Shipping Industry Urges Free Movement of Crews to Keep Trade Moving
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Ships must be allowed to change over overworked and exhausted crews to help to keep trade flowing as coronavirus lockdowns shut many transit points across the globe, shipping industry officials said on Tuesday.About 90% of world trade is transported by sea but a deepening lockdown in many countries and suspended air travel have disrupted supply chains, especially for ship owners who rely on the free movement of crews to keep ships moving.The International Chamber of Shipping association (ICS)…
VTT Studying Bio- and Waste-based Oils for Ships
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Researchers looking for an ecologically and economically sustainable way to replace fossil fuels are exploring how suitable fuel oils made from biomass and waste plastics are for power plants and ship diesel engines.Internal-combustion engine power plants use natural gas or heavy fuel oil in diesel engines. In order for large diesel engines to be environmentally sustainable both on land and at sea, it is necessary to find bio- and waste-based alternatives to fossil fuels.
As Oil Crisis Deepens, Hedge Funds Sense a Turnaround
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Hedge fund managers sensed oil prices were nearing a turning point last week, and for the first time in more than two months started to add long positions in anticipation prices would bounce from an unsustainable low.Overall, hedge funds and other money managers were still net sellers of 19 million barrels of petroleum in the six most important futures and options contracts in the week ending on March…
Schottel EcoPeller Deployed For Norwegian Ferry Refit
![Photo: SCHOTTEL](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-schottel-111727.png)
German maritime propulsion specialist Schottel announced that its Schottel Rudder Eco-Peller (SRE) is set to be installed for the first time in a retrofit project.For the project, a pair of four-bladed SREs type SRE 340 L CP, with an input power of 750 kW each, will be featured in a double-ended ferry from the Norwegian ferry operator Torghatten Traf-ikkselskap.Significant for this project is the fact that no hull changes or major steel work will be necessary…
IADC Postpones June Events to Late 2020
In line with many maritime and offshore organizations and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC) announced…
COVID-19 Impacts on Demurrage and Detention
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What might not be so obvious in this COVID-19 environment, which we have grown to associate with shortages, is that counterintuitively there are issues beginning to appear dealing with the opposite situation. The Journal of Commerce has reported that “[t]he container shipping industry is marshaling a response to signs of a building import backlog as some retailers and manufacturers fail to pick up…
Golden Ocean Names Andersen CEO
Dry bulk shipping company Golden Ocean Group said its board has appointed Ulrik Uhrenfeldt Andersen as the new Chief Executive Officer of Golden Ocean Management AS with effect from Tuesday April 14…
Factory Ship to Produce Sanitizer to Fight Coronavirus
Owners of a factory ship moored off southern France which normally turns seawater into bottled mineral water have converted it to make sanitizing solution in the…
Gallery: Giant Crane Vessel Lifts Snorre A Module
![The world's largest crane vessel Sleipnir is lifting the SEP module in front of the North Sea Hall in Haugesund. Photo Øyvind Sætre/Aibel.](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/the-worlds-largest-crane-vessel-111730.jpg)
World's largest semi-submersible crane vessel Sleipnir on Saturday picked up a module for Equinor's Snorre A platform from the quayside at Aibel's yard in Haugesund, Norway.The 220-meter long and 102-meter wide vessel Sleipnir recently arrived in the North Sea region for the first time since its delivery from Singapore last year.It on Saturday arrived at Aibel's yard in Haugesund to pick up the approx.
Total Charters LNG Dual-fuel VLCCs
![(Photo: AET)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-aet-111729.jpg)
Malaysian shipowner AET said it signed a deal with Total's Chartering and Shipping Services SA for the time charter of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel very large crude carriers (VLCC). The two newbuilds, which are able to carry about 300,000 tons of crude oil each, are scheduled to be delivered to AET from the first quarter of 2022.The two newbuilds will be powered by LNG and will be among the most environmentally friendly VLCCs in the market.
