Ports News

The Military Sealift Command’s Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPS) and Auxiliary Crane Ships (ACS) were built 50 years ago to pre-position vehicles and supplies in forward locations and load or unload them in undeveloped or damaged port facilities. I serve with MSC’s Taluga Group, charged with finding innovative solutions to pressing problems. One of those challenges is meeting the MPS and ACS mission as the current ships continue to serve past their expected service lines.To…

The Chinese state-owned company at the center of a dispute over operations of a megaport it is building on Peru's Pacific coast insisted on Tuesday on terms agreed with the government, as some local officials have sought to backtrack on the deal.Hong Kong-based Cosco Shipping Ports will defend its legal rights to provide services as the exclusive operator of the deepwater Chancay Port Terminal under "terms that were agreed at the beginning of this investment," the firm said in…

CB&I, a wholly owned subsidiary of McDermott, has been awarded a significant contract by TotalEnergies and OQ joint venture for the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) of a full containment concrete liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tank, located in Oman's Port of Sohar.Under the contract, awarded by Marsa Liquefied Natural Gas, CB&I will provide turnkey EPC services for a 165,000m3 full containment concrete LNG storage tank and associated piping to grade.Project delivery will be executed in Oman…

“In 2023, 2.3 million TEU of container ship capacity was delivered, beating the former all-time high by 37%. Year-to-date another record has been set as more than 1 million TEU has already been delivered during the first four months of the year, an increase of nearly 80% compared to the previous record,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.As ship recycling has so far only retired 19 smaller ships, the fleet has expanded by nearly 1 million TEU, a 3.5% increase compared to the beginning of the year.

The maritime transportation system, the lifeblood of global trade, is undergoing a digital revolution. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming how ships operate and cargo moves. However, this increased reliance on technology creates a double-edged sword: while AI offers powerful tools for cybersecurity, it also presents new vulnerabilities to exploit. This article explores the growing threat of adversarial AI (AAI) in maritime cyber security and how the industry…

Saudi Red Sea Authority (SRSA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NEOM to collaborate on the development of legislation, regulations and technology in marine tourism.The partnership will facilitate the sharing of expertise with the aim of delivering innovation and improving the visitor experience for tourists in Saudi Arabia’s existing, emerging and future Red Sea coastal destinations.NEOM is a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea being built from the ground up as a living laboratory.

The White House has nominated Matt Kaplan to serve as the first federal co-chair of the Great Lakes Authority (GLA).The GLA was authorized by Congress in 2022 and will be governed by a nine-member board, with one member appointed by the President, and one appointed by each of the Governors of the eight Great Lakes states. The new federal agency will promote regional economic development. Earlier this year, Congress appropriated $5 million to begin the process of standing up the organization.

Hawai‘i’s interisland freight company Young Brothers has become the first marine transportation company in the Unites States to install an innovative mooring system designed to improve safety and efficiency.The new $1.5 million ShoreTension mooring system was blessed in a ceremony at the Port of Kaumalapau in Lāna‘i on Monday. The technology, which keeps the barge steady against the dock during inclement weather, is already being utilized in harbors around the globe in countries like New Zealand…

In 2018, convicted cocaine trafficker Slobodan Kostovski fled a Brazilian prison and made his way back to Europe with a fake passport.The Serbian senior quickly fell into old habits, police allege. Last August, Kostovski was arrested in Belgrade, accused of shipping 2.7 metric tonnes of cocaine from Brazil aboard a 22-meter vessel apprehended near Spain’s Canary Islands.Nicknamed “the General” by his associates, he had been trafficking “large amounts” of powder to “Europe for a long period of time,” Serbian police wrote in a 2022 intelligence report obtained exclusively by Reuters.

Crowley and Teamsters Union Local 901 have reached a new labor agreement to extend their longtime partnership into its sixth decade serving the shipping and logistics needs of Puerto Rico.The agreement, recently ratified by union members, covers the 200 employees who work at Crowley’s Isla Grande Terminal in San Juan until 2029. Employees there serve as port equipment operators, truck drivers and support operations in various other roles important to safe and reliable operations.“We have successfully worked with the Teamsters Union to provide safe…

Logistical constraints at the Port of Vancouver mean waterborne oil exports from the highly anticipated Trans Mountain pipeline expansion due to start up on Wednesday may only be around half what the Canadian government-owned corporation has forecast, traders and shipping sources said.The C$34 billion ($24.82 billion) project to nearly triple the flow of crude from Alberta to Canada's Pacific Coast to 890,000 barrels per day is scheduled to start operating on May 1 after years of regulatory delays and construction setbacks.The extra 590…

