Serbia 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…

When the Rubymar sank in the Red Sea after a Houthi attack, the ship went down carrying 21,000-tonnes of fertiliser which could trigger massive algal blooms that could create "dead zones" for marine life and starve coral reefs of light.Alongside a slick of leaking fuel, the ammonium phosphate sulphate fertilisers could deliver an extreme pulse of nutrients into waters harbouring rare corals, marine mammals and reef fish, creating a spread of foamy scum on the water.According to a maritime warning circulated to ships in the area…

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…

Pakistan has become a Party to the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 (Hong Kong Convention).Vice Admiral (Retd.) Iftikhar Ahmad Rao, Maritime Minister and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Maritime Affairs, Pakistan, deposited the instrument of accession with IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim at IMO Headquarters in London on November 30.The deposit follows an IMO-run national seminar in Karachi to…

Romania's Constanta port, Ukraine's main alternative route for grain since Russia's withdrawal led to the collapse of the Black Sea shipment deal, has capacity to handle extra cargoes until mid-August, the head of the port's business association said.He added operators were also seeking to increase capacity.Even before Russia on Monday quit a safe passage grain corridor through Ukraine's own ports, Constanta had emerged as the biggest alternative shipping route. It has handled roughly a third of Ukraine's grain exports since the start of the war.Transit pressure will mount on Constanta…

Greece has cut Russian gas imports by more than half this year thanks to increased deliveries from other producers to its sole liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Athens, the country's gas grid operator said on Thursday.Greece has relied on Russia for about 40% of its gas needs for years but it has ramped up LNG purchases from other countries in line with a European Union plan to cut dependence on Russian energy. It has been receiving Russian gas via the Turkstream pipeline which also delivers to Hungary via Serbia.Its LNG facility on the Revithoussa islet…

Serbian sunseekers flocking to the riverside beaches of Novi Sad have adopted new pastime this summer—wading across a vast stretch of the Danube usually reserved for cargo barges and cruise ships.The navigable channel of western Europe's longest river, a trade and transport artery that passes through ten countries, is usually several hundred meters wide where it flows through Serbia's second-largest city.But drought and record high temperatures have reduced that to a narrow lane only being kept open by dredging…

Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo.The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.However, this year's drought…

Russia said on Thursday it was facilitating the export of grain and oilseeds from Ukraine through Russian-held transit points on the Azov Sea, without explaining who was providing the foodstuffs for export.Ukraine, like Russia one of the world's biggest exporters of grains and oilseeds, has accused Russia of stealing grain from territories in Ukraine that its forces have seized.Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko rejected the allegation in an interview with Reuters…

Pressed into emergency service by the blockade of Ukraine's seaports by Russian invaders, neighboring Romania is racing against time to move Ukrainian grain to global markets before the next harvest triggers bottlenecks.Ukraine, the world's fourth largest grain exporter, has been forced by Russia's invasion to re-route shipments by train via its western border into neighboring Poland, Slovakia and Romania or on barges through its small Danube river ports.But Ukraine needs to move…

The kick-off ceremony for the realization of Gastrade SA's LNG FSRU facility in Alexandroupolis, Greece, was held on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in the old Storage House of the Alexandroupolis Port Customs.Once delivered, the FSRU, with a capacity of 153,500 c.m. of LNG, will be moored in the offshore area 17.6 km southwest of the port of Alexandroupolis. It will be connected to the National Natural Gas Transmission System (NNGΤS) of Greece with a 28 km long pipeline, through which the gasified LNG will be transmitted to the markets of Greece…

Rio Tinto forecast slightly weaker-than-expected 2022 iron ore shipments on Tuesday, citing tight labor market conditions and production delays from the new greenfields mine at Gudai-Darri project.The world's biggest iron ore producer said it expects to ship between 320 million and 335 million tonnes (Mt) in 2022 from the Pilbara region in Western Australia, a forecast with a mid-point below RBC estimate of 332 Mt and UBS' estimate of between 330 Mt and 340 Mt.Rio shipped 321.6 Mt of the steel-making commodity last year…

Serbia has finally recalled to service as a floating museum a warship that fired the first shots that began World War One, following years of lobbying from navy ship enthusiasts who wanted it restored.The SMS Bodrog was one of two Austro-Hungarian heavy gunboats that sailed into the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube around midnight on July 28, 1914. Its two canons hurled shells at Serbian positions in Belgrade, marking the start of the four-year war in which around 20 million people died.Renamed Sava…

The first of 40 inland waterway barges that are being built by Concordia Damen has been launched at the casco yard in Serbia. Concordia Damen signed the contract for the environmentally friendly vessels late last year.The vessels, known as the Parsifal Tankers, will be chartered by Shell and operated by the VT Group/Marlow. They will carry mineral oils between Antwerp, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Rhine network.The vessels will be 110 meters by 11.45 meters and will feature liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion and extreme shallow draft capabilities.

