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28 Feb 2024

German Warship Shoots Down Two Drones in the Red Sea

(Photo: Yvonne Albert, courtesy Bundeswehr / Leon Rodewald)

A German warship shot down two drones in the Red Sea on Tuesday amid escalating attacks by Yemen's Houthis and efforts by the European Union to protect international shipping, German officials said.Shipping risks have increased due to repeated strikes by the Iran-aligned Houthis in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait since November in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Gaza war.U.S. and British forces have responded with several airstrikes on Houthi facilities but have so far failed to halt the attacks.The German navy frigate Hessen…

28 Jul 2023

Ocean Shippers Playing Catch Up to Electric Vehicle Fire Risk

Freemantle Highway car carrier burning off the Dutch coast - Credit: Dutch Coast Guard

Electric vehicles are crisscrossing the globe to reach their eager buyers, but the battery technology involved in the zero- emission automobiles is exposing under-prepared maritime shippers to the risk of hard-to-control fires, industry, insurance, and emergency response officials said.That risk has been put under the spotlight by the burning car carrier [Freemantle Highway] drifting off the Dutch coast. The Dutch coastguard said the fire's cause was unknown, but Dutch broadcaster…

24 Aug 2022

DNV Launches Class Notation for Enhanced Tailshaft Condition Monitoring and Performance

Š Kalyakan / Adobe Stock

With its TMON(Oil lubricated, +) notation, DNV said it becomes the world’s first classification society to provide a qualified notation that adds another dimension to propeller shaft and bearing condition monitoring.The new notation serves to further minimize propulsion safety risk and prevent costly equipment failure, building on the benefits of the existing TMON class notation. Current DNV class notations TMON(Oil lubricated) and Shaft align are pre-requisites to meet the requirements for assignment of TMON(Oil lubricated…

28 Jun 2022

War in Ukraine Raises Global Shipping Costs, Stifles Trade -UNCTAD

Š Aloshin Evgeniy / Adobe Stock

The war in the Ukraine is stifling trade and logistics of the country and the Black Sea region, increasing global vessel demand and the cost of shipping around the world, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said. Container shipping and global value chains have been disrupted and many countries have had to look further afield for suppliers of oil, gas and grain.In a report entitled “Maritime trade disrupted: The war in Ukraine and its effects on maritime trade logistics” published on 28 June 28…

20 Apr 2016

China Eyes Faster Arctic Routes Opened by Global Warming

China will encourage ships flying its flag to take the Northwest Passage via the Arctic Ocean, a route opened up by global warming, to cut travel times between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a state-run newspaper said on Wednesday. China is increasingly active in the polar region, becoming one of the biggest mining investors in Greenland and agreeing to a free trade deal with Iceland. Shorter shipping routes across the Arctic Ocean would save Chinese companies time and money. For example, the journey from Shanghai to Hamburg via the Arctic route is 2,800 nautical miles shorter than going by the Suez Canal. China's Maritime Safety Administration this month released a guide offering detailed route guidance from the northern coast of North America to the northern Pacific…

12 Dec 2015

“Safe Container – Steering Changes” – SOLAS Amendment

With the SOLAS Convention now requiring container weight verification from 1st July 2016 onwards following the amendment approved by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) last November, the Company of Master Mariners of India (CMMI) jointly with the Indian Maritime Administration conducted a Conference on “Safe Containers Steering Changes” on 10th December at The Lalit, Mumbai. The objective of the conference being to bring together various stakeholders in the container supply chain and provide an opportunity for an in-depth understanding of the different issues and their implications. Deepak Shetty, the Director General of Shipping and Additional Secretary, Government of India, stated that the Indian Maritime Administration was totally prepared to implement the new requirement.

10 Sep 2015

Standing on Guard(eon): Preventing the ‘Arc Flash’ Casualty

As GE celebrates the grand opening of its Mebane Customer Experience Center and a multimillion dollar manufacturing facility renovation, Maritime Reporter & Engineering News gets an advance look at a new product line that could save marine and oil and gas customers millions of dollars in lost time and equipment damage. GE Industrial Solutions CEO Bob Gilligan told GE employees, distributors, and state and local politicians that ultimately, the firm’s energy management business would more than double to $13 billion annually as GE moves to recapture the lead in that market space. Gilligan also predicts that once this sea change has been completed, GE will then be earning as much as 90 percent of its revenues from the industrial side of the ledger.

18 Dec 2014

US Obamacare Impacts the Global Marine Industry

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, the recent healthcare plan in the United States, is affecting the international superyacht industry, according to yacht insurance expert Eva Maria Karlsson of Superyacht Insurance Group (SYIG). Maria, who is president/broker at SYIG, said, “The biggest challenge presently is Obamacare. Interestingly enough, it’s actually affecting the international marine industry, in that we now have to cope with tighter guidelines regarding time spent in-and-out of the U.S. waters. Most underwriters require that the yachts spend at least six months outside the U.S. in a 12-month period. It doesn’t matter that the yacht is registered outside the U.S. and the crew are non-U.S. “Some underwriters can’t even provide coverage for U.S.