Enterprise Products Partners on Tuesday said it expects to have two contracts for its proposed deepwater oil export terminal by May 31 and reach a final investment decision before year-end.Enterprise's ambitious Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT), proposed off for a site off the coast of Texas, would be able to load two supertankers at a single time. It received a key government license this month, but is yet to sign any commercial customers.The cost of the project has soared to about $3 billion…

LDD, an Acteon company, has been awarded a contract by George Leslie to perform piling works on the Kennacraig Port's ferry terminal in Scotland.LDD, a marine foundations brand within Acteon, is supplying reverse circulation drilling (RCD) services to George Leslie to construct a new sheet pile quay wall at Kennacraig Port.The project is being undertaken in challenging ground conditions with hardness ranging from 90 to 150 MPa.Kennacraig is an existing operational ferry terminal, and the piling works will upgrade the port infrastructure to facilitate the use of new vessels.

Nigeria secured a $600 million investment in seaport infrastructure from Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk, the presidency said in a statement on Sunday.The investment was secured during a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Moller-Maersk Chairman Robert Maersk Uggla on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia."We believe in Nigeria, and we will invest $600 million in existing facilities and make the ports accommodating for bigger ships," the Nigerian presidency quoted Uggla as saying during the meeting.Nigeria has promised to revamp its ports…

Paris 2024 Olympics organizers on Friday, April 26, received the Games' flame in a handover ceremony in Athens ahead of a 68-day torch relay that will end with the opening ceremony on July 26.The flame arrived at the central Athens' Panathenaic stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896, after an 11-day relay across Greece and following the lighting in ancient Olympia last week.Several thousand fans and tourists sat in the stands of the horse-shaped marble stadium on a sun-drenched afternoon as the head of the Paris Games…

Sweden-based construction and development company Skanska has signed the final contract award, worth $612 million, for the upgrade of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) in New York, which will serve as an offshore wind hub.The project will transform the SBMT into one of the largest dedicated offshore wind ports in the United States and support Empire Wind offshore wind project, which is currently being developed by Equinor off New York.The award will facilitate the demolition of existing buildings…

Russia's state-owned reinsurer has given financial backing to three Russian insurance firms, allowing them to get Indian approval to provide marine insurance cover to tankers, two sources said, as Moscow seeks to facilitate trade with India amid Western sanctions.A raft of sanctions by the U.S. and allies against Moscow over its Ukraine invasion, along with tighter scrutiny of Russian oil trade, has almost cut Russia off from the global network of service providers such as insurers and brokers.Russian companies Sogaz Insurance…

Founded as the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and renamed Military Sealift Command in 1970, MSC today not only support the Navy, but we are the Department of Defense's provider of all sealift. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently interviewed Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, U.S. Navy, for insights on the service today and it’s needs to grow in the future.What makes MSC so vital to the Navy’s fleet and our military forces around the world?When we  look at the history of contested logistics in World War II…

The Captain of the Port (COTP) has established the Fort Carroll Temporary Alternate Channel, which is on the northeast side of the main channel in the vicinity of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and will provide limited access for commercially essential vessels.The channel has a controlling depth of 20 feet, a 300-foot horizontal clearance, and a vertical clearance of 135 feet, and will facilitate additional commercially essential vessel traffic through the port of Baltimore.“This additional channel increases the types of vessels able to transit inbound and outbound the port of Baltimore…

Maersk may resume some shipping services at the Port of Baltimore when a temporary channel is opened to give access for commercially essential vessels that remain blocked by a collapsed bridge, the company said."This channel, with a controlling depth of 20 feet, could potentially allow Maersk and other carriers to operate limited barge services into and out of the Port of Baltimore," Maersk said in a statement.The group last Wednesday said the port's alternate shipping channels…

Wallenius Wilhelmsen has signed a 20-year lease agreement with the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), with options up to 30 years for Brunswick port expansion, increasing its strategic terminal and processing networkUpgraded and enlarged Brunswick facilities will further expand the scope and scale of U.S. Southeast operations of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, which is the world's largest RoRo vessel operator.The Brunswick expansion will further cement the company’s position as the favored partner for North American customers…

As U.S. shale oil boomed last decade, an oil pipeline company pitched an ambitious multi-billion-dollar export port off the Texas coast to ship domestic crude to buyers in Europe and Asia.In April, Enterprise Products Partners' SPOT became the first project to receive a license from the U.S. maritime regulator for a deepwater port that could load two supertankers, each of which can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil at a time.But multi-year regulatory delays, a loss of commercial backers and slowing U.S.

The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority on Monday revealed details of a program to slash carbon emissions to net zero by 2040 in an effort to improve air quality and the health of residents.Working with technical experts from sustainability consultancy Tunley Environmental, and thanks to funding from the State of Michigan, it established that operations across the port region were responsible for 27,869 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, and that urgent action was needed.“The maritime industry is responsible for 3% of global emissions, and it’s growing.