Korean Shipyards Test LNG Pumps in Denmark
![The Svanehøj test tower is an unrivaled tool to validate how the deepwell pumps operate in the most extreme conditions. (Photo: Svanehøj Group A/S)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/the-svanehj-test-tower-is-111725.jpg)
Nothing is left to chance when Korean shipyards Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries are building giant gas tankers worth billions of dollars."It’s as close to reality as we can possibly get," says Project Manager Lars Foged from Svanehøj, which designs and manufactures deep well and in-line pumps for applications in areas such as relief of liquefied gas, management of gas fuel, engine cooling…
North Sea FPSO Shut Down Due to Coronavirus Case Aboard
![Hummingbird Spirit FPSO - Image Credit: Spirit Energy](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/hummingbird-spirit-fpso-image-credit-111724.jpg)
Production from the Hummingbird Spirit FPSO operating at the Chestnut field in the UK sector of the North Sea has been shut down after a coronavirus case has been confirmed aboard.It was initially understood that there has been one confirmed case, and one subsequent suspected case on the FPSO and that production has been temporarily shut-in. The Teekay-owned FPSO is located at Spirit Energy-operated…
Havila Shipping Reaches Debt Restructuring Deal
![Havila Commander - Image by Alan Jamieson/Flickr - Shared under CC BY 2.0 license](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/havila-commander-image-by-alan-111723.jpg)
Norwegian offshore vessel owner Havila Shipping has struck a debt restructuring deal with lenders, conditional upon approval from formal bodies. At January 1, 2020, Havila's outstanding debt was NOK 4,222 million (around $410 million), which for each vessel will now be split into an interest-bearing tranche and a non-interest-bearing tranche. The sizing of the interest-bearing tranche is based on the…
Opinion: Renewable Energy Wins Over Oil and Gas in Post-Coronavirus World
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Imagine waking up one morning with a deadly tiger snake in your bed. To make matters worse out of the window you notice an approaching bushfire.Both are a threat to your life, but you are going to deal with the imminent danger of the snake first, and then tackle the more distant but still serious fire. It's the same with the new coronavirus and climate change.Since the rapid spread of the coronavirus beyond its origin in China and the social and economic havoc it's wreaking across the globe…
Tankers Carrying U.S. LNG Heading to China After Tax Waivers Granted
Tankers carrying U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) are on their way to China after Beijing started granting tax waivers to some importers, according to shipping and…
COVID-19 Cuts a Swath Through Containership Charter Earnings -MSI
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While the implications of COVID-19 for containership demand and freight rates are directionally clear, the time charter market often marches to its own drum.The latest Container Shipping Forecaster from Maritime Strategies International analyzes the impact of the pandemic on time charter markets in the light of reduced demand and falling fright rates.Containership time charter rates have broadly retreated in recent weeks…
Acting Navy Head Blasts Fired USS Theodore Roosevelt Captain
![File photo: Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly briefs the press about the Navy’s response to COVID-19, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., April 1, 2020. (DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/file-photo-acting-secretary-of-111706.jpg)
The acting head of the U.S. Navy, in a surprise speech to the crew of a coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier, castigated their former commander for writing a leaked letter that demanded the Navy take stronger action to halt the spread of the illness.Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly stood by his decision to relieve Captain Brett Crozier of his command in a speech to crew members of the aircraft carrier…
US Says No Requests Yet to Waive Jones Act to Help Oil Companies
![(Photo: Crowley)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-crowley-111705.jpeg)
The U.S. government said on Monday it has not yet received requests to waive a 100-year-old law on shipping goods between domestic ports, despite some interested parties who say temporarily lifting the regulation would help energy companies hurt by the oil price plunge.Kelly Cahalan, a spokesperson at the U.S Customs and Border Protection agency of the Department of Homeland Security, said no requests to waive the Merchant Marine Act, better known as the Jones Act, have been received.U.S.
Vietnam Protests Beijing's Sinking of South China Sea Boat
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Vietnam has lodged an official protest with China following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat it said had been rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel near islands in the disputed South China Sea.The Vietnamese fishing vessel, with eight fishermen onboard, was fishing near the Paracel Islands on Thursday when it was rammed and sunk by the Chinese vessel, Vietnam's foreign ministry said in a statement posted on a government website on Saturday.All the fishermen were picked up by t
ABB Accelerates Remote Connectivity Rollout
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Technology comany ABB said it has expedited the rollout of and access to its remote service tools and digital solutions across critical industry as companies around the world find new ways to maintain operations throughout the coronavirus crisis.“During the COVID-19 crisis, governments and companies are having to make difficult choices, balancing people’s safety with economic livelihood. ABB is committed to supporting both: protect people…