PUBLISHED NOV 15, 2021 8:04 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

The celebration of the signing of the U.S. infrastructure legislation into law today in Washington, D.C., is seen as a critical step but according to a research report from U.S. West Coast ports maybe be just catching up to foreign competition. The bill, which is being valued at $1.2 billion includes important elements for U.S. ports, although some of the projects for roads, bridges airports, and Wi-Fi are far more visible and gaining attention.

In announcing the results of the study commissioned by the ports of Washington state and California, the Northwest Seaport Alliance contends that current federal levels of investment in infrastructure are insufficient to build the freight system the U.S. needs today and in the coming decades. The report says investments in the ports and supporting infrastructure are critical to maintaining U.S. competitiveness.

“The important role seaports play in the nation’s economy has never been more visible than it is today, during the global pandemic,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero, one of the sponsors of the report. “The West Coast is the gateway to Asia and the country’s most prominent trade partners. A more equitable distribution of federal funding would make all our operations faster and more efficient, with tremendous benefits up and down the supply chain.”

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https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/canada-significantly-out-investing-u-s-for-port-infrastructure

PUBLISHED NOV 15, 2021 5:34 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine and the Netherlands’ Boskalis Westminster announced plans to divest their Asian tug and tow operation. The transaction, valued at approximately $198 million, comes as a consolidation in the towing business with Italy’s Rimorchiatori Mediterranei agreeing to buy out the two partners in Keppel Smit Towage and its joint venture in Maju Maritime.

Started in 1991 as a joint venture between Keppel Shipyard and Smith Singapore, which was a division of Boskalis, the towage company grew to become a leader in Asia. The company is today one of the largest and leading harbor tug service companies in Southeast Asia with a fleet of 58 tugs in Singapore and its joint venture in Malaysia. In Singapore alone, the company operates 24 tugs for harbor operations. They offer harbor and offshore support services, ship-to-ship operations, and coastal towing.

The decision to sell the joint venture company comes as both Keppel and Boskalis have been seeking to reformulate their operations. Keppel previously announced plans to streamline and divest non-core assets to focus on what it calls “sustainable urbanization.” In January 2021, Keppel said it planned to end its rig construction and repair business from its money-losing shipyard operations. Keppel also explored merging the offshore and marine operations with Sembcorp Marine. The towage operation is reported to be profitable but outside the core strategy.

Boskalis announced in 2019 that it planned to divest its worldwide harbor towage activities. Boskalis sold its stakes in Saam Smit Towage, which operated primarily in Central and South America, and Kotug Smith Towage, which operated in Northern Europe, in 2019.

Rimorchiatori Mediterranei, which has agreed to acquire the operations in Asia, is a subsidiary of Rimorchiatori Riuniti Group, a maritime service provider headquartered in Genoa, Italy. Established in 1922, Rimorchiatori Mediterranei operates a fleet of more than 100 modern vessels in more than 20 major ports.

The sale agreement is subject to approval from the regulatory agencies in Singapore. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022.

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https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/keppel-and-boskalis-divest-of-asian-jv-tug-operations-in-consolidation

PUBLISHED NOV 15, 2021 10:18 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

On Sunday, nearly three dozen tourists were pulled from the water after a sightseeing catamaran sank off the port of Cartagena, Spain.

At about 1630 hours on Sunday afternoon, bystanders called Cartagena’s emergency services dispatchers to report that the tour boat Olé Cuarto was damaged. Multiple good samaritan vessels – including at least three port authority harbor tugs – responded immediately and began rescuing the 33 passengers, and all were taken aboard safely by 1730.

Spanish lifesaving agency Salvamento Maritimo also dispatched three of its own rescue boats and a Red Cross response boat to the scene, along with a helicopter. They conducted an additional followup search to ensure that all were accounted for, and no further survivors were found within the vessel or nearby.

Images courtesy Salvamento Maritimo

The tourists who were rescued from the water were delivered safely to the nearby cruise terminal, where first responders provided them with assistance. According to local outlet La Verdad, 14 of the survivors were taken to the hospital for treatment of bruises and hypothermia.

“We were sitting down and suddenly a very loud noise was heard, like plastic breaking. And we saw that the ship had broken on the right side. Then it was sinking,” passenger María Ángeles Balaguer told local outlet La Verdad.

The sailing catamaran Olé Cuarto was in use as a commercial tour boat within Cartagena’s harbor, typically making several 45-minute cruises per day. The reason for the vessel’s sinking is not known, and its wreckage will be raised for an investigation.

