United Kingdom (UK) News

Satcom Direct (SD), the business aviation solutions provider, has inked a preferred supplier agreement with Slovenia-headquartered aviation services company - Elit’Avia. Voice, data, connectivity, and flight deck communication functionality, along with customer support and training, is now enabling Elit’Avia to optimise the full range of SD connectivity services for its mixed fleet.  Demonstrating the value of the SD Xperience portfolio, which enables customisation of bundled p...

MetOcean Telematics is pleased to announce we will be exhibiting at Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle, WA, from November 18-20, 2021.  Pacific Marine Expo is the largest commercial marine trade show on the West Coast, serving commercial mariners from Alaska to California.  Pacific Marine Expo 2021 MetOcean Telematics is looking forward to connecting with attendees and showcasing the latest MetOcean systems and Iridium products and technology. Visit the MetOcean Telematics team at booth...

Ocean carriers remain in pole position in negotiations for long-term freight contracts, with high demand, port congestion, and supply chain disruption driving further rate increases. The rise in freight rates  According to the Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI®) Public Indices, long-term rates recorded their tenth consecutive month-on-month rise in October, climbing by 2.2%. The indices stand at a colossal 93.1% up year-on-year, with little hope of relief on the horizon for embattled shipper...

The Seafarers’ Charity - a provider of grants and support to the maritime community - has received funding for a pilot project to develop safety management onboard fishing vessels to the standard of the Fishing Safety Management Code. The new service is called Fishing First Safety Management by SafetyFolder and aims to improve safety in the UK fishing fleet and, at the same time, increase supply chain transparency. Auditable safety standard The Seafarers’ Charity’s Chief Exe...

Swedish freight technology company Einride and GE Appliances, a Haier company announced a partnership for the implementation of electric and autonomous transport at scale. It will be the first time in history an autonomous and electric truck is live and operating on U.S. soil. The partnership will represent Einride’s first installation with its renowned Pods in the U.S., which will operate on GE Appliances’ 750-acre Appliance Park campus in Louisville, Kentucky. The new fleet s...

DC Global Freight Management has chartered vessels directly from China to the UK, while the majority of shipping service operators will stop at several ports along the route to load and unload cargo. Many also stop in Rotterdam and Antwerp on the way and move containers to the UK with smaller vessels. Direct Freight Shipping Service There have been global issues around ports being overly congested due to the pandemic, a national shortage of lorry drivers, soaring consumer appetite for good...

The Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) will be held in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, in June 2023, where tech innovators will participate to seek marine safety and security solutions to take home more than US$3 million in prize money. Organised by ASPIRE, the dedicated technology program management pillar of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), the overarching advanced technology research body in Abu Dhabi, UAE, the MBZI...

SAFE Boats International has been awarded an $89,717,984 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract for design, construction, outfitting, reactivation, and training for six Mk VI Patrol Boats with an option for two additional vessels. Increased workforce This contract will provide Mk VI Patrol Boats to Ukraine via a US State Department-approved agreement utilising Building Partner Capacity (BPC) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funds. Work will be performed in Washin...

Inmarsat, the globally renowned company in mobile satellite communications, has confirmed that its strategic partner, BSNL has received the necessary licences to deliver Inmarsat’s widely popular Global Xpress (GX) mobile broadband services in India. IFMC licence Under BSNL’s Inflight and Maritime Connectivity (IFMC) licence from the Department of Telecommunications, GX will be available to Indian customers across government, aviation and maritime. The announcement means t...

As part of the UK’s upcoming Carrier Strike Group tour, Rolls-Royce is all set to showcase to Indian Navy customers its capabilities to design, build and deliver customised power and propulsion solutions for India’s naval modernisation requirements. The company also expressed its keenness to explore opportunities for partnering the Navy with end-to-end solutions for the electrification of India’s future warships. Developing electric warships Speaking about the upcoming t...

