Africa News

Torqeedo announced it has appointed Jochen Engelmann as vice-president sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), effective January 1.In this position, Engelmann will have responsibility for expanding sales and driving the company’s growth across the EMEA region for Torqeedo’s marine electromobility systems.Engelmann comes to Torqeedo from Volvo Penta, where he was head of sales, central Europe for the industrial engine division. Prior to joining Volvo Penta, he worked…

Despite overall piracy incidents declining in 2019, there was an alarming increase in crew kidnappings across the Gulf of Guinea.Number of crew kidnappings jumped from 78 in 2018 to 121 last year, according to the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) annual piracy report.This equates to over 90% of global kidnappings reported at sea with 64 crew members kidnapped across six separate incidents in the last quarter of 2019 alone. The region accounted for 64 incidents including all four vessel hijackings that occurred in 2019…

The Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass) said that the classed fleet registered approx. 3% growth in the past year.The ship classification society said that its foreign flag fleet continued to grow at a robust pace with 16% more vessels added during 2019 demonstrating strong global acceptance of IRClass services.IRClass received several flag authorizations in 2019 including key flags like Cyprus and Denmark and is now recognized by 45 flag states worldwide. It opened a new office in the Netherlands to add to its other European offices in the UK…

Dutch dredging and offshore contractor Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has confirmed that one contract worker is dead and five were seriously injured after consuming a ‘toxic’ cleaning liquid on board a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel destined for Brazil.The incident occurred earlier this week on board an FPSO which is currently in transit between China and Brazil, towed by the Vanguard semi-submersible heavy lift ship.Six persons employed by the designated contractor…

German international shipping and container transportation company Hapag-Lloyd AG has opened a new Quality Service Center (QSC) in Mauritius. The QSC will explicitly serve Africa, one of Hapag-Lloyd's fastest growing markets.Quality Service Centers are an important cornerstone of Hapag-Lloyd´s Strategy 2023. They gather selected functions from different Areas under one roof, enabling synergies and delivering on the Quality Promises towards the customers.Hapag-Lloyd has already established several QSCs around the world - in Atlanta (USA)…

South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co (DSME) is targeting deals worth more than $6.88 billion in 2020, said a report by Yonhap.DSME received an additional order of six container vessels worth 891.8 billion won (US$768 million) from an African client on Dec. 27. DSME will deliver the vessels to their owner by the end of October 2022.The world's second-largest shipbuilder by order backlog won orders worth $6.88 billion to build 39 vessels, achieving 82 percent of its annual order target of $8.37 billion in 2019.The 39 ships includes 10 LNG carriers…

South Korean shipbuilding and offshore contractor Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) has secured a 891.8 billion-won (US$771 million) order to build six container ships.According to Yonhap, the world’s second-largest shipbuilder by order backlog will deliver the ships to an unidentified client in Africa by October 2022 under the deal.With the latest deal, Daewoo Shipbuilding has won orders worth $6.88 billion for 39 vessels so far this year, achieving 82 percent of its annual order target of $8.37 billion.The 39 vessels include 10 LNG carriers…

Ardent has announced a refocus of its strategy and a relocation of its headquarter.Ardent will refocus its strategy away from decommissioning towards its core business of emergency management and wreck removal. It has a market leading position in these areas which it intends to build further. Ardent will also move its headquarter from Houston, USA, to Ijmuiden, the Netherlands, where the new CEO, Oliver Timofei, and CFO, Jens Jaeger, are based.These moves will continue the positive momentum experienced in emergency management (emergency preparedness & emergency response) and wreck removal over the last 4 years and make Ardent more customer centric. Ardent will continue to provide its Global Preparedness Cover offerings as well as its OPA90 SMFF services for the USA.

US Offshore Support Vessel Analysis 2018 and 2019. The US GOM Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) market is suffering, utilization remains poor, and many owners are still squeezed financially. However, a poor market forces people to adapt and for those willing to take risks, the upside can be extremely large.US Owners 2018 vs. 2019: Within the US GOM, 2018 saw a period of strategic thinking and tactical business decisions. Tidewater Marine completed their merger with GulfMark Offshore to create the world’s largest OSV player.

SAL Heavy Lift, a carrier specializing in sea transport of heavy lift and project cargo,  announced that it will expand its fleet with three heavy lift vessels with 800t lifting capacity in early 2020.The three vessels - “MV Hanna”, “MV Klara” and “MV Lisa” - will come to serve breakbulk and heavy lift clients on world markets via SALs well known Semi-Liner Service, but will also potentially offer new service options.When the new year 2020 dawns, SAL will see its fleet expanding…

India's foreign ministry said on Monday that 20 of its nationals had been kidnapped from an oil tanker in West African waters."Our Mission in Abuja has taken up the matter with the Nigerian authorities, as also with the authorities of the neighbouring countries," the ministry said in a statement.It said the vessel was the Marshall Islands-flagged DUKE.The ship's operator Union Maritime wrote on its website that the craft was "attacked and boarded" while carrying fuel oil to the Togolese capital Lome from Angola and that the company was working with relevant authorities to resolve the incident.

