News

ABS has signed a new agreement with the Greek Shipping Ministry expanding its authority to perform statutory certifications on their behalf. This expanded agreement includes survey and certification services for passenger vessels,…

Austal Ships of Australia today announced a contract to build an 85 metre ropax ferry for Greek operator Hellas Flying Dolphins (HFD). The catamaran is the fifth fast ferry HFD has ordered…

Some 400 years after its namesake took the pilgrims to New England, the Mayflower Resolution sets sail from the south of England having undergone its final stages of completion before entering service…

Evolution rather than revolution in the communications sector.T here are a number of trends appearing that are having an effect on the communications sector, says Ghani Behloul, maritime marketing director for France…

Inmarsat?s emphasis on new services and technologiesChris Insall, product manager for Inmarsat?s maritime division says that the analogue mobile satcoms system, Inmarsat A, is a very old system, but owners do not…

Despite the considerable benefits of electronic chart display and information systems, take up by the industry has been unhurriedThere can be no question about the advantages that an electronic chart display and…

Integrated bridge systems help reduce the stress on the officer of the watch, along with the possible human error responsible for many accidents.Safe navigation is the universal objective of all those engaged…

Less than two years after the project?s launch and six months after the setting up of the Galileo joint undertaking (GJU), the European Commision (EC) reports that the development phase, which extends…

The dynamic positioning (DP) market is diverse and systems are being fitted to a wider range of vessels from small survey vessels to large cruise ships.DP automatically controls a ship?s heading and…

Apart from recording less data items and a reduced final recording medium, there are few major differences between "simplified" Voyage Data Recorders and "full" Voyage Data Recorders (VDRs). Simplified VDRs, however, are…

The requirements for all existing ships to carry a VDR will be endorsed by the next IMO meeting in May 2004. Existing ships will be allowed to have a floating capsule (albeit…

Voith Water Tractor demonstrates the capability of the new Voith Schneider Propeller (VSP) blades with increased bollard pull for the same input power.With the commissioning of the Voith Water Tractor Baut owned…

Shipbuilder of many Ropax ferries during the 60s and 70s with the last being Silja Europa in 1993, Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, is back in the international ferry business with the…

Norfolkline, the Dutch ferry company, has ordered a third 34,500gt Ropax ferry from Samsung Heavy Industries in Korea to meet growing demand on its Dover to Dunkerque cross channel freight and passenger…

Fincantieri and Finnlines, the Finnish shipping company, have signed a contract to build three 42,000 gt, 9,200 dwt ropax ferries at a total cost of 300 million Euro ($377 million). Furthermore, the…

One of the foremost manufacturers of large marine diesel engines has taken the general term that applies to a vessel?s main propulsion and made it its own. Here, executive board member and…

Two key players in the field of AIS are making significant headway with further major contracts to develop AIS infrastructures in various regions. VTS specialist Norcontrol IT already has AIS solutions in…

Hakuyo in Japan placed an order for an 115,000DWT double-hull tanker with Sasebo Heavy Industries with a delivery of October 2006. NYK has concluded a long-term charter contract for the new tanker…

NYK Line in Japan ordered two 300,000 DWT VLCCs from NASCO (Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering) in China. They will be delivered in the first and second half of 2007. With the…

Iridium Satellite LLC has introduced a new satellite fax service that will permit subscribers to send and receive faxes from any location in the world directly to and from any standard fax…

To meet the requirements for Ship Security Alert Systems (SSAS) specified in the amendments to SOLAS, chapter XI, Annex 6 (Dec. 2002), Furuno has launched several alternative Inmarsat-C based SSAS solutions. I…