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https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/photos-passenger-catamaran-sinks-off-cartagena-33-rescued

Shipping companies that transport the world’s coal are in the crosshairs of some financial backers who are cleaning up their businesses in the absence of a truly global drive by nations to renounce the dirtiest fossil fuel.

In a sign of investors taking the initiative, six European firms collectively representing over 5% of the estimated annual $16 billion capital financing requirements of the dry bulk industry told Reuters they were either reducing their exposure to vessels that transport coal or were considering doing so.

Such carriers – titanic vessels stretching up to 270 meters (885 ft) long and able to carry hundreds of thousands of tonnes of cargo – are the cheapest way to transport coal and other commodities like iron ore and grain in large quantities.

Swiss Re told Reuters that from 2023 it would no longer cover the transport of thermal coal via reinsurance treaties, where it covers a portfolio of insurers’ policies. It exited the direct insurance of coal cargoes in 2018.

“There is much more pressure on the insurance companies in terms of ESG,” said Patrizia Kern-Ferretti, head of marine at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, referring to the sustainable investment sphere. “I hear from brokers they are having difficulty placing coal policies in the insurance market,” she added. “More and more companies are applying direct guidelines.”

Esben Saxbeck Larsen, senior portfolio manager at Denmark’s Danica Pension, said it favored greener shipping firms as they provided the best risk/return characteristics. The fund has “close dialogue” with firms about their ESG strategies.

“If we are uncomfortable with such answers, we will not invest in the company,” he added, without elaborating on the specifics of the methodology.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/shooting-messenger-shipping-carries-492062

Royal Caribbean Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Richard Fain, is stepping down after more than three decades with the U.S. cruise operator that is still recovering from the slump caused by the coronavirus crisis.

Finance chief Jason Liberty will takeover as CEO, Royal Caribbean said on Tuesday, and will be tasked with taking the company back to pre-pandemic levels as sailing operations slowly restart more than a year after operations were suspended.

Fain was one of the key leaders to push for a safe restart of sailings during the pandemic that wiped off half of Royal Caribbean’s market valuation in 2020.

The company teamed up with rival Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd to form a task force to help develop safety standards for restarting the industry.

Royal Caribbean became the first major cruise operator to resume operations from U.S. ports in June, and booking trends for 2022 are reaching historical ranges due to pent-up demand from travelers, the company has said. read more

Fain, who will step down in January 2022, said “it was the right time to step down” with most of the company’s ships operating and the group nearing a full return to cruising.

During his tenure, Fain spearheaded the company’s expansion into a group with nearly 60 ships, spanning several cruise line brands including Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises.

Fain would remain chairman of the board and will work with Liberty, who joined Royal Caribbean in 2005 and took up the role of chief financial officer in 2013.

Royal Caribbean also said its senior vice-president Naftali Holtz will assume the CFO’s role.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/royal-caribbeans-longtime-ceo-fain-step-492005

German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd reported a more than 10-fold surge in nine-month net profit on Friday, citing record freight rates amid scarce transport capacity and rising transport volumes.

The world’s fifth biggest operator said net profit climbed to 5.6 billion euros ($6.41 billion) in the January-September period, from 538 million euros a year earlier.

It expects earnings momentum to remain at a high level for the rest of the year while operators and customers across the globe will face more severe infrastructure bottlenecks due to the coronavirus crisis which has disrupted supply chains.

Global supply chains are under enormous pressure from delays due to logjams at ports.

Chief Executive Officer Rolf Habben Jansen told Reuters he expected some relaxation of the situation around the Chinese New Year festivities around Feb. 1 and up to the end of the second quarter.

“But with the pandemic not behind us, 2022 will not be a normal year,” he said.

Hapag-Lloyd held on to its recently revised full-year guidance for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) between 10.1 billion and 10.9 billion euros and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) between 8.7 billion and 9.5 billion euros.

Revenues in the first nine months increased by 60% to 15 billion euros, mainly due to a 66% jump in average freight rates to $1,818 per 20-foot equivalent standard container units (TEU).

Transport costs over the January to September period rose 16% to 7.4 billion euros, with shipping fuel up 12.4% at $452 a tonne.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/hapaglloyd-profit-soars-fold-record-492064

The $1 trillion infrastructure package headed to President Joe Biden to sign into law will provide a welcome funding injection for America’s inland waterway infrastructure.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was approved by Congress on November 6 and is expected to be signed by President Biden next week. The plan has money for everything from roads, bridges, ports and rail transit, to safe water, the power grid, broadband internet and more, including $2.5 billion of federal funding for major inland waterway construction and rehabilitation of projects.

