Freeport News

The Philippines is exploring the possibility of converting two islands that were once part of a U.S. navy base into a military reservation, its defence department said on Thursday, a move to bolster its presence in waters facing the South China Sea.Grande and Chiquita islands are located in Subic Bay, which was once a sprawling U.S. base until the Philippines rejected a lease extension in 1991. The U.S. military pulled out a year later and the strategically located facility has…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has acquired 100% of the membership rights of LBC Tank Terminals Group Holding Netherlands Coöperatief (LBC), one of the world’s largest independent tank terminal operators primarily handling and storing chemicals in Europe and the United States.With the acquisition, MOL aims to strengthen its chemical logistics business.The sale and purchase agreement was signed on March 7, 2025, with the acquisition price expected to be approximately $1.7 billion.The…

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron visited the CMA CGM Group headquarters in Marseille during Modi’s state visit to France. Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of CMA CGM, welcomed both leaders for discussions on strengthening economic ties and advancing the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).With a 34-year presence in India and 17,000 employees, CMA CGM connects the country to global markets through 19 weekly maritime services. The Group has made strategic port investments in Nhava Sheva Freeport (NSFT) and Mundra Port.

Several Texas ports began to resume operations on Wednesday, after winter storm Enzo moved out of the state, according to ports and a shipping notice seen by Reuters.The port of Freeport had resumed vessel operations on Wednesday morning, while the ports of Houston and Galveston were planning to reopen to vessel traffic later in the day.The storm brought several inches of snow to Texas, Louisiana and Florida, where extreme winter conditions are rare. It forced the shutdown of school districts…

Traders diverted at least six cargoes of liquefied natural gas that were on course for Asia to Europe earlier this month, drawn by higher European prices and amid weak Asian demand, according to analysts and shipping data.The diverted cargoes could help meet additional European demand as countries seek to replace piped Russian gas after the Ukraine transit deal expired on Jan. 1, while weather forecasts point to lower temperatures in northwest Europe.The vessels had loaded in the U.S.

All three liquefaction trains at Freeport LNG's export plant in Texas were expected to be back in service on Monday, according to preliminary data from financial firm LSEG.Freeport told environmental regulators that liquefaction Train 2 tripped while operating around midday on Nov. 22 due to an issue with a compressor system, resulting in an emissions event that lasted almost nine hours.That was the second train to shut at the plant in the past week. Liquefaction Train 3 shut on Nov. 20 due to an issue with a lube oil pump, resulting in an emission event that lasted more than 11 hours.Freeport LNG is one of the most closely watched LNG export plants in the world because the start and stop of its operations often cause massive price swings in global natural gas prices. U.S.

Am ailing mariner was medevaced from an oil tanker 9 miles off Freeport, Texas, Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.The agency said its watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston received a medevac request at 3:50 p.m. from a crew member aboard the tanker stating a 21-year-old male reportedly sustained injuries. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon, who recommended the medevac.The Coast Guard coordinated the launch of a Coast Guard Air Station Houston MH-65 Dolphin helicopter air crew to conduct the medevac.The helicopter crew arrived on scene…

Container liner shipping company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., announced it has entered into a new long-term operational cooperation with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) on the Asia - U.S. East Coast and Asia - U.S. Gulf trades.The new services are scheduled to be launched in February 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and filings, ZIM said.Eli Glickman, ZIM President & CEO, said, "This important collaboration reflects ZIM's commitment to both delivering an outstanding shipping solution to its customers…

Energy facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast have begun scaling back operations and evacuating some production sites as Tropical Storm Francine swept through the energy-rich region, and was poised to strengthen into a hurricane later Tuesday.Francine was advancing toward the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, set to become the fourth hurricane of the Atlantic season, which concludes on November 30. Francine could intensify into a Category 2 hurricane, ahead of its expected landfall along the Louisiana coast on Wednesday evening, the National Hurricane Center said.Offshore production in the U.S.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas producers were evacuating staff and curbing drilling to prepare for Tropical Storm Francine on Monday as it churned through the energy region on a path to bring high winds and drenching rains to the U.S. mid-South.Francine is likely to bring life-threatening storm surge to the upper Texas and Louisiana coasts and hurricane-force winds to Southern Louisiana this week. Residents of Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana on Monday were supplied with sandbags and other materials to combat the expected storm surge…

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Freeport LNG's export plant in Texas was on track to return to service on Thursday after shutting on Wednesday, LSEG data showed.Freeport is one of the most-watched U.S. LNG export plants in the world because it has a history of swaying global gas prices when it shuts and restarts.Energy traders, however, noted that gas prices around the world were little changed on Wednesday because Freeport said it was "actively working towards reestablishing operations." That convinced the market the outage would be brief…

