Crane ship finally delivers
The heavy-lift crane carrier Zhen Hua 23, which broke away from its moorings at Felixstowe on 1 March, was finally moved to Trinity Container Terminal no.7 berth three weeks after the accident, which destroyed two of the port's quayside container cranes.

Apex joins Solent Towage fleet
Solent Towage Ltd welcomed another new vessel to its Southampton fleet at the end of April when the high performance Voith escort tug Apex arrived from the Gondan shipyard in Spain. Apex joins her sister ship Phenix, which was delivered in January and has been operating with the Solent Towage fleet at the Fawley oil terminal on Southampton Water. Both tugs are almost identical in design to Tenax, completed by the same shipbuilder in 2006.

Steam Packet buy 96m Incat
The Isle of Man Steam Packet company is spending £20 million to purchase Incat 050 to take over the seasonal Douglas-Liverpool service in the summer of 2009. Company executives have been to Tasmania where the 96m wave-piercer, which formerly served with the United States Navy and then the US Army as HSV-X1 Joint Venture, is being refitted at Incat's Hobart headquarters in Australia.

End for Channel stalwart
After SeaFrance Berlioz (2005) recorded a 10,000th crossing on the Calais-Dover route, the long-serving SeaFrance Manet (1984/15,093gt) completed a final round trip on 29 April and is now laid up pending sale.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) had ordered DFDS Seaways to review procedures after King of Scandinavia (1987/31,788gt) broke free from moorings at North Shields on the river Tyne, and was blown against an oil platform and an adjoining quay on the opposite bank. The 161m vessel was holed above the waterline and missed ten days of sailings on the North Shields-IJmuiden route. It was originally thought that mooring ropes had snapped but the MAIB revealed the ship broke free after a shore bollard had been ripped from its concrete foundations.

Debuts at Southampton
During April two significant new cruise ships made their debuts and were named at Southampton. First up was P&O Cruises' new Ventura (116,071gt), which was christened at a James Bond-themed event on 16 April by Dame Helen Mirren. However, she was deprived of the usual privilege of smashing a bottle of champagne against the side of the largest ship yet built exclusively for the British market. This was left to two Royal Marine Commandos who abseiled down the ship and each smashed a bottle. The bad luck stigma attached to bottles not breaking at these events was thus avoided.

Celebrating 135 years
Holland America Line celebrated its 135th anniversary in April, having carried more than ten million emigrants from Europe to the New World and later, in more comfort, on worldwide cruises. Established in Rotterdam as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company, in 1973 it relocated to Stamford, Connecticut and ten years later to Seattle. In 1989 it was acquired by the giant Carnival Corporation and now has 13 ships.

easyCruise Life delayed
The inaugural seven-night voyage of the 644-passenger easyCruise Life (1981/12,811gt) to the Greek Islands from Piraeus on 19 April was cancelled because the ship was not ready in time. easyCruise blamed labour strikes during the €20 million refit of the former ferry Farah, built as the Soviet passenger ferry Lev Tolstoy, which also sailed as Natasha and Palmira.

Name of first VLCC lives
Japan's IHI Marine United shipyard at Kure has delivered the 300,100dwt crude oil tanker Idemitsu Maru to Idemitsu Tanker Co. The 160,300gt vessel makes use of a common rail electronically-controlled DU-Sulzer 7RT-flex 84T-D main engine, which incorporates an exhaust gas driven turbo generator to provide additional electrical power. The 333m by 60m vessel has a service speed of 15.65 knots. Because of her size, over 200,000dwt but under 320,000dwt, she has been termed a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC).

Coals to Newcastle
Last year the port of Tyne was voted Port Operator of the Year by Lloyds List, beating rivals such as Singapore, Dubai and Port Said. The port has invested over £30 million over two years to cope with larger ships, and this paid off with a recent visit from the panamax vessel Jin He (2006/40,086gt), which arrived in February with almost 62,000

Steam driven gas carrier
Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation has delivered the 145,394m3 capacity LNG carrier Celestine River to Chariot Finance Limited. The 77,163dwt vessel is being operated by Japan's K Line under charter to Cheniere Energy of the US, which is using the ship to move liquefied natural gas to a new terminal built at Port Arthur, Texas.

Panamax to the max
Japanese shipyards have been busy creating the largest bulk carriers capable of making use of the Panama Canal, known as the Panamax type. While these ships have generally been around 75,000dwt to 77,000dwt, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (MES) recently delivered the 81,791dwt Lady Giovi to Clio Marine of Liberia.

China's first LNG carrier
China's Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a yard within the state-controlled China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), has delivered the first Chinese-built liquified natural gas carrier, the 147,200m3 capacity Dapeng Sun, to China LNG Shipping.

States of disrepair
In the USA, the Navy Times has reported on Board of Inspection and Survey reports which detail materiel defects affecting two warships. The ships are the destroyer Stout and cruiser Chosin, both modern Aegis-equipped vessels. It is quite unprecedented for such high profile ships to be criticised for falling into disrepair.

Off to the beaches of Rio
The NDCC Garcia D'Avila (ex-RFA Sir Galahad) was due to arrive at her new home of Rio de Janeiro in early May after stops in Lisbon, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Maceio. The landing ship, which was ceremonially handed over to the Brazilian Navy early last December, finally left for her new home on 8 April after a number of mechanical problems had disrupted her sea trials and subsequent departure.