The sulfur regulation from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that came into force on 1 January 2020 took the center stage in the shipping industry at outset of the new decade. Four months on, the spotlights have turned to the coronavirus and the OPEC+ oil price war.The outlook for global economic growth remains bleak as the world is faced with the largest recession since the Great
The coronavirus outbreak has affected all aspects of the shipping industry, lowering, if not wiping out, demand growth prospects for the year across all segments. The outbreak has also affected fleet development, says shipping association BIMCO.Contracting activity has fallen, demolition activity, which had been high
If one ever needed proof that, no matter how dire the situation, there is always a silver lining, look no further than the crude tanker market, which has seen it day rates skyrocket in the face of a global pandemic that has effectively ground world commerce to a crawl.As is the case with other gravity defying business phenomena, geopolitics is a central factor
Even before the effects of the coronavirus, the ‘Phase One’ agreement between China and the US failed to boost volumes of the implicated goods in January. In fact, exports of the manufactured, agricultural and energy goods included in the deal were down 26% from January 2017, which serves as the base year for the agreement.
For several months last year, a steady stream of ships was observed dredging sand in a North Korean bay then transporting it to China, a Washington-based think-tank said on Wednesday.The extraction of sand from North Korea to China would violate a 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibits North Korea from “supplying, selling, or transferring sand”
Salvors are continuing work to remove the wreck of a South Korean car carrier vessel that ran aground and overturned near Brunswick, Ga. in September 2019.Last week, unified command contractors started driving the first of 70-80 piles that will be used to hold an environmental protection barrier (EPB) in place around the MV Golden Ray wreck in St.
Norway's national economic crime unit raided the local office of international shipping company Teekay Offshore this week on suspicion of illegally exporting waste, the agency, known as Okokrim, said on Thursday.In recent years, courts in Europe using tougher regulations have fined shipping companies for transporting hazardous waste for disposal in cases that have added to complexities for
The final quarter of 2019 marked a massive decline of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) sales, as the industry transitioned into compliance of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) 2020 Sulphur Cap (IMO 2020). In Singapore, the world’s largest bunkering hub, the bunker sale landscape saw significant change as the sale of high-sulphur fuel oil dropped tremendously in a matter of months.
Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) delivered the 6000m3 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) Sanderus to Jan De Nul Group.The Ultra-Low Emission vessel (ULEv) is the fourth dredger that Keppel O&M has delivered to Jan De Nul Group.According to a press release from the shipbuilder, this follows the delivery of three 3500m3 TSHDs earlier this year
As autonomy gains a foothold in the maritime world, dredging appears next in line to transition to operations without direct human control.A new design concept unveiled by a prominent Dutch ship design and engineering company aims to deliver major power savings and a larger working window for port maintenance dredging operations.
Underwater vehicles communicate, make decisions, and work as a teamThe NATO Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia, Italy, is combining smarts and muscle to solve a complex warfighting challenge: finding and destroying mines in the murky waters of the littoral.CMRE has developed experimental unmanned vehicles for experimentation.
Dutch firm Heerema Marine Contractors and Singapore's Sembcorp Marine, on Thursday, showed off the world's largest crane vessel that can be used for the setup and decommissioning of offshore oil and gas facilities.The semi-submersible vessel, which cost Heerema about $1.5 billion, is equipped with two cranes that can reach a height of 220 metres