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U.S. Navy Commissions Submarine USS Indiana

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The U.S. Navy commissioned its newest fast attack submarine, the future USS Indiana (SSN 789), on Saturday at the Navy Port at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Port Canaveral, Florida. 

The future Indiana is the 16th Virginia-class fast attack submarine and the sixth Virginia-class Block III submarine. As a next-generation attack submarine, it is anticipated to provide the Navy with the capabilities required to maintain the nation's undersea superiority well into the 21st century. 

“The future USS Indiana shows the increased capabilities that our industrial partners bring to the fleet as we deliver the Navy the nation needs,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “This submarine sends a signal to friend and foe alike that we will maintain supremacy under the waves, and extend our lethality and readiness in every domain.”

Virginia-class submarines are built to operate in the world's littoral and deep waters while conducting anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface ship warfare; strike warfare; special operation forces support; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; irregular warfare and mine warfare missions. Their inherent stealth, endurance, mobility, and firepower directly enable them to support five of the six maritime strategy core capabilities—sea control, power projection, forward presence, maritime security  and deterrence. 

Indiana also has special features to support Special Forces, including a reconfigurable torpedo room which can accommodate a large number of personnel and all their equipment for prolonged deployments and future off-board payloads. Also, in Virginia-class SSNs, traditional periscopes have been replaced by two photonics masts that host visible and infrared digital cameras atop telescoping arms, which are maneuvered by a video game controller. Through the extensive use of modular construction, open architecture and commercial off-the-shelf components, the Virginia class is designed to remain at the cutting edge for its entire operational life through the rapid introduction of new systems and payloads.

SSN-789, which was built at Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, is 7,800-tons and 377 feet in length, has a beam of 34 feet and operate at more than 25 knots submerged. She is designed with a reactor plant that will not require refueling during her lifetime.

The submarine, which began construction in 2012, will be the third U.S. Navy ship to be christened with the name Indiana. The first Indiana (BB 1), the lead ship of her class of battleship, served in the North Atlantic and later participated in the blockade of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War. 

The second Indiana (BB 58) was a South Dakota-class battleship that earned nine battle stars for her service in the Pacific Theater in World War II. The ship fought in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and participated in the invasions of Tarawa, Kwajalein, and Okinawa, and bombarded Saipan, the Palau Islands, the Philippines, and Iwo Jima. Indiana earned nine battle stars for service in World War II.

Source:maritime-executive

Modi Inaugurates Mundra LNG Terminal

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Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Mundra LNG terminal in the Indian state of Gujara on the nation's west coast on Monday.

The five mtpa Mundra LNG terminal has been developed by the Adani Group and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp.

Modi said that when Gujarat got its first LNG terminal, people were surprised. Now, the State is poised for its fourth LNG terminal and emerging as an LNG hub in India.

Modi spoke of efforts to ensure that all villages are electrified and the goal that every household in India would have electricity. We want to bring qualitative changes in the lives of the common citizen of India, he said. 

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), natural gas mainly serves as a substitute for coal for electricity generation and as an alternative for LPG and other petroleum products in the fertilizer and other sectors. India was self-sufficient in natural gas until 2004, when it began to import LNG from Qatar. Because it has not been able to create sufficient natural gas infrastructure on a national level or to produce adequate domestic natural gas to meet domestic demand, India increasingly relies on imported LNG. India was the world's fourth-largest LNG importer in 2015, following Japan, South Korea and China, and the country consumed nearly seven percent of the global trade.

According to the EIA, India’s economic development is likely to have a considerable impact on future international energy markets—including U.S. energy exports—because of the country’s large population and potential for growth. Despite this, energy consumption per person in India in 2040 is predicted to remain relatively low. This is partly attributable to infrastructure constraints, a lack of investment in the energy sector and use of traditional, non-marketed fuels such as charcoal. 

In 2015, Russia, China, South Korea and the U.S. all had levels of energy consumption per person that were at least four times larger than projected for India in 2040. This is despite the fact that India is projected to be the world’s fastest-growing economy over the 2015 to 2040 period.

