Mediterranean News

Marine organisms such as barnacles and zebra mussels have been a long-standing nuisance to ship hulls, causing exterior damage, increased power and fuel consumption and environmental concerns. While anti-fouling coatings help to prevent biofouling,  a new research study suggests that an innovative approach to marine coatings may solve the problem of barnacle and zebra mussel fouling, an approach stems from the MOSI (Marine Organism Sensory Interference) concept. MOSI uses a unique coating tech to interfere with the sensory ability of juvenile barnacles…

An Italian charity ship was escorted into the port of Lampedusa by police on Tuesday after rescuing 49 Africans in the Mediterranean, with Interior Minister Matteo Salvini calling for the crew to be arrested.A judicial source said a magistrate had ordered that the boat, the Mare Jonio, be seized as an investigation is launched into allegations of aiding and abetting human trafficking.The vessel picked up the migrants, including 12 minors, on Monday after their rubber boat started to sink in the central Mediterranean…

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Tuesday he would not let an Italian-flagged charity ship disembark 49 Africans rescued in the Mediterranean, setting up a fresh confrontation with humanitarian groups over migration.The Mare Jonio picked up the migrants, including 12 minors, on Monday after their rubber boat started to sink in the central Mediterranean, some 42 miles (68 km) off the coast of Libya.The vessel headed straight for the nearby Italian island of Lampedusa but was not granted permission to dock and is currently sailing close to land, awaiting further instructions.Salvini, who heads the anti-immigrant League party, has told non-governmental organisations that Italy's ports are closed to them…

The biennial Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum will be held from May 28-29, 2019, at the Domotel Kastri Conference Center, in Athens’ northern suburbs. Here there will be more than 30 senior cruise executives responsible for ports and destinations from the world’s biggest cruise lines, including MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Holland America Group, Disney Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and Celestyal Cruises among others.Elisabetta De Nardo, VP Port Development…

German shipbuilding company Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) has handed over another Ro-Ro ship to SIEM Shipping.The Flensburg-based designer and manufacturer of ships for commercial and naval applications worldwide said in a press release that this is the sixth RoRo ship that FSG has delivered to SIEM and is identical in construction to the sister ship “ALF POLLK”.The “MARIA GRAZIA ONORATO” will be chartered out to Moby Lines Europe and deployed in the Mediterranean area on the routes to and from Sardinia and Sicily.Together with its sister ship “ALF POLLAK”…

Copenhagen-based DFDS named its newest -- and the Mediterranean's largest -- Ro-Ro ship in Turkey.The naming ceremony for 237-meter-long  roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) newbuilding, Ephesus Seaways, was held in Istanbul, Turkey. Ephesus Seaways vessel with a 6,700 linear-meter capacity has also been put into service.The ship will also be the largest vessel to serve DFDS customers on the routes between Turkey and the EU.Eva Lundstedt, who is the wife of Volvo’s CEO Martin Lundstedt, gave…

India’s containerised trade with the world has grown steadily, recording an overall import-export trade growth of 6% according to the Q4 2018 trade report released by Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company.Increasing demand for refrigerated cargo from India coupled with improved trade relations with China with introduction of favourable trade policies, has driven exports to grow a healthy 3% in Q4.The demand for India-made goods such as vehicles, cereals and rice…

TechnipFMC announced Monday it has acquired a newbuild diving support vessel (DSV) Deep Discoverer. The vessel will primarily service the North Sea diving construction and inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) markets.The company signed a deal with VARD shipyard in Norway to purchase the vessel in late 2018. The vessel is currently undergoing an operational readiness program and will begin work in the first half of 2019.Deep Discoverer has DP3 capabilities, as well as an 18-person twin bell saturation diving system…

Shipping group CMA CGM has reinforced its Europe / Indian Ocean & Australia offering by upgrading its NEMO service, which liaises North Europe and the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean Islands and Australia on the southbound leg and Australia to southeast Asia and Europe on the northbound leg.This upgraded service will be effective in September 2019 and operated in partnership with MSC, subject to applicable filing requirements.CMA CGM said the new offer will feature an upgraded fleet and provide expanded port coverage through a better utilization of hubs offering dedicated feeder services.

The cargo-handling solutions provider Kalmar is to supply DP World with a total of 63 Kalmar Hybrid Straddle Carriers for use at four of its European container terminals: 12 units will be delivered to GMP in Le Havre, France; 20 units to Eurofos in Marseille, France; 19 units to Antwerp Gateway in Belgium; and 12 units to DP World Southampton in the UK.The order was booked in Cargotec's 2019 Q1 order intake, and the majority of the machines is expected to be delivered by the end of 2019…

Israel's navy could take action against Iranian oil smuggling, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, urging world powers to foil any effort by Tehran to evade U.S. sanctions.The Israeli leader told naval officers that Iran was still resorting to clandestine measures to ship fuel that it first used prior to a 2015 nuclear deal easing Western sanctions on its oil sector.U.S. President Donald Trump last year quit the nuclear deal and reimposed some sanctions, aiming to cut Iran's oil exports to zero."Iran is trying to circumvent the sanctions through covert oil smuggling over maritime routes, and to the extent that these attempts widen…

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) said that Baptiste Ossena, Global Product Leader of Hull and Marine Liabilities (HML), will assume additional responsibility as the North American Regional Head of HML, effective April 1, 2019.Relocating to New York from Paris, Ossena will work closely with direct report John Kiernan, the current Head of HML in North America, who will take on the key responsibility for large account management and portfolio steering across the business.Ossena has held his current global role since 2017.

