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Inside the Red-Hot Offshore Wind Energy Market
As the traditional offshore oil and gas markets continue to struggle, the renewable offshore wind market is hot and getting hotter.As the cumulative maritime, offshore, port and logistics marketplace gears up for offshore wind energy on a huge scale, World Energy Reports (WER), in its report “2021 The Year When Offshore Wind Takes Off in the United States,” shows the anticipated growth trajectory.
Maritime Power: Methanol Fuel Cell System Takes Shape at Alfa Laval
A fuel cell system based on high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HTPEM) technology from Blue World Technologies is being constructed for testing at the Alfa Laval Test & Training Center in Aalborg, Denmark. The test installation, which will use methanol as fuel, will explore the technology’s potential as a source of marine auxiliary power. Funded by Danish EUDP (Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program)…
Market Report: In the Ship Scrapping Business, it is "Covid Chaos"
The increasingly growing concern this week has been the number of mounting Covid-19 cases across the sub-continent, especially in India, where the country hit a daily record infection rate of over 200,000 cases per day, placing an increasing pressure on an already strained healthcare system that is fighting to keep up with the number of sick.There is talk in India of another nationwide lockdown, as only the worst hits states/provinces are under quarantine at present…
Ship Recycling: Ship Scrap Prices Soar to Nearly $500/ton During the Pandemic
Dr. Anil Sharma is a wealth of knowledge on ship scrapping, having started GMS 25 years ago, getting into the business of buying and disposing of old U.S. MarAd and Russian navy ships as a sideline while teaching as a college professor in Maryland. Today his company is dominant in the field, and in the last year he has seen an unprecedented 70% run up on ship scrap prices, approaching $500 per ton. He weighs in on ship scrapping trends and direction.By Dr.
New Zealand to End Seaborne Livestock Exports
New Zealand said on Wednesday it will stop the export of livestock by sea following a transition period of up to two years, citing animal welfare concerns for a…
Maritime Digitalizaton: The Electronic Lookout
Evidence mounts that vessel safety will benefit with technology enhancing the bridge lookout.Maritime safety regulations have – and for valid reasons – traditionally been strict and have often developed in ways that could hold up innovation. Almost two decades after the remedy of ‘goal-based’ standards and ‘technical equivalence’ arrived at the IMO, rules based on risk assessment and functionality continue to face an uphill battle to redefine a safety culture based on ‘dos and don’ts’.
Shipbuilding: Is there a different future for ship repair and conversion?
There is an old adage that states that a repair yard can economically build new ships, but a new construction yard should never touch ship repair jobs. In my experience there is a lot of truth to that statement, and it does not mean that new construction yards are run by less capable people; it simply means that ship construction and ship repair and conversion are fundamentally different business models. Ship construction uses a script, while ship repair and conversion is improvisation.
Future Prospects of Shipping COVID-19 Vaccines by Sea
The lucrative prospect of transporting COVID-19 vaccines by sea has intensified the spotlight on the maritime industry’s cold supply chain and its ability to carry high-value pharmaceuticals.At present, speed to market is critical to stemming the spread of the pandemic, so the vaccines are being shipped by air to international destinations. Delivering them by sea is a longer-term strategy; certainly…
Inmarsat Inks Satcom Deal with Clearwater Seafood
Mobile satellite communications company Inmarsat said it as secured an an agreement with Clearwater Seafood that commits Canada’s largest vessel-operating seafood company to Fleet Xpress high-speed maritime broadband services.Clearwater Seafood chose to install the Fleet Xpress combination of high speed Ka-band and continuous FleetBroadband backup on board seven vessels replacing Ku-band services on each vessel.