Source:maritime-executive

APL Named ‘Container Ship Operator Of The Year’ At Lloyd’s List Asia Pacific Awards 2018

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APL was named ‘Containership Operator of the Year’ at the Lloyd’s List Asia Pacific Awards 2018 last evening. The Award marks an acknowledgement of APL’s robust service network, commercial advancement, operational excellence and responsible environmental management.

APL Chief Executive Officer, Nicolas Sartini said, “This Award is symbolic of APL’s pioneering spirit that has delivered excellence. We have continued to fortify APL’s presence in Asia and beyond while we introduce compelling logistics management solutions such as Eagle GO Guaranteed and Eagle Express X service that bring supply chain certainty. As we build on our dynamic service network, our customer-centric culture will seek to add value, offering differentiated propositions that move cargo more efficiently and surely.”

Maintaining its growth momentum, APL recorded revenue and volumes of US$2.98 billion and 2.6 million TEU respectively in the first half of the year ended 30 June 2018.

Compared to the first six months of 2017, APL saw volume grow on almost all the trade lanes it serves. In particular, APL’s stronghold Intra-Asia market saw an improved product mix and a 13% volume increase. Respectively on Latin America and the Trans-Atlantic, APL transported 21% and 35% more cargo than the same period last year. Volumes carried on the Trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades grew by 3% and 5% respectively.

The trade performance is attributable to its commercial advancements as APL steered ahead with 36 services of the OCEAN ALLIANCE, 12 new APL services and two refined services this year. The carrier also expanded its Eagle GO Guaranteed offering that guarantees equipment and vessel space on board its Asia-North America; Europe-US and Asia-Oceania services.

In August, APL’s newly launched Eagle Express X (EXX) service made waves with its 11-day ocean transit; as well as expeditious last mile delivery of import cargo with same-day cargo availability at the Eagle Marine Services terminal in Los Angeles.

Source:marineinsight

Offshore Oil Experts Address Challenges, Opportunities Facing Industry

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More private equity-back companies are joining the majors in regions such as the Gulf of Mexico and activity levels offshore are picking up globally, according to analysts. This comes as companies continue to cut costs, making offshore developments competitive with unconventional ones onshore in some cases.

But there are still plenty of challenges ahead for the offshore sector. Safety, flow assurance issues and taking advantage of data were some of the obstacles mentioned by panelists speaking on offshore challenges and opportunities during a recent event at Rice University. Digitalization was a recurring topic.

“Digitalization has disrupted several deeply rooted industries and dramatically accelerated technology adoption,” according to a presentation by Hani Elshahawi, deepwater digitalization lead for Shell, who said today it’s either disrupt or be disrupted. “Change is the new constant.”

However, gaining value from the abundance of data generated from oil and gas fields require getting beyond the hype, he said. “It’s about value at the end of the day,” Elshahawi said. “Insights are useful, but if you don’t translate them into doing something fundamentally different, faster, better…you don’t actually gain anything.”

He pointed out the importance of better aligning risks and rewards, and moving from a theory-driven approach to a data-driven approach. This involves collecting data, then analyzing it, deciding on a plan and reflecting on the outcomes before making adjustments. Fundamental to the process is breaking silos, both within companies and among industry players, and having a digital twin—a digital representation of a physical asset—helps, according to Elshahawi.

Shell, which has more than 100 petabytes of data, is carrying out digital initiatives across its portfolio. These include the company’s Nyhamna gas facility in Norway, where a digital twin is being used to better understand the facility, operations and maintenance needs.

Source:epmag

Eastern States Unleash New Momentum For US Offshore Wind

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After years of delays, the U.S. offshore wind industry is picking up pace as states are pushing aggressive wind energy procurement goals. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut recently contracted for offshore wind capacity totaling 1.4 GW.

New York and New Jersey are making progress towards project solicitations. Massachusetts enacted legislation in 2016 setting an offshore wind energy target of 1.6 GW by 2027, and New York followed suit with a more ambitious goal of 2.4 GW by 2030. New Jersey went further committing to a 2030 target of 3.5 GW.

