Moldova News

Maritime Developments (MDL) has assisted Saipem in progressing an LNG project offshore Greece, which included work on the connection of Gastrade’s Alexandroupolis floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) to the country’s gas transmission system.The project consisted of a FSRU and a mooring and pipeline system, connecting the floating unit to the Greek National Natural Gas Transmission System (NNGTS).An MDL flex-lay spread was used for the installation of two flexible risers…

Gastrade’s new floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) has arrived to Greece after completing an almost 10-month conversion at the Seatrium shipyard in Singapore.The FSRU, dubbed Alexandroupolis, sailed away from Singapore on November 26, and has now entered the waters of the Thracian Sea. In the following days, the FSRU will be anchored through a spread 12-point mooring system, ahead of connection to the high-pressure subsea and onshore gas transmission pipeline.The pipeline…

Greece’s Gastrade said on Thursday it expects to take a final investment decision on developing a second gas floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) off the country’s northern port of Alexandroupolis by the end of the year.With Europe racing to cut its reliance on Russian gas in the wake of the war in Ukraine, Greece is slowly becoming a key transit route for LNG in southeastern Europe.Last year, Athens replaced much of Russian pipeline gas by ramping up deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG)…

In Mykolaiv's blast-cratered district of Korabel, close to Ukraine's southern front, Pavel Salohub, a teacher of history and boxing, has not heard a single explosion in four days - the first such respite from war since Russia invaded.Friday's recapture of the city of Kherson has shunted the frontline dozens of kilometres to the east, and with it Russian artillery, spurring hopes that almost nine months of regular shelling and strikes are ending, the 28-year-old said."Emotionally everyone is happier, you can feel it. It's the first thing everyone talks about. It's really lifted morale.

Russian exporters will start shipping supplies of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Bulgaria via Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti in July as traditional export routes remain closed, according to traders and Refinitiv Eikon statistics.Russia stopped supplying LPG to Ukraine on Feb. 24, when Russia sent troops into the country in what Moscow calls a "special military operation", and has also stopped LPG rail transit to Romania, Hungary and Moldova via Ukraine, obliging exporters look for new routes.Finland…

A Russian missile has hit a tanker that has been drifting in the Black Sea for over four months and had been carrying diesel, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Thursday, citing Ukraine's military which called the ship an "ecological bomb".The Moldova-flagged tanker Millennial Spirit has now been struck twice since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.It was first hit with a missile fired from a warship days after the invasion. Moldova said at the time that the ship had a Russian crew and two were seriously wounded. Ukraine's southern military command said when the vessel was struck in February it had more than 500 tonnes of diesel on board and that since then it had been drifting without a crew."Probably the remainder of the cargo is burning…

Ukrainian forces destroyed a pontoon bridge and parts of Russian armored column as it tried to cross a river in the Donbas region, video footage released by Ukraine's military showed on Friday, and a Russian naval ship was set afire in the Black Sea.Russia has suffered setbacks on the battlefield as Ukraine drives its troops out of the region around the second-largest city of Kharkiv, the fastest advance since forcing the Kremlin's forces from Kyiv and the northeast over a month ago.Reuters journalists have confirmed Ukraine is now in control of territory stretching to the banks of the Siverskiy Donets River, around 40 km (25 miles)…

Russia's lead warship in the Black Sea sank on Thursday, Russia's defense ministry announced, after what Ukraine said was a missile strike and Russia described as an explosion of ammunition on board.The loss of the Moskva, the flagship in Russia's Black Sea fleet, occurred as it was being towed to port in stormy weather, Russian news agencies quoted the defense ministry as saying. The sinking was a fresh blow to Moscow's military campaign as it readied for new assaults in east…

The America Bureau of Shipping (ABS), one of the world's largest ship classification societies, is withdrawing all class services involving Russian vessels, assets and companies, over the Russian invasion of Ukraine."After careful consideration of the situation in Ukraine and the Black Sea as well as the applicable sanctions, ABS has taken the decision to withdraw all Class services involving Russian vessels, assets, and companies," the company said Monday."The decision follows…

Bangladeshi seafarer Asiful Islam recalls the moment when a missile struck his cargo ship last week off the Ukrainian port of Olvia, killing his crew mate."I was just 15 feet away when it hit our ship. Our third engineer, Hadisur Rahman, who was killed, was standing just two feet away," Islam told Reuters from Romania after the remaining crew members were evacuated over the weekend."All we could do was pray out loud. It was the worst night of my life. I had never been to war zone in my life."Many shipping firms have suspended sailings to affected Black Sea ports and other terminals in Ukraine.

Moldova's naval agency said on Friday that a Moldovan-flagged chemical tanker with a Russian crew was hit by a missile near Ukraine's port of Odessa, injuring two people, and that it was unclear who had fired at the vessel.Vadim Pavalachi, deputy director at the naval agency, told Reuters that the crew of the Millennial Spirit was Russian."We just heard 10 minutes ago that all the crew were saved but two were seriously injured and are on the way to hospital," Pavalachi said.The tanker is small at 2,200 tonnes and the second commercial vessel to be hit since the invasion began.On Thursday, the Turkish-owned Yasa Jupiter cargo ship was hit by a bomb off Odessa. (Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

The two new fire boats of the Flotte Hamburg were ceremonially christened Dresden and Prag on September 23 by their two sponsors, Dresden's Second Mayor Annekatrin Klepsch and Prague's City Councillor for Culture Hana Třeštíková. In the presence of Hamburg's First Mayor Peter Tschentscher and CEO of Hamburg Port Authority Jens Meier, the ships then went on a short sea trial in the Port of Hamburg.Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher said, "The new fire boats Prag and Dresden ensure safety in the port and can run emission-free with their plug-in hybrid drives.

