France News

International Maritime Organization (IMO) is continuing its ongoing efforts to ensure women can reach top ranks in the maritime sector, through its Women in Maritime programme. The latest event was a two-week training course for female officials from maritime and port authorities of developing countries, in Le Havre, France (11-22 June). At the Institut Portuaire d'Enseignement et de Recherche (IPER), 23 female officials from 14 developing countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad…

Libyan oil production could face protracted disruption as factions in the east seek to seize control of crude exports, adding pressure to a tight global market. Eastern factions have tried to take over oil exports in the past but have struggled to find buyers because Western nations insist they will deal only with the internationally recognised National Oil Corporation (NOC) based in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. But this has not stopped eastern forces from seeking control of the ports, accusing Libya's western-based government of failing to share revenues fairly.

Shipments from Russia's Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant picked up from late last week after maintenance and unseasonably thick sea ice impeded exports this month. The Boris Vilkitski LNG tanker left the area of the Yamal plant on Friday for France's Montoir terminal after spending more than a week idling fully-laden offshore. The Christophe de Margerie tanker, which had spent more than a week circling north of Yamal above the entrance to Ob Bay, went in over the weekend and appears to have loaded, according to ship-tracking data. It is now leaving the area.

Mr. Jacques R. Saade, founding president of the CMA CGM Group, died on June 24, 2018 at the age of 81, according to the company. Jacques R. Saadé dedicated his life to CMA CGM. An extraordinary visionary and entrepreneur, he made the group into a world leader in the maritime transport of containers, developing the company in more than 160 countries, while maintaining the family dimension with its values. After having left Lebanon to protect his family for Civil War, Jacques R Saadé founded the Compagnie Maritime d’Affretement (CMA) 40 years ago…

Monjasa expands its reach to Northern France and goes from two to three supply vessels in Northwest Europe. Providing a niche market alternative to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) bunker hub has proven relevant for a growing number of customers and volumes are increasing. Steadily growing demand in the English Channel allows Monjasa to expand its services to cover Northern France as well. Monjasa is able to cover port areas from Dunkerque, Calais, Dieppe, Le Havre and all the way to Brest.

SMS, a ship repair and marine engineering service company based in Southampton, has completed its first major high speed craft (HSC) refit in France. Last week, SMS docked the HSC Condor Rapide on the Port Normands Associe’s (PNA) ship lift at the Port of Cherbourg in France.The Rolls-Royce syncrolift is 90m x 32m and offers a 3000T lift capacity. Located just 75 miles from Southampton on the UK's south coast, it is a more effective solution for Solent centric operators than the ship repair yards in the North East and South West of England.Chris Norman…

Indian refiners cut imports of Iranian oil last month as they started weaning their plants off crude from the country to avoid sanctions by the United States that are set to take effect in November.India's monthly oil imports from Iran declined to 592,800 barrels per day (bpd) in June, down 16 percent from May, according to data from industry and shipping sources.The United States in May said it would reimpose the sanctions after withdrawing from a 2015 agreement with Iran, Russia…

ESPO congratulates Port of Dunkerque (France) for obtaining for the first time EcoPorts’ environmental management standard (PERS). Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO’s Secretary General, handed over the PERS certificate to Stéphane Raison, CEO of Port Dunkerque, during a special ceremony which took place at the port. “I welcome the PERS certification of Port of Dunkerque which has become the ninth port certified with PERS from France. The Port of Dunkerque is clearly a port that puts environmental sustainability on the forefront.

From June 25th to 27th 2018, Naval Group will participate to Balt Military Expo (BME) 2018 in Gdansk. Naval Group will showcase its proposition for the ORKA program and its state-of-art innovations created for modern navies.ORKA ProgramThe Scorpène class submarine presented at BME 2018 and offered in the Orka program is NATO’s most powerful conventional submarine thanks to a sea-proven platform fitted with combat capacities equivalent to those of the French Barracuda submarines.It…

With the presentation of the RSD Tug 2513, on June 25th, at the ITS 2018 in Marseille, France, Damen introduces its next generation ship-handling tugs. Composed of a mix of new designs and a further evolution of existing designs, this next generation series is built on a solid foundation. New and proven technologies are combined and applied in a modular way, to achieve the best balance in flexibility with high value for money over the entire lifecycle. The next generation range is led by the innovative RSD Tug 2513, a compact and powerful tug redefining compact agility in harbor towage.

The scope of work that LR is undertaking covers design, procurement, certification, construction, integration and commissioning, as well as providing classification services under a risk based inspection regime to the FLNG when it enters into service in 2022.The Coral South field is being developed by Eni in Area Four of the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of Mozambique. The floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit will be Africa’s first floating gas facility. The size, quality and position of the field’s resources are set to transform Mozambique’s economy.

