Germany News

Nordic marine technology company Kongsberg Maritime has selected Swiss battery maker  Leclanché, one of the world’s leading storage solutions companies, as its battery partner and supplier of customised marine energy storage solutions.The partnership contributes to Kongsberg's new generation of hybrid power solutions, which are set to deliver game-changing efficiencies and reduce the environmental impact of transportation with cutting-edge autonomous and crewed vessel newbuilds.Leclanché’s batteries will be an integral part of Kongsberg’s hybrid solutions.

In Rotterdam, ships from around the world cruise in and out of Europe's busiest port, a bustling industrial hub that employs almost 200,000 people and produces 20 percent of the Netherlands' climate-changing gases.As Rotterdam tries to cut its emissions - in line with global goals to curb global warming - shipping emissions are a particular challenge, not least because many fall outside the targets set by the Paris Agreement to curb climate change.But the city's bustling port…

IMO’s 2050 deadline to reduce GHG emissions 50% from 2008 levels has set off a gold rush to develop Zero Emissions SolutionsClimate change is the biggest issue facing [all aspects of] the maritime industry, said Kitak Lim, IMO secretary general, in an interview earlier this year with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News. He predicted that shipping could experience as much change in the next 10 to 20 years as it has in the last 100 years, as the industry races to meet a number of challenges…

German Shipping Operator Sentenced to Pay $3.2 Million for Obstruction of Justice and Falsifying Official Logs to Hide Deliberate Oil Pollution. The previously Convicted Company Committed Environmental Crimes While on Probation.A German shipping company, MST Mineralien Schiffahrt Spedition und Transport GmbH (MST), pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in Portland, Maine, for obstruction of justice and for maintaining false official records to conceal deliberate pollution from one of its ships, the M/V Marguerita, announced Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey B.

German wind turbine servicing company Deutsche Windtechnik AG said  it is creating a subsidiary in Taiwan where the company will service Wpd’s 640-MW Yunlin offshore wind farm upon completion.At the offshore wind farm Yunlin, Deutsche Windtechnik Co. Ltd. will be in charge of a large part of wind turbine maintenance above and below water as well as technical management.In the medium term, the newly formed Taiwan team will comprise about 25 professionals, most of whom will be Taiwanese…

Norway has been forced to close the Sture Oil Terminal near Bergen and has started closing down the nearby Kollsness gas-and-condensate terminal — a lifeline of heating gas to Europe — after an early morning collision between a $440-million frigate and an oil tanker.The frigate Helge Ingstad, now listing heavily to its port side, is loaded with torpedoes and weapons systems said to be unstable as a result of the collision. Eight navy personnel are said to be injured, including two flown to regional hospital…

Italian police discovered 270 kg (600 lb) of heroin hidden in a container that arrived aboard a ship from Iran, the biggest such haul for at least 20 years in Italy, police said on Thursday.The freighter had set sail from the Iranian Gulf port of Bandar Abbas and stopped off in Hamburg, Germany and Valencia, Spain before reaching the Italian port of Genoa on Oct. 17, where police discovered the heroin stashed away in a consignment of Bentonite clay.A police spokesman said investigators were not sure when or where the drugs were brought onto the ship.Police allowed a small portion of the illicit cargo to continue its planned journey by truck to the Netherlands.They tracked the vehicle as it crossed Switzerland…

The providers of naval vessels, surface ships and submarines ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany has developed a new type of lithium-ion battery system for submarines together with Saft, a manufacturer of advanced battery systems for industry.In an adapted form, the system could also be used for other maritime applications in future.Dr. Rolf Wirtz, CEO of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems said: "The use of the new battery technology has enormous tactical advantages. We are entering a new era of submarine construction."Compared to the known lead-acid battery…

The German Federal Network Agency (BnetzA) has announced the outcome of the latest German onshore wind auction. It revealed that the country's last wind tender of the year was undersubscribed and saw average prices rise again.A press release noted that only 363 MW of capacity won a contract, compared to the 670 MW that was on offer.According to WindEurope, over 900 MW of projects were pre-approved for the auction and had a permit. But only a third of these actually bid. The problem…

Leading shipping finance banks have joined industry players in support of faster action to cut carbon emissions by the sector.In April, the United Nations shipping agency reached an agreement to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared with 2008 levels, which fell short of more ambitious targets.The UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) is meeting in London this week to work on an initial strategy on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.In the meantime…

Luxembourg-based dredging and offshore contractor Jan De Nul Group named its newest offshore installation vessel Taillevent in the Belgian port of Ostend.Miss Pauline Stassijns, granddaughter of Director Dirk De Nul, baptised the vessel and wished her success and a safe journey. The De Nul family, employees and their guests attended the christening.Jan De Nul Group acquired this offshore installation vessel, at that time MPI Discovery, from the Dutch company Vroon Group on 18…

Following the drawdown at the end of the Cold War, the Navy finds itself trying to build up again. The expansion of Russian and Chinese naval power has changed the calculus. While there will always be a debate about the final number of ships to build, we can all agree on one thing: the Navy must get bigger and the demand signal is to start building now,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, in testimony before Congress regarding the sea service’s 2019 budget request.

