Measures against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea 
The Deep Blue project in Nigeria is shaping up well. On 10 June, the authorities announced a significant investment in its military and law enforcement infrastructure to protect its maritime dominance in the Gulf of Guinea. Managed by the Nigerian Maritime Safety Agency... more
Eco-friendly winds from Japan
Japan-based shipbuilder Namura Shipbuilding and operator NS United Kaiun Kaisha have entered into a partner agreement for a joint research project aimed at developing a wind-powered system. Following the International Maritime Organisation’s decarbonisation targets to reduce... more
Italo-German cooperation in bulk operations
Nova Marine Carriers, which is headquartered in Lugano, and Hamburg-based Aug. Bolten, a traditional German shipping brand, have agreed to join forces to own and manage drybulk vessels. A part of the plan is technical and crew management through Lydiamar, an affiliate of... more
Upgrading Brake Port's second berth
German port company Niedersachsen Ports is investing EUR 8.5 million in the renovation of a large ship berth. A further EUR 1.5 million will be used to restore the jetty that was damaged by the Mount Hope accident. After completion scheduled for 2023, two berths in the Brake... more
Two reasons for capacity crunch
Copenhagen-based maritime consultancy Sea-Intelligence has analysed the capacity shortages in maritime transport that are leading to record margins. As there is no global container shipping boom, the company attributes the current shortage of vessel capacity (and of empty... more
Semi-autonomous inland barge in Benelux
Ship management company Seafar and Liège-based Tercofin (Novandi Group) have developed a new technology: In a trial, the 110 m long and 11.40 m wide container ship connecting the ports of Antwerp and Liège was remotely controlled and piloted from a control tower in Antwerp by... more
Switzerland opts out of state insurance
The Swiss Federal War Transport Insurance (BKV), whose beginnings date back more than 60 years, is being discontinued. On 4 June 2021, the Swiss Federal Council decided to withdraw this state insurance offer, since the risks of international transports carried out to ensure the... more
Port of Brussels won in 2020
Despite the Covid-19 crisis, the Port of Brussels recorded a resilient performance with slightly higher volumes than in 2019. Nearly 5 million t of goods were imported into the Belgian capital, while transit traffic increased by 20%, reaching 1.7 million t. More than 6.6... more
More vessels between Thamesport and Moerdijk
The Netherlands-based transport company A2B-online Container has enhanced its service between Hutchison Ports London Thamesport and Dutch Moerdijk by adding a fourth weekly sailing. The new sailing was inaugurated by the “A2B Comfort”, one of six of the 508 teu container... more
China delivers next GG5G newbuild
Another Grimaldi GG5G-class hybrid ro-ro vessel: The “Eco Catania”, the fifth of the twelve hybrid ro-ro ships belonging to the Grimaldi Green 5th Generation (GG5G) class and ordered from the Jinling shipyard, has just been launched in Nanjing (China). As recently certified... more