APL announced on 17th July its highest recorded fleet carbon dioxide emissions reduction of 48% in 2016, compared to its base level in 2009. Verified by Lloyd’s Register Group according to the Clean Cargo Working Group verification protocol and ISO14064-3:2006 standard, this achievement marks APL’s seventh consecutive year of improvements. APL aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per container transported by 30% between 2015 and 2025, a target set by the CMA CGM Group.

Bernhard Schulte Ship Management (BSM) of Germany has taken on the management of the 210,678gt/2017 built and 20,146 TEU capacity MOL Tribute, one of the newest vessels in Mitsui O.S.K. Lines’ fleet. The newbuilding was handed over to BSM’s Hong Kong ship management centre in July. The 400m long and 58.8m beam MOL Tribute was joined at BSM by the MOL Tradition in August.

Cosco Shipping Corporation’s largest container vessels to date will take to the water equipped with High Efficiency Rudders delivered by Dutch company Van der Velden Marine Systems. In 2015, Van der Velden Marine Systems, part of the Damen Shipyards Group, was nominated to supply rudders for five 20,000 TEU capacity containerships ordered by Cosco Shipping Corporation Limited at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding. The delivery of the rudders will take place this year and the vessels are expected to enter service in 2018. As announced in July 2017, Van der Velden is supplying its largest Atlantic rudders with ART™ (Asymmetric Rudder Technology) design and bulb, each having an area of approximately 100 m2 and weighting over 250 tonnes. The rudders are specially optimised for minimum cavitation at high speed, as well as ensuring first-class course-keeping and manoeuvrability. Their water-lubricated synthetic bearings are long-lasting and require little maintenance. The rudders are designed for easy dismounting when inspections and repairs are needed. In June 2017 the first of these ships, the Cosco Shipping Taurus (above), was launched by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.

Diana Containerships has entered into a time charter contract with Maersk Line for one of its Post-Panamax vessels, the Puelo, and has agreed to extend the present time charter contract with French container carrier CMA CGM for a Panamax ship, the Centaurus. The charter for the 73,934gt/2006 built Puelo, for 8-18 months, commenced on 2nd August. The 6,541 TEU capacity ship was constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries and previously served MSC. The charter of the 36,087gt/2010 built and 3,426 TEU capacity Centaurus is being extended for 8-12 months. She was built at the Nordseewerke Emden shipyard and the charter extension was due commence on 23rd August. Diana Containerships’s fleet currently comprises eleven containerships, including six Post- Panamaxes and five Panamaxes. Hudson Shipping Lines has also chartered the company’s 40,570gt/2001 built bulker Alcyon.

Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., South Korea’s leading container carrier, was to allocate more vessels to meet rising demand on routes to the USA. The shipping company expected a shortage of carriers on the peak traffic routes from August to October as U.S. customers import more products from China and Southeast Asia. Hyundai Merchant, which currently operates 110 vessels, consulted with its alliance partners, including Maersk Line & MSC, to make the final decision on whether to increase the number of ships.

ER Schiffahrt, a Hamburg based Ship Manager, has extended its management contract with Maersk Line to manage a further three vessels for the Danish operator. The latest contract comprises the management of three 8,400 TEU capacity container vessels and includes crew and technical management and more besides. The company already had six Maersk vessels under management following a contract signed in 2015. The 11 year-old ships to be bareboat chartered by Maersk Line for continued trading are the 94,483gt/2006 built Maersk Saigon (above), Maersk Seoul and the 94,483gt/2005 built Maersk Stralsund.

Evergreen’s 52,090gt/1998 built Ever Diadem joined forces with another ship to successfully rescue thirty seafarers who were forced to abandon their burning fishing vessel off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean on 9th July. The ship was enroute from Singapore to Durban when the two drifting lifeboats were found containing the crews having abandoned the burning Hsiang Fuh No.6, a Taiwan-flagged fishing boat. The crew of the containership rescued 16 seafarers from one lifeboat whilst the 34,447gt/2015 built bulk carriers SBI Antares saved those from the other lifeboat. The Ever Diadem was deployed on her operator’s Far East-Africa Express (FAX) service, calling at Shanghai, Ningbo, Keelung, Singapore and Durban. The rescued persons were put ashore at Durban.

