Your midweek round-up of news from the world of heavy lift and project forwarding.
This morning Evie read an intriguing story about the UK's largest wind turbine, which has been built on land owned by the Oxford Diocese, and has prompted fury from the Church of England.
Such news inspired HLPFI to look more closely into the UK's onshore wind energy industry, which was dealt a major blow this week when Prime Minister David Cameron declared that he expects onshore wind farms to provide no more than 10 percent of the country's power demand, and plans to phase out subsidies for new wind turbines in the next parliament.
Cameron claims that the UK is "fed up" with onshore wind farms - something the Church of England would probably agree with at the moment - but renewable energy firms and the logistics companies that support them will be reeling at the news, especially since government figures have shown that 60 to 70 percent of the British population support onshore wind.
The project logistics providers in the UK will no doubt be hoping that, if Cameron's wish is fulfilled, other infrastructure projects in the planning stages will at least remain on track.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Americans are gearing up to welcome the country's first ever offshore wind farm in the next few years, if the developer of Cape Wind is able to overcome the ongoing setbacks that have stalled the project for so long.
In business
Pan Ocean has confirmed reports that it has selected a consortium led by poultry processor Harim as the preferred bidder to purchase the South Korean carrier.
Liebherr celebrated the inauguration of its new office in Lima City, Peru, which will provide services to customers of its mobile crane and mining divisions.
RINA snaps up Hayes Stuart stake
Italy's growing engineering, testing, marine services and ship classification group RINA acquired a majority stake in Montreal-based marine survey company Hayes Stuart.
Milwaukee sees record year for steel
Workers at the Port of Milwaukee are busy unloading the final shipment of steel for 2014, culminating in one of the gateway's busiest seasons for steel in recent decades.
Capacity developments
China's Cosco Dalian Shipyard has been contracted by BigRoll Shipping to build two more MC-class module carriers, bringing the total number of vessels under construction to four.
Liebherr's PowerBoom was used for the first time on its LR 11000 crawler crane during the installation of a 220-tonne machine in northern Germany.
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers sold more than USD63 million of heavy equipment and trucks at its Edmonton, Alberta auction that took place from December 11-12, 2014.
On the move
Enerpac, a division of Actuant Corp, has appointed Rob Silveri as its new Australia and New Zealand integrated solutions manager.
Royal Arctic Line looks for new ceo
Royal Arctic Line confirmed that ceo Jens Andersen is to step down from the carrier, and that the process of finding his replacement has begun.
Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) has appointed Peter Nielsen as vice president, Africa.
Transport Technics & Services International (TTS) has relocated its Dubai headquarters and can now be found at Dubai Silicon Oasis, SIT Tower, 21st floor, Office no. 2112, Dubai, UAE.
Notable shipment
The final gate for the new locks of the Panama Canal expansion project is transported from the Atlantic to the Pacific side of the canal.
