Torch News

To help metal fabricators improve productivity, quality and workforce needs, ESAB has launched its new Tracfinder Rail and Tracfinder Wheel series of battery-powered welding tractors and unveiled its newly branded ROBBI Mobile cobot welding system. ROBBI is now available with the Aristo Edge 500R power source and RoboFeed Edge robotic wire feeder, which offer next-generation capabilities. Compared to manual welding, these automation solutions can typically increase output per…

Hoyer, a global supplier of electric motors and automation solutions, and VMS Group, a marine service provider, have merged to create Hoyer VMS Group, a new company aiming to deliver a unique global offering for power and motion solutions across marine and industrial markets.Fact Box: Hoyer VMS GroupFounded: 2025 (through the merger of Hoyer and VMS Group)Headquarters: Hadsten and Frederikshavn, Denmark; Ningbo, ChinaGlobal Offices & Hubs: Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland…

cut685bdfb8b3c6622a5fe1f2da_Lund Family1SunStone Maritime Group A/S takes next step in previously announced leadership transition.After 35 years as Chief Executive Officer, founder Niels-Erik Lund is retiring as CEO on June 30, 2025. Niels-Erik will remain involved in the group as a member of the Board of Directors.As of July 1st, Carsten Lund will assume the role of CEO of the Group. He previously served as SunStone’s Chief Commercial Officer, where he was responsible for the Company’s client relations and commercial development.

Victor, an ESAB brand, now offers qualifying industrial companies a free safety audit of their gas flow control systems and oxyfuel cutting and heating operations. An audit entails an end-to-end review of gas flow, starting where the gas comes into a facility and going all the way to the flame. During an audit, a Victor expert will look for gas leaks, review hose and gas line sizing, check equipment (selection, installation, condition and performance) and evaluate operator skills and knowledge.

The US Coast Guard’s Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance has released the U.S. Port State Control Annual Report for 2024 noting a decrease in detention rate due to fire safety issues.The annual detention rate decreased from 1.22 to 0.94%.Fire Safety: For the fourth straight year fire safety deficiencies lead all deficiency categories. Oil accumulation in the engine room once again led the deficiency total, 18 deficiencies. However, this was a significant reduction from last year’s total of 31 deficiencies.

The US Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, USS John Basilone, has been commissioned.DDG 122 became the 74th ship of her class and the second ship to bear the namesake of John Basilone, the only Enlisted Marine to earn the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross during World War II.While John Basilone and his beloved wife Lenah Mae (Riggi) Basilone didn’t have children, GySgt Basilone’s niece, Diane Hawkins, has taken up the mantle of representing her uncle’s memory and his heroism.

The Olympic flame landed on French soil amid tight security on Wednesday, firing the starting gun on a summer extravaganza of sport that President Emmanuel Macron hopes will showcase the splendours of France and burnish his legacy.The flame arrived in Marseille, a port city in southern France founded by Greek merchants, after a 12-day trip from Greece onboard the Belem, a 128-year-old three-masted tall ship that once transported sugar from France's colonies in the West Indies to the metropole.The torch was brought to land by Florent Manaudou…

Paris 2024 Olympics organizers on Friday, April 26, received the Games' flame in a handover ceremony in Athens ahead of a 68-day torch relay that will end with the opening ceremony on July 26.The flame arrived at the central Athens' Panathenaic stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896, after an 11-day relay across Greece and following the lighting in ancient Olympia last week.Several thousand fans and tourists sat in the stands of the horse-shaped marble stadium on a sun-drenched afternoon as the head of the Paris Games…

Swire Shipping commemorated the opening of its new Japan branch office in Tokyo on February 21,2024 with an event at The Palace Hotel in Tokyo, marking Swire Shipping’s official return to Japan with a physical presence.A highlight of the evening was the Kagami-biraki ceremony – the customary breaking open of a sake barrel – a tradition steeped in respect and appreciation. Esteemed long-serving former employees of Swire, who had served the company with dedication in the past, shared a toast of sake alongside the current Japan team onstage.

The Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) announced its president Caroline Yang has been reelected for another two-year term.In addition, seven ordinary members of the SSA were first elected during the association’s 27th AGM on June 28. The 2023/2025 council also co-opted four members into their council. There are two more members that the elected council will need to co-opt into the council.Yang has been at the helm of the association through some of shipping’s most challenging times.

Italian companies Comau and Fincantieri presented today  the first result of their joint collaboration with Automatica: MR4Weld (Mobile Robot for Weld), a mobile robot, an innovative outdoor automation solution, designed to improve the quality, performance and well-being of operators during labor-intensive welding activities.The MR4Weld mobile robot is being tested and will be used in the Fincantieri shipyards to autonomously weld steel structures, with the possibility of increasing operations up to to 3 times compared to a manual process…

It's nearly 45 years since the tragedy on the ANCO Duke where seven crew died at the bottom of the tank they were cleaning. “I was working on chemical tankers then. All the crew felt this terrible loss of life and took on tank entries with a heightened safety focus,” says Captain Dave Watkins, Deputy Director of the confidential near-miss reporting service CHIRP Maritime. Since then, enclosed space deaths still occur, although not in the number they did.Watkins has years of experience on chemical and VLCC tankers as an officer and master…

Four mariners were rescued in dramatic fashion from a tugboat that was sinking in Sabine Pass, Texas, on Friday.The U.S. Coast Guard said its watchstanders at Sector Houston-Galveston command center were notified at 5:38 a.m. that the crew of the 71-foot tug Sea Cypress hailed mayday on VHF-FM channel 13 and reported they were capsizing while moored near the mouth of the Sabine Pass channel.Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and directed the launch of…

The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday said it had recovered the body of one person after a vessel carrying Cuban migrants capsized off Florida's Little Torch Key, adding it rescued nine people and was searching for five others. Survivors told rescuers a total of 19 people were originally on the homemade vessel and that four people drowned immediately after it capsized, Coast Guard spokesperson Nicole Groll said. Rough seas and winds of 30 miles per hour made an already dangerous voyage more perilous, she said.