Hapag-Lloyd expects to increase its presence in the Turkish market after it finalised the integration of the Dubai-based United Arab Shipping Company (UASC). Hapag-Lloyd Turkey, now the third biggest carrier in the Turkish market, expects to more than double the size of its Turkish operations from 230,000 TEU yearly to almost 500,000 TEU. This development recently peaked with the first call of a 13,200 TEU capacity Hamburg Express class vessel, the 142,295gt/2014 built Leverkusen Express at the Istanbul Kumport terminal. Hapag-Lloyd has also added a new 15,000 TEU capacity containership, the 153,148gt/2017 built Afif (above), to its fleet to strengthen its presence in South Korea. The 368m long/51m beam ship has received Hapag Lloyd’s livery having been intended for the UASC fleet that the German Company has merged with. The move gave Hapag-Lloyd access to 15,000 TEU capacity ships as the company’s largest vessels prior to this were the 142,295gt/13,200 TEU Hamburg Express Class.

Lomar Shipping’s new Subpanamax container vessel Kea Trader, ran aground 100km southeast of the island of Mare on 12th July, while en-route from Papeete (French Polynesia) to Nourmea, the capital of New Caledonia. The vessel had 750 TEUs and 18 crewmembers aboard. The ship was still stuck fast 5 days later on the Durand Reef so the salvage company Ardent made arrangements to remove 700 tons of fuel and lubricating oil from the ship, before she was refloated.

Maersk Line’s 50,688gt/2001 built containership Laura Maersk went adrift on 14th July whilst operating a TP9 service between Vancouver and Busan (South Korea). The ship lost main engine power off the coast of Akutan in the Aleutian Islands after a turbocharger malfunctioned. Various other reports described the issue as an engine room fire. Either way, the ship was subsequently towed to Dutch Harbor anchorage, Unalaska Bay, for repairs. At the beginning of August came reports that the company had decided to resume weekly container services to CentrePort, Wellington, New Zealand, following completion of works to enable its ship-to-shore cranes to operate. The work was necessary following damage sustained in the November 2016 Kaikoura earthquake which rendered the gantry cranes inoperable. Maersk Line’s Northern Star service deploys six 3,000 TEU vessels and makes six weekly port calls around New Zealand each week.

MOL’s 21,413 TEU capacity and 210,678gt MOL Trust undertook her maiden call at Rotterdam on 28th July, following in the wake of her sistership, the MOL Triumph, which called there for the first time in May. The MOL Trust is the second in a series of six vessels and is deployed in the FE2 service operated by The Alliance.

MSC’s 16,803gt/2003 built MSC Alice departed from Somalia in mid-July after being held there for more than two weeks for allegedly ruining the country’s internet services. The 1,729 TEU capacity MSC Alice was detained by Somali authorities close to the port of Mogadishu from late June on suspicion of severing the city’s fibre optic cable, resulting in an internet outage across the whole country for over two weeks. The vessel left Mogadishu on 15th July and returned to her scheduled route. MSC investigated the incident with the relevant parties and reached an agreement. The Somali government demanded compensation, but it is not known if MSC agreed to this.

Nippon Yusen Kaisha’s (NYK) chartered 29,060gt/2008 built ACX Crystal (above) returned to service on 22nd July after repairs following her much publicised collision with the USS Fitzgerald on 16th June. The ship headed for Laem Chabang in Thailand to resume her service. The investigations into the incident continue.

Oceanbulk Containers, the joint venture between Oaktree Capital Management and the Oceanbulk group, has dropped three containership newbuildings at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in favour of large dry bulk carriers. The trio of 10,920 TEU capacity vessels were ordered in 2015 and delivery had already been deferred to the fourth quarter of 2018. Now the ships have been replaced with four Newcastlemax bulkers for confirmed delivery in 2019. Valued at $44 million per ship, the bulkers seem to be a smaller project for the yard in revenue terms than the three cancelled ships, which are thought to have been ordered at prices of just below $90 million each. Oceanbulk Containers had six containerships on order at SWS at one point, with some of these having been swapped from bulker orders. Now the situation is pretty much reversed plus the joint venture also quietly sold six of its existing fleet of 9,962 TEU capacity vessels at the end of 2016. These were the 94,730gt/2015 built Cezanne, Dali, Maersk Saltoro, Maersk Sirac, Maersk Stadelhorn and Maersk Shams, all chartered to Maersk Line at the time. Apart from the four Newcastlemax newbuidings, Oceanbulk Carriers’ current fleet stands at just two 9,962 TEU capacity containerships on long-term charter to CMA CGM and two 11,000 TEU capacity vessels on order from Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines.

