Loire News

Lhyfe has won the call for proposals by Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port to develop a green hydrogen industrial production and distribution site in Montoir-de-Bretagne (Loire-Atlantique).This call for proposals, which was launched in November 2022, concerned the provision of land located at the heart of the port's industrial and logistics ecosystem, in Montoir-de-Bretagne, for a project to set up an industrial renewable hydrogen production facility.Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port has embarked on a path towards a new low-carbon economic model for its business…

Hafnia will soon welcome four new dual fuel LR2 product tanker additions to its fleet from China's Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI).Owned by a joint venture of Hafnia and CSSC Shipping, the vessels will be time chartered out, including two each for TOTAL Energies and Equinor.The newbuilds are currently under construction and the first of the vessels Hafnia Languedoc, will be delivered in January 2023, with Hafnia Loire following in April. Both vessels have recently been launched from dry dock…

France-based clean hydrogen producer Lhyfe has launched the world’s first offshore renewable green hydrogen production demonstrator.The pilot was launched yesterday (September 22) in Saint-Nazaire, France, which will now begin an 18-month wind-powered pilot, as part its drive towards large-scale carbon reduction.It involves Lhyfe's new Sealhyfe 400 kg/day (1MW equivalent) green hydrogen producing electrolyser platform, which has been installed on the WAVEGEM wave energy platform developed by Geps Techno.

Serbian sunseekers flocking to the riverside beaches of Novi Sad have adopted new pastime this summer—wading across a vast stretch of the Danube usually reserved for cargo barges and cruise ships.The navigable channel of western Europe's longest river, a trade and transport artery that passes through ten countries, is usually several hundred meters wide where it flows through Serbia's second-largest city.But drought and record high temperatures have reduced that to a narrow lane only being kept open by dredging…

French shipping startup NEOLINE confirmed it has chosen NEOPOLIA Mobility and signed an LOI for the construction of its first 136-meter sailing cargo ship following a new international tender.The project is now in the financial closure phase with the objective of starting construction this Summer, aiming for a commissioning in the first half of 2024, NEOLINE said.NEOLINE's decision to select the offer of the Loire-based company Neopolia Mobility comes at the end of a second international…

Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Tidal Transit have signed a contract for another Crew Transfer Vessel for the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm, offshore France. The wind farm site is owned by Eolien Maritime France SAS.The order follows a similar order signed in December 2020, when  GE  ordered two such vessels from Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Tidal Transit. As the first two crew transfer vessels, this third vessel will be designed by naval architect Mauric and built by French shipyard Ocea.

GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind (GE) has ordered two crew transfer vessels destined to serve the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France.GE has ordered the vessels from Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Tidal Transit. The two crew transfer vessels will be designed by naval architect Mauric and built by French shipyard Ocea. LD Tide, a joint venture between Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Tidal Transit will operate the two CTVs for the transfer of maintenance technicians to the Saint-Nazaire wind farm.

Danish product tanker company TORM announced on Thursday it has entered into a deal to purchase a pair of LR2 tankers from Chinese state-owned builder Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) for expected delivery in the fourth quarter of 2021.TORM, which currently has 29 GSI vessels in its fleet, said the newbuilds will be constructed "to optimize trading and fuel- efficiency" and will be equipped with scrubbers. The vessels will also be prepared for a potential later dual-fuel…

Luxembourg-headquartered maritime contractor Jan De Nul Group has signed its first offshore wind construction contract in France.Sodraco International SAS, a French subsidiary of Jan De Nul Group, has signed a contract to transport and install 80 offshore wind turbines on the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm (OWF).The contract was awarded by Parc du Banc de Guérande, a joint venture between the French renewable energy company EDF Renewables and the Canadian energy infrastructure company Enbridge.“We are excited to contribute to the further development of renewable energy, and offshore wind in particular, in France. Next to that we are…

The consortium including DEME and Eiffage Métal has won an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract for 80 foundations at the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France.The scope includes the design, fabrication, and installation of full face drilled monopile foundations. The consortium contract has a total value of more than EUR 500 million.Design activities already kicked off in order to start the production of the foundations in the spring of 2020.The first foundations will be installed on a rocky seabed in the spring of 2021 and the project is set for completion in the summer of 2022.The 480 MW wind farm, belonging to EDF Renouvelables and Enbridge, will be built between 12 and 20 km off the Guérande peninsula in western France.

Damen Shiprepair & Conversion has signed off on the conversion of a dredger to dual-fuel operation on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and marine gas oil (MGO), and which is powered by MAN 35/44DF engines.The conversion of the ‘Samuel de Champlain’ is the first of its kind in Europe and is part of an EU-supported initiative to promote LNG propulsion in short-sea vessels operating along the European Atlantic coast.The 117m, 8,500m³ trailing suction hopper dredger is owned by Rouen-based GIE Dragages-Ports and operated by Port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire.

