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Cruise vessels are often seen as very polluting. Incorrectly, says Sibrand Hassing, director fleet operations Europe of Holland America Group (HAG), based in Rotterdam. “Producing high emissions and a lot of waste as a cruise company in the areas you take your passengers means you ruin your own market. Nowadays you have to operate sustainably and sustainability will earn itself back.” I do not know if sustainability is a top priority for our customers when choosing a cruise, but I

A 275 meter-long tanker has run aground at the Bosphorus anchorage while proceeding for operations during her southbound transit, GAC informed. The Suezmax tanker, identified by local media as SCF Khibiny, ran aground on June 18th near Istanbul, Turkey. According to the reports, the Liberia-flagged tanker, owned by Russian company Sovcomflot, had been warned by authorities that it was headed into shallow water before it got grounded. The tanker is loaded with 150,000 tonnes of crude oil. Several tugs and

A group of armed pirates hijacked a product tanker on Thursday, June 4th while underway some 8 nautical miles south west off Pu Aur, Malaysia. The pirates took hostage of all crew members, altered the ship’s course and sailed the vessel until it rendezvoused with another vessel into which part of the oil cargo was transferred and stolen, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)’s piracy reporting centre informs. The unnamed tanker by the IMB is believed to be Malaysian-flagged 7,119 dwt

An oil production platform in Breton Sound Block 21, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, caught fire in the early hours of Friday, May 22, the US Coast Guard reports. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report at 2:50 am local time from the offshore supply vessel Miss Katherine reporting a fire on board the platform. All 28 people aboard the platform were evacuated to the offshore supply vessel and were taken to Venice. No injuries were reported. At approximately

Malaysian-flagged product tanker Oriental Glory was hijacked by a group of 30 pirates on Friday, May 15th off Labuan, northern Kalimantan, Malaysia, Asia piracy watchdog ReCAAP ICS reported. The tanker was approached in six fishing boats while sailing from Labuan to Tanjung Manis in East Malaysia. Once surrounded, the tanker was boarded by pirates who took over the ship from the crew. The 2,954 DWT tanker was then sailed near the Bruit Island where pirates siphoned 2,500 tons of the

The Maersk Tigris container ship issued a distress call Tuesday morning after an Iranian Navy ship fired shots across its bridge and Iranian personnel boarded the commercial vessel, a Pentagon spokesman said. Army Col. Steve Warren told members of the Pentagon press corps that at about 2:05 a.m. Eastern Time, several Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) patrol vessels approached the M/V Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel. The commercial ship was in Iranian territorial waters transiting inbound, or

Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD) said that Port of Seattle needs an additional permit if it wants to lease its Terminal 5 to serve as a mooring dock for Shell’s Arctic oil rig and accompanying tugs. This interpretation was generated in response to general questions DPD has received regarding a proposal to moor an exploratory drilling rig and two accompanying tugboats at the Terminal 5 facility for periods of approximately six months a year when the drilling rig

The number of first quarter global Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) fixtures has been increasing for more than five years and 2015 is no exception, a ship brokerage and marine transportation consultancy McQuilling Services reports. Approximately 542 vessels (530 in 1Q 2014) were chartered in the first three months of the year, 63% of which originated from the Arabian Gulf, the shipbroker says. Looking at supply, there has been no net fleet growth in the VLCC segment so far this

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has delivered Le Lyrial, a super luxury cruise ship, to the French cruise line Ponant (Bridgepoint Group). The ship was launched on Saturday, April 11th at Fincantieri’s Ancona shipyard. The new ship, which will fly the French flag, is the fourth sister ship following L’Austral, Le Boreal and Le Soleal, delivered respectively in May 2010, April 2011 and June 2013. As its sister ships, Le Lyrial can be compared to a mega-yacht. It is equipped with the