Covid-19 app launched for the European river cruise sector
River cruise ports in the south and west of the Netherlands, Port of Amsterdam and Must See have launched the app Port See. This app provides up-to-date insight into the accessibility of ports for river...Read more
Cruise bookings trickle in again
Cruise ships are still anchored and it looks like they will stay that way for some time to come. However, the first bookings for next year are trickling in. The Rotterdam cruise terminal expects to...Read more
New sulphur-sniffing drone checks shipping emissions in Danish waters
Over the next four months, a new drone is tested in the airspace over the Great Belt. The drone will check the sulphur content in the emissions from ships sailing on the busy shipping lane...Read more
Throughput port of Rotterdam falls sharply, but less than feared
Throughput in the port of Rotterdam decreased by 9.1 per cent in the first half of the year compared with 2019, amounting to 218.9 million tonnes. Container throughput was only 3.3 per cent down on...Read more
Shipping ever safer, but fires are cause for concern
The number of shipping disasters involving the complete loss of a ship fell to its lowest level ever last year. On the other hand, the growing number of serious fires on container ships is giving...Read more
BigLift ships three reactors from Port of Venice to Thailand
Three mega reactors manufactured by Porto Marghera based ATB Group have left the Port of Venice for Thailand on board BigLift’s heavy load carrier Happy Star. The reactors’ diameters range from 5.4 to 5.7 meters,...Read more
Drewry: charter rates won’t recover until end of 2021
Charter rates for multi-purpose ships, including break bulk and heavy lift vessels, are not expected to recover back to pre-Covid-19 levels until the end of 2021. Recovery is anticipated to take even longer if the...Read more
Dutch shipowners angry about delay in protection against pirates
Dutch shipowners are angry that entry into force of the Merchant Shipping Protection Act has been delayed. This law allows the use of private armed security on board Dutch ships to protect them from pirates....Read more
Bolidt antimicrobial decking could aid cruise industry’s return
Synthetic applications specialist Bolidt is launching an antibacterial flooring system to improve hygiene on passenger ships and support the safe return of the cruise industry. Originally designed for use in land-based applications such as hospitals...Read more
Holland America Line sells four cruise ships in 2020
Cruise ships Amsterdam, Maasdam, Rotterdam and Veendam will be leaving the Holland America Line fleet. The ships have been sold in pairs, with the S-Class Maasdam and Veendam transferring to one undisclosed company in August...Read more
‘Europe finally sees shipbuilding as vital industry’
The European Council has finally acknowledged that the European maritime industry is of vital importance to the EU. An important development according to SWZ|Maritime’s Editor-in-Chief Antoon Oosting, because it is now included in Horizon Europe,...Read more
Cruise ship Explorer Dream to set sail again after months of idling
For the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus, a cruise ship is being put into service again. The Explorer Dream, which is located in Taiwan, will make short cruises from the port of...Read more
EU heading for rigorous CO2 reduction for shipping
European shipping is likely to be subjected to much stricter CO2 requirements than hitherto agreed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the sector worldwide. The Environment Committee of the European Parliament has agreed to...Read more
Wagenborg expands RoRo service with new Baltic line
Wagenborg Shipping Sweden is expanding its RoRo liner services in the Baltic region. The company has now started a new RoRo line between Riga in Latvia and Oxelösund in Sweden. The new liner service starts with...Read more
ICS calls on Dutch government to facilitate crew changes
Despite borders opening further, some 200,000 seafarers are still trapped on their ships due to corona, with another 200,000 waiting at shore to take over from them. The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has called...Read more
Maersk introduces penalty for misdeclared out-of-gauge cargoes
Maersk is introducing a new penalty fee for the misdeclaration of out-of-gauge cargoes. The container carrier says it is experiencing too many incidents with shipments causing issues due to wrongly declared dimensions. The surcharge is...Read more
Video: The forces that caused the MSC Zoe to lose containers explained
Following the MSC Zoe disaster, the Dutch Safety Board asked research organisations Deltares and MARIN to cooperate in an investigation. The key research questions were: what could cause container losses above the Wadden Sea and...Read more
Wagenborg almost quadruples bottomline in 2019
Royal Wagenborg significantly improved its profit last year. The company’s operating result more than doubled from 27 to 71 million euros, while the net profit jumped from 13 to 44 million euros. This year, the...Read more