General News

Kockums, the Swedish subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, has signed a licensing agreement with the Japanese shipyard Universal Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). The licensing agreement gives USC the right to use Kockums' GRP-sandwich…

STX Europe Lorient shipyard in Brittany, France, has just delivered the first of three Ro-Ro ferries to Tide Sj? AS in Oslo. The Lorient shipyard designs and builds high-tech ships from 30…

Davie Yards Inc. in Levis, Quebec, is back in operation. CEO Steinar Kulen said: "We have 1,000 employees back at work and require another 500 to complete our current orders." Davie has…

Hyundai Corporation is negotiating for construction of a shipyard in the Caspian Sea area with Kazakhstan's state-owned energy company KazMunaiGaz National. However, Hyundai will only participate in the construction phase of the…

Greek owner Laskaridis Shipping appears to be eyeing the possibility of cancelling its order for seven 75,000 DWT bulkers it placed earlier with emerging Chinese shipyard Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Ship Industry. The…

It is unacceptable to place orders at foreign shipyards if similar ships can be built in Russia according to the press center of RF Government citing RF Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as…

Qatar investor wants to buy the historic Gdynia shipyard in Poland according to a report in the Polska newspaper. The investor is thought to be Qatar Investment Authority QIA), which is interested…

Container shipping faces a long recession that will force some lines out of business, AP Moller-Maersk chief executive Nils Andersen predicted. He cast doubt on whether urgently-needed consolidation could be achieved, given…

Shipping markets face at least two more years of strife as newbuildings stifle rates, Tor Olav Troim says. John Fredriksen's lieutenant also feels the time is not yet right to pick up…

Four domestic yards are in the running for a Russian state tender to build a rescue and salvage vessel. The federal agency of the Russian sea and river fleet, Rosmorrechflotom, says the…

There are few more dirty and dangerous jobs than scrapping old ships with scores of poorly equipped workers being killed each year in South Asia where most ships are broken apart. The…

Iridium reports that its new-generation global marine satellite communication system, Iridium OpenPort, has successfully completed sea trials on a number of different vessels, and worldwide commercial rollout is now underway."The feedback from…

Rolls-Royce has won an order to design and equip a UT 755LN offshore support vessel (OSV) with an integrated power, propulsion and motion control system, for use in the Canadian oil and…

CBO (Companhia Brasileira de Offshore) has purchased two further Rolls-Royceoffshore vessel design and equipment systems in a £13 million order. This latest contract, for two UT 715L construction/ROV vessels, follows a series…

Italy-based classification society RINA has reported continuing growth in both turnover and returns for 2008. Turnover for the 2008 year was Euro 183m, up 17% on 2007, and EBITDA was Euro 30…

Italy-based Siba Ships and Netherlands-based Seaarland Shipping Management have been named as the inaugural investors in a $300m Green Recycling Initiative (GRI) which aims to integrate the needs of shipowners to recycle…

Korean shipyards topped a list of newbuilding cancellations, at 194 ships. Research from Norwegian classification society DNV estimated that more than 19.2m dwt on order at South Korea's yards would not be…

Howe Robinson's research boss Paul Dowell was pulling no punches at a recent London conference when he warned of large-scale container and bulk carrier overcapacity for the next five years. Delegates at…

Chinese oil giant CNOOC has signed a contract with Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Company for the construction of two UT788 CD deepwater AHTS vessels at a cost of $205 million. The vessels will…

FBMA Marine (FBMA), the Aboitiz-owned shipbuilder based in Cebu, Philippines, has recently launched the ?Wight Ryder II? for UK operator Wightlink Ferries. The 40m single-deck passenger catamaran, which was launched on 30…