Ukraine News

Marine services provider James Fisher and Sons Plc (JFS) said on Tuesday that hackers had gained unauthorized access to its computer systems, sending its shares down as much as 5.7%.JFS said it had taken all affected systems offline as a precautionary measure and was working with cyber security experts to recover systems, applications and data from its disaster recovery back-up."Work is ongoing to complete the recovery as quickly as possible and to minimize any impact on our businesses…

Europe’s fastest growing port, the Port of Gdansk, has outlined huge expansion plans designed to double its cargo volumes to 100m tonnes a year, during a high-level maritime and business delegation from Poland to Singapore.The delegation marks 50-years of diplomatic ties between the countries and is being organized with PSA International, the Singapore based global ports group. In May this year PSA International formally acquired DCT Gdansk, the largest container terminal in Poland…

If autonomous vessels are the future of maritime shipping, then cyber threats may be its Achilles heel. Congested shipping, restricted visibility, limited maneuverability, and intensive docking activities all contribute to port hazards – 42 percent of EU reported marine accidents (injury/death/damage to ships) took place in port areas and 44 percent of workboat fatalities occurred on Tugs. Autonomous shipping should provide numerous benefits including increased safety by relieving crewmembers of unsafe and repetitious tasks.

Ukraine's  NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard announced launching its first 140-m vessel, a unique NIBULON MAX vessel.The river-sea floating vessel is the longest one built for the past 25 years of Ukraine’s independence. The vessel flies the Ukrainian flag.NIBULON MAХ will enable the company to increase the annual river transshipment by fleet by 2-3 million tons per year and to increase transshipment volumes by NIBULON’s fleet up to 5 million tons per year.Construction of this class vessel is an absolutely new and higher level of NIBULON’s shipbuilding facilities.

Sergei Frank will step down as president and chief executive of Russian state-controlled shipping giant Sovcomflot after 15 years at the helm, four sources familiar with the decision told Reuters on Tuesday.Frank will give up operational control of Sovcomflot and take over as chairman of the company's board, two of the sources said.It was not immediately clear why Frank, 59, was moving position.

The multi-purpose dry cargo vessel Shair Vagif, owned by the Transport Fleet of the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO) and operated in external waters, was overhauled at the Chernomorsk Shiprepair Yard  shipyard in Ukraine.Within the implemented works from July 3 to August 12, hydraulic booster of the vessel, its main engines and separators, including fuel, radio navigation and rescue systems, were repaired.Moreover, all automated ship control systems were restored. Thus…

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) began its north-bound transit to the Black Sea August 8, to enhance regional maritime stability and a show of support for our NATO allies and partners in the region.This is the sixth time a U.S. ship has visited the Black Sea since the beginning of 2019. The last ship to visit the Black Sea was USS Carney in July. During its time in the Black Sea, USS Carney participated in exercise Sea Breeze 2019, a U.S.-Ukraine…

GSP Holding company GSP Offshore SRL is the preferred drilling and engineering services provider of Trident Black Sea, in its bid for the right to negotiate a production sharing agreement (PSA) with the Ukrainian government for the offshore Dolphin block in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.According to a press release from the Romanian company providing offshore integrated services for oil and gas industry said that Trident Black Sea will be the operator of the project,…

Ukraine has released the crew of a Russian tanker detained in the port of Izmail, but the vessel is still being held by Ukrainian authorities, RIA news agency cited the Russian embassy in Ukraine as saying.Ukraine said earlier on Thursday it had detained a Russian tanker for its alleged involvement in the seizure of three Ukrainian vessels by Russia in November, and Moscow threatened consequences if Russian citizens were "taken hostage". (Reuters, Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh and Anastasia Teterevleva; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Alison Williams)

Ukraine's security service said on Thursday it had detained a Russian tanker in the Ukrainian port of Izmail for its alleged involvement in an incident in November in the Kerch Strait that led to Russia seizing three Ukrainian vessels.Russia captured the vessels and their crews in waters that separate Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and Russia.The Ukrainian security service said in a statement that the vessel, now called Nika Spirit and formerly named the Neyma, had entered the port of Izmail after which it had been identified and detained.Reporting by Polina Ivanova

The Estonian terminal operator HHLA TK Estonia is strengthening its position as a RoRo hub in the Baltic region.The wholly owned subsidiary of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) said in a press release that the Finnish ferry company Eckerö Line recently began connecting the port of Muuga, where HHLA TK Estonia operates a multi-function terminal, with Vuosaari in Finland. Twice daily, the RoPax ferry Finbo Cargo enters the port of Muuga, which is about 20 kilometres east of the Estonian capital, Tallinn.