The first European dredger converted to dual-fuel LNG/MGO propulsion has departed Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque (DSDu) to return to work, 23 months after contract signing. The 117m, 8,500 cu. m. trailing suction hopper dredger Samuel de Champlain is owned by Rouen-based GIE Dragages-Ports and operated by the Port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire. Damen delivered a turnkey package that included engineering, procurement, installation, commissioning and support. Key features included changing of the engines to dual-fuel (LNG/Diesel) models…

Europe’s first conversion of a dredger to dual-fuel capability combining LNG and MGO is close to completion. Damen will deliver a turnkey package that included engineering, procurement and support. The previous propulsion system of Dragages-Ports’ Samuel de Champlain was diesel-electric burning MGO, and so the contract included the change of generators to dual-fuel models and the installation of on board LNG storage facilities. As many LNG projects prove, this one too was complex and challenging…

Isabelle Kocher, Engie CEO, announced that EUR 800 million would be mobilized in the next five years to develop green gases, a new French sector of excellence that will create value and jobs in France.François de Rugy, French Minister of State, Minister of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition was present during the announcement. This plan will support the objective of at least 10% green gas injected into the networks by 2030, as enshrined in the French Energy Transition Law for Green Growth.The global energy and services group Engie is positioning itself throughout the entire value chain of the biomethane industry: from project development, in close collaboration with farmers, to the sale to end consumers.

Work has kicked off at Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque to convert the trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Samuel de Champlain from diesel-electric propulsion to dual-fuel capability combining marine gas oil (MGO) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). A ceremony was held at the yard to mark the first cutting of steel for the prefabrication of a new section of hull that will hold the new generators and other equipment.Present at the occasion were Jean-Pierre Guellec, CEO of GIE Dragages-Ports…

Damen Shiprepair & Conversion has been awarded a contract to undertake the conversion of a dredger to dual-fuel capability combining LNG and MGO – a first of its kind project in Europe. The contract was awarded by Rouen-based GIE Dragages-Ports with regard to its 117m, 8500m³ trailing suction hopper dredger Samuel de Champlain, and the works will take place next year at Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque. The conversion is part of an EU-supported initiative to promote LNG propulsion in short-sea vessels operating along the European Atlantic coast.

Containerships CMA CGM Loire and CMA CGM Ural were delivered to the CMA CGM Group on February 5 and entered the fleet on February 13 and 14, respectively, marking the arrival of the fifth and sixth vessels of the 9,400 TEUs to 10,900 TEUs series to be delivered through the third quarter of 2016. The CMA CGM Danube, CMA CGM Elbe, CMA CGM Litani and CMA CGM Tigris are the first of this 28 vessel series named after rivers around the world, that started to be delivered on June, 30 2014.

The maiden voyage of the containership CMA CGM Rhone started in China on February 20, the CMA CGM Group announced. The 9,365 TEU vessel CMA CGM Rhone is the seventh in a series of 28 ships from 9,400 TEUs to 10,900 TEUs that will be delivered from now to the third quarter of 2016. The CMA CGM Danube, CMA CGM Elbe, CMA CGM Litani and CMA CGM Tigris are the firsts of this series of 28 vessels named after famous rivers that started being delivered on June 30, 2014. More recently…

Newbuild containership CMA CGM Volga entered the CMA CGM fleet on March 17, and began her first rotation in Dalian, China, on March 20, the CMA CGM Group announced. The 10,622 TEUs vessel is the eight of a series of 28 ships from 9,400-10,900 TEUs that will be delivered through third quarter of 2016. The CMA CGM Danube, CMA CGM Elbe, CMA CGM Litani, CMA CGM Tigris, CMA CGM Loire, CMA CGM Ural and CMA CGM Rhone are the firsts of this series of 28 vessels named after famous rivers that started being delivered on June 30, 2014.

During the second half of the 20th century, the Japanese ruled commercial shipbuilding. Today, numerous competitive forces in the Far East, led by South Korea and China, have continued to throw massive resources into building and maintaining modern shipbuilding dominance, so much so that it may seem as though the days of Japanese shipbuilding have passed for good. “Any single shipbuilder in Japan cannot fulfill a large-scale order, for example, for 10 ships,” an industry official told the Japan Times last September. Imabari Shipbuilding disagrees.

Telenor Satellite Services signed a three-year agreement with Brittany Ferries to provide high-speed data communications via satellite. Telenor will provide Ku-Band service for two Brittany vessels, the Val de Loire and Brittany's newest vessel the Pont Aven, with an option to install as many as six additional Sealink systems for the rest of the company's ferry fleet. Operating at speeds up to 192 kbits per second, Telenor's Sealink service provides high-speed data communications. The system now installed aboard the Val de Loire and early in 2004 aboard the new Pont Aven offers one of the industry's most advanced shipboard satellite communications solutions available today complete with the highest reliability for the maritime community.

GDF SUEZ and EDP Renewables have been joined by French coastal region experts Neoen Marine to tender for a new offshore wind farm development, and at the same time to contribute to the development of offshore wind energy in France and the structuring of an industrial sector. The tender relates to the installation of 1,000 MW of wind turbines off the French coast near Le Tréport (Haute-Normandie – 500 MW) and the islands of Yeu and Noirmoutier (Pays de la Loire – 500 MW) by 2020. The offers will be assessed by the French government based on technical, financial, industrial, social and environmental criteria. Neoen Marine will provide the consortium with its recognized experience as a developer in the Yeu-Noirmoutier region and its local knowledge…

SNRH, the French subsidiary of the European tugboat company Kotug, christened three identical tugs in Le Havre during a ceremony which took place in front of their office at the beginning of this month. Under the attention of the Dutch ambassador H.E. Mr. Siblesz, clients and port officials the three tugs, SD Seine, SD Loire and SD Gironde where christened respectively by Ms. Veronique Lepine of Hapag Lloyd, Mrs. Carole Collot-Parison of Mitsui OSK Lines and Mrs. Turid Kjeslvik wife of Mr Harald Kjelsvik of Höegh Autoliners.