France News

On October 22, NYK signed a sales and purchase agreement with France's Total acquiring all of the company’s shares in the ship management company, Gazocean. Based in Marseille, France, and responsible for the management of six LNG carriers, Gazocean is now a wholly owned subsidiary of NYK. The move is designed to strengthen NYK’s ship-management system and expand the company’s LNG transportation business in France. Before the purchase, NYK held 20% of Gazocean shares and Total held 80%.In accordance with its medium-term management plan “Staying Ahead 2022 with Digitalization and Green,” the NYK Group is seeking to secure stable freight rates through long-term contracts…

Finnish tech company Wärtsilä revealed Thursday that it booked an order in Q1 2020 to supply engines for British ferry operator P&O Ferries' two new hybrid electric ferries on order at China's Guangzhou Shipyard International.P&OF has stated that the new hybrid-electric vessels, to be powered by powered by the Wärtsilä 31 four-stroke diesel engines, “will be the most sustainable ships ever to sail the English Channel, setting new standards for reliability and cost efficiency.”The double-ended RoPax ferries will operate between England and France.

Maritime cybersecurity is more important than ever, as made clear during an international webinar chaired Wednesday by the United States, the Netherlands and Denmark.The webinar was a continuation of the maritime cybersecurity event in the margins of the One Conference in The Hague in October 2019.Andreas Nordseth, Director General of the Danish Maritime Authority, said, “The technological developments hold great potential for improving the maritime sector even more, and ensuring the necessary digital and green transformation.”However…

CMA CGM, the world’s fourth-largest container shipping group, said it has restored its online business services after a cyber attack last month paralyzed activity.France-based CMA CGM first reported the incident on September 28, saying it had shut down access to its online services after malware targeted its peripheral servers.“The CMA CGM Group’s e-commerce sites are once again live with all their main functionalities up and running,” the company said in a statement on Sunday. “Applications and essential functionalities are now operational and secured.”In a separate incident, U.N.

Lebanon and Israel, formally still at war after decades of conflict, launch talks on Wednesday to address a long-running dispute over their maritime border running through potentially gas-rich Mediterranean waters.The U.S.-mediated talks follow three years of intense diplomacy by Washington and were announced less than a month after the United States stepped up pressure on political allies of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.They also come after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish full relations with Israel…

Aiming to test the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) in enhancing the maritime awareness picture in the French Mediterranean Sea, Secrétariat Général de la Mer requested the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) set up a multipurpose maritime surveillance operation, having the Navy (Marine Nationale) and customs (Douanes) as the operation's strategic and tactical leaders.Operational missions started on September 23 for an initial period of three months. The RPAS…

U.N. shipping agency the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said on Thursday its website and intranet had been disabled by a sophisticated cyber attack and its IT specialists had shut down key systems to prevent further damage.This is a crucial time for the IMO, which is responsible for regulating shipping and is currently working on ways to reduce carbon emissions from the sector, with a virtual session of its Maritime Environmental Protection Committee slated to take place later this year.The IMO said services had been affected since Sept.

In 1765, a young, peasant woman left a remote corner of rural France where her impoverished family had scraped a living for generations. She set out on a journey that would take her around the world from the South American jungles and Magellan Strait to the tropical islands of the Indo-Pacific.Jeanne Barret (also Baret or Baré) was the first woman known to have circumnavigated the world. Abandoning her bonnet and apron for men’s trousers and coats, she disguised herself as a man and signed on as assistant to the naturalist…

The number of mariners stranded on ships at sea is steadily rising as the crew change crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic continues with no end in sight.Travel and transit restrictions in place due to COVID-19 have severely impacted seafarers, the number of crew members whose contracts have been extended by several months has continued to rise despite multiple pleas to governments to designate them as essential key workers and to facilitate their travel.According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO)…

The world's largest group of shipping insurers will not insure vessels involved in the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream gas pipeline projects because of the threat of U.S. sanctions.Associations belonging to the International Group of P&I Clubs, including the Shipowners' Club and the London P&I Club, said in a circular on Monday that it would not provide cover "for any activity involving or related to the Nord Stream 2 or TurkStream construction projects".It said members…

A high-tech tug in the Netherlands has traveled without human intervention on an AI-optimized route from Boompjes to Waalhaven in the Port of Rotterdam, marking a milestone on the path toward fully autonomous and maritime sustainable operations.The milestone voyage was led by maritime service provider KOTUG International, ship design company Rotortug and tech start-up Captain AI, as part of the Netherlands Forum for Smart Shipping.The demonstration follows the summer 2018 trial of a Rotortug sailing under remote control from Marseille…

The world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker vessel was officially named during a ceremony held Friday in Rotterdam. The 135.5-meter-long, 18,600-cubic-meter-capacity GTT Mark III Flex membrane vessel has been named Gas Agility.The first LNG bunker vessel owned by Emerald Green Maritime Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), she is chartered by Total’s affiliate Total Marine Fuels Global Solutions (TMFGS).In February 2018, TMFGS and MOL signed a time charter party for the vessel…

The French government will reimburse 30 million euros ($35.5 million) in payroll costs to French ferry companies hit by the coronavirus crisis and Brexit, Prime Minister Jean Castex told parliament.Shipping firms have suffered from lower traffic to and from Britain due to quarantine measures and uncertainty around Britain's exit from the European union."We have decided to reimburse all of Brittany Ferries' payroll costs for the 2021 financial year.

