Vard Langsten

Army veteran-turned-Royal Caribbean Cruise Line founder Edwin W. Stephan passed away on Friday at 87 years old."We at Royal Caribbean mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to the Stephan family," said a statement from the global cruise company said.In 1969 Stephan founded the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and his contributions helped create the modern cruise industry we know today.  Under his leadership in 1970, the company launched Song of Norway, the first ship purpose-built for warm-water cruising.

The discussion of the ‘future of class’ seems more relevant today than ever, as the maritime industry navigates a transcendent period, with digitalization, decarbonization and a long list of related safety and risk concerns occupying the attention and budgets of shipowners globally.“There are many things going on in the industry, and in fact the world, and looking ahead I think we’re looking at a ‘new norm’,” said Christopher J. Wiernicki, ABS Chairman, President and CEO. “It’s a norm where everyone in the industry is going to have to make uncertainty our friend.

Canadian ferry owner and operator British Columbia Ferry Services Inc (BC Ferries) has made a further order of four additional electric-battery hybrid Island Class vessels from a major European shipyard.The ferry corporation announced that Damen Shipyards Group of the Netherlands has been awarded the contract to build the new vessels.Project cost for the four latest Island-class vessels is about $200 million, including financing and project-management.According to a release, BC Ferries’ procurement process resulted in 18 bids from international shipyards, with a shortlist of nine shipyards invited to participate in the detailed bidding process.

ROTTERDAM – Today in Rotterdam Wessels Marine and MAN Energy Systems announced an innovative project to convert the containership Wes Amelie to run on Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG).While SNG today is far to sparse and expensive to make it a near term commercial reality, this step forward is significant in that a ship outfitted with an MAN propulsion unit to run on LNG would need no modification to have it run on SNG, effectively making it ‘future proof’ while helping to dispel the notion that LNG is merely a bridge step to strict new emission regulations which seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime sector 50% by 2050.

Swedish shipping company Terntank has placed orders for two hybrid tankers, which  run on liquefied biogas (LBG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG),  at China’s AVIC Dingheng Shipbuilding with an option for two more vessels.The 15,000 dwt new-builds with hybrid battery system and on-shore power are designed by Kongsberg (ex Rolls-Royce) and they will be in operation in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea in 2021.The close cooperation with the customers and with the crew at shore and onboard, has made it possible to further develop the environmentally friendly supply chains and to take the next steps towards carbon-neutral shipping.