Leonhardt News

German shipowner Leonhardt & Blumberg has entered the tanker shipping sector with the purchase of three MR2 product tankers from Ireland-based Ardmore Shipping.The companies announced Monday that they agreed to terms for the sale of three 2008-built vessels for an aggregate price of $40 million. Immediately following the completion of the sales, which are expected to take place in the second quarter, Ardmore will time charter back each vessel for at least two years. Completion of each sale is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including, for one vessel, a proposed closing date currently in advance of the current purchase lease option exercise date for that vessel…

Leonhardt & Blumberg (L&B), Germany’s largest independent charter owner of 15,000-35,000 DWT container ships and ship management company, has renewed its long-standing partnership with Marlink for the provision of quality  global VSAT connectivity."Marlink’s managed connectivity service excellence and digital solutions are recognized as a strong foundation for the ship management company L&B’s on-going fleet digitization, which will deliver more efficient and greener maritime operations," said a press release."Marlink has established a firm position of trust through its existing partnership with L&B, thanks to consistently high quality of service and an active…

A German-flagged container ship Hansa Meersburg ran into a crane while berthing at Keelung Port, Taiwan resulting in the damage of containers and port infrastructure, CNA reported. The 2007-built freighter, operated by German-based Leonhardt and Blumberg hit and damaged a berth crane valued at NT$200 million (US$6.78 million) as it was sailing into the harbor. In addition to the damage sustained by the crane, a pier was also damaged, suffering a hole three meters wide and two meters deep. The Focus Taiwan news channel reported that a 62-year-old worker, Chen Lin-tsang, who was handling cargo, suffered minor injury when the ship hit the crane. The incident is being investigated by the Marine Port Bureau (MPB) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Taiwan.

Approximately 200 guests celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Marine Training Center (MTC) on the Kiribati island of Tarawa in the South Pacific. Although some 13,700 kilometers lie between Hamburg and the school in Tarawa, these places are closely connected. Hamburg Süd cofounded the school for training seafarers 50 years ago. The company is also the managing partner of the joint venture SPMS (South Pacific Marine Services GbR), which brokers the placement of trained seafarers with the partner shipping companies. In addition to Hamburg Süd, the sponsors of training, and Kiribati’s largest employers, include the shipping companies Aug. Bolten, F. Laeisz, Fisser & van Doornum, Leonhardt & Blumberg, and Reederei Nord.

Hamburg-based Leonhardt & Blumberg (L&B), one of Germany’s independent charter owner of handysize containerships, has become the first customer for Marlink’s new Sealink Business VSAT service. With Sealink Business on board, L&B’s fleet will operate using guaranteed minimum bandwidth regardless of the amount of data consumed, ensuring availability for business critical applications at all times. L&B will use its new on board communication capabilities to focus on operational improvements, including more electronic document handling and collaboration between vessels and shore-based personnel. While business processes are L&B’s primary driver for using Sealink Business, the company will also be able to improve its crew communication facilities.

Leonhardt & Blumberg was founded in 1903 and has managed more than 180 vessels, the majority of which were general cargo vessels and bulk carriers. Today the company provides containerships ranging from about 1,500-3,600 TEU capacity. After other vessels were equipped over the years by Pronomar, the Hansa Offenburg and Hansa Drakenburg, both part of the shipper’s 1,700 TEU fleet, were recently outfitted with the ecofriendly MERUS technology. The MERUS ring gives off molecular oscillations disturbing lime scale, rust and bacteria formed in fresh- and seawater lines.

The 2002-built Liberian-flagged ship, operated by German company Leonhardt & Blumberg, was abandoned by the crew 200-miles NE of Mauritius after a fire spread from a container to engulf the ship's superstructure. Unable to control the fire the crew of 17 was rescued by AMVER participating container ship Donau Trader, and as of 17, July the Hansa Brandenburg was adrift in the Indian Ocean still ablaze. The 1740 teu capacity geared container ship was on passage from Singapore to Durban at the time of the accident.

Pirates attacked the German-owned Liberian-flagged container ship 'Hansa Marburg' off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. Citing the Hamburg-based shipping firm Leonhardt and Blumberg, owners of the vessel, Reuters report that the the four hostages - two Ukrainians, a Russian and one from the Pacific island nation of Kiribati - were taken when the Liberia-flagged Hansa Marburg was attacked on Tuesday by armed men. The raid took place around 130 nautical miles off the coast of the small West African oil producer. In addition, a Greek-flagged oil tanker, Cap Theodora, was unsuccessfully attacked twice in the last week off the coast of Nigeria, close to where the Hansa Marburg was boarded, and  security sources the attacks are linked. Source: Reuters

General Increases of 10% and 5% are Maintained for 2013/14 Mutual Entries. The Strike Club, the market leader in the niche area of delay insurance for the marine trades, reports continuing strong demand for its mutual and fixed-premium covers. Shipowners and charterers are boosting the club’s mutual entries as shipping operations are stamped by uncertainty resulting from the widening economic crisis and growing civil unrest, such as the protests by millions against government austerity measures seen in some of Europe’s largest countries last week. All this is fomenting industrial action which can and often does disrupt the maritime supply chain. Bill Milligan, chairman and chief executive of S.C.

Rapidly rising prices for steel plate in China may be taking the edge off the financial performance at some Chinese shipbuilders. But it will take a lot more than that to undermine shipyards' dramatic expansion plans aimed at ensuring the country's builders produce more ships than any other nation by 2015. In the short run, however, the country's relatively inexperienced builders seem to have failed to read the steel supply signs. They have found themselves caught out by a number of factors driving up ship steel prices. These have risen by almost 60% over the last 30 months or so and now stand close to $400 a ton. On the one hand, soaring…

German shipowners have moved up globally to rank number four in terms of tonnage. At the mid-point of this year they controlled 5.8% of the global fleet, says the owners’ association VDR. They have come close to Norway’s 6.1%. In containerships German owners continue to be number one with about 28% of global tonnage. The share is expected to grow further with the huge newbuilding wave to be delivered over the next years. By the end of the year German owners will control about 2,560 ships with 40m gt capacity, 160 ships and 6m gt more than a year ago. The fleet has doubled since the introduction of the tonnage tax five years ago, said VDR president Frank Leonhardt.