Arklow Shipping’s 87.4m long and 15.2m beam Arklow Clan was launched sideways from the Ferus Smit Westerbroek shipyard in the Netherlands on 7th April. Nb. 427 Arklow Clan is the fourth in a series of 10 ships to be built of a new design for Arklow Shipping from Ireland. With a maximised hold volume of 220,000cft and a carrying capacity over 5,000 deadweight tons, the vessel falls under the 3,000 gross tons limit. The 2,999gt Arklow Clan has one single hold and an 1A ice class notation. She is propelled by a 1,740kW MaK engine with a single ducted propeller and delivery was scheduled for May 2017.

Eagle Bulk has taken delivery of the 35,812gt/2013 built Mystic Eagle, the first of 9 Crown-63 Ultramax dry bulk sister vessels the Company has acquired from Greenship Bulk Trust. With the addition of the Mystic Eagle, the current Eagle Bulk fleet consists of 41 vessels in service, including 3 Ultramax vessels, with another 8 Ultramaxes set to be delivered over the coming months. The Company’s pro-forma owned-fleet will consist of 49 Supramaxes/Ultramaxes.

Engie, its parent company Fluxys, Mitsubishi Corporation, and NYK took delivery of the world’s first purpose built liquefied natural gas bunkering vessel (LBV) from Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd., at the Yeongdo shipyard in Busan, Korea. On her delivery voyage from Korea to Zeebrugge the 7,403gt Engie Zeebrugge ran on LNG that was loaded by trucks prior to departure from the shipyard, a loading process that took some days to be completed. The ship arrived at Zeebrugge on 1st April and, with a 5,000m3 LNG capacity, will supply LNG as a marine fuel to ships operating in Northern Europe.

Hartmann Reederei and GasChem Services’ 28,580gt/2016 built GasChem Beluga (above), a new liquefied ethylene gas (LEG) carrier operated by the aforementioned German companies, was named on Teesside on 27th April. The eco-friendly vessel carries shipments of ethane gas from Houston in the USA to SABIC’s Olefins Cracker at Wilton on Teesside, UK, under a long-term time charter.

Groupe Desgagnés of Quebec, Canada, announced that it took delivery on 30th March of the 11,978gt Damia Desagnes, a brand new vessel recently completed in Turkey. A next generation and state-of-theart asphalt-bitumen-chemical tanker, she is the first of a series of four oil carriers, custom- built according to an original concept developed by Desgagnés and ordered at the Besiktas shipyard located in Yalova near Istanbul, Turkey.

NYK Group of Japan has taken delivery of a new coal carrier, the 56,825gt Isuzu Maru, from its compatriot shipbuilder Oshima Shipbuilding. The 249m long and 43m wide ship, which was handed over on 14th April, will be operated by NYK Group’s Singapore-based subsidiary NYK Bulkship (Asia). The ship will be deployed to transport coal for coal and mineral company JERA Trading Singapore, a subsidiary of the Japanese electric power company JERA.

Polaris Shipping is undertaking a special programme for the immediate safety inspection of all of its 27 VLOC ships, of which 21 were converted from VLCCs, following the tragic loss of the 148,431gt/1993 built Stellar Daisy after which her 22 crew were missing. The 156,352gt/1993 built Stellar Unicorn was held off South Africa within days of her fleet mate’s loss following the discovery of hull cracks whilst carrying 270,000t of iron ore, so she was sent to Cape Town for repairs. As both vessels were converted from very large crude carriers to bulkers, the recent incidents heightened concerns over the safety of other bulk carriers that were converted in the last decade. Sister vessel 148,740gt/1992 built Stellar Cosmo had been acting as scene co-ordinator where the Stellar Daisy sank but she was then reportedly sent to Cape Town, arriving 19th April, for repairs to hull cracks that had been discovered. Another company vessel was sent to the scene whilst two seafarers rescued by the 38,367gt/2001 built Elpida were taken to Cape Town, with the remaining 20 crewmembers still missing. Polaris Shipping later denied reports that the Stellar Cosmo had encountered problems, insisting that she was actually heading to Singapore for bunkers prior to continuing to China with her cargo of iron ore. A faulty monitoring alarm is said to be the source of the reports of hull defects. Globally there are around 47 such vessels which were converted into VLOCs and most of these vessels have already reached their demolition age of close to 27 years. A significant number of these conversions occurred when yards were well stocked with newbuilding contracts, between 2008 and 2011, and conversions were seen to be less profitable work often handled by less-established yards. The search for the Stellar Daisy and her missing crew was scaled down on 4th May. A few days later came the news that the 162,393gt/1994 built Stellar Queen had been found to have two cracks in her upper decks and was stopped for inspection off Brazil.

Stena Bulk named the 29,666gt/2016 built Stena Weco MR tanker Stena Imagination on 18th April at the Port Rashid Terminal in Dubai. The ship’s Godmother was Mrs Lourdes Torgersen.

Thun Tankers, part of the Gothia Tanker Alliance, has contracted four 17,500dwt IMO II product/chemical tankers to be built at the Avic Dingheng Shipbuilding Ltd. in China. Furetank Chartering, responsible for the intermediate size segment in the Gothia Tanker Alliance, will commercially manage the vessels.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen has commenced a new US Gateway service from Royal Portbury Dock, Bristol. The 75,283gt/2016 built and 7,000 vehicle capacity Theben (above) will convey Jaguars, Land Rovers, Minis and heavy construction plant to the east and west coasts of the USA. The new weekly service reflects the booming car export business at Bristol Port. In 2016 the Port handled nearly 200,000 vehicles for export and a 20% increase is predicted this year.