Coast Guard Monitoring Oil Discharge from Scuttled Liberty Ship
The U.S. Coast Guard and Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are monitoring periodic discharges of oil from the Liberty Ship Thomas Heyward, a World War II era vessel sunk in 1977 to serve as an artificial reef approximately six miles southwest of Destin, Fla.Following Hurricane Sally in September 2020, the National Response Center (NRC) began receiving reports of pollution in the vicinity of the artificial reef.
Mustang Survival President Jason Leggatt Resigns
Last week, Jason Leggatt, President of Mustang Survival, and Andrew Branagh, CEO of The Wing Group, announced together that Leggatt has resigned from his daily management position as President.Leggatt will become a member of the Board following his departure, enabling him to provide the Board counsel and strategic guidance for The Wing Group and the Mustang Survival business in a governance role.The…
TDI-Brooks Installs Starlink on Its Research Vessels
U.S. based marine services firm TDI-Brooks announced it has installed the Starlink Maritime platform on two of its four research vessels, with plans to equip the remaining vessels at a later date.The two vessels, Brooks McCall and Miss Emma McCall, are currently working on the U.S. East Coast performing G&G surveys for offshore wind programs. Installation of the Starlink Maritime platform is next planned…
SCA Names Frank Collins Senior Defense Advisor
The Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), the national association representing the U.S. shipbuilding, maintenance and repair industry, announced Frank Collins as Senior Defense Advisor, overseeing the organization’s national ship repair and security, as well as the industry workforce development and education initiatives.Frank Collins is an accomplished strategic business consultant with over 36 years of public and private sector experience in the ship repair industry.
Russian Oil Sanctions Fuel Demand for Old Tankers
The market for old oil tankers is booming, and it's all down to efforts by Western nations to curb trade in Russian crude.As Western shipping and maritime services firms steer clear of Russian oil to avoid falling foul of sanctions or harming their reputations, new companies have leapt into the void, and they're snapping up old tankers that might normally be scrapped.The European Union banned all seaborne Russian crude imports from Dec. 5, with a fuel import ban to follow in February.
METIS Names Polychronopoulou CEO
Athens-based maritime artificial intelligence (AI) company METIS announced Eleni Polychronopoulou has been appointed as the firm’s new CEO.Polychronopoulou has been METIS president during the company’s development phase over the past three years. METIS is majority-owned by maritime-focused environmental engineering group ERMA FIRST.Polychronopoulou is currently president of HEMEXPO, vice chair at Sea Europe…
Performance Shipping Takes Delivery of Secondhand Aframax Tanker
Greek tanker owner Performance Shipping announced on Monday it has taken delivery of a secondhand Aframax tanker it agreed to purchase in September 2022.The P. Monterey…
Russia Says It Won't Accept Oil Price Cap
Russia "will not accept" a price cap on its oil and is analyzing how to respond, the Kremlin said in comments reported on Saturday, in response to a deal by Western powers aimed at limiting a key source of funding for its war in Ukraine.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had made preparations for Friday's price cap announcement by the Group of Seven nations, the European Union and Australia…
Anti-famine Push: Ukraine Says Ship with Wheat for Ethiopia Arrives
A ship with Ukrainian wheat destined for Ethiopia arrived in port on Saturday, the first vessel to sail as part of a push to send food to countries most vulnerable to famine and drought, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. Last Saturday, Ukraine and allied nations launched an initiative to export $150 million worth of grain to Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Kenya, and Yemen. "We ship food.
Wärtsilä’s Cargo Handling and LPG Fuel Supply Systems for Exmar Gas Carriers
Wärtsilä will deliver its cargo handling and LPG fuel supply systems for two LPG/Midsize gas carrier vessels being built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea for EXMAR LPG.EXMAR LPG is a joint venture between EXMAR, a maritime and offshore solutions provider and Seapeak. According to Wärtsilä, the 46,000 m3 capacity vessels will be the largest of their kind in the world, and there is an option for two additional ships as well.