Full visual infographic: https://bit.ly/2xGmEFu

Source:epmag

Dutch seek metocean data for offshore duo

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Dutch enterprise agency RVO has launched a metocean data tender for two offshore wind farm development zones, the 700MW Hollandse Kust West and 700MW North of the Wadden Sea Islands.

The winner of the tender will supply meteorological and oceanographic data obtained through lidar measurements.

The contract is due to be awarded by RVO on or before 16 October.

The agency, meanwhile, has awarded a €320,000 contract to Danish consultancy DHI for a metocean desk study for four Dutch offshore wind farm zones.

The zones consist of Hollandse Kust West, North of the Wadden Sea Islands, the 700MW Hollandse Kust Noord and 4GW Ijmuiden Ver.

Source:renews

Scorpio Group to install 100 hybrid-ready scrubbers for IMO 2020

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Scorpio Group will install 100 hybrid-ready scrubbers across its fleet of 56 bulkers and 109 tankers, favoring the larger vessels within each group, chief operating officer Cameron Mackey said.

“We have decided to install scrubbers on the majority of our fleet to be ready sometime in 2020,” Mackey said during a luncheon presentation at the Association of Ship Brokers & Agents cargo conference in Miami.
Two-thirds of the scrubbers will be fitted by January 1, 2020, and the remainder is expected to be installed during the first three month that year, Mackey said later on the sidelines of the conference.

The International Maritime Organization has mandated bunker sulfur limits to drop to 0.5% sulfur on January 1, 2020, from 3.5% sulfur currently, and the installation of scrubbers allows shipowners to continue using 3.5% sulfur bunkers as the exhaust gas cleaning systems bring emissions in line with the tough 0.5% sulfur limit onboard the vessel.

Hybrid scrubbers have provide the flexibility to either operate in open-loop or closed-loop mode, thereby either essentially washing the sulfur into the ocean or collecting the sulfur onboard the vessel and disposing of it onshore.

“Intellectually, the right thing to do is to remove sulfur at the source and not on the ship,” Mackey said. “Intellectually, we don’t agree, but there is a period where a scrubber is economically right.”

Other compliance options include the use of marine gasoil or low-sulfur bunker fuels, or the installation of dual-fuel engines to use LNG, LPG or methane as bunker fuel.

Scorpio owns and operates 56 drybulk vessels built between 2014 and 2018, including 18 Kamsarmaxes and 38 Ultramaxes. The Scorpio Tankers fleet list comprises 14 Handymaxes, 45 Medium Range tankers, 12 Long Range 1 tankers and 38 Long Range 2 vessels, all built between 2012 and 2017.

Scorpio is the third shipowner this week to announce the installation of scrubbers as means to comply with the global 0.5% sulfur mandate.

French container shipping company CMA CGM made plans public to order several scrubbers for its ships Monday, while International Seaways announced the purchase of seven exhaust gas cleaning systems on its 14-vessel strong VLCC fleet. The company has an option for another three scrubbers covering the remaining three modern VLCCs in its fleet.

Scrubber orders and installations are getting close to quadrupling in 2018 in preparation for the IMO 2020 sulfur mandate from 344 units installed and ordered in January to around 1,200 units so far in September, according to industry sources.

Source:hellenicshippingnews

S. Korea Becomes the Largest Importer of U.S. LNG

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South Korea has emerged as a major importer of U.S. energy resources amid the Donald Trump administration’s strong push for resource exports such as LNG.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. exported 110.4 billion cubic feet of LNG to South Korea in the first half of this year, equivalent to 22.5% of the nation’s total LNG imports. In that period, South Korea became the largest importer of U.S. LNG by beating Mexico, which imported 105.5 billion cubic feet. Mexico was followed by China (61.9 billion cubic feet), Japan (44.2 billion cubic feet), and India (31.5 billion cubic feet).

