Aker Philadelphia Shipyard Delivers Fifth Vessel to American Shipping Company

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard delivered its fifth product tanker to American Shipping Company.

The tanker is the fifth in a series of twelve that will be delivered to American Shipping Company and in turn, chartered to OSG America. In the coming days the vessel will take to the sea for use in transporting petroleum products for BP, and is the third vessel in the series to be utilized by BP. On Thursday, September 18, a traditional naming ceremony was held at the yard and attended by representatives from Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, American Shipping Company, OSG America and BP. The Overseas Texas City is the first vessel built at the yard to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest Tier II requirements. The vessel was modified to incorporate three improved diesel powered electrical generating sets to run the vessel’s electrical system, which will result in lower levels of pollutants while in operation. Three other vessels are currently under construction at the yard, all of which will include these modifications. Aker Philadelphia Shipyard is a leading U.S. commercial shipyard constructing vessels for operation in the Jones Act market. It possesses a state-of-the-art shipbuilding facility and has earned a reputation as the preferred provider of oceangoing merchant vessels with a track record of delivering quality ships.

Read More

Sarawak to Netherlands

A Dutch owner has taken delivery of the Venture G, the second in a pair of sisterships from the Sealink Shipyard in Miri, Sarawak, East Malaysia.

Like the first vessel, the Mare Verde, the second vessel, the Venture G is 53.8 by 13.8-meters with a molded depth of 4.5 meters. Designed by Conan Wu and Associates of Singapore the vessel has an engine room mounted well aft with large tankage capacity forward. The bunker tankage includes 913 cubic meters of IFO 380, 220 cubic meters of MDO and 208 cubic meters of fresh water. The vessel is fitted with a Thermal fluid heater and three cargo pumps —- two for the IFO 380 and one for MDO. Main engines are a pair of Cummins KTA50-M2 diesels each generating 1700 HP at 1800 RPM and turning four blade 2000 by 2080 m/m propellers through Twin Disc MG5506 gears with 6:1 ratios. A 5 ton-bow tunnel type bow thruster is also fitted. Auxiliaries are three Cat-powered 245 kW 50 hz sets. The emergency gen set is a Cummins powered 30 Kw set. On deck a pair of five-ton capstans supplements a 10-ton tugger winch.

Read More

Dry sector decline halted

London: The Baltic’s Dry Index climbed more than 100 points yesterday, halting the steep decline of recent days.

Better Panamax rates, particularly on Pacific round voyages, saw that index climb 6.3% to 5243 and the Baltic Dry Index finished 102 points higher overall, at 4,958. Modest gains were also posted in the Capesize and Supramax indices although the Baltic Handysize Index shed a further seven points. Although Capesize rates are dramatically down on levels prevailing a couple of weeks ago, they are still underpinned to some extent by solid Chinese demand, experts point out. Long-term charters are still being fixed at healthy levels and average earnings, admittedly down, are still firm in historical terms, at more than $60,000 a day, according to Clarkson. However, the implications for shipping of recent global financial turmoil are only now coming to light. A significant volume of the record orderbook still has to be financed and some new shipyards were already running into funding difficulties, even before the events of this week.

Read More