Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) has allocated 36 trillion rials (=$857.2 million) of its budget resources for a program to develop the country’s maritime industry, including the construction of 83 vessels, the head of PMO informed.
Nauticor, Germany-based LNG supplier, entered into a cooperation with manufacturer of special purpose vessels Fr. Fassmer, in newbuilding and retrofitting projects for ships with LNG engines. The two partners aim to generate synergy effects for the commissioning of newbuild or retrofitted vessels, which have been equipped with LNG engines and the respective system components.
Carnival Cruise Line announced that its newest ship, ‘Carnival Panorama’, completed sea trials in the Adriatic Sea earlier this week, in anticipation of its inaugural cruise from Long Beach, on 11 December 2019. Panorama became the line’s first new ship on the West Coast in 20 years.
Croatian shipbuilder Uljanik saw another cancelled newbuilding order, involving the construction of a livestock carrier by an owner in Kuwait. This happens as the shipyard has been in financial trouble for months and workers are on a strike, as they have not received their wages for months.
In line with CMA CGM’s earlier announcement that it would opt for both LNG and scrubbers to achieve compliance with 2020 sulphur cap, the French shipping company has now set its newbuilding orders, split between the two options.
Containers and LPG tankers are expected to be the market winners for the coming year, although the overall outlook for shipping asset prices remains bright, VesselsValue said in its latest forecast on shipping market for Q1 2019 to Q1 2020.
The new cruise venture Virgin Voyages announced plans to build a new cruise terminal at PortMiami. On the occasion, Virgin Voyages also announced that its first ship, the Scarlet Lady, will continue to sail to the Caribbean from Miami throughout 2021. The company’s second ship will sail from Miami during the fall/winter cruise season of 2021/22.
In its 2018 Maritime Transport Review, UNCTAD informed that in 2017, total newbuilding delivery amounted to 65 million gt, equivalent to 5.2% of the start-of-year fleet in 2017. Meanwhile in 2017, 23 million gt were scrapped leading to a net growth in world fleet of 42 million gt, equivalent to a growth rate of 3.3%.
American Cruise Lines announced that the first modern riverboat in US history is almost complete. This week, ‘American Song’, under its own power moved from the East Outfitting Basin at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, MD, to the yard’s outfitting bulkhead for the final outfitting touches.
The enthusiasm for newbuild orders across most shipping markets has started to wane, after over 10 billion dollars were committed in the first quarter of 2018. The total committed to new deliveries is now the lowest since the start of 2016, according to VesselsValue latest research.
