North Sea News

The first turbine of the 1,218-MW Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm in the North Sea, the world’s biggest such facility, has been installed and is now generating power.Matthew Wright, UK managing director of Danish energy group Ørsted A/S, described the installation of the first turbine as "a globally significant milestone".Ørsted co-owns the project with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) after selling a 50% stake to the latter in November 2018. Ørsted began offshore construction just over a year ago…

Maersk Maker, the sixth and last of a series of six anchor handlers for Maersk Supply Service A/S, was delivered from Norwegian shipyard Kleven on Thursday.Built for operation in deepsea depths, the M-series vessel Maersk Maker had a naming ceremony at Kleven yard, with Rikke Eskjær as godmother. The vessel will leave Kleven in a few days, heading to Aberdeen and the spot market in the North Sea.Maersk Maker is of the Salt 200 type and has an open deck area of more than 800m2, with 102m2 covered deck area as well. She is also equipped with anchor handling winch of 450 tons.

Aker BP finds up to 153 million barrels of oil equivalents in North SeaAker BP has discovered an oil and gas reservoir while drilling near its Alvheim field in the North Sea.Known as Froskelaar (Frog's Leg) Main, the reservoir is estimated to hold between 45 million and 153 million barrels of oil equivalents, and may straddle Norway's maritime border with Britain."The drilling operation will continue, and a comprehensive data collection program will be performed to determine the size and quality of the discovery," Aker BP said in a statement.When reserves are found to stretch across the British-Norwegian offshore border, the two nations…

As a part of the ongoing development of Stena Line’s Irish Sea route network, the Stena Forecaster has been transferred from Stena RoRo to Stena Line and will enter service on the Belfast – Liverpool route from today - Tuesday, 12 February 2019. Stena Forerunner will transfer back to the North Sea and operation on Rotterdam-Killingholm. Stena Line is one of Europe's leading ferry companies with 38 vessels and 20 routes in Northern Europe.“This is another important step in our expansion programme for our ‘diagonal corridor’ services to and from Belfast.

Port of Rotterdam Authority, Dutch natural gas infrastructure and transportation company  Gasunie and Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) are preparing a CCUS (Carbon Capture Usage and Storage) project, in which CO₂ from industry will be transported to storage sites in depleted gas fields deep beneath the North Sea seabed.The three companies are working together on the preparation of this project under the name Porthos: Port of Rotterdam CO₂ Transport Hub & Offshore Storage.The Porthos…

A consortium led by asset manager Commerz Real AG, WPD Invest, KGAL and IKEA franchisee Ingka Group will acquire an 80% stake in the 402-MW Veja Mate offshore wind park in the German North Sea.Veja Mate offshore wind park in the North Sea  is the second-largest German offshore wind farm with 67 turbines and a capacity of 402 megawatts. The total investment comes more than two billion eurosCommerz Real and Ingka Group said in a joint statement today that they will each invest more…

The first of a total of three lock gates for the new sea lock has arrived at IJmuiden harbour in the Dutch province of North Holland.According to Port of Amsterdam Authority, the lock gate was towed by a tug across the North Sea to its final destination. On its way from South Korea to IJmuiden - with a stopover at Maasvlakte 2 - the lock gate has covered a total of more than 26,000 km. The transport over the last 150 km took 30 hours and went smoothly.Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management…

Finnish shipping company Meriaura has signed new time charter-in agreements covering five vessels.The five vessels that will join the company’s fleet include a deck cargo carrier, two multipurpose-heavy lift dry cargo vessels and two traditional dry bulk carriers said a press note from Meriaura, specializing in the transport of industrial raw materials and project cargo on the Baltic Sea and in Europe.M/S Enough Talk is a deck cargo carrier of the same type and size as Meriaura’s deck cargo carriers Aura and Meri.

Dutch ship owner Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV has been fined 780.000 EUR and paid a settlement of 2.2 million EUR - totaling to a price tag of almost 3 million EUR - for having beached a ship for scrapping in India.According to a press release from NGO Shipbreaking Platform, in 2013, Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV, a subsidiary of WEC Lines BV, sold the HMS Laurence to a cash buyer, a company specialised in the trade of end-of-life vessels to beaching yards.The vessel ended up in Alang…

The ship Balao docked at Verbrugge Terminals in Vlissingen, in North Sea Port, carrying a cargo of fruit. This was the first ship to arrive as part of this logistical service provider's first permanent intercontinental shipping line.The ship was carrying fruit such as bananas and pineapple, among other things. In this line, goods will be loaded in Cartagena and Santa Marta, Colombia and in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica. From South America, the ships will then sail to the European ports of London…

The technology group Wärtsilä will provide the ship design, as well as the main engine and other propulsion equipment, for a new state-of-the-art fishing vessel. The ship will be built at the Balenciaga shipyard in Spain for Castlehill, the Fraserburgh, Scotland based owners. The order with Wärtsilä was booked in November 2018.The 69.8 meters long ‘Resolute’ will replace an existing trawler of the same name in the owner’s fleet. When delivered in 2020, this innovative vessel will provide high efficiency, and will represent the latest in ship designs for fishing industry purposes.

The liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering infrastructure is expanding globally and there are increasing numbers of LNG-bunker vessels which are encouraging other operators to adopt LNG.According to SEA\LNG,  the multi-sector industry coalition aiming to accelerate the widespread adoption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel, from limited availability at select ports, LNG bunkering has grown to encompass 24 out of the world’s top 25 and all but one of the top ten bunker…

The latest version of the enginei electronic fuel management system (EFMS) from Royston diesel power, has been specified for Tarmac’s Marine business’ City of Westminster aggregate dredger.The vessel is one of a four-strong fleet of gravel and sand dredgers, which operate mainly in the North Sea and English Channel, supplying Tarmac’s aggregate processing plants on the River Thames and in Southampton.The company is currently rolling out the latest version of enginei across its dredger fleet to provide enhanced fuel monitoring and reporting capabilities.The 3…

Port of Amsterdam has launched a Cybersecurity Programme to increase the port community's digital resilience.A press release from the port has explained the rationale behind the launch: "The Netherlands is one of the world's top three countries affected by cyber attacks. Ports are particularly vulnerable, as they have a wide range of information systems and their data is used by many different parties."Information systems contain valuable information that makes them an appealing target for cybercrime.

Switzerland-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company confirms that significant progress has been made in an unprecedented clean-up operation in the North Sea and on the beaches of the Netherlands and Germany."We would like to thank the authorities and volunteers in these countries for their support in the response," said a press note from the world's second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity.More than 250 containers fell from the ship “MSC Zoe” during…

The European Investment Bank (EIB) announces the signature of the first agreement under its Green Shipping Guarantee Programme (GSGP) through ABN Amro.The EIB will contribute EUR 10.1 million to an ABN AMRO arranged facility to finance the construction of three cement carrier vessels for the Eureka Shipping group, said a press release.The project vessels’ design represents an improvement to the overall environmental performance of the promoter’s fleet, as well as cement carrier vessels currently operating in European waters.

Clean-up efforts after a container ship spill off the Dutch coast are being hampered by rough weather although progress is being made, the Swiss based vessel's owner MSC said on Wednesday.In one of the worst incidents off the coast of the Netherlands, more than 250 containers - some holding hazardous chemicals - fell off the MSC Zoe, one of the world's largest container ships, during a North Sea storm on Jan. 2."This week, a storm is impacting the area being cleaned and unfortunately this will interrupt some operations," MSC said on Wednesday.

Chinese shipyard Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard Group Co,.Ltd has ordered 2 × MAN 9L 21/31 + 2 × MAN 6L16/24 GenSets in connection with the construction of an modern deck carrier. The specialized vessel will transport offshore wind-turbine components and has been ordered by Hamburg-based company, United Wind Logistics (UWL), which is employing Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG for building supervision and technical management. The order includes options for two further vessels. MAN Energy Solutions’ licensee…

Port of Amsterdam achieved a new transhipment record in 2018 with transhipment totalling 82.3 million tonnes, compared to 81.3 million tonnes in the previous year.Together with the other ports in the North Sea Canal Area, total transhipment consequently amounted to 101.8 million tonnes in 2018, said a press release from the 4th busiest port in Europe by metric tonnes of cargo.This is revealed in the provisional transhipment figures announced today. Transhipment in IJmuiden rose by 1% to 18.6 million tonnes. Beverwijk saw transhipment decline by 9% to 0.7 million tonnes.

MSC has started cleaning up Dutch sea waters, 10 days after it lost nearly 300 containers from one of its largest cargo vessels in a storm."The clean up will likely take months," Dutch water authorities spokesman Edwin de Feijter said. "The largest part of the debris has been located, but there are still parts missing."291 containers, some holding hazardous chemicals, fell off one of the world's largest container ships, the MSC Zoe, on Jan. 2 in German waters near the island of Borkum during a North Sea storm.Two salvage ships left the harbor at IJmuiden…

Danish shipping conglomerate A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S has taken delivery of Vilnia Maersk, a 3,600 TEU containership, from COSCO Zhoushan Shipyard.According to a stock exchange annoucement, Shanghai NSE supplied main switchboard   for the vessel.The statement said that the 3600TEU Container Vessel (Hull No.: N693) was built by COSCO (Zhoushan) Shipyard Co., Ltd. for Maersk Line Ltd.The ship is the sixth in a series of a total of seven Baltic feeders Maersk’s brand Seago Line plans…

Offshore contractor Subsea 7 announced Wednesday it has finalized the acquisition of a 2009-built multipurpose offshore construction and dive support vessel.The vessel Toisa Pegasus, formerly owned by Sealion Shipping, is to be renamed Seven Pegasus and will primarily support Subsea 7’s operations in the North Sea and Asia Pacific, the company said.The 133-meter vessel will undergo a docking and crew familiarization program before commencing operations in quarter two 2019.Designed and built by IHC…

The offshore marine support vessels operator Seacor Marine Holdings announced it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire three platform supply vessels (PSVs) from Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry, an affiliate of Cosco Shipping Group, the world’s largest ship owner.Aggregate consideration for the vessels will be approximately $46 million, of which 30% will be paid in cash and 70% will be paid under a four-year deferred payment agreement between Seacor   Marine and Cosco…