NEVE ILAN, IsraelJune 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — SIXAI, founded by Israeli entrepreneur Ran Poliakine, invested 4 million US$ in Captain’s Eye, which developed an advanced safety, security and management system that identifies and alerts real-time events on ships.

Headquartered in Haifa, Israel, Captain’s Eye was founded in 2020 by Col. (Res.) Uri Ben-Dor and Col. (Res.) Doron Oizerovich. The company developed a holistic AI-based system that detects unusual events on ships in real time, thus preventing property, physical and financial damage that might occur at sea. The system is able to identify and alert operative, safety and security issues in all types of vessels, such as smoke and leakages, security breaches, unsafe crew behavior or anomalies.

The system is based on an infrastructure of cameras covering the critical areas in the vessel and monitors it automatically 24/7 in order to detect anomalies in accordance with predefined parameters. The company has a strategic partnership with XT Shipping, signed agreements with several global shipping companies, and a pilot at the Ashdod Port in Israel.

This strategic investment follows SIXAI’s signing a partnership agreement with the Israeli Aerospace Industries in October 2021 to convert military technologies from certain segments to commercial deployments to address civil market needs and introduce game-changing solutions that could potentially solve pressing global challenges.

SIXAI concurrently continues to develop its operations in Japan in partnership with the Japanese automotive giant, Musashi Seimitsu (TYO:7220). Together the companies operate MusashiAI, which developed the first AI-based robot for gear quality inspection for the automotive industry and 634AI, which developed the ‘Maestro’ – a platform controlling all traffic on the entire production floor, helping organizations improve their efficiency at a low operational cost without uncompromising safety standards.

Uri Ben-Dor, Captain’s Eye’s CEO commented: “Our partnership with SIXAI is the right thing at the right time for Captain’s Eye. We welcome SIXAI’s decision to join the company as a strategic investor. The investment will enable us to expand our activity to additional markets and offer our unique technology to additional segments in the maritime world. Our pilot with Ashdod Port proves that our system is extremely relevant to various customers in their effort to prevent accidents and severe environmental pollution.”

Ran Poliakine, SIXAI’s Founder, commented: “We are pleased to announce today the completion of our strategic investment in Captain’s Eye. The company’s platform and expert team are a significant addition to SIXAI’s AI-based service and product offering, and opens new and relevant markets to SIXAI, enabling us to provide our global partners with solutions to their burning needs.”

SOURCE SIXAI


Up to 14 people have died and more than 250 injured yesterday after a container exploded as it was being loaded at the general cargo terminal in the port of Aqaba, in Jordan.

The ship thought to be the 9,400dwt Forest 6 general cargo vessel, was loading a container of 25-30 tonnes of chlorine using a quay crane at around 4.18pm local time when wires snapped, the container dropped onto the deck and exploded, spreading toxic gas around the port and vicinity.

Local beaches were closed and civil defence forces and medical teams arrived at the scene of the accident wearing gas masks.

Reuters reported that Jordan’s prime minister, Bisher al-Khasawneh, arrived at Aqaba and visited some of the injured in hospital.

Mr Al-Khasawneh “also formed an investigation team chaired by the interior minister,” said the news agency.

Chlorine is a yellow-green gas used as a disinfectant and in industrial processes and can react with water. It is highly toxic and was used during World War One as a weapon.

Source: https://theloadstar.com/deaths-in-aqaba-port-explosion-after-crane-drops-container-carrying-chlorine/


Norway-based open hatch and conventional bulk carrier operator G2 Ocean has signed with StormGeo for weather routing and voyage performance services, using the BonVoyage System (BVS) and s-Insight platform for route optimisation.

G2 Ocean covers 37 trade lanes and operates more than 120 vessels, transporting wood pulp and other forest products, aluminium, steel, granite, and industrial minerals.

“Through the s-Insight platform, we gain good insight into current and historical voyage routing and performance, which help us make better decisions,” said Trond Aga Haug, Fleet Performance Manager at G2 Ocean.

“We have installed the BonVoyage System (BVS) onboard our vessels. This tool gives our crew high-quality and accurate weather maps at their fingertips – assisting the master and officers in making good routing decisions and safeguarding the vessel, crew, and cargo.”

s-Insight is a cloud-based self-service web portal providing onboard and onshore validation of ship-to-shore data streams, offering G2 Ocean an overview of its entire fleet with information on vessel location, weather conditions, speed, and fuel consumption.

