News

The head of Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar maintains that the bulker Vezhen accidentally "leaked" anchor chain out past the chain stopper in rough weather, and that any damage that the vessel may have inflicted to a subsea cable between Gotland and Latvia was not an act of sabotage.

The accumulation of Russian cargo at the base in December; the sealift ships' long and expensive ballast voyage to Syria; the ships' appearance alongside the military pier; and the simultaneous disappearance of the vessels and the cargo all appear to confirm an evacuation of military equipment.

The project to deploy the first wind-powered Ro-Ro as part of an innovative program for sustainable shipping moved a step closer to reality. Turkish shipbuilder RMK Marine reported today, January 29, that the hull of the Neoliner Origin has been floated for the first time.

The first containership in a new express service between China’s Ningbo port and Germany arrived at the terminal in Wilhelmshaven as part of an effort to build China’s maritime trade routes.

Containership schedule reliability absorbed the shocks from the diversions away from the Red Sea and leveled off despite the demands on capacity and the longer travel times. Sea-Intelligence published its end-of-year report which tracked reliability across 34 different trade routes and showed consistency for much of 2024 after losing significantly from the progress achieved in 2023.

In December, the aging river-sea tanker Volgoneft-212 sank in a severe storm about five nautical miles outside of the Kerch Strait. Sister ship Volgoneft-239 broke up shortly after, and her stern section drifted aground on a rocky shore off Taman. The battered hull began leaking large quantities of fuel oil. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in California today, January 27, announced indictments and arrests breaking up an elaborate smuggling operation that they estimate smuggled at least $200 million worth of counterfeit and illegal goods from China into the U.S. through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The competition to deliver the first ammonia-fueled engine continues to report progress with Swiss-based WinGD now reporting it expects to complete final validation in time for the first engine deliveries in June 2025.

MARAD’s program to build the first modern training ships for the U.S. merchant marine marked about milestone with the floating of the fourth vessel of the class. The future Lone Star State which has been assigned to Texas A&M Maritime College took to the water for the first time on Friday, January 24, and was towed to the outfitting berth.

The Port of Los Angeles has cemented its status as the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere thanks to a significant surge in throughput last year. 2024 marked the second-best year in its 117-year history in terms of container volumes.

A Russian-registered product tanker languishing in the Port of Gdynia is drawing renewed interest from Polish authorities. According to a report on Poland’s Radio ZET, new security concerns as well as safety issues with the tanker were raised in light of the ongoing investigation in Finland into the Eagle S tanker and a lack of maintenance on the vessel which has been docked in Gdynia since 2017.

One of the sisterships to the containership Dali which destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge is reporting engine troubles in the Pacific. The vessel which is also managed by Synergy Marine and sailing under charter as the Maersk Saltoro is reported to have experienced an engine problem which is delaying the ship and risking a cargo of Chilean cherries bound for China.

The boom in containership construction and the transition to alternative fuels continues with South Korea’s HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering reporting its first order of 2025. The shipbuilder which is part of HD Hyundai booked an order valued at approximately $2.58 billion which is being widely linked to French shipping giant CMA CGM Group.

The Canadian-flagged bulker Manitoulin became stuck midday on Wednesday, January 22, in the ice outside Buffalo, New York on Lake Erie. The crew took it in stride and while the vessel was waiting for the arrival of a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker had a little fun posting their destination on the AIS signal as “exasperated sigh.”

Last week, the U.S. Coast Guard saved the crew of the fishing vessel Miss Sandy when the vessel began to flood off Gloucester, Massachusetts. Efforts to combat the flooding were unsuccessful, but all were rescued before the vessel went down. 

Lithuania is preparing to join the elite ranks of the shipping industry with the launch of a pioneering hydrogen, electric-powered vessel that will provide harbor services. The ship which was recently floated fat the West Baltic Shipyard is among the first to adopt hydrogen technology and will be deployed for the Klaipeda State Seaport Authority in partnership with Baltic Workboats.

Officials from the Untied Nations provided the first independent confirmation to the level of damage that has been inflicted on Yemen’s Red Sea ports. The officials estimated that less than a quarter of the port capacities remain available expressing concern about the ability to get relief supplies to the citizens of Yemen.

A revised Construction and Operations Plan has been approved for the troubled U.S. offshore wind farm known as Vineyard Wind approximately six months after one of its turbine blades fractured.

The provision insolvency administrators for Germany’s FSG and Nobiskrug shipbuilders told government officials and union leaders they remain confident in the efforts to save the financially troubled yards.

Efforts are continuing to build out the capabilities to support vessels to use shore power as ports seek to transition to more environmentally friendly systems in advance of pending EU regulations.