Maritime Vessels Directory

Hedge fund managers sensed oil prices were nearing a turning point last week, and for the first time in more than two months started to add long positions in anticipation prices would bounce from an unsustainable low.Overall, hedge funds and other money managers were still net sellers of 19 million barrels of petroleum in the six most important futures and options contracts in the week ending on March 31.But they initiated 40 million barrels of new purchases as well as 59 million barrels of fresh sales, according to position records published by ICE Futures Europe and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

COVID-19 Impacts on Demurrage and Detention

an hour ago

What might not be so obvious in this COVID-19 environment, which we have grown to associate with shortages, is that counterintuitively there are issues beginning to appear dealing with the opposite situation. The Journal of Commerce has reported that “[t]he container shipping industry is marshaling a response to signs of a building import backlog as some retailers and manufacturers fail to pick up containers because warehouses are full or closed due to not being deemed essential service providers responding to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

VTT Studying Bio- and Waste-based Oils for Ships

2 hours ago

Researchers looking for an ecologically and economically sustainable way to replace fossil fuels are exploring how suitable fuel oils made from biomass and waste plastics are for power plants and ship diesel engines.Internal-combustion engine power plants use natural gas or heavy fuel oil in diesel engines. In order for large diesel engines to be environmentally sustainable both on land and at sea, it is necessary to find bio- and waste-based alternatives to fossil fuels. These will be identified and evaluated in the three-year BioFlex project coordinated by Finland's VTT.

Factory Ship to Produce Sanitizer to Fight Coronavirus

2 hours ago

Owners of a factory ship moored off southern France which normally turns seawater into bottled mineral water have converted it to make sanitizing solution in the fight against the coronavirus.At the start of the year, the 179-meter long Odeep One began making bottled water pumped from the depths of the Mediterranean but since April 1 the plastic bottles which roll off its production line have contained alcohol solution instead.The French owners of the Panama-flagged ship currently produce just over 43,000 of the 600 milliliter bottles a day but they soon hope to more than double capacity to over 750,000 bottles a week, according to technical director of the parent company OFW Ships

North Sea FPSO Shut Down Due to Coronavirus Case Aboard

4 hours ago

Production from the Hummingbird Spirit FPSO operating at the Chestnut field in the UK sector of the North Sea has been shut down after a coronavirus case has been confirmed aboard.It was initially understood that there has been one confirmed case, and one subsequent suspected case on the FPSO and that production has been temporarily shut-in. The Teekay-owned FPSO is located at Spirit Energy-operated Chestnut offshore oil field.A Spirit Energy spokesperson said the company was working closely with Altera Infrastructure and Teekay "and offering them all the support we can at this time.”Teekay Offshore Partners in March changed its name to Altera Infrastructure.

Maritime Reporter and Engineering News (March 2020)

Cruise Shipping Annual