Rigdon Marine names fast supply vessel 'Hammerhead'

Rigdon Marine, USA, has named and delivered 'Hammerhead', the first of four proprietary fast supply vessels.

Mrs. Shelley Puckett, wife of Mike Puckett, a vessel manager for Rigdon, christened the 55-metre FSV prior to its deployment in the US Gulf of Mexico. The 'Hammerhead' measures 55 metres by 10.4 metres and produces 5,370kW DP-1 FSV. The vessel has a capacity of 1,001 barrels of liquid mud, 664 barrels of rig water, and has a cargo deck capacity of 400 metric tonnes. The state of the art FSV will include a 185kW drop-down azimuthing bow thruster, and a cargo discharge capacity of 500 gallons per minute (GPM) (1890 litres) of liquid mud, 300 GPM (1,135 litres) of rig water, and 300 GPM (1,135 litres) of fuel oil. The 'Hammerhead' was designed primarily in support of the rigorous deepwater environment where long runs, high payloads and challenging sea conditions are the norm. However, the vessel's speed and safety advantages also provide a competitive advantage versus traditional workboats in shallow water applications. The remaining three Rigdon 181 class FSVs are expected to be delivered in 2008 and early 2009.

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Indian, German Naval warships to hold joint exercises

For the first time, Indian and German warships will hold joint maneuvers off Kochi in the Arabian Sea from April 5.

Three German warships, F220 Hamburg and F211 Koln, both missile frigates and A1411 Berlin, a Naval support vessel will cross swords with four Indian warships to carry out sea domination and anti-submarine warfare maneuvers. The German Naval flotilla, the first ever to visit Indian waters is being led by Rear Admiral F Bollow, who is the Flag Officer Commanding 2nd German flottia. Though Indian warships have conducted war games with Nuclear carriers and submarines from France and US as well with warships from UK, Russia and Singapore, this would be their first interaction with German ships. The Germans in recent years have made rapid strides in building up a modern Naval flotilla, comprising missile destroyers and frigates as well as advanced submarines. The German warships which are on their way for deployment in the gulf would first hold passage exercises with a Navy ship of the Ist training squadron from April nine to 10 and then ships of the Western Naval fleet.

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Recycling Ships Will Make Earth Greener

Green has become a buzzword at KAIST, and its grandest green project is the recycling of aged container ships into mobile water and electricity plants for the poorest regions of the world.

The project, which is led by Professor Lee Jae-kyu of KAIST Business School, is an inter-disciplinary project of 14 KAIST professors from various research fields. They hope that this audacious project will be able to win $25 million in financial support from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia over the next five years. According to the plan, retired container ships will be equipped with solar panels, desalination facilities and hydrogen batteries at dockyards. It will then be moved to the Middle East or African countries and will lower its anchor where fresh water is needed. Using a solar generation panel that covers the upper deck, the ship will generate electricity during the daytime and will use the energy to produce fresh water from seawater, then carried through a pipeline inland where it will be used for irrigation and deforestation prevention. The extra electricity will be stored in capacitors, which use certain metals for the storage of hydrogen molecules. At night, the hydrogen in the form of gas will be removed and burnt to keep the desalination facility running. Inspectors from the royal Saudi institution finished their evaluation of the KAIST project and their final decision is due this week. Another major ongoing project at KAIST is the ``mobile harbor.''

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Hi-tech system to track Gulf ships

Bahrain and its GCC neighbors are beefing up coastal security with a new, hi-tech system to track ships.

The global tracking system will also enable countries to pinpoint their own commercial ships anywhere in the world, at any time. It will also help in search-and-rescue operations by giving instant information on shipping in the area. New International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations mean ships will have to be fitted with a Long-Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) system that will allow them to be tracked 1,000 miles from the coastline. "LRIT increases the transparency of vessels sailing the high seas on international voyages," said Bahrain's General Organization of Sea Ports Deputy chairman Eid Abdulla. "It provides for the detection, classification, identification and tracking of co-operative vessels to enable improved maritime domain awareness and a general understanding of vessel traffic in specific areas of interest." The LRIT system will entitle governments who have adopted the new regulations to be entitled to receive reports on identification and position of ships registered to that member state, wherever the ship is located. All of this information will be received, upon request, through a system of national, regional, co-operative and international LRIT Data Centres using, where necessary, the LRIT International Data Exchange. The ship-to-ship range of AIS is 10 to 15 nautical miles, while ship-to-shore is 20 to 30 nautical miles.
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Cigading port set to become Indonesia's largest bulk port

State-owned steel maker PT Krakatau Steel said it would expand its Cigading port to become the country's largest port for bulk cargoes.

Jakarta's Tanjung Priok, the country's largest port, has been plagued by congestion, Krakatau Steel President Faswar Bujang said. The Cigading port in Cilegon, Banten has served as a special industrial port facilitating mainly import of industrial basic material to and exports of manufactured products from the Krakatau Steel Industrial Estates in that area. Faswar said in fact loading and unloading of part of bulk cargoes including industrial and food products, previously handled by Tanjung Priok has been taken over by the Cigading port.

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