Shipping News

The first of three liquefied natural gas (LNG) battery hybrid pure car and truck carriers (PCTC) commissioned by Norwegian shipping company United European Car Carriers (UECC) was launched this week at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. The remaining two vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2022."With the launch of our first LNG battery hybrid PCTC, we are ushering in a new era for UECC and short sea shipping in Europe," said Glenn Edvardsen, UECC CEO. "These ships prove that…

Canadian shipping company Algoma Central Corporation was fined $500,000 in the U.S. after pleading guilty to dumping wastewater into Lake Ontario.One of the Great Lakes operator's dry bulk carriers, the Algoma Strongfield, was built in China and delivered to Canada on May 30, 2017, by a crew from Redwise Maritime Services, B.V., a vessel transport company based in the Netherlands.During the delivery voyage, while manned by a Redwise crew, the oily water separator and oil content monitor malfunctioned or failed on multiple occasions…

Two crew members aboard the cargo vessel that blocked global shipping in the Suez Canal last month will be allowed to return to India owing to urgent personal circumstances, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said on Thursday.The Ever Given has been anchored in a lake between two sections of the canal since being dislodged on March 29 and is caught in a legal dispute linked to a $916 compensation claim made by the SCA against the ship's Japanese owner.The SCA said it was "sparing no effort to ensure the success of the negotiations" and was cooperating with the shipping agency to make sure the crew

The International Association of Classification Societies has named Lloyd’s Register CEO Nick Brown as its Incoming Council Chair.Brown will take up the role on July 1 this year, marking the first time that the IACS Chair has been chosen by the Association’s Members and not by rotation, a move that follows governance changes announced in December last year. As part of those changes, Brown’s term of office will run until December 31, 2023.“I am honored to have been named Chair of the International Association of Classification Societies,” Brown said.

Based in Shanghai, Krzysztof Kozdron – or “KK” as he’s known to many of his Chinese colleagues, clients and friends – is the Managing Director of Schulte Marine Concept (S.M.C.). As S.M.C. passes a milestone in ship construction project management, Kozdron shares his insights on shipbuilding and repair activities throughout Asia.Starting in 1973 to today, Schulte Marine Concept has managed 600 ship construction, repair & conversion projects, starting with its own vessels and evolving into a company today that manages the majority of its projects for third-party clients.

A Crowley ship assist and escort tug serving the Bay of San Francisco is now running on cleaner-burning biofuel, in line with Crowley Shipping's commitment to sustainable operations that decrease the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas impacts of maritime operations.The Veteran, a 6,800-horsepower tug with a bollard pull of 182,000 pounds, received its first bunkering of 24,000 gallons of low carbon biofuel on March 9 in San Francisco, where Crowley has operated tugboats since 1906.Veteran joins Crowley’s Vision/650-10…

Dr. Anil Sharma is a wealth of knowledge on ship scrapping, having started GMS 25 years ago, getting into the business of buying and disposing of old U.S. MarAd and Russian navy ships as a sideline while teaching as a college professor in Maryland. Today his company is dominant in the field, and in the last year he has seen an unprecedented 70% run up on ship scrap prices, approaching $500 per ton. He weighs in on ship scrapping trends and direction.By Dr. Anil Sharma’s estimation…

Damen Shipyards Group is partnering with Purus Marine, an environmentally focused maritime vessel and infrastructure company established by EnTrust Global for the financing of green shipping projects. The partnership, named DP Lease, aims to support decarbonization of the maritime industry by providing flexible and attractively priced long-term lease financing solutions to solve the financing gap created by additional capital expenditure requirements associated with the purchase of environmentally-advanced vessels.Jan-Willem van Helden…

Maersk Tankers announced it has sold six Long-Range 2 (LR2) product tankers in an en-bloc transaction.All six of the vessels were or will be built at Dalian shipyard in China, including one in 2020 and the remaining five in 2021, Maersk Tankers said.Maersk Tankers did not reveal the name of the buyer, though it is rumored to be ADNOC Logistics & Services, the shipping and maritime logistics branch of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which is currently in the midst of a fleet expansion program.Claus Gronborg…

Longer sailing distances cushion fall in US crude oil exportsTon mile demand generated by US crude oil exports has fallen by 9.7% in the first two months of 2021 compared with the start of 2020. The fall could however have been much worse; In volume terms, seaborne crude oil exports have fallen by 18.8%, to 20.9m tonnes, a 4.8m tonnes decline compared with last year, according to data from the US Census Bureau.While seaborne crude oil exports to all regions have fallen, those to Asia are among the least affected, down just 1.0%, or equivalent to one Aframax load (101,088 tonnes).

