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Protesting truckers stopped traffic on Wednesday at a Northern California port, one of the busiest in the United States, as they demonstrated against a new state labor law that makes it harder for independent truckers to operate.

Drivers picketed gates and blocked other truckers from hauling cargo in and out of the port. The protests in Oakland began on Monday and have grown larger and more disruptive with each passing day.

Late on Wednesday, Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan acknowledged protesters’ frustration with California’s “gig worker” law and warned that a prolonged shutdown would “damage all the businesses operating at the ports” and cause customers to shift cargo to rival seaports.

The protesters worry that the law, which could soon be put into effect, will impose hefty costs on them that will slash their earnings.

SSA Marine, which manages the largest terminal at the Port of Oakland in the San Francisco Bay area, closed operations on Wednesday due to the protests, which ground business at other marine terminals to a virtual halt.

SSA and Everport terminal managers sent International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) dock workers home for safety reasons, a source familiar with the situation said Wednesday.

Terminal representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new law, formally called AB5, sets tougher standards for classifying workers as independent contractors.

Trucking industry legal challenges delayed enactment of the law for more than two years, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case on June 30, clearing the way for it to go forward.

Backers, including the Teamsters and the ILWU, say AB5 aims to clamp down on labor abuses and push companies to hire drivers as employees – which would enable them to join unions and collectively bargain with employers.

Some 5,000 truckers work at the Oakland port, which is a major hub for agricultural exports including almonds, rice and wine.

The protests in Oakland followed actions last week at the nation’s top two seaports, at Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California.

The three California ports handle about half of the nation’s container cargo volume. The trucker protests come as the ILWU, which represents dock workers at those and other U.S. West Coast ports, is in high-stakes contract talks with terminal operators that employ them.

Protest organizers say their actions will continue until they get an audience with Governor Gavin Newsom, who did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

On Monday, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development said: “Now that the federal courts have rejected the trucking industry’s appeals, it’s time to move forward.”

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/protests-halt-cargo-movement-port-oakland-498217

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index rose on Thursday as an uptick in rates for smaller panamax and supramax vessels offset weakness in the capesize segment.

The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, was up 5 points, or 0.24%, at 2,118 points, snapping two sessions of losses.

The capesize index fell for the third straight session, losing 66 points, or 2.4%, to 2,653 points.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down by $553 at $21,999.

Dalian and Singapore iron ore futures dropped as investors shifted their focus back to gloomy China demand outlook after a short-lived boost from the latest government rhetoric on economic stimulus.

The panamax index was up 79 points, or 4%, at a nine-day high of 2,051 points.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, increased by $709 to $18,455.

German national railways Deutsche Bahn said it plans to start freight train services to carry Ukrainian grain exports to German ports for loading on ships.

However, the International Grains Council trimmed its forecast for 2022/23 global corn output, largely driven by drought stress in the European Union.

The supramax index rose by 16 points to 2,073 points, its highest since July 13.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/higher-rates-smaller-vessels-lift-baltic-498215

Remote-controlled cameras will take over responsibility from U.S.-led peacekeepers for ensuring international shipping retains freedom of access to the Gulf of Aqaba, whose coastline is shared by Israel and three Arab nations, officials said.

Tiran island, which lies in the straits of the same name at the mouth of the gulf, was handed to Saudi Arabia from Egypt along with next-door Sanafir island in 2017.

During a visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the tiny Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) contingent on Tiran would depart.

The MFO monitors a 1979 U.S.-brokered peace accord between Egypt and Israel, which deployed peacekeepers across the demilitarized Sinai and – to ensure free movement in and out of the Gulf of Aqaba – atop Tiran.

The Straits of Tiran have a checkered history: Egypt blockaded them in May 1967, among triggers for its war with Israel the next month. The countries fought another war in the Sinai in 1973.

Any MFO redeployment from the island requires Egyptian, U.S. and Israeli agreement. None of those countries, nor the MFO, has publicly discussed when the contingent will leave nor what might follow.

But an official from one of the countries told Reuters: “The peacekeepers will be replaced by a camera-based system.”

Two officials from another of the countries said cameras already in place at an MFO base in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 4 km (2.5 miles) across the Straits of Tiran from the now Saudi-held islands, would be upgraded for the task.

A diplomatic source who has visited Tiran said the MFO had cameras there as well. Should such cameras be kept and operated, it could entail security coordination between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which have no formal ties.

