News

A research effort to develop possibly the first floating offshore wind project in the United States received a research lease today from the U.S. Department of the Interior. It comes almost three years after Maine first filed for the research license to further research projects undertaken by the University of Maine.

For the second time in approximately a month, one of CMA CGM’s large containerships, the newly inaugurated CMA CMG Belem (13,000 TEU) has lost boxes overboard in storms off South Africa.

The carrier Minsk was a Kiev-class carrier built in Mykolaiv for the Soviet Navy in 1978. Along with sister ships Novorossiysk and Kiev, she served Russia's navy into the 1990s, when she was decommissioned and put up for sale. She was purchased by a South Korean firm in 1995 and towed to East Asia for scrapping.

Maersk is joining in with a collaboration between Lloyd’s Register and CORE Power that could provide the long-term pathway for nuclear-powered commercial shipping. Using a feeder containership operating in a European port, the collaboration will determine the safety and regulatory considerations and necessary framework for nuclear-powered commercial shipping based on a fourth-generation nuclear reactor.

To meet California’s pending emissions regulations for vessels on berth, tankers docking at Shell’s Mormon Island Terminal in the Port of Los Angeles will be using an emission capture and filter system based on movable barges.

Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) have introduced new legislation that would alter the 170-year-old law that limits shipowners' liability when something goes wrong.

Defying forecasts of a potentially slowing U.S. economy, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach each had record volumes in July in part as imports accelerated to avoid potential disruptions due to the Red Sea as well as a possible fall port strike on the U.S. East Coast.

HD Hyundai Mipo kicked off its first building program for the emerging market of gas carriers to transport captured CO2. In addition to being the first LCO2 carrier to be built in South Korea, the vessel is significantly larger than the ones currently being built in China.

While the containership orderbook has already reached record levels, leading owners and operators continue to place a new wave of orders in part for expansion and also to address environmental pressures.

French authorities are detaining two vessels and investigating the circumstances of what amounted to a “fender bender” that left a tanker dented and a bulker holed above the waterline. Both ships remained buoyant with only minor pollution and five minor injuries that did not require hospitalization. 

With the number of ships using LNG continuing to grow and spurring demand, two U.S.-based companies partnered to launch a new small-scale LNG terminal in Salina Cruz, Mexico. According to the partners, GFI LNG and Pilot LNG, the project is designed with a focus on speed to market and will be strategically located to serve a key shipping market.

German propulsion company Schottel has completed a research project for Transport Canada and BC Ferries to investigate solutions for underwater noise. Ship noise is a major issue in the Salish Sea because of its effects on the region's endangered orca population.

With grain shipments continuing to grow and a shortage of storage space after the Russian attacks on port facilities, the Ukrainian Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) plans to turn the tables on Russia.

A long-term supplier to the offshore energy sector, Samsung Heavy Industries looks to leverage its expertise to expand into offshore wind farms. Through a series of agreements with Norway’s Equinor, the companies plan to work together if Equinor is successful in its bid to build a large floating offshore wind farm near Ulsan, South Korea.

The results of the first multi-state offshore wind solicitation were scheduled to be released today, August 7, but the states involved in the coordinated effort have deferred the announcement. The three-way effort seeks to coordinate proposals for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

Hoegh Autolines celebrated the naming of the largest car carrier which it is also hails as the most environmentally friendly PCTC ever built. The company has a dozen of the Aurora Class multi-fuel vessels on order from China as part of its drive toward decarbonization.

The Canadian Coast Guard has named two of its Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) after two Arctic glaciers. The naming ceremony was part of the official keel laying for the AOPS 7 and start of construction for the AOPS 8 at Irving Shipbuilding, Halifax Shipyard.

Filipino officials confirmed on Saturday, August 3, that all the Filipino crewmembers who were working aboard the MSC Aries when the vessel was seized have now been released. Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Cacdac told reporters they had kept the details quiet until the seafarers returned to the Philippines while thanking the ship’s owner and the Government of Iran for their cooperation in the repatriation.

It has happened again, or maybe officials have just become very sensitive to all reports of a vessel reporting momentary problems. Thursday midday Maryland officials according to a report in the Baltimore Sun suspended all vehicle traffic on the busy Chesapeake Bay Bridge, a six-mile-long roadway span crossing the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, Maryland.

Hamburg is moving forward broadening the installation of shore power capabilities across the port. Earlier this year it claimed the title of the first European port to provide shore power to containerships expanding on its installed capability for cruise ships.