Dutch maritime heavy lift transport and installation contractor Jumbo and German-based breakbulk and project cargo shipping company SAL on Thursday announced the launch of their joint venture Jumbo-SAL-Alliance, dubbed "a new powerhouse in the heavy lift sector.""This is a very proud moment for Jumbo and SAL. Both companies believe that this move propels them to a greater level of geographical outreach and commercial capacity. To serve clients worldwide, the joint venture acts as the single commercial entry point for its joint sales network of offices and agents in 20+ countries…

BHP Group Ltd said on Thursday it completed its first refueling of a ship with biofuel this month in a trial run that is part of its efforts to reduce carbon emissions.It was also the first time that a ship has been refueled with biofuel in Singapore, the world's largest bunkering hub.A biofuel blend derived from certified sustainable feedstock sources such as cooking oil, crude tall oil and sewage sludge was used on April 4 to refuel the 81,000 deadweight tonne dry bulk carrier…

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping company Flex LNG announced Wednesday it has entered into time charterparty agreements with Cheniere for four LNG carriers with the option for a fifth.Under the agreements, Flex LNG will employ newbuild Flex Vigilant which will be delivered to Cheniere ex-yard in May 2021. In addition, Flex LNG will deliver two of its existing LNG carriers to Cheniere during the third quarter of 2021, and a third existing LNG carrier during the third quarter of 2022.

Boston-based Sea Machines Robotics revealed on Wednesday that its SM200 wireless helm system has been installed and is being used aboard two sister U.S.-flag articulated tug-barge (ATB) tugboats.Sea Machines said its dealer Rio Controls & Hydraulics, of Houston, managed the installations and technology integrations at a U.S. Gulf of Mexico shipyard. In the coming months, Rio and Sea Machines will continue to work together to install additional SM200 systems on at least five more ATB tugboats by the same owner.Sea Machines’ wireless helm system introduces flexible control for mariners…

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced Tuesday that it will postpone increasing canal transit fees following calls from the shipping industry to reconsider the rate hikes amid a spate of global supply chain disruptions.The higher rates for the canal's transit reservation system were scheduled to take effect on Thursday but will now start on June 1, allowing the maritime industry more time to prepare for the adjusted booking fees, ACP said. The proposed changes represent a minimum cost increase per transit reservation of $20…

Antarctic resupply ship MPV Everest berthed in Fremantle, Australia at 5:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, after it suffered an engine room fire earlier this month, the Australian Antarctic Division said.Australia’s chartered Antarctic resupply vessel MPV Everest was about 1,700 nautical miles south of Perth when the April 5 fire engulfed the vessel's port engine room and destroyed two inflatable rubber boats on the deck. There were no injuries to the 72 expeditioners and 37 crew on board.The ice-strengthened ship…

The cargo vessel that blocked global shipping in the Suez Canal and is caught in a legal dispute in Egypt is fit to sail once approval is given, its technical manager said on Wednesday.The Ever Given was declared suitable for onward passage from the Great Bitter Lake to Port Said, where she would be assessed again before departing for Rotterdam, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said in a statement.The ship has been in the lake, which sits between two sections of the canal, since being dislodged on March 29.

Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) said on Wednesday that it has secured an order from Australian shipping company TT Line Company to build two car and passenger ferries at the Rauma shipyard.The newbuild order comes after TT Line, also known as Spirit of Tasmania, withdrew from a previous memorandum of understanding (MOU) last July while the Tasmanian government-owned company investigated options to produce the vessels locally to help offset economic impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.RMC revealed Wednesday that negotiations resumed in March this year…

Norwegian offshore vessel operator Havila Shipping has secured a contract for its platform supply vessel Havila Borg.The contract is with IKM Acona AS, a company providing well management and engineering services for the oil and gas industry.IKM Acona, created last year after IKM bought Acona, will take 78.60 meters long, Havila Borg is for one well, with the contract period estimated at between 35 to 90 days.IKM Acona has the right to exercise options to extend the contract for the 2009-built vessel for up to two additional wells…

Ukrainian shipping company PJSC Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company (UDP) signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Belgian engine manufacturer Anglo-Belgian Corporation NV (ABC) to modernize its pushboat fleet.The LOI signed under the auspices of the Embassy of Belgium in Ukraine provides UDP with the possibility to install hybrid engines with equipment provided by ABC for up to 33 UDP pushboats. The fleet modernization would enable UDP to prolong the life of outdated fixed assets and…

ABS has joined an industry-leading joint development project (JDP) to accelerate development of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology with Alfa Laval, DTU Energy, Haldor Topsoe, Svitzer and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping.Funded by a grant from Danish EUDP (Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program), the partners will pursue a high-efficiency solution with the scalability to support marine industry decarbonization.ABS, a founding member of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping…

A commercial vessel owned by an Israeli firm was attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in Gulf waters, pro-Iran media and an Israeli television channel said on Tuesday.Israel’s top-rated Channel 12 TV quoted unnamed Israeli officials as blaming arch-foe Iran for the assault and said there were no casualties.Two maritime security sources told Reuters that an Israeli ship was hit near the UAE’s Fujairah port resulting in an explosion but that there were no casualties.An…

A ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week in March has not been given clearance to leave the waterway as discussions continue over a compensation claim made to the vessel’s owner Shoei Kisen, an official from the Japanese company said on Tuesday.The Ever Given has been in a lake separating two sections of the canal since it was dislodged on March 29, as the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) conducts investigations.Yumi Shinohara, deputy manager with owner Shoei Kisen’s fleet management department…