Communications News

Deal inked to Develop Digital Ships

DSME, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, NAPA and AVL announced a strategic cooperation agreement to develop digital ships and related strategic solutions. The agreement combines vast experience in naval architecture, shipbuilding, engines, big data and software development, and will cover all aspects of creating comprehensive digital twins: from the acquisition and processing of quality engine room data, ship performance and meteorological data to the training, simulation and…

Cyber Risk Management: What Maritime Professionals Need to Know Now

The IMO January 2021 deadline for shipping interests to incorporate cyber risk management into their existing Safety Management Systems is fast approaching. It is critical that stakeholders understand their vulnerabilities. The IMO has issued MSC-FAL.1/Circ.3 guidelines on maritime cyber risk management that does a good job of outlining the many vulnerable systems within marine operations, including:1.Bridge systems;2. Cargo handling and management systems;3.Propulsion and machinery management and power control systems;4.

Kalmar Showcases Eco-Efficient Future

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, will focus on driving the eco-efficiency of terminal operations at this year's TOC Europe, which will be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on 18-20 June 2019.Kalmar will be showcasing its entire Eco Range - a wide portfolio of products and services that are designed to cut emissions in cargo handling operations. Several demos and collaborative sessions will be organised at the Kalmar stand to highlight the theme "Together for an eco-efficient future".Kalmar has been developing eco-efficient…

Using Technology to Streamline Operations in Container Shipping

That ‘Cloud’ on the horizon is closer than it looks.The container shipping industry faces many challenges, particularly when it comes to increasing uncertainty in the global political and economic environment. The issues between the US and China over trade relations and Brexit in Europe are testing the industry, plus increased regulations and market fluctuations are having a big impact.How container shipping companies operate now and in the future is changing and staying ahead of the curve is crucial for survival.

Marine Interiors 2019: Designers on Board

Ship designers and architects are experts at merging design and safety on board cruise ships. The considerations that make the difference will be on top of the agenda of the Marine Interiors specialist panel discussions during the Seatrade Europe conference program.To make sure that cruise passengers will feel comfortable in every respect, designers and architects leave nothing to chance when designing ship interiors. Based on the shipowner’s suggestions they develop restaurants, bars, suites and spas down to the tiniest detail.

Rotterdam Port Report Record Month

With 13.6 million tonnes of container freight handled, April of this year was the best month ever for the Port of Rotterdam. The previous record month was August 2018 (13.2 million tonnes)Measured in TEU, the standard unit for containers, April 2019 was the second-best month ever, with 1.3 million TEU, just a fraction lower than the record month of August 2018.Rotterdam has expanded to become Europe’s largest container port, partly because of its excellent depth, Europe’s largest…

Tolley to Join Intelsat as EVP & CFO

Intelsat has announced the appointment of David M. Tolley as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective June 3, 2019.Tolley will report to Intelsat’s Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Spengler, and oversee Intelsat’s global finance organization. He will serve on Intelsat’s Management Committee and be based in the company’s U.S. administrative headquarters in McLean, Virginia.Tolley brings over 20 years of financial experience to Intelsat. He most recently served…

Cosco Completes US$3bn Peru Port Deal

Hong Kong-based international port operator Cosco Shipping Ports has completed the equity transaction of project company responsible for its greenfield subsidiary at the Port of Chancay, Peru.With the equitytransaction of the Project Company was officially completed on 10 May 2019, Port of Chancay became the company’s first greenfield subsidiary in South America and COSCO Shipping Ports plans to developing the port to an important gateway port in South America.In January 2019…

Interview: Dan Skjeldam, CEO, Hurtigruten

Building on its 125-year heritage, Norwegian shipowner Hurtigruten has become a leader in exploration travel offering voyages to more than 200 unique destinations in more than 30 countries ranging across the globe from the Arctic to the Antarctic and including cruises in Norway, Greenland, Svalbard, Iceland, Western Europe, and the Americas. In an interview with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, Dan Skjeldam, the company’s CEO, emphasizes the need for the cruise industry…

