The two Castle class OPVs sold to Bangladesh have completed their multi-million pound refits at A&P’s Hebburn shipyard. The ships, renamed BNS Dhaleshwari (F36) and BNS Bijoy (F35), were formally handed over on 24 September. The Bangladeshi Navy classify them…
The way is finally clear for the ferry pontoon at Gosport to be replaced by a new construction in 2011. Gosport Borough Council have made a loan to Gosport Ferry Ltd to cover construction and installation costs, with repayment over…
Australia’s A$8 billion project to build new air warfare destroyers has encountered a major setback. According to press reports, the Melbourne shipyard building modules for the new ships has ‘botched’ the construction of the first central keel block, making it…
The Sandbanks-to-Studland link across the entrance to Poole Harbour, operated by the quaintly-named Bournemouth-Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company, was suspended during November while the chain ferry Bramble Bush Bay is at Southampton for bi-annual dry docking. Built at Hessle,…
The first major surface combatant to be designed and built in Russia since the demise of the Soviet Union was floated out at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St Petersburg on 29 October. The future RFS Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza…
LD Lines began promoting the new Portsmouth-Le Havre ferry Norman Leader more than six months ahead of a planned 28 April route debut. Costing £78 million and nearing completion at the ST Marine yard in Singapore, Norman Leader will carry…
Despite the anticipation of tough Treasury sanctions on defence spending, the outcome of the UK’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) has been met with widespread consternation. Many consider the prospect of building a large aircraft carrier that will never…
The Capacity of Cap Finistere will be increased to 1,000 passengers before the one-time Superfast vessel opens Brittany Ferries’ new twice-weekly Portsmouth-Bilbao service in March. The present 842 beds will be boosted by the creation of 26 new two-berth inside…
The new bulk carrier Crystalgate (16,950gt) made her maiden call at Leith on 15 November 2010. She is managed by Zodiac Maritime Agencies and owned by Apersal Shipping Ltd, part of the Ofer Brothers Group. The Group, through IsraelCorp, owns…
Royal Caribbean took delivery of the 5,400-passenger Allure of the Seas at the STX Europe shipyard in Turku, Finland on 28 October 2010, two years after construction began on the second of the two largest cruise ships in the world.…