U.S. Ship seized in fight over treasure

Spain has again seized an American treasure-hunting ship over a dispute with its owners over who has rights to millions of dollars worth of booty recovered from the sea, officials said.

Spain seized the Odyssey Explorer - owned by Odyssey Marine Exploration based Tampa, Fla.- as it sailed out of port in the British colony of Gibraltar on Tuesday. Armed Spanish government vessels were waiting for the Explorer when it reached 4 miles off Gibraltar's shore and entered what Spain considers its territorial waters. But the Explorer's captain, Sterling Vorus, told the Spaniards that the ship is in international waters, Odyssey owner Greg Stemm said. The Spanish vessels forced the Explorer to dock at Spain's nearby port of Algeciras. Spain ‘intercepted and seized’ the Explorer on Tuesday under a court order on ‘suspicion that Odyssey, through its ships, is recovering Spanish maritime heritage, in Spanish waters, without authorization,’ the spokesman said. It was the second time in four months that Spain had seized an Odyssey vessel as it sailed off of Gibraltar.

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Swissco orders Offshore Support Vessels

Swissco Offshore has placed orders for four new vessels to add to its growing fleet of offshore support vessels, at a cost of S$11.2 million including owner supplied items.

Out of the four vessels that have been ordered, the first order is for two identical units of 36-meter Offshore Utility Vessels. This is placed with a Guangzhou shipyard, China. These vessels are multi-purpose and are expected to be delivered in 2009. The second order is for two identical units of 26-meter Multi-Purpose Workboats. This order is placed with a Miri shipyard in East Malaysia. The attributes of these vessels make them well equipped for work in shallow waters, oil & gas, as well as, in marine construction. They are expected to be delivered in 2008. The group presently operates a fleet of 25 vessels and expects to take delivery of five for the rest of 2007, 12 in 2008 and two in 2009.

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Keppel Nantong wins $75m in tug contracts

Keppel Nantong Shipyard Co. Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, won three contracts worth a total of $75 million, including owner furnished equipment, to build eight tugs.

The first contract is secured from Smit Internationale Beheer B.V to build two 90-ton bollard pull offshore support tugs. It will have anchor handling, diving support, and fire fighting capabilities. Delivery of these two vessels is expected in the first half of 2010. The second and third contracts are awarded by Keppel Smit Towage Pte Ltd and Maju Maritime Pte Ltd. Each contract is for the construction of three 65-tonne bollard pull twin-screw Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) tugs. The vessels are expected to be progressively delivered in the year of 2011.

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Van Dam begins construction of new cruiser

The Van Dam Nordia Shipyard in the Netherlands has begun the construction of a 21.3m Nordia Performance Cruiser, which is due for delivery in July 2008.

The yacht is the first within the company's new line of custom-built aluminium performance cruising yachts, featuring a high-grade aluminium hull, Ballisto keel and a semi-balanced rudder. Propulsion is supplied by a full carbon sloop rig with full batten slab reef mainsail and a Code Zero, offering a total sail area of nearly 400sq m. Van Dam is also in the process of developing a new flagship model — the 36.6m Performance Cruiser, which is scheduled to be presented at Boot Düsseldorf in January 2008.

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Costa orders two cruise ships

Costa Crociere, the leading cruise line in Italy and Europe, has announced an order for two new 114,200-ton ships to be delivered in 2011 and 2012.

Costa Crociere S.p.a, the Italian subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc signed an agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of the two new vessels at an all-in cost of approximately €1 billion. The two new ships will be built at Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard and be sister ships to the Costa Concordia, Costa Serena and Costa Pacifica, the latter of which is currently being built at Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente shipyard. The new ships will each be able to accommodate 3,780 passengers in total.

The two new orders bring Costa's fleet expansion program to a total value of €5.5 billion and the total number of vessels introduced between 2000 and 2012 to 13. By 2012, when the last of the new orders is completed, the Costa fleet will be 17 strong and have a total guest capacity of approximately 36,700 based on double occupancy.

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