Greece News

Piraeus Port Taps TEKAL for Port Expansion

PPA S.A. has announced that the construction company TEKAL S.A. was awarded as the construction contractor of the Cruise Terminal Expansion project of Piraeus Port Authority, after the financial bid of $113 million plus VAT, initially budgeted $180 million. The new cruise pier is one of the mandatory investments of the master plan of COSCO SHIPPING for the PPA. The project is also funded by the Regional Operational Program for Attica 2014-2020. The expansion will be located next to the existing cruise facilities…

EIB Fund Greek LNG Bunkering Vessel Construction

European Investment Bank (EIB) and Public Gas Corporation of Greece (DEPA) have signed an agreement to finance with up to 20 million euros the construction of a new liquid natural gas (LNG) bunkering vessel for maritime use in Greece which will be based in Piraeus. EIB said that the first vessel of its kind in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean will have a capacity of 3,000 cubic meters and will be supplied with LNG at Revithoussa LNG terminal.The bunker tanker will refuel its LNG at Revithoussa LNG terminal and will carry out bunkering both in Piraeus and other Greek ports…

Performance Shipping Adds P. Fos to Fleet

Performance Shipping, a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of vessels, announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it took delivery of the M/T P. Fos (formerly M/T Virgo Sun).The vessel is a 2007-built Aframax tanker vessel of 115,577 dwt that the Company entered into an agreement to purchase in November 2019.Two days ago, the Greece-based company signed a Memorandum of Agreement to sell to an unaffiliated third party the 2008-built Post-Panamax container vessel M/V Rotterdam…

Performance Shipping Sells M/V Rotterdam

Greece-based Performance Shipping  announced it has signed a Memorandum of Agreement to sell to an unaffiliated third party the 2008-built Post-Panamax container vessel M/V Rotterdam, for a sale price of $18.5M before commissions.The global shipping company specializing in the ownership of vessels said in a press release, the scheduled delivery to the buyer latest by May 15, 2020.Upon completion of the aforementioned sale, Performance Shipping Inc.’s fleet will consist of one…

GMT Invests in Argo Travel Group

Global Marine Travel, a Florida-based travel management company to the maritime industry, has partnered with the Greek travel firm Argo Travel Group to enhance its travel offering, particularly in terms of service delivery and driving growth in the Greek and international markets."In Argo, Global Marine Travel, gains a marine partner with an experienced team and a strong reputation for service delivery, that will drive the growth of the business in Greece and other international locations…

IRClass Foreign Flag Fleet Reg. Up 16%

The Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass) said that the classed fleet registered approx. 3% growth in the past year.The ship classification society said that its foreign flag fleet continued to grow at a robust pace with 16% more vessels added during 2019 demonstrating strong global acceptance of IRClass services.IRClass received several flag authorizations in 2019 including key flags like Cyprus and Denmark and is now recognized by 45 flag states worldwide. It opened a new office in the Netherlands to add to its other European offices in the UK…

Britannia P&I sets up Shop in NY

Britannia P&I has established a new exclusive correspondent, B Americas P&I, to be based in New York.B Americas P&I will be headed by Michael Unger, a maritime lawyer with extensive litigation and arbitration experience.B Americas will enhance the Club’s ability to provide a round-the-clock claims service to all its Members, while also focusing on the needs of Britannia’s North American Members.This development follows other recent steps taken by the Club, including the opening of new offices in Denmark and Greece and the strengthening of its teams in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

TOP Ships Acquires 2 Scrubber Fitted Tankers

Greece-based international ship-owning company TOP Ships has acquired two ultra-high specification scrubber-fitted 50,000 dwt Medium Range (MR) product/chemical tankers under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., Ltd. in South Korea.The tanker owner stated in a press release that  it has acquired 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Santa Catalina Inc. and Santa Monica Inc., which are Marshall Islands companies that have originally entered into new building contracts for the two tankers.The MR tankers are scheduled for delivery during February 2020…

Pirates Release Kidnapped Tanker Crew off Togo

Pirates have released three crew taken hostage from a Greek oil tanker off the coast of the West African country of Togo in November, the vessel's manager said on Friday.A fourth hostage, a Filipino, died from illness during captivity, European Products Carriers Ltd added.It did not give details of the release.The tanker, Elka Aristotle, was attacked on Nov. 4 about 18 km (11 miles) from the port of Lome.

