Slightly more merchant shipbuilding activity was seen this week despite the quiet summer period and the Eid holiday keeping buyers from Islamic countries from the shipbuilding market. Orders for a VLCC tanker and for liquified natural gas (LNG) carriers were reported from South Korea, although mostly from shipbrokers and official confirmation is still awaited. An international tender process was started in Canada to build a passenger/freight ferry which is open to foreign yards. In Germany, there was concern that a defence ministry tender to build naval tankers looks like being issued to European yards and will not be reserved for German shipbuilders. Environmental protection continues to be a growing theme in shipbuilding, with a series of projects including a ferry newbuilding project announced in Belgium. The struggle by European yards to survive continued with rescue efforts continuing to save yards from closure in the United Kingdom and Croatia.