BVS offers route optimisation, voyage planning, and weather forecasting support to optimise routes, monitor weather conditions, and plan for optimal navigation.

“StormGeo is very excited to have G2 Ocean onboard and provide actionable decision support with our advanced tools and route analysis experts,” said Rolf Reksten, VP of Route Advisory Services at StormGeo.

“We have deep experience in routing bulk carriers and offer a future-proof solution that not only provides weather routing and fleet performance services but also lays the foundation for an environmentally compliant operation. We look forward to being G2 Ocean’s partner in the digital future of shipping.”

Source: https://smartmaritimenetwork.com/2022/06/28/g2-ocean-signs-with-stormgeo-for-voyage-optimisation/


Lloyd’s Register has given Approval in Principle to ACUA Ocean, a UK-based developer of marine autonomous surface ships, for its hydrogen system, control engineering system, and electrical power distribution systems on the world’s first zero-emission hydrogen-powered MASS.

In March 2022, Factory Acceptance Testing was conducted on the prototype systems as part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, which was financed by the Department for Transport and delivered in cooperation with Innovate UK.

ACUA has been working under a Connected Places Catapult Transport Research Innovation Grant (TRIG) to automate the onboard hydrogen systems, giving both improved safety and decision-making processes.

John Kecsmar, a prominent naval architect and SWATH designer for Ad Hoc Marine Designs Ltd., has designed ACUA Ocean’s new H-USV. The vessel is propelled by 6,000 liters of liquid hydrogen, resulting in greater power, dependability, and endurance, and fulfilling the UK Maritime Strategy’s aim to zero-emission propulsion by 2025.

The vessel has a high level of redundancy at sea and was built to operate in open ocean conditions in collaboration with Lloyd’s Register and industry regulators. The ACUA Ocean vessel provides a robust platform for the deployment of sensors and payloads for a variety of ocean monitoring and protection applications.

Commenting on the announcement, ACUA CEO Neil Tinmouth said, “Working with Lloyd’s Register and Ad Hoc Marine Designs has enabled us to ensure the vessel aligns with regulatory standards and operational requirements. As the adoption of net-zero propulsion systems accelerates so we see a clear strategic advantage as the first to market.”

Source: https://energynews.biz/british-startup-unveils-first-hydrogen-powered-autonomous-ship/


The Global Autonomous Ships Market is showing positive signs of growth. With the current COVID-19 pandemic scenario, new business opportunities are sprouting in the market. Organizations must explore new markets to expand their business globally and locally. For getting a deeper understanding of the emerging trends, the Global Autonomous Ships Market report showcases various factors that drive the economy worldwide. Moreover, the companies will get to know the market landscape for the next decade 2020-2025.

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The U.S. will be buying a total of 23 combat / patrol boats from Louisiana-based builder Metal Shark for delivery to Ukraine, where they will be used to defend coastlines and waterways.

Six of these Metal Shark units were announced by the White House last week as part of a $450 million assistance package. The package includes 12 other patrol boats from existing U.S. inventory, including two 35′ Small Unit Riverine Craft (SURC) and ten 34′ Sea Ark patrol boats. The Sea Ark model is being phased out in favor of a Metal Shark 40′ model in U.S. Navy service, according to Sea Power.

All of the boat transfers are intended for riverine patrol and combat duty, a senior U.S. official told USNI News.

Metal Shark also has an additional 17 more aluminum-hulled vessels for Ukraine under construction, all in the range of 36-38 feet. They are all popular designs for military/patrol applications and have a history of service for other clients. The 36′ Fearless is a center-console interceptor designed for speed, and the 38′ Dauntless is a patrol boat designed as a versatile working platform for multiple missions.

All of these hulls were already in the works for long-term U.S. assistance to Ukraine, and a portion of the package was previously announced in January. However, the delivery timeline has been accelerated.

