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05 Mar 2024

Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam: Three Years of Independence

Source: Vuyk Engineering

Three years ago in March, Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam gained full independence, and since then, the company has taken strategic steps to chart its own course and strengthen its independent position within the maritime sector.After the closure of the Vuyk shipyard in Capelle aan den IJssel in 1979, marking the end of all shipbuilding activities, former employees established a new company: Vuyk Engineering and Trading. Founded on the principles of technical know-how combined with experience in cost calculation


23 Oct 2023

Philippines Says Chinese Coastguard 'Intentionally' Collided with Its Boats

(Photo: Armed Forces of the Philippines)

The Philippines on Monday accused Chinese coastguard vessels of "intentionally" colliding with its vessels on a resupply mission in a disputed part of the South China Sea, as ties deteriorated between the Southeast Asian U.S. ally and Beijing.Both sides traded accusations after the latest incident on Sunday, which was the most serious yet in the waters around the disputed Second Thomas shoal, though no one was harmed.China said on Sunday that the Philippine boats "bumped dangerously" with the coastguard vessels and "Chinese fishing vessels" fishing there.On Monday


23 Oct 2023

Container Shippers in Store for Stormy 2024 - Xeneta

© TIMDAVIDCOLLECTION / Adobe Stock

Supply chains around the world could be at serious risk amid expected increases in the cost of ocean freight shipping during 2024.Oslo-based Xeneta has carried out in-depth analysis of the latest ocean freight rates and branded the current market as unsustainable.Xeneta CEO Patrik Berglund said: “The cost of moving goods by sea has plummeted during 2023 by almost 60% for long term contracts on a global level and some corridors, such as the Transatlantic into US East Coast and Far East to Europe


09 Oct 2023

C&C Reports Record Demand for Barge Repair

(Photo: C&C Marine and Repair, LLC)

Belle Chasse, La. shipyard C&C Marine and Repair said it is seeing record demand for barge repair work as high steel prices place a damper on newbuild activity.The yard, having recently signed a contract to reside over 200 hopper barges for an unnamed customer, said it is currently delivering refurbished hopper barges at a pace of one per week.“With current steel prices, operators are choosing to repair their existing fleet of barges rather than building new,” said C&C Marine and Repair’s owner Tony Cibilich.

24 Aug 2023

Titan and 123Carbon Partner on Carbon Insetting

Source: Titan

Fuel supplier Titan and 123Carbon, the first independent blockchain-based carbon insetting platform for the transport sector, have issued what they claim is the first LNG-based carbon insets.Carbon insetting enables fuel suppliers and vessel operators to transfer the environmental benefits of clean, lower carbon intensity fuels throughout the maritime value chain, enabling decarbonisation within their own supply chains. This contrasts with offsetting where the environmental benefits are made given to other industries or ventures.There are


27 Apr 2023

“Friendshoring” Impacts Container Shipping Trade Patterns

© Peter / Adobe Stock

As geopolitical upheaval continues, Peter Sand, Chief Analyst, Xeneta, explores how global trade patterns have (and will) evolve.Geopolitical unrest could have dramatic and long-term impacts on global trade patterns for all goods and commodities, as political alliances are essentially being ripped up and rewritten. Spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, changing trade patterns are emerging in the container shipping sector, said Xeneta’s Peter Sand, as the term of the day is “friendshoring”


30 Dec 2022

Tech File: A Robotic Reach in Offshore Wind

STL’s Autonomous Synchronised Stabilised Platform being put through its paces at the University of Plymouth’s COAST Laboratory. Photo courtesy STL

With a background in subsea and offshore, coming up with new ideas is the norm’ for UK-based engineering consultancy STL (Submarine Technology Limited), writes Elaine Maslin.The last few years have been no different. The company has been focusing on ship-based robotics, including robotic arms. These aren’t just any robotic arms – they’re motion compensated systems for deploying/recovering people and robots to and from fixed or moving objects. That could be wind technicians to


19 Dec 2022

How Climate Change is Altering River Shipping

© Rob Sheppard/Danita Delimont / Adobe Stock

Rivers are critical corridors that connect cities and ecosystems alike. When drought develops, water levels fall, making river navigation harder and more expensive.In 2022, water levels in some of the world’s largest rivers, including the Rhine in Europe and the Yangtze in China, fell to historically low levels. The Mississippi River fell so low in Memphis, Tennessee, in mid-October that barges were unable to float, requiring dredging and special water releases from upstream reservoirs to keep channels navigable.Conditions on the lower Mississippi may be easing somewhat


