Maritime Directory

Seaspan Corporation continues its vessel ordering spree with a deal announced Thursday for eight additional containerships for delivery from the second half of 2022 and through the third quarter of 2023.Seaspan, a subsidiary of New York-listed Atlas Corp., said its contract with an unnamed shipyard includes firm orders for four 12,000 TEU and four 15,000 TEU vessels, plus an option for four additional 15,000 TEU vessels of similar build.The company said it will finance the newbuilds through additional borrowings and existing liquidity.Upon completion, the scrubber-fitted vessels will enter long-term charters with a long-standing major liner customer, Seaspan said.

Lawmakers in the U.S. are reintroducing legislation aiming codify the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaking mission on the Great Lakes and increase the icebreaking capacity of the Great Lakes fleet.“Inadequate icebreaking capacity in the Great Lakes is costing us thousands of American jobs and millions in business revenue. We must boost our icebreaking capacity in the Great Lakes to keep our maritime commerce moving,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who introduced the bipartisan Great Lakes Winter Commerce Act alongside Senator Todd Young (R-IN) and Gary Peters (D-MI).

The Chinese-built hybrid accommodation vessel MWV Falgout has been delivered to end client Brunei Shell Petroleum.The 80-meter vessel, a new purchase for Bruneian owners JISCO Marine Sdn Bhd, will be employed on long-term charter for the Bruneian oil and gas company. The ship was officially accepted into charter on February 17.Vroon Offshore Services (VOS) Singapore secured a two-year ship management contract for the vessel at the end of 2020, though the company said early months of the project involved taking delivery of MWV Falgout in China, mobilizing the vessel and delivering it on to the end client.

In a return to the age of the clipper, a French company is using a sailing boat to ply the trade routes that pre-dated steam power—and delivering wine and chocolate to environmentally conscious customers on either side of the Atlantic.Sleek and light like its larger predecessors, the aluminum-hulled “Grain de Sail” was custom built in a French shipyard and combines the technology used in modern yachts with a hold that can accommodate up to 50 tonnes of cargo.It docked at Saint-Nazaire, in France’s northwestern Brittany region, on Monday with 33 tonnes of cacao - the raw ingredient for chocolate - after a three-month round trip.

The United States on Wednesday hailed plans by NATO ally Germany to sail a warship across the contested South China Sea, calling it welcome support for a “rules-based international order” in the region, something Washington says is threatened by China.German government officials said on Tuesday a German frigate would set sail for Asia in August and, on its return journey, become the first German warship to cross the South China Sea since 2002.“The United States has a national interest in the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law, lawful unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation and other lawful uses of the sea,” a spokeswoman for the U.S.