A person in Washington familiar with the matter said the agreement called for cameras to be placed at the contingent’s existing facilities, leaving open the possibility of both Sharm el-Sheikh and Tiran as placement sites.

“It was important to Israel that as part of this process there be no compromising the commitment Israel got from Egypt, back with the peace deal, most importantly regarding freedom of shipping,” said Michael Herzog, Israeli ambassador to the United States.

“This matter has been addressed,” he told Tel Aviv radio station 102 FM.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/cameras-replace-peacekeepers-strategic-498216

Analyst Ben Nolan, from brokers Stifel, presented the big picture, in a report titled, “Economic Uncertainty Means Picking Up Spots in Shipping, but There are Still Spots to Pick.”

Broadly, as explained by Stifel and other analysts who follow shipping “names”, container shares have eased on fears of recession and the retreat of “supply chain disruption” from the front pages.

Dry bulk small sizes have continued to benefit from moves of diverse minor bulks, with a hoped for recovery in China looming on the horizon. Small and mid-sized tankers have benefited from longer voyages as the Ukraine war jolted flows of refined products, while the larger sizes are potentially also seeing shifts and the increased ton-miles from longer voyages.

Size matters

Size of companies clearly matters, in attracting followings of institutional investors, where companies with market values of $2bn upwards moving into the “Mid-cap” category.

In the dry bulk realm, Star Bulk Carriers (Nasdaq: SBLK) has been one of the top picks of analysts including Ben Nolan, but also Amit Mehrotra, who follows transport stocks at Deutsche Bank. SBLK has a “market cap” of roughly $2.5bn at recent prices, down from $3.3bn in mid-June, prior to early July’s “Bloody Friday” for shipping shares), and attracts both individual and institutions with its, recently, out-sized dividends.

In recent coverage, Mehrotra has emphasized that SBLK will benefit from the “scrubber spread”; at high fuel prices, the ability of its vessels to burn lower cost fuels will enable charterers to pay more for Star Bulk’s vessels. The increased cash flow, in turn, could fuel continued hefty dividend payments to shareholders – a major attraction to holders.

Tanker consolidation

On the tanker side, the upcoming combination of Frontline (NYSE: FRO) with Euronav (NYSE: EURN) will create a true “Mid-cap” company, with a company announcement of the merger pointing to: “an anticipated market capitalisation of more than $4bn” for the merged entity. Analyst Jon Chappell, from Evercore, is a big proponent of tanker shares. He wrote in a late June report, “while some were attracted to big dividends as that cycle stabilizes at better-than-average levels, the rise of the tanker phoenix has provided opportunities for much stronger relative returns.”

Omar Nokta, a pre-eminent shipping equity analyst, who recently joined Jefferies, issued his first report. He tells investing clients: ” We are launching coverage of the maritime shipping industry and initiating on 24 US-listed companies. We view those with modern fleets as well-positioned to capture higher, out-sized earnings going forward, and they are also one-step ahead as the industry prepares for stricter regulations.” Among his top picks are SBLK, and also drybulk peers Eagle Bulk (Nasdaq: EGLE) and Genco Shipping (NYSE: GNK).

Smaller cap stocks

Still, there is a place for smaller capitalisation shipping stocks- followed by individual investors often focused on “momentum” – trading on rapid price moves. Indeed following a recent emerging trend, listed company drybulk owner Seanergy Maritime (Nasdaq: SHIP) spun off the ownership company for one of its Capesizes into a newly listed vehicle called United Maritime Corporation (Nasdaq: USEA). In recent months, Stealth Gas (Nasdaq: GASS) and Diana Shipping ( NYSE: DSX) have spun off vessels to form new entities Imperial Petroleum (Nasdaq: IMPP) and OceanPal (Nasdaq: OP), respectively.

Following the spin-off of USEA shares to holders of SHIP and commencement of trading in early July, USEA then announced plans to raise up to $40m, or as little as $10m, in a follow-on deal in mid-July. The 20 July prospectus shows that each unit (priced at $3.25) includes one share and one warrant, good for five years, to buy additional shares. Proceeds could be used to purchase additional vessels.

Source:https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/finance-insurance/analysts-top-picks-us-listed-shipping-stocks

Building on NAPA’s experience with the development and deployment of its Emergency Computer, this new framework is a significant development as it enables risk to be calculated more accurately from actual conditions. This could lead to significant improvements for passenger vessel safety, as lessons from the past have shown how important risk awareness can be to saving lives.