30 Nov 2022

A Robotic Reach in Offshore Wind

STL’s Autonomous Synchronised Stabilised Platform being put through its paces at the University of Plymouth’s COAST Laboratory. Photo from STL

With a background in subsea and offshore, coming up with new ideas is the norm for UK-based engineering consultancy STL (Submarine Technology Limited), writes Elaine Maslin.The last few years have been no different. The company has been focusing on ship-based robotics, including robotic arms. These aren’t just any robotic arms – they’re motion-compensated systems for deploying/recovering people and robots to and from fixed or moving objects.That could be wind technicians to an


12 Oct 2022

“Welcome to a Dying Industry (1988)”

Photo copyright Greg Trauthwein

While pundits have long proclaimed the U.S. maritime industry dying or dead, the recent delivery of Great Lakes laker Mark W. Barker suggests an innovative future instead.Jacksonville Shipyard was a well-known repair yard that was particularly well known for servicing the Jones Act tanker fleet and Gino Ferrari was its New York representative. Each Christmas season Gino hosted a reception at the Four Seasons restaurant for tanker Owners.Gino Ferrari was a close friend of the company and my father always received an invite.

22 Aug 2022

Container Prices, Leading Rates Decline

Copyright DifferR/AdobeStock

Average container prices have declined by more than half from the last year in August as China picks up containerized trade volumes more recently, according to an analysis published by Container xChange.Trade in China was impacted in the first half of the year, but the containerized trade seems to have picked up since July (2022) according to the analysis put together by Container xChange. “Shippers are once again hoping that the exports will restore in full swing as the industry prepares for the peak season.

19 Aug 2022

Rollercoaster Containershipping Rates Continue, says Xeneta

South American spot rate gap set to narrow as shippers take advantage of lower Far East to West Coast ratesThe latest ocean freight rate data from Xeneta reveals that spot rates are currently $3,700 more expensive for shipping 40-ft. containers from the Far East to the South American East Coast, compared to the West Coast corridor. This huge gap – the norm is usually around a $55 East Coast premium – has opened up since 1 July. However, shippers looking to take advantage of the disparity should move quickly


18 Aug 2022

Average Container Prices and Leasing Rates Decline in China

© Kalyakan / Adobe Stock

Average container prices have declined to more than half from the last year in August as China picks up containerized trade volumes more recently, according to an analysis published by Container xChange, a technology marketplace and operating platform for container logistic companies. The analysis is a part of the monthly container logistics report published by Container xChange titled ‘Where Are All The Containers’.The decline in average container prices and leasing rates offer


04 Jul 2022

Ulstein: Is THOR’s Superpower Shipping’s Silver Bullet?

Credit: Ulstein

Shipbuilder and designer Ulstein is looking to take its revolutionary Thorium powered vessel concept from the drawing board to the deep blue sea. Is this the solution that industry, and society, have been searching for to enable a truly sustainable maritime future?Everything about the launch of ULSTEIN THOR was unexpected.The vessel concept, a 149m 3R (Replenishment, Research and Rescue) design with a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), took the industry, and wider society, by surprise.

30 Jun 2022

Xeneta says Long-term Container Shipping Rates to Rise Again

Xeneta CEO Patrik Berglund. Image courtesy Xeneta

It’s been another bumper month for long-term contracted ocean freight rates, as the cost of securing container shipments climbed by 10.1% in June. Following on the heels of a record 30.1% hike in May, this now means rates stand 169.8% higher than this time last year, with just two months of declines in the last 18 months. Despite a degree of macro-economic uncertainty clouding the horizon, all major trades saw prices moving up, with some corridors showing significant gains.Xeneta has released the figures


27 Jun 2022

Ship Recycling Market's 'New Normal' is Turmoil

Copyright katiekk2/AdobeStock

All of the major global recycling markets remain in turmoil for yet another week, with very few offers forthcoming (matching the near invisible number of units currently available for recycling), in addition to an utter lack of confidence from Recyclers across all locations that any sort of recovery is quite clearly not in the ropes anytime soon.There is the ongoing excruciating reminder that there are virtually no candidates to work on, as most ship owners are abstaining from