P&O Maritime Logistics (P&OML), the marine services arm of global port operator DP World, has taken delivery of a Sanmar Shipyards-built tug for the DP World managed Berbera Port on behalf of Somaliland Port Authority (SPA). The M JEEX (ex. Dogancay XXV) arrived Berbera Port under P&OML management and crew on September 10, 2020. The delivery follows a previous purchase from Sanmar, the EGAL (ex. Dogancay XXVI), delivered in the summer of 2018.Powered by a pair of Caterpillar 3212B diesel engines (two 1…

The Sri Lankan navy said on Tuesday an oil slick had been spotted a kilometer from a loaded supertanker carrying roughly 2 million barrels of oil that has been engulfed in intermittent fires since an explosion on September 3.Oil from the engine room of the 20-year old New Diamond tanker “appears to have leaked out to the sea” following regular bouts of water-dousing by fire-fighting vessels, the navy spokesman said.The oil slick has raised concerns about the potential of further leakage from the cargo holds…

Russian gas giant Novatek has informed that its Arctic LNG 2 joint venture has entered into long-term charter agreements for 14 Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers.The Arctic LNG 2 partners have signed the charter agreements will SMART LNG, a joint venture established in September 2019 between NOVATEK and PAO Sovcomflot. The vessels will be built in Russia's Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex and will serve the giant Arctic LNG 2 project on the Gydan peninsula, Russia. The LNG Carriers will operate under the Russian Federation flag.

NATO is looking at ways to avoid accidental clashes in the Eastern Mediterranean while supporting German diplomatic efforts to defuse the worsening dispute over energy resources there, the alliance’s chief said on Thursday.NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters the Western alliance was considering so-called deconfliction measures to prevent naval accidents in an increasingly congested region, although he did not go into details.“I am also exploring the possibilities of NATO developing mechanisms to prevent incidents and accidents, a set of deconfliction mechanisms,” Stoltenberg s

The bow section of the stricken bulk carrier Wakashio has been scuttled Monday after the Japanese-owned bulk carrier ran aground, spilled oil and broke apart atop a coral reef off Mauritius.Scuttling efforts commenced last week but progressed slowly due to rough sea conditions, authorities said. The front section of the ship is no longer visible as of 3:30 p.m. local time on Monday after salvors cut holes into the bulkheads of several cargo hatches to accelerate the sinking process…

Finnish marine technology group Wärtsilä has said that its profit-sharing deal based on fuel savings signed two years ago with Brittany Ferries has significantly benefitted both companies. The installation of Wärtsilä's Trim and Speed energy management and optimization technology on the first vessel ‘Cap Finistere’, covered by the contract, was finalized and fully operational in March 2019. The installation was carried out by Wärtsilä Voyage. Wärtsilä says Wärtsilä Voyage is part…

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri announced Thursday it has floated out the new cruise ship MSC Seashore at its shipyard in Monfalcone. The vessel has been moved to a wet dock where interior outfitting work will continue until delivery to MSC Cruises in July 2021.MSC Seashore, which will be MSC Cruises’ longest ship at 339 metres and the largest and most innovative ever built in Italy, is the third of four vessels in MSC Cruises’ Seaside class, following MSC Seaside and MSC Seaview launched in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The ongoing oil pollution incident from the grounded 203,000 DWT bulk carrier MV Wakashio is threatening an ecological catastrophe around the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, endangering corals, fish and other marine life already under threat from climate change (IPCC 2018).In addition, it risks bringing devastating consequences for the economy, food security, health and tourism industry. Tourism in Mauritius - a popular destination for its pristine beaches - reportedly contributed about $1.6 billion to its economy during the last year…

The stranding of the MV Wakashio is one of the biggest environmental disasters in the history of the western Indian Ocean. While the full scale of the disaster is not yet known, the 1,000 tons of oil and diesel that leaked close to one of the greatest marine treasures of Mauritius threatens to destroy this precious habitat. Recovery will be long and the disaster will occupy Mauritius for years to come.Questions now arise: could the accident and the spill have been prevented? Was the country prepared?

The bow section of the stricken bulk carrier Wakashio has been towed to deeper waters eight nautical miles off Mauritius after the grounded vessel broke apart atop a coral reef near Pointe d'Esny off the Indian Ocean island's east coast. The Japanese-owned Wakashio struck the reef on July 25 and began spilling oil on August 6, triggering the country's worst ecological disaster and prompting the government to declare a state of environmental emergency.About 1,000 metric tons of fuel oil spilled from the cracked hull of the 300-meter…