#Ports&Shipping –The latest IMDO Weekly Shipping Market Review includes the following stories as detailed below.

Newbuilding: World's largest vessel floated - The hull of the world's largest vessel, the Prelude, was floated for the first time last week, as Royal Dutch Shell push forward in their move to revolutionize Liquefied Natural Gas production, according to the Irish Times.

Container Market: G6 box lines expand operations in face of P3 threat - The G6 alliance announced plans to expand operations to both the transatlantic and Asia-West coast US routes last week in a bid to compete with the proposed P3 alliance, Lloyds List reported. The move by the G6 follows an expansion onto the transpacific east coast route earlier in the year and will see 240 vessels deployed in total, connecting 66 ports in Europe, Asia and America.

Maritime Fuel: EU to co-fund methanol testing - As part of the European Union's Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) programme, €11.2mn of funding will be provided to support a pilot study and trials of methanol use as a maritime fuel, the European Commission has confirmed.

For more on each of the above and other stories click the downloadable PDF IMDO Weekly Markets Review (Week 49). In addition to Afloat.ie dedicated Ports & Shipping News section.