While the average person may have a little trouble placing the name Jan De Nul, as in “JDN Group”, that’s not necessarily the case throughout parts of Europe and in nautical circles. There the Belgium-based company is known for its dredging capabilities and high-profile projects in Dubai and the Suez Canal.In addition to dredging, JDN is building a reputation as a global player in its other business segments: offshore services, civil engineering, and environmental. Today, the company continues to invest heavily in all areas of the business.

A third crude tank caught fire and collapsed at Cuba's main oil terminal in Matanzas, its governor said on Monday, as an oil spill spread flames from a second tank that caught fire two days earlier in the island's biggest oil industry accident in decades.Cuba had made progress fighting off the raging flames during the weekend after drawing on help from Mexico and Venezuela, but late on Sunday the fire began spreading from the second tank, which collapsed, said Mario Sabines, governor of the Matanzas province…

Tanker owner/operator Ardmore Shipping Corporation on Wednesday announced the planned departure of its current chief financial officer Paul Tivnan and appointment of new CFO Bart Kelleher, effective September 28, 2022.Anthony Gurnee, Ardmore's chief executive officer, said, Kelleher and Tivnan will overlap and work together from September 1 to "achieve an orderly and well-planned transition".Kelleher brings to the role more than 25 years of progressive experience in the maritime, finance, energy and industrials sectors, having most recently served as chief executive officer of Chembulk Tankers. He previously served as both Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the firm, and prior to that, was the chief operating officer of Principal Maritime Management.

Jeff Chittim, ESAB’s North American Senior Product Manager for Heavy Industrial Products, discusses how WeldCloud online applications and the ESAB Heavy Industrial Product Line are a powerful tandem to help shipyards improve weld quality and efficiency.While automation has gone a long way in making shipyards more efficient, today shipbuilding remains a hands-on endeavor, with a dearth of ‘welders and fitters’ being a common lament.Technology companies such as ESAB, a global supplier of welding and cutting solutions across industries…

Savannah-based Colonial Group Inc. has announced a new era of leadership as it prepares to mark a major milestone in the company’s history in 2021.Christian B. Demere (Demere) has been named chief executive officer, succeeding his father, Robert H. Demere, Jr. (Demere Jr.), who had been in the position since 1986. Colonial Group has continued to operate as a privately held business since 1921 through the chairmanships of its founder, Raymond Demere; his son, Robert H. Demere Sr.; and Robert’s son, Demere Jr.“The time has come to pass the torch to the fourth generation,” said Demere Jr.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to restore Britain’s navy to its position as Europe’s most powerful maritime force on Thursday, highlighting that shipbuilding could also help heal divisions between the four nations of the United Kingdom.With repeated polls suggesting most people in Scotland now support independence, Johnson was keen to press the case for how England and Scotland can work together.He announced plans for 13 more frigates as well as committing to a new generation of warships…

The secretary-general and chief executive of BIMCO, Angus Frew  is stepping down for personal reasons. BIMCO expects have found a replacement by the end of this year.Angus Frew has announced he will step down in the summer of 2020, as he wishes to spend more time in the UK and less time working.“In six successful years, Angus has moved BIMCO to the forefront of the shipping industry and made sure our members’ opinions and positions are listened to at the highest levels of government. He will leave an organisation very well prepared to deal with the challenges the industry will face in the coming years,” says Sadan Kaptanoglu, President of BIMCO.Under Angus Frew’s leadership, BIMCO has strengthened its brand and member focus significantly.

esterday at Fincantieri’s shipyard, in Palermo, Italy, Christopher Prelog, Vice President of Fleet Operations for Seattle-based Windstar Cruises, activated the torch to make the first cut in the new steel that will become the newly constructed mid-section of the company’s new ship MS Star Legend. This is the second of three new mid-ship sections being designed and constructed as part of Windstar’s $250 million Star Plus Initiative which aimsto expand and transform the line’s three Star-class vessels.“This is a momentous day for Windstar as we reach another major milestone,” said Prelog.

After reopening its idle barge manufacturing operations earlier this year, Arcosa Marine’s Madisonville, LA, facility launched its first barge on July 25 to a welcoming crowd from the banks of the Tchefuncte River.The tank barge, E2MS 314, constructed for the family owned and operated E Squared Marine Service, LLC (E Squared), was christened by Kevin Morley of Frost Bank, after which Arcosa Inc. president, Thomas Faherty, addressed the crowd. “We are honored by E Squared’s continued trust in Arcosa Marine to deliver the highest quality inland barges to their fleet,” said Faherty.