Singapore News

Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has allocated about USD 3.64 million under the Green Energy Programme to support the development and use of cleaner alternative marine fuels such as biofuels and methanol. Senior Minister of State, Dr Lam Pin Min announced initiatives by Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said that companies can use the fund in their research and development in alternative fuels to meet future greenhouse gas emissions regulations.He said…

Singapore’s containership operator Pacific International Lines (PIL) collaborates with IBM Singapore in another blockchain trial to design and create an electronic bill of lading which will significantly enhance the documentation process in supply chain management.The PIL-IBM collaboration was supported by Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Singapore Shipping Association, Infocomm Media Development Authority, Singapore Customs (National Trade Platform), and Bank of China…

ExxonMobil said that all its International Maritime Organization (IMO) compliant 0.5% sulfur bunker fuels developed to date are residual grades.The oil giant  has also announced specification details and confirmed that the formulations are all compatible with each other, provided that bunkering, storage and handling best practice guidance is followed.All of ExxonMobil’s announced low sulphur compliant fuels will be residual grades and will also be compatible with each other, provided best practice guidance for bunkering…

Maersk Oil Trading has leased oil storage space in Singapore, signalling a push by one of the world's biggest ship fuel buyers into the Asian bunkering hub ahead of changes to global fuel standards from 2020, trade sources said.Maersk Oil has taken storage at the Tankstore oil terminal in Singapore, a spokesman for parent A.P. Moller-Maersk told Reuters, without giving further details.The firm has leased 120,000 cubic meters of space for fuel oil for six months, said three trade sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Golden-Agri Stena, a joint venture between Sweden based tanker shipping company Stena Bulk and Indonesia’s largest palm oil producer Golden Agri-Resources, has started a new joint venture with Japan's Bay Crest Management for the the operation and commercial management of chemical tankers.The new joint venture, GSB Tankers, will commence operation on January 1, 2019, managing 18 chemical tankers to start, with the aim of managing 30 vessels within the next two years.The joint venture will operate out of the existing premises of Golden-Agri Stena.

Your marine pilot of the future, here today.At this year’s SMM trade event in Hamburg, Germany, industrial digital technology specialist ABB introduced what could be the future of dynamic positioning, not just for traditional DP users, but also for the full spectrum of navigation tasks. ABB Ability Marine Pilot Control is a next-generation dynamic positioning (DP) system that simplifies ship maneuvering with an intuitive touch screen-based user interface and enables safer, more efficient ship operations.With its user-centric design…

Petroleum and chemical tanker owner and operator  AET Tankers has named and welcomed its first LNG dual-fuelled aframax vessels, Eagle Brasilia and Eagle Bintulu.According to a press release of the Singapore-based company, the ceremony for the vessels was held at the Samsung Heavy Industry Co Ltd’s (SHI) shipyard in Geoje, South Korea. Both vessels have been taken on long-term charterby Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (Shell), primarily for operations in the Atlantic Basin…

Wärtsilä has opened its purpose-built Acceleration Center in Singapore to promote innovation and collaboration with industry, academia and local partners to strengthen and develop Singapore’s maritime ecosystem. The opening follows an agreement signed between Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Wärtsilä in April 2018 to collaborate in areas of intelligent vessels, connected smart port operations, cyber-physical security, and digital acceleration with start-ups.

Kongsberg has landed its largest ever simulator contract in a SGD 21.2 million ($15.4 million) deal with the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs. The contract, executed by Kongsberg Digital Maritime Simulation, will see the delivery in Q1 2020 of four advanced K-Sim Tactical Boat Handling and Firing Simulators with a 10 year comprehensive maintenance agreement to the Singapore Police Coast Guard.The new simulator facility is being established to provide highly realistic Tactical Boat Handling and Fast Interception training for the Singapore Police Coast Guard.

Singapore's port authority has so far invested S$26 million ($19 million) into developing cleaner-burning liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel at the city-state, the world's largest marine refueling hub, an executive at the port authority said."We've been working to develop LNG-bunkering in Singapore since about late-2015," said Alan Lim, deputy director at the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore, told Reuters at the sidelines of the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition on Tuesday.The bulk of the investments, totaling about S$18 million, were directed

The World Shipping Council (WSC) is pleased to announce that Tim Wickmann is joining WSC as its new Managing Director, Asia.Wickmann served most recently as CEO of MCC Transport and has worked in various leadership positions in international liner shipping for the last three decades.“The liner shipping industry is a global network and therefore needs consistent regulatory treatment across the globe. That requires the industry to have a coordinated voice on regulatory matters.