Last year, South Korea’s LNG imports from the U.S. totaled 130.2 billion cubic feet. In 2016, the amount had been merely 10.2 billion cubic feet. This year’s imports are estimated to exceed 200 billion cubic feet given that the highest demand for natural gas is generated in winter.

The Korea Gas Corporation signed a long-term contract in 2012 to import 2.8 million tons of LNG a year from the Sabine Pass Terminal located in Louisiana. The actual delivery was initiated last year. From next year onwards, private companies such as GS EPS and SK E&S are going to import U.S. LNG as well.

According to industry sources, the Henry Hub, which is an index of the U.S. LNG price, is independent of oil prices, unlike most of the LNG previously imported by South Korea and, as such, U.S. LNG can be an effective tool against high oil prices. In the first half of this year, the reference LNG price in Asia was US$9 to US$10 per MMBtu, but the U.S. LNG price has remained at US$3 or so for years.

Likewise, crude oil imports from the U.S. are on the rise. According to the Korea National Oil Corporation, 9.7% of the crude oil imported by eight South Korean oil refining companies, such as SK Energy and GS Caltex, was from the American continent in July this year. The ratio had been 4.5% in February this year.

This has to do with the price competitiveness of U.S. shale oil, which is rising along with international oil prices, production limitation by OPEC member countries, and U.S. sanctions on Iran. In the futures market, the WTI and Dubai Crude Oil prices were US$72.28 and US$77.14 per barrel on September 25, respectively.

Source:hellenicshippingnews

US fines Petrobras $853m for corrupt payments

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Petrobras agreed with US and Brazilian authorities to pay $853.2 million in penalties to resolve the US government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with Petrobras’s role in facilitating payments to politicians and political parties in Brazil, as well as a related Brazilian investigation.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, noted that members of Petrobras's Executive Board and Board of Directors facilitated the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Brazilian politicians and political parties and then cooked the books to conceal the bribe payments from investors and regulator.

Petrobras admitted that while the company’s American Depository Shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, members of its Executive Board were involved in facilitating and directing millions of dollars in corrupt payments to politicians and political parties in Brazil, and members of Petrobras’s Board of Directors were facilitating bribes that a major Petrobras contractor was paying to Brazilian politicians.

Petrobras also admitted that it failed to make and keep books, records and accounts that accurately and fairly reflected the company’s capitalization of property, plant and equipment as a result of the bribes being generated by the company’s contractors with the cooperation of certain Petrobras executives, and that certain Petrobras executives signed false Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) 302 sub-certifications while they were involved in, and were aware that other executives at Petrobras were involved in, obtaining and facilitating the payment of millions of dollars in bribes to Brazilian politicians, to Brazilian political parties and to themselves.

In addition, Petrobras admitted that certain executives did not implement internal financial and accounting controls in order to continue to facilitate bribe payments to Brazilian politicians and Brazilian political parties.

Petrobras agreed to pay to the SEC disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling $933,473,797, which shall be reduced by the amount of any payment Petrobras makes to the class action Settlement Fund.

Source:safety4sea

ClassNK Warns of BWTS Bottleneck in 2022

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Class society ClassNK is urging shipowners to begin the process of installing ballast water treatment systems on their existing vessels soon. The phase-in timeline for the BWTM regulation will hit a disproportionate number of ships in 2022, ClassNK warns, raising the prospect of a bottleneck. 

"As difficulties are expected in the installation of BWMS if everyone around the world waits until 2022, ClassNK recommends installing early," the class society said. 

As of the end of August, there are about 7,000 ships on the ClassNK register that will have to install a BWTS in order to comply with the regulation. Of this number, just 1,900 have already completed the installation, leaving 5,400 ships that will still require the upgrade. Of these 5,400 ships, about half – 2,800 vessels – will face the deadline in 2022. 

ClassNK did not speculate about whether this distribution pattern might extend to other class societies as well. The society did note that the peak figure for 2022 may decrease due to the influence of scrapping trends and the response to USCG regulations, which are implemented on their own independent timeline. 

Source:maritime-executive

 

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