Khan News

As a speed boat carrying more than a dozen Somali pirates bore down on their position in the western Indian Ocean, the crew of a Bangladeshi-owned bulk carrier sent out a distress signal and called an emergency hotline.No one reached them in time. The pirates clambered aboard the Abdullah, firing warning shots and taking the captain and second officer hostage, Chief Officer Atiq Ullah Khan said in an audio message to the ship's owners."By the grace of Allah no one has been harmed so far," Khan said in the message, recorded before the pirates took the crew's phones.

U.S. President Joe Biden's plan to deploy 30,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind by 2030 is still possible, although not easy, the CEO of Ørsted, the world's largest offshore wind developer, said on Monday at the Climate Week NYC event in New York.The remarks by Ørsted CEO Mads Nipper come as soaring costs and supply chain delays have increasingly cast doubt on the Biden administration's goal, a cornerstone of its plan to fight climate change. The Danish company said at the end of August that it may see U.S.

After some recent declines in the sub-continent markets, the ship recycling market appeared to have reached the bottom early this week as a certain “stability” across the markets led to some greater confidence to acquire some of the slim pickings of tonnage currently available for recycling.However, as the week came to an end, global currencies seemed to suffer against the U.S. Dollar in unison, as all of the major ship recycling destinations faced some declines (especially in Pakistan), leaving sentiments under pressure.

Thailand's military mobilised helicopters, warships and unmanned drones off its central coast on Tuesday as rescue teams raced against time to find survivors after a navy corvette sank at the weekend in choppy waters.One marine was rescued alive on Tuesday from the waters of the Gulf of Thailand, the navy said, among dozens who were forced to abandon the HTMS Sukhothai late on Sunday after it was knocked over by four-metre (13 ft) waves and strong winds. Five were found dead.There were 24 marines still unaccounted for by Tuesday evening.

Thailand's military deployed warships and helicopters on Monday to try to locate 33 marines missing after a corvette sank overnight in choppy waters in the Gulf of Thailand, the navy said.Three navy vessels and two helicopters were sent to find the missing off Prachuap Khiri Khan province, south of Bangkok, after the HTMS Sukhothai warship suffered an engine malfunction and went down just before midnight about 20 nautical miles off the coast.An overnight rescue mission in bad weather secured 73 of the 106 people aboard…

Inmarsat, a mobile satellite communications services provider, will roll out an Internet-of-Things (IoT) solution to more than 60 of Saudi-based Zamil Offshore's vessels in the Gulf area.The solution - powered by Fleet Connect and Fleet Data delivered through Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress - will allow Zamil to identify, trial and select the best solutions to meet vessel performance expectations set by its charterer, Saudi Aramco. The news of the deal between Inmarsat and Zamil Offshore follows a successful trial on the fleet’s anchor tug, Zamil 57.

The London Fire Brigade has added a pair of new fireboats on the Thames as part of a £40 million investment made by City Hall to expand the Brigade’s fleet of equipment and vehicles.The new 16.2-meter-long boats, Tanner and Errington, are named after Auxiliary Fireman Harry Errington and Auxiliary Firewoman Gillian Tanner, who in the Second World War were both awarded medals for bravery. The call signs for the boats are H23A and H23B, a reference to Adam Mere and Billy Faust, two London firefighters who died fighting a fire in 2004.Built by Holyhead Marine…

Firefighters in Bangladesh brought a blaze at a container depot under control on Tuesday, three days after fiery explosions killed at least 43 people at a facility that a senior fire service official suspected had not followed safety guidelines.Drone footage showed smoke and rows of burnt-out containers from the fire that began late on Saturday, triggering blasts and blazes at Sitakunda, 40 km (25 miles) from the southeastern port city of Chittagong. Authorities have not determined…

According to GMS, it has been another impressive week in both the Indian and Pakistani markets, with reportedly several sales taking place above the $700/LDT mark. These levels seem increasingly indicative of a market that is firm and these repeat record levels should hold for the time-being (especially after the recent volatility). Capacity also remains ripe across the sub-continent markets and demand is certainly firm in both India and Pakistan, as levels push on off the back…

Seaway 7, a company specializing in offshore wind installation services, has informed that construction has started for its next-generation Wind Turbine Installation Vessel (WTIV) at the China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) facility in Jiangsu, China. In a statement on Thursday, Seaway 7 said the first steel cutting ceremony marked the first major milestone in bringing its GustoMSC NG-14000XL-G jack-up vessel to the market.This week, Seaway 7 also revealed the new build vessel’s name; Seaway Ventus meaning ‘wind’ in Latin.

At least 19 people were killed and dozens were missing after a boat packed with passengers slammed into a vessel transporting sand on Friday in the latest waterways tragedy to hit Bangladesh."We have so far recovered 19 bodies," said Anisur Rahman, chief police official in the eastern district of Brahmanbaria, where the accident occurred.The dead include nine women and two children, he said, adding: "The rescue operation for those missing is ongoing."Police officials said they did not know the exact number of people missing, but passengers said more than 50 people had been on board, while dist

The Pakistan navy’s seventh biennial multinational “Aman” (peace) exercise in Pakistani waters aimed at fostering international cooperation to fight piracy, terrorism and other crimes threatening maritime security concluded on Tuesday.Around 45 navies, including those of the United States, Britain and China, took part in the Arabian Sea exercise with ships and observers.“The purpose of this exercise to bring regional and extra-regional navies on one platform and conduct exercises to enhance intra-operability in addition to counter terrorist threat and the crime which are happening in maritime

