Tag: tankers

After the oil spill that was reported at the Port of Rotterdam, the port authority along with emergency services installed oil booms around the vessel as quickly as possible to prevent the further spread of the oil. The installation was successful but some of the oil had already spread beyond the incident area. 

While going to its assigned berth for loading, the 'Bow Jubail' made contact with the jetty and accidentally ruptured the hull, on June 23. As result, about 217 tons of heavy fuel oil were released from the fuel tank. The leakage has now stopped, and there is no risk of further spills. The company has established an Incident Investigation Team to identify the root courses.

The outlook for the global shipping sector for the next 12 months remains stable on the back of expected supply-demand improvements in the dry bulk and container shipping segments, says a new report by Moody's Investors Service. However, the outlook for the tanker segment is negative.

The US Coast Guard informed that it medevaced a 45-year-old man off a tanker approximately 27 miles south of Sabine, Texas, on Tuesday, June 12. The crewmember was reportedly suffering from symptoms of a cardiac arrest. The crewmember was transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont, Texas, and his condition was stable.

The shipping industry will scrap the largest number of oil tankers this year. This amount of scrapping constitutes a seven-year high record. This will be caused by weak earnings, and the need to prepare for the new stricter environmental regulations. Almost 10.3 million deadweight tonnes have been sold for demolition from January to April.

The VLCC (Very Large Crude Carriers) markets have staged a modest recovery ahead of market speculation that OPEC may relax production cut discipline and rising bunker prices which are providing a negotiating point for owners, according to data provided by VesselsValue.

BIMCO informed that the US sanctions on Iran are affecting the tanker shipping industry. The immediate effects may be less tangible but they add more uncertainty to the whole shipping industry that has plenty of uncertainty to deal with. Freight rates for crude oil tankers and oil product tankers are making losses.

A tanker which was carrying refined petroleum products ran aground in the St. Lawrence River near Morrisburg, Ontario, on May 29. The Marshall Islands-flagged Chem Norma was sailing upstream from Montreal to Sarnia. The ship ran aground because of a steering issue. No pollution was reported.

Just four months after the fatal collision and explosion of the Iranian oil tanker 'Sanchi' off Shanghai, China, Iran and Panama have signed an investigation report on the accident, the Chinese Ministry of Transport informed. However, the parties seem to disagree regarding the exact cause of the disaster.

On Saturday evening, the loaded tanker 'Tofteviken' collided with the commercial fishing vessel 'Polaris', nearly 30 miles southeast of Bridgehampton, New York. The Tofteviken was transiting to New York, while the Polaris was transiting back to its homeport in Massachusetts after a night of fishing.