Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd., one of the largest private shipbuilders in China, has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Sanfu Shipbuilding Holdings for the purchase of the remaining 20% equity stake in Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
As informed, the stake in Xinfu Yard will be purchased for an aggregate consideration of RMB 650 million ($100.3 million), to be fully funded by 100 million treasury shares of the group.
Xinfu is involved in the business of shipbuilding, production and processing of large-scale steel structures and operates as one of the group’s major shipyards. Equipped with the largest dock facility amongst the group’s shipyards, the Xinfu Yard builds mid to large-sized vessels and is pivotal to the group’s future growth plans to build large vessels.
Prior to the transaction, Yangzijiang and the group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd owned 12.5% and 67.5% respectively of the issued share capital of Xinfu Yard.
Post-transaction, Xinfu Yard will become a fully owned subsidiary of the group.
The transaction is expected to be earnings accretive for the group and is part of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding’s efforts to enhance long-term shareholder value.
“Since its incorporation in 2007, the Xinfu Yard has grown from strength to strength and established a strong track record in shipbuilding. The further acquisition signifies a huge investment in one of Yangzijiang’s key business units and in our existing major shipyard,”Ren Letian, Executive Chairman and CEO of the Group, commented on the proposed transaction.
Norwegian shipping company Seaworks’ new bulk carrier will be equipped with a propulsion system and LNG engine by compatriot technology company Kongsberg Maritime.
Courtesy of Kongsberg
The ship will be running on zero-emission liquid biogas (LBG) or LNG.
The new bulk carrier is being constructed at Wuhu, China using Norway’s vessel architect Polarkonsult’s PK-164 LNG EcoBulk design.
Polarkonsult chose Kongsberg to supply it with a propulsion system and LNG engine.
The ship’s delivery is expected in 2023.
Bård Bjørløw, EVP global sales and marketing, Kongsberg Maritime., said: “We’re moving towards halving the emissions you’d normally associate with vessels of this size and specification, so this bulk carrier represents something of a showcase for fuel-efficient, future-focused and environmentally-friendly maritime freight transport solutions.”
Singapore’s financial service group DBS Bank has completed its first live bunker delivery financing pilot transaction through a digital bunker delivery note (BDN).
The pilot transaction was finished in collaboration with bunker supplier TFG Marie and shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE) as well as the maritime digital company Ascenz and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
Currently, banks rely on physical copies of the BDN and other supporting documents to offer bunker financing to clients. However, the process can sometimes take days to a week to be completed. What is more, the physical documentation increases the risk of fraud and exploitation.
With the digitalisation of the BDN, this risk is mitigated as parties are now able to determine the trade data at the source. This is done by leveraging the mass flow meter (MFM) system for bunkering electronically.
This pilot transaction demonstrated that clients will now be able to receive financing for their underlying trade in less than two hours, the company claims.
The digital BDN will also help in eliminating the risk of fraud in the bunker sector.
“The objective is to co-create an end-to-end digital workflow that enhances efficiency and transparency for bunker trades, while building trust with banks and shipowners which are fundamental to the long-term growth and development of Singapore’s bunker ecosystem,” said DBS Group’s Trade Product Management Head Sriram Muthukrishnan.
“The adoption of digital documentations will help stakeholders across the value chain move towards more efficient and transparent operations that are aided by data-driven decision making,”Kenneth Lim, Assistant Chief Executive (Industry) of MPA, added.
The live pilot transaction comes as a result of a joint agreement signed between DBS and MPA in 2020, to accelerate the digitalisation and innovation of financial services and payments across Singapore’s maritime industry.
The next phase of development would be to integrate the use of digital BDNs with SGTraDex once the digital utility is operational in 2022.
In a new report published by the Baltic Exchange and Xinhua, Singapore has been ranked as the top global shipping center.
The shipping industry must transition to ammonia as the main source of fuel to attain decarbonization targets and meet the goals of zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to a new study by BloombergNEF.
In its latest annual energy outlook report, BloombergNEF says the world must work on strategies and commit significant investments to ensure ammonia derived from hydrogen becomes the dominant fuel in shipping for new vessels post-2030.
Transiting to ammonia is expected to contribute two-thirds of emissions reductions by 2030 and account for around 45 percent of abatement in the shipping sector by 2050.
“Biofuels and ammonia derived from zero-carbon hydrogen each make up 18 percent to 35 percent of emissions reductions,” notes the report.
It adds that while hydrogen, carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) and new nuclear technologies are not expected to play a meaningful abatement role in the 2020s, getting them to scale is a critical task for this decade. Scaling up CCS, for instance, is forecast to result in on-board CCS, allowing fuel oil to continue to supply around 17 percent of final energy in shipping by mid-century.