A Venezuelan floating oil facility that had been listing in recent weeks is upright and shows no sign of sinking, but plans to offload crude from the vessel posed some risks, the energy minister of neighboring Trinidad and Tobago said on Thursday.A team of experts from Trinidad inspected the Nabarima facility on Tuesday and found there was “absolutely no tilt” and that the vessel was “totally horizontal,” Energy Minister Franklyn Khan told reporters.“There is no imminent risk of tilting or sinking…

Turkish shipbuilder Med Marine said it has won repeat business from Maersk's towage arm, securing an order to deliver a new 23-meter tug for Svitzer’s German fleet.The contract signed last week for a MED-A2360 series tug follows a deal inked in September 2019 for two 30-meter icebreaking tugs for the Danish operator's Scandinavian operations. The newly ordered vessel (hull name ER80) will have 60-ton bollard pull and is set for November 2020.The MED-A2360 series tug is based on Robert Allan’s RAmparts 2300-MM designed exclusively for Med Marine by the Canadian vessel designer.

Turkish tugboat builder, towage and pilotage operator Med Marine said it has signed a deal with Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) to build and deliver a new 42-meter tugboat for the Port of Mombasa.The vessel is scheduled to enter service in East Africa’s largest port in 2021 as part of the KPA’s equipment modernization and maintenance program aiming to enhance efficiency at the port.The vessel design is from the RAstar ASD tug series by Canada’s Robert Allan Ltd. The new RAstar 4200 with a bollard pull of 120 metric tons, ranking it among the most powerful tugs Robert Allan Ltd.

UK-based software firm FrontM said it has partnered with India-headquartered satellite communications provider Station Satcom in an effort to enable maritime businesses to bring their ship to shore teams closer together in real time.The partners will connect customers' global people and teams via the FrontM Collaboration and artificial intelligence (AI) software platform, providing a scalable and secure communication hub that connects business to the people and tools needed to get more work done in remote and isolated environments.

Incat Crowther has announced a contract to design a 65m catamaran passenger ferry for operation in Korea. The Incat Crowther 65 will be built by Khan Co., Ltd of Geoje-si, Korea and operated by Dolphin Shipping Co., Ltd.The vessel will provide a vital link between Pohang, on mainland Korea and the island of Ulleung-do, where it will be the second largest vessel on the route. It will be the first locally-built high-speed ferry on the route.Incat Crowther will work with Khan to develop the construction capability for aluminium high speed light vessels…

Bangladesh has employed its second liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal with the beginning of operations of floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) 'Summit LNG' offshore Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal.According to Excelerate Energy, the FSRU completed commissioning of the LNG terminal, owned by Summit LNG Terminal, on April 29, 2019. The terminal has a send-out capacity of 500 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) of natural gas.In August 2017, Summit entered into a 15-year charter agreement with Excelerate for the FSRU Summit LNG. In addition to providing the FSRU, Excelerate acted as the Owner's Engineer for Summit in regards to the fixed infrastructure components of the terminal…

UK-based crew transfer specialist High Speed Transfers (HST) announced that its second new high-speed crew transfer vessel HST Sofia will be contracted by Shell to support its exploration program in the Black Sea commencing March 2019.The FCS 2710 vessel, built by Dutch shipbuilder Damen, will be trialed by HST to undertake oil and gas crew transfers to support the Noble Globetrotter II drill ship. The vessel will shortly begin an exploration drilling program in the Khan Kubrat block…

With the new tug MED XXIX recently put into service, Turkey-based Med Marine’s new fleet of six vessels is now complete. The ASD-type tugs are designed for harbor and terminal operations as well as for coastal towing.The main propulsion for the RAmparts 2300-MM consists of a pair of Caterpillar CAT 3512C engines, each rated with 1,380 bkW at 1,600 rpm, and each driving a SCHOTTEL SRP 340 azimuthing stern drive unit with fixed-pitch propellers of 2,100 mm diameter enabling a free sailing speed of 12 knots.

A tanker caught fire at the Gadani shipbreaking beach that holds a deplorable record of life threatening accidents on 11 October.Fortunately, no casualties were recorded. Only a few days later, on 14 October, yet another oil tanker named KRITI (IMO 9270737) caught fire, this time injuring seven workers, three of which are in a critical condition.The Platform has reported a series of accidents following the catastrophic explosion that killed at least 29 workers and injured 58 on the 1st of November 2016. Since then, there have been at least five more fires caused by unsafe cutting operations. Difficult access for firefighters, a severe lack of ambulances and no hospital in the close vicinity of the yards aggravate the conditions…

A federal auction of exploration leases in the Gulf of Mexico next week will test energy companies' appetite for acreage after the Trump administration left royalty rates for deepwater parcels unchanged, bucking an industry call to lower them.The U.S. Gulf of Mexico has faced waning interest in recent years as competition stepped up from other basins globally, as well as from onshore shale basins and Mexico's waters in the Gulf.Oil companies had lobbied for lower royalty payments for deepwater acreage because of the projects' high cost and long lead time before production can begin.

A Chinese shipping company executive was murdered in Karachi, Pakistani on Monday in what police say appears to be targeted attack. The man, identified as Chen Zhu, the Pakistan general manager of Cosco Shipping Lines Co, shot dead while in his car in the port city of Karachi, Reuters reported. Chen suffered a single bullet wound in the head, according to police who said at least 10 shots were fired at the car. “The incident appears to be targeted attack, (it) doesn’t look like a mugging,” Azad Khan, deputy inspector general of Karachi’s south zone, told Reuters.