SRTS News

Evangelos Marinakis led Capital Product Partners (CPP) has fixed four chemical/product tankers to Brazil’s Petrobras. The STX-built quartet Alexandros II, Aristotelis II, Aris II and Ayrton II have been fixed for a period of two years at $14,700 per day. Petrobras has an option to extend the charters for an ... read more

Angeliki Frangou’s Navios Maritime Containers has sealed deals to add five boxships to its fleet for a total of $246m, and has also acquired options for a further four vessels. Navios Containers has acquired 6,800 teu boxship from affiliate Navios Maritime Partners for $36m. The vessel is attached to a ... read more

Hong Kong commodity trader Noble Group has entered into an agreement with Greek owner Transmed Shipping for the sale of 2015-built kamsarmax bulker . The disposal price for the 81,615 dwt vessel is $23.79m, with Noble saying the sale will result in a net profit of $0.3m. Noble Group has ... read more

Emblematic of shipping’s changing fortunes, Germany’s much-maligned HSH Nordbank has said it wants to get back into maritime. The bank’s state government owners are selling it to Cerberus Capital Management and JC Flowers, with investors GoldenTree, Centaurus Capital and Austrian bank BAWAG also taking stakes. “We are looking to re-invest ... read more

As HSH Nordbank gears up to make a renewed foray into shipping under new ownership, another big name in German ship finance is making moves of its own. Reuters is reporting Deutsche Bank has agreed to sell a non-performing ship loan portfolio with a notional value of $1bn to investors ... read more

Maersk Container Industry is closing its reefer factory in San Antonio, Chile and moving all manufacturing to its facility in Qingdao in northeast China. “After careful review, we concluded that the consolidation of activities at one plant will provide a strengthened capacity utilisation and a simpler cost structure. This will ... read more

New York-based dry bulk shipowner Genco Shipping & Trading has revealed the en bloc acquisition of four bulkers, two capesizes and two ultramaxes, for a total of $141m. Genco is financing the deal via a public offering and cash on hand. The two capesizes being acquired were built at Chinese ... read more

Fresh from completing its takeover of Gener8 this week, Belgian tanker giant Euronav has now sold six VLCCs to long term business partner International Seaways finalising a deal announced late last year. Euronav is disposing of six modern, Chinese built VLCCs to International Seaways for a total consideration of $434m ... read more

Steven Jones, the founder of the Seafarers Happiness Index, writes exclusively for Splash today, stressing how vital it is that we bridge the divide between how crew actually feel, and how we would like them to feel. At some point in every relationship it becomes important to understand whether the ... read more

Norwegian subsea services firm Subsea 7 has been awarded a contract by Shell for offshore engineering works at the Vito development in the US Gulf of Mexico. The contract scope covers the project management, engineering, procurement, installation and pull-in of two 12″ infield production flowlines with 10″ steel catenary risers, ... read more

Brazilian maritime group Wilson Sons has announced that its 50% joint venture Wilson Sons Ultratug Offshore has secured a new contract from Fendercare for the hire of PSV . The vessel will provide logistics support for ship-to-ship crude oil transfers in Brazilian territorial waters for one year commencing in the ... read more

Containership  suffered an explosion onboard while near Kolkata, India yesterday. The incident happened when the 1,118 teu vessel, operated by Indian owner Shreyas Shipping, was sailing from Krishnapatnam to Kolkata with 464 containers onboard. The explosion was triggered by fire on the vessel’s deck, leading to the captain ordering crew ... read more

Jon Chaplin from Spinnaker Global has the final, wry word on last week’s mammoth series of events in and around the Greek capital. Apart from shipowners, visitors to Posidonia seem to fall into two distinct camps. The technology related – centred around the Posidonia Expo and those ‘business service’ providers ... read more

Hanseatic Capital Management (HCM) has been launched by Germany’s Schulte Group, acting as the anchor investor. The initial investment focus of HCM is on smaller bulkers and boxships. HCM’s management comprises experts from various industries and backgrounds, who combine a wealth of experience in both the shipping and investment sectors. ... read more

Canada’s Seafarers’ Training Institute (STI) has launched a hiring initiative to plug a looming labour gap in the offing as seasoned mariners retire in the next five years. STI’s initiative is targeting youngsters fresh out of high school in a bid to compensate for the expected 20% decline in the ... read more

Venezuela is contemplating using foreign crude oil to produce fuel for the first time, according to Reuters. The country sits on the world’s largest oil reserves, many of them offshore, but is in an economic recession and has been badly hurt by the crisis at state oil firm Petroleos de ... read more

MSC’s acquisition of 49% stake in the Genoa-based conro shipping company Messina is expected to be sealed by October, reports Alphaliner. MSC and Banca Carige signed a pre-agreement this month, fixing the main terms of the debt restructuring for Messina Group, including taking over the 49% stake in the company. ... read more

A protracted truckers strike in Brazil sees more than 60 vessels facing loading delays out of South America’s largest nation. Fighting for better pay since last month, the truckers’ action is having a detrimental effect on Brazil’s agricultural exports. The country’s agricultural minister, Blairo Maggi, told reporters yesterday that at ... read more

Tidships $32m offer to take over fellow Norwegian bulker owner Belships represents a circle being closed in the family history of the Tidemand family. Splash reported yesterday on the offer. Tidships is controlled by Caroline Figenschou Tidemand (pictured), CEO of shipbroking firm Lorentzen & Stemoco, and her sister Kristin Tidemand ... read more

Bust shipowners rarely go under for long. In India, one of the country’s most high profile casualties of the shipping downturn, Yudhishthir Khatau, is rumoured to be plotting a comeback. Khatau has made a public announcement stating his intention to list shipmanagement and investment vehicle, Varun Global, one of the ... read more