AMERICAN STEAMSHIP COMPANY

An Israeli-owned ship hit by an explosion in the Gulf of Oman strategic waterway has arrived at a port in Dubai, where is it is due to be assessed in dry dock.The MV Helios Ray, a vehicle-carrier ship, was hit overnight between Thursday and Friday by a blast above the water line that a U.S. defence official said ripped holes in both sides of its hull.Israel’s defense minister on Saturday said that an initial assessment had found that Iran was responsible for the explosion. There was no immediate comment from Iranian officials.The blue and white ship is now berthed in Dubai’s Port Rashid, having sailed from its position off the coast of Omani capital Muscat, where the explosion occurred.

Shipbuilding group Austal said its Austal Philippines arm has a 109-meter high-speed catamaran ferry to Fjord Line of Norway.The vehicle-passenger ferry, named FSTR, is said to be the largest aluminum vessel ever constructed in the Philippines. It is currently the largest ferry (by volume) to be constructed by Austal, at any of the company’s shipyards worldwide.Austal CEO, Paddy Gregg, said, “It’s impressive to see a large high speed ferry like this delivered in the best of times, but for the team to deliver this new vessel during a global pandemic is simply outstanding.

The Los Angeles Pilot Service has taken delivery of two new pilot boats equipped with full suites of quality Furuno marine electronics. The 56-foot Angels Pilot and Angels Navigator have been outfitted with complete integrated helm suites designed to assist in their mission of piloting ships in and out of Los Angeles Harbor, the busiest seaport in the western hemisphere. The pair of Camarc-designed boats were built by Vigor Industrial in Vancouver, Wash., and have made their way to their homeport in Los Angeles.

Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and Ship Data Center Co., Ltd. (ShipDC) have agreed to share the data of about 180 MOL’s ships in operation targeted for MOL’s Fleet Optimal Control Unified System (FOCUS) Project through Internet of Ships Open Platform (IoS-OP), the ship IoT data sharing platform promoted by ShipDC.By analyzing the data collected by more than 10,000 sensing items from vessels, engines, cargoes, sea weather and so on at a high frequency (one-minute intervals)

Cooperation strengthens chemical platform; underpins strategy to operate more sustainable, non-fossil fuel cargoes  Ardmore Shipping Corporation announced a new partnership with Carl Büttner, taking on the commercial management of four chemical tankers on behalf of the Bremen-based shipowner.The vessels Aurelia, Avalon, Apollo and Admiral are 24,000 deadweight tonne (DWT) chemical tankers, and will operate alongside Ardmore’s own chemical tanker fleet. This move signals a doubling of the number of similar sized chemical tankers under Ardmore’s management.