Maritime Directory

Ongoing fleet renewal by niche player Cool Carriers indicates continuing competitiveness at scale of the specialized, pallet-optimized reefership.Not so long ago, it seemed that the unrelenting march of containerization and ever-widening influence of the powerful ocean container line entities would finally usurp the conventional, breakbulk refrigerated cargo vessel. However, Limassol, Cyprus-headquartered Cool Carriers, the largest operator in the sector, displays remarkable resilience through consecutive programs of tonnage development.Hard on the heels of a period of renewal centered on five ships in the 900,000-cu.-ft.

The United States is having a maritime moment. Maritime is back on the national agenda. The Maritime Action Plan, the SHIPS for America Act,and now the Administration’s August 13 memorandum on rebuilding the Navy and America’s shipbuilding industrial base have renewed the conversation about rebuilding America's maritime capability. The focus on shipyards, workforce development, the merchant marine, and domestic vessel construction is both encouraging and long overdue.After more than two decades designing commercial vessels, I’m encouraged by the attention. Engineers don't usually get excited about policy discussions, but this one feels different.

SFL Corporation has ordered two 93,000-cubic-metre Very Large Ammonia Carriers (VLACs) for about $216 million and secured long-term time charters for the newbuilds with an unnamed oil major.The vessels are scheduled for delivery from the second quarter of 2028 and will mark SFL's entry into the gas carrier segment.The associated charters will add a minimum of about $162 million to SFL's fixed-rate charter backlog. The initial charter duration will be determined within the next six months, potentially increasing the backlog, while the charterer will have options to extend the charters by up to four years.

BW Offshore's blue ammonia floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) concept, jointly developed with McDermott, has received Approval in Principle (AiP) from DNV, advancing the proposed offshore low-carbon ammonia production solution towards further design development.The AiP provides an independent, risk-based assessment of the concept at an early stage and establishes a basis for further design development, certification and classification.Unveiled in February, the FPSO concept is designed to process up to 3 million cubic meters of natural gas per day and produce more than 1 million tonnes of ammonia annually.

Saronic has broken ground on Port Alpha, a new U.S. shipyard at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, representing a private capital investment of more than $3 billion and a potentially significant addition to U.S. shipbuilding capacity.Situated on 835 acres with an option to expand to nearly 4,400 acres, Port Alpha is being designed to build autonomous, autonomy-capable and manned vessels. Saronic said the project could eventually support up to 10,000 direct jobs.At opening, the yard is planned to provide 150,000 gross tons of annual shipbuilding capacity, which Saronic said would more than double current U.S. commercial shipbuilding capacity.