The Clean Arctic Alliance and indigenous groups welcomed the support given by member states to commence work on developing a ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters as the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 73) closed last week in London.Support for commencing work, to mitigate the risks of using and carrying HFO fuel in the Arctic which includes developing a ban, at the PPR6 technical meeting, in February 2019…

German shipbuilder Luerssen has suspended production of coastguard vessels it was building for Saudi Arabia and placed large numbers of staff on short hours, blaming uncertainty over whether Berlin would grant future weapons export licences.After dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would authorise no further weapons exports until Riyadh had satisfactorily explained his death.Privately-owned Luerssen was commissioned to build the coastal patrol vessels five years ago…

As cruise ships become bigger and their passenger capacity increases, innovation spreads throughout the industry through top level safety. HATECKE, a manufacturer of lifeboats for cruise ship newbuildings, has just received from RINA, the classification, certification, inspection, testing and consulting multinational, the Type Approval Certificate for its PEL14 lifeboat, the biggest and most space saving lifeboat ever built. Designed and built by HATECKE at the company’s yard in Drochtersen about 60 km west of Hamburg (Germany)…

Smulders, acting for and on behalf of the JV Iemants-Eiffage, has reached the next step in the realization of the substation for the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm.Ten months after starting the final assembly in January 2018 at the yard of Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen, the substation topside was driven outside for further outfitting on 21 October. Offshore installation is planned in the first half of 2019.The topside will be installed on top of the 60 meter high jacket foundation…

Iberdrola inaugurates the wind farm of Wikinger, located in Germany in the waters of the Baltic Sea, with an investment of 1,400 million euros.In its development have participated companies like the Asturian Windar, with the construction of 280 piles of 40 meters in length, as well as the Danish Bladt and the Spanish Navantia, which have made the 70 foundations (‘jackets’) – a large part in Fene, or Adwen, which has been in charge of the wind turbines.With an output of 350 megawatts (MW)…

Rhine water levels hit record lows in October; river is a key fuel transport hub for Europe.Low water levels on the Rhine river have caused a fuel supply deficit in parts of Europe's industrial heartlands that is sucking up cargoes from more than 10,000 km away in Singapore.Following a long, scorching summer, water levels on the Rhine - a key commodity shipping lane connecting industrial centres in Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands to major seaports - fell to record lows…

Pieridae Energy announced that its proposed financing of upstream activities within the Goldboro LNG project has received a written confirmation of eligibility in principle for up to US $1.5 billion of untied loan guarantee by the German federal government under its UFK program (Bundesgarantien für ungebundene Finanzkredite).According to the press release, this confirmation not only satisfies a critical condition leading to the completion of Pieridae’s acquisition of Ikkuma as contemplated by the arrangement agreement entered into between the Company and Ikkuma on August 23…

Deltamarin and Elomatic, both from Turku Finland, have signed a significant agreement with MV WERFTEN Wismar GmbH for the basic and detail design of a second Global class cruise ship. The value of the contract is approximately €16.5M ($18.7 million) for Deltamarin and €17M ($19.3 million) for Elomatic. The vessel will be built in parallel in Wismar and Rostock, Germany. The contract was signed on 10.26.2018 and design work has already commenced.The vessel is the second in the series of Global class vessels.

MacGregor and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) on strategic cooperation. The LOI was signed on October 29, 2018 at an executive level meeting in Beijing led by Lei Fanpei, the CSSC Chairman and Michel van Roozendaal, MacGregor President.MacGregor sees that this cooperation will further strengthen its presence in Asia and specifically in China, the world's biggest shipbuilding market. CSSC is a very important partner for MacGregor, as it is the primary shipbuilding group in China and well positioned as a global leader in the industry.The LOI relates to MacGregor's planned acquisition of the marine and offshore businesses of TTS Group and future cooperation potential between the two groups.

As part of their mission to improve services for shippers moving cargo between the US Gulf Coast, Jamaica, and ports in Ecuador, Peru and Chile, Seaboard Marine and BBC Chartering are pleased to announce a new strategic cooperation which will be marketed as “Andino Service.”A press release from the international shipping company based in Leer, Germany said that beginning as early as November 2018, BBC and the ocean transportation service provider in North America Seaboard Marine…

Danish wind power giant Orsted sees surge in earnings from offshore wind, driving interim profits up 14 percent and earnings up 32 percent  for the first nine months of 2018.The world’s largest wind farm operator, formerly known as Dong Energy said that the positive results are due to its transition to a 100 percent green power business and with its third quarter financial results revealing a surge in earnings from offshore wind and a jump in its green share of generation. "Our green share of generation increased from 59% to 71%…