Neste and Ravago aim to establish a joint venture to build an industrial facility for chemical recycling in North Sea Port in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. The facility is intended to be the starting point of joint global chemical recycling (often also called “advanced recycling”) activities, built upon the advancement of the thermochemical liquefaction technology of US-based Alterra Energy, an innovative chemical recycling technology company. With this, Neste, the producer of r...

MAN Energy Solutions has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mitsui E&S Machinery Co., Ltd. (MES-M) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) regarding the low-speed, ammonia-fueled main engine that MAN Energy Solutions is currently developing.   The MoU provides for keeping MOL and MES-M updated on MAN Energy Solutions’ progress in this regard, with the ultimate intention of creating the basis for a more detailed LoI (Letter of Intent) leading to an actual purchasing contract f...

The OceanGate Expeditions 2021 Titanic Survey Expedition was connected by Inmarsat’s critical satellite communications. Inmarsat, the global front-runner in mobile satellite communications, kept the OceanGate Expeditions crew connected with team members and support services during the six-week expedition to document the important maritime heritage site located over 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic Ocean. Satisfactory customer service “The OceanGate Exp...

Neste, the provider of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel as well as a forerunner in renewable and circular solutions for the polymers and chemicals industry, further accelerates the implementation of its growth strategy by establishing an R&D centre in Singapore. With this investment, Neste aims to increase its R&D and innovation capabilities globally, and drive collaboration with partners in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in Singapore. Production capacity “Nes...

Neste and Hesburger, a Finnish restaurant chain, will engage in significant circular economy collaboration. Used cooking oil from more than 300 Hesburger restaurants in Finland and in the Baltics will be recycled to produce renewable diesel. As a result of the collaboration, Hesburger will begin using Neste MY Renewable Diesel™ in the majority of its transport vehicles in Finland, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions in these transports by up to 90% compared to fossil diesel use. Produc...

A.P. Moller - Maersk has announced the signing of a global end-to-end logistics agreement with Danish Crown from 2021. The three-year end-to-end agreement covers all Danish Crown’s business units, delivering solutions on ocean services, inland logistics and cold chain logistics.   Access to the digital supply chain platform, Tradelens, which is underpinned by blockchain technology, is also a core part of the agreement between A.P. Moller - Maersk and Danish Crown. A.P. Moller - M...

Rolls-Royce is further developing its mtu gas engine portfolio for power generation and cogeneration to run on hydrogen as a fuel and thus enable a climate-neutral energy supply. Already today, gensets powered by mtu Series 500 and Series 4000 gas engines can be operated with a gas blending of 10 percent hydrogen. Beginning in 2022, an operation with a hydrogen content of 25 percent will be possible. “After intensive tests on test benches and pilot installations at customers in 2022, Roll...

Inmarsat, the pioneer in global, mobile satellite communications, announces that Ben Palmer OBE will be joining the company as President of its Maritime Business Unit on 8 November 2021. Most recently head of Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems division across Europe, Ben brings 25 years’ experience of driving transformational change in technology-heavy industries, including maritime, with a strong customer-centric focus and a track record of delivering results. Maritime sat...

Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm of A.P. Moller - Maersk, invests in Vertoro – a Dutch start-up focused on developing liquid lignin technology which can be used as a marine fuel.   Maersk’s investment will be used to further develop and commercialise Vertoro’s patented liquid lignin technology, and it will enable Vertoro to build a demo plant, which will become operational in 2022. The output of this plant will be used to develop marine fuels in partnership wit...

Neste recently conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) study on the environmental impacts of the usage of its 100% renewable feedstock, Neste RE™.  It shows a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of more than 85% over the life cycle when Neste RE was used to replace conventional fossil feedstock in the chemical and polymers industry. The study thereby confirms the results from earlier studies on Neste’s feedstock for the polymers industry. LCA Study follows a 'cradle-to-gat...

