Shipping News

A Finnish court on Friday denied a request for the release of an oil tanker suspected by police of damaging an undersea power line and four telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea last week.Finland on Dec. 26 seized the Eagle S tanker carrying Russian oil on suspicion that it damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and the telecoms cables the previous day by dragging its anchor across the seabed.A lawyer representing United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, which owns the tanker…

Dry cargo shipping and logistics company Lila Global has appointed Dr. Abdul Rahim as its Chief Maritime Strategy and Innovation Officer.Rahim will work closely with Lila Global's leadership to drive transformative strategies and foster innovation in the maritime industry. He will be based in Dubai.Rahim brings more than three decades of experience to this position, including a proven track record of leadership and innovation. Prior to joining Lila Global, he served as a Corporate Officer and Managing Director for Europe and Africa at ClassNK…

Crowley expanded its harbor services capabilities through the acquisition of Main Line Inc., a vessel mooring company based in Seattle, effective January 1, 2025.Main Line is a longtime provider of vessel mooring services in the Pacific Northwest for ship operators. Main Line staff members are transitioning to Crowley as part of the asset purchase agreement. Terms were not disclosed.

Mining company Rio Tinto has reported that a deck fitter on board its bulk carrier RTM Zheng He, travelling from China to Western Australia, went missing.A deck fitter, named Gel Aguaviva, was reported missing on December 26, 2024.Rio Tinto said an extensive and ongoing search and rescue operation has been conducted over the past seven days, with the company working in collaboration with RTM Zheng He ship and crew manager, Anglo Eastern, and relevant authorities.The Philippine Coast Guard is leading the search and rescue operation."Our thoughts are with Gel's family…

The World Shipping Council (WSC) Board of Directors has elected Soren Toft, CEO of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, as the new Chair of the World Shipping Council Board.“It is an honor to step into the role of Chair for the World Shipping Council and to represent the global liner shipping industry alongside our members. WSC is today a respected voice of liner shipping, engaging with governments and organizations globally,” said Toft.“An ever-changing world presents both challenges and opportunities for our industry as we head into the future…

A Norwegian shipping company rejected an accusation from Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, that it refused to rescue sailors from a sinking Russian cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea.Medvedev accused the Norwegian-flagged Oslo Carrier 3 of not coming to the aid of sailors on board the Ursa Major cargo ship, which carries out missions for the Russian Defence Ministry's military construction arm. The Ursa Major ran into trouble on Monday and then sank…

The 2024 edition of the Getting to Zero Coalition’s Annual Progress Report on Green Shipping Corridors finds that the movement has made healthy progress.In the last year, 18 new green shipping corridor initiatives emerged worldwide, and two-fifths of existing initiatives advanced to a new phase of development.At least six green corridor initiatives have moved towards enabling real-world implementation.At the same time, the report warns that progress could stall without urgent action from governments to overcome a “feasibility wall.”It states:1.

The last 12 months has seen values rise to near-record levels across several sectors of the shipping industry, fuelled by the post-covid shipping boom and a strong newbuild market.The report states that the newbuild market experienced continued growth, with a notable rise in orders, particularly in the Post/Panamax and Capesize sectors. Chinese dominance in both ordering and shipyard production remains a defining trend, further consolidating their position in the bulker industry.Container…

The arrival of the dredger Willem Van Rubroeck in Ndayane has marked the start of maritime works for the $1.2 billion Port of Ndayane, a project led by Dubai-owned ports and logistics firm DP World, which aims to transform Senegal into a major center for global trade.The vessel will dredge a 5 km-long shipping channel - an essential step in building this high-capacity port designed to elevate Senegal’s trade infrastructure.Phase 1 of the project includes an 840 m quay and a 5…

A new study by UCL and UMAS, which analyzed ship movements between 2018-2022, found that optimizing port arrivals to consider port congestion or waiting times could reduce voyage emissions by up to 25% for some vessel types.The average potential emissions saving for the voyages is approximately 10% for container ships and dry bulkers, 16% for gas carriers and oil tankers and almost 25% for chemical tankers. The study finds that these ships spend between 4-6% of their operational time…

Each year, as we prepare for the largest U.S. based maritime industry conference in New Orleans, we tend to look back on the state of the industry and initiatives that were announced from the conference that took place the year before. 2023 provided us with plenty to talk about. In September of 2023, while the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the global shipbuilding industry were fixated on “emissions” and alternative fuels, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro held the opening meeting of the Government Shipbuilders Council.

