Shipping News

The new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulations aim to significantly reduce emissions of sulfur oxides, which are responsible for atmospheric acidification. This means that vessels may only use fuels with sulfur levels of up to 0.5 percent as of 1 January 2020.The current permitted level is 3.5 percent. However, another option is available. Shipping companies may continue to use heavy fuel oil if they install ‘scrubbers’ on their vessels to purify the exhaust gases with a wash treatment of water and soda."As the world’s largest bunker port…

US-based commercial boat builders Blount Boats & Shipyard has become the eighth shipbuilder to join Green Marine, a voluntary environmental certification program for North America’s maritime industry.“We’re already committed to delivering vessels that exceed our clients’ expectations and now wish to go beyond compliance in our work in terms of the environment as well,” said Marcia Blount, the company’s president.“The Green Marine framework is tailor made for the marine industry and scalable to our size of operations.

Ocean Network Express (ONE) has joins a group of innovative carriers who use the New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX) to offer their customers the ability to enter digital and mutually enforceable contracts.With seven of the leading global ocean carriers on NYSHEX, over 60% of global capacity is represented. The member carriers also represent all three container shipping alliances: 2M, Ocean Alliance and THE Alliance, providing NYSHEX shipper members a broad array of service options to choose from.“NYSHEX enables us to offer our customers an additional platform to contract with us…

Government of India has approved New Shipbuilding Financial Assistance policy for Indian shipyards for shipbuilding contracts up to 2026  to promote shipbuilding in Indian shipyards.Financial assistance is being granted to Indian Shipyards equal to 20% of the lower of “Contract Price” or the “Fair Price” or actual payments received of each vessel built by them for a period of at least 10 years commencing 2016-17. This rate of 20% will be reduced by 3% every three years.Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya informed that only those vessels…

The Norwegean global maritime industry group Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA and Denmark-based supply chain manager NorSea join forces to develop liquid hydrogen supply chain for maritime applications in Norway.The environmentally friendly liquid hydrogen can be offered to commercial shipping in large scale supply within first quarter 2024, claimed the companies.Together with major industry players such as Equinor, Viking Cruises, Air Liquide, and more, this is a huge and important step towards a sustainable future…

Blount Boats, Inc. becomes the eighth shipyard company to join Green Marine.“We’re already committed to delivering vessels that exceed our clients’ expectations and now wish to go beyond compliance in our work in terms of the environment as well,” says Marcia Blount, the company’s president. “The Green Marine framework is tailor made for the marine industry and scalable to our size of operations. It will provide guidance towards greater sustainability for our shipbuilding activities.”Green Marine further expands its shipyard and U.S. East Coast membership by welcoming Blount Boats, Inc.

The international container terminal operating company APM Terminals (APMT) said it has opened a new container terminal in Vado Ligure, on the Italian Riviera, which will be capable of handling 900,000 TEUs of containerized cargo.APMT has a 50.1% share in the “Vado Gateway,” while Cosco Shipping Ports has a 40% share and Qingdao Port International has a 9.9% share. APMT said the project is part of the “New Silk Road.” Chinese firms have invested in more than a dozen European ports…

SEA\LNG has released the results of its third investment study, which underlines liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a compelling investment solution for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) on the Arabian Gulf to China trade route.Conducted by Opsiana, the study demonstrates benefits of LNG as a marine fuel for a newbuild 300K DWT VLCC on the Arabian Gulf to China trade route, in comparison with other alternatives currently available and scalable to the shipping industry across three…

Semtech, Wilhelmsen and The Things Industries (TTI) have formed a partnership to use Semtech’s LoRa devices to help deliver what they describe as cost-effective, robust and proven IoT solutions to the maritime shipping industry.Wilhelmsen is a global maritime industry group founded in 1861. Semtech Corporation is a  supplier of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms.Wilhelmsen has selected Semtech’s LoRa devices as the foundation for its new global 2.4GHz maritime IoT network to deliver an ecosystem of cost-effective…

Florida-based tanker shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) has exercised options to extend its bareboat charter agreements with Norwegian-American shipowner American Shipping Company (AMSC) for four vessels currently under charter from AMSC.The New York-listed Jones Act player said each bareboat charter agreement was extended for additional three-year terms, commencing from December 2020 and ending in December 2023.OSG previously exercised its options to extend charter agreements for all of the six other vessels that it leases from AMSC.

