In February 2025, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will launch their Gemini Cooperation aimed at delivering a flexible and interconnected ocean network with schedule reliability above 90% once fully phased in.

The companies unveiled the concept in January 2024 and have been working on finalizing the details of a joint ocean freight network on East-West trades. Depending on which network the cooperation will phase in, the new network will consist of either 300 or 340 vessels:

Trans-Suez Network: Approx. 300 vessels, 3.4 million TEU capacity, 57 services (27 mainliners, 30 shuttles)

Cape of Good Hope Network: Approx. 340 vessels, 3.7 million TEU capacity, 59 services (29 mainliners, 30 shuttles).

The company will announce their decision on which network to implement in October 2024.

“We are looking forward to the launch of our completely redesigned network next year, and we are happy to reconfirm that our schedule reliability target remains unchanged irrespective of which network we will phase in. We believe our collaboration will raise the bar for reliability to the benefit of our customers and set a new and very high standard in the industry,” said Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk.

The breakaway and grounding of an oil tanker in the Brisbane River, Australia, in February 2022 illustrates the importance of clearly defined emergency and risk management arrangements, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report.

On February 27, 2022, during a period of heavy, sustained rainfall and flooding in south-east Queensland, the 185-meter Hong Kong-flagged oil products tanker CSC Friendship was berthed at the Ampol products wharf in the Port of Brisbane, Queensland.

Currents in the Brisbane River increased until they exceeded the design mooring limits of both the ship and the berth.

“While weather conditions exceeded those initially forecast, the associated increased safety risk to shipping and the port was foreseeable,” ATSB marine investigation manager Captain Vik Chaudhri said.

“Numerous warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology provided sufficient information to identify and assess the increased likelihood of a breakaway, and the current in the river had exceeded the operational limits of the berth and the ship’s mooring arrangements more than 14 hours prior to the breakaway – yet the ship remained at the berth.”

The ship, loaded with about 32,000 tonnes of petroleum products, broke its…

The ship recycling market has so far been subdued in September, as expected, reports cash buyer GMS.

Macro factors affecting the market include the situation in the Middle East, Houthi attacks on passing vessels and tensions caused by the repositioning of navies in response to ISIS fighters targeting U.S. bases.

“The start of September saw the industry still witness the inescapable decline that is India’s ship recycling sector today, one that continues to show no signs of it slowing since early June,” says GMS. “Any expectations that a historical Q4 resurgence is likely to repeat itself can be fully laid to rest as this does not seem to be an exit on India’s 2024 highway.”

Sub-continent markets appear mired in gloom amidst the ongoing import of cheaper Chinese steel into India and Pakistan. This has been undercutting local inventories there and causing steel plate prices to fall.

Meanwhile, political strife and disastrous flooding have characterized the unfolding crises in Bangladesh.

“For sub-continent recyclers overall, there have been very few recycling candidates available to test where currently falling levels stand, as they have lost about USD 65/LDT since the peaks seen earlier this year. As such, offers below USD 500/LDT are…

Fuel oil exports bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast slumped to their lowest level since January 2019 last month, a sign of weakened refinery demand as margins have softened, analysts said.

Feedstocks like high sulfur fuel oil and other heavy residues can be refined into higher value products such as gasoline and diesel using secondary units.

But loadings of those products to the Gulf Coast, America’s largest refining hub, fell by a third in August from the prior month to 260,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to data from ship tracker Kpler, marking a more than five-year low.

Cargoes departing Mexico for the Gulf Coast fell 25% month-over-month, hitting 77,000 bpd and their lowest level since July 2021, driving much of the decline, Kpler data showed.

“On the demand side, refinery margins aren’t strong enough to incentivize U.S. Gulf Coast refiners to run their secondary units harder to process this fuel oil,” said Rohit Rathhod, a market analyst at energy researcher Vortexa.

U.S. gasoline cracking margins – the spread between gasoline futures and West Texas Intermediate crude futures – typically narrows as the summer driving season draws to a close. Even so, that spread is currently at around $12 a barrel, roughly $10 a barrel below last year’s…

The U.S. government signaled in a court filing on Wednesday for the first time that it may file a claim against the owner of the ship that caused the March collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

U.S. Justice Department attorney Laine Goodhue submitted a letter, opens new tab notifying U.S. District Judge James Bredar that the government is among the “claimants and prospective claimants” that have negotiated with the registered owner of the ship Grace Ocean and its manager Synergy Marine Group to conduct inspections and testing on the vessel before it leaves to sail to China later this month.

Bredar is overseeing claims filed against the companies following the March 26 bridge collapse.

Justice Department representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did a spokesperson for Synergy and Grace Ocean.

Maritime attorney Charles Simmons Jr of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston in Baltimore, who is not involved with the case, told Reuters that it wasn’t clear from the filing what kind of claims the government could bring, but maritime law would likely limit them to recovery for funds the federal government spent on clearing the channel after the bridge’s collapse or provided to the state for the bridge’s…

The United States has remained the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) so far in 2024, but a steep drop in selling prices and a sharp swing in export volumes to key markets is likely testing exporter appetite to stay on top.

The United States shipped a record 56.9 million metric tons of LNG during the first eight months of 2024, according to Kpler.

That surpassed the 54.3 million tons from Australia and 53.7 million tons from Qatar during that period, and marks only the second straight year that U.S. exporters have topped global export rankings.

However, a more than 25% drop in average LNG export prices during the first half of 2024 from the first half of 2023 dealt a heavy blow to export revenues, which dropped by $4 billion from the opening half of 2023 to $13.2 billion, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows.

That was the lowest half-year revenue total since the first half of 2021, and marks a more than $12 billion fall from the second half of 2022 when U.S. export earnings from LNG peaked.

The challenge of sharply falling revenues was compounded by a sharp reconfiguration in export volumes to key markets, which saw shipments to relatively close markets in Europe drop by more than 20% while sales to more…

Auramarine has launched an ammonia fuel supply system designed in adherence to all safety, design and material requirements for the fuel.

The system is suitable for both two-stroke and four-stroke engines as well as other ammonia consumers. Safety measures include gas and leak detection, ammonia capture, reliquefying and ammonia release mitigation functions.

The system has been developed in collaboration with experts on ammonia as well as using findings from the HENNES research project which Auramarine participates in.

Full and ongoing training in the safe use and operation of the system will be provided to all customers as part of Auramarine’s lifecycle services offering.

The company is already receiving interest from shipowners, operators, OEMs and shipyards and expects to be ready for first delivery in 2026.

The newly launched Remote Operational Performance Test (OPT) service from Danelec enables ship operators to perform mandatory voyage data recorder (VDR) operational performance tests remotely.

The new Danelec Remote OPT is a software-as-a-service solution designed to simplify the workflows required of ship owners under the Operation Requirement Resolution MSC.333(90) and IEC 61996-1 ed.2, which states that all VDRs installed after July 1, 2014, must support an OPT. This test, usually performed by the onboard engineering team annually or after sensor and VDR maintenance work, is intended to ensure all VDR data is recorded correctly.

“By enabling remote VDR performance testing, we are helping to reduce the workload on crews and ensure that our customers’ fleets remain compliant and operationally sound,” said Christian Kock, EVP Safety at Danelec.

Remote OPT is the latest addition to Danelec’s Safety Insights suite of remote services such as real-time VDR health monitoring, remote configuration and instant access to recorded data for incident investigation. The browser-based Danelec platform ensures accessibility to Safety Insights from any device without local installation.