The report shows that large investments in energy infrastructure are needed for the energy transition, with capital flowing away from fossil fuels and toward clean power and other climate solutions. Over the next three decades, the world will need to invest up to $173 trillion in greener energy infrastructure and supply to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
To achieve this, annual investment will need to more than double from around $1.7 trillion per year today, to somewhere between $3.1 trillion and $5.8 trillion per year on average over the next three decades.
Around 53 percent of all investment must be directed towards the production, storage and transport of hydrogen.
To achieve net-zero in 2050 with an orderly transition, global energy-related emissions also need to drop 30 percent below 2019 levels by 2030 and 75 percent by 2040 to reach net-zero in 2050.
This is a 1.75 degree equivalent budget that implies a 3.2 percent reduction each year to 2030, and a swift reversal of recent trends. Emissions rose 0.9 percent a year from 2015 to 2020.
“The energy transition is inherently uncertain. Hydrogen, nuclear and carbon capture could all play an important role in helping the world reach net-zero, and each of these technologies must be further developed and brought to market in the coming decade if they are to realize their potential,” said Matthias Kimmel, BNEF’s head of energy economics.
Hydrogen in particular must scale rapidly from its current very small base, with a target of increasing to around 22 percent of total final energy consumption – compared with less than 0.002 percent today.
“Hydrogen has many applications as an energy carrier and for emissions abatement to help meet the net-zero target whether displacing fossil-fuel combustion in industry, buildings and transport or complementing renewables to help meet seasonal demand in the power sector,” notes the report.
The shipping industry is coming under increasing pressure to decarbonize and shift away from reliance on fossil fuels, with ammonia looking like an attractive alternative. It is projected that if 30 percent of shipping switched to ammonia as a fuel, the current production must double. Today 80 percent of ammonia produced is used exclusively for the fertilizer industry.
The shipping industry emits around 940 million tons of carbon dioxide annually and is responsible for about 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Marine research organization ProMare, which organized the aborted effort to make an unmanned Atlantic crossing with the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400) released the first details of the voyage and the fault that caused them to scrub the mission after just three days. They said that repairs were ongoing on the vessel and that testing would soon begin before they scheduled a new attempt at the crewless research voyage.
The Mayflower departed the UK on June 15, and during its three days of operations, the vessel cruised at an average speed of seven knots covering a distance of 450 nautical miles in a west-southwest direction. During this time the ship performed well and demonstrated its ability to handle ocean conditions according to ProMare.
The IBM-sponsored autonomous vessel prototype however developed a “glitch with the ship’s hybrid propulsion system” that resulted in a loss of full power and speed. Following a remote assessment, ProMare’s support team determined that it was likely due to a mechanical issue with the ship’s generator that was not possible to repair without human intervention. A command was issued to the vessel’s systems to turn around and head back to the UK.
The vessel was able to travel for an additional 30 hours before its speed was reduced to around three knots. The MAS400 then automatically went into a mode to conserve enough power for its communication and video systems. A support boat reached the unmanned vessel on June 19 and attached a tow line to begin the recovery process.
Once back at base, ProMare said that it determined that the issue had been caused by a fracture in the flexible metal coupling between the ship’s generator and exhaust system. MAS400 uses solar panels to draw energy from the sun. An onboard generator switches on automatically to top up the battery when required. Following the fracturing of the coupling, MAS400 had to rely solely on solar power, but the bad weather and rough seas at the time meant that MAS400 did not generate enough solar power to continue its journey.
MAS400 is currently in dry dock in Turnchapel Wharf, Plymouth, UK undergoing a thorough inspection and repair. The generator has been removed and a replacement ordered. ProMare is performing a redesign of the coupling and is also taking the opportunity to upgrade some of the edge computing devices to increase the onboard processing power.
“Despite the setback, we’ve learned a lot and we’re more encouraged than ever that the Mayflower will safely navigate the world’s oceans in the near future,” said Brett Phaneuf, Director of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship Project.
The team highlighted the results of the first voyage saying that they were able to successfully monitor the operation of Mayflower and the supporting software. Based on IBM Automation software, the AI Captain demonstrated its ability to correctly assess the current environment, identify and avoid hazards and maintain situational awareness using the ship’s edge computing capabilities. Significantly, the distributed nature of the software allowed hotfix updates to address the shifting needs of the control software during the recovery effort.
The ship’s science experiments and live streaming of video and data from the ship also performed well for the time they were operational. The MAS400.com web portal displayed live video and data to over 40 thousand followers during the days of the Atlantic crossing attempt.
ProMare said it aims to have MAS400 back in the water in the next few weeks. Following tests and long-range trials, the team will make a decision about the ship’s next missions and the timing of next Atlantic crossing attempt.