“Metal Shark has been working closely with the US Embassy in Kiev since 2019 to develop the strategy now being implemented to support Ukraine’s maritime capabilities, so it is fulfilling to see that the vessels will arrive when they are most needed,” said Henry Irizarry, Metal Shark’s Vice President of International Business Development. “Metal Shark provides next-generation, proven platforms to partner nations, but most importantly, we create long term partnerships with end users to train boat crews and provide seamless technical support.”

Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/metal-shark-to-supply-23-combat-boats-to-ukraine


Two start-up cruise lines are reporting that they have been able to work around challenges created by the Russian sanctions. Both Swan Hellenic and Havlia Kystruten had financed their new ships with the Russian-owned GTLK, which in April was included on the growing list of sanctioned companies by European and American officials.

Helsinki Shipyard announced today that it has declared Swan Hellenic the winner of a tender auction staged by the shipyard to determine the ownership of the recently completed second expedition cruise ship Newbuild 517 built to Swan Hellenic’s specifications. The keel of the 370-foot cruise ship was laid down in December 2020 in Helsinki and the ship was ready for delivery when the sanctions intervened.

GTLK, which was due to take delivery of the cruise ship, was unable to complete the handover due to the sanctions. Helsinki Shipyard then announced under the terms of the contract, that they were going to place the cruise ship up for sale accepting bids through last Friday, June 24.

Swan Hellenic found itself in the unusual position of having to bid for its ship which is due to sail on its maiden voyage in just over a month’s time. They reported however that they were the priority bidder and today the shipyard said it had reviewed the bids and declared Swan Hellenic the winner. The cruise line said as soon as registration is completed with the Bahamas it will take delivery of the SH Vega and the maiden voyage will proceed as planned on July 20 from Tromsø, Norway.

In the spring, Swan Hellenic had announced that it was exercising the purchase rights under its charter for its ships from GTLK. The company’s first cruise ship, SH Mineva, however, was laid up in South America instead of repositioning for planned summer cruises in the Arctic. The cruise line cited a softening of demand due to the geopolitical situation, travel restrictions due to COVID-19, and its need to complete the purchase of the ship.

Havila found itself also caught in a similar situation. The first of the company’s four cruise ships, Havila Capella, had to be laid up in April after the sanctions were announced and its insurers canceled the general liability coverage for the ship. The cruise line reported it was seeking a solution to refinance and went to court in Norway and the UK seeking to win control of their first ship.

After being laid up for 11 weeks, Havila Capella will resume its Norwegian coastal voyages on June 28. The company reported that it recently won a court order in Norway to arrest the ship with forced use for up to two years. Last week, they were able to resolve the insurance issues and received the necessary certificates from the Norwegian Maritime Directorate to resume operations of the Havila Capella.

The cruise lines, however, continue to have challenges from the sanctions as they also seek to refinance the ownership of the vessels. Under the sanctions, they are not permitted to hand over monies to GTLK as a sanctioned entity. Havila had proposed putting the proceeds into a blocked account which GTLK could access when the sanctions ended. GTLK, however, reportedly rejected that option continuing to seek immediate payment for the ships.

Both Swan Hellenic and Havila also have additional cruise ships under construction that would have been covered under the original financing arrangement. Havila reported that the UK court ordered that the shipyard could not take any actions on Havila’s two additional cruise ships due for delivery in late 2022 without the line’s approval. Helsinki Shipyard is also building a third, larger cruise ship for Swan Hellenic due for delivery at the end of 2022.
Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/swan-hellenic-and-havila-make-progress-against-russian-sanctions


On June 7, the dinner cruise vessel Spirit of Norfolk experienced a mass conflagration fire onboard during a daytime underway cruise on the Elizabeth River. The vessel was a complete loss and burned for several days before all the hot spots could finally be extinguished. I observed the vessel after the fire and to say it was totally destroyed, almost “vaporized” in its interior, would not be an exaggeration.

Onboard were nearly 100 passengers and crew. Many of them were grade-school children on a school outing with parent chaperones. The “Miracle on the Elizabeth River” was that not one passenger or crew was injured, and all were rapidly evacuated to another passenger vessel nearby. Akin to the U.S. Airways flight 1549 “Miracle on the Hudson” with Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, I’d say.

