Largest LNG carrier delivered
BP Shipping has taken delivery of British Emerald, the world's largest LNG carrier, from South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries at Ulsan. The 155,000m3 capacity ship is the first of four Gem class vessels being built for the company by Hyundai, and features a dual-fuel diesel-electric propulsion system that allows the main engines to run on boil-off gases from the cargo tanks or on conventional diesel fuel.

Busy fortnight for Royal Navy
Many of the Royal Navy's capabilities were demonstrated during a busy two-week period at the end of September/beginning of October. Exercise Grey Heron, designed to train ships and personnel to undertake an amphibious operation, was carried out in the Solent and the South West, while Staff College Sea Days (SCSD) demonstrated the operational concept for UK forces operating in the maritime environment.

Gearing up for Cotentin
Over the past few months, Poole has been preparing for Brittany Ferries' new ro-ro ferry Cotentin, which has capacity to carry 120 16.5m articulated lorries, on routes to Cherbourg and Santander. During May a computerised navigation of Cotentin through Poole Harbour was conducted at HR Wallingford's new Ship Simulation Centre in Oxfordshire.

Cunard to build a new Queen Elizabeth
On 10 October, Cunard Line announced that it has ordered a new 92,000-ton liner to be named Queen Elizabeth and scheduled to enter service in autumn 2010. Cunard, part of Carnival Corporation, signed an agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of the new 2092-passenger cruise ship, which will be built at Fincantieri's Monfalcone yard at an all-in cost of approximately $700 million. The vessel will be the second largest Cunarder the company has ever built.

Latest P-MAX tanker delivered
The Brodosplit Shipyard in Croatia has delivered the P-MAX type product tanker Stena President to Concordia Maritime, part of the Stena Group, for operation under a ten-year charter with Argo Shipping of Russia. The 65,200dwt ship is the fifth in a series of ten P-MAX units ordered by Concordia and will be used to transport refined products from terminals on the Baltic and White Seas to Europe and the USA.

A real Gem debuts at Dover
On 1 October, Norwegian Cruise Line took delivery of its latest ship, Norwegian Gem. At 93,530gt, she is the last in a series of six 2,400-capacity vessels built for NCL, between 2001 and 2007, at Papenburg on the river Ems by Germany's Meyer Werft. After an inaugural event at Dover for the UK travel trade in October, Norwegian Gem sailed to the Mediterranean for a series of cruises. She will then cross the Atlantic to her winter homeport, New York, to be formally christened on 18 December.

Galatea in London
Trinity House's new multi-functional tender THV Galatea was named by HM The Queen at a ceremony on the river Thames on 17 October. The new state-of-the-art vessel arrived on the river a few days earlier having completed her sea trials, but has yet to be fully worked by her new owners.

Youth trust to sell one of its brigs
The Tall Ships Youth Trust, formerly the Sail Training Association, is to sell one of its two 50m brigs due to high operating costs. Stavros S. Niarchos, launched in 2000, and Prince William (2001) were replacements for the topsail schooners Sir Winston Churchill and Malcolm Miller. The Trust will replace the vessel with four 22m yachts from the Chay Blyth Round the World Challenge fleet. The yachts will operate with six crew and up to 12 trainees, compared with 48 trainees on a brig. It is not known which vessel will be sold but the current name will not be transferred.

Mersey collision report
Recommendations to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, Cypriot shipowner J. G. Goumas and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company are contained in the Marine Accident Investigation Branch's report into a collision between the Steam Packet catamaran Sea Express 1 and the Goumas general cargo vessel Alaska Rainbow in the Mersey early this year.

Row over Channel route subsidy
Pierre Gehanne, director general of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs whose LD Lines off-shoot took over the Transmanche Ferries operation earlier this year, responded angrily to complaints by Brittany Ferries general manager Jean-Michel Giguet over the subsidy paid to the loss-making Dieppe-Newhaven service. Talking to French magazine Le Marin, Giguet said it was unfair Transmanche received annual subsidies of €14.3 million a year from regional authority Conseil General Seine Maritime while Brittany Ferries routes were unsupported.

End of Dream for now
An investigation is under way as to why the Bahamian-flagged Dream (1970/22,945gt) took on a ten-degree list as she was berthing at Rhodes on 18 September during a cruise from Ashdod for its Israeli operator, Caspi Cruises. All 930 passengers, evacuated until the list was corrected and the ship declared safe, were flown home when the cruise was aborted and the vessel detained by Rhodes Port Authority.

Hola...Sovereign goes Spanish
In a dramatic upgrading of Pullmantur's fleet, Royal Caribbean is to transfer the French-built Sovereign of the Seas (1988/73,192gt) to its Spanish brand in 2008, by which time she will be the oldest ship in the RCI fleet. In 20 years of service, Sovereign of the Seas has exclusively sailed from Floridian ports

Petition to save Purton hulks
A petition has been launched to save the 'Purton hulks'. The Government's Culture Secretary, James Purnell MP, will be asked to give protection of the highest order to the hulks and thus preserve this unique collection for the nation. The collection comprises the remains of 81 vessels which have been hulked on the banks of the river Severn over a 100-year period to prevent the Sharpness Canal from collapsing into the river. Most of the vessels were wooden, including schooners, barges, and trows, but the collection also includes a number of World War II Ferro Concrete Barges and, at the Sharpness end, some more modern steel vessels.

Sentimental Swede
Olof Wallenius took delivery of Soya III, the first ship entirely designed and built for his fledgling shipping company, in 1936. The vessel was sold five years later. Shortly before the turn of the century, however, circumstances and sentiment combined to reunite her with the company, so that today she is their flagship.

All this and more in the December issue of Ships Monthly, on sale now.