News

Reports indicate that there was a lackluster response to New Jersey’s fourth round of solicitations for offshore wind projects. The state has already suffered setbacks after Ørsted walked away in October 2023 for what would have been the first large projects and the round that closed yesterday, July 10 received only two new proposals, one of which had been presented and rejected before, and a re-bid proposal for a third project.

Ukraine reports it has seized a Turkish-owned cargo ship and is detaining its captain on charges that the vessel was used by the Russians to loot Ukraine grain stored in occupied Crimea. According to a statement from the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the vessel and its crew were executing orders from the Russian Federation to remove the Ukrainian grain and sell it for the benefit of Russia.

Work got underway at two shipyards in Italy for the cruise industry’s next ultra-luxury mega-yachts designed to bring a new level of opulence and service to cruising. The ships, which are being built for the Four Seasons and Aman brands, are part of the trend seeing the luxury hotel brands expand into cruising.

Mexico's navy - which controls and provides security for the nation's big seaports - says that it is seeing an uptick in the importation of "dual-use" chemicals that have both legitimate applications and illicit uses, like making the precursors for methamphetamine production.

X-Press Feeders is preparing to launch operations on what it is billing as the first Northern European feeder network using methanol-fueled green ships.  The company anticipates strong demand and reports a positive reception timing the rollout to the launch of the EU’s emissions trading scheme and the 2025 regulations to begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Kindly note the Alang Vessels/Beaching Position for the period from 01/04/2024 to 30/06/2024 as detailed below: -

Dominion Energy and Avangrid have agreed to the terms of a deal that would sell a portion of the Kitty Hawk offshore lease area to a division of Dominion for potential future development.

Asian ports both in China and Singapore have been struggling for some time with backlogs brought about by containerships diverting from normal routes through the Red Sea and now that congestion is spreading to other regional ports.

Focusing on the problem of methane slip in the “well-to-wake” approach, an industry-led group released its first report detailing research, trials, and the required steps to create greater understanding and eliminate the problems of methane slip associated with liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels.

Japan launched its first methanol-fueled tanker, a vessel that is due to enter service around the start of 2025 in the coastal trade. Developed by a consortium of Japanese companies including Muti O.S.K. Lines, the project is the first of its kind in Japan and is designed to demonstrate the potential for methanol-fueled shipping.

Hurricane Beryl made its third landfall near Matagorda, Texas on Monday morning, delivering high winds and torrential rain to America's biggest oil and gas-producing region. Two people were killed by falling trees, adding to the storm's previous death toll in Venezuela, Grenada, Jamaica and St. Vincent.

With a growing orderbook that is already at record levels and an overheated charter and secondhand market, the container shipping segment is going through rapid changes. The market has expanded to its largest overall capacity with significant additions still in the works while MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has pulled away from the pack and continues to grow.

Schedule reliability for the container segment rebounded from the lows of January and April to reach the highest point in 2024. While the industry has been able to stabilize after the shocks caused by the Red Sea diversions, it remains far behind its post-pandemic while Maersk is warning customers that the pain is going to continue.

The first ship-to-ship transfer of ammonia was completed last week demonstrating the potential for the shipping of ammonia as well as hydrogen as future fuel sources. Trafigura Group, the global commodities trader that contracted for the shipment, highlights that current regulations for ship-to-ship transfers were only recently widely adopted by the ammonia industry.

Tirranna, a pure car truck carrier owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, is another step closer to getting a first-of-a-kind wing sail from Oceanbird. The careful work of installing the sail's foundation on Tirranna, which is serving as a testbed for the groundbreaking wind-assisted technology, was performed during the vessel’s five-year docking at IMC Shipyard in Zhoushan, China.

Shipping giant Angelicoussis Group, which has a fleet of 141 ships operating under Maran Gas, Maran Tankers, and Maran Dry brands, is starting what is being called a landmark effort toward sustainability.

At no time since the end of World War II have so many nations fielded blue water navies that have roamed the globe. Navies from Australia, China, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have regional and worldwide commitments.

Barely seven months after imposing a one-year port ban on foreign research ships, Sri Lanka has said it will lift this restriction from 2025. During an official visit to Japan last week, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told the state-owned news agency NHK that the reversal of the ban is to ensure Sri Lanka has a neutral voice in the dispute of others.

A contract signing ceremony took place yesterday, June 26, in China for the first five methanol conversions planned for Seaspan’s containership fleet. COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry will undertake the projects starting in 2026 on vessels operating under long-term charters to Hapag-Lloyd.

The city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands has reached an agreement on steps to begin limiting the number of cruise ship calls at the port as of 2026. It is part of a larger plan to ultimately remove the cruise terminal from the city and manage the influx of tourists into the city.