This incident could very easily have turned into a mass tragedy. From the first sight of smoke until flames took mere moments. The Spirit’s master, Captain Ryan Nadeau, responded instantly and correctly. The Spirit’s crew performed professionally. I have heard the USCG recordings of the VHF Channel 16 distress calls and Captain Nadeau sounded confident, deliberate, and professional. Captain Nadeau requested assistance from vessels on the river near the Spirit. Tugs from the close by Norfolk Naval Base raced to assistance with firefighting water. Captain Nadeau quickly positioned the vessel to minimize the deadly effects of smoke and flames. Spirit’s crew handed out life jackets quickly and kept the 100-plus passengers, again mostly children, calm. Precious time was saved to evacuate everyone from the Spirit without any injuries at all. When you have a raging fire onboard time is your enemy and time is precious. Time saves or costs lives. In the tragic fire onboard Spirit, perfect and professional actions saved time and many lives.

But there is also more to the “Miracle on the Elizabeth River” that day. Other passenger tour vessels were underway off the Norfolk Naval Base where Spirit’s fire broke out. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation by the passenger vessels on the Elizabeth River that day. The master of Victory Rover, Captain Brandon Peter, saw the Spirit in distress and heard the mayday call. He raced the Victory Rover up alongside the Spirit and perfectly coordinated with Captain Nadeau. I have seen the video of the two vessels together evacuating the Spirit’s passengers. I saw smoke and flames. Children were being placed in life jackets and lifted over the Spirit’s handrails and across and down to Victory Rover’s top deck. Spirit’s crew and those parents who were passengers looked like they had drilled for this many times. All passengers and crew were evacuated before Captain Nadeau himself left his vessel. Just like Captain “Sully” on the Hudson. A potential, almost to be expected, deadly tragedy was miraculously averted.

Everything went right that day. The positive ending is a testament to the professionalism of the passenger vessel industry and both long- and well-established cruise vessel companies. Spirit was operated by City Experiences by Hornblower, and Victory Rover is operated by American Rover Cruises of Norfolk, VA.

I always preach that training makes the last minute of a crisis count. Fire onboard is an immediate crisis. It is a “come as you are” emergency. Minutes separate life and death. Of note in the Spirit’s fire is that the passenger vessel industry is serious, professionally trained, run, and crewed. There are routinely thousands of passengers and tourists on these vessels every day and night. If there had been widespread injuries or tragically any deaths on Spirit that day, the passenger vessel industry’s reputation could have been damaged, perhaps beyond recognition, as the fire destroyed the Spirit.

Unlike the tragedy aboard the Costa Concordia – where Captain Schettino abandoned ship immediately, leaving passengers and crew behind – the Spirit’s captain and crew didn’t abandon ship before the passengers. Everyone involved that day upheld and were imbued with the honor and tradition of professional mariners. I salute them and the passenger vessel industry!

Captain Peter Squicciarini is a professional mariner and a retired U.S. Navy Captain. 


While many in the shipping industry have long argued that converting to green fuels and next-generation green technologies represents a significant cost to the shipping lines, a new study from the NGO Transport & Environment contends that there will be almost no impact on the price of consumer goods by running ships on renewable hydrogen. Based on a real-world example of a voyage on an average large containership sailing between China and Belgium, the analysis concludes that the likely impact on seaborne transport costs would be negligible for the fuel but does not consider the cost of building the ships to operate on these new fuels.

Long a critic of the shipping industry’s efforts and slow progress at decarbonization, T&E used the EU’s current proposal to charge carbon pollution from ships, combined with the proposal to mandate small amounts of green e-fuel use by 2030 in their report. They sought to analyze the effect that the proposals would have on container shipping prices and the resulting impact on consumer goods manufactured in China and transported to Europe.

“Green shipping would add less than 10 cents to a pair of Nikes. This is a tiny price to pay for cleaning up one of the dirtiest industries on earth,” said Faig Abbasov, shipping director at T&E. “In a year where shipping companies are making bigger profits than Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Netflix combined, it is right to question whether shipping companies are doing enough.”

A central argument against ambitious green measures is that they would push up prices for consumers. T&E, however, contends that there are economies of scale in global supply chains that are not hypersensitive to shipping fuel costs.

They tested their hypothesis by analyzing what they called a typical containership, the 153,000 dwt Taurus. Built in 2016 in South Korea, the vessel is owned by Costamare of Greece and managed by Evergreen sailing between Asia and Northern Europe. It has a capacity of 14,000 TEU. They analyzed data from the vessel’s AIS records.

