Berge Bulk announced on 7th March that the 109,716gt Berge Zugspitze had been delivered from the Bohai Shipyard, China. The ship, sailing under the Isle of Man flag, is equipped with rudder bulb and duct stream energy-saving devices. She will be transporting a maximum capacity of 210,000 cubic metres between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Following Berge Bulk’s motto ‘Moving Mountains’, the new vessel is named after Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze, which rises to 2,962m above sea level and is home to three glaciers and Germany’s highest ski resort.

Crowley Maritime Corporation christened the second of four new, Jones Act product tankers on 4th February at the South Florida Petroleum Terminal in Fort Lauderdale. The 50,000dwt, 330,000-barrel-capacity Texas joins sister ship Ohio, which was christened by Crowley in November 2015, as the first ever tankers to receive the American Bureau of Shipping’s (ABS) LNG-Ready Level 1 approval, meaning Crowley has the option to convert the tanker to LNG in the future.

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft announced on 26th February that the well intervention vessel Siem Helix 2 had been launched. The vessel is the second ordered by Siem Offshore in February 2014 and will be delivered in 2016 after which the ship is expected to enter into service for Petrobras in Brasil. The vessel has 158.65m length overall, a beam of 31m and is compliant with the MODU and Well Intervention Unit 2 class notations. She is equipped with Dynamic Positioning System (DYNPOS AUTRO) a subsea crane of 250 tons/3000m and a helicopter deck of 15 tons. FSG has also entered into orders for the construction of two RoRo vessels with the Siem Group.

Höegh Autoliners’ third vessel in the New Horizon class was named Höegh Tracer in January at a naming ceremony at Xiamen Shipbuilding Industries in China. Mrs Hiromi Oe, wife of Mr Akio Oe, President of Nissan Motor Car Carrier, christened the ship.

Panama Canal: A large crack that threatened the delivery of the Panama Canal expansion and pushed its planned opening back by several months has been repaired. Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), the Spanish-led consortium responsible for the design and construction of the Third Set of Locks Project, has successfully completed testing of the reinforcements in sill No.3 of the Cocolí locks. The crack first appeared in August in the concrete sill between the lower and middle chamber of the Canal’s expanded Pacific Locks. GUPC later determined that water seepage was the result of insufficient steel reinforcement in the area that was subject to extreme condition testing.

Paragon Shipping has agreed with its banks to sell off its entire fleet, made up of six dry bulk vessels, in exchange for full and final settlement of its outstanding debt. The six vessels to be sold consist of two panamaxes (Coral Seas and Golden Seas) and four handysizes (Precious Seas, Priceless Seas, Prosperous Seas and Proud Seas). The move follows the sale of panamax bulker Kind Seas in January, and Diamond Seas, Pearl Seas, Sapphire Seas, Deep Seas and Calm Seas all sold off in December 2015 to repay loans. Despite the sales, Paragon was unable to pay an interest payment of $0.5 million due on 16th February because of a lack of liquidity. The company is now in discussions with Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding to extend the deliveries of its three Kamsarmax newbuildings until the end of 2016 at no extra cost to the company. A new Ultramax delivery was also cancelled with Yangzhou Dayang Shipbuilding in China. DryShips is also urgently re-negotiating loans amid a $2.8 billion loss.