A MacGregor project team has been involved in the polar icebreaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon) 2 project for China’s 36th Antarctic expedition from the very early stage back in 2011MacGregor is working collaboratively with the he Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) project team and the Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC) in Shanghai to develop different technical solutions required to enable deck handling equipment to operate effectively at temperatures of minus…

Though overall global upstream investments in 2020 will decrease by around 4%, deepwater will be the only segment expected to grow above 5% next year, spelling a boom for the industry, said a report.Rystad Energy is forecasting that overall global upstream investments in 2020 will decrease by around 4%. Investments in shale/tight oil are expected to contract the most next year by almost 12%.Rystad Energy believes that the lower oil price and weaker cash flows will force shale companies to reduce activity.

Pirates have released three crew taken hostage from a Greek oil tanker off the coast of the West African country of Togo in November, the vessel's manager said on Friday.A fourth hostage, a Filipino, died from illness during captivity, European Products Carriers Ltd added.It did not give details of the release.The tanker, Elka Aristotle, was attacked on Nov. 4 about 18 km (11 miles) from the port of Lome.

Anyone who has been around the Offshore Oil and Gas or the Marine industries for long has heard of plans for mining various minerals located on or just below the seafloor. In fact, when Howard Hughes built the Glomar Explorer in 1972, the cover story for its true mission – recovering a Soviet submarine - was that the rig would be used to mine manganese nodules from the deep ocean floor. This cover story was so effective that it had the unintended consequence of stirring great interest in ocean mining among offshore companies and the general public.In the years since…

Surface Navy Association (SNA) names two new Vice Presidents to focus on Navy and Coast Guard Enlisted membersThe Surface Navy Association has established two new Vice President positions created to specifically focus on providing tailored programs, professional development and other outreach initiatives dedicated to better serve our Navy and Coast Guard Enlisted members. The Association’s board of directors has approved Retired Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Charles “Skip” Bowen and Retired Fleet Master Chief (AW/SW) JoAnn Marie Ortloff to the new positions.Bowen joined the Coast Guard in 1978 and served for 32 years. A lifelong cutterman, Bowen commanded five separate Coast Guard units ashore and afloat.

The commercial shipping world can benefit from greater range of communications and reduced satellite costs. Domestic brown water operators know all too well that’s easier said; than done. Until now.In the fast moving world of blue water, deep draft shipping, the availability of reliable ship-to-shore communications has been a non-issue for at least two decades. More than ever, they need it. These longtime users of so-called ship management software and now, sophisticated remote monitoring systems that watch over even the most obscure minutia on board far flung 1…

Saudi Aramco's shipping arm Bahri has issued an expression of interest (EOI) to charter up to 12 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers from 2025, its first foray into the superchilled fuel, industry sources said on Monday.No further details were immediately available and Saudi Aramco declined to comment. EOIs are preliminary enquiries that may or may not turn into full-fledged orders.According to Bahri's website, the national shipping carrier of Saudi Arabia has six business units dealing in oil…

The environment in oil patches onshore and offshore alike has been challenging throughout 2019; worries about an economic slowdown – whether cyclical or induced by a trade war – have weighed heavily on oil prices, even in the face of reduced production by the big producers. Though storm clouds persist, there appears a clearing on the horizon.The fate of Offshore Service Vessels (OSVs) is, naturally, closely tied to the price of oil. Seacor Marine’s John Gellert, in reviewing its Q2 results, said: “Activity levels in the U.S.

Philippines-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) will more than double the capacity of its container terminal in Congo as part of a $100 million expansion, the company said on Thursday.Located on the Congo River, the port city of Matadi, where ICTSI operates the Matadi Gateway Terminal (MGT) under a joint venture with Congolese property management company SIMOBILE, is the Democratic Republic of Congo's primary shipping hub.The planned expansion will bring MGT's throughput capacity up to 400…

Three ‘megamax’ quayside ship-to-shore (STS) cranes sailed up the River Mersey, destined for the Liverpool2 container terminal, UK, completing the final stage of their voyage from China.The cranes are part of work on the second phase of the Liverpool2 project to provide additional capacity for growing volumes of cargo.Their arrival follows Peel Ports announcing a record-breaking month for its container operations at the Port of Liverpool. Quayside and landside throughput in October at exceeded all previous figures on record with year on year growth of 12%.Mark Whitworth…

Odfjell Drilling and Semco Maritime signed a contract for preparation and modification of Deepsea Stavanger rig prior to its start of a nine-month drilling campaign for Total in the harsh waters outside South Africa.The semi-submersible rig will complete a high docking (with thrusters on) in Semco Maritime’s rig yard at Hanøytangen, Bergen, in Q1 2020, said the  oil drilling, well service, and engineering company."The high docking enables for a minimized diving operation during antifouling of the hull and optimization of the time spent on seawater valve change…

Denmark’s Short-sea operator Unifeeder , part of the global port operator DP World, has acquired a 77% stake in The Feedertech Group, a Singapore-based feeder and shortsea operator.The Group’s Chairman, Ali Maghami, will retain the remaining 23% shareholding.Established in 2003, the Group operates two companies; Feedertech, which is a feedering service and Perma, a regional shortsea network. Both operate in the same market and connect the fast-growing trade route of Asia-Middle…