Gazprom hands out $2.3bn for Shtokman gig

Russian gas giant Gazprom has handed the Vyborg shipbuilding plant a $2.3 billion contract to build drilling platforms for the Shtokman gas field, according to reports.

Construction work will start in 2007 and continue three years, informed a spokesman for the government of the Leningrad region, where the private plant is based. Last month, Gazprom agreed to cede a 25% stake in a special purpose entity that will develop the first phase of Shtokman, which holds reserves of 3.7 trillion cubic metres of gas, to France's Total. The first phase of development at the Barents Sea field is estimated to carry a pricetag of between $15 billion and $18 billion. For more details

French shipping Co to buy 26% in Adani arm

French shipping major CMA CGM is set to pick up a 26% stake in a subsidiary of Ahmedabad-based Rs 18,000-crore Adani group, making it the biggest joint venture in the country’s ports sector.

CMA CGM, which is the world’s third-largest shipping company, is close to picking up 26% equity in Adani Logistics, a 100% subsidiary of Mundra Port & SEZ. Adani Logistics is into container handling and has a Category 1 licence for running container trains across the country.

Once the deal comes through, the French shipping major will benefit from the group’s second container terminal which is coming up in Mundra. Already, Mundra International Container Terminal (MICT) is being managed by DP World under a sub-concession agreement. With a fleet of 336 vessels, the group serves over 350 ports of call on over 100 shipping routes. The company will add 64 new vessels between 2007 and 2010.

The Adanis are planning to invest close to Rs 1,100 crore for developing the second container terminal at Mundra. For more details

World's most advanced destroyer passes the test

A warship billed as the world's most advanced destroyer has finished its first test run on the open sea.

HMS Daring is the first in a batch of six destroyers ordered by the Royal Navy. It has now completed a month of sea trials and arrived at the town of Largs on Scotland's west coast. The £1bn ship, constructed in Glasgow and Portsmouth, slipped her moorings and sailed down the Clyde from Scotstoun shipyard on July 18.

Daring can go from zero to her top speed of 31 knots in a little over two minutes, and can come to a standstill from this high speed in five-and-a-half ship lengths, builder BAE Systems said.

The advanced stealth technology also provides extra protection for Daring - when the 500ft ship is picked up on radar it appears as small as a fishing boat. The warships have nearly twice the range - about 7,000 miles - and are 45% more fuel-efficient than the Type 42 destroyers they are to replace. For more details

Panama Canal turns 93

Ninety-three years after its grand opening in 1914, the Panama Canal marked its anniversary on August 15th by celebrating the successful start of its historic Expansion Program.

Nearly a year after Panamanians approved a national referendum to expand the waterway, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has set the project in motion. It awarded the first expansion-related construction contract, the first of five dry excavation projects that will create the new Pacific Locks access channel. The new channel will link a new, third set of locks on the Pacific end of the Canal with the existing Gaillard Cut.

Expansion will build a new lane of traffic along the Panama Canal through the construction of a new set of locks, doubling capacity and allowing more traffic and longer, wider ships. This project, which just received the 2008 Samoter award for "Best Construction Project in the World," will be the largest undertaking at the Canal since its opening.

There were 14,194 total transits in fiscal year 2006. Since August 15, 1914, more than 922,000 vessels have transited the waterway. For more details

Daewoo Shipbuilding wins US$2.1 bln order

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world's third-largest shipbuilder, said it has won orders valued at US$2.1 billion to build 10 vessels.

The deal from a European shipping company calls on Daewoo Shipbuilding to deliver nine container ships and one drill ship by December 2011, it said in a regulatory filing.
For more details