Freeport Pushes Texas LNG Export Plant Restart to Year End
Freeport LNG on Friday again delayed the restart of the second-biggest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, pushing start-up plans for its Texas plant to the end of the year, pending regulatory approval.In November, the company said it was on track to restart the plant in mid December and get most LNG production back in January with a return to full service in March.Freeport shut the plant on June 8 after an explosion that energy consultants said was the result of human error…
Iran Oil Cargo Previously Seized by U.S. Unloads in Syria
An Iranian-flagged tanker on Friday delivered an oil shipment to Syria, which the United States had previously confiscated around Greece, ending months of uncertainty about the cargo…
UK Royal Navy Orders Crewless Submarine from MSubs
The UK Royal Navy has awarded a £15.4 million (currently around $18,8 million) contract for a crewless submarine to the Plymouth-based company MSubs. The submarine is expected to be delivered to the Navy in two years. The Navy expects the submarine to further advance the UK’s ability to protect our critical national infrastructure and monitor sub-sea activity."Project Cetus – named after a mythological sea monster – enhances the Royal Navy’s experimentation with autonomous underwater systems.
Platform Supply Vessel to Ship CO2 for Storage Under North Sea Seabed
A platform supply vessel, normally used to deliver goods to offshore oil and gas platforms, is undergoing preparations in the Danish Esbjerg port to carry CO2 containers for storage in the North Sea.Offshore vessel owner Blue Water and offshore energy industry services firm Semco Maritime are rebuilding and upgrading the vessel Aurora Storm to become part of the Danish carbon capture and storage project…
Baltic Index Slips, but Posts Best Week in Almost 2 Months
The Baltic Exchange's dry bulk sea freight index marked its biggest weekly percentage gain in almost two months, although declining on Friday on a fall in capesize rates.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels carrying dry bulk commodities, shed 14 points, or about 1%, to 1,324.The main index gained 11.4% for the week, its biggest rise since Oct. 7.The capesize index .BACI was down 51 points, or about 3.3%, at 1,519.
French Grain Exports from Dunkirk Port at 10-year High
Nord Cereales, which runs France's third largest grain export silo at Dunkirk port, has shipped its biggest volume in over 10 years for the first five months of the season, it said on Friday, illustrating a fast pace of French exports. Between the start of this season on July 1 and the end of November, Nord Cereales exported more than 1.2 million tonnes of grain, it said. This is a turnaround after…
MMA Offshore Sells Batam Shipyard
Australian offshore vessel operator MMA Offshore has completed the sale of its shipyard in Batam, Indonesia.The planned sale was first announced back in May when MMA Offshore said it would sell its shipyard facility to Wasco Engineering Group."The final installment of the US$15 million purchase price has been received with the total proceeds from the sale to be used to make a voluntary prepayment of amortization on the company’s debt facility…
Valeura Energy Books Tanker for Gulf of Thailand Oil Field
Oil and gas company Valeura Energy has entered into a definitive agreement with PT Samudra Alam Transport to charter the MT Vula crude oil tanker to store oil produced from the Wassana oil field…
TotalEnergies Joins Ammonia-powered Tanker Project
France's TotalEnergies said it had joined a shipping project building test tankers which can be powered by ammonia, part of moves to speed up maritime industry decarbonization.Widely used in industrial applications, ammonia's suitability as a transport fuel has been limited because of the challenge of converting it into energy in a confined space. TotalEnergies is joining a subsidiary of Norwegian chemical company Yara International ASA…
EU Tentatively Agrees $60 Price Cap on Russian Seaborne Oil
European Union governments tentatively agreed on Thursday on a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil - an idea of the Group of Seven (G7) nations - with an adjustment mechanism to keep the cap at 5% below the market price, according to diplomats and a document seen by Reuters.The agreement still needs approval from all EU governments in a written procedure by Friday. Poland, which had pushed for the cap to be as low as possible…
