Maritime Vessels Directory

Australia’s newly completed icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, has left the Netherlands port of Vlissingen to commence trials in the North Sea.The start of the month-long sea trials, which had been pushed back due to delays stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, will be followed by additional weeks of deepwater trials involving the Australian Antarctic Division, ship managers Serco and shipbuilder Damen. Testing of the ship’s speed, noise, propulsion systems, steering, advanced electrical systems and science equipment will take place as the vessel prepares for final sea ice trials in the Arctic early next year.

Fincantieri is teaming up with the Mexican government to open a new shipyard that will provide repair, conversions and maintenance cruise ships, large cargo vessels and oil and gas vessels.The Italian shipbuilding giant revealed Tuesday that it has signed a letter of intent (LoI) with the Ministry of Economic Development and Labor of the Yucatán State (Mexico) to participate in the design and construction of the new facility, located within the expansion and modernization of the Port of Progreso, the main port of the state, approximately 35 kilometers from the capital Merida.

BAE Systems said Tuesday it has received a $197.4 million contract from the U.S. Navy to drydock and perform maintenance and modernization work aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). This is the second time in four years that the company has performed significant work on board the Wasp to sustain its warfighting capability.Under the new contract, BAE Systems’ Norfolk, Va. shipyard will begin working aboard the 843-foot-long USS Wasp in February 2021, performing hull, tank and mechanical work. The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $237.7 million.

Classification society ABS said it has awarded AET the SMART (INF) Notation for the 152,700 DWT DP2 shuttle tanker Eagle Passos, which was built and delivered by South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (SHI).The first shuttle tanker to be granted an ABS Smart Notation, which recognizes the vessel’s data communication and network infrastructure, Eagle Passos will also be granted the Operational Performance Management (OPM) and Crew Assistance and Augmentation (CAA) class record comments in recognition of the optimization, monitoring and reporting smart functions.

MAN Energy Solutions announced that it will offer its proprietary EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system as an emissions solution for its new, low-speed ME-GA engine, the Otto-cycle variant of its established ME-GI dual-fuel engine. EGR is a NOx-emissions-reduction technique that ensures IMO Tier III-compliance in both diesel and gas mode.The company has long experience with the emission-reduction technology and reported the first order for an EGR system in 2011 when it was fully integrated within the MAN B&W 6S80ME-C9 main engine of a 4,500 teu containership newbuilding.Thomas S.