08 april 2019 The U.S. Department of the Treasury has blacklisted two shipping firms and dozens of vessels, including one Greek tanker, in connection with U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.  The two companies are Ballito Bay Shipping and “ProPer In Management Inc.” of Athens. Both share the same address in Piraeus. …

07 april 2019 Environmental monitoring organization SkyTruth watches for illegal activity using satellite data, and over the past several years, they’ve made it clear that “magic pipe” bilge water disposal can no longer be hidden at sea.  Bypassing the ship’s oily water separator to dump bilge waste is an illegal but …

06 APR 2019 Before there was life, ribonucleic acid (RNA) ruled the primordial soup. Or so the story goes, according to what’s known as the RNA World hypothesis. But it seems we may have been too hasty in leaving out RNA’s more complex cousin, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Chemists from the UK …

05 APRIL 2019 Simon Bennett, Deputy Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has warned that avoiding overcapacity and unsustainably low freight rates is still a major challenge 10 years after the massive downturn of 2008. “In that time shipping companies needed to show restraint when ordering new …

04 APRIL 2019 Malaysia has announced plans to build a ship-to-ship transfer facility near Johor’s Port  of Tanjung Pelepas. The 1,200 hectare (3,000 acre) facility, estimated to cost up to $180 million, will be build in the Strait of Johor opposite Singapore’s Port of Tuas and is touted as the …

03 april 2019 The IMO has reminded maritime users of the Global Positioning System Standard Positioning Service (GPS-SPS) to check their systems ahead of the week counter roll over on April 6, 2019. Some outdated GPS receiver systems may cease to function properly – with potentially serious impacts on navigation. …

02 APRIL 2019 World trade will continue to face strong headwinds in 2019 and 2020 after growing more slowly than expected in 2018 due to rising trade tensions and increased economic uncertainty, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). WTO economists expect merchandise trade volume growth to fall to 2.6 …

01 APRIL 2019 Norwegian technology group Kongsberg Gruppen announced on Monday it has completed its acquisition of Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine (RRCM). Officially part of Kongsberg Maritime, RRCM will operate under the KONGSBERG brand and the Kongsberg Maritime legal entity. Kongsberg Gruppen announced its intention to acquire Rolls-Royce’s marine business in July 2018 …

01 april 2019 Four crewmembers from the container feeder Contship Oak have been kidnapped off the coast of Cameroon, vessel operator Contship has confirmed. The attack occured shortly after the U.S. and other allied forces conducted large-scale anti-piracy drills in the region. In an attack on March 30, pirates boarded the Oak at the …

31 MAR 2019 When a person dies, cremation is an increasingly popular option. The practice eclipsed burials in the US in 2015 and is expected to make up more than half of all body disposals by 2020, according to the Cremation Association of North America. But instead of storing a loved one’s …