MSC Cruises has ordered a fifth Meraviglia class cruise ship at STX France. Due to be delivered in 2023, the vessel will be equipped with a new generation of dual-fuel engines designed to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG).The agreement for the new Meraviglia-Plus vessel represents an additional investment of €900 million (approximately $1.06 billion).With today’s order, MSC will be adding 13 new ships through 2026.The announcement was made at a ceremony held at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard…

When it was time for France Pelagique to start renewing its fleet, an electric-power alliance of Dutch and Scandinavian yard interests formed up and delivered. The result was the first installation aboard a trawler of NES’s Odin’s Eye, a DC grid solution to integrate another first for trawlers — quiet-running permanent magnate, or PM, propulsion.Where to begin a fleet modernization that ends with green credentials and richer harvests? Well, there are multiple points of contact…

A landmark Russian Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment has begun its journey through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to Asia, marking the delayed start of summer navigation as thawing sea ice clears a short-cut to the world's biggest LNG market. The $27 billion Yamal LNG plant developed by Russia's Novatek and France's Total despite U.S. sanctions started exporting in December, but cargoes ferried on ice-class LNG tankers have sailed to Europe. From there, Yamal's LNG was…

European Transport Workers Federation, (ETF) and the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) have discussed possible solutions to increase women’s participation in the shipping industry in Europe. Currently only 2% of the seafaring workforce available for the EU fleet consist of women, whilst gender equality is being put at the heart of the EU’s fundamental values for sustainable and inclusive growth. Discussions focused on maritime training and career development for women, as well as the recruitment and retention of women in the shipping industry.

Libyan oil production could face protracted disruption as factions in the east have sought to seize control of crude exports, adding pressure to a tight global market.Eastern factions have tried to take over oil exports in the past yet struggled to find buyers as Western nations insist they will only deal with the internationally recognised National Oil Corporation (NOC) based in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.But this has not stopped eastern forces from seeking control of the ports, accusing Libya's western-based government of failing to share revenues fairly.The latest tussle for power has already slashed national production to about 600…

The world's no. 3 container shipping line CMA CGM of France has made an exploratory approach to German rival Hapag-Lloyd over a possible merger as players in the sector hunt for tie-ups to beat depressed conditions, finance sources say.Three finance sources with knowledge of the matter, who declined to be named due to market sensitivity, said CMA CGM had initiated discussions in recent months with Hapag-Lloyd, which is ranked fifth globally, to look into some form of share merger of the two groups."The idea which has been proposed...

CMN Shipyard in Cherbourg, France, conducted sea trials on the June  13, 2018 on the OPV Thémis from the French Coastguard (Affaires Maritimes).The patrol vessel received a hydrodynamic upgrade at the shipyard by retrofitting the patented Hull Vane, an underwater wing which reduces the ship’s resistance. Comparison with the benchmark sea trials – conducted in January in exactly the same conditions – by CMN’s sea trial team showed a reduction in fuel consumption of 18 percent at 12 knots, 27 percent at 15 knots and 22 percent at 20 knots.

France's prime minister accused Italy on Tuesday of not meeting its international obligations after refusing to take in more than 600 migrants stranded aboard the rescue ship Aquarius."Italy, the Italian government, has chosen to not respect its international obligations terms of security for the people," Edouard Philippe told lawmakers. "This episode shows that there is no hope in the short-term for a national solution to this problem. There can only be a European response."Philippe said no European country had done more than France to try to stabilise the migrant crisis through its military operations in the Sahel region and its efforts to find a political solution to the conflict in Libya.Reporting by John Irish

Portugal is seeking to expand its deep-water port of Sines to handle greater liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments from the United States and elsewhere to offset Europe's shrinking domestic output, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Monday.Costa, who spoke at a conference on Portugal-U.S. ties, said the port of Sines, which already has an LNG terminal, could be expanded into a larger hub capable of receiving LNG transhipments, with regasification and underground storage facilities and pipeline connections to the rest of Europe.Portugal and Spain…

Verifavia, the world’s leading emissions verification company for the transport sector (aviation and shipping), announced that it has become the first independent verifier authorised by the Panama Maritime Authority to conduct the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Data Collection System (DCS) verification services for vessels registered in Panama. Through this authorisation granted by Panama, Verifavia will offer its IMO DCS and EU MRV verification services to the world’s largest ship registry – with over 8…

Danish shipping and logistics group DFDS has completed the acquisition of Turkey’s largest operator of Ro-Ro freight ships and will be a major player in the strong and continuously growing trade between the EU and Turkey. In April, DFDS signed an agreement with the owners of  U.N. Ro-Ro to acquire the shares in the company, said a press release from the company. “All relevant authorities have now approved the transaction and I am very pleased to announce that on 7 June we completed the deal. U.N.

Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade grew by 10 percent last year due primarily to growing liquefaction capacity in the Australia and the United States, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday.LNG trade reached 38.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2017, up 3.5 bcfd from 2016 and the largest annual volume increase on record, the EIA said, citing the Annual Report on LNG trade by the International Association of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL).New liquefaction export capacity commissioned in Australia…