May

London/Palau, 31 May 2008

Earthrace, the world’s fastest eco-boat, is due to power into Koror, Palau today, Saturday 31 May, as part of its attempt to break the round-the-world speed record for a powerboat. The boat will stop for refuelling at the Royal Belau Yacht Club, Malakal Harbor.
Find out in real time exactly where Earthrace is on the planet live with the global tracker.

Skipper Pete Bethune and his crew are currently over 2400 nautical miles ahead of the pace set by the round-the-world record-holder, Cable and Wireless, in 1998.Earthrace is a 24m tri-hull wavepiercer that is currently in day 34 of its attempt to smash the world record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe, running renewable biodiesel fuel, and with a net zero carbon footprint. 

The 24,000 nautical mile route has so far taken in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the crew has already overcome obstacles such as fuel leakages and a huge backlog of traffic in the Panama Canal. On their current leg from the Marshall Islands to Palau they have had to battle through stormy weather to stay on target to beat the record.

G.A.P. Adventures of Toronto, Canada has bought the 1972-built ferry
MF Alandsfarjan from Viking Line for Euros 2.6 million. The ship will be delivered in
mid-June 2008, according to Viking Line. This vessel will require substantial upgrading and renovation, before she can commence cruising in Arctic waters. The Alandsfarjan is replacing the ill fated mv Explorer, which sank last year after hitting floating ice in the Antarctica.

Miami
ISP - International Shipping Partners is looking at the vessels on behalf of  Clipper Group, ISP principal Niels-Erik Lund confirmed.
Sources familiar with the vessels said MARAD’sasking price for the pair five years ago was $42m but had fallen to around $20m recently.
Both ships were built at Jacksonville’s Atlantic Marine for American Classic Voyages’ Delta Queen Coastal Voyages brand at a cost of $42m each. The coastal vessels have languished at Green Cove Springs near Jacksonville, Fla., since the post-9/11 bankruptcy of American Classic Voyages. Various potential buyers have come and gone. Since the business model of Clipper is to charter the vessels they purchase to Cruise Operators, it will be very interesting to see who will - if indeed - charter these vessel, since their sailing range is limited to coastal sailings.

Marseilles
Croisieres de France (CDF), the new venture that caters for the French speaking market, has inaugurated its first vessel and received a pledge of strong backing from Richard Fain, ceo of parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL). CDF presented the 37,000 gross ton Bleü de France, built as Europa of Hapag Lloyd in 1982, to the travel trade and media in Marseilles over the weekend.

Fain said that RCCL has driven aggressively its business in any country that it has entered into and would do the same in the case of France and CDF. All services and entertainment on board are in French and in a response to markert demands, table wine and selection of drinks are included in the fare. Premium brands are charged extra under the Carte Prestige name.

NEW YORK (AP)
Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. slumped to a new 52-week low Friday as a Goldman Sachs analyst removed the cruise operator from his "Conviction Buy" list, citing escalating fuel prices. Analyst Steven Kent swapped out Royal Caribbean Cruises for Las Vegas Sands Corp., predicting energy prices will remain high for some time.The cruise industry has continued to battle rising fuel costs, with both Royal and Carnival Corp. implementing fuel surcharges to help alleviate some of the burden.The analyst reaffirmed Royal Caribbean's "Buy" rating.Separately, a Morgan Stanley analyst downgraded Royal Caribbean to "Equal Weight" from "Overweight." Shares of Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises fell $1.25, or 4.4 percent, to $27.23. The stock hit a new low of $26.88 earlier in the session.

Helsinki
The Finnish state broadcaster YLE reports that Martin Saarikangas and some members of the Esbo city council wants Esbo to buy Finnjet. They propose to use the legendary ferry as temporary living quarters for refugees and visiting researchers and to preserve a unique item of shipbuilding history. The price is indicated at EUR 7 million. The fate of Finnjet is unclear, but according to earlier reports, Finnjet, re-named Da Vinci, has been sold for scrapping. The vessel was built by Wärtsilä in Helsinki 1977 and was owned by the dutch Company Club Cruises.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has signed a deal with Bio Driven of Canterbury, a new start up company dedicated to the production of high quality, compliant Bio diesel.  Waste cooking oil from the cruise ships will be collected and transformed through a carbon negative process into a clean and efficient fuel. David Chalk of Bio Driven said: “We use pioneering technology in our plant facility, ensuring our production process to be carbon negative.” Bio Driven is also a member of the Environmental Industries Commission and the Renewable Energy association.

Miami
Norwegian Cruise Line has agreed to pay $ 485,000 to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by seven Middle Eastern men fired from a Hawaii cruise ship. The seven employees -- all of them Muslims from Yemen -- lost their jobs on NCL's interisland cruise ship Pride of Aloha in 2006.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit on their behalf, saying they were fired as "terrorism risks" even though the FBI said they were not threats. "It is important to terminate people on objective factors, and here, when you have the FBI saying that there was no security issue and still terminating them, we believe that was based on stereotyping and profiling," said Anna Park of the EEOC. NCL America agreed to pay the money to the men and hire an equal employment consultant as well as update its workplace policies and management.

DA VINCI ex FINNJET sold demolition buyers US$ 650/ldt "as is" Safaga, Red Sea. Based on 15,157 ldt that's equivalent to about US$ 9.85 mill. Buyers willing to resell vessel, Sold to Club Cruise in Veenendaal, Netherlands at the end of December 2007. Renamed DA VINCI GTS M/S Finnjet is a cruiseferry, built in 1977 by Wärtsilä Helsinki, Finland. At the time of its delivery Finnjet was the fastest, longest and largest car ferry in the world, and the only one powered by gas turbines. She is still the fastest conventional ferry today, with a recorded top speed of 33 knots.

Milos, Greece
The 1,050-berth Aquamarine (built 1971) was carrying 1,200 passengers from Crete when the crew heard a loud noise Thursday. he crack, which is above sea level was discovered after the Aquamarine cruise ship left the island of Crete for a tour of the Aegean with 872 Greek and foreign passengers and 407 crew, it said. "The ship has docked at Milos island, where inspectors will look at and repair the damage," a ministry official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. "There is no danger. We see no reason at this point for passengers to disembark."

GenuaTwo of Italy’s specialist cruise shipyards are to join forces in a new alliance.  Genoa-based shipbuilder T. Mariotti and next door neighbour San Giorgio del Porto, which specialises in repair and conversion, are now owned by the newly established holding company Genova Industrie Navali.  However, both shipyards will continue to operate under their existing names.

At Mariotti's since February 18^th, sits the mv Da Vince (ex Finnjet) owners Club Cruises, Holland. No work is in progress. Planned was a conversion to a cruise vessel, but it seems the cost was too high. Messrs. C.c. seem to be strapped for cash and a sale to breakers is rumoured.

Better cancel that thetan-eradicating vacation on the S.S. Scientology.Message boards are abuzz with the news that the Freewinds, the church's massive cruise ship and floating top secret training compound, has been sealed by Caribbean authorities. Its captain allegedly hid the presence of cancer-causing blue asbestos in the ventilation system, even as workers at a dry dock company refurbished the 40-year-old vessel.