ShipStation, the world’s leading cloud-based ecommerce shipping solution, today released Protect Your Growth Strategy: the 2023 Consumer and Merchant Benchmark Report. The report contains findings from a global consumer and merchant study conducted by Auctane, which operates the ShipStation brand among others, and Retail Economics, an independent economics research consultancy.* “This year, consumers have become more price conscious, and therefore selective with their shopping decisions,” said Sudha Chandrasekharan, Senior Vice President and Global General Manager of ShipStation. “The report highlights an urgent need for merchants to provide a phenomenal buying ...

Bayonet Ocean Vehicles (Bayonet) will be demonstrating the Bayonet 250 autonomous underwater ground vehicle during its first UK demonstration at Ocean Business. This demonstration will include showing the vehicle’s autonomous capability, and over-the-horizon command and control technology provided by fellow exhibitor Greensea Systems, Inc. (Greensea). Based in the USA, Bayonet vehicles come in three sizes, the Bayonet 150, 250, and 350, for increased scalability. The modular set up allows quick and easy vehicle configuration with a wide range of sensor payloads. This adaptability makes them a powerful tool for use ...

Containerised cargo volumes moved in the deep-sea container shipping market fell a further 2.5% during the final quarter of 2022, marking the traditionally busiest period of the year as the ‘peak season without a peak’. Volumes have fallen steadily in the early weeks of 2023 and world trade continues to stumble as economies grapple with persistent inflation and high energy prices, suppressing consumer demand for goods across nearly all economic sectors. Commenting on the publication of the latest GSF/MDS Transmodal Container Shipping Market Review, James Hookham, Secretary General of Global ...

Thetius today announced a new partnership with Seaspan Corporation, worldwide leader in independent containership management and ownership. Inmarsat, a leading satellite service provider and Lloyd’s Register, a global services company that specialises in engineering and technology for the maritime industry. “Lloyd’s Register and the Maritime Decarbonisation Hub are pleased to join the Thetius:Zero partnership alongside Seaspan and Inmarsat to tackle some of the key issues around maritime decarbonisation,” said Andy McKeran, Lloyd’s Register Chief Commercial Officer. “As proven through the establishment of the Safety Tech Accelerator and our work with ...

The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) received the visit of the Secretary General of the Mission to Seafarers (MtS) and the Secretary General of the Deutsche Seemannsmission (DSM) Rev. Canon Andrew Wright as well as Rev. Matthias Ristau, respectively, in order to discuss future joint projects to improve the well-being and conditions of seafarers. The Director of the General Directorate for Seafarers (DGGM) of the AMP, Captain Juan Maltez, was in charge of receiving this important international delegation in his office, in which the DSM port Chaplain, Andrea Meenken, the Chaplain ...

Together with shipowner Spar Shipping AS, NORDEN recently bunkered approximately 1100 tonnes of biofuel at GoodFuels in Rotterdam used on two voyages bound for Asia and Africa respectively. The bunkering of 1100 tonnes of biofuel is the first biofuel bunkering by NORDEN on chartered vessels, marking an important milestone in our commitment to offer greener shipping solutions to our customers. Henrik Røjel, Head of Decarbonisation & Climate Solutions at NORDEN, said: “At NORDEN, we consider biofuel a key transition fuel on our journey to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and ...

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. and Rio Tinto, a leading mining and metals company, signed the Designated Owners & Operators (DOO) programme, a Rio Tinto initiative targeted to enhance safety and improve crew welfare in the dry bulk industry. As a foundational member of the DOO programme, MOL had been closely involved in a series of meetings with Rio Tinto in the conceptualisation and design of the programme, leading to MOL’s eventual membership, as one of five initial members, in January 2023. By drawing on existing industry best practices, the DOO ...

Cognite, a global leader in industrial software, in a joint effort with Aker BP, today announced it has successfully achieved DNV-RP-A204 compliance. DNV, the world’s leading classification society and independent expert in assurance and risk management, developed DNV-RP-A204 as a quality-assurance benchmark for the energy industry’s varying approaches to building and operating digital twins. The compliance pertains to Cognite’s core product, Cognite Data Fusion®, an Industrial DataOps platform that combines disparate data source and information to host, structure, integrate, and contextualize data for a digital twin solutions The assessment scope ...

Vessel Documentation Online, a site that provides online access to applications for boat documentation renewal among other services, strongly condemns shipping vessels flying false flags. This practice is illegal and unsafe. According to “Foreign Policy” magazine, in the article titled “Ships Are Flying False Flags to Dodge Sanctions,” there has been recent activity of “mysterious tankers sailing under the flags of unwilling or inattentive flag-of-convenience states are transporting enormous quantities of sanctioned crude (oil),” which “breaks down the already fragile system of ship registration – and is also making shipping ...

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, fell to its lowest level in nearly three weeks on Tuesday, weighed down by dwindling demand across all vessel segments. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, fell 54 points, or about 3.7%, to 1,402, its lowest since March 9. “The markets may be hit by a curveball, with the potential threat of a cut in China’s steel production looming,” shipbroker Allied wrote in a weekly report, adding ...

DNV has enhanced its Alternative Fuels Insight (AFI) data platform as part of an effort to accelerate the decarbonization of shipping. The upgrade includes the addition of new fuel types, improved fuel price monitoring supported by Argus, and a crowdsourcing feature to gain input from its users. Our recent upgrade of the AFI platform is intended to promote cross-industry collaboration and provide greater visibility on alternative fuel uptake. Our aim is to facilitate business decision-making that will support our customers and the industry on the journey towards zero-carbon shipping,” says ...

The UP World LNG Shipping Index (UPI), the world’s only stock index focused on LNG shipping companies, gained 1.41% last week. U.S. stocks represented by the S&P 500 (SPX) index gained 1.39%. Growth could have been better, but the palette of movement of individual companies was quite varied. Two companies reached over five percent, but most were still around a positive zero with gains of 0.x%. Specifically, the UPI growth contributed to Capital Product Partners (NYSE: CPLP) and Flex LNG (NYSE / OSE: FLNG). The first increased the stock price ...

In 2021, PALFINGER MARINE was commissioned with the fabrication and maintenance (F&M) of one of the world’s largest oil fields, the Al-Shaheen in Qatar. The contract has recently been extended for two more years and will further expand the company’s market presence in the Arab economic area. Salzburg, Austria on March 28, 2023 More than 100 million barrels of crude oil per year, 33 platforms, and 20 pipelines make Al-Shaheen on the north coast of Qatar one of the largest and highest yield oil fields in the world. The field, ...

Refining margins for high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) rose to nine-month highs as of Tuesday, supported by expectations of potentially less exports from Russia, as well as firmer seasonal demand for power generation. The front-month 380-cst HSFO crack climbed to a discount of $12.82 a barrel at the Asia close (0830 GMT). Russia is expected to lower exports of HSFO as refinery maintenances reduce supplies, while the Middle East is expected to send out less HSFO in the coming months as domestic demand for power generation firms. High-sulphur vacuum gasoil ...

The Lithium-ion Batteries in Containers Guidelines seek to prevent the increasing risks that the transport of lithium-ion batteries by sea creates, providing suggestions for identifying such risks and thereby helping to ensure a safer supply chain in the future. Together with its partners, the Cargo Incident Notification System Network (CINS) has compiled a comprehensive publication covering the properties of these batteries and their potential to explode, initiate fires and emit toxic gases. Extensive measures to safely transport what is an exponentially increasing volume of lithium-ion batteries, in their various states ...