Northern Europe News

Agreement marks next step in accelerating LEO connectivity for the global shipping and offshore industriesAs part of its mission to deliver low latency, ‘fiber-like’ connectivity to the maritime and offshore industries, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband satellite communications company OneWeb, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The AST Group (AST), a global leader in satellite communications systems.By working together, AST and OneWeb will offer fixed-land and maritime customers access to OneWeb’s fast…

Kongsberg Maritime (KM) said it will supply an equipment and simulation package for the maritime training vessel MS Gann, helping both to reduce the vessel’s emissions and enhance the education offered on board. The contract, worth 41.2 million NOK, is part of an extensive refit and will include KONGSBERG’s SAVe Energy battery system and hybrid shaft generators, in addition to power management, propulsion control and monitoring systems.MS Gann – which ran passenger services along…

U.K.-based James Fisher said it will add two liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel product tankers to its fleet during 2022.The 6,000dwt vessels will be traded by James Fisher Everard (JFE).Specifically designed for ports with restricted access around the coastline of Northern Europe, the IMO II vessels are said to be the first product tankers of their size with the capability to run on LNG fuel.Eoghan O’Lionaird, James Fisher CEO, said, “I’m very proud that JFE is taking action now to support our customers, the maritime industry and the group in achieving our collective sustainability goals.

Russian oil and gas shipping giant Sovcomflot said Friday it had on March 15, together with Shell, "broke new ground," with the completion of the "first-ever Aframax tanker fuelling using LNG in the USA."Sovcomflot’s Gagarin Prospect tanker, on long-term charter to Shell, was en-route from Corpus Christi to Europe. It received 1,075 cubic metres of marine LNG from the Shell NA LNG LLC chartered Q-LNG 4000 outside the Port of Canaveral, Florida. "This represented the first ever ship-to-ship LNG fuelling of a large capacity Aframax tanker in the USA…

The OSV sector will be reliant on a hitherto unseen amount of scrapping to balance the market, writes Gregory Brown, Associate Director – Offshore, Maritime Strategies InternationalThere is a consensus that an OSV market recovery will only be driven a supply side rationalization. As well as a lack of newbuild activity, that rationalization will have to include unprecedented levels of scrapping in a market which has historically witnessed only limited levels of attrition.That limited level of attrition has several deep-seated roots…

COVID-19 will continue to skew the floating production systems market for the coming 24 months, while buying power for a large portion of FPSO contracts will be centered in Brazil and Guyana/Suriname. These two areas are expected to account for more than 60% of the FPSO contracts awarded between 2021 and 2025.These are the findings shared in a recent floating production outlook report produced by International Maritime Associates (IMA) and World Energy Reports (WER).The 100+ page…

MSC Cruises on Monday took delivery of its new flagship, MSC Virtuosa, built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint Nazaire, France.The occasion was marked by a small and private ceremony held at the shipyard attended by MSC Cruises' executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago, his wife Alexa Aponte-Vago and their children, as well as representatives from MSC Cruises newbuilds team along with shipyard executives and workers.“The delivery of MSC Virtuosa at such a challenging time for our industry symbolizes how as a family company we continue to look at the longer term and build our future…

Brent Perry, CEO of Sterling PBES is a 40+ year veteran of the marine business, and one of the pioneers in delivering battery solutions to boats and ships at sea. Please give us a by the numbers look at Sterling PBES today?Right now we are sitting in a position where we had anticipated delivering somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-21 million worth of product, which is about 35 megawatt hours. And we’re scheduled to blow past that to almost $40 million. And we’re looking at the following year as a year of over a $100 million…

German shipbuilder Meyer Werft shipyard last Friday delivered to P&O Cruises the cruise ship Iona, dubbed the largest cruise ship ever built for the UK market.Apart from being the largest, with 185,000 tonnes, 345 meters in length with 17 guest decks, Iona is also the first British cruise ship to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). It features four low-emission dual-fuel engines from Caterpillar, which can be operated 100% with LNG at seaand in port.The cruise ship had…

Yanmar Europe BV said it has signed an agreement with the Danish independent service provider VMS Group A/S as a new service agent for commercial marine engines and spare parts. As of today, VMS Group is a registered agent to service Yanmar medium and high commercial marine engines.Kim Rasmussen, CCO of VMS Group, sees great opportunities and good potential in the wide range of marine engines that Yanmar offers. “Due to our many years of experience in the marine business we know Yanmar as a manufacturer of efficient, strong and reliable engines. This is also what ship owners tell us as feedback on Yanmar engines. Furthermore, we find that the innovative technology behind the Yanmar engines plays an important role in the future…

The world's largest containership to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) has officially joined the fleet of French container shipping group CMA CGM, during a digital naming ceremony at CSSC’s shipyard in Shanghai.CMA CGM Group’s new flagship, CMA CGM Jacques Saadé, named after the group's founder, is the lead vessel in a series of nine LNG-powered, 23,000 TEU containerships ordered in 2017.Rodolphe Saadé, CMA CGM Group’s chairman and CEO, announced in November 2017 that the vessels would be equipped with LNG-powered engines…

Norway-based ship management company OSM Maritime said Monday that it is nearing a deal to acquire Singapore-headquartered competitor SeaTeam Management from Frontline Ltd and Golden Ocean Group Limited.The acquisition, which is in final negotiations and remains subject to definitive documentation, is expected to be completed within the next 30 days, OSM said.“We look forward to finalizing our agreement with Frontline and Golden Ocean, after engaging in a very constructive dialogue,” said Tommy Olofsen, chair of OSM Maritime.