Turkey's military launched the largest naval exercise in its history on Thursday, February 28, carrying out drills with frigates, corvettes and submarines in the Black Sea, Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.The nine-day exercise is aimed at testing the readiness of command bases and operation centers throughout Turkey's territorial waters, the defense ministry said.On board the frigate TCG Barbaros, gunners fired live ammunition at mock targets floating on the waves. Nearby, helicopters lowered soldiers onto a ship's deck…

Norwegian ship designer Ulstein has received a contract to design the fourth expedition cruise vessel for Miami-based SunStone Ships, in their Infinity series.The vessel, which will be constructed at the China Merchants Heavy Industries (CMHI)  yard in China, is a CX103 design featuring the X-BOW and designed by Ulstein Design & Solutions.The SunStone ship design contracts were the first cruise contracts for Ulstein, a ship design company with long experience from the offshore industry.

Costa Smeralda will enter service in October 2019 and will be the first cruise ship for the world market fuelled by LNG, the “cleanest” fossil fuel in the world.Construction of the Costa Smeralda, the new flagship of the Costa Cruises fleet, is inching closer to completion ahead of her October delivery from Meyer Turku in Finland.The characteristic yellow funnel with the blue “C”, which has identified all the Italian company’s ships for the last 70 years, has now been installed.The…

Germany's Hapag-Lloyd is cleared of a U.S. Department of Justice probe into the practices of container shipping companies, with no charges brought, a spokesman said on Tuesday."Hapag-Lloyd was informed that the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division is closing its investigation without charges against the company, its affiliates or any other current or former employees," he said.This followed similar statements by bigger rivals Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company…

Crude tanker spot rates improved significantly during the fourth quarter of 2018, spurred by both winter market seasonality and positive underlying supply and demand fundamentals.According to a stock exchange announcement from Teekay Tankers, in the fourth quarter of 2018, OPEC crude oil production rose to 32.4 million barrels per day (mb/d), the highest level since July 2017 and up from 31.4 mb/d earlier in 2018.Most of this increase came from the Middle East, where higher production levels more than offset lower output from Venezuela and Iran.

Heesen has unveiled the latest yacht in the 55m Steel class, YN 18455. The YN 18455, now christened Vida and formerly known as Project Antares.Launched earlier this year on January 4, Vida is now entering the systems commissioning phase and is getting ready for sea trials.Vida is the third in the successful 55m FDHF Steel class, which features muscular exterior lines by Frank Laupman of Omega Architects. The profile is clean thanks to the absence of fashion plates and the design…

A clash between trading house Vitol and Azerbaijan's SOCAR over Caspian Sea oil shipments is forcing Turkmenistan to slash exports of crude due to a lack of tankers.Turkmenistan typically exports about 200,000 tonnes of oil per month via the Caspian to world markets, mainly from fields operated by the UAE's ENOC and Italy's Eni, but flows have halved in recent weeks, six traders involved in operations said.That happened after Turkmen producers decided to export oil via Russia with the help of Swiss trader Vitol and ditch the previous Azeri route…

The ferry business, unlike more industrial parts of the shipping business, touches wide swaths of the world’s population across continents. The membership of Interferry, the leading trade group for the industry, with non-Governmental organization (NGO) status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) includes 200+ members from all parts of the ferry spectrum. These include passenger ferries (including fast ferries), Ro/Pax and cruise ferries operating globally. In selecting “the best” we looked beyond the league tables of “the most” (passengers) and “the biggest” (fleet size).

Notwithstanding the tragic incidents of the Morandi Bridge collapse and October’s violent sea storm, cargo throughput remains stable at the Ports of Genoa, Italy.Now a key priority is the implementation of the emergency measures mobilised by Parliament to return to growth, said the busiest port of Italy by cargo tonnage.The collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa on 14 August 2018 and the damage wreaked by the violent sea storm on 29 October in the Port of Savona have had severe…

The sound part of the vessel Maersk Honam, which was hit by a serious fire last year, is being transported to Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea, where it will be rebuilt. The sound section of Maersk Honam was successfully loaded aboard the heavy-lift vessel Xin Guan Hua on open waters outside Dubai (UAE) on Saturday, 2 February. It was expected to pass Singapore Strait on Monday, 18 February 2019. The heavy-lift vessel will deliver the 228.5-metres-long section from midship to stern at Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea in March…

French liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal operator Elengy, a unit of the energy giant Engie, is preparing the sale of access capacities to the Fos Tonkin LNG terminal for the period 2021-2030.Within the sale process, Elengy will offer its potential customers several types of services, including the conventional unloading of Medmax-type LNG tankers (vessel with a capacity of 75,000m3 of LNG), the reloading of micro-tankers for LNG bunkering needs, as well as the LNG trucks loading.Compared to currently-used shipping fuels…