U.S. crude exports are gaining traction in Europe as even Ukraine turns into a significant consumer of American barrels at the expense of Russian supplies amid heightened U.S. political pressure on Moscow and problems over contaminated Russian oil.Ukraine this month received its first ever barrels from the United States, according to Refinitiv Eikon flows data, as the tanker Wisdom Venture unloaded 80,000 tonnes of Bakken crude in Odessa on July 6 for the Kremenchug refinery,…

France's defense ministry said on Wednesday that defense firm Naval Group had won a 1.2 billion euro ($1.35 billion) contract to build four Gowind navy corvettes for Romania, as it looks to ensure security in the Black Sea.The deal, which will also see Naval Group renovate two existing Romanian frigates, ensures the delivery of the first ships in 2022."Romania becomes the first European country, but also the first NATO country, to acquire this type of warship," the French defense ministry said in a statement."The Godwin has the ideal capacity to ensure security in the Black Sea…

Hungarian police said on Tuesday they had found no evidence of alcohol or drug abuse by the captain of a cruise ship that struck and sank a small tourist vessel last month, killing 28 mostly Korean people on board.The Mermaid boat sank in seconds on May 29 after the Viking Sigyn cruise liner hit it from behind under a bridge in the Hungarian capital during heavy rain, the worst disaster on the river in more than half a century."We launched the investigation as soon as we got on board (the Sigyn)," Budapest police spokesman Soma Csecsi told a news conference. "As a first step we took samples from the captain. He had not consumed alcohol…

Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease. It is so contagious that 90% of non-immune persons will become infected if an infected person is in the immediate vacinity. It is an airborne disease spread through coughs, sneezes, and contact with saliva or nasal secretions. The virus can live for up to two hours in infected airspace or on infected surfaces. Individuals are infectious from four days before symptoms appear until four days after the patient is symptom-free. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes, and a red, flat rash.

With gas supplies growing at a faster rate than domestic demand, Russia can increase pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe, said a report.Russia’s gas production has been steadily increasing since the low of 611 Bcm in 2015, and reached 695 Bcm in 2018, according to a report form Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business intelligence companyMature fields exhibit relatively high decline rates, but volumes from the recent start-ups and discoveries in Yamal, East Siberia and the Far East are expected to offset the decline.

President Vladimir Putin calls improving the Russian navy's combat capabilities a priority.The unfinished husks of three guided-missile frigates that have languished for three years at a Baltic shipyard show that is easier said than done.Earmarked for Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the frigates fell victim to sanctions imposed by Ukraine in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, prompting Kiev to ban the sale of the Ukrainian-made engines needed to propel them.With Moscow unable to quickly build replacement engines for the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates, construction stopped.

Ukraine-based Informall Business Group in its latest Black Sea Container Market review reports a rise of 8.70% in loaded containers handling in the Black Sea container ports of Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia in 2018 as compared to 2017.Black Sea container terminals of the five countries handled 2927016 TEU in 2018, including empty containers, excluding transshipment. This review observes only full containers of the region – 2188153 TEU.In 2018, there was a laden container turnover increase in all countries of the Black Sea region.

German port operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) increased its Group revenue by 3 percent to EUR 1.29 billion in the 2018 financial year (previous year: EUR 1.25 billion). The Group’s operating result (EBIT) of EUR 204 million (previous year: EUR 173 million) represents an increase of 18 percent.In total, 7.3 million standard containers (TEU) were handled at HHLA’s container terminals in the 2018 financial year. Compared to 7.2 million TEU in the previous year, this…

Ten crew members have been found dead and 14 have been rescued after two ships caught fire in the Kerch Strait near Crimea, Russia's transport ministry said on Monday, with a rescue operation still underway.The ministry said earlier on Monday that crew members were jumping into the sea to escape the blaze, which probably broke out during a ship-to-ship fuel transhipment.Both ships were under the Tanzanian flag - Candy (Venice) and Maestro - and had a combined total of 31 crew members. Of them, 16 were Turkish citizens and 15 from India, it said.An industry source told Reuters there were stormy conditions in the sea when the incident happened.The Kerch Strait between Russian-annexed Crimea and southern Russia controls access from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea…

Croatia's largest shipbuilder Uljanik, which is trying to attract investors to stay afloat, extended a due diligence process until late next week after drawing the interest of potential strategic partners.Croatia's Economy Minister Darko Horvat said four potential investors were looking at Uljanik's business data and another company was also interested, but did not elaborate."I expect at least two serious offers for Uljanik at the end of this process which would then prevent its bankruptcy…

Russian state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot said on Tuesday that uncertain conditions in the freight market are delaying its long-planned initial public offering (IPO).The Russian government has weighed a listing of Sovcomflot for years as part of broader privatization plans, but obstacles ranging from weak markets to international sanctions placed on Russians over Moscow's role in Ukraine crisis have prevented an IPO.The Russian economy ministry has said it had hoped to raise…

A cargo ship sank in rough waters off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Monday, killing six crew members including its captain, officials and media reports said.Seven other crew members were rescued  by Turkish Coast Guard teams after a Panama-flagged vessel sank in the Black Sea off Turkey's northern Samsun province.According to a statement released by the Interior Ministry, coastguard teams were dispatched off 77 miles Samsun after receiving a distress call from the Volgo Balt 214.Thirteen crew members…