Marine News Boat of the Month: October 2017

RIBCRAFT recently introduced the all new 41’ RIBCRAFT 12.5 with the recent delivery of a specialized USCG Sub Chapter T Certified tour boat to a customer in New England. At 41’, the RIBCRAFT 12.5 is the newest and largest model in the RIBCRAFT model line. The ultimate offshore platform for tour operators, security and patrol operations, military applications, and discerning recreational boaters, the…
Italy Breaks up Libyan Fuel Smuggling Ring
Sicilian police on Wednesday sought the arrest of nine people, including a suspected mobster, for running a Libyan fuel-smuggling ring in which at least 30 million…
Alfa Laval’s PureSOx Tallies 100+ Installs

To date, a total of 109 vessels have been installed with Alfa Laval PureSOx platform for compliance with IMO SOx emissions regulations. With more than 75 PureSOx systems in operation today, Alfa Laval claims to have the marine industry’s most extensive list of reference installations for any single SOx scrubber technology. This represents every PureSOx commissioned since the first installation, including those on board a number of ships in the fleet of Danish company DFDS.
UK Partners Join Forces in Bid to Build Naval Frigates

A new partnership between Cammell Laird and BAE Systems aims to position the companies to build five Type 31e Frigates for the U.K. Royal Navy. The Teaming Agreement has been formed in response to the U.K. Ministry of Defense Request for Information and will now be part of a competitive tender process. Under the agreement, Cammell Laird will act as Prime Contractor to build the Type 31e Frigates with BAE Systems providing warship design, engineering capability and combat systems expertise.
Bahri Reinforces Americas Commitment

Reinforcing its three-decade-long presence in North America, transportation and logistics firm Bahri took part in Breakbulk Americas, being held from October 17-19, in Houston. The Bahri booth at Breakbulk Americas was opened by Mr. Sultan bin Abdullah Al-Angari, Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Houston, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the first day of the annual event in the presence of Amal Al-Ruwaii…
Scrubbers Installed on Two NCL Vessels

Exhaust gas cleaning systems, also known as scrubbers, have been installed on two Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ships in order to reduce air emissions. NCL says it was the first cruise line to commit to retrofitting six vessels with scrubbers and has now exceeded that commitment with a total of eight ships, including the latest two, Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Jade. The ships’ new lightweight in-line…
Pirate Attacks Still a Major Concern -Sailors’ Society

Global piracy continues to be a concern in the Gulf of Guinea, Southeast Asia and Venezuela, according to statistics released yesterday by the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB). In the first nine months of 2017, 121 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported, including 92 vessels boarded with five hijackings, 11 attempted attacks and 13 vessels fired upon.
SCHOTTEL's New ProAnode Goes to Market

The first SCHOTTEL Rudderpropeller with the newly developed and patented ProAnode has left the German factory in Doerth. According to the manufacturer, ProAnode’s new form and position sets higher standards in corrosion protection, thereby extending the lifecycle of the thruster. Furthermore, moving the position of the anode from the outside surface into the cross-section of the nozzle tail leads to subsequent operational benefits, such as reduced flow interference, resulting in fuel savings.
Wärtsilä Dual-fuel Engines for LNG Carrier Newbuilds

Wärtsilä, through its joint venture company CSSC Wärtsilä Engine (Shanghai) Co (CWEC), has been contracted to deliver 16 engines for four new LNG carrier vessels being built at the Hudong Zhonghua shipyard in China. The order was booked in August 2017. Each of the four 174,000 m3 capacity vessels will be fitted with four Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel generating sets running primarily on LNG fuel to provide the ships with auxiliary power. Their total power output will be 56 MW.
World’s First Floating Wind Farm Starts Production

The world's first offshore floating wind farm has started to deliver electricity to the Scottish grid, providing power to approximately 20,000 households. The 30MW Hywind Scotland wind farm, operated by Statoil in partnership with Masdar 25 kilometers offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, was officially opened today by First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon. “This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland,” First Minister Sturgeon said.
Charting the Next 100 Years of Naval Station Norfolk
What does the future hold for Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval station? Building on the accomplishments of the last 100 years, leading experts will…
Captain Fined after Ship Grounds off Northern Ireland

The captain of a Dutch cargo ship that ran aground at Rathlin Island has been fined £1,000 ($1,300) at Armagh Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to failing to keep a proper look out. Ship’s captain Aleksandr Iakovtsov of the MV Ruyter pleaded guilty to charges brought by the U.K. Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA). He was charged under the Merchant Shipping Distress Signals and Prevention of…
Wood Wins LNG Platform FEED Contract

The Honghua Group Limited has awarded a $12 million front-end engineering design (FEED) contract to Wood for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) platform development in the West Delta area of the Gulf of Mexico. The main objective of the FEED is to finalize the design of the world’s first offshore platform-based natural gas liquefaction and storage facility. Wood recently completed the pre-FEED for this project.
Transocean Wins BHP Work

Transocean announced that the ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Invictus was awarded a two-year contract plus three one-year priced options with a subsidiary of BHP Billiton. The backlog associated with the firm contract is approximately $106 million. The contract is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2018. “We are extremely pleased to continue working with BHP,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Thigpen.
BBC Chartering, Jumbo Shipping Team Up in Global Project Alliance

Two market leaders in their respective fields, Jumbo and BBC Chartering have agreed to an exclusive strategic co-operation; the “GLOBAL PROJECT ALLIANCE”, effective immediately. This unique co-operation between two family-owned companies brings together established and reputed heavy-lift expertise and massive fleet capacity. The alliance is a mutually-shared aspiration to provide comprehensive solutions to customers on a global scale.
Global Piracy Declines in First Nine Months of 2017

A total of 121 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported in the first nine months of 2017, according to the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) latest quarterly report on maritime piracy. The flagship global report notes that, while piracy rates were down compared to the same period in 2016, there is continuing concern over attacks in the Gulf of Guinea and in South East Asia.
First phase of DNV GL Led Offshore Cable and Pipeline Project completed

The first phase of the DNV GL’s Joint Industry Project (JIP) which focuses on the development of a new design and certification standard for equipment for pipeline and cable offshore operations has been completed. "The JIP, focussing on the development of a new design and certification standard for equipment for pipeline and cable offshore operations, aims to reduce uncertainty, cost, increase efficiency and safety throughout the lifecycle of the equipment," said a press release.
Hapag-Lloyd Completes Capital Increase

Hapag-Lloyd has successfully completed the capital increase with subscription rights agreed upon on 28 September 2017. By partially utilizing the authorized capital, the gross issue proceeds amount to approximately EUR 352 million (approx. USD 414 million). 96.5 percent of the existing shareholders exercised their subscription rights. A total of 11,717,353 new no-par value shares were placed at a subscription price of EUR 30.00 each.
Cautious Optimism on Multipurpose Shipping: Drewry

Recovering demand for multipurpose shipping combined with improved market conditions for competing sectors will result in rising market share for the multipurpose shipping fleet and a recovery in freight rates in 2018, according to the latest Multipurpose Shipping Market Review and Forecaster report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Although China’s plans to curb steel production in…
DNV GL, Taiwan Pact for Offshore Wind

DNV GL, the world’s largest resource of independent energy experts and certification body, has signed an agreement with leading Taiwanese stakeholders to collaborate on offshore wind testing and certification to drive the expansion and facilitate the development of offshore wind in Taiwan. The regulations for certification will be headed by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection since it has been designated by the highest authority in Taiwan.