Global marine insurer provider North P&I Club has further strengthened its underwriting team with the appointment of a new U.K. based underwriter combined with some operational changes to a number of senior underwriting roles.Tom McLoughlin joined the team as an Underwriter last week, bringing with him a range of marine experience from his former roles with insurance brokers Marsh in London, and a significant tanker management company in Athens. Initially McLoughlin will work across all of the regional teams as he settles into his new role with the Club.Earlier in the year…

Exxon Mobil Corp is considering a multi-billion dollar investment at its Singapore refinery, the company's largest, ahead of new global shipping fuel regulations starting in 2020, a senior executive said on Wednesday."We are currently assessing a multi-billion project in our integrated manufacturing facility here in Singapore," Matt Bergeron, vice president of Asia Pacific Fuels Business at Exxon, said at a bunkering conference."Should the project proceed, we plan to implement…

Singapore authorities are taking measures to ensure the availability of low-sulphur marine fuels ahead of upcoming emissions regulations in 2020, Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Transport and Health Lam Pin Min said on Wednesday."(The) MPA is working closely with the industry to ensure that Singapore is ready to supply low-sulphur compliant fuels ahead of 1 January, 2020," said Lam at the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition.The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) will make available a list of licensed bunker suppliers of low-sulphur fuels by mid-2019

Singapore-based offshore contractor Swiber has signed a $200 million deal with box ship player Seaspan Corporation, just days after it announced the expiry of a term sheet for a share swop arrangement with Australian power generation firm, Interlink Power & Energy Holdings.In a stock exchange announcement, the offshore construction and services group said that it has signed with Seaspan a binding term sheet on October 3, 2018, which is subject to definitive agreements being entered into on mutually agreed terms.

Egypt's petroleum minister said on Tuesday that a regasification vessel would leave Egypt by the end of the week, a day after Norway's Hoegh LNG said Egypt was to give up one of its two floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.The minister, Tarek El Molla, told Reuters the other vessel would stay behind as part of the petroleum ministry's strategy to maintain energy supplies for the country.Hoegh said Egypt Natural Gas Holding (EGAS), having decided to end its charter early…

Singapore authorities are looking to apply stricter control measures across the marine fuels sector supply chain, a spokeswoman for the government agency Enterprise Singapore said on Thursday, to boost transparency and accountability in a notoriously opaque industry.The Technical Committee for Bunkering has submitted a proposal to the national standards body, Enterprise Singapore, for a new standard on quantity, measurement and sampling requirements for transfer of bunker fuel from oil terminals to bunker tankers using mass flow metering, the spokeswoman said."This proposed standard complement

Navigate Response, the global crisis communications network for the maritime sector, is introducing unlimited response hours contracts to help its shipping company clients manage the potentially open-ended costs of media management work during a crisis.Navigate Response Director Bill Lines said: "Through a small premium on Navigate Response's standard media response contracts, companies can manage their risk profile by choosing a plan which guarantees an unlimited response from our crisis response teams headquartered in London and Singapore."Whether the threat is from cyber…

Rising shipping rates have increased the costs of shipping oil from the United States to Asia and may further the restrict the flow of U.S. oil to the region later this year, multiple trade and shipping sources said on Thursday.Freight rates for tankers that carry crude oil have soared globally, buoyed by peak seasonal demand, weather disruptions and higher bunker fuel costs, the sources said.The cost of chartering a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude from the U.S.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) conducted a multi-agency Joint Oil Spill Exercise (JOSE) yesterday (Friday) to test its abilities to respond to oil spills at sea. A mock collision and oil spill was staged in Singapore waters near Pulau Semakau in a response exercise.More than 250 personnel from 26 agencies participated in JOSE 2018 (please see Annex A for list of agencies), which comprised a table-top exercise at the MPA’s Port Operations Control Centre. During the exercise…

HullWiper is meeting growing demand for affordable and eco-friendly hull cleaning in the Panama Canal in partnership with the provider of subsea services Talleres Industriales, said a statement from the marine fouling remover company.It is the latest agreement signed under HullWiper’s global leasing programme introduced in 2017, which works with partners around the world to offer ship owners and operators a cost-efficient, brush- and diver-free alternative to traditional hull…

Japanese carrier Ocean Network Express (ONE) is set to see losses spiral to $600m in its first year, says its revised consolidated business forecast for FY2018 (April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019).The integrated container shipping operating company,  which was established by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, said in a press statement that the loss is attributed to its struggle with a new information technology, staff shortages and a rapidly rising fuel costs.Singapore-headquartered ONE…

A total of 64 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia during January-September 2018, a 3 percent increase compared to the same period for 2017, ReCAAP ISC said in its latest report.Of the 64 incidents so far in 2018 (including 50 actual incidents and 14 attempted incidents), three were incidents of piracy and 61 were incidents of armed robbery against ships.Of the 50 actual incidents reported, one was a CAT 1 incident, five were CAT 2 incidents, 10 were CAT 3 incidents and 34 were CAT 4 incidents.