Sweet Home Alabama! Maersk ship escapes pirates

London: Maersk Alabama, the 1,100 TEU container vessel that was attacked by pirates and hijacked is now in full control of its crew although one crew member is held hostage by the attackers, Maersk Line said.

The armed hijackers who boarded the ship have departed. “The other members of the crew are safe and no injuries have been reported. We are working closely with the U.S. military and other government agencies to continue to respond to this situation as it develops further. “The hijack took place at around 05.00 UTC on Wednesday. The US flagged vessel has a crew of 20 US nationals and is owned and operated by Maersk Line, Limited in the US.

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‘Alliance’ towing on the inland waterways

USA: Higman Barge Lines Inc has recently taken delivery of two vessels, ‘Alliance’ and ‘Erik Salen’. Both vessels are part of a series of push boats being built by Hope Services Inc, Louisiana.

Alliance’ pushing a liquids barge on the inland waterways on March 18, 2009 ‘Alliance’ was delivered in late 2008 while ‘Erik Salen’ was delivered in January 2009. A third tow boat, ‘Kal A Shaw’, being built to the same design, will be delivered in mid-April. The vessels measure 21.9 metres by 9.14 metres. With a hull depth of three metres, the 144GT these vessels are well suited to working the inland waterways of the USA.

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Worldwide shipping rates set to tumble 74%

Global shipping rates are primed for a wrenching 74 per cent plunge in 2009 as commodity demand continues to fall in Asia and the massive glut of vessels ordered during the boom years finally hits the oceans.

The expected collapse in rates, which could push dozens of shipowners close to bankruptcy, follows a 92 per cent decline in the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) of shipping rates over the course of last year. The misery is expected to continue well into 2010, with a further 15 per cent drop in rates before any rebound brings relief to fleet owners.The closely-watched gauge of world trade in iron ore, coal and other bulk cargoes has fallen for 19 straight days – the same ferocity of decline that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the catastrophic freezing of trade finance.The stark warning of a continuing collapse in the BDI, issued by analysts at Nomura Securities in Hong Kong, comes despite industry predictions of multiple order cancellations by shipowners and forecasts that record numbers of vessels may be put into storage. According to the gloomiest forecasts, fleet owners may lay-up the greatest number of ships since the oil crisis of the 1970s.But these measures, however drastic, may not be enough to fight further alarming declines in freight rates. Even if 40 per cent of worldwide order books are cancelled this year, the slump in global demand and the sharp rise in Chinese inventories of iron ore and coal, say analysts, suggest that the worst is yet to come.

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StatoilHydro makes discovery off Newfoundland

ST JOHNS, NEWFOUNDLAND: StatoilHydro has made a discovery in the Flemish Pass offshore Newfoundland, discovering hydrocarbons while drilling the deepwater Mizzen prospect on exploration license EL 1049 with Transocean semisubmersible Henry Goodrich.

StatoilHydro will analyze the well results further to determine the potential of the discovery, and an application for a Significant Discovery License (SDL) will be filed over the coming months. "The drilling operation, conducted at a water depth of 1,100 meters (3,608 feet) and during the heart of the North Atlantic winter storm season, was very challenging," said Erik Abrahamsen, StatoilHydro Canada's vice president of East Coast Operations."We are very pleased with the way that the rig, its crew and the local supply community successfully met the challenges." StatoilHydro is the operator of Mizzen with a 65 percent working interest. Husky Energy Inc. participated in the drilling of the well for a 35 percent interest.

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Impressive Dutch Vessel

If there was a worldwide competition for the most immaculate engine room, it might very well be won by an engine room from the Netherlands.

In fact it might even belong to Mr. and Mrs. Van der Stelt whose new vessel, Mon Desir, transports coal along the river system from the German Ruhrgebiet. The 443 ft long hull of the ship was built near the mouth of the Volga River in the JSC 3d International Shipyard in Astrakan Russia. The vessel was completed at the TeamCo Shipyard in Heuden the Netherlands. The main engines in the vessels immaculate engine room are a pair of Cummins QSK50-M machines each producing 1700 HP at 1800 RPM. The engines are EU Stage iiia and EPA Tier 2 compliant.

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