Tonga News

When I recently read about OceanXplorers, Disney Plus' new series about heroic scientists researching the world of the deep, I was excited—not least for my kids—and quietly dismayed. Our society needs to do for the ocean what Carl Sagan and Neil DeGrasse Tyson did for outer space: familiarise ourselves, get excited, engage and connect. That said, NASA's funding is $22.6 billion, and NOAA received roughly one-quarter of that at $5.4 billion. A decent amount of people reading thi...

With COP26 just around the corner and a year on from the announcement of the UK Government’s 10 Point Plan, the need to become more carbon neutral is as prominent as ever and is now underway in numerous industries across the world. Frequent severe weather events It’s no secret that the weather is changing, with severe conditions happening more frequently and at pace, with soaring temperatures, storms, flooding and even volcanic eruptions all making headlines on a regular basis. Ho...

Danfoss China has signed a cooperation agreement with renowned Chinese shipyard, Zhenjiang Shipyard, to quicken the rate of electrification in the Chinese marine industry. The agreement between Danfoss China and Zhenjiang Shipyard is directly aligned with China’s strategy to boost green shipping and will see the two companies partner, in order to further enhance Zhenjiang Shipyard’s hybrid tugboats, the star vessel of the business’ portfolio. Partnership with Zhenjiang Shipya...

The municipality of Aveiro will integrate its first fully electric ferry into its public transportation system in 2022, which will be powered by Danfoss’ Editron division’s electric propulsion system. The vessel will replace the existing diesel-powered ferry operating between Forte da Barra, in Ilhavo, and São Jacinto, in Aveiro. The new electric ferry forms part of the country’s effort to accelerate the transition to emission-free public transport solutions. Increased...

IOTICS is creating a digital twin of Portsmouth International Port as part of an ambitious 1.5m project to demonstrate an achievable modular green hydrogen generation system within the Port. The Shipping, Hydrogen & Port Ecosystems UK (SHAPE UK) project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. Portsmouth International Port is the UK's largest and most successful municipal port, operated by...

Two pioneers in marine electrification, Volvo Penta, and Danfoss’ Editron division, have worked together to power two of the UK’s first fully integrated hybrid electric crew transfer vessels (CTVs). The vessels have been in operation at an offshore wind farm for a month and are already making a positive environmental impact. A recent announcement from COP26 was the promise of £160 million in new funding to support the building of floating offshore wind farms in Scotland a...

Ports around the UK continuously command media attention, and most recently, the ongoing disruption to supply chains globally has had a great impact on the day-to-day running of our ports. One example is Felixstowe, the UK’s largest container port, which has been forced to turn away ships from Asia because of a lack of capacity. The severe lack of HGV drivers is adding to the problem too. It has been reported that the amount of time goods spend inside Felixstowe port, known in the indust...

Two globally renowned companies in marine electrification, Volvo Penta and Danfoss’ Editron division, have worked together to power two of the United Kingdom’s first fully integrated hybrid electric crew transfer vessels (CTVs). The two fully integrated hybrid electric crew transfer vessels (CTVs) have been in operation at an offshore wind farm, for a month and are already making a positive environmental impact. Hybrid electric crew transfer vessels A recent announcement from COP2...

Vessul, the most advanced crew travel management tech for marine and energy, has partnered with Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE), a charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health for everyone, forever. “Vessul’s connection to the ocean and all it provides runs deep, which is why our partnership with BLUE is so incredibly important to us as a company,” said Vessul COO Neil Ruth. Generating revenue “As a corporate partner of BLUE, Vessul is committed to suppor...

Urban areas account for over 70 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions, with heating and cooling representing the largest share of energy consumption, so delivering sustainable and affordable heating and cooling to cities is a priority in the fight against climate change. ABB will deploy its complete electrical, instrumentation, and control (EIC) package, motors and variable speed drives for the powerhouse of the heat pump, which will be the world’s largest seawater heat pum...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...