Diana Shipping Wins Ausca, Koch Charters

Diana Shipping  announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Ausca Shipping Limited, Hong Kong, for one of its Kamsarmax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Myrsini.According to the global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, the gross charter rate is US$11,500 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period of minimum 13 months to about 15 months. The charter is expected to commence on December 4…

Greece's National Bank Dumps Impaired Shipping Loans

National Bank (NBG) has signed deals to sell a 262 million euro ($288.78 million) portfolio of shipping loans to investment funds as part of its effort to reduce its load of soured credit, Greece's second-largest lender said on Wednesday.The bank said it sold the loans for about 50% of their outstanding balance as of end June 2019.

TEN Orders LNG Carrier at HHI

Greece-based crude, product and LNG tanker operator Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN) ordered has one-option-one 174,000cbm LNG carrier from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea with expected delivery, the first, in the second half of 2021 and the second, in the first half of 2022.The provider of international seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services said that with this order, if the option is exercised, its LNG proforma fleet increases to four vessels…

GasLog Relocates People and Office

Monaco-based international owner, operator and manager of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers GasLog has announced plans to relocate more of its people and most of the senior management to the Piraeus, Greece office, home of its operational platform.As a result, GasLog will close the Monaco office, whilst the London office will focus primarily on chartering activities and company secretarial duties. The offices in Singapore, Korea and the US will be unaffected by the changes.GasLog CEO…

Performance Shipping Adds Aframax Tanker

The global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of vessels, Performance Shipping has announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has taken delivery of the m/t Briolette (formerly Maersk Jamnagar).The containerships and tanker vessels said in a press releases that it had entered into an agreement to purchase the 2011-built Aframax tanker vessel of 104,588 dwt in June 2019. Including the newly delivered m/t Briolette, Performance…

NMAC Acquires 5 Product Tankers

Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation (NMAC), a Greece owner and operator of tanker vessels, announced the agreement to acquire five product tankers in liquidation of Navios Europe I Inc.On November 22, 2019, an agreement was reached to liquidate Navios Europe I. As of September 30, 2019, Navios Acquisition had a receivable of $32.3 million from Navios Europe I. This receivable along with debt financing will be used to finance the Acquisition. The agreement is subject to definitive…

Performance Shipping Buys a Tanker

Greece-based global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of vessels has agreed to acquire a 2007-built aframax tanker for US$26.0 million.The company specializing in the ownership of containerships and tanker vessels said that it will acquire the entity from its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Symeon Palios, for an aggregate purchase price of US$11.0 million, which will be paid in common shares of the company at a per share price of US$0.9027.

Star Bulk Sells Two Supramax Vessels

Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a global shipping company focusing on the transportation of dry bulk cargoes, announced that it has agreed to sell the Star Cosmo, a 2005 built Supramax vessel and the Star Epsilon, a 2001 built Supramax vessel."We expect to deliver both vessels to their new owners by the end of this month (November)," the Greece-based shipping company said in a statement.The proceeds from these sales, after prepayment of the debt related to the two vessels, are expected…

Cosco Acquires Stake in Greek Intermodal Firm

OceanRail Logistics, part of the Cosco Shipping Group, acquired 60% of the Greek railway company Piraeus Europe Asia Rail Logistics (PEARL) as part of its plan to develop its intermodal transport services network.OceanRail specializes in sea-rail intermodal transport with the Piraeus Port as the hub and related logistics business, while PEARL is a Greece-based company engaged in railway operations.The China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line, which starts from the Piraeus Port in Greece and expands to the hinterland of Central and Eastern Europe…

Arista Starts Smart Shipping Journey with ABS

Greece-based shipping company Arista Shipping has signed an ocean data agreement with the global provider of classification and technical advisory services ABS to drive smart shipping operations.The global provider of shipping transportation services and specializes in managing the worldwide transportation of dry bulk cargoes will processed data from the ABS Metocean Hindcast Data application to guide operational decision making for its fleet and managed vessels.Advanced ABS data processing is applied to over a decade of Metocean Hindcast model data from the U.S.

