News

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

The UAE is planning to upgrade its Jebel Ali LNG storage facility with additional capacity, as announced by the country’s Energy Minister. “Dubai will announce [it] once they land on the capacity … but definitely it’s an upgrade from the existing 3 million tonnes,” Suhail Mohammad Faraj Al Mazroui, the Energy Minister is quoted by Gulf News a saying. However, the Minister did not disclose further details on the amount of capacity in consideration or whether the capacity upgrade will

On 26 March, the Stena Germanica, the world’s first methanol powered ferry, re-entered service after a couple of months’ intermission. To mark the occasion two inauguration ceremonies were held, one on Friday the 27th in Kiel and the second one today in Gothenburg. “We are very enthusiastic about methanol’s possibilities and it has the potential to be the maritime fuel of the future. We want to pursue change and development in the shipping sector and, with the Stena Germanica, our