Nord Stream 2 Warns of Security Risks to Pipeline from Warships, Low-flying Planes
The consortium behind the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline warned on Thursday about security risks to the project from warships and planes, as the link is nearing completion.The pipeline, aimed at bypassing Ukraine and doubling the capacity of the current Nord Stream undersea gas link from Russia to Germany, has been the focus of tensions between Moscow and Washington, which imposed sanctions against the project.Andrey Minin…
Ready Your Salad Fork for Biden’s Offshore Energy Plans
In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare coined the phrase “salad days” to mean a youthful time filled with unbridled enthusiasm and idealism. Indeed, youth, much like salad, is often raw, flavorful and most of all… green. Therefore, it is fitting to think of our present time as the salad days of offshore energy in the United States. Let’s dig in.Executive Order appetizersOn January 27, President Biden…
Marubeni/Klaveness Pool Allowing Shipowners to Switch Between Floating and Fixed Rates
Marubeni and Torvald Klaveness' joint venture panamax bulker pool is offering pool partners the option to convert freely between floating and fixed rate, at any given time, in line with forward market levels.The companies, which announced the merging of their panamax pool activities through the MaruKlav joint venture in June 2020, said the newly expanded "MaruKlav 2.0" structure allows owners to utilize market peaks to lock-in fixed earnings at preset target levels.Michael Joergensen…
Gunvor to Cut Emissions by 40%, Sets up Renewables Arm
Energy trader Gunvor Group aims to cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 40% in absolute terms by 2025, the company said on Tuesday, and has set up a new subsidiary to invest in non-hydrocarbon projects.The Geneva-based firm, which is among the top five global oil traders, aims to cut emissions it produces directly, and those from the electricity it uses, against its 2019 total of 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.Its new unit will invest in biofuel…
Top Three Takeaway Lessons From the Suez Canal Blockage
For a week the world was gripped by the extraordinary sight of a massive container ship that had run aground in the Suez Canal in Egypt. The Ever Given is 400m long (1,312ft) and weighs 200,000 tonnes, with a maximum capacity of 20,000 containers. It was carrying 18,300 containers when it became wedged in the canal, blocking all shipping traffic. Efforts to free it finally paid off when it was partially dislodged in the early hours of Monday 29 March.
Stranded at Sea, Coronavirus Takes a Toll on Seafarers' Mental Health
When Ritesh Mehra, 43, enlisted for a four-month stint as captain on a liquid gas tanker last July, he never expected to be stranded at sea until spring.“Twice it has happened that the ports are not allowing crew change,” Mehra told Reuters via Zoom from the bridge of the 80,000 tonne ship docked outside the Indian port of Haldia.“My family won’t trust me anymore. I have been giving them dates when I would come home from December.”Mehra…
TECH FILE: Acoustic Tech Used to Understand Climate Change in the Arctic
Major changes are occurring in the ocean. Climate change and subsequent melting sea ice are not necessarily good changes. Why are acoustic Doppler current profilers an invaluable tool to get a complete picture of the Arctic’s changing wave conditions in the context of climate change?In the Arctic, the end-of-summer sea ice extent in 2020 was the second-lowest in the last 42 years.“The ice used to melt out in June or July. Now it melts out in May. It used to come back in September or October.
UN Urges Prioritization of Seafarer Vaccinations
Unite Nations organizations this week issued a joint call for the world's seafarers to be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination, stressing their key role in supporting global trade.The heads of five UN organizations have called for maritime and air transport workers to be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination.Seafarers and aircrew are key workers, required to travel across borders, which may—though contrary…
Ever Given Salvors Weigh Time and Tide with Risk of Tip or Tear
The Dutch emergency response team hired to free the vast ship blocking the Suez canal has pulled off some dramatic recoveries, including lifting Russia’s Kursk nuclear submarine from the Barents Sea floor, but says this is one of the trickiest.Weighing 200,000 tonnes without cargo, the Ever Given is the heaviest vessel that Smit Salvage, a subsidiary of the Dutch marine services company Boskalis contracted in the rescue…
Race to Dislodge Suez Blockage as Shipping Rates Surge, Vessels Divert Away
The Suez Canal stepped up efforts on Friday to free a giant container ship blocking the vital trade waterway that has sent shipping rates for oil product tankers soaring and disrupted the global supply chains for everything from grains to baby clothes.Shipping rates for oil product tankers have nearly doubled after the 400 meter long Ever Given, almost as long as the Empire State Building is high,…
Seafarer Vaccination Conundrum a 'Legal Minefield', ICS Says
Seafarers' lack of access to vaccinations is placing shipping in a "legal minefield", while leaving global supply chains vulnerable, warns the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).The organization is planning to circulate a legal document to the global shipping community later this week highlighting its concerns following reports that some states may require crews to be vaccinated in order to enter their portsComplicating matters even further…
