Martin Christian Wold Senior Consultant DNV GL
Greater regulatory certainty and a burgeoning bunkering infrastructure worldwide means the conditions couldn’t be better for LNG-fuelled vessels to set sail.
The November 13-14, 2017 UNFCCC COP23 meeting in Bonn was the stage for the world’s 3rd largest container carrier, the Marseille based CMA CGM Group, to announce its decision to fit its 9 x 22,000 TEU newbuilds scheduled for delivery in 2020, with LNG propulsion.
On August 21 this year the U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyer John S. McCain was in collision with the 51,000 ton tanker Alnic MC in the Strait of Malacca off the coast of Singapore following a steering malfunction on the warship.
While on a flight from Athens to London with Aegean Airways a couple of weeks ago, I could not fail to notice a distinguished looking gentleman sitting just ahead of us examining a Tsakos Shipping Group fleet brochure.
On this Remembrance Weekend it is perhaps appropriate to give thought to the Royal Canadian Navy. Following a six month deployment to Asia, a visitor to the Pier in North Vancouver in August was HMCS Ottawa, a Halifax Class Patrol Frigate and the fourth to be named after Canada’s capital city.
It is not too often that we feature a ship which has yet to be built but given the significance, this week is an exception. The final design of the world’s first autonomous and zero emission container feeder ship, to be named YARA Birkeland, was released last month in Norway.
A recent visitor to Vancouver was Diana Shipping’s Panamax bulk carrier Coronis which I spied at anchorage while using the Seabus to cross into the city for a sunny afternoon at the Vancouver Whitecaps.
When recently checking the visitor log at the Mission to Seafarers, I was amused by the name of a ship from which we hosted a large group of seafarers.
Following an in-port race on October 14, the first leg of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race, begins in Alicante, the permanent headquarters of the race, on October 22.
