MarineLink News Search
Search term • Up,-Up-and-Away?
Create an email alert for Up,-Up-and-Away?
Supertanker Freight Rates Jump as Mideast Crude Exports to Asia Rise
The costs of chartering supertankers to move crude oil from the Middle East to Asia have jumped to the highest since April as more cargoes are being booked in June, according to industry sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon.The rate for a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) from the Middle East to China, Japan and Singapore is assessed at just above worldscale 80 on Thursday, according to shipbroking firm Meiwa International, the highest levels since April.
Ardmore Shipping Builds a Better Fleet
Garry Noonan, Director, Innovation, Ardmore Shipping is candid in discussing emerging technologies and their impact on ship fuel and emissions reductions. With a fleet of product and chemical tankers under his guise, Noonan gives insights on technologies that he has seen work, as well as his thoughts on the fuel transition, which he believes won’t become mainstream until we’re well into the 2030s.While Cork…
OSG Crews Make Two At-sea Rescues in 18-hour Span
U.S. based shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) said crews aboard two of its vessels rescued a total of six individuals in two separate incidents occurring within 18 hours of each other.On the evening of May 30, 2023, the crew of the Overseas Santorini, as well as two other vessels, were notified by U.S. Coast Guard Norfolk of a sailing vessel in distress in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The closest point of land was the Azores approximately 800 miles to the East.
UN Chief Concerned Russia Will Quit Black Sea Grain Deal in July
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he is concerned that Russia will on July 17 quit a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.Moscow has been threatening to walk away from the deal known as the Black Sea grain initiative - brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July last year - if obstacles to its own grain…
North American Lobster Industry Confronts 'Ropeless' Traps After Whale Entanglements
An emerging technology to fish for lobsters virtually ropeless to prevent whale entanglements is exciting conservationists, but getting a frigid reception from harvesters worried it will drive them out of business and upend their way of life.Injuries to endangered North Atlantic Right Whales ensnared in fishing gear have fueled a prominent campaign by environmental groups to pressure the industry to…
Titan Charters LNG Bunker Vessel from Fratelli Cosulich
Clean fuels supplier Titan announced it has signed a long-term time charter agreement with Italian maritime transportation group Fratelli Cosulich for the new 8,200Cbm capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker vessel Alice Cosulich.Alice Cosulich will join Titan's fleet in the fourth quarter of this year and will operate in Europe. The vessel, which has an LNG and liquified biomethane (LBM) bunkering capacity of 8…
Interim Report Describes Grounding After Failure of Rudder Angle Indicators
An interim report from an ongoing Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation has detailed the sequence of events of a loaded iron ore carrier’s grounding in a channel while departing Port Hedland, Western Australia in 2022.The interim report details factual information but contains no analysis or findings.In the early hours of April 9, Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Hagen Oldendorff departed its berth at Port Hedland, with a harbour pilot onboard.
US Coast Guard Warns on Open Flames and Hidden Hatches
The US Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis Commandant has released US Coast Guard Marine Safety Alert 07-23, Critical Insight from Ongoing Investigations into Small Passenger Vessel Fires.The Safety Alert was prepared in response to multiple ongoing investigations being conducted by the U S Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) into fires onboard two certificated small passenger vessels.
Retailers, Manufacturers Urge White House to Mediate in West Coast Ports Labor Dispute
Groups representing major retailers and manufacturers urged the White House on Monday to intervene in contentious West Coast port labor negotiations, citing worries about shipping disruptions during critical holiday shopping seasons.The call came after the largest terminal at Southern California's Port of Long Beach closed on Monday as dock workers rally for better pay. Monday's closure followed similar disruptions on Friday in Oakland…
Egypt Tows Away Stranded Oil Tanker in Suez Canal
An oil tanker that suffered engine failure in Egypt's Suez Canal, briefly disrupting traffic in the vital waterway, has been towed away, the canal's authority said on Sunday.
