ABP Southampton announced on 24th June that it completed the purchase of Marchwood and Cracknore Hard Industrial Estates. ABP had an offer for the site accepted in December with the Marchwood Industrial Park previously being owned by Oceanic Estates Limited. The site adjoins Marchwood Military Port. Meanwhile the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) has acquired a 10% direct interest in Associated British Ports. The news comes after GS Infrastructure Partners (GSIP), part of Goldman Sachs, and Infracapital, a subsidiary of Prudential, sold their stakes in the group, which operates 21 ports in the UK. The two investment companies have sold their combined 33.33% stake to Canadabased Anchorage Ports, which comprises Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Hermes Infrastructure. The ABP group is now owned 33.3% by Canada-based infrastructure investor Borealis, 33.3% by Anchorage Ports, 23.3% by Singapore’s Cheyne Walk Investment and 10% by the KIA.

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering is building the world’s first icebreaker tankers, 16 in total, to carry liquid natural gas (LNG) between Europe and Asia via the Arctic passage. LNG tankers to date been escorted by icebreaking ships that clear the way through the Northern Sea Route. The Yamal LNG project, run by companies in Russia, France, and China, proposes drilling more than 200 wells in the Arctic to produce 16.5 million tons of LNG per year, supported by Daewoo’s first Arc7 tankers.