Evergreen Named Ocean Carrier of the Year

Evergreen Line announced it has been selected by Wal*Mart Stores Inc. as International Ocean Carrier of the Year for 2007-2008.

The award is presented every year by the nation's leading retailer for service excellence in ocean shipping. The award was presented to Jay Buckley, Executive Vice President, Business, of Evergreen Shipping Agency (America) Corp., the U.S. agent for Evergreen Line, at Wal*Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. In accepting the award, Buckley acknowledged the dedicated teamwork of its associates in delivering shipments from point of loading in Asia to release in North America, even during peak season, with consistent coordination and reliable performance. Evergreen relied on its integrated global information technology system to support Wal*Mart's logistics operations, using electronic data interchange (EDI) to provide shipment status updates throughout the shipping process.

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Transocean 'GSF Rig 127' sets world record

Transocean's jackup rig ‘GSF Rig 127' has set a world record for the longest extended-reach well ever drilled, at 12,289 metres MD (measured depth), with a 10,902-metre horizontal section at Houston in USA.

The well was drilled offshore Qatar in 36 days. The new record of 12.2km is also the first well in the history of offshore drilling that exceeds 12,191 metres. The well surpasses by approximately 609 metres, the prior extended-reach record of 11,680 metres MD set by another drilling contractor with a land rig drilling at Sakhalin Island earlier this year. The rig's crewmembers, working with the client, Maersk Oil Qatar, overcame many constraints, including high drilling torque throughout certain parts of the horizontal section. The Well BD-04A is in the Al-Shaheen field offshore Qatar. In addition to staying focused on safe operations, crew used extensive deck-management planning and a supply boat to hold additional drill pipe so that the rig could stay within its variable deck load rating. Transocean is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor and provider of drilling management services worldwide. The company has a fleet of 138 mobile offshore drilling units plus nine announced ultra-deepwater newbuild units.

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Pelican Offshore expands fleet with four new AHTS

Singapore's Pelican Offshore Services has acquired four new anchor handling, towing and supply vessels (AHTS) scheduled for delivery between the fourth quarter of the 2009 financial year and the second quarter of the 2010 financial year.

Each 60-metre AHTS will be equipped with a pair of 2,240kW main engines, exerting a minimum bollard pull of 70 tonnes, along with two bow thrusters and one stern thruster. Other features include dynamic positioning to "DP2" standard, enabling less than one-metre accuracy in offshore station keeping and class 1 fire fighting pumps. The vessels will be built in Malaysia, and each can accommodate up to 26 persons. "Our new vessels are built to support a variety of offshore activity, including ROV and diving operations," said Pelican's Director and General Manager, Captain John Price. "We are currently in talks to acquire more AHTS," Pelican currently owns and operates a fleet of two AHTS, four fast supply intervention vessels and one crew boat, with one more AHTS due for delivery at the end of 2008. Penguin International Limited was formerly known as Penguin Boat International Limited.
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Pirates attack livestock carrier

Pirates have attacked a Vroon livestock carrier off the coast of the Philippines.

The 6200DWT ‘Hereford Express' (built 1982) was traveling to Darwin, Australia but detoured to the General Santos port in the Philippines after suffering gunfire damage to its navigational and communications equipment. None of the crew was injured and there have been no reports of structural damage to the hull so far. The Philippines Coast Guard is conducting investigations.
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