History has shown that the way watertight doors are operated on board can make a tremendous difference on ship safety in case of an accident. When a ferry collided with a cargo vessel off the coast of Sweden in 2004, the initial collision damage was limited to a single watertight compartment – but due to several open doors, flooding progressed to other compartments and water reached the engine room, putting the vessel at risk of sinking. This is a striking example of how open doors in watertight bulkheads can significantly increase the vulnerability of a ship when an incident such as a collision or grounding occurs, potentially endangering ship stability.

Past incidents have also demonstrated that the rapid closure of open watertight doors in case of an incident may not always be possible. For example, when a RoRo ship ran aground in Canada in 2006, a door became jammed with debris after the collision and therefore could not be closed. The vessel sank, and two passengers lost their lives in the accident.

A clear lesson learned from the past is that keeping watertight doors open for longer than necessary for the safe passage of crew can compromise the integrity of the ship. Aware of this fact, several shipping and insurance companies offer training to their crews on the safe operation of watertight doors. However, this is one of many important considerations, which also include human factors such as the mental workload of a ship’s navigator in crowded waterways or low visibility. Therefore, the evaluation of risk levels must include an assessment of how high workload for the crews increases navigational risk, which can ultimately lead to an accident in a given traffic and environmental situation.

Therefore, to understand the different complex factors involved and how they interact, we can think of the risk as the combination of two dimensions: a ship’s susceptibility to having an accident and its vulnerability to flooding as a result.

Susceptibility and vulnerability

A ship’s susceptibility consists in the likelihood of an accident and its potential consequences, depending on the waterway, traffic density, and environmental complexities. Vulnerability, on the other hand, relates to a vessel’s ability to withstand the effects of flooding, the main component of which is the effect of open watertight doors on damage stability.

Currently, these two elements are often treated separately, or the metrics don’t allow for the active control of the risks. SOLAS has evolved, in part as a result of past incidents, but the current IMO framework (Formal Safety Assessment) remains inadequate, with problematic definitions and a lack of precise quantification of the probabilities and consequences. The classical approach, a probabilistic model based on proximity indicators (such as distance and time to the closest point of approach), is insufficient.

We need a new approach that monitors the safety of a ship in a proactive manner, accounting for relevant and observable factors such as the status of watertight doors, navigator workload, nearby maritime traffic and bathymetry.

NAPA, in partnership with researchers from academia, set to work on the task several years ago. We have now developed a new framework for the onboard assessment and monitoring of flooding risk that can be used by both crew and shoreside personnel to make day-to-day operations safer and emergency response more effective.

How this works in practice

The new flooding risk framework is based on the actual operational conditions, and it can rapidly evaluate a ship’s vulnerability to flooding for any combination of open or closed watertight doors. It accounts for measurable risk-affecting factors influencing an accident and its aftermath, using data on surrounding maritime traffic and bathymetry. Additional pre-calculated and vessel-specific damage stability risks enable rapid flooding risk assessment.

Rather than determining the risk purely as a mathematical probability, the framework defines both susceptibility and vulnerability in a way that informs stakeholders on the available decisions that can be taken to reduce risk while also accounting for inherent uncertainties.

Risk framework for ship susceptibility and vulnerability

A susceptibility index distinguishes dangerous situations from moderately hazardous and non-hazardous ones, based on factors such as the complexity of the waterways, the traffic and the environment. This aligns with onboard navigational practices where the navigator should detect and avoid collision situations.

A vulnerability index estimates the decrease in survivability of the ship due to open watertight doors and factors such as sea state. It distinguishes between various accident scenarios by assigning them a level ranging from low, moderate, high and very high. Although a qualitative result, it is based on extensive computations.

Bringing these two indexes together, a colour-coding system is used to distinguish among risk levels and to foster clear communication in an emergency situation. For good visibility conditions, the highest risk is when a ship is exposed to hazardous encounters with other ships or land, and the vulnerability is also high or very high if numerous watertight doors are open. At the other end of the scale, a ship faces low risk when it is safe from hazardous situations and few, if any, doors are open.

Color coding for ship vulnerability level

In regular ship operations, a very high risk (colour code: black) should be avoided because it leaves little or no room for improvement in case of an accident. The bridge team should not allow such situations to develop. A moderate risk (colour code: yellow) is acceptable for longer periods only when it is dictated by the operational environment or when maintenance work requires open watertight doors. Long periods of high-risk situations should always be reviewed afterwards with the aim of improving practices to avoid such situations in the future.

