News

A fire broke out on board a Cambodian-flagged cargo ship Hong Yan while berthed in Kawasaki City, Japan. The fire started at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday in the cargo area of the 2,300 DWT ship, carrying a cargo of 1,500 tons of China-bound scrap metal, Kyodo News reports. According to report, the ship’s crew has been evacuated from the vessel and there have been no injuries reported. Several firefighting teams in vessels and trucks were dispatched to the scene to

Taiwanese container shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport has returned to Japanese builder Imabari Shipbuilding with an order for five more 14,000 TEU containerships. The five newbuilds are slated for delivery in 2018 and 2019 and will be chartered out to Japanese liner company Shoei Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. The order is priced at USD 625 million, with Yang Ming paying USD 125 million per vessel. Yang Ming had already ordered five 14,000 TEU boxships at Imabari in July and had

U.S. carrier and container terminal operator Matson, Inc. has taken delivery of a new 65-ton gantry crane to replace one half its size at the company’s Kodiak Terminal in Alaska. Standing more than 340 feet tall at its peak with a boom spanning 164 feet, Matson’s new crane is the largest in Alaska, capable of lifting loads up to 60 feet long and weighing up to 145,000 pounds. The crane is electrically powered crane and will use fly wheel technology

Rolls-Royce is to lead the new EUR 6.6 million Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative to produce the specification and preliminary designs for the next generation of advanced ship solutions, which could pave the way for autonomous ships. The project is funded by Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) and will bring together universities, ship designers, equipment manufacturers, and classification societies to explore the economic, social, legal, regulatory and technological factors which need to be addressed to make autonomous

Carnival Corporation & plc has revealed plans to add two more ships to its China fleet in 2016, making it the first global cruise company with six total ships based in China. The move will increase Carnival Corporation’s total capacity in China by an additional 58 percent in 2016. Carnival Corporation’s fleet of six China-based ships will include expanded offerings from its two brands in the market – Costa Cruises and Princess Cruises – that are each adding one new

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