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Gianluigi Aponte’s Italian holding company Marinvest and Messina Group have formally signed an agreement which makes MSC the new owner of four ships and a minority stake in the Genoa-based shipping company. Aponte will invest €25m ($28.5m) for a 49% stake in the Ignazio Messina & C. group and a 52% stake in a new vehicle controlling four of Messina’s eight modern conro ships. The vessels are set to be 52% controlled by MSC are Jolly Diamante, Jolly Perla, Jolly Titanio and Jolly Cobalto.

Approval has been given to provide Northern Isles ferry operator Serco NorthLink Ferries’ Scrabster-Stromness ferry HAMNAVOE with ‘cold ironing’ whilst alongside in the port of Stromness in the Orkney islands.

Less than one month after Carnival Cruise Line announced it was pulling its ships out of Antigua’s cruise port, officials have reached an agreement that will bring Carnival ships back to the island on new terms. "The Government of Antigua and Barbuda representatives, having had further dialogue with executives from Carnival Corporation, fully understand and acknowledge the misunderstandings of the past," reads a statement issued by the Consulate General of Antigua and Barbuda on Monday. "Both parties expressed their desire to maintain the relationship that has been in place for the last 30 years." Under the agreement with Global Ports Holding, a ports development company, the cruise facilities at St. John’s, Antigua, would be updated and expanded in coming years to accommodate four mega cruise vessels, homeporting operations and improved shopping experiences within the terminal.

Last week, the Gothenburg Port Authority launched a digital solution designed to make bunkering at the Energy Port easier and more efficient. The new ‘Bunkering App’ is one of the first in the world to offer this range of functionality. The Port of Gothenburg Energy Port is the largest open access energy port in the Nordic region, handling over 2,500 calls and more than 23 million tonnes of energy products each year. The Energy Port is also one of the world’s larger bunkering hubs. In an effort to make the bunkering procedures easier and more efficient, the Gothenburg Port Authority has developed the new ‘Bunkering App’.

Gianluigi Aponte’s Italian holding company Marinvest and Messina Group have formally signed an agreement which makes MSC the new owner of four ships and a minority stake in the Genoa-based shipping company. Aponte will invest €25m ($28.5m) for a 49% stake in the Ignazio Messina & C. group and a 52% stake in a new vehicle controlling four of Messina’s eight modern conro ships. The vessels are set to be 52% controlled by MSC are Jolly Diamante, Jolly Perla, Jolly Titanio and Jolly Cobalto.

Exactly 12 months after she was scheduled to be delivered to the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration’s (Vegagerdin), the compact ferry HERJÓLFUR left Poland’s Crist shipyard in Gdynia on 9 June, bound for Vestmannaeyjar.

Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. said it added four reach stackers to ensure efficient port operations and optimize container yard space of the Subic port terminal. The installation of reach stackers is part of the terminal operator’s initiative to further enhance its capacity in handling unladen containers from the surge of imports, after being assigned as an empty evacuation center last year. “Our investments in global standard port equipment and systems help in maintaining robust operations in NCT 1 & 2 to meet the needs and demands of our partners,” SBITC.

April 8 (Reuters) – Ships were moving inbound and outbound on Monday morning through an area of the Houston Ship Channel that had been contaminated by a March chemical spill, the U.S. Coast Guard said, further loosening restrictions on the waterway. A total of 49 ships – 28 inbound, 21 outbound – were waiting to transit the 53-mile (85-km) waterway between the busiest U.S. petrochemical port and the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, the Coast Guard said. Monday’s queue of ships is about normal for the channel, but a third of the backlog that built up within days following a March 22 spill of chemicals when a dam failed at Mitsui & Co Intercontinental Terminals Deer Park, Texas, facility, where a massive March 17-20 blaze consumed 11 giant storage tanks.

Tallink will start taking passengers and their cars on its Muuga (Estonia)-Vuosaari (Finland) route from 12 June on the previously freight-only SEA WIND.

Godby Shipping has time-chartered its ro-ro MIMER to French containership operator CMA CGM until December 2021 for the company’s twice monthly inter-Caribbean service.

Bintulu Port Holdings Bhd (BPHB) plans capacity expansion of its Bintulu International Container Terminal (BICT) to cope with rising demand as it has recorded double-digit growth in container throughput for three consecutive years. A feasibility study on the BICT’s expansion is currently under way and the plan will involve infrastructure development and procuring container handling equipment. The BICT handled 349,792 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) last year, representing 13.1% growth over 2017 and the the highest ever volume, according to BPHB group chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Medan Abdullah.

Arriva Danmark has ordered two additional passenger ferries from Damen Shipyards Group, extending its original order for five passenger ferries to cover seven vessels so it can provide longer ferry routes in Copenhagen, Denmark. In July 2018, Arriva contracted Damen to deliver five fully electric Damen 2306 E3 vessels for cover passenger routes in the central area of Copenhagen. Since then, Danish public transport agency Movia has extended the intended routes of its ferry service to the port area by roughly 50%. The two new will also be designed in line with Damen’s E-Cross range of electric vessels, which are more efficient and economically viable than traditionally powered ferries. These vessels will also produce zero emissions, provide enhanced manoeuvrability and will have low maintenance requirements.