Bulgartransgaz, the operator of the national natural gas transmission network of Bulgaria, has officially taken a 20% share in Greek company Gastrade that is developing an LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) offshore Alexandroupolis. The agreement for Bulgartransgaz to take a 20 percent stake in Gastrade was signed back in August 2020. Following the approval granted by the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition, the transaction became effective on Thursday, January 28.

In the murky story of how a cache of highly explosive ammonium nitrate ended up on the Beirut waterfront, one thing is clear—no one has ever publicly come forward to claim it.There are many unanswered questions surrounding last week's huge, deadly blast in the Lebanese capital, but ownership should be among the easiest to resolve.Clear identification of ownership, especially of a cargo as dangerous as that carried by the Moldovan-flagged Rhosus when it sailed into Beirut seven years ago, is fundamental to shipping, the key to insuring it and settling disputes that often arise.But Reuters interviews and trawls for documents across 10 countries in search of the original ownership of this 2…

Lebanese security officials warned the prime minister and president last month that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut’s port posed a security risk and could destroy the capital if it exploded, according to documents seen by Reuters and senior security sources.Just over two weeks later, the industrial chemicals exploded in a massive blast that obliterated most of the port, killed at least 163 people, injured 6,000 more and destroyed some 6,000 buildings, according…

An important strategic objective for International Maritime Organization (IMO)  is improve the way its treaties and conventions are implemented, at the national level.Domestic implementing legislation is required but audits carried out by IMO reveal that, in many countries, it either doesn’t exist or is incomplete.To address this need, IMO offers an intensive 5-day workshop for lawyers and legislative drafters. It provides them with the tools they need to understand IMO treaties and how they are developed and adopted. The most recent such workshop was held at IMO Headquarters (1-5 October).Participants from 16 countries (Argentina, Czech Republic…

Identifying organisms and microbes in ballast water, as well as monitoring port marine life where ballast water may be released, are key for countries preparing to enforce International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Ballast Water Management Convention. The treaty entered into force globally on 8 September 2017 and aims to counter the threat to marine ecosystems by potentially invasive species transported in ships' ballast water. A regional workshop in Batumi, Georgia (3-5 July) concluded yesterday after it provided participants from nine countries with theoretical and practical training in compliance, monitoring and enforcement of the Convention.

M/V Acorus vessel was detained in Port of Asprogirpos (Elefsis) - Greece on 6 July 2017. This is the third detention in the Paris MoU region within the last 36 months. The ship flies the flag of Moldova Republic, which is black on the current Paris MoU WGB list. "Therefore under the provisions of section 4 of the Paris MoU, Article 16 of EU Council Directive 2009/16/EC, the ship will be refused further access to any port and anchorage in the Paris MOU region, except a port and anchorage of the ship’s flag State," said a release from  Paris MoU. This refusal of access will become applicable immediately after the ship is authorized to leave this port and anchorage. As this is the first refusal of access order the period of the refusal of access will be 3 months.

Practical guidance on how to develop, adopt and update national maritime transport policy was the focus for a one-day seminar in Batumi, Georgia (14 September), aimed at senior maritime transport officials from the littoral States of the Black and Caspian Seas and Moldova. The seminar forms part of an on-going pilot project being rolled out by International Maritime Organization (IMO) on na-tional maritime transport policy development. A series of workshops and seminars have been held worldwide, to trial a maritime transport policy training package which is being developed by IMO and the World Maritime University (WMU) in order to provide training to interested IMO Member States in the development…

Paris MoU reports that 2015 shows a large decrease in the refusal of access (“bans”) within the region: 11 bans compared to 20 in 2014. The detention percentage has remained stable at 3.33 percent. The number of deficiencies has decreased 10 percent related to 2014. The number of inspections carried out was 17,858, slightly less than 2014 (18,430). Over a three-year period of time, most cases of refusal of access involve ships which have been banned for multiple detentions (45). Five ships have been banned a second time. A significant number (12) were banned for failing to call at an indicated repair yard. The remaining three cases involved ships which “jumped the detention”, by sailing without authorization.

At its 49th meeting last month, the Paris MoU Committee approved the 2015 inspection results and adopted new performance lists for flags and Recognized Organizations. These lists will take effect from July 1, 2016. The White, Grey and Black (WGB) List presents the full spectrum, from quality flags to flags with a poor performance that are considered high or very high risk. It is based on the total number of inspections and detentions over a three-year rolling period for flags with at least 30 inspections in the period. On the White, Grey and Black list for 2015, a total number of 73 flags are listed: 43 on the White List, 19 on the Grey List and 11 on the Black list.

Turkey is strategically located, straddling both Europe and Asia with substantial number of Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea ports, thus making maritime trade and shipping of great importance to the country’s economy. Its extensive coastline running for 8,483 km, (1,067 km of which is island shores) has greatly contributed to the growth of Turkey’s maritime sector. Turkish shipyards have a tradition spanning eight centuries. At the time of the Ottoman Empire, shipyards were able to build large, powerful naval vessels, and yards continued their modernization following the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. Today, the industry boasts modern quality certified shipyards that build ships, yachts, megayachts, and sailing boats, as well as undertake extensive repairs and conversion works.

Greece is considered to be the world’s first ship-owning country in terms of tonnage. The Greeks are known to control 17.7% of world fleet and gaining share except in crude tankers. Even recession in the dry bulk market has not had much effect on the Greek-owned fleet with the fleet size touching 5,226 vessels last year with a total DWT of 334 million. For debt-laden Greece, shipping – a key element of Greek economic activity since ancient times – is considered a knight in shining armor at this crucial juncture. Most Greek shipping companies are family owned businesses which have been in shipping for many decades, even over a hundred years.