Israel-based renewable energy projects developer Enlight Renewable Energy (ERE) along with its Serbian partner New Energy Solutions has officially opened its Kovacica windfarm in Serbia.The opening ceremony of the Wind farm was held in the municipality of Kovacica in the presence of the Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic, Alona Fisher-Kamm the Ambassador of  Israel, the Representatives of the owners,  ERE, and its Serbian partner, New Energy Solutions.Kovacica clean power plant operates with 38 installed wind turbines, with the total power of 104,5 megawatts.The farm shall be producing clean electric energy for over 68,000 households…

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, speaking at an International Seminar on Ship Recycling: Towards the Early Entry into Force of the Hong Kong Convention (10 May).The seminar was organized by the Ministry of Land…

The Croatian subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) at the Port of Rijeka, Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT) is set to realize a comprehensive expansion plan in the period up to mid-2020.AGCT, in cooperation with the Rijeka Port Authority,  has drawn up plans for a two-phase dredging scheme with the first phase fully-approved, entailing the dredging of 130 meters of quay over its Berths 1 and 2. This will facilitate the berthing of vessels with a length overall (LOA) of up to 400 meters. The work will be completed by mid-2020, and will provide 438 meters of berth with a depth alongside of 15 meters.Financing for the infrastructure works has been provided by the EU and PRA…

The first group of Ruby Princess crew members has debarked the coronavirus-hit cruise ship in Sydney, Australia and began the process of repatriation to their home countries Tuesday, authorities said.At least 49 crew members from six countries disembarked the Carnival Corp owned cruise ship on Tuesday, and a further 115 crew members from nine countries disembarked on Wednesday.So far, 22 of the disembarked crew members have tested positive for COVID-19 and have been transported…

China and Serbia signed deals under the Belt and Road Initiative, as both sides vowed to level up cooperation under the China-proposed mega-project initiative.The deals were sealed as part of the Belt and Road Initiative following a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in Beijing.Vucic said that his country ensured “a good passage” in China at the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ forum in Beijing.The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the One Belt One Road or the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road is a Chinese Government development strategy involving infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organisations in Europe…

OceanRail Logistics, part of the Cosco Shipping Group, acquired 60% of the Greek railway company Piraeus Europe Asia Rail Logistics (PEARL) as part of its plan to develop its intermodal transport services network.OceanRail specializes in sea-rail intermodal transport with the Piraeus Port as the hub and related logistics business, while PEARL is a Greece-based company engaged in railway operations.The China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line, which starts from the Piraeus Port in Greece and expands to the hinterland of Central and Eastern Europe, covering North Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia, is the third new trade corridor from the Far East to Europe and effectively connects the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt.In 2019…

Rail freight operator Metrans received the first Vectron multi-system locomotive at its container terminal in Prague.The vehicle is part of an order of ten multi-system locomotives. They are being manufactured in the Siemens Mobility factory in Munich-Allach and will be delivered in full by spring 2020.Metrans will deploy the new Vectron locomotives in transnational freight traffic across Central and Eastern Europe.“We are very happy to have received the first of ten Vectron locomotives from Siemens Mobility at our location in Prague. The expansion of our locomotive fleet to nearly 100 vehicles highlights our commitment to grow with the transport flows of the future.

Norwegian-headquartered Salt Ship Design said it has completed its acquisition of Serbian naval architecture firm Albatross Ship Design.Albatross was founded in 2001 as a member of Norway's Vik Sandvik Group, working under name Vik Sandvik Albatross until it was acquired by Finnish technology company Wärtsilä and renamed Wärtsilä Ship Design Serbia in 2009. It became a private independent company with the new name Albatross Ship Design in 2016.Salt Ship Design, which specializes in the design of offshore and fishing vessels, said it has previously worked with Albatross Ship Design on various aspects of many vessel projects.Salt now adds 20 employees through the integration of Albatross.

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.