Managing risk proactively

NAPA Emergency Computer for vulnerability monitoring

Building on existing NAPA solutions including NAPA Emergency Computer and Status Board and NAPA Fleet Intelligence, the new framework should be seen as an operational guidance tool for the crew, allowing them to take proactive risk mitigation actions that will reduce susceptibility, vulnerability, or both. This dynamic safety barrier increases the crew’s situational awareness and ship safety, as being aware of risks makes you act on minimizing them.

Cloud-based real time monitoring of flooding risk

A cloud-based solution enables the real-time monitoring of the flooding risk for a fleet, and feedback from shore-based experts can be used to improve practices onboard.

The required input data for the framework (actual loading condition, watertight door status, AIS data for nearby ships, bathymetry, and weather now-case) is already available through various systems, but not yet integrated into a single platform for risk monitoring. As most of the required input data is readily available from the automated systems on board, we believe that our new framework for the onboard assessment and monitoring of flooding risk could easily be installed on board the existing fleet.

It is important that passenger ship operators, onboard and shoreside, understand the importance of continuously and proactively monitoring the flooding risk factors of a ship, to enhance safety throughout the voyage at sea. In our next blog, we will demonstrate the power of the new framework to help them do this through practical case studies.

Source: https://maritime-professionals.com/how-vulnerable-is-your-vessel-to-flooding/

Fundamental changes in long-established dry bulk movements provide a timely barometer of shifting trade patterns, presenters at a S&P Global Commodity Insights webinar revealed earlier this week.

Shriram Sivaramakrishnan, managing editor APAC Dry Bulk Freight Market, outlined some of the challenges and opportunities faced by dry bulk operators. Against strong headwinds including the economic impact of the pandemic, rampant inflation, climbing interest rates and the increasing cost of capital, there were mixed signals across the sector, he said.

Europe’s growing energy crisis had led to an increase in European coal imports from the US and other long-haul exporters, with planned coal-fired power plant shutdowns being delayed or reversed. This has provided some support for the Capesize sector, he said, which had been hit by lower iron ore imports in China.

However, European demand for coal had resulted in more Capesize cargoes and a significant number of open Capes in the north Atlantic. This peaked in late April and May but is still evident, he said, and the Capesize sector remains under some pressure.

Rates in the supramax sector had recovered quickly following a decline over the first quarter, partly a result of Indonesia’s coal export ban. When it was lifted, a scramble for supramax tonnage was heightened by higher coal prices and a move to smaller cargo consignments. Meanwhile, a significant number of panamax vessels hit by the Indonesian coal ban ballasted from the Pacific to Brazil to service an earlier-than-usual grain harvest.

Following the steep decline in grain exports from Ukraine and Russia, Brazil and China had signed a four million tonne deal for 2022, following only a couple of cargoes last year. Much higher prices would have an impact on animal feed, however, ultimately filtering through to higher meat and food prices, Sivaramakrishnan warned.

Freight Analytics Lead, Andrew Scorer, noted that the many uncertainties in today’s dry bulk sector raise the challenges of forecasting. The spiralling cost of fuel was now a major concern for ship operators who were aiming to minimise ballast hauls and cut ship speeds, he said. They would also choose the cheapest possible fuel, he said, opting for very low sulphur fuel oil over LNG for dual-fuelled ships amid spiralling gas prices.

Meanwhile, imminent carbon efficiency regulations pose serious questions for operators. With a range of possible fuels under development, the technology options generate more uncertainty and could well be a constraint on bulk carrier contracting. The orderbook represents less than 7% of the existing fleet.

Fuel choice might depend on geographical ship deployment in the future, he said, but availability is not there today. Although the development of alternative fuels will inevitably continue, the analysts do not expect many changes in the overall marine fuel picture by 2030.

Source: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/dry-cargo/mixed-signals-dry-bulk-amid-turbulent-geopolitics

Speaking at a webinar hosted by Container xChange on the subject Demurrage and Detention trends in 2022—and how to navigate them, analysts shared their container market outlooks and predictions for demurrage and detention costs going forwards.

“We’ve started to see shippers really struggle with these increasing fees for containers that have been stuck in port and returned late, a situation that for many shippers is really beyond their control,” said George Griffiths – Editor, Global Container Freight, S&P Global Commodity Insights.

