Wreck of HMS 'Victory' discovered

One of the world's greatest maritime mysteries was solved when Odyssey Marine Exploration discovered the shipwreck of HMS ‘Victory’, lost in 1744 under the command of Admiral Sir John Balchin.

Admiral Balchin's ‘Victory’ was the mightiest and most technically advanced vessel of her age. She was lost during a storm with all hands and was the last Royal Navy warship to be lost at sea with a complete complement of bronze cannon. Two of the greatest admirals in English history, Sir John Norris and Sir John Balchin called her their flagship. Research indicates that ‘Victory’ sank with a substantial amount of gold and silver aboard. Odyssey discovered the site nearly 100km from where the ship was historically believed to have been wrecked on a reef near the Channel Islands. In an operation conducted in cooperation with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), Odyssey has completed an archaeological pre-disturbance survey of the site, conducted limited test trenching, and recovered two bronze cannon to confirm the identity of the shipwreck. The cannon recovered include a twelve-pounder featuring the royal arms of George II and a four-tonne, 42-pounder bearing the crest of George I. The huge 42-pounder recovered is the only known example of a gun of this type and size currently in existence on dry land. The only other artefacts recovered to date were two small brick fragments that were brought into US federal court in order to file an admiralty arrest of the site. The twelve-pounder bronze cannon recovered from the shipwreck site of HMS ‘Victory’, on the deck of the Odyssey Explorer.

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Jebel Ali port's Terminal Two will open this month

Dubai Ports World, the fourth largest port operator in the world, will see its Terminal Two at Jebel Ali port development completed by the end of this month.

The terminal will increase the port's capacity by five million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), bringing the total to 14 million TEUs. "Our long-term vision to expand the port continues. We have to keep adapting ourself. Our mission is to expand but also to optimise," said Anwar Wajdi, senior vice-president of corporate strategy, Dubai Ports World, at a Ports Development conference. By 2012, the company's new port at Taweelah will also be coming online. The current economic crisis has led the company to re-evaluate its strategy of international expansion. "We must re-visit our strategies for sustainable growth," Wajdi said. He also said that the company is assessing the speed at which investments are made but that no options are completely written off. "Plans could change by the minute. If things speed up, we will go ahead with expansion plans full throttle. But as the market demand slows down, our plans will slow down," he said. During the Gulf War, as well as the September 11 attacks, trade volumes continued to grow, he said. The current financial crisis however has brought growth down to single digits from almost 25 per cent.

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New Hyundai shipyard begins operations

The new Hyundai Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Gunsan is starting operations this month.

Located in the Jeolla Province in South Korea, the Gunsan shipyard held a keel laying ceremony on February 2 for its first ship, a 180,000DWT bulker ordered by Nord Capital of Germany. Delivery of the new ship is scheduled for next February. The shipyard’s facilities are yet to be complete. However, when works on the dock and the installation of a Goliath crane are complete in May, the Gunsan shipyard will have the longest building dock, measuring 700 metres by 115 metres. It will also have the world’s largest Goliath crane from a 1,600-tonne class and will have a 690 metre by 250 metre inner wall, enabling six vessels to be anchored at any one time. The shipyard has secured a backlog of 33 vessels will keep the yard busy until 2011.

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Gulf-based tanker manager ITM changes hands

Tanker ship management specialist ITM, based in Dubai and formerly part of Wilhelmsen Ship Management, has been acquired by leading independent shipmanager V.Ships.

Commenting on the deal, Bob Bishop, CEO of V.Ships said: "ITM enjoys a strong reputation in the management of tankers and chemical carriers and will strengthen our position in this important market sector and expand further our global network by increasing our presence in the Middle East.” He added that ITM managing director Lars Modin and his senior management team would stay in place and continue to operate under the ITM brand. Roberto Giorgi, President of V.Ships, said: "While we continue to focus on organic growth, we see the acquisition of ITM as a very important strategic initiative which demonstrates our commitment to grow at a time of challenging trading conditions. This initiative will help us to further improve the services we offer to our expanding client base.”"My management team and I look forward to being part of V.Ships," commented Modin, "and will work to develop strong relationships between our office networks, which encompasses Dubai, Hamburg, Singapore and Houston, and the already extensive network of V.Ships”.

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Sunreef Yachts appoints Quatar dealer, delivers first yacht to the Middle East

Ronautica Middle East located in the prestigious Pearl Island, Quatar, has been appointed as the exclusive dealer for Quatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman by Sunreef Yachts.

The company has signed an exclusive dealership contract witn Sunreef Yachts in the beginning of 2009. The first yacht sold by Ronautica Middle East is Sunreef 62 Al Maiasan launched in December 2008 and delivered to Pearl Island marina in January 2009 on a cargo ship. She sailed from Gdansk, Sunreef shipyard, to Hamburg. After dismantling the mast, she was loaded in Hamburg on a 335 meter cargo ship called La Traviata, to reach Khawr Fakkan harbour in the United Arab Emirates. She was assembled there again, put on the water and sailed to Doha in Qatar, to her final destination – the marina at the Pearl Island, one of the most glamorous places in the Middle East. The whole transfer operation took around a month and has been successfully organized and coordinated by Sunreef Yachts Service. Apart Quatar, Sunreef Yachts has worldwide brokers network in Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Israel, USA and China to name but a few.

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