General News

The revised and expanded Rules for Materials and Components of Germanischer Lloyd (GL) are now available. The Rules define the properties of various metallic materials and lay down the requirements for the…

NorseMerchant Ferries, recently acquired by Norfolkline, has introduced its latest Italian-built passenger/freight ferry onto the Irish Sea ahead of schedule. The ship in question is the 26,500 gt ropax ferry Mersey Viking,…

Norwegian-based IM Skaugen (IMS) has ordered the first four of a series of 10 specialized combination carriers capable of handling both LPG/Ethylene and organic chemicals. These newbuildings are planned to be built…

The British government gave approval for an alliance of five shipbuilders to press ahead with designing the biggest warships ever built in the UK. The Aircraft Carrier Alliance consortium would also now…

Korea Gas Corp., the world's biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, is seeking a $938 million loan to purchase four LNG tankers for a joint operation it is setting up with three…

The Letter of Intent for two fast ropax day ferries signed on 2 November by Aker Yards and Color Line has been confirmed as a firm contract worth approx. EUR 250 million.The…

Carnival Corporation has reached an agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of four new cruise ships worth more than $2 billion. The contract, which is subject to the approval of…

As part of a major fleet expansion programme, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in Turkey has signed a contract with Damen Shipyards Gorinchem for the construction of 5 new "Sea Buses". The catamaran…

Quanzhou Shipyard in Fujian, China, will complete a 300,000DWT and a 170,000DWT dry dock by mid-2006. Total investment is $99 million. When completed, shipbuilding capacity of the two docks will be 1.5…

Korea's leading shipbuilding companies, all members of the Korea Shipbuilders' Association, have an average workforce age of 42 and, since they have for the most part stopped hiring to shrink their payroll…