Klaveness Combination Carriers ASA took delivery of the MV Baleen from New Yangzi Shipyard in China. The MV Baleen is the fourth of in total eight contracted CLEANBU combination carriers.

The CLEANBUs are unique vessels both in terms of design, their unprecedented environmental performance, operational and technical efficiency. These vessels have up to 40% lower CO2 emissions per ton mile transported cargo compared to standard vessels, in line with IMO’s 2030 targets for shipping.

With the delivery of the MV Baleen, Klaveness Combination Carriers will operate a fleet of 13 combination carriers. KCC has fixed-price options to contract an additional four CLEANBUs for delivery in 2022.

The start of trading of MV Baleen will be delayed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and quarantine regulations impacting the mobilization of crew. She is scheduled to load her first cargo of caustic soda during 2nd half of September.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. today announced the release of the “Fleet Tour” virtual ship visit application using the Ricoh Theta, a 360-degree camera and the Theta 360.biz a virtual tour production service, both from Ricoh Company, Ltd. This is part Ⅲ of the FOCUS Project, following the “Fleet Viewer” application, which monitors vessel operation data, and “Fleet Performance” application that tracks vessel performance.

Ship management companies and operators can browse 360-degree onboard images and videos from anywhere using PCs and smart phones, and intuitively experience various places on the ship as if they were visiting in person.

MOL Ship Management Co., Ltd., an MOL Group core dry bulkship management company, has already adopted the application, in move to enhance the quality of their ship management services.

The MOL Group works to enhance safe operation by comparing fixed points in important areas such as the deck, cargo holds, and the engine room, and horizontally developing group-wide expertise and marine engineering know-how through addition of special notes on photographic images, in cooperation with MOLSHIP and other ship management companies that are familiar onboard operations and procedures.

MOL Group land-based employees have limited opportunities to visit all areas onboard giant vessels over 300m long, especially in relatively short in-person visits. This makes it hard to intuitively grasp the ship structure through drawings and conventional planar images. But the “Fleet Tour” application addresses such issues. In addition, the MOL Group expects this to be particularly effective as an ICT-based approach to vessel inspection, considering the difficulty of conducting in-person ship visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through the FOCUS project, MOL continually strives to expand the development and adoption of applications that use in-service fleet operation data, with the aim of creating applications that grow along with users’ needs. The company seeks to offer stress-free transport services with greater safety and reduced environmental impact.

MOL introduces FOCUS project part Ⅲ: virtual ship visit application ‘Fleet Tour’. Image: MOL

Castor Maritime Inc., a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels,
announces that it entered, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, into an agreement to purchase a 2010 Japan-built Panamax dry bulk carrier for a purchase price of $12.75 million from an unaffiliated third party seller.

The acquisition is expected to be consummated by taking delivery of the vessel sometime in the
end of the third quarter / beginning of the fourth quarter of this year and is subject to the
satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions.

Petros Panagiotidis, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Castor,
commented:

“We are very pleased that we have been able to utilize further our recently raised capital by
agreeing the acquisition of our fifth vessel, in a very short time since the acquisition of our
fourth. We are making swift progress on our expansion and renewal plan that we set in place
last year and are actively continuing to assess the various opportunities presented to us. Our key
goal continues to be the further expansion of our fleet and the deployment of our readily
available liquidity in the most prudent and favorable way for our shareholders.”