General News

The future of the Hellenic Register of Shipping appears grim, after the EU?s official decision to implement a 17-month ban of the classification society. Under this decision, the Register won?t be able…

Classification society ABS has adopted new structural requirements for the evaluation of converted floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) units. The criteria are contained in a revised version of the society?s ABS…

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…

The privatisation of the shipyards in Malta will eventually lead to the company's liquidation, a prospect that only came to light yesterday in a report published by the European Commission. In its…

The Indonesian government may reduce the maximum age of ships allowed for import because of safety concerns and the domestic shipyard industry's increasing ability to manufacture internationally standardized ships. Budi Darmadi, the…

The 43 maritime authorities of the Paris and the Tokyo Memoranda on port state control will begin a joint concentrated inspection campaign with the purpose to ensure compliance with SOLAS Chapter III…

Half of the offshore support vessel newbuildings slated for delivery in 2009 will fail to hit the water this year, ODS Petrodata says. A maximum 200 of the planned 393 anchor handlers…

Keppel Corp has been forced to cancel a newbuilding order worth SGD181m ($122m) after the owners failed to finance the project. The Singapore yard said it had received a notice from Romanian…

The ship services network, Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS), has packaged its ships agency services together with its Unitor range of marine products, technical services and maritime logistics into an integrated offer for…

The US Navy has announced a contract for the construction of a second Austal-designed and built Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Awarded to prime contractor Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics company, the…