The world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker vessel was officially named during a ceremony held Friday in Rotterdam. The 135.5-meter-long, 18,600-cubic-meter-capacity GTT Mark III Flex membrane vessel has been named Gas Agility.The first LNG bunker vessel owned by Emerald Green Maritime Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), she is chartered by Total’s affiliate Total Marine Fuels Global Solutions (TMFGS).In February 2018, TMFGS and MOL signed a time charter party for the vessel…

Coastwise Offshore Services and Next Generation Shipyards signed a contract for the building of a new type of vessel, an aluminum vessel for the offshore wind-industry, with an option for three additional vessels. The signing took place at Next Generation Shipyards on Lauwersoog, the Netherlands. The new boat aims to combine the stability of a catamaran with the speed and fuel efficiency of a monohull, and the building of the vessel was at the initiative of Coastwise Offshore Services, the new shipping enterprise owned by Eelko Wijdieks, Douwe van den Berg and Onno Nienhuis.

Carnival Corp unit Costa Cruises on Friday extended its pause on operations to Aug. 15 and canceled all cruises in Northern Europe for the rest of the 2020 summer season.Genoa-based Costa, which had earlier suspended trips until July 31, also cancelled all future Costa Victoria cruises.“The decision is linked to the uncertainty on the gradual reopening of ports to cruise ships and the restrictions that may still be in place for the movements of people due to the COVID-19 global pandemic…

DP World announce Tuesday it has finished integrating its recent acquisitions Unifeeder and Feedertech, creating a feedering and shortsea network serving hundreds of ports across the globe.Unifeeder, which recently acquired Feedertech, operates feeder and shortsea services around northern Europe and throughout the Mediterranean and Northern Africa regions. Feedertech provides similar services connecting ports in Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. The…

Centuries-old maritime craftwork and advanced technology help carbon-free seaborne trade.It was a chance meeting that changed two lives. It may also change the way the world thinks about maritime shipping.An accomplished sailor, Danielle Doggett loves tall ships—the large wind-powered sailing vessels that carry passengers and cargo. Her fascination with the big ships started in her teens, sailing on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes and eventually on the St. Lawrence II, a 72-foot two-mast brigantine built in the 1950s for youth sail training.

Join a webinar on June 17, 2020 for the global release of a major new market study on the depth, breadth and growth prospects of the Offshore Wind Market --  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UR5uY1boTOKdAAcAXDbR4gJust when it was looking like the offshore wind industry was finally about to take off in the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced one more significant layer of uncertainty upon an already very complicated playing field. There are currently 15 active offshore wind projects in the planning stages which…

With uncertainty surrounding business in general, and specifically the future shape and form of the cruise industry, it was announced the the establishment of the new cruise terminal in Copenhagen is postponed indefinitelyA very significantly changed cruise market, due to the crisis with the coronavirus pandemic, means that Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP) will postpone the establishment of what was planned to be a new cruise terminal at Copenhagen’s Oceankaj.With the prospects for healthy growth in the Copenhagen cruise market…

A total of 302 of 2,693 containership sailings, or 11%, have been canceled in May on all the main line trades, according to the latest data from maritime intelligence company eeSea, revealing the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on global shipping.In the first six months of 2020, a total of 1,675 sailings have been canceled, or 11%; which comes out at 13% for 2M, 17% for Ocean Alliance and 17% for THE Alliance, while only 8% of non-alliance sailings have been canceled.However, the number of sailings alone only tells part of the story.

When discussing the arrival of autonomous workboats, many – especially those developing the technologies that enable them – say it’s is not a matter of if, but when. In fact, autonomous harbor tugs are already being put to the test in Singapore, where authorities hope to establish the technological infrastructure to enable fully autonomous ship operations. In the U.S., an autonomous vessel was shown to be able to respond to marine oil spills.But is autonomy really the future?

Corvus Energy is moving forward with plans to invest in its Canadian operations by expanding its Richmond, B.C. facility and increasing manufacturing capacity.As reported in early 2018, Corvus Energy is rolling out plans for expanded maritime battery manufacturing facilities in both Bergen, Norway and Richmond, B.C., Canada. A new automated battery factory in Bergen began producing energy storage systems (ESS) in Q4 2019. Corvus has signed a contract for investment in new production line equipment in the Richmond, B.C.

High in the Arctic Circle lies the Northern Sea Route, one of the planet’s vital shipping arteries. It cuts a journey by almost a third compared to the southern route but it is passing through waters which are mostly frozen.The northern route connects east and west, allowing cargo to be transferred from northern Europe to northeast Asia, via the Bering Strait. It’s a 30% faster passage than the southern Europe-Asia alternative via the Suez Canal and is attractive to shipping companies, thanks to considerable fuel and emission savings.