As the travel industry continues to bounce back, the Swedish travel technology firm Sembo has just secured a $12m (approx €10.3m/104mSEK) investment from its parent company Stena Line. Sembo is now embarking on an ambitious expansion plan. The funds are to be used to support the recruitment of some of the sharpest software developers available in order to speed up the first phase of the company´s international expansion. With the vast majority of travelers now planning and booking th...

Following in the footsteps of A.P. Moller - Maersk’s Ocean ECO Delivery product launched in 2019, Maersk Japan will be launching a pilot to offer customers sustainable drayage in Japan. It will utilise renewable diesel to provide immediate carbon emission reductions. This will be the first permanently fixed green solution for container drayage in Japan and promises to reduce carbon emissions for container drayage operations by up to 80% based on lifecycle analysis. Ground-breaking seri...

Maersk is donating the services of its Special Project Logistics (SPL) unit and charging a symbolic nominal freight cost of $1 per 40’ container for urgently needed medical supplies to be distributed to medical facilities in India in response to COVID-19 related shortages. "Several donors and organisations had donated supplies worth millions of dollars; however, they all were struggling with the shipment process disrupted by Covid. We thank Maersk and the Government of India profusely f...

CMA CGM informs its customers that its AMERIGO service (connecting West Med to the US East Coast) will temporarily stop calling Savannah due to severe congestion in this port (8-10 days) and in order to protect schedule integrity & weekly sailing frequency. Impacting first sailing A new call at Charleston will be inserted in the rotation and Savannah shipments will be directed to Charleston. The first sailing impact will be m/v CMA CGM LA TRAVIATA voy. 0MR9TW1MA, ETA Algeciras on October 3...

Inmarsat, the pioneer in global, mobile satellite communications, publishes a new report pinpointing the impact of COVID-19 in accelerating global shipping’s digital journey. Written by maritime innovation consultancy Thetius and sponsored by the Inmarsat Research Programme, ‘A Changed World: The state of digital transformation in a post-COVID-19 maritime industry’ captures a sector fast-tracking IoT-based solutions from November 2019. It characterises COVID-19 as a 'univers...

The firm’s X30 prototype is now fully assembled in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, ready for installation. Fitted with a specially adapted V29 Vestas turbine, the unique ‘downwind’ system is able to ‘weathervane’ and orientate passively with the wind to maximise energy yields. The novel tripod-like platform also features greater structural efficiency, with a lighter and more scalable design, while minimising environmental impact on the ocean. Demonstrating downwind desi...

Raloy Lubricantes, one of the top four lubricant manufacturers and main suppliers for automotive OEMs in Mexico, has selected the new mtu Series 500 generator set from the Power Systems business unit of Rolls-Royce to provide combined heat and power for its manufacturing operations in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico. The electricity will be used to power operations, while the heat from the exhaust will be used to warm up thermal oil for mixing processes. Thermal energy from jacket heat will be r...

Danfoss Editron, part of Danfoss, has been chosen by Damen Shipyards to provide the electric drivetrain system, powering the shipyard’s newest Fast Crew Supply (FCS) vessel. Known as the FCS 7011, the vessel will represent a leap forward, in terms of speed, comfort and efficiency of FCS vessels. The FCS 7011 vessel, which recently completed sea trials in Turkey, will be used by the offshore energy market, for the high-speed transit of personnel and light cargo, to and from offshore locati...

The maritime industry is not covered by the Paris climate agreement, which seeks to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. However, carbon emissions from maritime activities account for 2 to 3% of total global warming potential (GWP) worldwide, and the share is likely to increase in coming years, approaching 17% of CO2 emissions by 2050. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) is tasked...

The cruise industry has received a vital lifeline in its bid to safely set sail once again. Several pioneering Finnish businesses and organisations have developed new, innovative safety approaches for the sector to adopt, in response to new post-pandemic measures. These new initiatives and research projects are set to bring the industry back from the brink and ensure a safer and successful cruise experience for all. Undertaking health and safety measures Expectations surrounding cruises toda...