Leonhardt & Blumberg (L&B), Germany’s largest independent charter owner of 15,000-35,000 DWT container ships and ship management company, has renewed its long-standing partnership with Marlink for the provision of quality  global VSAT connectivity."Marlink’s managed connectivity service excellence and digital solutions are recognized as a strong foundation for the ship management company L&B’s on-going fleet digitization, which will deliver more efficient and greener maritime operations…

Iranian and Omani officials have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at boosting maritime navigation, trade and transportation between the two Persian Gulf countries.The agreement was signed in a ceremony attended by senior officials from both sides including the Iranian Minister of Transport and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami and Oman’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, and heads of the two countries’ ports and maritime organizations.Iranian Transport…

SAL Heavy Lift, a global carrier specialized in sea transport of heavy lift and project cargo, said that it has become the first shipping company in the world to introduce hydrogen/methanol emission reduction technology to its fleet.The Harren & Partner Group company said in a press release that with significant emission reductions in terms of CO2, SOx, NOx and other particles, the injection technology developed by FUELSAVE GmbH paves the way for making shipping greener and more energy efficient.After more than four years of close cooperation…

Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Yamal LNG  announced the operational start of the new Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker “Yakov Gakkel”,  the fifteenth and final Arc7 ice-class tanker built specifically for the Project.The Yakov Gakkel has loaded the 354th LNG cargo in the port of Sabetta bound to China, said a press note.The vessel was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) and is owned and operated by a 50-50 joint venture by Teekay LNG and China LNG Shipping.

ABS published its Guide for Fuel Cell Power Systems for Marine and Offshore Applications to support the design, evaluation, and construction of fuel cell systems on vessels and offshore assets.“As technology evolves and regulators challenge shipping to decarbonize, fuel cells are increasingly seen as having an important role to play in meeting that challenge,” said Gareth Burton, ABS Vice President, Technology. “ABS has in-depth experience in assisting vessel owners and operators in low carbon emission options.

An oil tanker, which shipping data showed was managed by a Chinese company under U.S. sanctions, refused to allow an inspection by maritime authorities while anchored in Malaysian waters, Malaysia's maritime agency said.Silvana III's commercial manager is Kunlun Shipping Co Ltd, according to shipping transparency website Equasis.org.Kunlun is one of several firms placed under U.S. sanctions this year for alleged involvement in transporting oil from Iran.The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said the Silvana III, which anchored off Kuala Kurau on Malaysia's west coast on Dec. 5, did not follow instructions to drop its ladder to allow officers to conduct checks."After several attempts to instruct the ship to drop ladder were not heeded…

Nautilus Labs and Inmarsat have signed an agreement for Nautilus Labs to provide Inmarsat’s Fleet Data service.Nautilus Labs will use the Fleet Data API (Application Programming Interface) to help automate data collection as part of Nautilus Platform, a proprietary, fleet optimization UI (user interface) that provides shipping owners and operators with predictive analytics to reduce fuel consumption, allow for better decisioning, and meet international and local environmental standards - all in real time.Developed by Inmarsat and made commercially available earlier this year…

The final vessel in 15-ship series enters service for Yamal LNG project ahead of schedule.Yakov Gakkel, owned by joint venture between Teekay LNG Partners and China LNG Partners, joins a fleet of 15 specially designed tankers transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) year-round from one of Russia’s most significant export developments in a generation, Yamal LNG.Built in less than six years and to ARC7 ice class, fifteen 170,000m3 capacity vessels have opened the Northern Sea Route…

Seabulk Towing Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings Inc., announced Wednesday it has contracted with Alabama-based Master Boat Builders, Inc. for the construction of four 80 metric ton bollard pull harbor tugs with an expected delivery beginning in the second half of 2021 through early 2022.Two of the newbuilds will augment the company’s existing Rotortug fleet and feature updates to the Rotortug design, Seabulk said.The other two Azimuth Stern Drive newbuilds will be equipped with diesel mechanical and electric motor propulsion systems. These vessels represent Seabulk’s initial investment in hybrid power towing assets and will operate alongside the company’s existing harbor fleet in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. East Coast.

ABS, a global provider of classification and technical advisory services, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) have signed a joint development project (JDP) agreement to explore decarbonization and digitalization strategies for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) and Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS).A press release from ABS quoted Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President, Global Engineering and Technology as saying: "ABS is assisting leading shipping lines with evaluation of their decarbonization and digital strategies all over the world.

Amsterdam IJmuiden Offshore Ports (AYOP), a networking organization, has appointed Sylvia Boer as director effective from 1 February 2020. In this new position within the association for offshore companies in the North Sea Canal Area, Boer acts as a link between the members, government and stakeholders.AYOP sees great opportunities for the offshore wind, but certainly also for oil & gas, in the region and wants to take full advantage of this with the arrival of Boer.Boer has been working for Damen Shipyards Group over the past eight years…

Watson Farley & Williams, international law firm based in London, advised Ridgebury Tankers and Tufton Oceanic on the acquisition of two Suezmax tankers in a 50%-50% joint venture with Euronav NV who also provided secured debt to the joint venture companies for the purposes of the acquisitions.Last month, Belgium's tanker shipping company Euronav has acquired two Suezmax tankers through a joint venture formed with affiliates of Ridgebury Tankers and clients of Tufton Oceanic.The  two Suezmax tankers fetch a combined consideration of US$40.6m.

Europe’s largest bunker port Rotterdam said that the new low-sulfur bunker oil VLSFO (Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil with a maximum 0.5% sulfur) has become extremely popular in the port.Half of all November bunker sales were for VLSFO. This became apparent from the bunkering notifications via the Port of Rotterdam Authority’s TimeToBunker App.As of 1 January 2020, sea-going vessels on the world’s oceans may only use fuel with a sulfur content of no more than 0.5%. The current maximum is 3.5%.