Container vessel appearance is about to enter a new phase with the announcement by Maersk Line of the design for a series of eight carbon-neutral methanol-powered 16,000 TEU capacity container ships ordered with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The first vessel in the series is scheduled for delivery in Q1 of 2024. A contractual option for four additional vessels was also exercised earlier this month.

Believed to be the world’s first dual fueled diesel/LNG Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), Yuan Rui Yang is setting a trend which others seem certain to follow as pressure mounts on ship owners to reduce GHG emissions.

With her sea trials complete, in late October the UK's new Polar Research ship, RRS Sir David Attenborough, paid a visit to the port of London ahead of her first deployment to the Antarctic this month. She tied up in Greenwich at the home of the Prime Meridian (Zero Longitude) to mark the beginning of the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow. Named after renowned UK broadcaster, naturalist, and environmental campaigner Sir David Attenborough, she is pictured above in the River Thames while on passage to Greenwich.

In May this year, Viking Ocean Cruises named the company’s latest new build Viking Venus in a ceremony conducted at sea in the English Channel. British journalist Anne Diamond was invited to be the ship’s ceremonial godmother and in keeping with the company’s custom, a bottle of Norwegian aquavit was duly cracked on the ship’s hull using a historic Viking broad axe to cut the ribbon to a soundtrack of recorded classical concerts.

BP Shipping’s R Class Aframax sized tankers were introduced to the fleet in the period 2016-17 and represent a significant investment by the company in a total of 9 sister vessels serving this key sector.

The Royal New Zealand Navy has recently taken delivery of HMNZS Aotearoa, a fleet support and replenishment tanker. In addition to providing global support to NZ and allied warships, Aotearoa is built to Polar Class 6 and has a fully winterized design to enable operations in the Antarctic in support of New Zealand’s scientific research stations. Her versatile design enables the transfer at sea of ammunition and dry stores in addition to fuel and water. Also carrying a RNZAF NH90 helicopter, she is the largest vessel to have been commissioned into New Zealand’s navy.

Paris-based Nexans S.A. has recently taken delivery of the Nexans Aurora, a DP3 classed cable laying vessel also outfitted for bundle laying, cable jointing, repair, cable system protection and trenching.

While much of the attention towards adoption of LNG propulsion is focused on the container, cruise  and ro-ro sectors, the dry bulk and tanker industries are also slowly getting in on the act. Delivered in late 2020, sister ships HL Eco and HL Green are the world’s first dual-fueled Capesize bulk carriers.

Along with her escort group, HMS Queen Elizabeth is this month leaving UK waters for her maiden overseas deployment. Following exercises in the Mediterranean with the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle, she will transit the Suez Canal with visits and exercises planned to include 40 countries including India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. She will also engage in freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea.

In October 2020, the Yui Lian Shipyard in Shenzen completed the conversion of the Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) BW Gemini to be powered by a two-stroke LPG fueled diesel engine using Wartsila LPG Fuel Supply technology.

Currently under construction is the world’s first dedicated hydrogen tanker Suiso Frontier (Suiso translates to hydrogen in Japanese). The vessel is part of the HySTRA (CO₂-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-Chain Technology Research Association) demonstration project, which will see cryogenically frozen hydrogen shipped from the port of Hastings in the state of Victoria, Australia, to the Japanese port of Kobe. The hydrogen will be extracted from brown coal.

Built to a Damen design, Island Aurora and her sister ship Island Discovery departed Constanta, Romania in late November 2019 on a semi-submersible vessel for the 10,305 nautical mile voyage to Victoria BC. After final fitting out and crew training at the Point Hope Shipyard in Victoria, the two vessels entered service in June 2020, Island Discovery on the Powell River to Texada Island route and Island Aurora on the Port McNeill to Alert Bay and Sointula Island route.