Water on the Rhine and Danube in Germany remains shallow and cargo vessels cannot sail fully loaded, traders said on Monday. The rivers had fallen below normal levels in late June after dry weather. The Rhine is still too shallow for normal sailings from Duisburg and Cologne to southern stretches of the river, traders said. All of the Danube in Germany is too shallow for normal loading. Shallow water means vessel operators impose surcharges on freight rates, increasing costs for cargo owners.

Stephan Aumann has been appointed by ASYAD (formerly Oman Global Logistic Group) board of directors as the new CEO of the Oman Drydock Company S.A.O.C. in Duqm/Oman. Aumann assumed the role June 15 and replaced the former CEO Jin Han Lee (DSME), who advised at the end of 2016 that he would be stepping down. With a bachelor's degree in naval architecture and a master degree in industrial engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Kiel/Germany, the 50-year-old German…

Reuters reported that Germany's DVB Bank warned its 2017 pretax return on equity would likely fall short of its expected range of minus 3 percent to plus 3 percent due to high risk costs in its shipping and offshore financing portfolios. It said on Friday it was also likely to miss its forecasts for cost-income ratio and Economic Value Added. Germany was one of the world's main centres of global ship financing before the 2008 financial crisis, and the five German banks with the closest links to the shipping industry still have around 80 billion euros ($91.4 billion) on loan to the sector.

A joint venture between Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. and Van Oord has been awarded a LoI (Letter of Intent) for rock placement services for the Nord Stream 2  project. The award was made by the project developer Nord Stream 2 AG and is a part of the construction of the planned twin 1,200 kilometer gas pipelines running through the Baltic Sea, connecting Russia to Europe. The contract value is approximately EUR 250 million ($285 million), with a 50 percent share for Boskalis. Contract details are expected to be finalized in the next few weeks.

Germany’s marine and offshore equipment suppliers will have to continue efforts this year to respond to the continuing weak demand from other countries and growing competition in global shipping markets, says German Engineering Federation (VDMA) who reported a decline in orders in the maritime sector in 2017 as sales slid slightly to €11.1 billion ($12.7 billion). However, according to VDMA, the general situation in mechanical engineering industry and digitalization show encouraging signs as companies stand to benefit from developing new markets…

CWind announced the launch of its wholly-owned subsidiary in Germany. CWind Germany will be headquartered in Hamburg and will be responsible for the sales and marketing of CWind’s services in Germany. The company has also said it has won the license to lease employees under German law, known in Germany as ‘Arbeitnehmerüberlassungslizenz’ and is now in a position to lease employees as third party technicians to German client companies. CWind is building a leading position in the U.K. and Germany and is looking at opportunities to further expand its footprint in the region.

DEME Group’s offshore marine engineering subsidiary GeoSea said that, following successful completion of the design, it also received the Notice to Proceed for fabrication and offshore installation of 16 wind turbine foundations and 1 Offshore Transformer Module (OTM) for the EnBW Albatros offshore wind farm, for which GeoSea is Siemens’ EPCI partner. This partnership enables Siemens to provide a full-scope project (offshore wind turbines and OTM, incl. foundations) to EnBW. The Albatros offshore wind farm is located in the so-called “exclusive economic zone” of the North Sea, in the  immediate vicinity of the EnBW windfarms Hohe See and He Dreiht, approximately 90 km north of the island of Borkum in the German North Sea.

The ocean cruise market in Germany continues to be one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors. Going by current trends, Germany could rival the UK’s position as the second largest ocean cruise market. Clia Germany revealed at ITB Berlin that 1.77 million German passengers took an ocean cruise in 2014 – a notable rise compared with the 1.7 million that cruised from the UK in 2013. Clia UK and Ireland said the UK’s 2014 figures would be announced next week, at the Cruise Shipping Miami exhibition and conference.

In honor of today’s World Cup match between the United States and Germany, a new graphic from the U.S. Census Bureau shows foreign trade statistics for the top five exports and imports between the two nations in 2013. In 2013, top U.S. exports to Germany included $5.7 billion in civilian aircraft, engines and parts and $5 billion in passenger cars, while Germany sent $25.8 billion in passenger cars and $9.4 billion in medicine and dosage form to the United States. census.gov

Greek ferry operator Attica Enterprises will deploy four new car-passenger ferries in the Baltic Sea in 2001, according to company officials. The 29,800-grt Superfast ferries will offer overnight crossings between Germany and Finland and Germany and Sweden from January through September. Superfast VII, VIII, IX and X, currently under construction at Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG in Kiel, Germany will have the capacity to carry 604 passengers in 172 cabins, and 125 trucks and 110 cars. The ferries will be able to develop speeds of up to 29.2 knots. They will connect the Stockholm and Helsinki greater metropolitan areas to northern Germany in about 17 and 21 hours respectively.

The Danish and German governments plan to sell the joint-owned Scandlines ferry line and companies from Sweden, Denmark and Germany had expressed an interest in buying the firm. "We are currently studying the possibilities (for a sale) and we expect to make a decision in mid-November," Danish Transport Ministry spokesman Michael Birch said. The state railways of Denmark and Germany each own a 50 percent stake in Scandlines AG. The Danish-German ferry company was originally expected to go public only in a few years' time, but this would not be the case if Scandlines succeeded in finding a buyer, Birch said. He added that companies in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and further afield had expressed an interest in buying the firm.

FREIBURG, Germany - Northrop Grumman Corporation has appointed Eckehardt Keip as managing director of Northrop Grumman Holding GmbH, which includes operating entities Northrop Grumman L.E.F. GmbH and Northrop Grumman LITEF GmbH. Keip has been managing director of Northrop Grumman LITEF in Freiburg for nearly eight years; and, in his new, expanded role, he will be responsible for leading all areas of the company's Navigation Systems Division operations throughout Germany. "This strategic new appointment will unite and centralize all of our operations in Germany under Eckehardt Keip's leadership," said Liz Iversen, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Navigation Systems Division. Northrop Grumman L.E.F.

