The Export-Import Bank of China and Taiwan’s First Commercial Bank have jointly agreed to extend shipbuilding loans to US firm Foremost Group relating to the construction of two 180,000 dwt bulk carriers in China. The two eco-friendly bulk carriers are being built at Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), according to an announcement made on China EximBank’s website. The New York branch of First Commercial Bank and the Beijin...

Greek dry bulk shipping specialist Diana Shipping managed to more than halve the annual net loss from USD 21.2 million reported in 2013, to USD 10.3m in 2014. The majority of the 2014 net loss was recorded in the fourth quarter, which the company ended USD 6.2m in the red, which was still an improvement compared to USD 9.6m net loss accumulated in the same period a year earlier. The improved results are attributed to a rise in the annual time charter revenues from USD 164m in 2013 ...

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is testing a container ship windshield that the Japanese carrier hopes will reduce wind resistance, save fuel, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 2 percent. The horseshoe-shaped windshield was installed on the bow of the MOL Marvel, a five-year-old ship that has capacity of 6,700 twenty-foot-equivalent units. The new windshield on the MOL Marvel The windshield encloses the front line of stacked containers on the ship’s bow. In addition to...

International classification society DNV GL has granted General Approval for Ship Application (GASA) to the Mark V LNG containment system designed by France’s Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT).    GTT says that the validation of the Mark V technology by DNV-GL is a major step towards its rapid commercialization following two cooperation agreements GTT signed during the first half of 2015 with South Korean shipbuilders Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries. &n...