The First Live Telecast Event in the Marine Industry

ShipTek 2008 – the 2 day International Conference on Shipbuilding and Conversion technology along with the second edition of International Maritime Video Awards and the launch of DAM (first Hollywood movie by the mariners) that took place on April 29 and 30, 2008, Kochi were the premiere events of the region. Appreciation from across the world, which has been flowing-in in various forms itself speaks volumes about the huge success of the event.

A remarkable achievement witnessed with the commencement of ShipTek 2008 was the ever first real time streaming of a maritime event. ShipTek 2008 has become the first event in the maritime history to conduct a live streaming. It is the first event in the maritime industry to achieve such a milestone. This reflects the tremendous growth of the industry and the impact of the modern technology as a whole.

Marine BizTV has around one million decision makers, valued as the most priced assets and with whom we also share a strong bondage. Marine BizTV ensures that any step taken by it is of optimum utility to its global clients and customers. Exactly, the same idea favored the decision of conducting the live streaming too.

The idea of live telecast appeared on realization of the fact that not everyone would be able to make way to the high profile event. Besides, also taking into account the inconvenience of the exhibitors for ShipTek expo to participate in the conference as the exhibition was conducted in parallel. The importance of the presence of every single personnel of the elite maritime community necessitated the live telecast of the event and was rightly compensated.

Irrespective of time and place, the live telecast brought the events exactly at the time it happened to the desktops of the people around the globe and facilitated them to be a part of the event. The live telecast of the two-day event was successfully executed and was available on http://live.marinebiztv.com/. The same is now being telecasted in Marine BizTV Satellite Channel.

May Ball 2008 held at Dubai

May Ball 2008, an annual get together organized by Imarest was held on 9 May 2008 at Al Multaqua ballroom in the World Trade Centre Exhibition Centre.

Imarest works to promote the development of marine engineering, science and technology, providing opportunities for the exchange of ideas and practices and upholding the status and knowledge of marine professionals. Ball 2008 proved to be a great success with many companies having generously sponsored and marking their presence. The overriding goal of Imarest is to promote scientific development of engineering, science and technology across all marine related disciplines. This is achieved through numerous ways like monthly technical meetings, promoting continuous professional development of members as well as producing high quality technical publications. Ball 2008 is held every year to renew contacts with the fellow marine engineers and strengthen the technical expertise to keep the institute at the forefront of the marine world.

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ArcelorMittal expects further steel price increases

ArcelorMittal believes that steel prices will rise further in the rest of 2008, as steel producers pass on continued cost increases to consumers, company CEO Lakshmi Mittal said.

This view is supported by a tight supply and demand situation, with consumption continuing to grow rapidly in developing economies, he added. Prices have not yet peaked, as cost increases are still coming in, the CEO explained. While coal base prices have been fixed, iron ore contract negotiations with Chinese steelmakers have not yet concluded, energy prices continue to increase, and scrap prices are now around $700/tonne, he said. Separately, it has emerged that at least one steel mill has been badly damaged by the earthquake in Sichuan, China.

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KS Energy pockets bumper profits

Singapore service provider KS Energy reported a 107.4% jump in net profit for the first quarter due to higher gross profit margins and increased contributions from its subsidiaries.

First quarter net profit hit S$11.1 million (US$8 million) compared with S$5.3 million for the corresponding period last year. KS Energy supplies, as well as operates, both onshore and offshore rigs. During the first quarter, the outfit completed its acquisition of KS Medstar-1, a 300-feet cantilever jack-up rig. The rig bagged a US$130 million charter deal in March and started operations last month in the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, the Discoverer-3 land rig kicked off operations at the Badin field in Pakistan for British Petroleum. The group’s turnover for the January to March quarter rose 69.6% to S$63.5 million compared with the same time a year ago. Included in the group’s revenues is the first stream of contributions from Atlantic Oilfield Services that was bought in May last year. KS Energy’s two other offshoots, Aqua-Terra Supply and SSH Corporation, both reported higher net profits. Aqua-Terra offers equipment and services, while SSH provides products such as seamless pipes, flanges, valve and fittings, as well as consumables to the oil and gas industry.
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Capital gains and fleet expansion at CMB

Shipping industry group CMB has confirmed that Bocimar International has sold the vessels ‘CMB Aurélie' (2007, 76,588DWT), ‘CMB Laetitia' (2007, 75,991DWT) and ‘CMB Yangtze' (2007, 53,617DWT).

The vessels has been sold to subsidiaries of Genco Shipping and Trading of the USA. The total net sale price amounted to US$253 million. At the time of the delivery of these vessels, all scheduled to take place in the course of the third quarter of 2008, CMB will realize a total capital gain of more than US$154 million. Bocimar has also ordered two 176,000DWT Capesize newbuildings from Jinhaiwan, China. The purchase price amounts to US$88.5 million per vessel and the deliveries are scheduled to take place in April 2009 and July 2010. Finally Bocimar, in a joint venture with Wah Kwong of Hong Kong, has ordered two post-Panamax 93,000DWT newbuildings from Shanhaiguan, China. The newbuilding price amounts to US$52.8 million per vessel. The vessels will be delivered in December 2010 and February 2011.

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MOL to build 53 new iron ore carriers

Mitsui OSK Lines has announced plans to construct 53 new iron ore carriers to meet rising demand for iron ore transport as the world economy continues to grow.

To be launched between now and early 2014, the orders comprise four 300,000-tonne, two 250,000-tonne, seven 230,000-tonne, one 200,000-tonne, 27 170,000-tonne, ten 110,000-tonne and two 80,000-tonne vessels. MOL's operated iron ore carrier fleet totals 125 vessels including Cape-size and Panamax types. The fleet will total around 160 by the end of March 2014, including about 135 Cape-size vessels and about 25 Panamax ships.

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