Naming and launching of Flensburger Newbuilding No. 736

The naming and launching ceremony of a new 3,735-metre lane Ro-Ro freight ferry took place in Flensburg.

She is the eleventh of fourteen Ro-Ro vessels, which the longstanding Turkish customer U.N. Ro-Ro has ordered with Flensburger. U.N. Ro-Ro is now in ownership of the private investor KKR (New York), who took over the shipping company U.N Ro-Ro in 2007 for approximately EUR910 million (US$1.4 million). The vessel will be christened 'Un Akdeniz' and then launched. The first ship of the series had the same name. She and the second vessel 'Un Karadeniz' have in the meantime been sold to Norfolk Line, a subsidiary of the Maersk Group. At present, Flensburger has 20 vessels in the order book, representing a value of EUR1.2 billion (US$1.8 billion). This makes Flensburger the German yard with the longest capacity utilization. The last vessel is to be delivered in the first quarter of 2013. Since December 1998, Flensburger-Schiffbau-Gesellschaft KG has succeeded in acquiring nearly all significant newbuilding-contracts for major Ro-Ro-ferries. This represents a total number of 47 ships and makes Flensburger one of the world market-leaders in this product segment.

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'OOCL Texas' named at Yangshan Deepwater Port, Shanghai

OOCL announces the christening of the new 4,578-TEU vessel, built by Samsung Heavy Industries.

The vessel was christened the 'OOCL Texas' by the honourable sponsor, Mrs Barbara Bush. The christening ceremony took place at Yangshan Deepwater Port, Shanghai. President George H W Bush; Mr Tung Chee Hwa, Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Ms Li Xiaolin, Vice President, Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; Mr Tang Dengjie, Vice Mayor of Shanghai Municipal Government and Mr J W Kim, President and CEO of Samsung, were the honored guests among 200 participants at the ceremony. President George H W Bush, in a speech at the ceremony, said the China - US relationship was the most important bilateral relationship. He highlighted the progress that has been made in the relationship, and said that the christening of the ship represented a close bond between the two nations. President George H W Bush also commented that he was impressed with developments at Yangshan Deepwater Port, and said he was delighted with the arrangements at the christening ceremony.

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US wants to limit harmful ship pollution

The Bush administration is pressuring the worldwide shipping industry to reduce diesel pollution from huge cargo carriers entering US seaports.

However, it is not moving aggressively enough for environmentalists and some members of Congress who represent areas with major harbors. The US regulators are negotiating with the United Nations' International Maritime Organisation to crack down on the large ships that threaten to erode anti-pollution gains already made under mandates for cars and trucks to produce less pollution. But the Britain-based maritime organization, which represents 167 countries, has moved slowly, even as ship traffic rises steadily. The US Environmental Protection Agency, after court challenges by environmental groups, initially agreed to regulate unhealthy ship emissions by last April but now is waiting until 2009, after the maritime group sets global standards. Some members of Congress want the EPA to act quickly on its own, and some shippers are voluntarily moving to cleaner-burning fuels. The World Shipping Council, representing most of the world's cargo carriers, supports the EPA's proposals but wants an international standard rather than US-specific rules.

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Testing begins at Corvina

Osinergmin, the Peruvian government agency that monitors industrial safety, has cleared Houston-based BPZ Energy to resume operations at the CX-11 platform in the Z-1 Block offshore northwest Peru.

The company has begun month-long testing on the Corvina CX11-18XD well, after which it will proceed to complete the well. Operation was suspended after a fire sank a Peruvian Navy tanker moored near the platform. BPZ is now close to completing the installation of sea-bed pipelines and mooring systems that will allow for long-term testing. BPZ intends this program to enable it to increase production efficiently and better understand characteristics of the Corvina field. The company also expects to have a floating production, storage, offloading vessel fully operational by mid-April.

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Storm damaged P&O liner repaired

A P&O cruise liner damaged in stormy weather on its way from Southampton to the Caribbean has left port after being fully repaired.

Artemis, carrying 1,188 passengers, made an unscheduled call at Falmouth, Cornwall, for the work on Wednesday. The ship headed off to the Atlantic at about 2130 GMT after the damage to the anchor stowage area was fixed. The south coast has been battered by storms since early on Monday. Earlier, the damage was towards the front of the bow and could not be seen externally. A repairs team, including a P&O inspector, sailed out to the Artemis in a small boat. The vessel, the smallest of the P&O Cruises fleet, left Southampton 12 hours behind schedule at 2145 GMT on Tuesday, due to the recent bad weather.
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