14 Jun 2022

USCG Report: Small Cutters Prove They Can Patrol a Big Ocean

The Coast Guard Cutters Joseph Gerczak and Juniper refuel in Papeete, Tahiti, while underway during Operation Aiga, February 6, 2022. The two cutters are in the region combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and other maritime threats on the high seas throughout the Pacific. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of the CGC Juniper)

The Coast Guard’s 353-ton, 154-foot fast response cutter (WPC) is capable of deploying independently to conduct missions that include port, waterways and coastal security; fishery patrols; search and rescue; and national defense. The service plans to build 64 of them to replace the 110-foot Island class patrol boats. The FRC has a range of 2,500 miles, but the endurance of the 24 crewmembers is normally limited to about five days based on the quantity of provisions carried. Both the 110s and 154s have about the same speed and range


10 May 2022

Interview: Richard Balzano, Dredging Contractors of America

Richard Balzano (Photo: DCA)

Richard Balzano took over as CEO and executive director of the Dredging Contractors of America in December 2020. And while he says he’s “still fairly new to the [dredging] industry”, he certainly knows his way around the business, having held a number of prominent roles over the course of more than 30 years in the maritime and U.S government sectors. His resume is impressive. A combat veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, he retired from the U.S. Navy at the rank of Captain. He later served as the presidentially appointed Deputy Maritime Administrator for three years


02 Feb 2022

Demand for Vessels Capable of Installing Giant Offshore Wind Turbines to Outpace Supply by 2024, Rystad Says

Europe’s first commercial 10 MW turbine was installed in December 2021 at Scotland’s Seagreen offshore wind farm by Cadeler’s Wind Osprey.©SSE Renewables

Offshore wind turbine makers have been working to build increasingly bigger turbines, and the likes of GE, Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, and MingYang have in the past two years or so unveiled designs for giant 14-16MW rated units.It has been said that larger turbines, while more expensive per unit, reduce the overall cost of large-scale offshore wind farm development due to their being more modern and efficient, as well as leading to fewer units being required for offshore wind projects


25 Jan 2022

Floating Wind Project Gains Funding for Pilot

(Image courtesy Glosten)

The U.K.’s Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has granted £10 million for the design and construction of a new floating wind turbine demonstrator off the coast of Scotland.The SENSE PelaStar project will feature SENSEWind’s turbine self-installation system, the PelaStar tension leg platform (TLP) floating foundation from Glosten and Subsea Micropile anchors. The SENSE concept will be put through its paces on a fully operational 2 MW floating wind turbine


29 Apr 2022

Costlier Smaller Tankers Deployed to Move Displaced Russian Oil to China

© Em Campos / Adobe Stock

Traders are deploying smaller, costlier vessels to ship displaced Russian oil from European ports to China, in a rare move as Western sanctions on Moscow force them to use unconventional methods to transport the product.About 5 million barrels of Russian Urals crude was scheduled to load in April and May destined for China on four Aframax-sized tankers that each carry 730,000 barrels and two Suezmax-sized vessels each holding around 1 million barrels, according to shipping reports and research by Refinitiv and Vortexa.A very large crude carrier (VLCC)


23 Mar 2022

'Significant Funds' Awarded for Missouri River Repairs

(Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Kansas City District said it received significant funds to make repairs to river training structures on the Missouri River damaged over the years culminating in the floods of 2019."I’m pleased to share that there is positive movement on Missouri River repairs to training structures. The District anticipates receiving over $270 million within the District footprint alone,” said Col. Travis Rayfield, the Kansas City District commander.The funds will allow USACE to repair structures of the Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project (BSNP)


04 Apr 2022

Kongsberg Rolls Out CPX Propeller Lineup

(Photo: Kongsberg Maritime)

Kongsberg Maritime (KM) announced it is dividing its propeller systems into three distinct categories, C-Line, P-Line, and X-Line.The ‘C’ in C-Line stands for ‘Configured’, and indicates that these propellers are configured within a pre-defined technical spectrum to suit customers whose priorities are short lead times and a strong performance-to-cost ratio, the manufacturer said. Numerous options are available within the C-Line propeller solution to fine-tune the offering further, presented in a lucid and straightforward manner which simplifies the decision process for customers.