$154.5Mln EIB backing for Greek Port

The European Investment Bank (EIB) on Monday formally agreed to provide 140 million euros (USD $154.5 million) to support expansion and upgrading of Piraeus Port, Greece's main port.The largest ever loan for port investment in the country by Europe’s long-term lending institution, will support the implementation of part of investments at the Port of Piraeus in a total investment plan of more than EUR 600 million. The 20-year loan was signed in Athens in the presence of Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis…

OET Gets Loan for Two Suezmax Newbuilds

Greece-based shipping company Okeanis Eco Tankers (OET) said it  has secured funding to finance the pre-delivery of two new ECO scrubber-fitted Suezmax tankers.The Greek tanker owner and operator said that it has secured commitment to a USD 45.9 million secured loan facility from Alpha Bank A.E. to finance 88.95% of the total pre-delivery yard installments for the vessel pair.The two ECO design, scrubber-fitted 158,000 DWT Suezmax tankers are under construction at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and set for delivery in August 2020.The loan facility is available immediately…

Panama to Modernize Greek Ship Registry

A delegation of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) led by Panama’s Minister of Maritime Affairs and Administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority Noriel Arauz, visited Greece where it was received by the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Island Policy Ioannis Plakiotakis.The ministers reviewed the excellent relations between the two countries and discussed issues related to maritime affairs and shipping.Minister Noriel Arauz, who was accompanied by Panama’s new Ambassador to Athens Ms Julie Limberopoulos and his technical team…

PIRAEUS I Floating Dock Ready for Ops

Greece's Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) announced that the "PIRAEUS I" floating dock is available again for ship repair works."PIRAEUS I floating dock has been delivered for use and is operating again after scheduled maintenance works," said an announcement from PPA.PIRAEUS I is 202 m. long, with inner width 31 meters, has lifting capacity of 15,000 tons and can serve ships with capacity of 40,000 tons.During the first nine months of 2019, the ship repair activity at the port of Piraeus is showing an increase…

Crystal Announces Near Term Deployment for Esprit

Crystal Yacht Cruises announced the 55-cruise roster of 2022 and early 2023 itineraries for Crystal Esprit.A number of new options punctuate the collection of regionally focused voyages, with dozens of seven- and eight-night options catering to busy travel schedules or easily combined into longer adventures, said a company press release.In addition to exploration of hubs of profound history, featured destinations also capitalize on the 62-guest Crystal Esprit’s adventurous spirit…

BIMCO’s Sand to Offer Boxship Insight in Athens

BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, Peter Sand, will be speaking and providing the audience with unique insights on the container market at the European Shipping Seminar on November 27, 2019 in Athens, Greece.The European Shipping Seminar, hosted by S&P Global Platts, will discuss the various topics relating to the commercial shipping markets and take a deep dive into how the shipping industry will navigate its way through the uncertain environment of the IMO 2020 Sulphur Cap.Container shipping outlookBIMCO has persistently stressed that trade wars and protectionism are negative for shipping.

SPII Holdings Finalizes Acquisition of DryShips

The shareholders of the dry bulk shipping company based in Athens, Greece, DryShips,  voted in favor of the proposal to authorize and approve the previously announced agreement and plan of merger with SPII Holdings.SPII, a company controlled by DryShips’ chairman and CEO, George Economou, would acquire the outstanding shares of common stock, USD 0.01 par value, of the company that it does not already own for USD 5.25 per share in cash, without interest.In connection with the completion of the transaction…