PHOTECTOR Unveils Corporate Rebrand, Senior Hires

PHOTECTOR, previously known as PEIR, today announced a corporate rebrand and several new key senior hires.“We are excited about the corporate rebranding of PHOTECTOR, strategic actions that go far beyond a name change from PEIR,” said Tom Burke, CEO of TCompanies, parent company of PHOTECTOR. “These changes comprise a new brand identity that includes website and mobile app and user experience enhancements, as well as several key senior level new hires to move PHOTECTOR forward.

Demand for Box Shipping of Soybeans to Asia Grows

Countries in Asia, led by Indonesia, are increasingly relying on shipping containers to transport their purchases of U.S. soybeans, according to an analysis of federal data released by the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA).The number of soybeans shipped in containers to Asian countries has grown 40 percent since the 2014-2015 crop marketing year, from 2 million metric tons to 2.8 million metric tons. Indonesia is the top buyer of container shipments of soybeans at about 1.4 million metric tons…

Bahri Expands Footprint in Asia-Pac

The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) has announced the expansion of its market presence in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region’s maritime industry.The stronger presence will help the company gain deeper insights into market trends as well as customer needs in chemicals and logistics sectors in Singapore and the wider APAC region, said a press release from the logistics and transportation company.The expansion will also enable Bahri Logistics and Bahri Chemicals, two of five business units of the company…

Marshall Joins Ecochlor

Ecochlor announced Andrew Marshall as its new Vice President of Business Development, to oversee the sales, marketing and communications team, manage major client accounts, and develop strategies to increase revenue growth and profitability.“Marshall is a seasoned executive and comes to Ecochlor with a proven track record of international business development. His results-driven aptitude brought other companies from the initial conceptual and technical development phase through…

A SmallSat AUV Network

There’s more to a global network than satellite links, and yet sat-linked remote operations experts can heap huge scientific and technological gains on the world. That’s what’s happening in the background — a smallish network of the best scientists from around the world are orchestrating the communications and robotics that’ll yield groundbreaking achievement in the networked use of autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs.If you contact Professor Kanna Rajan, as we did, he’ll tell you he’s not the world’s foremost “drone” researcher…

HMM Names Jae-hoon Bae As New CEO

South Korean container line Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has announced that its board of directors had approved the hiring of Jae-hoon Bae as president and chief executive officer (CEO).The CEO recommendation committee led by Korea Development Bank, selected Bae as the final candidate for the next HMM CEO following a comprehensive candidate examination.Before his formal appointment, Bae came to the office to meet HMM’s senior executives and thoroughly checked current and future business conditions for the company.HMM official said in a press statement…

One-on-One with Martin McDonald, SVP, ROV Division, Oceaneering

Martin McDonald, an industry veteran with more than 35 years under his belt, is responsible for Oceaneering’s global ROV business. With a broad based of ROV experience – from operation to repair to maintenance to management – McDonald shares with MTR his insights on the historical development and future prospects of this high-profile subsea sector.How and when did you know that your career would be in the maritime/subsea industry?I grew up in Fraserburgh, Scotland, a small town 40 miles north of the oilfield city of Aberdeen. Fraserburgh is best known for commercial fishing.

Amsterdam Port Pushes Intermodal

The shipping companies and terminals in and around Amsterdam port are launching a range of initiatives for using rail more extensively for the transport of cargo, including containers and liquid bulk cargo.Recently Port of Amsterdam organised a rail freight transport breakfast session for clients and stakeholders who have an interest in rail freight transport. This is because the accessibility of rail freight transport in the Amsterdam port area is not a given and faces a clear…

Miami-Based Shipyard Adds Electronic Systems Division

Florida shipyard RMK Merrill-Stevens is adding a new Electronic Systems Division to the company.To lead the new business the company hired David Gratton, a new RMK Merrill-Stevens employee with experience in the electronics industry. Gratton’s career in electronics began in 1980 upon entering the U.S. Air Force. Gratton later worked on the environmental testing of NASA components for Teledyne Systems Company. Gratton has specialized in navigation, communications, and audio-visual, IT/networking, and PLC systems for commercial and recreational vessels.

