Cut Steel News

Maritime 2026 opened with a bang between the announcement of Battleships, Venezuela, shadow fleets and yes, U.S. shipbuilding. The commercial building issue may come down to strategic patience or the adaptability to evolve through new technology while ignoring historic, old tactics. The subject requires another year of debate as the line separating the success or failure of Naval and Commercial shipbuilding in the U.S. is slowly becoming a blur. Look towards Naval growth developing in non-traditional patterns … because it has to.With China leading all of the discussions…

Seaspan Shipyards has entered into a contract with Ideal Welders for the fabrication of 30 blocks of the new heavy Polar Icebreaker that Seaspan is building for the Canadian Coast Guard.Seaspan and Ideal Welders have had a long-standing, successful partnership — Ideal Welders has constructed many components of the ships Seaspan has built, including the bulbous bows of both Joint Support Ships, HMCS Protecteur and HMCS Preserver.Seaspan cut steel on the new Polar Icebreaker in April 2025.

Seaspan Shipyards has cut steel on the Canadian Coast Guard’s (CCG) new heavy polar icebreaker, marking the first time a heavy polar icebreaker has been built in Canada in more than 60 years.It will play a critical role in enabling the Canadian Coast Guard to transit and operate on more than 162,000 kilometers of Arctic coastline.The Polar Class 2 icebreaker will help sustain a 12-month presence in Canada’s North in support of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty, high-Arctic science (including climate change research)…

Australia has awarded BAE Systems Maritime Australia a contract to build the first three Hunter class frigates as the program celebrates its transition into formal construction phase.Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles and the Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, officially cut steel on the first ship at a ceremony at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide, South Australia.

Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards has presented its progress towards completing the functional design on the first heavy Polar Icebreaker in Canada in over 60 years at CANSEC, Canada’s leading defense and security tradeshow.The functional design of the vessel is now more than 70% complete, and 3D modelling of the vessel is well advanced, setting the stage for Seaspan to cut steel on the flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard’s icebreaking fleet before the end of the year.With Canada’s current largest Icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S.

Roll Group has cut steel for its latest addition, Roll Barge One, in Batam, Indonesia. Scheduled for delivery by ASL Yards in the third quarter of 2024, this marks Roll Group's entry into the barge market with its own assets."This is a new milestone in the history of our company," said Peter Rondhuis, CEO of Roll Group. "By entering the barge market with our own assets, where we have been servicing our clients so far with rented barges, we're aligning with our strategic vision. Roll Barge One represents the first of many we plan to build.

Seaspan Shipyards announced it has completed construction of the ‘Prototype Block’ for the Canadian Coast Guard’s (CCG) Polar Icebreaker program. Construction of this Prototype Block ensures that Seaspan has the proper processes, procedures, equipment and skills necessary to build the first heavy Polar Icebreaker in Canada in more than 60 years.Seaspan said it developed and built the Prototype Block to ensure that its production teams are fully prepared to cut steel on the Polar Icebreaker in late 2024.

Canada's Irving Shipbuilding on Tuesday cut steel for the seventh Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS), the first of two for the Canadian Coast Guard’s fleet. Celebrated at the Halifax Shipyard, the steel cutting of AOPS 7 marks the official start of construction on the vessel.The Canadian Coast Guard’s AOPS will be tasked with a wide range of missions. Both ships will operate as the Canadian Coast Guard’s primary platform with increased capabilities to support fisheries enforcement on Canada’s east coast…

Seaspan Shipyards on Tuesday cut steel to build a “prototype block” marking a critical step in the Vancouver, B.C. shipyard’s Polar Icebreaker Program.Seaspan, which is designing and building the first heavy Polar Icebreaker in Canada in more than 60 years, said assembling the prototype block before full rate construction will allow it to test the new systems, processes, people and tools that are required to work with some of the very thick, specialized steel that needed to manufacture the complex vessel.

Irving Shipbuilding Inc. announced it has cut first steel for the future HMCS Robert Hampton Gray, marking the official start of production for Canada’s sixth and Final Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) for the Royal Canadian Navy built under the National Shipbuilding Strategy.Construction of Canada’s future combat fleet begins at Irving Shipbuilding’s Marine Fabricators facility in Dartmouth, N.S. The resulting 70,000 pieces are fabricated in a strategic sequence to meet…

U.S. shipbuilder Philly Shipyard on Monday held a steel cutting ceremony for the third of five new National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV). The new ship, destined for the Maine Maritime Academy, is scheduled to be delivered in 2024.The U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) NSMV program is designed to provide a purpose-built, state-of-the-art training platform for state maritime academies in New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Texas and California, respectively.

