Austal has been awarded a A$126 million (US$85 million) contract to build two Cape-class patrol boats for the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard.

Three years ago, I wrote that the Australian shipping industry was at the crossroads of existence. It’s now hanging by a thread. We have been continually losing ships and jobs but more crucially we have been losing marine expertise.

Back in the days when lookouts were posted on ship’s fo’csl’ heads and as well as keeping a good lookout the man had to repeat the time on the ship’s bell in response to the small bridge bell that was rung by the helmsman. When responding to the bell, it was also usual to call out “lights are bright” to indicate that all was well with the ship’s navigation lights.

In this context I was recently reading that of recent years it has become the practice to leave the nav lights on 24/7.  Having seen this I was reminded on an incident from my apprenticeship years during the early 1950s.

DNV GL has awarded Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) and Namura Shipbuilding a joint approval in principle (AIP) for the two companies' new LNG-fueled ore carrier concept design.

DOF Subsea Group has been awarded a contract by an operator within the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) sector to decommission subsea infrastructure in the third quarter of 2019.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has deployed the research vessel Investigator to the waters off northeastern Australia to search for the wreck of an American ship that was sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea in World War II.

Austal has delivered Aremiti 6, a 49-metre high-speed passenger ferry, to French Polynesian operator SNC Aremiti.

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has completed shore loading and unloading trials of one of its LCM-1E-class landing craft following the incorporation of upgrades that allow the vessel to transport much heavier vehicle loads.

Germany's Zeamarine has been awarded an ocean transportation contract from Schenker Australia for the BHP South Flank Project in Western Australia.

Royal Boskalis Westminster has been awarded a contract for the seabed intervention and shore crossing activities for Woodside's proposed Scarborough export gas pipeline in North West Australia.