[By J. Edwin Nieves, public affairs officer, Coast Guard Auxiliary Division 6]
In the early days of World War II, demand skyrocketed for vessels to fill the needs of the U.S. sea services. The Coast Guard was no exception as they competed with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army for new construction as well as privately owned ships. Facing a high demand for vessels, the service turned to the U.S. fishing industry as a source for its cutters. These emergency acquisitions included East Coast trawlers, whalers from both coasts, and East Coast menhaden fishing vessels, such as the Emergency Manning vessel Dow (WYP 353).
During World War I and World War II, the menhaden fishing fleet became a ready reserve for the Navy and Coast Guard. Both services needed small, shallow draft vessels for coastal convoy escort, mine planting, minesweeping, and anti-submarine net tending duty. Many of these vessels were purchased or leased, while others were loaned to naval forces by fishing businesses as their contribution to the war effort.
Menhaden fishing vessels were designed to harvest schools of small fish in coastal waters, primarily in the Chesapeake Bay. Their very long and narrow design sported a distinctive plumb bow, elevated pilot house to spot large fish schools, a center hold to store the catch and low freeboard to haul full fishing nets on board the vessel. The ungainly design of these vessels was well suited to harvesting large quantities of fish in sheltered waters, but not high seas combat operations.
The Coast Guard patrol vessel EM Dow, formerly the Menhaden-type fishing vessel Annie Dow, was a wartime acquisition under charter (lease) by the Coast Guard. Vessels like the Dow were given the prefix “EM” for “Emergency Manning.” In preparation for military service, these fishing vessels were armed with one or two one-pound cannons fore and aft. This addition usually required sections of iron plating on the deck, which added to the pilothouse and parts of the superstructure for crew protection. Additional communications gear and combat equipment contributed to making the cutter top heavy. These additions had a negative impact on the stability and sea-keeping qualities of these would be fighting vessels. In World War I, the USS James, a menhaden fisherman converted to Navy minesweeper, capsized in a gale off the French Coast.
The Dow was 134 feet in length, nearly 22 feet wide with a draft of 11 feet—typical dimensions for a menhaden fisherman. After conversion to military service, Dow’s gross tonnage increased to over 240 tons with a complement of 37 officers and men.
In June 1943, EM Dow entered Coast Guard service at the Baltimore Naval Shipyard under the command of Lt.j.g. Edward Doten. The Navy assigned EM Dow to the Eastern Sea Frontier based in Norfolk, Virginia. Soon after entering service, the ungainly cutter was re-assigned to duty as part of the Navy’s Caribbean Sea Frontier. Late in the summer of 1943, it traveled down the East Coast, crossed The Bahamas island chain and arrived at its new homeport of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
From San Juan, the Navy assigned Dow to patrol the western coast of Puerto Rico. The cutter focused mainly on the approaches to the port of Mayaguez and the Mona Channel, an important commercial waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. The Dow performed anti-submarine patrols and escorted commercial vessels in coastal Caribbean oil and bauxite convoys. It also provided search and rescue support for the U.S. Army Air Corps’ Ramey Field in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, current site of the Coast Guard’s Borinquen Air Station.
Early in October 1943, a tropical storm began brewing along the equator to the southeast of Puerto Rico. Later know as Hurricane San Calixto, the storm reached Category 2 strength on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale and began swirling to the northwest toward the Windward Passage.
Early on Oct. 13, 1943, the Dow received orders to proceed south of Mona Island to meet the Coast Guard Cutter Marion. Had the local naval command understood the seriousness of the weather conditions, the mission might have been aborted. The weather quickly deteriorated as the Dow headed on a collision course with the storm’s path. As the Dow closed with the hurricane, Doten ordered a series of maneuvers and course changes to avoid the heavy seas, but later altered course to steer the old fishing vessel’s high bow directly into the towering waves.
The vessel’s narrow beam and low freeboard were no match for the hurricane’s high winds and heavy seas and by the afternoon of next day, the Dow began taking on water. First the cutter lost electricity and radio communications and then its engines failed. After using a hand-held blinker to signal the Marion that he was taking on water and in need of assistance, Doten gave the order to abandon ship. The Dow was abandoned about a quarter mile south of Punta Higueros, Puerto Rico, before winds and heavy seas ran it aground. All of Dow’s 37 crewmembers were ferried to the safety of the Marion.
In 1996, the Naval Historical Center conducted a survey to identify wreck sites in Puerto Rico. It located a wreck in northwest Puerto Rico directly across from Punta Higueros on the eastern shore of Desecheo Island. The wreck lies in 30 feet of water in an area known locally as “Tornado Cave.” Further research into this site could confirm the wreck’s identity and whether or not it is the Dow. A search through several databases, including Puerto Rican newspapers has not identified any other maritime accidents in that location.
