First Chinese made LNG ship delivered

The first Chinese made LNG ship has been delivered to its owner.

The delivery ceremony of 'Dapeng Sun’ was held at the Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard. The carrier was mainly invested and owned by Chinese firms with foreign partners and the investors include COSCO, China Merchants and Australia LNG. This marks a milestone in the country's shipbuilding industry as the ship is fully designed and built by Chinese. The builder is Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, which is the leading Chinese shipbuilding enterprise under the leadership of China Shipbuilding Group Corporation (CSSC). Hudong-Zhonghua is currently the only shipbuilder with the ability for LNG ship construction in China. The new ship cost about US$ 160 million, which equals the cost of five Panamax ships, but the LNG tanker only, uses the amount of steel similar to a 70,000DWT bulk ship. With a length of 292 metres, a beam of 43.35 meters, it has a theoretical capacity of 147,210 square metres, which can provide enough LNG for the city of Shanghai in a whole month. "The company finished the ship in 27 months, which is three months earlier than Japan and Korea shipyards," stated Mr. Wang Yong, the general manager of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding. "Besides, most of the key components are made in China." Hudong-Zhonghua also holds other four contracts for the same type of ship and the company believes that with foregoing experience, following each ship can be completed in 17 months.
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Forecast for big sea level rise

Sea levels could rise by up to one-and-a-half metres by the end of this century, according to a new scientific analysis.

This is substantially more than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast in last year's landmark assessment of climate science. Sea level rise of this magnitude would have major impacts on low-lying countries such as Bangladesh. The findings were presented at a major science conference in Vienna. The research group is not the first to suggest that the IPCC's forecast of an average rise in global sea levels of 28-43cm by 2100 is too conservative. The IPCC was unable to include the contribution from "accelerated" melting of polar ice sheets as water temperatures warm because the processes involved were not yet understood. The new analysis comes from a UK/Finnish team, which has built a computer model linking temperatures to sea levels for the last two millennia. "For the past 2,000 years, the global average sea level was very stable, it only varied by about 20cm," said Svetlana Jevrejeva from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL), near Liverpool, UK. However, by the end of the century, it is predicted to rise between 0.8m and 1.5m. The rapid rise in the coming years is associated with the rapid melting of ice sheets.
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'Le Ponant' hostages set free

The French military has released the 30 hostages onboard the luxury small cruise ship 'Le Ponant'.

France's Defense Minister has said that Paris would not tolerate extortion attempts. The French military has also seized half a dozen pirates. "This is the first time a country has decided not to let itself be extorted, but also to take matters into its own hands," Helve Morin was quoted saying. A source close to the negotiations with the pirates said the boat owner paid about €2 million (US$3.16 million) to free the hostages, and that a portion of the money was recovered when the six pirates were detained. The French chief of the general staff, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, said no "public money" had been paid to the kidnappers, who released the hostages after negotiations with the ship owner. A special plane from the French military base in Djibouti was sent to collect the hostages. The doctor on the helicopter-carrier, Claude Vergez-Larrouget reported that the freed hostages were in a satisfactory condition, and that the Somali pirates had not mistreated them. The 22 French members of the 30 crew aboard Le Ponant were expected to be brought back to France soon.
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Petrobras Discovers World's Third-Largest Oil Field

Petroleo Brasileiro SA's offshore Carioca prospect may hold 33 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply every refinery in the U.S. for six years, making it the third-largest oil field ever discovered.

Additional wells must be drilled to develop a "more conclusive'' estimate, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said. Only Saudi Arabia's Ghawar and Kuwait's Burgan fields are bigger: Ghawar holds as much as 83 billion barrels of crude, while Burgan has up to 72 billion. Petrobras, as the company is known, rose almost 6 percent. The whole area off the coast of Brazil is becoming a new oil province. The Carioca field, also known as BM-S-9, is located beneath a layer of salt in the deepwater Santos Basin off Brazil's southeastern coast, where Petrobras in November announced the discovery of the 8 billion-barrel Tupi field. It is part of a major transformation of Petrobras, which could lead to it becoming a much larger company in terms of production and reserves over the next 5-10 years. The field is 45 percent-controlled by Petrobras.

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Hanjin Shipping to boost dry bulk activities

Hanjin Shipping is to increase the prominence of its dry bulk activities by absorbing a subsidiary and ordering new vessels, the company announced at its Board meeting.

Hanjin plans to merge with Keoyang Shipping, which specializes in dry bulk transportation of iron ore and coal for POSCO, KEPCO and their affiliated companies. If approved by shareholders, Hanjin Shipping will take over Keoyang Shipping’s total owned fleet of 17 dry bulk vessels. Hanjin Shipping states, “The main reason for this merger is to avoid the overlap of the bulk business run by Keoyang Shipping and Hanjin Shipping and eventually to improve the efficiency of the management and bring synergy effect to the business.” The company hopes that the move will also serve to enhance its bulk business with relatively stable profitability. The dry bulk sector currently accounts for around 20% of the company’s total sales. Hanjin Shipping has proposed a transaction of 0.4550678 Hanjin Shipping share for each Keoyang share owned. Hanjin Shipping has also announced plans to expand its bulk fleet, from about 100 vessels to 250 by 2013. Some 250 vessels will be secured in near future, including 16 dry bulk ships, of which 10 ordered by Hanjin Shipping and six ordered by Keoyang Shipping (including two very large dry bulk vessels of 300,000 ton).
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