Maritime Vessels Directory

The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) arrived in New York Monday to support COVID-19 response efforts in the epicenter of America's coronavirus outbreak.The ship will serve as a referral hospital for non-coronavirus patients currently admitted to shore-based hospitals, and will provide a full spectrum of medical care to include general surgeries, critical care and ward care for adults. This will allow local health professionals to focus on treating COVID-19 patients and for shore-based hospitals to use their Intensive Care Units and ventilators for those patients.McAllister Towing provided the equipment and maritime expertise in safely docking the hospital ship.

Carnival-owned Holland America Line, owner and operator of the coronavirus-stricken MS Zaandam, announced it will extend its pause of global cruise operations for an additional 30 days, cancelling sailings scheduled to depart through May 14, amid continued port closures and travel restrictions surrounding global health concerns."As the world addresses global health concerns, travel has come to a temporary standstill as communities take necessary precautions to protect themselves," said Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line. Another Carnival-owned cruise brand Cunard also announced it would extend its suspension of cruises through May 15.

Our planet is facing its greatest challenge, and it’s not coronavirus. Asbjørn Halsebakke, Product Manager, Yaskawa Environmental Energy / The Switch, ponders how greater political action could help the maritime industry meet its most ambitious environmental goals.Why hasn’t the climate crisis elicited the same urgent response from global governments as the corona pandemic? When confronted with the terrible threat of viral spread, national leaders from Boris Johnson to Narendra Modi, and from Donald Trump to Xi Jingping, have rapidly introduced emergency measures, the like of which we’ve never before imagined, let alone experienced.

Supertanker freight rates are on the rise for a second time this month as producers, refiners and traders scramble to secure ships to transport crude or store a fast-growing global glut of oil, industry sources said.Freight rates for very large crude-oil carriers (VLCC) along the Middle East Gulf to China route were assessed at about $180,000 a day on Monday, up from some $125,000 on Friday and a weekly low of about $90,000 a day on Wednesday, according to several ship broking sources.Its difficult to say whether or not the rates will be sustained, or at what levels

Carnival Corp’s luxury cruise ships operator Cunard said on Monday it would extend the suspension of all voyages by a month to May 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.Carnival, also the operator of two coronavirus-stricken Princess cruises, has already temporarily suspended several of its ships due to concerns over the rapidly spreading COVID-19 crisis earlier this month.“The impact of COVID-19 is affecting personal routines and businesses as well as placing significant travel restrictions around the world,” said Simon Palethorpe, president, Cunard.