the availability of its ballast water treatment system (BWTS) for the Asian shipbuilding market. It also targets further retrofits of the existing fleet.The Norwegian BWTS supplier is now pursuing partnerships with several Chinese suppliers to focus on high-quality production of BWTS components at a reasonable cost for delivery to regional yards, according to Optimarin’s Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing Tore…

The drivers for global offshore wind growth look good for 2023. Global offshore wind is forecast to grow from over 60 GW at the end of 2022 to 240 GW by 2030 and over 410 GW by 2035. But the sunny outlook must be balanced with some building dark clouds. As we prepare for the new year, let us look at ten factors that will shape the offshore wind sector in 2023.1. Solid foundations: Optimism for the supply chain is founded on declared and inferred offshore wind deployment targets by a growing number of countries of over 400 GW, driven by energy transition and energy security policies.2.

MSI analysis finds ‘big three’ cruise companies could have less than 50% of capacity back in service by year end but a recovery to pre-pandemic levels is unlikely before 2023A new report from MSI says that a restart to full operations can’t come soon enough for cruise lines, whose financial position has become increasingly precarious given high debt levels incurred from fleet expansions and the fundraising required to survive the COVID crisis.The latest cruise market report from Maritime Strategies International (MSI) finds that net revenue losses for the ‘big three’ lines (Carnival…

The offshore wind industry has made great strides to become a cost-competitive option for grid and off-grid energy solutions. And today, the industry is growing faster than ever before, both in the well-established European market and in newer ones such as in China, Taiwan, Japan and the U.S.As the industry keeps growing, projects and turbines do too, says Philip Lewis, director of research at World Energy Reports."Offshore wind is becoming more mainstream, and as it does, the average project size is increasing…

South Korean shipping company HMM said all 12 of its new 24,000 TEU containerships—the world's largest—have each made their maiden voyages fully laden with containers.On September 31, HMM St. Petersburg, the last of the 24K-class series, departed for Europe from the Port of Yantian, China with 19,529 TEUs loaded on board.Consequently, all 24,000 TEU ships delivered to HMM have been entirely filled with cargoes on their first voyages, starting with HMM Algeciras which carried a total of 19…

Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) CEO Frank Olsen opens up on the challenges of COVID-19, the benefits of a global network, and a fundamental shift in the established ships agency marketplace. Change, he says, is coming.“I haven’t spent this much time in Norway, without international travel, since I was at school,” laughs ISS CEO Frank Olsen over a call on Microsoft Teams.With a career that’s taken in seven years at sea, mostly on RoRos with Wallenius Wilhelmsen, living in Costa Rica (where he briefly captained a dive vessel)…

South Korean ocean carrier HMM held a naming ceremony for the newly constructed 24,000 TEU-class containership HMM Algeciras, the world’s largest containership, at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering’s (DMSE) Okpo shipyard in Geoje, Korea.The 399.9-meter HMM Algeciras is the first of a dozen 24,000 TEU-class vessels scheduled to be delivered this year, and takes the "world's largest" title from the 23,656 TEU Gülsün-Class ships owned by Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).In September 2018…

Hydraulic fracturing operations in the Permian shattered old records in June. The prolific shale basin in Texas and parts of New Mexico in the US has reached new heights in terms of the number of fracked wells – both on a daily basis and in terms of absolute monthly wells. Rystad Energy estimates there were as many as 18 wells fracked per day across the entire Permian Basin, or almost 550 wells during the month of June. Previously, fracking in the Permian peaked at approximately 520 wells fracked in August 2018, while the peak daily rate was reached in February earlier this year.“The Midland platform has undoubtedly been the driver of this upwards trend with consistent month-over-month increases…

The state-run Qatar Petroleum (QP)  has revealed plans to order 60 new LNG carriers preferably from South Korean shipyards. Qatar's energy minister, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is also CEO of Qatar Petroleum, said the company plans to order 60 new LNG carriers.QP has sent invitations to tender reserve shipbuilding capacity for LNG carriers to major shipbuilders across the world, including HHI, DSME and SHI.Most LNG carriers owned by Qatar were built by Korea’s top three shipbuilders, known as "Big Three" – Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME).According to Korea Times…

South Korea's "Big Three" shipbuilders may soon become the "Big Two". South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has expressed interest to buy its rival Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), the local media has reported.The world’s biggest shipbuilder plans to buy a majority stake in in second-ranked rival from the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), WSJ reported quoting people directly involved in the matter.The move would consolidate HHI's position as the top South Korean shipbuilder and create a new industry giant.According to the report, a merger between the world’s two biggest shipyards has been in the works for about a year.

Qatar’s energy minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who also serves as deputy chairman of Qatar Petroleum (QP), outlined plans to order 60 new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.Reuters, quoting a statement issued by South Korea’s presidential office, reported that the energy minister expects cooperation with experienced Korean shipbuilders on constructing the LNG carriers.Qatar is the world’s largest supplier of LNG, with an annual production of 77 million tons. Last year, it announced it would further ramp up its annual capacity to 110 million tons by 2023-2024 by building four liquefaction trains.A report in Pulse news said that in line with its major expansion plan…

China's state-owned CNOOC is temporarily storing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a tanker off South Korea as a warmer than usual winter cuts expected spot demand for the fuel, industry sources said on Wednesday.China faced a severe winter gas shortage last year after switching millions of households to natural gas from coal for heating, prompting Chinese companies this winter to secure supply well ahead of time, they said.However, the winter so far has been relatively mild and weather data from Refinitiv Eikon largely points towards warmer than usual temperatures ahead…

South Korea’s shipbuilding industry reclaimed the title of world’s biggest shipbuilder (in terms of orders volume) in 2018 for the first time in six years, since it had conceded No.1 spot to China in 2012.The global orders of Korean shipbuilders stood at 12.6 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT) last year, accounting for 44.2 percent of the total orders, according to Clarkson Research, shipbuilding and marine analysis agency in the U.K. The orders of Chinese shipbuilders were 9.1 million CGT, accounting for 32 percent of the total share.A report in Business Korea quoted Clarkson Research saying that  the major three South Korean shipbuilders made a remarkable progress last year in LNG carriers market.

