Aker Yards unveils Genesis construction

The secretiveness around the world's largest cruise vessels, Project Genesis, was partly unveiled yesterday in Aker Yards' Turku shipyard.

For the first time the press could see how the building of the giant floating resort is proceeding, and the huge "Central Park" with two hotel towers to take shape. The two colossal cruise vessels of the Genesis class will be delivered to Royal Caribbean in 2009 and 2010. They will be the world's largest cruise vessels. "Central Park" is a new design in which the centre of the ship opens to the sky. On each side rise six-storeyed hotel towers including 334 staterooms overlooking the park, 254 with balconies. With a length of around 110 metres and a width of 19 metres, the park will have growing lawn, trees and other vegetation. "Central Park is another example of revolutionary innovation in ship design and building," said Juha Heikinheimo, President of Aker Yards, Cruise & Ferries. "Cruise passengers are expecting new unparalleled experiences, and that is what the owners, the yard and the maritime cluster continuously are creating in good cooperation. The vessel, built under the working name ‘Cruise 5', will be delivered to Tallink in 2009. The 212-metre-long and 29-metre-wide vessel will be one of the biggest and fastest cruise ferries in the Baltic Sea, with a capacity of 2,800 passengers and a speed of 24.5 knots.

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Yantai Raffles christens world’s largest crane

Yantai Raffles Shipyard Limited has christened the world’s first fixed dual-beam gantry crane, ‘Taisun’, which boasts a lifting capacity at 20,133m tonnes.

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) was present at the ceremony and witnessed a demonstration of the crane hoisting a launching barge 30 meters above the water to set a new heavy lift world record and presented YRS chairman Brian Chang with a “Witness Load Testing” certificate. The crane, which is now entering commercial service, has already been earmarked for nine lifts over the next 24 months. YRS claims that it will revolutionize the way large offshore projects such as semi-submersibles and FPSOs are built as it provides a safe, uniquely controllable and highly cost effective way to join super sections of up to 20,000mt. Overall project man-hours are expected to be reduced by up to 2m and overall build schedules and time-to-market are also expected to be shortened.
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China Shipping Lines to Expand

The Port of Seattle announced that China Shipping Lines would expand its container service through Seattle.

China Shipping will move from Terminal 18, where it has called since 1999, to Terminal 30, where its division China Shipping Terminals will be an equity partner with terminal operator SSA Terminals, a joint venture between Seattle-based SSA Marine and Matson Navigation Co. Shanghai-based China Shipping through its wholly owned U.S. divisions brings 97,000 TEUs per year through the Seattle seaport's Terminal 18. TEUs are 20-ft.-equivalent units, the standard measure of container volumes because of their varying lengths.

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Maritime industry investment to top Dh50bn

Investment in the Middle East maritime industry is expected to exceed Dh50 billion this year on the back of a boom in the sector across the region.

The growing demand for oil and gas is likely to draw more shipping companies and suppliers into the region to set up shop, said Ahmed Mohammed Al Midfa, chairman of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the beginning of the three-day Gulf Maritime Exhibition. Last year, UAE terminals increased container cargo throughput by 19 per cent to 11 million TEUs. “The dependency on the trans-Atlantic route has declined and new routes such as Asia-Europe and Asia-Middle East are now the busiest,” he said. To tap into the growing market, maritime firms have also placed large orders for new vessels. There are 1,549 container vessels, 170 VLCCs and 141 Suezmaxes on order worldwide, keeping world’s shipyards fully engaged for the next few years, according to recent figures. Workboats are also in high demand on the back of reclamation projects. Massive projects such as the Dubai and Umm Al Quwain marinas, the three Palm islands, The World, Dubai Festival City, and projects that are coming up in Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are creating huge demand for dredgers and support vessels. New ports and expansions across the Gulf will also throw up many opportunities for the sector. Dubai Maritime City, the world’s first purpose-built maritime centre, will also support the region’s maritime operators through its comprehensive ship repair and maintenance facility situated in the Industrial Quarter, which will be managed by Dubai Drydocks.
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Three 'Queens' in final meeting

Three grand luxury liners have met in their home port of Southampton for the first and final time in their history.

Cunard's fleet of "Queens" - Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth 2 - lined up for the historic meeting at about 1800 BST. The QM2 and Queen Victoria then left port shortly afterwards, leaving the QE2 in dock. The QE2 will retire in November when it will be converted into a hotel in Dubai after more than 40 years in service. The Queen is making a farewell trip to her namesake in June before it sets sail for the United Arab Emirates. It will be the third time the Queen has visited the QE2 since she named it at Clydebank, Scotland, in 1967. During its 41 years at sea, the 70,000 tonne ship has travelled more than 5.6m nautical miles, carried more than 2.5m passengers and has also been used to transport troops and host royalty. The historic meeting of the three luxury cruise liners on the south coast comes three months after the ships met for the first time in New York in January. The earlier encounter was believed to have been a one-off in Cunard's 168-year history but a change in the QE2's schedule met they have all met again for the first time in their home port.

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