New tugs to service Panama Canal

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced on April 28 that five new tugs had been added the its fleet.

All five 3,580kW vessels were built at Cheoy Lee Shipyards, Hong Kong. ACP Executive Vice President of Operations Manuel Benítez said that an additional 13 tugs, also purchased from Cheoy Lee Shipyards, are scheduled to begin arriving in September 2010. These new units will come with an award-winning design, superior components, stronger engines, better clutches and advanced propulsion systems.

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Jurong seeks to sell Petrorig I

SINGAPORE: Sembcorp Marine subsidiary Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd (JSPL) is seeking to sell the newly completed semisubmersible PetroRig I.

Construction has been completed on the PetroRig I, and the rig was ready for delivery to PetroRig I Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PetroMena ASA, earlier this month. However, as final payment was not made to JSPL under the construction contract, JSPL has terminated the contract today.In accordance to its rights under the contract, Jurong Shipyard will proceed to sell the rig.PetroRig I is a sixth generation ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig built based on the Friede & Goldman Ex-D design. The rig is capable of operating in 3,000 meters (9,842 ft) water depth and harsh environment drilling conditions and is also suitable for operations in most of the world's known challenging deepwater arena.

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Dredging underway in South Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City: Tan Thuan Industrial Park Development Company (IPC) began the first phase of dredging the Soai Rap River on Monday to allow larger vessels to enter Hiep Phuoc port complex in HCMC's Nha Be District.

Under the mammoth three-phase dredging plan, the riverbed will be dredged to a final depth of 12 meters to allow for navigation of vessels of up to 70,000 tons, enabling the port complex to have annual throughput of 250 million tons of goods after 2015.In the first phase this year and next, the river will be dredged to a depth of 9.5 meters to allow for 30,000 to 50,000-ton ships, raising the port complex's handling capacity to 140 million tons per year. The second phase in 2012-2013 aims to create a passage of 12 meters deep for vessels of 50,000 to 70,000 ton to navigate into Hiep Phuoc port complex.

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Newbuilding orders keep on plunging in March

The third month of the year proved no exception to the previous ones, since from November onwards, newbuilding orders on a worldwide basis remain under the 1 million-dwt monthly mark.

As shipowners are scaling back investments, shipyards are bound to suffer in earnings. Chinese yards in particular appear to be in dire straits, as Worldyards shipbuilding database indicates that thus far 55.65% of the total 7,862 million cgt in cancellations have occurred in China. While the current global orderbook stands at just shy of 158m cgt, owners are practically absent from newbuilding orders. The world new ship contracts kept low at 693,700 dwt in March the fifth month with turnover down 1 million dwt. CANSI’s newly published survey this week showed China's ship industry continued the downturn from end 2008 to January and February grabbing very few new orders. It's expected the new orders will keep rare in H1 then rally in H2.Shipbuilders like Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co Ltd revealed that they started to feel hard to receive new orders, though they had relatively plentiful holdings which could spread to 2011 and 2012. Meanwhile, order cancellation continued. During January to February there was an accumulative cancellation of 13 ships equal to 664,000 dwt.

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LNG Tankers May Idle for Years as Fleet Expands

Some liquefied-natural-gas tankers may lie idle for years because too many are being built as the global recession erodes demand for the fuel.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows how the number of LNG tankers sitting at anchor, the red line, has expanded in line with the world fleet, in white, indicating insufficient cargoes. "Some of these ships will remain long-term unemployed, for three or four years in the worst case," said Morten Frisch, senior partner at Morten Frisch Consulting, an East Horsley, U.K.-based consultant to the LNG industry. Algeria, Nigeria, Qatar, Indonesia, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea are leading cutbacks in LNG cargoes as demand weakens, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a report yesterday. LNG exports fell 5.5 percent to 24.1 billion cubic feet a day in January and February compared with a year earlier, the bank said. The plunge in business may encourage some owners to lease out their vessels for storage, Frisch said. Others may mothball ships, he said.

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OPEC, Asian officials call for curbs on oil speculation

CAIRO: OPEC and Asian energy officials called Sunday for new oil investments and tougher measures to combat speculation in crude markets that some have argued helped fuel last year's oil price spike.

The call came during a one-day energy meeting in Tokyo to discuss volatility in the world oil market. Officials are concerned about another price spike once the world emerges from the global recession. The slowdown has sharply eroded oil demand and driven crude prices down about 65 percent from mid-July levels of $147 per barrel.
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Sirichai Fisheries embroiled in new legal battle

Senator Khun Wicharn Sirichai, the Managing Director of Sirichai Fisheries, Thailand, has exclusively released documentation of a legal case in which Indonesian authorities have accused a Thai-flagged trawler of illegal fishing in the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone to BairdMaritime.com.

Sirichai Fisheries was also the owner of the ‘Ekawatnava 5’, a vessel which was sunk in November 2008 in a dramatic explosion caused by the Indian Navy on the false presumption of it being a Somali pirate mother ship. According to documents released, the Thai-flagged trawler ‘Or. Sirichainava 18’ left Somali waters on February 2, 2009, and headed back to the Port of Samutsakhon Province, Thailand.By February 20, the vessel had arrived at the mouth of the Malacca Strait, and was, according to Sirichai, within the vessel’s rights to freedom of navigation, as stated by UNCLOS 1982.

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