Norway News

Norway-based ship owning company Ocean Yield ASA has taken delivery of two 2017-built Ultramax dry bulk vessels.The Ultramax ships  are "SBI Libra" and "SBI Virgo", both of which were built in 2017.Upon delivery, the vessels commenced 11 years' bareboat charter to Scorpio Bulkers Inc, said a press release.Ocean Yield has further committed to part finance the installation of scrubbers on both vessels, which is expected in early 2020.Ocean Yield ASA is a ship owning company with…

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipper Golar announced that it has decided to proceed with a spin-off of its Tri-Fuel Diesel Electric (TFDE) LNG carrier business as well as to focus its activities primarily on floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) and downstream assets.According to a stock exchange announcement, this will allow LNG shipping investors more direct exposure to the LNG shipping market and reposition Golar's core business toward LNG infrastructure on long-term contracts.Golar…

Global safety products manufacturer and service provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment has won a contract to build and supply a VIKING Norsafe Munin S1200 patrol boat for the Norwegian police force.The vessel, which will be built in Arendal, Norway and delivered in December this year, will carry out police patrol and rescue missions in the East Police District covering the 38 municipalities from Gardermoen to the Swedish border.Seeing off competition from five other providers,…

The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) has fined Greek cruise ship operator Global Cruise Lines (GCL) for using 0.17 percent sulfur fuel in a 0.10 percent sulfur ECA zone.NMA informed that MS Magellan, which is owned by the Greek company GCL, has violated the legislation on fuel sulphur limits in the world heritage fjords and has received a notice of a violation fine of 700,000 NOK ($80,000).On 1 March, new environmental requirements for emissions and discharges in the world heritage fjords the Nærøyfjord, Aurlandsfjord, Geirangerfjord, Sunnylvsfjord and Tafjord entered into force.

Norway-based private cruise line SeaDream Yacht Club has released new details on its upcoming cruise ship, the SeaDream Innovation, which will incorporate a number of environmentally friendly design features.The company claims that  SeaDream Innovation  is the world’s most advanced hybrid ship being built today that will sail to all seven continents.SeaDream has received a grant for USD $1.8 million for the creation of the revolutionary vessel from Enova, an organization owned…

London's marine insurance market has extended the list of waters deemed high risk to include Oman, the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf after ship attacks off Fujairah, officials said on Friday, in a move that could push up premiums.The London insurance market's Joint War Committee said in a statement that the additions cover areas of perceived enhanced risk for marine insurers and reflected enhanced regional risk."The situation will be kept under close review," said the Joint War Committee…

The Norwegian oil and gas operator focused on the Middle East and the North Sea, DNO ASA said it has completed the private placement of USD 400 million of new, five-year senior unsecured bonds with a coupon rate of 8.375 percent.The bond placement received strong investor demand across international markets and was oversubscribed, said a press release from Norway's oldest oil company. The bond issue is expected to be settled on or about 29 May 2019, subject to customary conditions precedent.An application will be made for the bonds to be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Equinor has still not identified the source of an oil spill at its Statfjord field in the North Sea, and the loading of crude onto tankers remains shut, the Norwegian company told Reuters on Thursday.The leakage consisted of "small observations" of oil on the surface of the ocean, an Equinor spokesman said.The leakage of crude was first discovered on Wednesday, triggering a shutdown of loading on to a shuttle tanker, although production continued, Equinor said at the time.Statfjord, which opened in 1979, is among the oldest fields still producing in the North Sea, and Equinor has said the firs

Norway's Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) has raised 350 million Norwegian crowns in a private share placement, valuing the shipping firm at 2.27 billion crowns ($259.57 million) ahead of an Oslo stock market listing on May 22.Following the successful private placement, KCC has declared two options for the construction of the seventh and eight CLEANBU combination carrier with Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd in China.The two newbuilds are scheduled for delivery in January and February 2021. Following the declaration, the KCC fleet will grow to 17 vessels within 1st quarter of 2021.

Canadian based Horizon Maritime announced it has taken delivery of the newly rebranded support vessel Horizon Arctic, paving way for the establishment of its new Norwegian operation.The former Bourbon Arctic, now sailing under the name Horizon Arctic, is a technically versatile multi-function offshore support vessel built at the Vard Brattvaag shipyard in 2016.“The Horizon Arctic takes its place alongside Horizon Maritime’s growing fleet of harsh environment vessels, and we are…

Norwegian expedition cruise operator Hurtigruten has partnered with the Norwegian startup Brim Explorer, introducing battery powered catamarans custom built for Polar water exploration.Debuting in the spring of 2020, the 24-meter vessel will operate a variety of daily silent and sustainable ocean excursions from her homeport Longyearbyen on the Arctic island of Svalbard - operating under the Hurtigruten Svalbard brand."Brim and Hurtigruten found each other through our common passion for the oceans.

