Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (TEN) (NYSE:TNP) announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with a state oil company for the sale of the 2003-built aframax tankers Marathon and Parthenon for a combined price of $78m.
One vessel will be delivered to its new owner at the end of February and the other at the end of April, at the expiration of their voyage charters.

Stena Bulk has confirmed an order for two in-house designed Suezmax tankers from Samsung, South Korea for delivery in 2011.

The 158,700 dwt vessels, with a length of 274 metres and a beam of 48 metres, will be when delivered the largest tankers in Stena Bulk’s fleet. Also included are two optional sister vessels, declarable spring 2010.

Crowley took delivery of Sunshine State, a 331,000-barrel, double-hull oil and chemical tanker, from General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, Calif. for American Petroleum Tankers LLC.

 The University of Alaska Fairbanks will award a $123m contract to Marinette Marine to build a 254-ft. Alaska Region Research Vessel.
When complete, the vessel will be capable of breaking ice up to 2.5 ft. thick.

“Ocean scientists need this ice-capable vessel now, more than ever before, to study the changes occurring in arctic waters,” said Denis Wiesenburg, a co-principal investigator on the project and the dean of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

On December 11, the last newbuilding of a series of 3,400 TEU container ships entered the waters at the Emden-based TKMS Blohm + Voss Nordseewerke – a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. This technical launch took place nine months after the laying down of the first double-bottom section.

Things look to have gone wrong with the American Heavy Lift Shipping project to build three 335,000 barrel product tankers, for charter to Shell, in modules at several sites for assembly at Atlantic Marine.

China, the world's second- biggest shipbuilding nation, will face a capacity glut from 2011 after yards work through existing orders and shipping lines slow new orders, according to a government official. Insufficient demand will be a 'major problem' for as long as three years, Zhu Hongren, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's chief engineer, said yesterday at a conference in China. Global shipbuilding capacity will rise to 200 million deadweight tons annually in the next few years, while demand will struggle to reach the 156 million tonnes it averaged over the past six years, Zhu said.

China plans to announce new rules to encourage shipbuilding mergers before the end of the year to pare down growth in the industry. By 2015, China's ten biggest shipbuilders will account for more than 70% of all vessels built in the nation, rising from 53% last year, Zhu said.

China will also help shipyards access credit and encourage shipping lines to replace older vessels to help the shipbuilding industry, he said.

Source: Motor Ship

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. led a drop among shipbuilders in Seoul trading on concerns Dubai’s bid to delay debt repayment may force banks to further cut financing of new vessels. Daewoo Shipbuilding, the world’s second-largest shipyard, dropped 9.6 percent, the most in two months, to close at 14,100 won in Seoul. Larger Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. declined 8.9 percent to 148,500 won.