Maritime Vessels Directory

Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, a 170-year-old French family-owned company operating across a broad swath of maritime and offshore energy, recently announced a shipbuilding order and fleet expansion with the order for a series of three next generation SOVs, a series that will lean on five years of experience operating some of the first Hybrid-Electric SOVs. Gaël Cailleaux, Renewables General Manager, LDA takes a deep dive into the company, the investment in the future fleet, and the lessons learned from that first series of ships that will be leveraged in the next series.LDA’s journey over the past five years has been marked by significant strategic shifts.

Belgium-based offshore installation services company DEME has completed the acquisition Havfram, an offshore wind installation contractor based in Norway, in a deal valued at approximately $1.02 billion (€900 million).The transaction, first announced in April 2025, has passed all customary closing conditions.DEME Offshore Holding, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DEME Group, has acquired all of the shares in Havfram Wind Holdco from Sandbrook Capital and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).

Jan De Nul has kicked off the installation campaign of the monopile foundations for RWE’s Thor offshore wind farm, completing the installation of the first of 72 monopiles with its heavy-lift vessel Les Alizés.When finished, Denmark’s largest wind farm to date will provide enough renewable energy to power more than a million Danish households.The 72 wind turbines will find their home near the west coast of Jutland, some 22 kilometers offshore, and will make up RWE’s Thor wind farm, with the capacity of more than 1 GW.The monopile foundations have lengths of up to 100 meters and weigh up to 1,500 tones.

The Mediterranean Sea Emission Control Area (ECA) for sulphur oxides enters into effect on 1 May.This will make the Mediterranean Sea the fifth ECA for sulphur oxides in the world.In the Mediterranean Sea, it means ships will have to use marine fuel with lower sulphur content, down from 0.5% (a global requirement) to a maximum of 0.1%.Sulphur oxide emissions lead to sea and land acidification and contribute to fine dust, which is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.Sulphur oxide emissions in the EU have decreased by approximately 70% since 2014, primarily due to the establishment of an ECA in Northern Europe.

Deep-sea mining firm The Metals Co asked the Trump administration on Tuesday to approve its plans to mine the international seabed, making it the first such company to seek the government's permission to operate outside U.S. territorial waters.Last week President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to jumpstart mining in both domestic and international waters in an attempt to boost U.S. access to critical minerals and reduce China's market control.The move ratchets up tension between Washington and the United Nations-backed International Seabed Authority, which has been crafting mining standards for more than a decade, while China objected to the order as a violation of international law.