The Greek company Metrostar Management Corporation has signed a contract with Daehan to buy 2 Aframax tankers. The tankers will be delivered in 2018, with a price of USD 86 million. The Metrostar previously purchased a very large crude carrier, which is currently under construction. The vessel will be delivered in June 2017.

The company GE Shipping has signed a contract to buy the MR Tanker. The vessel was constructed in 2008 and it will be delivered in the first part of 2018. The MR Tanker will join the fleet of 44 ships, 29 tankers and 15 carriers. It was confirmed that the company will have a fleet of 46 vessels in total.

Previously known as BW Utik, the ship was bought for 23.2 million dollars. The tanker was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME). With a weight of 157,814 tons, the DHT Utik has a length of 332 meters and a width of 58 meters. On March 23, DHT Holdings signed an agreement to buy eleven ships, including two newbuildings for delivery in 2018. “All nine vessels in the water are expected to be delivered during the second quarter of 2017.”

The Uruguay Navy has assigned new areas to be searched. The ship’s remains gave different indications about the possible locations of the Stellar Daisy crew. The Navy said that six ships were continuing the search, but ROU 04 General Artigas has left the search party. The search operation was launched on March 31, after the sinking of the South Korean VLCC carrying 26,003 million tons of ore.

American Hellenic Hull (AHH), a new company established last year in Cyprus, plans to order 4,000 vessels in the next 3-4 years. Its Chief Executive, Ilias Tsakiris, said that the company had an indicative target of insuring 4,000 vessels by 2020. The AHH already has a fleet of 1,500 vessels from 10 different countries across 3 continents. All types of vessels are included, but most are carriers and tankers.

Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN) has taken delivery of its new Aframax tanker Sola TS. The Sola TS is the sixth in a series of nine ships ordered from Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DHMI). TEN has three more Aframax tankers currently under construction, the Stavanger TS, the Oslo TS and the Bergen TS, which will be delivered in the second half of 2017.

A 110-foot freight barge has capsized near the Bay Bridge, San Francisco. The freight barge Vengeance contains 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 300 gallons of hydraulic oil. It is believed that the winds, which reached more than 40 mph during the night, caused the barge to capsize. A Coast Guard helicopter crew is scheduled to conduct an overflight and divers are scheduled to conduct an underwater assessment.

The search for the crew of 22 has lasted for two weeks. One American aircraft and two merchant ships joined the search mission on 8 April. That same day, the merchant ship Anna Maria found two life vests, but no sign of survivors. The 1993-built Stellar Daisy was on its way to China and was carrying 260,003 million tons of ore.

The Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has signed a document with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) on the building of 10 big carriers. Chang-keun Yoo, president of the HMM, stated: "We currently operate with 12 VLCCs, which have been foundational to stable profits. We thought this year is the right time to order new VLCCs." A final agreement with DSME will be concluded by the end of July.

The Norwegian ship tunnel project is getting closer to construction. The Norwegian government submitted the National Transport Plan 2018-2029, which proposes the planning of the ship tunnel. About 163 million euro have been earmarked for the first half of the project. The project’s full cost is projected to be about 293 million euro. The tunnel will be 1.7 kilometers long, 50 meters high and 36 meters wide. After several procedures, it will be presented to the Parliament.