Cruising: Small is Beautiful

Cruise shipping, at the intersection of maritime and hospitality industries, continues to be vibrant. The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the industry’s major trade association, forecasts that the ocean cruise segment will draw 30 million passengers in 2019, up from 28.2 million in 2018. At the start of the decade, in 2010, the comparable count was 19.1 million passengers. CLIA members will have 272 vessels operating in 2019- with 18 ocean going vessels set to begin service.

Securing, Enhancing America’s Ports & Supply Chain

The American Association of Port Authorities and its membership recently looked ahead at the challenges and opportunities facing the Port Security Grant Program.In its annual “State of Freight” series, AAPA has highlighted the transportation infrastructure needs of U.S. ports, state transportation agencies and multimodal projects. In this final report in the State of Freight series, AAPA turns to the vital role that security infrastructure plays in moving goods.In 2002, Congress…

Port Security: If you’ve seen one port, you’ve seen one port

ARES Security Corporation’s sophisticated AVERT C-2 platform integrates hundreds of disparate sensors and information sources to keep first responders aware of their immediate environment in real-time. In today’s dangerous and digital business environment, that also comes ‘just in time.’Retired U.S. Coast Guard Commandant ADM James Loy is widely credited with coining the now familiar phrase, “If you’ve seen one port, you’ve seen one port.” In the choppy wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks…

Fleet Xpress on New National Geographic Ship

Inmarsat was chosen to provide connectivity through Fleet Xpress for Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic’s new adventure cruise ship, National Geographic Venture.The expedition ship, designed to explore the coastal waters, shallow coves and fast-moving channels where wildlife congregates, completed its first cruise around the Galapagos Islands in December 2018 before moving to Baja California. It is also destined for the Pacific North West coast and Alaskan cruising in the next few months.Built by Nichols Brothers…

South Carolina Ports Opens New HQ

South Carolina Ports Authority celebrated the dedication of a new headquarters building at the Wando Welch Terminal with its Board of Directors, local leaders, business partners and employees.The Ports Authority, which owns and operates public seaport facilities in Charleston and Georgetown, as well as Inland Ports in Greer, South Carolina and Dillon, South Carolina, said in a press note that the 80,000-square-foot building consolidates approximately 160 employees working from multiple office locations in the Charleston area.Accoding to the press release…

Newport News Shipbuilding Dedicates Habitat for Humanity Home

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday for a new home company volunteers built in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg. The company also broke ground on its 17th joint project.Newport News joined elected officials and community leaders in welcoming Salima Kabwe and her three children to their new home in the city’s southeast community. The three-bedroom house is the 16th…

Piraeus Port Signs MoU with Italian Ports

The Greek port of Piraeus signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Italy’s port authorities from the cities of Venice and Chioggia.The agreement seeks to develop port services and promote increased trade flow between Europe, the Mediterranean and the Far East.The MoU was signed during a meeting between the chairman and CEO of Piraeus port Fu Chengqiu and the president of the Northern Adriatic Sea Port Authority (Venice and Chioggia) Pino Musolino.The MoU envisages cooperation in improving the exchange of best practices and knowhow in port management…

Inmarsat: In Support of Maritime Start-ups

Inmarsat  has joined forces with tRainmaking’s Trade and Transport Impact (T&TI) and Bluetech Accelerator to create initiatives that directly support start-ups focused on IoT and big data innovation in the maritime, ports and logistics supply chain.The programs will fund, support and mentor start-ups developing applications that aim to harness the power of IoT and big data to enhance safety, efficiency and sustainability. Inmarsat will collaborate with those start-ups to find a route to market via its global…