The U.S. Navy awarded Austal USA a $144 million two-ship Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ship (T-ATS) detailed design and construction contract October 5.T-ATS will provide oceangoing tug, salvage and rescue capabilities to support U.S. fleet operations and will be a multi mission common hull platform capable of towing heavy ships. These ships will be able to support current missions, including oil spill response, humanitarian assistance, and wide area search and surveillance. The…

Canadian shipbuilder Seaspan Shipyards announced on Monday it has cut steel and started full-rate construction of the newest oceanographic science research vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.The 88-meter Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV) is being built under Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) at Seaspan’s multi-program Vancouver Shipyard concurrently with the first Joint Support Ship (JSS) for the Royal Canadian Navy.The OOSV will support oceanographic…

Pascagoula, Miss. shipbuilder VT Halter Marine Inc., a company of ST Engineering North America, said it has cut first steel for the fourth Auxiliary Personnel Lighter–Small (APL(S)) that the company is designing and building for the U.S. Navy. The contract award is $39,906,609 for a firm, fixed-price option for the detail design and construction of the vessel.Halter Marine is currently constructing the first three APLs. In September 2018, the company received the initial contract to design and build two units, with options for four additional units. Construction on the fourth vessel is expected to be complete in the summer of 2021. The company expects to deliver the first two APLs this fall…

Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch company specializing in expedition-style voyages to Antarctica and the Arctic, has cut steel on its newbuild, Polar Class 6 expedition ship, the Janssonius at Croatia’s Brodosplit shipyard.The design, size and 174-passenger capacity is the same as its sibling vessel, the Hondius (174 passengers) delivered in 2019, and a nearly identical size and design, the new ship will be equivalent to a 1A super ice-class ship, the line said.Completely on schedule, the Steel Cutting Ceremony took place in Split's Brodosplit shipyard, which marks the beginning of the construction of the vessel., it said.Janssonius´ completion is scheduled for 2021 and as of November 2021…

The first steel to be used in Britain's HMS Cardiff, an anti-submarine frigate, was ceremonially cut at BAE Systems' shipyard at Govan, Scotland."We have cut steel for the second Type 26 Global Combat Ship, HMS CARDIFF, marking an important milestone in the program to deliver the most advanced Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capability to the Royal Navy," said a press release from the British multinational defence company.BAE Systems employees and representatives from the Royal Navy, Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, Minister for Defence Procurement, performed the official duties; setting the plasma cutting machine to work on a plate of steel that will form part of the unit that holds vital fuel stores for the ship, it said.The company has designed and built the Type 26 Global Combat Ship in Glasgow.

Croatia's Brodosplit shipyard today cut steel for Quark Expeditions' first newbuild, a 200-passenger vessel scheduled for 2020 launch.The ceremony took place at the shipyard and museum of Brodosplit, and was attended by senior executives from both companies, including President of Quark Expeditions Andrew White, CEO of DIV Group Tomislav Debeljak and CEO of Brodosplit Zoran Kunkera.The new ship from Quark Expeditions is the first of its kind, combining leading-edge technology, long-range operational capability and advanced safety systems to reach new frontiers in polar exploration, said a press release from the provider of polar adventure travel for three decades.“Every aspect of the ship has been built with one thing in mind: continuing to redefine what is possible in polar adventure…

One year ago, we reported on vacation river cruising, presenting an industry mostly on the optimistic side of growth and expansion for 2018. This year’s review is more geographically limited – to the Mississippi River, heartland cruises centered among New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis and St. Paul – but with links important for a lot of smaller cities in between.Big picture:This industry is strong, at least among its two major players: American Cruise Lines and the American Queen Steamboat Company. Both have extensive and varied schedules for 2019.

China earns cruise newbuild business, aims for ship financeWhile China has steadily built shipbuilding market share, cruise ship construction –  more specifically mastering the logistical complexities inherent in cruise ship design, outfit and construction – has proved elusive. But it appears that Chinese shipbuilders have turned the corner, with contracts signed for the first cruise newbuilds. We were in Tianjin, China, earlier this year for the 4th Annual China Maritime Finance Forum for a look behind the covers of passenger vessel in China…

China will shut down more outdated steel plants and bring total capacity to less than 1 billion tonnes by 2025, the president of the country's steel industry association said, adding that national demand for the metal is set to decline gradually. With more than three quarters of firms suffering losses as a result of a price-sapping capacity surplus, China vowed in early 2016 to shut 150-150 million tonnes of annual production in five years in a bid to raise profitability and utilisation rates in the sector. Its capacity then was estimated at 1.2 billion tonnes.

China's determination to tackle its choking pollution by cutting steel and coal capacity should be a long-term negative for exporters of iron ore and coal to the world's biggest commodity importer, but the reality is likely to be far more nuanced. "We will make our skies blue again," Premier Li Keqiang told the opening of parliament on Sunday. That's an unequivocal statement that gives political impetus to Beijing's plans to shutter more excess steel and coal capacity. The policy…

The City of New York Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) Staten Island Ferry Division and Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. (ESG) cut steel to officially begin the construction of the first of three new 320’ Staten Island Ollis Class Ferries. The steel cutting ceremony held August 29, 2017 took place in Eastern’s steel processing and pre-fabrication building at its Allanton facility in Panama City, Fla. Attending the ceremony from Staten Island Ferry Division was John Collins, Director of Ferry Engineering and Bill Tomalonis, Vessel Construction Manager SIF Division.

The U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was commissioned into the Royal Navy fleet this morning by Her Majesty The Queen. Serving as the ship's Lady Sponsor, The Queen addressed guests before the ship's Commanding Officer, Captain Jerry Kyd, and read the commissioning warrant at a ceremony in Portsmouth Naval Base. The ceremony, attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson and military chiefs, marked the first time the Queen has visited the new warship since the formal naming ceremony in Rosyth in July 2014.