“Many, many carriers and operators have introduced strict free time parameters, and as a result these charges for delays have been levied against the shippers. They’ve become a really significant cost centre for shippers. Previously, this was a transient cost, people didn’t really look at it. People didn’t really pay that much attention to demurrage and detention.”

The issue has become thorny as free days limits were cut and detention and demurrage costs rocketed to around $100 per day in the wake of the pandemic, said Griffiths.

“2021 saw a major major spike in these charges,” said Candice Buckle, Content Marketing Manager, Container xChange, sharing data from the company’s annual Demurrage and Detention benchmark report.

“In fact, the global average increase was 39% for standard containers alone… the charges for 20 distribution centres alone doubled in 2021. If we look at what the state is today in 2022, you’ll see that in a lot of areas the trend in 2022 is decreasing slightly. For some outlier ports, like Long Beach and Los Angeles and Shanghai, they actually increased so that that ended up with the value in 2022 still being higher than pre-pandemic value by 12%. So even today, the spike is still pretty pretty much there,” said Buckle.

Chantal McRoberts, Head of Advisory, Drewry Supply Chain Advisors explained the root of rising detention and demurrage charges.

“It’s disruption, disruption, disruption, driving an increase in detention and demurrage charges. If there’s a shortage of drivers, a shortage of physical people and vehicles to get the containers into the ports and out of the ports, it consequently increases the DND charges,” said McRoberts.

“I spend most of my time these days providing therapy to shippers, whether it be freight rates or detention and demurrage. Everybody is focusing on these cost items and unfortunately, if you’re a shipper right now, your CFO is looking at all the bills and invoices coming in and asking ‘why am I paying for this?’”

Looking ahead, the panel did not have much good news for shippers hoping for respite in the medium term.

“These are heavily congested ports and terminals, and they have been for a very long time. We’re tracking this to AIS data at Drewry and everything is still in the red. Nothing is moving into the amber and if it is, it’s at the upper end of the amber still about to tip into the red side. We’re seeing that still continuing at the large US ports,” said McRoberts.

While forecasting a softening in total detention and demurrage costs, McRoberts warned that if US port congestion continues and spills into secondary ports, costs will rise. The scenario is very location specific, she said.

On the freight rate side, both Griffiths and McRoberts forecast spot rates continuing to fall, but not to anything like pre-pandemic levels.

Asked how he expects the peak season to play out this year, Griffiths’ answer was straight forward. “I would just say – what peak season? We always say that rates go up quite a lot in this time of year but they’re just not at the moment,” he said.

Even with a slight easing in demand and vessels on voided sailings being used to clear up issues, the task of unravelling the disruption is massive.

“I firmly believe if nobody wants to ship anything on a container in the next six months, we still wouldn’t fix the issues that we’ve got in the market at this point. The market is really snarled up, and it’s gonna take a lot of effort to fix it,” said Griffiths.

Moderator Christian Roeloffs, Co-founder and CEO, Container xChange, added: “We’ve always compared it to a traffic jam. If there’s an accident and a traffic jam forms, even if the accident is cleared up it still takes a very, very long time for traffic to actually flow again… it’s not the case that you just resolve the blockage and then everything flows.”

McRoberts agreed that peak season was not going to be usual this year, “because of the massive inventory levels that have been building up. I think if you speak to a lot of shippers right now, they’ve got a lot in their warehouse that they need to move and demand is falling. So they’re feeling a little reticent about all of that,” she said.

Source: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/containers/peak-season-what-peak-season

NYK revised its recurring profit forecast for the first half its financial year, 1 April 2022 – 30 September 2022, to JPY720bn ($5.19bn) from JPY440bn previously. Forecast revenues for the period were also upped to JPY1.3trn from JPY1.16trn previously.

For the full year ended 31 March 2023 NYK revised its recurring profit forecast JPY1.04trn up from JPY760bn previously, while the revenue forecast increased to JPY2.5trn from JPY2.3trn previously.

Giving the reason for the revised forecast NYK said it had previously expected a decline in demand due to Chinese lockdowns and war by Russia in Ukraine, with liner cargo and spot rates expected to decline.

However, amid ongoing supply chain disruptions, we expect the profit of our equity method affiliate Ocean Network Express (ONE) to exceed expectations due to the continuing favorable market conditions resulting from robust shipping demand and other factors,” the company said.

