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26 Oct 2017
Ferus Smit Launches Bulk Carrier for Erik Thun
Shipbuilder Ferus Smit said it has launched newbuild bulk carrier Snow Crystal on October 21 at its shipyard in Westerbroek, Netherlands. Snow Crystal (Ferus Smit newbuild 445) is the first ship in a series of two for Swedish ship owner Erik Thun AB. Designed for specific trades in the Baltic region, the vessels are “mini bulkers” with two cargo holds and ice class 1A, the builder said. The breadth of the ships is limited to 13.35 meters…
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25 Oct 2017
IMO Contests ‘Corporate Capture’ Report
International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim issued a statement refuting a report recently published by U.K.-based InfluenceMap that accuses shipping industry organizations of lobbying to obstruct environmental regulations at the IMO. “Recent media reports have questioned the transparent, inclusive approach adopted by all stakeholders with an interest in addressing the threat of climate change through the IMO…
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24 Oct 2017
Empire State VI Returns from Puerto Rico
SUNY Maritime College’s training ship has returned to campus Tuesday after nearly two months aiding hurricane relief workers in Florida and Puerto Rico. The ship Empire State VI was used to provide power, housing, food and water to emergency relief workers, first in Florida following Hurricane Irma, then in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Empire State VI is owned by the Maritime Administration, a branch of the U.S.
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24 Oct 2017
New LNG Carrier for Ichthys LNG Project Named
A new vessel built for carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Ichthys LNG Project in Darwin, Australia to Naoetsu, Niigata has been named at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) Nagasaki Shipyard. The LNG carrier was named Oceanic Breeze by Toshiaki Kitamura, President of INPEX Corporation (INPEX), whose fully owned subsidiary INPEX Shipping Co., Ltd. will time-charter the ship. Oceanic Breeze, owned by Oceanic Breeze LNG Transport S.A.
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23 Oct 2017
FPSO Moored at Catcher Field
Premier Oil’s Catcher project remains on pace to achieve first oil before the end of this year with the arrival and hook up of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel BW Catcher last week in the U.K. North Sea. BW Catcher arrived at the Catcher field on October 18, and the hook up of the Submerged Turret Production (STP) buoy mooring system was completed on October 19 with the vessel completing a rotation test around the buoy on October 20, Premier Oil said.
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20 Oct 2017
Containership Receives a Special Welcome
The world’s largest containership received a special greeting when it arrived for the first time at Germany’s sole deepwater port. On October 16, EUROGATE welcomed the 21,413 TEU OOCL Germany at its container terminal in Wilhelmshaven, where employees had arranged containers on the stowage area to write out the ship’s record-setting TEU capacity. “Although we are in the meantime witnessing the world’s largest container vessels at Wilhelmshaven on a weekly basis…
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17 Oct 2017
PBES Scores DNV GL Type Approval
Designer and manufacturer of high power lithium-ion energy storage PBES (Plan B Energy Storage) said it has received DNV GL Type Approval of the PBES energy storage…
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17 Oct 2017
The Quest to Find and Explore USS Indianapolis
Sunk by Japanese torpedoes near the end of World War II, heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis disappeared to the darkest depths of the Philippine Sea, where it remained undiscovered for more than 70 years. Recently a team of civilian researchers led by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen set out equipped with an arsenal of high-tech search equipment on a mission to locate the historic vessel last seen on July 30, 1945.
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16 Oct 2017
US Charters Cruise Ship to House Hurricane Relief Workers
The U.S. government has chartered another commercial cruise liner to serve as a floating hotel for relief workers in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria. Carnival Cruise Line said it reached an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that will see the 2,052-passenger vessel Carnival Fascination docked in St. Croix to provide housing and meals for relief workers during a four-month charter from October 15 to February 3, 2018.
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28 Sep 2017
Trump Waives Jones Act for Puerto Rico Relief
President Trump has waived shipping restrictions for Puerto Rico on Thursday at request of the island's governor Ricardo Rosselló and after an outcry from Congress about the scarcity of fuel, food and emergency supplies following Hurricane Maria. "At @ricardorossello request, @POTUS has authorized the Jones Act be waived for Puerto Rico. It will go into effect immediately," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted this morning. The Jones Act – which limits shipping between U.S.
