Dubai Customs completed 5 million transactions in Q1 this year, according to latest figures. This is equivalent to double the number of transactions in the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, and 20% more than Q1 2020, in which 4 million transactions were completed.
The VOC Amsterdam has returned to the Scheepvaartmuseum (National Maritime Museum) in the Dutch capital after a scope of work undertaken at Damen’s yards. The iconic replica of an 18th century Dutch East India vessel visited Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam (DSAm) and Damen Shiprepair Oranjewerf for a ten-year maintenance project.
The Berth Seven strengthening and dredging works at the Trinity Terminal of the Port of Felixstowe, a member of the Hutchison Ports network, have now been completed.
Construction is proceeding on the next generation of cruise ships. Over the weekend, the hull of the new expedition cruise ship, the Seabourn Venture, completed a more than 1,200-mile voyage between two shipyards. The completed hull will now be fitted out preparing for the cruise ship’s entry into service in December 2021.
The efforts to pressure the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to move forward with the restoration of cruises sailing from U.S. ports continued with three U.S. senators today introducing a bill to require the CDC to restore cruising by July 4. The senators from Florida and Alaska followed a move last week by the state of Florida to sue the U.S. government to restore cruising and a letter-writing campaign launched by the cruise industry. Alaska’s governor said his state might follow Florida in a lawsuit to ease the restrictions on cruising.
In another example of the use of carbon offsets to achieve carbon neutrality, Pavilion Energy Singapore reported that it has imported Singapore’s first carbon-neutral LNG cargo. A subsidiary of the Singapore government’s Temasek investment company, Pavilion is a global energy company trading LNG and developing the LNG bunkering business for the maritime industry.