It is similar picture for compatriot MOL. For the first half of the year financial year 1 April 2022 – 30 September 2022 it has revised up its net profit forecast to JPY500bn from JPY350bn previously, with revenues for the period upped to JPY770bn from JPY695bn previously.

For the full year ended 31 March 2023 it has increased its net profit forecast to JPY710bn from JPY525bn previously, while revenue expectations have increased to JPY1.47trn from JPY1.35trn previously.

Explaining the revision MOL said: “At Ocean Network Express (ONE) the company’s equity-method affiliate that operates containership business, cargo movements and spot freight rates are both exceeding the Company’s expectation at the time of the previous announcement on April 28th, 2022.”

It also noted “solid” dry bulk and car carrier markets.

Source: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/containers/mol-and-nyk-profit-forecasts

The ONE Competence, deployed on ONE’s PS3 service connecting the US West Coast with ports across Asia, has been delayed for around two weeks after positive Covid-19 cases were detected prior to berthing Pusan.

ONE said it had taken the necessary measures to enable the vessel to proceed with cargo operations in Pusan on 21 July.

However, the issue is the next westbound port of call is Shanghai, where strict Covid controls are in place, and the company said it was working to ensure the vessel meets required Covid regulations to continue its westbound voyage. The ONE Competence is now expected to berth in Shanghai on or around 5 August. According to the PS3 schedule published by the line there are normally just two days between Pusan and Shanghai calls on the service (see service map below story)

“Please be assured that we are closely monitoring the situation and utmost efforts are in place to safeguard the health and well-being of all seafarers onboard during the pandemic,” ONE said in customer advisory.

The delay illustrates the problem ship operators are facing with various Omicron sub-variants spreading rapidly around the world meaning that avoiding cases among ship’s crew is virtually impossible. However, China is continuing strict zero-policies and as a result crew cases can seriously impact voyages and schedules in an already stretched supply chain.

The fear among some shipowners and operators of Covid cases among crew has had a knock effect of seafarers being continued to be denied shore leave even at ports where it is now allowed.

Source: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/containers/one-vessel-delayed-covid-supply-chain-impact-continues

St. Johns Ship Building was recently acquired by Americraft Marine Group, a maritime subsidiary of the US-headquartered privately-owned business group, the Libra Group which has 45 years of maritime heritage through its original subsidiary Lomar.

The event marked the first in a series of vessels under construction at St. Johns for Windea, a partnership of Hornblower Wind and MidOcean Wind, that will go into service at the Vineyard Wind I construction project near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

“We could not be happier to have Hornblower and their partners return to St. Johns Ship Building to build the vessels that will help America move closer towards energy independence and a cleaner, healthier environment for generations to come,” said Ed Sheets, executive vice president and director of business strategy for Americraft Marine Group.

The construction of this series of Incat-designed vessels also signals the official launch of St. Johns Ship Building’s new focus on dedicated high-speed aluminum vessel production. The Incat 30 is a 30-metre crew transport vehicle with a max speed of 29 knots and made of marine-grade aluminium.

The groundwork for this focus on supporting the construction of Jones Act-compliant CTVs was laid more than two years ago through multiple facility modifications and the acquisition of new production equipment for processing of non-ferrous metals and composite materials.

“Our efforts are reinforcing the industrial strength of US shipbuilding, and we remain prepared to construct and repair almost all of the various vessel types that will be required to support the future of this country’s offshore wind development needs,” added Ed Sheets, executive vice president and director of business strategy for Americraft Marine Group.

Source: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/shipyards/keel-laying-jones-act-compliant-crew-transfer-vessel

Protests Halt Cargo Movement at Port of Oakland

Higher Rates for Smaller Vessels Lift Baltic Dry Index

Cameras to Replace Peacekeepers at Strategic Red Sea Strait

Analyst’s top picks of US-listed shipping stocks

Size matters

Tanker consolidation

Smaller cap stocks

How vulnerable is your vessel to flooding?

Mixed signals for dry bulk amid turbulent geopolitics

Peak season? What peak season?

MOL and NYK up profit forecasts

ONE vessel delayed as Covid supply chain impact continues

Keel laying for Jones Act compliant crew transfer vessel

Keeping Your IHM Up-to-Date: What Ship-Operators Must Know in 2025

This Week in Maritime Safety & Environment: Key Developments Every Shipowner Should Know

Navigating Crew Well-Being: Work & Rest Hours on Board and How “CrewExpress” Elevates Compliance

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