Hyundai sets world record, 102 large vessels delivered in 2008

Korea: Hyundai Heavy Industries has beaten the world’s largest delivery record for large sized vessels, delivering 102 vessels in 2008.

HHI held a naming ceremony for 6,500TEU containership ordered from NYK Line, Japanese shipping company on December 29, 2008. The ship was the 102nd vessel delivered by the shipyard in 2008. Since 1974, HHI has delivered 1,505 ships to 237 ship-owners in 44 countries. The company reached the aggregate delivery of 100 vessels in 1979, 200 vessels in 1983, 500 vessels in 1992, and reached the milestone of 1,000 vessels in 2003. HHI plans to deliver 119 vessels in 2009. HHI has about 350 ships in its order backlog, representing more than three years of shipbuilding work.

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Propeller Club to promote UAE maritime industry in a big way

Members of the UAE maritime community are grouping themselves to create ways of promoting the industry and also address the serious concerns affecting them.

Through the International Propeller Club of the UAE, Dubai Chapter, the maritime community will seek to enhance quality and improve professionalism in the country's maritime industry Created recently as a non-government organization with the aim of bringing together all members of the maritime community to discuss areas of mutual interest and chart the way forward for the industry, it will complement existing bodies working towards the cause of the maritime industry. "Our primary purpose is to generate interest for the enhancement of the maritime sector," said Tom Burke, President of the International Propeller Club of the UAE. The Dubai Maritime City Authority, the world's first purpose-built maritime centre, is sponsoring the Propeller Club as part of its initiative to support grassroots development of the maritime sector in the UAE and the region. Existing private maritime bodies include the UAE Ship Owners' Association and the Dubai Shipping Agents' Association.

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MIS floats out Hull 107

UAE based fabricator Maritime Industrial Services has loaded out its third jack-up rig, Hull 107, well ahead of schedule and in what it said was a “more advanced” state of completion.

The rig is due to start a contract in February 2010 with KSAM2 Petrodrill Offshore, a joint venture of MIS with Singapore’s KS Energy Services and Saudi Arabia’s Amwal Al Khaleej. The jack-up is the first built to the Friede & Goldman Super Mod 2 design and is rated to drill to a depth of 30,000 feet in water up to 300 feet deep. MIS said the rig was loaded out at a weight of 5200 tonnes, compared to 4200 tonnes for its two previous rigs, Hull 104 and Hull 105, meaning less work will need to be carried out to equip the rig at the quayside. The extra weigh includes four living quarter modules and 150 tonnes of steel outfitting. MIS said 80% of mechanical installation had been completed on Hull 107 compared with 40% on the previous rigs. “We’re very pleased to see such visible benefits of our steep learning curve which is already delivering results for Hull 107,” said MIS chief executive Kevin Hudson. MIS said it currently has seven rigs being built in its yard in Sharjah and due for delivery this year and next.

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Good 2008 for Singapore despite year-end downturn

Singapore's maritime and port sector defied economic gravity in the later half of 2008 to hit new highs in vessel arrival tonnage, container throughput, cargo throughput, bunkering volumes and fleet size.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's efforts to develop Singapore as a premier global hub port and an international maritime centre continued to yield good results. The port of Singapore retained its global lead in vessel arrival tonnage, containers handled, and bunkers lifted, while the Singapore registry of ships is currently the fourth largest in the world. Singapore is also home to more than 100 international shipping groups. The maritime cluster as a whole employs more than 100,000 people and contributes some seven percent to Singapore's GDP. Singapore's port and maritime performance in 2008 was announced by Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Raymond Lim.

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Dubai budget reaffirms port priorities

All talk of the emirate of Dubai being in financially constrained times were thrown out the door this weekend with the 2009 budget showing massively increased spending – and ports and shipping form a core of the projected spending.

The Dubai Government formally announced its budget for 2009 with a 42 per cent jump in government spending to Dh37.7 billion against Dh33.5 billion in revenues that could result in a Dh4.2 billion deficit, or 11.14 per cent of the budget. As much as Dh17.05 billion, or 45 per cent of the budget, has been earmarked for infrastructure, public transport - the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai Metro, Dubai Municipality projects, and the Dubai Ports Authority.

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