Cedar Car Carrier AS owned vehicle carrier City of Tokyo will be refused access to any port and anchorage in the Paris MoU region because she failed to call at an indicated repair yard in November 2016. This measure excludes the port and anchorage of the ship’s flag state of Panama. The 42,247gt/1987 built City of Tokyo was detained in Antwerp on 23rd October 2015 and, a year later, departed on 21st October 2016 but failed to call at the repair yard in Dubai as agreed, before 30th November 2016. In accordance with Section 4.2 of the EU Council Directive 2009/16/EC1, and the provisions of the Belgian shipping act, access to the Paris MoU region will be denied until the provided evidence shows that the ship fully complies with all applicable requirements of the conventions and is satisfactory to the Belgian administration. The Paris MoU consists of 27 participating maritime administrations and covers the waters of the European coastal states and the North Atlantic basin from North America to Europe. The ship’s Italian classification (Registro Italiano Navale) was suspended from 4th January.

Euroseas of Greece has scrapped the 37,707gt/1997 built dry bulk carrier Eleni P, the oldest dry bulk vessel in the fleet. The 72,119dwt vessel was delivered to the scrap buyer at the beginning of January 2017 and is replaced by the 75,100dwt Capetan Tassas, a 39,783gt/2000 built vessel acquired in November.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (HHI) delivered a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier on 30th November to a consortium comprising Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” Line), and the Shipping Corporation of India Ltd. (SCI). The 112,791gt membrane-type vessel, named Prachi, has a capacity of 173,000 m3 and was built to order for a long-term time charter contract with India’s LNG importer Petronet LNG Limited (PLL). HHI has also signed contracts to construct 14,500 TEU containerships and 49,000dwt product/ chemical carriers for Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL).

Maersk Tankers has taken delivery of the 29,455gt Maersk Timaru, a 51,800dwt product tanker, from South Korea’s Sungdong shipyard. Completed in late October 2016, the 183.10m long MR2 tanker is part of Maersk Tankers’ investment in 19 new vessels as part of the fleet renewal programme, 20% of the fleet overall.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines’ (MOL) 57,494gt Ethane Crystal, the world’s first very large ethane carrier (VLEC), loaded her first shipment of ethane cargo at Enterprise Products Partner’s Morgan’s Point Terminal in Texas in December and embarked upon her maiden voyage on 20th December. The ship was delivered from South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in November 2016 and the second vessel, the Ethane Emerald, was delivered in early December 2016.

SCF Group (PAO Sovcomflot) has received the first Polar Ship Certificate issued by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS). The 44,354gt/2016 built Arctic shuttle tanker Shturman Albanov was the ship in question and the certificate confirms the vessel’s compliance with the requirements of the Polar Code that took effect on 1st January 2017. The Shturman Albanov is the lead ship in a series of Arctic shuttle tankers ordered by Sovcomflot Group under a long-term contract with Gazprom Neft. They are designed to carry crude oil from the Yamal Peninsula (YNAD) to the port of Murmansk all year-round. The 42,000dwt Shturman Albanov is capable of operating in temperatures down to –45°С and is assigned an ice class Arc7.

Stena Bulk’s 29,666gt Stena Immaculate, the ninth of a total of 13 IMOIIMAX MR tankers, was named on 10th January 2017 (above). The vessel’s godmother was Katarina Ljungqvist, Head of Handelsbanken Western Sweden.

Teekay LNG Partners’ 113,263gt/2016 built LNG carrier Oak Spirit delivered the first LNG cargo produced in the USA to Joetsu LNG Terminal of Chubu Electric Power Company in Japan on 6th January 2017.

Tranvast Holdings, a Nanjing-based dry bulk shipping company, made an announcement around the festive period that the company had ceased operations and would soon be dissolved following financial woes.

Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding (WWH) of Sweden and Norwegian/Swedish shipping company Wallenius Lines have signed an agreement leading to a new ownership structure for their jointly owned investments. Under the deal, the companies will combine ownership in Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, EUKOR Car Carriers and American Rol-on Rol-off Carrier. Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA will issue shares to Wallenius Lines in exchange for their shares of the currently joint investments. At the completion of the merger, Wilhelmsen and Wallenius will hold 37.8% and 48% of the new entity to be named Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics ASA.

Vale of Brazil concluded the sale of four of its capesize vessels to Polaris Shipping of South Korea in December. Each vessel was sold for $35m, and payment will be received upon delivery. The vessels sold are the  93,196gt/2010 built Ore Pantanal and her 2011 built sisterships Ore Mangaratiba, Ore Belo Horizonte and Ore Para.