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DAILY COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS 2014 – 294 Number 294 *** COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS *** Tuesday 21-10-2014 News reports received from readers and Internet News articles copied from various news sites. The Damen Shipyard Group built Workships operated OFFSHORE WIELINGEN operating off the Dutch coast Photo : FLYING FOCUS luchtfotografie www.flyingfocus.nl Distribution : daily to 31300+ active addresses 21-10-2014 Page 1 DAILY COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS 2014 – 294 Your feedback is important to me so please drop me an email if you have any photos or articles that may be of interest to the maritime interested people at sea and ashore PLEASE SEND ALL PHOTOS / ARTICLES TO : [email protected] If you don't like to receive this bulletin anymore : To unsubscribe click here (English version) or visit the subscription page on our website. http://www.maasmondmaritime.com/uitschrijven.aspx?lan=en-US EVENTS, INCIDENTS & OPERATIONS The 36.7 mtr long 2013 built Hong Kong flagged 498 GRT tug HAI HOI passing The Ma Wan Channel off Hong Kong photo : Piet Sinke © CLICK on the photo ! Lithuania's first LNG terminal ends Russian grip on Baltics As much of Europe anxiously awaits a Ukraine-Russia deal to avert the risk of winter gas cuts, Lithuania is breathing a sigh of relief as its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal will sever Moscow's grip on gas deliveries to the Baltic states.Aptly dubbed Independence, the massive floating LNG facility measuring three football fields in length is due to dock in the port of Klaipeda on Oct 27. Its arrival comes just as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Europe faces "major transit risks" to gas supplies coming from Russia this winter unless Ukraine resolves a gas dispute with Moscow.The terminal gives Lithuania the capability to import up to four billion cubic metres of gas per year from sources like Norway's Statoil - well above the 2.7 billion cubic metres it bought from Russia last year. That leaves Distribution : daily to 31300+ active addresses 21-10-2014 Page 2 DAILY COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS 2014 – 294 plenty of extra capacity for its Baltic neighbours Latvia or Estonia, analysts note. Despite joining the EU and NATO in 2004, Lithuania has been completely dependent upon Russia for natural gas, a legacy of five decades of Soviet domination that wound down in 1990. The nation of three million will initially import 0.54 billion cubic metres of gas from Statoil in 2015, covering about one-fifth of its demand. Tensions have been running high between Vilnius and Moscow for years over gas, as Lithuania believes that state- controlled Gazprom has abused its monopoly position and driven up the price. Gazprom's prices are confidential, but Energy Minister Rokas Masiulis told AFP that "Lithuania has paid the highest prices for natural gas in the EU in recent years". Vilnius has not taken the situation lying down. In addition to arranging for the LNG terminal, it has asked the EU to conduct an anti-trust probe against Gazprom and launched an international arbitration procedure, with decisions expected within the coming year. Gazprom's contract with Lithuania expires at the end of 2015. While Gazprom is likely to remain a key supplier, Vilnius insists competition will improve pricing and energy security, and so curb Moscow's political leverage in the region.We're "looking forward to important negotiations with LNG suppliers and Gazprom," said Masiulis, adding that "in a worst-case scenario, we could buy all our gas via the terminal". As the arrival date neared for the new LNG facility, which Lithuania is leasing for a decade, Gazprom already agreed to a price cut of around 20 per cent. Gazprom has always denied monopoly practises in Lithuania and warned that shipped-in LNG will not come cheap. "If Lithuanian consumers are willing to pay more to reduce their dependence, it's their business," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told AFP in Moscow.Lithuania's state-owned Litgas LNG agency says Statoil's LNG prices will depend on market factors. The floating 294m terminal owned by Norway's Hoegh LNG will also buoy tiny Lithuania's political leverage towards its Soviet-era master Russia at a time when Moscow's meddling in eastern Ukraine has sent geopolitical jitters in the Baltic states through the roof."Dismantling Russia's monopoly deprives it of yet another tool of political influence over Lithuania," Marius Laurinavicius, an analyst at the Eastern Europe Studies Center, a Vilnius- based think tank, told AFP. Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius recently told US Vice President Joe Biden the terminal meant "de facto energy independence" and finally integrated the "Baltic States into the internal market of the continental EU."Fellow Baltic states Estonia and Latvia, also EU and NATO members dependent on Russian gas, say they could also use the terminal to seek out alternative suppliers. Latvia has the capacity to stockpile more than a year's supply of gas, while Estonia is almost self-sufficient with shale oil.The Baltic states and Finland are also in talks with Brussels over a separate EU-funded LNG terminal in the Gulf of Finland. Unlike Poland, Slovakia, Austria or Hungary, the Baltic trio have not seen any dip in deliveries from Gazprom this autumn. Russia cut off Ukraine in mid- June after a pro-Western government took power, accusing Kiev of not paying its gas bills. The EU, which gets over a quarter of its gas from Russia, is seeking a deal to ensure that Russian gas will flow uninterrupted to European homes via Ukraine this winter. As Russia must pump gas to its Kalinigrad exclave via Lithuania, it is unlikely to suffer cuts. Source : AFP/Channel news Asia The HAN JI 2 (ex MAERSK FLETCHER) made a bunker stop in Rotterdam-Caland canal – Photo : Leen van der Meijden © ALSO INTERESTED IN THIS FREE MARITIME NEWSCLIPPINGS ? CLICK HERE AND REGISTER FOR FREE ! Distribution : daily to 31300+ active addresses 21-10-2014 Page 3 DAILY COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS 2014 – 294 Fugro’s latest fleet addition the FUGRO PIONEER arrived in Scheveningen Photo : Dick Overduin © Search for crippled Russian submarine The Swedish military says it is searching for a foreign ship in the waters off Stockholm. the Swedish military says it is searching for a foreign ship in the waters off Stockholm The Swedish military says it is searching for a foreign ship in the waters off Stockholm using helicopters and boats.A Swedish military spokesman said the search for a "foreign underwater operation" began on Friday and was being conducted in the islands off Sweden's coast. The spokesman would neither confirm nor deny that the search is for a crippled Russian submarine.The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported that the military had intercepted an emergency call in Russian meant for a base in Russia's Baltic Sea port Kaliningrad. Source : The West Australian The largest ever ship on the Thames arrived last Sunday Distribution : daily to 31300+ active addresses 21-10-2014 Page 4 DAILY COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS 2014 – 294 The largest ship ever to enter the Thames arrived at DP World London Gateway last weekend, The EDITH MAERSK arrived in the early hours of Sunday morning, October 19. The 397-metre-long, 56-metre-wide EDITH MAERSK has a draught of 16 metres and can carry up to 15,500 standard containers.Source: DP World London Gateway The BOS FARHANA in Port Kelang – Photo : Capt. Jelle de Vries – Sunshine Offshore Services © Gondan Shipyard delivers the vessel Stril Luna, designed with FORAN FORAN has been the shipbuilding CAD/CAM System in the design and production of the vessel STRIL LUNA, built by Astilleros Gondán and delivered to the norwegian shipowner Simon Møkster Shipping. STRIL LUNA, an advanced offshore platform supply vessel (PSV), will navigate in northern waters of the North Sea, charter operated by the oil company Statoil, which belongs to the Norwegian state.With the basic design developed by Rolls Royce Marine, named as project UT 776 WP, the vessel has a length of 91.7 m, a beam of 20 m and it is prepared with the most innovative technology for navigating in extreme conditions. It is worth to mention its advanced capability with a fully integrated bridge, equipped with touch screams. STRIL LUNA is the second unit delivered by Gondan to the Norwegian shipowner, who received the STRIL MERKUR from the shipyard in 2011, a 97 m length vessel currently operating (rescue, salvage, cargo, …) in offshore platforms in the North Sea by Statoil too.“FORAN is a totally integrated System fully customized to the production facilities in Gondan, so the vessel has been done successfully”, add Javier Llaneza, Technical Office Manager, after the delivery. FORAN, developed by SENER, is a shipbuilding-oriented CAD/CAM System used in shipyards and design offices over the world. One of them is Gondan, a shipyard at the forefront in shipbuilding.Source : SENER Distribution : daily to 31300+ active addresses 21-10-2014 Page 5 DAILY COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS 2014 – 294 The ST LOUIS EXPRESS inbound at the Westerschelde bound for Antwerp – Photo : Henk de Winde © GeoSea acquires HOCHTIEF Offshore Assets HOCHTIEF is selling offshore assets to marine contractor and long-term partner GeoSea DEME’s marine engineering specialist GeoSea acquires offshore assets of HOCHTIEF, one of Germany’s leading international construction groups. GeoSea has had decades of success in marine engineering and is now acquiring full ownership of the heavy-lift jack-up vessel ‘Innovation’, one of the largest jack-up vessels in the marine construction industry.