Heavy lift and transport services firm Mammoet has entered into agreement to become the exclusive contractor for the provision of heavy lift and transport services at Steel River Quay, which lies at the heart of the Teesworks industrial zone in Teesside.Teesworks is a 2,600-acre site, located on the banks of the River Tees in the Northeast of England, and is central to the Teesside Freeport – the largest freeport in the UK.Steel River Quay will help to serve the UK’s fast-growing offshore wind energy market…

The number of LNG tankers waiting to load at Freeport LNG in Texas has increased since the U.S. second largest exporter of the supercooled gas halted processing ahead of Hurricane Beryl's landfall last week, according to shipping data on Thursday.Beryl made landfall on July 8 near Matagorda, on the Texas coast, lashing the state with 80-mph (130-kph) winds that caused infrastructure damages and left more than 2 million customers without electricity for days.Ports and energy companies in many coastal cities…

About 1.7 million customers remained without power in Texas on Wednesday morning, two days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall, as progress was slow during the night, hampering efforts to restore critical oil infrastructure.The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday near the coastal town of Matagorda, about 100 miles (160 km) from Houston, lashing Texas with heavy winds that knocked down multiple power lines and caused property damage.Reinsurance broker Gallagher Re has estimated that U.S.

The Texas energy industry was evaluating the impact from Hurricane Beryl on Monday after the powerful storm lashed the U.S. Gulf Coast, closing key shipping ports and hitting the oil refining and production sectors.Beryl made landfall near the coastal town of Matagorda, Texas, on Monday morning, packing maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (129 kilometers an hour) and posing problems for the heart of the country's energy sector.The storm had strengthened to a Category…

The largest ports in Texas closed operations and vessel traffic on Sunday as Hurricane Beryl intensified as it approached the Texas coast near Houston.Beryl, which left a trail of destruction this week in the Caribbean, killing at least 11 people, was now a category 1 hurricane and may strengthen into a category 2 by landfall on Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.The ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, Freeport and Texas City said they closed after condition "Zulu" was set by Coast Guard captains on Sunday.

A group of industry partners has teamed up in the U.S. to reduce the time ships spend in port. Initial results have seen port time reduce by an average of almost two hours and an increase in the efficiency with which cargo is transferred to customers.Stolt Tankers, Dow Inc., SGS and Vopak IIA Freeport (a joint venture between Vopak and BlackRock) formed the ‘Time alongside optimization project’ to improve supply chain collaboration and efficiency and reduce the time that ships are berthed at a terminal.

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell for a fourth consecutive month to 6.19 million metric tons in April from 7.61 million in March on production outages, preliminary data from financial firm LSEG showed on Wednesday.Recurring mechanical problems have hit Freeport LNG, the second largest U.S. plant by capacity. Last month, the Quintana, Texas, terminal exported five cargoes for a total of 330,000 tons, compared to 21 cargoes and 1.42 million tons in December.Since mid-January, the plant has been operating without at least one of its three gas-processing trains.

A project to transform the Port Talbot into a major hub for floating offshore wind (FLOW) and green energy development has come one step closer to securing a share of up to $200 million (£160 million) of UK Government funding.The UK Government has agreed to take forward the Future Port Talbot project and the Port of Cromarty Firth to undergo due diligence as part of the next stage of its Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS).The due diligence process…

Enterprise Products Partners said on Tuesday it had received a deepwater port license for its Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) in the Gulf of Mexico from an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation.The project, located near Freeport, Texas, would become the biggest offshore oil export terminal in the U.S. after completion with a capacity to load two supertankers at a time and export 2 million barrels of crude oil per day."The receipt of the license is the most significant milestone to date in the development and commercialization of SPOT…

If nothing else, building vessels in the U.S. is a complicated business.In a session on the domestic shipbuilding marketplace, at Marine Money’s late-November 2023 conference held in New Orleans, Ben Bordelon, president and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards (with more than a dozen facilities, in Mississippi and Louisiana), described his company’s architecture as a “three-legged stool approach: commercial newbuilds, government newbuilds and repair/conversion capabilities”.On the same panel…

X-Press Feeders has signed of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with six European ports: Port of Antwerp Bruges (Belgium), Port of Tallinn (Estonia), Port of Helsinki (Finland), Port of HaminaKotka (Finland), Freeport of Riga (Latvia) and Klaipeda Port (Lithuania).The agreement signifies a joint commitment to accelerate the establishment of green shipping corridors and the broader decarbonization of the marine sector in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.X-Press Feeders and the…

Americraft Marine, one of the maritime subsidiaries of Libra Group that owns and operates a Jones Act shipbuilding facility in Palatka, Fla., has announced the appointment of Peter Fetten as Chairman of Americraft.A seasoned leader with four decades in the marine engineering and shipbuilding sectors, Fetten will help shape the strategic direction of Americraft Marine as it works to advance U.S. shipbuilding and the demand for Jones Act vessels. Americraft Marine's St. Johns Ship Building…