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25 Sep 2017
Scorpio Buys Six Dry Bulk Ultramaxs
Scorpio Bulkers Inc. said it has reached a deal with an unaffiliated third party to acquire six Ultramax dry bulk vessels for $142.5 million. Of the six purchased…
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14 Sep 2017
BWTS Manufacturer OceanSaver Bankrupt
Insufficient liquidity has led Norwegian ballast water treatment system manufacturer OceanSaver to file for bankruptcy. The company’s board of directors filed a…
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14 Sep 2017
Artists Pay Tribute to Historic Russian Icebreaker
In 1977 Russian nuclear icebreaker Arktika became the world's first surface ship to reach the North Pole. Now 40 years later, a depiction of the historic vessel is a main component of a graffiti style art installation in Murmansk, Russia. Arktika was in service from 1975 to 2008 under the operation of Atomflot, who said six artists, four designers and one operator contributed to the creation of the 600 square meter art piece.
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04 Aug 2017
Telegraph Recovered from Lusitania Wreckage
More than 100 years after the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, divers have recovered yet another artifact from the wreckage of the historic ocean liner. The Lusitania was sailing from New York to Liverpool on May 7, 1915 when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Head of Kinsale. A second explosion then led to the vessel’s sinking and the loss of 1,198 lives, marking a key moment in World War I history.
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18 Jul 2017
SS United States Thrown a Lifeline
Just days away from a verdict on its ultimate fate, the historic cruise liner SS United States has received a lifeline in the form of a $150,000 donation to a fundraising effort which aims to save “America’s flagship” and restore the storied vessel to its former glory. The $150,000 contribution from cruise industry executive Jim Pollin to the SS United States Conservancy's "We are the United States"…
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13 Jul 2017
Odfjell Acquires Five Chemical Tankers
Odfjell SE informs it has signed a final agreement to acquire five chemical tanker newbuilds from Chemical Transportation Group, Inc (CTG) and form a pool of 15 chemical tankers. The transaction has been signed and completed, Odfjell said, after it announced on June 16 that it inked a term sheet with CTG to form the vessel pool and acquire CTG’s final five 25,000 dwt stainless steel newbuilds on order from Chinese shipyard AVIC Dingheng.
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20 Jun 2017
Rolls-Royce, Svitzer Trial Remote Controlled Tug Operations
Earlier this year in Copenhagen Harbor, the 28-meter-long tug Svitzer Hermod berthed alongside the quay, undocked, turned 360 degrees and sailed back to Svitzer headquarters before docking again, all under remote operation while the captain was stationed quayside at the vessel’s remote base at Svitzer HQ. Though a captain and crew remained on board throughout to ensure safe operation in the event of a system failure…
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16 Jun 2017
NYC Jobs Plan Aims to Bolster Freight Network
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio today unveiled a series of initiatives aiming to spur 100,000 high-paying jobs over the coming decade across a number of sectors, including the City's maritime and intermodal freight and logistics industries. As part of the New York Works plan, the city will implement a multipronged strategy called Freight NYC that seeks to create 4,000 freight network industrial…
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16 Jun 2017
DFDS Orders Two Large RoRos from China
Northern European shipping and logistics company DFDS said it has ordered another pair of large ro-ro ships from the Jinling Shipyard, doubling its order placed last year at the Chinese yard. DFDS signed a contract with Jinling in 2016 for the construction of two ro-ro vessels, each with 6,700 lane meter load capacity and space for 450 trailers. Now the company has ordered another two of these ships – its largest ever – to service freight customers across the North Sea from 2019 and 2020.
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15 Jun 2017
Missing US Navy Sailor Found Alive
A U.S. Navy sailor feared to have fallen overboard has been found alive aboard USS Shiloh (CG 67) a week after he went missing. Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) 3rd Class Peter Mims was reported missing June 8 and was presumed to have fallen overboard in the Philippine Sea, triggering a search involving U.S. Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and Japan Coast Guard assets that lasted more than 50 hours and covered some 5,500 square miles.