New milestone for 'Napoli' salvage

The operation to remove the stern section of the container vessel ‘Napoli’ from the Devon coast has reached another milestone.

Global Response Maritime of The Netherlands, has now completed positioning all twelve lifting chains under the wreck. The lifting chains were put in place by a new subsea drilling system in less than three weeks. This marks the first total subsea, use of the drilling system in an offshore wreck removal. The drilling system employed consists of a 110-tonne subsea drilling module powering a remote-operated, transponder-guided drilling rod. The first lifting chain was pulled into place on withdrawing the drilling rod. With all lifting chains in position, the main operational phase will commence in early May. Subcontractor, Hapo, of The Netherlands, will mobilise two 140-metre flat-top barges rigged with heavy mobile cranes, together with two support tugs. A series of 24 chain-pullers, installed on the flat-top barges, will be connected up to the lifting chains ready on location.The two lifting barges will be moored parallel to ‘Napoli’s’ stern. When preparations for the main lift are completed, the barges will be ballasted down, to compensate for the forces acting on the pullers and reduce movement in the swell.

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Hyde, Alandia Engineering Partnership

Hyde Marine, Inc. and Alandia Engineering OY announced the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) for Alandia to provide engineering and installation services for the Hyde Guardian ballast water management technology.

The partnership allows Hyde to offer its customers an organization to manage the multi-disciplined task of installing ballast water management systems on existing ships. A formal agreement will be signed during the next few months. Hyde Marine intends to continue this partnership effort to include additional engineering and installation company partners in order to serve customers in all market segments and geographical locations worldwide.Hyde began developing BWT technology more than ten years ago working closely with regulators, researchers and shippers. Hyde delivered and installed five ballast treatment systems in 2001-2002, leading up to the delivery of Hyde Guardian systems on the cruise ship Coral Princess in 2003 and the Celebrity Mercury in 2006.

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Origin set to cull BassGas emissions

The Origin-operated BassGas joint venture is set to reduce carbon emissions from the BassGas gas plant at Gippsland in the Australian state of Victoria from 2010 after signing an agreement with Air Liquide.

The joint venture will capture more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide output of the gas plant which will be supplied to a new recovery unit to be built at the plant by Air Liquide at a cost of nearly A$20 million (US$14 million). “The amount of carbon dioxide that will be captured for re-use is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than 21,000 cars or 4900 Australian homes,” said Origin’s general manager for upstream oil & gas, Paul Zealand. The BassGas joint venture has invested A$750 million to develop the BassGas project which provides natural gas, condensate and liquefied petroleum gas from the Yolla field which lies 147 kilometres off Victoria’s south-east coast. Gas is processed onshore at the Lang Lang gas plant, 100 kilometres east of Melbourne.

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Need for New Investments in Oil Sector

A decade ago, oil companies cut investments after crude fell as low as $10.72 a barrel. That led to restrained supply capacity, which boosted prices to a record $147.27 on July 11 last year.

Eight months later, the situation is totally different. The severe economic crisis flattered demand for oil and sank crude prices to levels under $50 per barrel. Now the ghost of oil underproduction in the coming years has returned. This fear is one of the most sound OPEC’s arguments when it is discussing about its future production policy. According to OPEC’s leadership “prices below $50 a barrel are “too low” because they don’t allow producers to invest in expanding capacity”. This is true, and is not just a speculative response to the falling prices. Except oil major production nations, major oil companies are cutting their investments on new fuels or to increase their production in future. The combination of low prices and financial crisis do not allow huge spendings in new investments. But this creates a very dangerous scenario. When the world economy recovers, the production maybe will not be able to satisfy demand. And this could send the fragile economy back in to a new recession, an energy crisis this time. If this scenario becomes a reality, both economy and the shipping market, not only the tanker sector that is directly connected with oil demand, will suffer again.

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Maritime law gathering in Singapore

Singapore: This year, the 2nd Asian Maritime Law Conference (AMLC), themed “Arrest, Insolvency and Pre-Emptive Remedies in a Global Shipping Crisis”, will focus on what shipping interests can do to provide for their future and/or to take action where action is needed.

Speakers ranging from shipping economists, ship financiers, and lawyers taking owners, charterers, shippers and other perspectives will share their experiences and outline their view on the prospects of shipping after the crisis. The conference is held by the Maritime Law Association of Singapore. The event to be held in Suntec City, Singapore in the same time slot as Sea Asia, the premier regional shipping exhibition, starting April 24.

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