The Nordic Roadmap project has unveiled the Fuel Transition Roadmap for Nordic Shipping, a comprehensive document outlining a decarbonization strategy for the region, which urges the Nordic ministers to close the cost gap associated with the fuel transition.The roadmap has been developed by the project team led by DNV with members from MAN Energy Solutions, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Chalmers University of Technology, Menon Economics, and Litehauz, and in collaboration with more than 60 industry partners.To decarbonize…

Pakistan has deferred its liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract with Qatar for a year, Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik said, adding that the country will now get LNG cargoes from Qatar in 2026 instead of 2025.Annual power use in Pakistan, which gets over a third of its electricity from natural gas, has declined 8-10% year-on-year over the past three quarters, the country's power minister told Reuters in November, primarily due to higher tariffs curbing household consumption.The South Asian nation has deferred five LNG cargoes from Qatar and is also negotiating to defer five cargoes with other

The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonization (GCMD) has introduced a new technique that creates a fingerprint for Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) biofuels that can identify the origins of the fuel's feedstock.The shipping industry is increasingly using biofuels, such as FAME, to reduce its GHG emissions. However, concerns have arisen regarding the legitimacy of biofuels and whether they are truly sustainable. Industry bodies are seeing a rising number of cases mislabelling biofuels purported to be made from recycled oils and fats…

Alternative fuels could account for up to a fifth of A.P. Moller-Maersk's marine fuel consumption in 2030 as part of its goal to reach net zero by 2040, a senior company executive said on Thursday.The container shipping giant typically consumes between 10 and 11 million metric tons of fuel oil equivalent per year, of which 3% were alternative fuels last year, Emma Mazhari, vice president, head of energy markets, told reporters.The world's fleet moves more than 80% of global trade…

Hapag-Lloyd has reached an agreement with China-based Goldwind for the delivery of 250,000 tonnes of green methanol per year, which will lead to savings of up to 400,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions per year.The green methanol will consist of a blend of bio- and e-methanol, ensuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction of at least 70%, and comply with all current sustainability certification requirements.By 2030, Hapag-Lloyd aims to reduce the absolute GHG emissions of the fleet by around one third compared to 2022.

The Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping has released an updated version of its Fuel Pathway Maturity Map, providing an overview of key alternative fuels that are expected to play a pivotal role in decarbonizing the maritime industry by 2050.The map provides an independent assessment of readiness of key parameters across the various alternative fuel pathways that are expected to play a role in decarbonization of the global maritime industry. The update highlights…

China indicated it is willing to maintain communication with relevant parties and to jointly safeguard the security of international submarine infrastructure, its foreign ministry said.Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian made the remarks when asked about a Chinese ship in Danish waters, and Finland and Sweden's investigation into the two severed fiber-optic data telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea. Lin said he was not aware of the details of the ship.The Danish military said on Wednesday that it was staying close to Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 currently sitting idle in a strait between Denmark and Sweden, but did not mention the cable breaches or say why it was staying with the ship.(Reuters)

Container shipping companies like Maersk, CMA CGM and COSCO have ordered hundreds of new vessels in recent years meant to help their industry slash greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to meet rising demand from customers and regulators around the globe.Their order books, however, reflect uncertainty over which of a wide array of so-called green fuels will become the standard in the decades to come, and whether supplies will be cheap and abundant enough to keep their fleets in motion.Decarbonizing…

Ships docked at Greek ports, and railway and bus services were disrupted on Wednesday as transport workers, hospital doctors, school teachers and construction workers joined a nationwide strike to protest squeezed living standards and demand higher pay.Many Greeks saw their wages and pensions slashed in return for bailouts worth 280 billion euros ($297 billion) during a 2009-2018 debt crisis which shaved a quarter off Greece's economic output and nearly pushed the country out of the eurozone.With the Greek economy recovering firmly since 2018, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right g

The COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan aim to agree an annual finance target of $1 trillion or more a year to help poorer countries respond to global warming. Some see new taxes as one way to get there. The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force (GSLT), led by France, Barbados and Kenya, is exploring the issue. Below are excerpts from its latest report on the options being discussed -- as it pertains to shipping and fossil fuels -- and estimates about how much could be raised.SHIPPINGThe levy that could be closest to being agreed is for shipping…

New EU and British sanctions are based on false claims of missile transfers to Russia and are "unjustified", Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Tuesday.Brussels on Monday added the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its director to its list of sanctions on Iran, which it said were a consequence of Tehran's support of Russia in its war with Ukraine.On the same day, Britain imposed sanctions against Iran's national airline and shipping carrier, measures it said were taken in response to Iran's transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia."Iran considers the i

Turkey suspended shipping traffic in Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait in both directions on Sunday due to a rudder failure on a 114-metre tanker, the Nazann, the Transportation Ministry said.The vessel, en route from Russia to Kocaeli in Turkey, had mechanical problems in the strait and the coast guard deployed tugboats, the ministry said. The Bosphorus connects the Black Sea in the northeast to the Sea of Marmara to the southwest, and beyond to the Mediterranean.(Reuters - Reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Canan Sevgili; Editing by Kevin Liffey)