China will spend 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in improving the navigable capacity on the Yangtze River, the country’s longest, in 17 years, an official said yesterday. The money will be spent in dredging of the river’s lower reaches, expanding the middle reaches, and extending the navigable cour
Trends continue to sweep the international shipping freight market, especially in the tanker segment. And with the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) making a downward revision in demand forecast for the first time in many months, the shipping industry does not anticipate the freight mark
The hole left when a 154-foot boat sails out of a shipyard is more than just the space it once occupied, as Hodgdon Yachts learned when the ketch Scheherazade floated away in 2003. The super yacht was, at the time, the largest of its kind under construction in the Western Hemisphere. It took four ye
The Piracy Centre of the London- based International Chamber of Commerce has been churning out reports of sea robberies in the Straits of Malacca and classifying them as piracy. The classification is contrary to international law. The Piracy Centre labels an incident against a ship or crew within na
INS “Sindhughosh,” a diesel- electric Indian naval submarine, was launched today at a shipyard in northern Russia after deep upgradation with a cruise missile complex and sonar system. Launched with the breaking of coconut and uncorking of Champagne, Sindhughosh (Sea Soul) is the third Kilo class su
When Port Canaveral passed Port Everglades near Fort Lauderdale in cruise-passenger traffic several years ago, its leaders began billing it as the world’s second-busiest cruise port. However, the latest cruise passenger statistics tell a different story. If you count only multiday cruises on cruise
When registration for the 38th annual Antigua Sailing Week closed today 183 boats representing 27 different countries had registered to race in the granddaddy of them all. Racing kicks off tomorrow with the Dickenson Bay Race from English Harbour and will be tough for the next couple of days. Light
Mexico’s environmental agency has approved another liquefied natural gas receiving terminal for Baja California. The $55 million floating project would be built about five miles off the coast of Rosarito Beach by Moss Maritime, a global leader in LNG tanker construction, and Mexican partner Terminal
Unions fear a skills gap could jeopardise a multi-billion pound defence order bound for the North East. Swan Hunter shipyards on the Tyne and the Tees are set to work on a
The troubled P&O liner Aurora is due to set sail on a cruise for the first time since the embarrassing and costly cancellation of its voyage in January. The
A scheme to make the shallow strait between India and Sri Lanka navigable has upset environmentalists and the port of Colombo. To its supporters, it is a dream project, no less than the
THE Federal Government took a major step in its quest to achieve over 70 per cent of Nigerian content in the oil industry last week as it inaugurated five major sub-committee to oversee the success of the programme. The committees are petroleum, banking and insurance finance, fabrication, engineerin
Efforts to strengthen transportation network for inter-island trade in Western Mindanao through Roll-on Roll-off transportation system are up for discussion at the first Western Mindanao RORO Shipping Conference set here on April 27 at Astoria Hotel. Over 150 key players from the region
Halul Offshore Services Company (HOSC) recently took delivery of a newly built state-of-the art Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) support vessel Al Huwaila. The vessel is contracted to Qatar Petroleum (QP) to carry out sub-sea inspection and maintenance of the company’s offshore oil and gas facilities