Although records indicate that the Coast Guard sold EM Dow’s submerged hull to a local salver in 1948 for fittings and usable equipment, location of the vessel’s final resting place remains unconfirmed. Regardless of its exact location, the fishing vessel and Coast Guard cutter builders would never have imagined the Dow would meet its fate so far from its Chesapeake Bay home.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reports that it has detained a Ukrainian citizen on charges of sea piracy, making him the first citizen to be brought up on charges of being a modern-day pirate. The unnamed male suspect was captured by the SBU after returning to Ukraine and attempting to hide his identity.
The strange story begins when the man was assigned to work as a security guard aboard a vessel sailing in the Indian Ocean. He was employed by an international security firm that contracted with the ship’s owner to provide security while sailing in dangerous regions of the globe.
However, instead of performing his duties as a security guard, the Ukrainian authorities reported that he took a gun from his employer’s office on the vessel and seized the ship. He held the captain of the unnamed vessel at gunpoint and demanded $500,000. He ordered the crew to alter course.
Negotiations ensued over the next four days before representatives of the shipping company were able to persuade the individual to surrender his weapon. They reportedly paid the individual $6,000 to release the captain and permit the vessel to proceed on its route.
Technology found on the suspect during the raid along with a large amount of US currency (SBU photos)
The story, however, does not end there. Unsatisfied with the solution, the individual then seized additional weapons from the office on the ship and threatened to throw the security company’s property overboard unless he was given $100,000. The company reportedly refused to pay and the man began throwing things overboard before he was overpowered by the crew.
Apparently from the reports of the SBU, the man was not detained because the events happened in international waters and after leaving the vessel, he made his way back to Ukraine. The security forces said after arriving in his homeland he changed his passports and place of residence serval times using an alias and fake papers.
The SBU apprehended the man in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Mykolaiv during a “special operation.” The police displayed some of the technology and cash found during the raid. He was taken into custody and is being brought before a court on charges of using violence, robbery, or other hostile actions against the crew of a seagoing vessel. An investigation is being conducted by SBU investigators working along with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at Port of New Orleans has recently issued notice no. 21-035 to advise the maritime industry of the importance of foreign AGM-free certification inspections.
Asian Gypsy Moth (AGM) is a destructive forest pest known to spread via ocean-going vessels in international trade. The AGM season usually starts from late May to September. The AGM regions in general are Northern China, Japan, South Korea and Far East Russia. A ship that has called at a port in the regulated area during this period is considered high risk and, in general, required to obtain an AGM-free certificate at the last port of the regulated area. An AGM found on a vessel may require that the vessel be ordered into international waters, required to undergo treatment, re-inspected, or refused entry.
As such, the CBP New Orleans recommends that all vessels that called ports in AGM region during the high-risk flight season to arrive with a valid foreign AGM free certificate. This may prevent CBP from discovering AGM infestation onboard vessels in port, thus reducing the requirement for an infested vessel to be ordered removed from port for cleaning in international waters.
Captains of vessels arriving from AGM regions during the AGM high risk season are encouraged to have vessel crewmen inspect their vessels for AGM prior to arriving in the port of New Orleans,
A Focused Inspection Campaign (FIC) on safety of navigation will take place in Australia from 1st August to 30 September 2021. The purpose of the campaign is to determine the level of compliance with the safety of navigation requirements of international Conventions, as well as the familiarity of the master and officers with their processes for ensuring safety of navigation.
Initiated by AMSA, this Focused Inspection Campaign (FIC) is specific to Australia and will apply to foreign-flagged ships and Regulated Australian Vessels (RAVs) arriving at an Australian port.
AMSA encourages ship owners and masters to familiarise themselves with the requirements of SOLAS Chapter V, Australian Marine Order 27 and their safety management systems implemented onboard,
Above image is used for illustration purposes only / Credit: Shutterstock
Transport Canada issued an overview of the new Vessel Safety Certificates Regulations and Canadian Vessel Plan Approval and Inspection Standard. The regulations came into force on June 23, 2021, and the standard was put in place at the same time.
Applying to all Canadian vessels and any foreign vessels in Canadian waters, the regulations specify which vessels require certification and inspection. The standard (TP15456) outlines plan submissions and inspection standards for Canadian vessels requiring a vessel safety certificate.
The new Vessel Safety Certificates Regulations update and modernize old regulations and Canada’s inspection regime. The regulations explain the vessel safety certificate requirements for all Canadian vessels and foreign vessels that operate in Canadian waters.
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