TUI has confirmed the sale of a 17.4% stake in container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd as it released its first quarter results. The sale to investor Albert Ballin for 475 million euros will reduce TUI's stake in the shipping business to 22%, said in the company's press release. TUI AG has reported its first quarter results are in line with what was expected despite an operating earnings" loss of 147 million euros. The German owned travel giant said it reflected the political unrest in North Africa which had been anticipated and it expects the overall Group result for the year to be positive.

China Shipping Container Line (CSCL) plans the dispose of ten 1000 teu vessels which are about 20 years old and not suitable for operation, in the second half of this year. CSCL currently operates more than 150 vessels with a total capacity of 620,000 teu. The company plans to dispose of more old self-owned vessels and return more old chartered vessels with high fuel consumption this year. In the meantime, the company will replenish the fleet with more modern vessels. It has recently ordered eight 18,400 teu vessels at Hyundai Heavy Industries. [14/05/13]

United Arab Shipping Co. is considering buying five of the world's largest container ships for around $700 million, people with direct knowledge of the deal said Friday, in a move that underlines its ambition to become a significant player in an industry already awash with excess tonnage. UASC's Triple-E mega container ships will form the basis of a new Europe to Asia service, jointly run with China Shipping Container Lines Co. (2866.HK), which earlier this week confirmed its own order for five Triple-Es, adding extra capacity on previously lucrative trade routes between Europe and Asia.

Blue Star Line Chairman Clive Palmer has announced the appointment of V.Ships Leisure as the official ship management services partner for The Blue Star Line's Titanic II project. Mr. Palmer said the appointment of V.Ships Leisure further strengthened the team that had been assembled to deliver Titanic II in 2016. Source and more at www.marinelog.com...

Wilh Wilhelmsen ASA (WW) has ordered two post-panamax car carriers from South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for deliveries in 2014 and 2015. The firm deal includes an option to build another two similar units. The vessels will have a car carrying capacity equivalent to 7,930 ceu, 200 metres long and 36.7 metres in beam width.

JAPAN's big carrier MOL and Singapore's Pacific International Lines (Pte) Ltd (PIL) recently announced they will jointly offer a new weekly Indian Ocean Island Express Service ("IOX"/"IOI") on June 7 departing Singapore. Both MOL and PIL will deploy two 1,100-TEU ships each on this route, which will call at Singapore, Port Louis, Tamatave, Reunion and back to Singapore.

Overcapacity continues to plague the shipping market, leaving owners torn between contributing to the glut of tonnage and falling behind competitors who are ordering larger and more fuel-efficient ships, Dow Jones Newswires reports. "It is a really stupid, stupid strategy to deploy more capacity," Søren Skou, chief executive for Maersk Line told a shipping conference last month. Skou has also warned that the industry could be close to a rate war unless more vessels are removed from service. Maersk Line dropped its capacity by 14 percent last year, yet the company has also ordered 20 new triple-E ships with a capacity of 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) each. More and source: shipandbunker.com...

Norwegian has announced it is building a fourth ship in the Breakaway series, subject to financing and decisions to be made later. Getaway, which will make its debut next year. Breakaway will sail full-time from New York, to Bermuda and back in the summer, then switching to the Caribbean, Florida and Bahamas in the winter. The Getaway will have more room than the Breakaway and the third ship, which for now is called Breakaway Plus, is going to be bigger that the first two. Breakaway Plus will come in at 163,000-gross tons when it arrives in October 2015.

MAY 3, 2013 — IHC Merwede has today successfully launched Subsea 7's 550 t pipelaying vessel, Seven Waves, at its shipyard in Krimpen aan den IJssel, The Netherlands. The ship will be used in the develoment of Brazilian deepwater oilfieldson behalf of Petrobras. The Seven Waves is the fifth vessel ordered by Subsea 7 from IHC Merwede's Offshore division. IHC Offshore & Marine designed the ship in close cooperation with Subsea 7. She will have an overall length of 146 m, a beam of 30 m and a Class-2 dynamic positioning system. The vessel is equipped with a vertical (tiltable) lay system -- with 550 t top tension capacity -- and twin ROVs. She is fitted with two under-deck storage carousels, with a capacity for 2,500 t and 1,500 t of product respectively. The lay tower can operate at an angle of up to 10° and is fitted with: two tensioners, each with a 275t capacity, which can both be retracted clear of the firing line, and two wire centralizers.

Seoul: Hyundai Heavy Industries of Korea has won the keenly fought contract from China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) to build five 18,000 teu containerships. CSCL is paying around $140m per ship. The ships will be the largest boxships in China when they deliver in early 2015. [Sino Ship News 03/05/13]