Stena Line, Swedish ferry company, plans to place 4 new RoRo passenger vessels (RoPax) on the Irish Sea routes to Belfast. New ships will be built by China’s AVIC shipyard. 

Since the routes to and from Belfast are strategically very important for the ferry company, during last years Stena Line made significant investments​ in ports and ships to develop their capacity. As per Stena Line CEO,  ​Niclas Mårtensson,  ​there is a stable raise in freight volumes. In 2016 the company reached a record handling more than 500 000 freight units through Belfast port.  

​The RoPax ships were ordered in April 2016 and will be delivered in 2019 and 2020. ​New vessels will be the larges ferries ever on the route between Great Britain and Belfast. 

New Ships for Maersk Tankers

Maersk Tankers has confirmed an order for the construction of ten LR2 product tanker vessels at China’s Dalian Shipyard. The new tankers will be delivered over a period of three years, starting in 2019. 

According to Maersk Group,“The newbuilding contract is part of a fleet renewal to sustain a competitive fleet and strong market position in the LR2 segment.” Maersk Tankers said that its year-on-year profit saw a decline from USD 160 million to USD 62 million and thus the deal has a “a unique contractual structure" which takes into account these weaker results.

The declining rates were partly offset by improved commercial performance, contract coverage and cost savings, the company stated in its annual financial report. The earnings decreased by 17%, however that was less than the overall market decline. A total of 11 mid-range (MR) product tankers are set to be delivered through the year 2018.

Greek shipping company Diana Containerships has conducted an agreement with Hapag-Lloyd about ​time charter for one of its 6 Post-Panamax vessels. 5,576 TEU boxship M/V March will work for German shipping giant for the next 9 - 14 months starting from Feb 23. It's expected to earn around USD 2 million during the charter period for Diana Containerships', which, as a reminder, has a fleet of 12 containerships. 

Port Closure

The ports in NY,NJ, and MA will be closed for receiving cargo today due to an incoming snow storm.

We value your patience and understanding during this delay. 
 

Pilbara Port of Australia reached 52 million tons of a total throughput in January 2017, it is 12 % more than the same month in 2016.

A​s per the port authority, they had a growth in cargo volumes regardless operations of Dampier and Hedland ports were suspended due to a tropical low. 

​The Hedland port had 19 %  increase with a monthly throughput of 40.5 million tons. ​The Port of Dampier handled 11,8 million tons last month,  7 % decreasecompering with the previous year. Import raised up to 115 000 tons, which is 53 $ from the last year.