Wan Hai Lines of Taiwan has acquired two 1,805 TEU capacity containerships, the 16,672gt/2008 built Sao Paulo and Ho Chi Minh, from MI-DAS Line. The purchase price for the two vessels was $12.5 million each. The ships join the 72-strong fleet.

Orient Express Lines of Dubai, part of Transworld Group, has acquired a 4,253 TEU containership from Greek shipowner Tsakos Containers Navigation, part of the Tsakos Group. Formerly known as the Irenes Wisdom and ER Yantian, the 39,941gt/2003 built ship has been renamed Oel Jumeirah. The Panamax ship was built by Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and sold for $7.1 million.

OOCL’s 141,003gt/2013 built and 13,208 TEU capacity OOCL Berlin became the largest containership enter the Port of New York and New Jersey on 17th July. Operating with the Ocean Alliance, the OOCL Berlin (above) will be joined by sister ship OOCL Malaysia on this rotation. The OOCL Korea, OOCL Chongqing, and OOCL France may also join the party later in 2017. OOCL increased its freight volumes in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016. For the six months ended 30th June 2017, OOCL handled total volumes of approximately 3.09 million TEU for its worldwide services, an increase of 6.8% from 2.89 million TEU in the same period of last year. The rise in volumes was aided mainly by transpacific volumes increasing 23.1% year-onyear to 865,081 TEU and Asia-Europe volumes up by 22.2% to 546,505 TEU. The transatlantic volumes also improved by 8% to 209,438 TEU but the intra-Asia/Australasia volumes recorded a a decline of 5.2% to 1.47 million TEU. OOCL’s total first half revenue increased by 15.2% to around $2.59 million, with the overall average revenue per TEU rising by 7.8%.

Samskip announced on 27th July that it had reached an agreement with the DSD Group to acquire shortsea operator Nor Lines. Following on from the recent acquisition of Euro Container Lines and 50% share purchase in Bergen-based conventional reefer operator Silver Green, the logistics firm will take on the responsibility of Nor Line’s terminal activities, warehousing and haulage services. In addition, five out of seven multi-purpose vessels owned by Stavanger-based Nor Lines, will be transferred under a time charter arrangement to the Buyer. Samskip conveys around 90,000 TEU between Norway and northern Europe per annum and this latest acquisition will help the company achieve its aspirations of increased market share in the Norwegian shipping industry.

SM Line has purchased the 91,649gt/2006 built and 8,533 TEU capacity Lloyd Don Carlos for $23 million from E. R. Schiffahrt. This brings the fast growing fleet to 23 ships. South Korean container carriers have joined forces to form a cooperation body named Korea Shipping Partnership aimed at strengthening the country’s shipping industry. The move comes amid overall stagnation of the South Korean shipping market which has had its reputation marred following the collapse of Hanjin Shipping. The 14 national carriers, including Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and SM Line, launched a cooperation council in order to overcome the crisis jointly and seek new business opportunities in the market. Among the measures being sought are route rationalisation, the opening of new joint routes, fleet expansion cooperation, partnerships on joint services at international terminals along with consultation on the reduction of operating costs all with the objective of boosting the competitiveness of the nation’s container carrier sector.

Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. and fellow carriers TS Lines and Korea Marine Transport Co. (KMTC) announced the introduction of a new East Asia route covering South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong from August 2017. The Korea-Taiwan-Hong Kong (KTH) network was due to become effective from 13th August this year, utilising two 1,800 TEU capacity container vessels. The 14- day round voyage port rotation of the KTH route will be Incheon, Busan, Kwangyang, Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Keelung, and back to Incheon.