“The analysis of shipments from Shenzhen in China to Europe debunks claims by the shipping industry that ambitious measures to green the industry will be prohibitively expensive and cause exorbitant price hikes for consumers,” concludes T&E. They argue that running ships entirely on green hydrogen-based fuels would add less than 10 cents to the price of a pair of Nike sneakers and approximately $8.50 for a refrigerator.

In the worst-case scenario, T&E’s analysis concludes cargo carriers would face increased transport costs of 1 to 1.7 percent, or actual costs of approximately $9 to $14 per TEU. The study uses what they call the most extreme case of a ship running on 100 percent green fuels and makes assumptions that the carriers would pass on all the costs which would ultimately reach consumers. Despite this, they argue that on an itemized basis, the price of consumer products would barely budge.

“European policymakers, who are currently voting on two key proposals to clean up shipping, should be emboldened by this,” says T&E arguing for the adoption of the measures under consideration by governments across the EU and the laws that will be voted on in July.

The full report available online looks at a variety of fuel options concluding that both fossil LNG or blended e-LNG/fossil LNG pathways would be the least economical way to comply with the coming regulations. The analysis also concludes that the relative cost-effectiveness of different fuel pathways for shipping can change as the uptake of sustainable and scalable fuels increases, but of course, there is also the substantial investment required to develop the technology and infrastructure to support the adoption of e-fuels. T&E says that the technologies are emerging and now what is required is the green e-fuel mandate that guarantees hydrogen fuel suppliers a market and drives adoption.
Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/ngo-t-e-says-shipping-s-e-fuels-costs-would-be-negligible-to-consumers


With just two days left until the expiration of the union labor contract covering more than 22,000 longshore employees at 29 U.S. West Coast ports, U.S. Labor Secretary Mary Walsh is reporting that the talks are going well. He told Reuters on Tuesday that “there were no major sticking points” in the negotiations.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association recently admitted that they expected that the negotiations would go beyond the June 20 expiration of the contract. Both sides agreed to a media blackout during the negotiations but made a single joint statement about the status of the talks two weeks ago.  They said that this was not an unexpected development noting that past negotiations have gone past the expiration.

“Neither party is preparing for a strike or a lockout, contrary to speculation in news reports,” the union and employers said in their joint statement on June 14. “The parties remain focused on and committed to reaching an agreement.”

A broad coalition of trade groups and shippers have been closely following developments and looking for any signs of progress since the negotiations began in May, and after a brief pause resumed early in June. Fearful of disruptions that could impact the movement of containers, many organizations have repeatedly called on the Bid Administration to be closely involved in the talks and to make sure that the union and employers remain at the negotiating table until a deal is reached.

Walsh told Reuters that they have been in regular contact with both sides to monitor the status of the negotiations. He said they have been getting weekly updates. Reuters is quoting him as saying, they are “continually tell me that we’re in a good place. It’s moving forward.”

Observers reported that they believed shippers had begun rerouting cargo to ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast this summer as a precaution against possible delays or disruptions at the U.S. West Coast ports. It has been speculated that these moves might have contributed to the increased congestion reported at some East Coast ports and at Vancouver.

Traffic at the southern California ports however continues to decline, possibly due to this potential rerouting as well as lingering effects from the COVID-19 related lockdowns at Shanghai in May. The Marine Exchange of Southern California reports today that they are down to just a fifth of the backup the ports were experiencing at the beginning of 2022. Today, June 28, they reported that three containerships are anchored waiting for berth space while one captain chose to hold further offshore but within the 25-mile zone established around the ports of Los Angles and Long Beach. A further 17 containerships are registered with the ports and currently traveling from Asia to the California ports. The total of 21 containerships is in comparison to the record 109 containerships that were waiting for berth space on January 9, 2022.

Currently, arrivals in the San Pedro Bay are back to the level experienced in 2018-2019 before the pandemic. There are 24 containerships on dock in the two ports today with 16 containerships scheduled to arrive over the next three days at the ports. A total of 52 vessels of all types are currently docked in Los Angeles and Long Beach with a total of 28 anchored in the San Pedro Bay area.


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