Category: Technology

Shipping companies in the cyber sights

A cyber espionage group originating from China called "Mustang Panda" is alleged to have planted malware to take over computer systems of European shipping companies in Norway, Greece and the Netherlands. "Mustang Panda" has already been accused of espionage against governments and organisations in Asia, Australia and Europe and has used similar malware tools in espionage campaigns in the past. The tools allow the attacker to completely take over a target system and execute their own commands. The information comes from the Slovakian cyber security firm ESET (derived from the Egyptian guardian goddess ISIS) and it, alongside UK and US agencies, warns of a significant cyber security threat from China, particularly to organisations in...

Weiterlesen

China: Electric container ship starts liner service

The "Greenwater 01" (project no. N997) developed by China Ocean Shipping Group Company (COSCO) is designed for long-haul transport, is 120 metres long and, with a payload of 10,000 tonnes for up to 700 "twenty-foot equivalent units" (TEU), is the world's largest all-electric container ship to date. The "Greenwater 01" was successfully launched at the end of July 2023. It has now been put into service and has started its weekly liner service between Shanghai and Nanjing. The route covers more than 300 kilometres along the Yangtze River. Series shipbuilding According to COSCO, the second ship, project no. N998, has been under construction since May 2023 and...

Weiterlesen

Denmark tightens environmental rules

The Danish government has announced a regulation that will ban the discharge of ship wastewater from open exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) into Danish territorial waters from 1 July 2025. Scrubbers are used to comply with the limit value for the sulphur content of exhaust gases set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in 2020. Such exhaust gas cleaning systems use a chemical solution (seawater and caustic soda) to "wash" sulphur out of the flue gases. The wash water then contains heavy metals (mercury, lead, arsenic, etc.), nitrates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and sulphur: a toxic mixture that changes the pH value and makes the water acidic! Because there is no further purification step in open systems,...

Weiterlesen

Methanol engines require adapted firefighting

Current fire extinguishing systems are inadequate for fighting engine room fires involving methanol-based engines, according to a new fire safety study. Engine fires Against the background of the growing interest in methanol as an alternative marine fuel, the study by the British company SURVITEC, a global provider of survival technologies, carried out extensive and comparative fire tests on marine engines fuelled with both diesel oil and methanol. The tests confirmed that conventional water mist firefighting systems do not provide the expected extinguishing performance on methanol fires. If conventionally fuelled ships are to remain safe, a new approach is needed, according to the product manager for water mist systems at Survitec. Bilge fires The tests also showed that standard extinguishing systems...

Weiterlesen

The world's most modern submarine comes from Kiel

Submarine for Singapore launched as "Inimitable" On 22 April 2024, the fourth submarine in the Type 218SG construction programme was christened at the thyssenkrupp Marine Systems shipyard in Kiel. Among the 250 invited guests were Boris Pistorius, Federal Minister of Defence, and Teo Chee Hean, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security of the Republic of Singapore, as well as other high-ranking representatives from Singapore and Germany. The boat's godmother was Mrs Teo Swee Lian, Teo Chee Hean's sister. Oliver Burkhard, CEO of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, emphasised: "The submarines built as part of this project are the most modern conventional submarines that have...

Weiterlesen
en_GBEnglish