“To put this in perspective, this is more funding than the previous infrastructure package plus the last 10 years of funding combined,” Zea said. “It’s going to significantly advance our nation’s inland waterways infrastructure.”

Zea said WCI’s top priority is the implementation of these $2.5 billion dollars and making sure the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spends them in a “correct, efficient manner”. He said projects could be completed in five- or -six-year timeframes.

“The full $2.5 billion will be allocated in 60 days. So, we will know where the $2.5 billion will be spent,” Zea said.

Capital Investment Strategy (CIS) navigation projects will be given priority. When $2.5 billion is coupled with annual appropriations over the next five years, two-thirds of the CIS portfolio could potentially be funded to completion, according to WCI.

“Our top priority is to finish what was started. Currently, Chickamauga Lock near Chattanooga, Tenn., still needs about $39 million dollars in funding. Then Kentucky Lock, just outside of Paducah, Ky., still needs about $450 million. We hope to get those two projects fully funded right away.”

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/infrastructure-bill-a-huge-boost-us-492078

German container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd wrapped up the first nine months of this year with significantly higher earnings than in the corresponding period last year.

EBITDA rose to 8.2 billion (€6.8 billion) from $2.04 billion posted in the first nine months of 2020.

The EBIT was also much higher than in the prior-year period and amounted to $6.9 billion, compared to $965 million in the first three quarters of 2020.

At the same time, the group profit improved to $6.7 billion from $605 million recorded in the nine-month period last year.

Revenues rose in the first nine months of 2021 by approximately 70 percent, to $17.9 billion from $1.1 billion reported last year. As explained, the rise can primarily be attributed to a higher average freight rate of 1,818 $/TEU (9M 2020: 1,097 $/TEU). This significant increase is mainly the result of persistently high demand for container transports with scarce capacities at the same time. In addition, transport volumes were up to 8,980 TTEU and thereby 3 percent higher than the comparable figure for the previous year.

Transport expenses climbed 16 percent in the nine-month period, to $8.9 billion. This was due in part to higher costs for container handling and an increased average bunker consumption price, which stood at $452 per tonne in the first nine months (9M 2020: $402 per tonne), according to Hapag-Lloyd.

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Hapag-Lloyd enjoys earnings momentum, appoints first-ever female CIO

Nautilus Data Technologies (NDT) and Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) provide an interesting new twist to the maritime digitalization discussion, with the design, manufacture and delivery of an innovative 7MW data center housed on a refurbished 240-ft. deck barge. Jim Connaughton, CEO, NDT & Michael Complita, PE – VP Strategic Expansion, EBDG, discuss the strategic and environmental advantages as well as the future of housing massive computer banks on barges.

When one says “Silicon Valley”, the first image to come to mind likely is not a barge. In fact, arguably, a barge would not make the “Top 100,000”.
Jim Connaughton and NDT are aiming to change that, as it teamed Elliott Bay Design Group, Lind Marine, Veolia and the Port of Stockton to refurbish and deliver a data center on the water, a concept that NDT says offers many intriguing strategic and environmental advantages that could make barge-based data centers the wave of the future.

“Data centers are now new mission-critical essential infrastructure, just like power plants, just like shipping and ports, just like water treatment facilities,” said Connaughton. “With our partners at Elliott Bay Design Group we’ve married the best of maritime technology and adapted that for use in the data center environment to produce a data center that is among the highest performing in the world, the most energy efficient in the world, and critically, super sustainable. Now, when you put those three things together, the fourth feature is flexibility and mobility, similar to other forms of infrastructure such as floating power plants, floating water treatment facilities or floating offshore housing facilities.”

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/inside-data-barge-silicon-valley-meets-492002

South Korean shipbuilding company Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering has received an order for two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers from Maran Gas Maritime, a subsidiary of the Angelicoussis Group, the largest shipping company in Greece. 

As disclosed, these ships will be built at the Okpo Shipyard and delivered to the owner by the second half of 2024. In addition, the contract includes two additional options, so further orders are expected in the future.

The vessels ordered this time are 174,000 cbm LNG carriers, equipped with a dual-fuel propulsion engine and an advanced re-liquefaction system (gas management system). The value of the contract is KRW 486.7 billion ($411 million).

These eco-friendly ships will be built to respond to strict greenhouse gas emission regulations imposed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). They are expected to significantly reduce carbon emissions and meet the zero-emission targets.

Recently, DSME delivered the 174,000-cbm LNG carrier Isabella to Maran Gas. The tanker is the first vessel featuring WinGD’s X-DF dual-fuel engines in the Maran Gas fleet.

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DSME scores order for LNG carrier duo