Tognum has picked up the accolade ‘Top Engineering Employer’ for the fourth time running. It also won the seal of quality ‘Top Employer in Germany’ for the third time. This year, a total of 34 companies in Germany were named the most attractive engineering employers, and a total of 118 qualified for the ‘Top Employer in Germany 2012’ category. As ‘Top Employer in Germany 2012’ and ‘Top Engineering Employer’, Tognum gained the highest grade for its attractive financial benefits such as salary and pension schemes.

Carole Coune has officially assumed the office of Secretary General of the International Transport Forum at the OECD. As of August 1, 2011, Coune takes over from Jack Short, who is retiring, as leader of the Paris-based intergovernmental organization which brings together 52 nations. On her first official visit to a member country, Coune met with Germany’s Federal Minister of Transport, Construction and Urban Development, Dr. Peter Ramsauer, and State Secretary Rainer Bomba in Berlin on Tuesday to discuss her strategic vision for the future of the International Transport Forum. Minister Ramsauer assured Coune of Germany’s support for her work. He emphasized that Germany is prepared to host the Forum’s annual summit until at least 2017. ”I am delighted that Ms.

Banks sell Imtech Traffic & Infra; sale of Imtech Germany launched. The administrators and creditors of collapsed Dutch engineering services firm Royal Imtech pressed on with the forced sale of its businesses to raise funds to settle its bills. The sale of the German unit started on Tuesday, with insolvency administrator Peter-Alexander Borchardt saying he had already received more than 40 expressions of interest. Imtech Germany filed for insolvency on Aug. 6, and the parent company followed suit a week later, capping a long slide that began in 2013 after accounting irregularities were uncovered at its Polish and German operations. The group has since hastily sold operations representing 43 percent of its revenues.

The German company competing for Australia's $50 billion submarine contract is ramping up its pitches and lobbying became more intense. Germany is positioning itself as the "safe option" to build Australia's new submarine fleet, arguing it avoids upsetting China. The German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) linked its bid to strategic tensions in the South China Sea. It also said that awarding the contract to Japan could damage Australia's relationship with China. According to a report in ABC…

Norway plans to buy four submarines and Germany two in a bid to strengthen strategic partnership, says a report in Reuters. Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide confirmed that the the government plans to invest in four new subs from Thyssenkrupp (TKMS). The Nato member is expected to sign a joint contract with Germany in 2019, however, the final sum of the new  subs was not specified. "Cooperation and joint purchasing with Germany are the best choices," Ms Soreide said. The Norwegian…

At the SMM maritime trade show in Hamburg, the Bremen-based shipbuilding supplier and provider of consulting and ship-related services LOEWE MARINE announced that it has received an order from shipbuilders Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft (FSG) to supply the rudder systems for five newbuilds. The order takes LOEWE's partnership with FSG to the next level, coming, after five completed rudder projects for FSG over the past two years. It includes a twin arrangement of a high-efficiency flap rudder for a 194.8-meter RoPax ferry ordered from FSB by Irish Ferries.

Switching from coal to gas as the power sector is a significant opportunity to cut emissions. This alternative can save more than 50% of emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced. “I think it is both timely and necessary for German to develop a plan for how natural gas can contribute to fulfilling the ambitions of the Energiewende (energy transition). Increasing the use of natural gas will be beneficial both for the German economy and for the climate,” Lund said. On June 24…

There were a total of 210 ships broken in the second quarter of 2017. 158 of these ships ended up on South Asian beaches for dirty and dangerous breaking, said NGO Shipbreaking Platform. The Platform was able to document five accidents at the shipbreaking yards in Chittagong, Bangladesh, between April and June, which led to the death of four workers and the injury of two. Ishaq worked as a winch operator and died struck by a cable at the BBC Steel Shipbreaking/KR yard. This is the second fatal accident this year at BBC Steel.

The collapsing maritime shipping industry is stoking another European banking headache, this time in economic powerhouse Germany, says a report in WSJ. While the Commerzbank, Germany’s second largest bank, reported earnings, warned that its losses on shipping loans could be as high as EUR600 million ($641 million) this year after nearly doubling last year to EUR559 million. Stephan Engels, Commerzbank’s chief financial officer (CFO) admitted that there was little immediate prospect of recovery.

The German trade hub recently opened the 'Gateway to India' at Hamburg's Port Anniversary, the world's largest port festival. Highlights of the 823th port anniversary included the spectacular christening ceremony of the AIDAmar, turning Hamburg's port into the world's largest baptismal font.. Trade relations between Hamburg and India date back to the 16th century. Hamburg is Germany's gateway to India: each year, 300,000 containers to and from India are handled in Hamburg; the trade volume approximates €1.3 billion. Hamburg and India maintain excellent relations in politics, business, science and culture. At the festival, about two million German visitors to the port festival gain an insight into this year's partner country.

European intermodal operator Geest North Sea Line strengthened its sales team in Germany. Jürgen Reinke has been promoted to the position of General Sales Manager for Germany and will be based in Geest's Duisburg office effective 1 April, 2004, and Frank Possel has been appointed as Regional Account Manager, located in Hamburg. Reinke joined Geest in 2002 as Regional Account Manager for the Ruhr area. His early career was in the Hamburg freight forwarding community followed by sales positions with RoRo ferry and trailer operators PTI Portbridge, Norfolkline and DFDS. Possel has joined Geest from Seawheel. "Central and Southern Germany, especially the Ruhr region, have always been important markets for Geest but we now find that we are increasingly competitive in Northern Germany too.