German Rescue Ship Blocked in Italy Over breach of migration law
A German charity said on Friday its rescue ship was impounded by Italian authorities for breaching tougher migration rules introduced by the country's right-wing…
Equinor's Arctic LNG Plant to Resume Production Next Week After Gas Leak Shutdown
Norway's Equinor plans to restart production at its Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Hammerfest on June 8 after it was shut down on May 31 due to a gas leak, the company said in a market message on Thursday. The facility will be unavailable until 2100 GMT on June 8, according to a message posted via the transparency page of Norwegian gas infrastructure operator Gassco. Equinor halted production after it detected a gas leak on a cooling circuit valve.
Asia Shipbuilding Lays Keel for Innovative Sailing Cargo Ship for Marshall Islands
South Korea-based Asia Shipbuilding recently held the keel laying ceremony for hull number ASB – 1245 of the Pacific Island Supply Vessel, an innovative sailing cargo ship for the needs of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.The consortium of Asia Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., and the naval design company Kostec Co., Ltd., last year signed a contract with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)…
Retaining Gen Z in the Marine Industry
While people in all generations measured themselves against eternal factors—fellow employees, family, their industry, etc.—Generation Z is fixated on measuring themselves against the world as seen through social media. Coaching them will help them begin to turn inward and measure success against their own goals. One of the keys to retaining your Gen Z workers will be in positively coaching them.Coaching should provide positive feedback about employee contributions.
Four San Francisco Ferries Refit with Cleaner Engines
The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) and Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) announced that WETA’s Gemini Class Clean Air Conversion Project has been completed, resulting in a substantial decrease in air pollution emissions from four San Francisco Bay Ferry vessels serving Oakland, Alameda and Richmond.In September 2021, WETA's Board of Directors…
Asian Spot LNG Prices Slide for Fifth Straight Week
Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices have weakened for the fifth consecutive week on muted demand due to healthy stocks, remaining at their lowest level in two years.The average LNG price for July delivery into north-east Asia was down 3% from the previous week at $9.50 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), the lowest since early May 2021, industry sources estimated."North Asia remains largely void of demand.
Mediterranean Boat Carrying 500 Migrants has Disappeared, Rescuers Say
A boat carrying about 500 migrants, including a newborn baby and pregnant women, has disappeared in the central Mediterranean, two charities said on Friday. Alarm Phone, a group that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, said it lost contact with the boat on Wednesday morning. At the time, the boat was adrift, with no working engine, in high seas about 320 km (200 miles) north of the Libyan port of Benghazi and more than 400 km away from Malta or Italy's southern island of Sicily.
Substation for First Commercial-scale US Offshore Wind Farm Leaves Denmark
The offshore substation and jacket foundation, bound for the U.S. offshore wind project Vineyard Wind 1, have left the quay at Bladt Industries’ production site in Southern Denmark, heading for its destination 35 miles from mainland Massachusetts.Sail-away is on time according to the original schedule and is a major milestone for the project team from Bladt Industries, Semco Maritime, and ISC Consulting Engineers.Vineyard Wind 1 is carried out as an EPC contract…
Germany Cannot be Relaxed about Baltic LNG Capacity, Senior Official Says
Germany cannot be relaxed about the need for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the Baltic Sea, a high-ranking economy ministry official said on Monday, a week after plans emerged to scale down the region's Mukran project after local resistance. "We should not be relaxed about supply security in the next winter," said Stefan Wenzel, a parliamentary state secretary in the ministry led by Robert Habeck of the Green Party.
Time to Meet the US Mariner Shortage Head On
We have a national and economic security crisis on our hands. It is time for Washington policymakers to stop dancing around the facts and looking for small fixes. The U.S. mariner shortage is real and it poses an unescapable threat not only to our ability to establish lines of communication to the U.S. warfighter, but also to our nation’s ability to project power through international trade.Two Congressional hearings held on March 28 illustrate the challenge.