07 Oct 2014

Canada Ill-Placed to Ensure Safety of Arctic Shipping

Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand

Canada will have trouble ensuring marine safety in the Arctic as climate change melts the sea ice and shipping increases, Parliament's environmental watchdog said on Tuesday. Canada, said Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand, had "no long-term national vision" to cope with more shipping in the region, where firms are trying to exploit reserves of oil, gold, diamonds, iron ore, zinc and other commodities. Gelfand said many high-risk areas in the Arctic had been inadequately surveyed.

27 Jun 2014

Marine Salavage: Responder Immunity Benefits a Responsible Party

The Author, Jon Waldron

Putting to rest the fears and misconceptions about what responder immunity means and what it will eventually do. It’s all good. As many in the response industry, and in many cases the marine industry in general appreciate, there has been an extended effort to enact an enhanced responder immunity regime following the lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon incident. It is hard to believe that we only recently observed the fourth anniversary of this unfortunate incident. And…

11 Mar 2013

US Non-tank Vessel Response Plan Approved

Logo credit T&T Salvage

T&T Salvage remind that the OPA 90 Vessel Response Plan regulatory package has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) & offers its services. On March 9th, 2013, the OPA 90 Vessel Response Plan regulatory package outlining requirements for nontank vessels trading in U.S. waters was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), jumping the last hurdle in a process which started approximately 8 years ago. While the final rules for tankers were issued in December 2008, the nontank regulations have been slowly moving through regulatory review.

17 Jan 2013

Insights: H. Elder Brown, Jr.

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Fidelis Group Holdings LLC and Continental Underwriters, Ltd. For those in the marine insurance and underwriting communities, H. Elder Brown, Jr. needs no introduction. That’s because over the course of the past 27 years, Brown has taken Continental Underwriters Ltd. (CUL) from a small family business to one of the largest brown water marine underwriters in the United States. More recently, Brown returned CUL to private ownership by purchasing CUL back from Houston Casualty Company in 2009.

05 May 2011

Transocean Reports Q1 2011 Results

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN) today reported net income attributable to controlling interest of $310 million, or $0.96 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2011. The results compare to net income attributable to controlling interest of $677 million, or $2.09 per diluted share for the three months ended March 31, 2010. $38 million of net charges primarily related to discrete tax items. First quarter 2011 results also included expenses associated with the Macondo well incident of $23 million, $19 million after tax, or $0.06 per diluted share.

27 May 2009

Tsakos Energy Navigation 1Q 2009 Profits

Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (TEN) (NYSE: TNP) reported results (unaudited) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009. Revenue, net of voyage expenses and commissions, was $106.14 million in the first quarter of 2009 as compared with $115.67 million in the same quarter of 2008. TEN deployed an average of 46 vessels in the first quarter of 2009 versus 43.1 in the 2008 period. The average daily time charter equivalent (TCE) rate was $27,495 versus $31,387 in the first quarter 2008 (TCE is voyage revenue less voyage expenses). Fleet utilization was 98.5% almost unchanged from 98.3% in the first quarter of 2008. Vessel operating expenses per ship per day increased to $9,355 compared with $8,969 in the first quarter of 2008.

18 May 2009

TEN Announces 1Q Results

Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (TEN) reported unaudited 1Q results (first quarter ended March 31, 2009) which showed that while revenues dropped, profits remained. This marks the company’s 62 consecutive quarter reporting a profit. Revenue, net of voyage expenses and commissions, was $106.14 million in the first quarter of 2009 as compared with $115.67 million in the same quarter of 2008. TEN deployed an average of 46 vessels in the first quarter of 2009 versus 43.1 in the 2008 period. The average daily time charter equivalent (TCE) rate was $27,495 versus $31,387 in the first quarter 2008 (TCE is voyage revenue less voyage expenses). Fleet utilization was 98.5% almost unchanged from 98.3% in the first quarter of 2008.

27 Feb 2006

Cleanup Insurance for Oil Tankers Increases

Tankers and other liquid-carrying ships calling at New Jersey ports will soon have to carry increased insurance against the chance they spill cargo, as happened Thanksgiving weekend in 2004, when a tanker ripped open in the Delaware River and fouled vast estuaries, especially in South Jersey. The Cypriot-flagged tanker Athos I spilled its gooey cargo as it approached the Venezuelan-owned CITGO terminal at Paulsboro. That came at a time when New Jersey required vessel operators to carry cleanup insurance of only $150 per gross ton of product spilled, based on a 1976 law. Now with the new measure becoming effective on February 28, the state demands operators carry policies insuring up to $1,200 per gross ton. That is the amount they could pay for each ton that may be spilled.