The offshore support vessel provider for the global oil and gas industry, K Line Offshore has sold one of its platform supply vessels (PSV) to Gard Supply AS.The Norway-based offshore division of Japan's K Line said that the the 2004-built PSV KL Arendalfjord is its very first ship."A Protocol of Delivery and Acceptance was signed and KL Arendalfjord was delivered by K Line Offshore AS(KOAS) to Gard Supply AS in Tønsberg, Norway," said the press release from the shipowning and operating company with high end PSVs and two of the world's most powerful AHTS.

The Clean Arctic Alliance (CAA) urged the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Member States to reduce the impact of black carbon emissions from international shipping on the Arctic environment.The UN body gathers in London for a meeting of its Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC74), during which a number of issues, including black carbon emissions and heavy fuel oil (HFO) in the Arctic will feature on the agenda.Emissions of black carbon particles by ships burning…

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has launched a joint project with Norway to help the shipping industry cut emissions by at least 50 percent from 2008 levels by 2050, the UN's shipping agency said on Monday.The Norwegian government is providing 10 million NOK ($1.1 million) for the first two years of the GreenVoyage-2050 project, and additional funding subject to government approval for 2020 and subsequent years.The scheme aims to bolster government and port efforts to achieve emissions cuts through legal and policy reforms, national action plans, private sector partnerships and n

The European  project FLAGSHIPS was awarded $5.6m from the EU to support deploying two commercially operated zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vessels in France and Norway.The FLAGSHIPS project contributes in building two new build vessels, one in Lyon, France and one in Stavanger, Norway. In Lyon, a hydrogen push-boat operated by Compagnie Fluvial de Transport (CFT) will serve as a utility vessel on one of its most demanding rivers, the Rhône. In Stavanger, hydrogen is intended…

Ten years after the adoption of International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, in May 2009, there has been progress with voluntary application of its requirements, but the treaty needs to enter into force for it to be widely implemented.“I urge Member States who have not yet done so to ratify the Convention at the earliest opportunity, in order to bring it into force as soon as possible,” said IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim…

Wilhelmsen Ship Management (WSM), a global maritime industry group, headquartered in Lysaker, Norway, is taking measures to reduce plastic waste from its ships enforcing new criteria for its vendors in its selection process,  as part of their commitment to make maritime trade sustainable."Vendors supplying spare parts, stores and consumables will be required to demonstrate that they have a viable plan to reduce plastic usage on the products delivered to us. This will apply to all existing and new vendors…

Norway is growing its arsenal of military grade drones for missions that’ll take them into the exhaust streams of ship’s funnels. With the IMO now supporting the 0.1 percent sulfur cap on marine fuel from Jan. 2020, and with southern Norway below the 62nd parallel officially a European Emissions Control Area, or ECA, the Norwegian Maritime Authority, the NMA, is cracking down on illegal sulfur emissions.Oslo’s NMA and its domestic enforcement allies — the Norwegian Coast Guard (Kystvakten)…

Norwegian shipping company GC Rieber Shipping has completed the process of redelivery and sale of the icebreaking research vessel 'Ernest Shackleton' to the new owner Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS).The redelivery of the vessel from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) marked the end of a nearly 20-year relationship between British Antarctic Survey and GC Rieber Shipping, said a press release from the operator of offshore subsea support vessels,…

North American tight oil is emerging as the second cheapest source of new oil volumes globally, just shy of the Middle East onshore market, Rystad Energy said.The U.S. shale oil was the world’s second most expensive oil resource just four years ago, the energy research and business intelligence company pointed out.“As the majors are struggling to replace conventional liquids, a wealthy source of additional resources is tight oil,” says Espen Erlingsen, Head of Upstream Research…

A Finnish company said on Thursday it planned to develop a railway connection between north Finland and Norway's Kirkenes port to link with potential Arctic shipping routes at an estimated cost of between 3-5 billion euros ($3.4-5.6 billion).Global warming has reduced ice coverage in the Arctic, opening up the possibility of new and shorter shipping lanes between north Europe and Asia, though control of routes is disputed.Finland's Finest Bay Area Development said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Norway's Sør-Varanger Utvikling to investigate how to build a railway and its impact on the environment, society and the economy."An Arctic railway would connect Finland to the Northeast Passage," Kustaa Valtonen, a director at Finest Bay Area Development, said in a statement.

Total greenfield project sanctioning, summed up to the present day, only accounts for 40% of estimated volumes of offshore projects ever being sanctioned, said Rystad Energy, the  energy research and consultancy headquartered in Norway."Likewise, the brownfield market has only begun, with total historical expenditures accounting for only about 20% of estimated brownfield spend over the projects lifetime, leaving 80% of brownfield spending to the future. And the decommissioning market is still in its nascent form…

The marine energy transportation company Teekay Offshore has secured long-term financing from the Norwegian Government for four new shuttle tankers being built at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in South Korea.The shuttle tankers are all equipped with a new innovative technology developed by the maritime supplier Wärtsilä in cooperation with Teekay, resulting in zero volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions from the tankers.On behalf of the Norwegian Government, Export Credit Norway and GIEK have provided loan and guarantee of USD 165.5 million.