News

More than a day after the search began for the missing crew of a small oil tanker, the Prestige Falcon, that capsized off Oman, the Indian Navy is reporting that it has found nine of the 16 crewmembers alive. The Oman Maritime Security Center confirmed the recovery while also reporting that a tenth crew member had been found deceased.

Based on the strength of the U.S. economy and positive momentum, Southern California’s two container ports sounded an optimistic note for the remainder of 2024. Both Los Angeles and Long Beach reported a strong first half of 2024 with increases over 2023 and with Long Beach achieving its strongest June on record.

The Australian government followed up its previous effort announcing a second batch of feasibility licenses for its first potential offshore wind farms. Industry leaders including RWE, Iberdrola, and Corio Generation, are among the second batch of licenses being granted to explore proposed projects all located off the Gippsland coast in the state of Victoria.

Vineyard Wind, one of the first large offshore wind farms in the United States, is suffering an embarrassing incident after one of the recently installed turbines experienced what the company is calling “blade damage.”

Tracking services and the AIS signal from the Marshall Island-flagged tanker Advantage Sweet show the vessel underway and bound for Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates nearly 15 months after the tanker was detained by Iranian forces.

Turkish officials are trying to salvage a small, coastal cargo ship after it went hard aground, Media reports are indicating the grounding happened at 0200 on Sunday, July 14 when the officer of the watch fell asleep.

The last patrol ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet remaining in Crimea has departed, according to a spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces. If confirmed, it would suggest that Ukraine's concerted campaign to drive the Russian Navy out of the western half of the Black Sea has succeeded.

With the strong rebound in the tanker markets further enhanced by the disruptions in the Red Sea, Danish operator TORM is moving to further strengthen its position and continue the consolidation of the market.

South Korean regulators expressed concern that HD Hyundai might be in a position to monopolize the market and hinger supplies to competitors if it is permitted to acquire a controlling stake in marine engine manufacturer STX Heavy Industries.

Heavy seas and strong winds are continuing to batter shipping along the South African coast and the massive containerships on route to sail the Cape of Good Hope due to Red Sea diversions. CMA CGM is reporting that one of its vessels, CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin (185,000 dwt) has become the latest casualty of the bad weather.

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.