News

After years of downturn and a soft decade through most of the 2010s, the industry trade group BIMCO reports shipbuilding prices are reaching new highs. Overall order prices are up to the highest point since 2008 having increased a further three percent in 2024.

A Greek-owned bulker was hit by multiple attacks by the Houthi while sailing south in the Red Sea bound for India earlier today. The vessel is reporting that it is “not under command,” awaiting assistance from the collation forces in the region.

Investigators examining the 72-year-old Great Lakes bulker Michipicoten now suspect the vessel suffered steel fatigue or a form of hull stress that caused the flooding incident on Saturday, June 8. Initially, reports were that the vessel had hit an underwater object while underway on Lake Superior.

Chinese manufacturers are pushing forward with their efforts to upsize turbines for offshore wind farms. Two of the largest turbines ever built, Envision Energy’s 16.7 MW prototype and Dongfang Electric’s 18 MW prototype, have both begun testing while even larger turbines are in the offing.

The container shipping industry continues to make strong progress in reducing the number of boxes lost overboard. The World Shipping Council, an industry group made up of the major carriers, reports for the second year in a row that the number of containers lost at sea has fallen to record-low levels as they make progress on managing parametric rolling and other dangers from loading to properly securing boxes.

With strong consumer spending continuing, container import levels at the major U.S. ports are expected to reach their highest levels in two years. The National Retail Federation raised for the second consecutive month its forecast for container imports but the strength of the imports also contributed to a widening of the U.S. trade deficit.

Four years after raiding the offices of the shipping company then known as Teekay Offshore, Norwegian regulators today imposed an approximately $750,000 fine for illegally exporting two ships to India for scrapping.

Noble Corporation announced its third acquisition since emerging from bankruptcy as the company continues to drive consolidation in the offshore drilling sector. In a deal valued at approximately $1.6 billion, they will acquire smaller competitor Diamond Offshore Drilling to create one of the largest modern drillship fleets.

Finland is raising the alarm over growing risks of a spill from Russia’s "dark fleet" of tankers, and it has vowed to push the European Union (EU) to invest in a standby response vessel specifically dedicated to the waters of the Gulf of Finland, which are not easy to navigate during winter.

New Zealand’s government is moving to reverse a ban on offshore petroleum exploration, part of a suite of proposed amendments to the country’s Minerals Act. In a statement on Sunday, Resources Minister Shane Jones said that the reversal of the ban is targeted at resolving energy security challenges posed by rapidly declining natural gas reserves.

Courtesy of climate change, the Arctic Ocean is steadily transforming into a geopolitical and military theatre. This shift is central to the evolution of defense alliances such as NATO, with strategic interests of members states in the High North changing.

News that India is planning to launch a new shipping company through a public partnership is being met with skepticism within the shipping and industrial community in the country. According to the story first reported by Reuters, the government of newly reelected Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pursuing the concept for the past few months as a means of supporting the industrialization plans for India along with a goal of reducing the amount of foreign exchange being spent on shipping.

Continuing forward with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s imperative to develop the Northern Sea Route as an alternative means of transporting cargo, Rosatom which oversees the NSR and a Chinese shipping company announced an agreement to form a joint venture.

On Wednesday, an MSC boxship lost control of its main engine and accelerated to 17 knots on the Cooper River at Charleston, South Carolina, forcing the temporary closure of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

MONTHLY LIST OF THE VESSELS BEACHED AT THE INDIAN DEMOLITION YARDS - APRIL-MAY 2024

Jumbo Offshore has completed the removal of two monopiles on the Offshore Wind Farm (OWF) Yunlin in Taiwan. The Jumbo Offshore crew reliably carried out the work, whilst deploying its DP2 Heavy Lift Crane Vessel Fairplayer from Europe to support the onsite operations.

The Houthi spokesperson issued the latest list of claimed attacks saying that they were continuing to target ships from companies that call in Israeli ports. While making unsubstantiated claims that they had launched missiles and drones they did not claim any hits and none of the claims matched reports from the maritime security forces.

The World Bank is out with its latest port ranking and predictably ports in Southeast Asia continue to dominate the top of the ranks, but some of the world’s largest container ports, and most in the U.S., ranked far lower.

The last large sections of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge have been removed from the channel in Baltimore clearing the path for the reopening of the full channel over this coming weekend. Normal navigation is expected to resume next week.

This week, the Philippines and China are trading new accusations about interactions at Second Thomas Shoal, a reef in the Philippine exclusive economic zone where Manila maintains a small outpost. The site has long been a flash point for confrontations between Chinese and Philippine government vessels, but the new allegations are more hands-on.