Abeking & Rasmussen launches the 78m Eminence (6478)

In 2005, Abeking & Rasmussen, the famous German shipyard located on the banks of the river Weser, contracted it’s largest yacht ever, the 78.43 meter hull 6478.

Ordered by the US owner of the 57m Abeking Excellence III, the project was named Excellence IV. However in 2007, while in the final months of completion, her owner sold the yacht and last Tuesday she was launched as Eminence. Reymond & Langton Design has designed the Exterior as well as interior with the naval architecture in the hands of the A&R in house engineering department. The five deck yacht with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure features an almost stern wide transom hatch with two of the well proven tender launching systems developed by A&R which allows for smooth launching and recovering even when under way. The draft of Eminence has been reduced to 3.2m allowing access to shallow anchorages especially in the Bahamas. Propelled by two 1492 kW Caterpillars speed will be 16.5 knots. The yacht is built according to Lloyds Register of Shipping and MCA.

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Russian river fleet attracts investors

Russian river fleet is becoming more and more attractive to investors, including foreign.

Italian shipping company Pietro Barbaro launches the largest financing in the history of the Russian market of river transportation of US$80 million; Italians plan to create a fleet of 11 vessels. Their Russian company Prime Shipping will operate the fleet. Experts consider that Pietro Barbaro can take up to 15-20 percent of the Russian market of river transportation. In the summer of 2006, Pietro Barbaro bought Russian Prime Shipping from the British company Burren Energy, which at that time owned six vessels. Bank Intesa Sanpaolo and shipping group Pietro Barbaro agreed to spend US$80 million to create the tanker fleet, class 'river-sea', for the transportation of mineral oil on Volga-Don waterways and Caspian Sea. Last December Krasnoe Sormovo launched the fourth tanker, 5,000DWT for Pietro Barbaro. The cost of such vessel is about EUR10 million (US$15.7 million).

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Saudi Arabia working to ensure oil supply

Saudi Arabia said that it is working to expand its crude production and refinery capacity in order to maintain world economic growth.

"The Supreme Council of Petroleum and Mineral Affairs affirmed Saudi Arabia's desire for oil market stability and maintaining supplies to all regions (of the world) at all times to ensure continuing global economic development," a statement said. The Council expressed its satisfaction at the kingdom's work in expanding crude production and refining capacity to help meet global demand," it said. "The kingdom will work with Opec countries, other producers and consuming countries towards oil market stability and to avoid the effects of harmful speculation." The Council, headed by King Abdullah, met a day after US Vice President Dick Cheney met with Saudi leaders in Riyadh to discuss crude prices. Washington has said it wants Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, to help raise Opec production to help ease prices.

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Coast Guard: 4 dead, 1 missing in fishing vessel's sinking

Four crewmembers of a fishing vessel sinking off the coast of Alaska have died, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson said Sunday.

The Seattle, Washington-based Alaska Ranger was in 10-foot seas and winds of 30 to 35 miles per hour when it reported water was leaking into its steering gear compartment about 2:50 a.m. Sunday. The trawler had 47 people on board, said Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane, a Coast Guard spokesperson. Four of those had been confirmed dead by late morning. The 180-foot processing trawler was about 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor, in the remote Aleutian Islands, when the crew reported being "overwhelmed by water" and abandoned ship. Most of the crew had survival suits to protect them from water that was near-freezing, said Cmdr. Todd Trimpert, a Coast Guard spokesman. No cause of death was immediately known for the four crew members who died, but "certainly, they were in the water a long time," Trimpert said. Trimpert said investigators have not determined why the ship sank, but did not believe weather was the cause. The sinking left an unknown amount of diesel fuel on the surface of the Bering Sea.

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18 Ukrainian sailors trapped underwater in Hong Kong feared dead

Eighteen Ukrainian sailors were feared dead on Monday after they were trapped underwater in their capsized tugboat in Hong Kong for nearly 40 hours amid strong currents.

Their chances for survival are very slim,'' spokesman Zhang Jianwen of China's Guangzhou Salvage Bureau told. Divers were searching for bodies, and a Chinese salvage boat was stabilizing the Ukrainian tugboat and preparing it for a move from its current depth of 35 meters (115 feet) to shallower waters to ease rescue efforts, Zhang said. A larger boat would be required for the move, but it was not immediately clear if such a boat could navigate through Hong Kong's bridges and waters, Zhang said. The tugboat Neftegaz 67 sank and has been lying upside down underwater since late Saturday, when it collided with Chinese cargo ship Yao Hai in waters northwest of Hong Kong's outlying Lantau island. The 80-meter-long (264-foot-long) Ukrainian vessel sank quickly but the Chinese ship suffered only bow damage and stayed afloat, officials said. All 25 crewmembers on the Chinese vessel were rescued, but only seven of the 25 on the Ukrainian ship were found. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. Officials say weather conditions were reasonable at the time of the accident and neither ship was overloaded. The Neftegaz 67 was traveling from the southern Chinese city Shenzhen to an oil field south of Hong Kong.

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