South Korea's Big Three shipbuilders  - Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) - have hit record low in workforce.According to a report in Business Korea, the total number of employees in South Korea's Big Three shipbuilders has plunged a whopping 27 percent compared to 2011.The “big three” shipbuilders had 36,757 employees on the payroll last year, down 27.04 percent from 50,377 in 2011.The figure decreased to 35,623 in the first half of this year as 1,134 more workers left the companies, the report said quoting sources in Financial Supervisory Service, South…

At first glance from above it looks like any clean and neatly planned small town, complete with sports grounds, neat roads and large civic buildings. But the town is on Subi reef in the Spratlys archipelago of the hotly contested South China Sea and, regional security experts believe, could soon be home to China's first troops based in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. Private sector data analysis reviewed by Reuters shows Subi, some 1,200 km (750 miles) from China's coast, is now home to nearly 400 individual buildings – far more than other Chinese islands.

Despite the grey clouds and rain that fell over the weekend in La Spezia, the YM Warmth making only her second call brought a splash of colour to the terminal when it discharged from Asia a brand new ONE container, showing off the bright new magenta livery.   The ship is deployed in THE Alliance’s MD2 service and is one of a series of 14,000 teu ships operated by Yang Ming Line of Taiwan.   Effective from April 1, ONE will become the new shipping line formed as a result of the merged container divisions of the big three Japanese lines, namely “K” Line, NYK and MOL.   The corporate color scheme adopted by the new company brightened up the day at Contship Italia’s La Spezia Container Terminal.

Sparks light up the night-shift at giant shipyards on Korea’s southeast coast, as welders and fitters at some of the world’s biggest marine engineers forge next-generation container ships, oil rigs and even ice-breaking tankers in a bid to clamber out of a global industry abyss. Sunk by drastic cuts in orders from customers hit by the 2008 financial crisis, South Korea’s shipping landscape has been littered with bankruptcies and billion-dollar losses. But some, like Busan’s DSME, are adding innovation to craftsmanship to tap new demand for nimbler ships and offshore energy platforms.

GTT, leading engineering company in containment systems for the shipping and storage in cryogenic conditions of LNG (liquefied natural gas) announces a new order from South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) regarding a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU).    GTT will design the LNG integrated tanks. Its delivery is scheduled in late 2020. This contract is the sixth FSRU order obtained by GTT this year.    Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and CEO of GTT, declared: “GTT is delighted to continue its partnership of excellence with Samsung Heavy Industries.”    GTT has already managed the new build of over 40 LNGC and FSRU.   Samsung Heavy Industries is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world and one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea.

To help promote liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering in Asia, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Ports and Harbors Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism of Japan (MLIT) will helm a working group to conduct a feasibility study on LNG bunkering for car carriers plying between Japan and Singapore. This working group will include Japan’s big three shippers – Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL).

To promote LNG bunkering in Asia, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Ports and Harbours Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism of Japan (MLIT) will helm a working group to conduct a feasibility study on LNG bunkering for car carriers plying between Japan and Singapore. This working group will include Japan’s big three shippers – Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL). The study will focus on the technical details such as fuel tank capacities and refuelling requirements to assess the feasibility of running LNG-fuelled car carriers between Japan and Singapore. The joint feasibility study was announced at the inaugural Singapore and Japan Port Seminar 2017 held in Singapore today.

Japan’s big three shippers -Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) -  have reported profits for the first quarter, bouncing back from losses a year earlier Reuters reported. Thanks to rising freight rates, the shippers showed brightened financials ahead of their integration into the Ocean Network Express (ONE) next April. The results are also raising hopes the firms could be emerging from the industry’s worst-ever downturn on record. NYK recorded a profit attributable to owners of the parent of 5.4 billion yen (U.S. $48.9 million) for the quarter, compared to a loss of 12.79 billion yen for the corresponding quarter a year prior.

Japan's big three shippers on Monday reported profits for the first quarter, bouncing back from losses a year earlier and raising hopes the firms could be emerging from the industry's worst-ever downturn on record. Mitsui OSK Lines swung to a 1.1 billion yen ($10 million) operating profit in April-June from a loss of 3.6 billion yen a year earlier, as a strong U.S. economy lifted freight volumes on routes between Asia and North America to record levels in the last quarter. It now expects an 18 billion yen operating profit in the year through next March, double its previous forecast for 9 billion yen. Nippon Yusen booked operating income of 3.6 billion yen compared with a loss of 11 billion yen a year earlier…

Though South Korea’s big three shipbuilders -Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and Samsung Heavy Industries - showing signs of fiscal recovery this year,  orders at midsized shipbuilding companies remain sparse. Korea Herald reported citing  Korea Export-Import Bank of Korea that the order receipts of medium-sized shipyards in Korea were estimated to be around $110 million in the first quarter. Despite an improvement compared to last year’s first quarter, when there was not a single order, ship orders for the countries eight mid-sized shipbuilders are insufficient compared to the top three. Korea’s big three received a total of 36 vessel orders worth $3.48 billion so far this year.