Monday, April 27, 2009

CMA CGM flagship vessel calls at Hamburg

The new flagship of French shipping company CMA CGM has recently docked at the Port of Hamburg, Germany.

With a slot capacity of 11,356TEU and 800 connections for reefer containers, the 363-metre ‘CMA CGM Andromeda’ is the biggest container ship to have been handled at the Port of Hamburg to date. According to CMA CGM, the flagship vessel uses six percent less fuel than comparable ships. Its design moreover incorporates a number of technical innovations including an environmentally-friendly method of oil recovery. ‘CMA CGM Andromeda’ is being deployed on the company’s French Asia Line 1 (FAL 1) service between Asia and Europe. With a load carrying capacity of 135,000 tonnes, the ship has a maximum draught of 15.5 metres.
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Maersk builds green container ships

A completely new design will reduce the discharge of CO2 from the future container ships of Maersk Line by up to 22 per cent.

The new design will be tested on a series of 16 container ships that Maersk Line is building in South Korea. "We want A.P. Moller-Maersk to be leading in the development of a more environment friendly shipping. That is why we are seizing the moment, now that the Asian shipyards are in need of orders and therefore are willing to go far to fulfil the wishes of shipping companies, to put considerable focus on initiative, which can reduce fuel expenditure and thereby reduce CO2 discharge", says Bo Cerup-Simonsen, vice president of Maersk Maritime Techonology at A.P. Moller-Maersk's technical organisation, to business.dkThe additional cost of the new 16 ships is approx. 15 pct. more compared to a standard container ship of 7.450 TEU.The 16 container ships, which from the beginning of 2010 will sail Maersk's container services South America - Europe and South America - Asia, make their fuel savings from a series of small initiatives on different parts of the ship.
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Poseidon-1 flirts with ConocoPhillips

The Poseidon-1 exploration well in WA-315-P in the Browse Basin off Western Australia has unveiled more hydrocarbon shows for ConocoPhillips and Karoon Gas.

Since penetrating the top of the Middle Jurassic Plover Formation and intersecting a 10 metre sand that was interpreted to contain hydrocarbons late last week, the well has hit two additional hydrocarbon-bearing intervals of 67 metres and more than 114 metres. Karoon said the base of the lowermost interval had yet to be penetrated as of early this morning, adding that the shows would be evaluated further by analysis of all data on completion of drilling and wireline logging. Poseidon-1, which is being drilled by the Sedco-703 semi-submersible rig, is the first well of a six-well drilling program being carried out by the joint venture in WA-314-P, WA-315-P and WA-398-P.
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Upgrading NCS Installations

A total of 21 production shutdowns are planned by StatoilHydro on the Norwegian continental shelf during 2009.

This extensive work program aims to achieve safer and more efficient facilities. In addition to required maintenance and inspection, many installations will be upgraded to expand capacity, implement technical improvements and extend their economic life. All this will be accomplished during the planned shutdowns, which are known in oil jargon as turnarounds. Compared with 2008, when 26 shutdowns involved 270,000 work-hours in all, this year’s program involves fewer but larger operations. Some 313,000 hours are due to be worked. Involving the group’s own personnel as well as contractor employees along the whole coast, the turnarounds will be completed by 1 October because of gas delivery commitments and weather.
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Clarkson: “recession in the mind, not its pocketbook”

London: Shipping today, although supposedly in deep crisis, is in reality still wallowing in cash after one of the best years in its history.

This is the conclusion of Martin Stopford, Clarkson’s research boss, writing in the firm’s latest weekly report. Although the Clarksea index hit a new all-time low of $7,500 a few days ago, the last 12 months is still one of the most profitable on record. Since its peak - $50,381 a day last May, the index has lost about $1,000 each week. However, the 12-month rolling average of the index, which covers the tanker, bulk carrier, gas and containership sectors and is therefore a good reflection of the industry generally, is still at $26,000 a day, admittedly down from its 2008 peak of $38,950, but still not far below the previous all-time peak of $30,000 in May 2005. “From a financial point of view, these numbers tell us that recession is in the industry’s mind, not its pocketbook,” Stopford says.
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