USS New Orleans Enters Dry Dock

USS New Orleans (LPD 18) entered a dry dock in Bahrain April 25 to continue repair work on the ship's hull.

The Navy signed a firm fixed-price contract with Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (ASRY) Shipyards in Manama, Bahrain to repair New Orleans.The repair contract includes planning efforts, material procurement, pre-fabrication and dry dock repair work and is expected to be completed in 10 to 14 days.The amphibious transport dock was damaged in a collision with USS Hartford (SSN 768) March 20, 2009.The ship dry docked in ASRY Shipyards Graving dock located in Manama, Bahrain. Two commercial vessels are in the graving dock at the same time as New Orleans, Motor Vessel Virginian and Ensco-97. Virginian is a U.S. flagged munitions ship often contracted by the Military Sealift Command. Ensco-97 is a Liberian flagged oil drilling rig owned by U.S. based Ensco International Incorporated.
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New tugs to service Panama Canal

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced on April 28 that five new tugs had been added the its fleet.

All five 3,580kW vessels were built at Cheoy Lee Shipyards, Hong Kong. ACP Executive Vice President of Operations Manuel Benítez said that an additional 13 tugs, also purchased from Cheoy Lee Shipyards, are scheduled to begin arriving in September 2010. These new units will come with an award-winning design, superior components, stronger engines, better clutches and advanced propulsion systems.

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Jurong seeks to sell Petrorig I

SINGAPORE: Sembcorp Marine subsidiary Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd (JSPL) is seeking to sell the newly completed semisubmersible PetroRig I.

Construction has been completed on the PetroRig I, and the rig was ready for delivery to PetroRig I Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PetroMena ASA, earlier this month. However, as final payment was not made to JSPL under the construction contract, JSPL has terminated the contract today.In accordance to its rights under the contract, Jurong Shipyard will proceed to sell the rig.PetroRig I is a sixth generation ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig built based on the Friede & Goldman Ex-D design. The rig is capable of operating in 3,000 meters (9,842 ft) water depth and harsh environment drilling conditions and is also suitable for operations in most of the world's known challenging deepwater arena.

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Dredging underway in South Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City: Tan Thuan Industrial Park Development Company (IPC) began the first phase of dredging the Soai Rap River on Monday to allow larger vessels to enter Hiep Phuoc port complex in HCMC's Nha Be District.

Under the mammoth three-phase dredging plan, the riverbed will be dredged to a final depth of 12 meters to allow for navigation of vessels of up to 70,000 tons, enabling the port complex to have annual throughput of 250 million tons of goods after 2015.In the first phase this year and next, the river will be dredged to a depth of 9.5 meters to allow for 30,000 to 50,000-ton ships, raising the port complex's handling capacity to 140 million tons per year. The second phase in 2012-2013 aims to create a passage of 12 meters deep for vessels of 50,000 to 70,000 ton to navigate into Hiep Phuoc port complex.

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Newbuilding orders keep on plunging in March

The third month of the year proved no exception to the previous ones, since from November onwards, newbuilding orders on a worldwide basis remain under the 1 million-dwt monthly mark.

As shipowners are scaling back investments, shipyards are bound to suffer in earnings. Chinese yards in particular appear to be in dire straits, as Worldyards shipbuilding database indicates that thus far 55.65% of the total 7,862 million cgt in cancellations have occurred in China. While the current global orderbook stands at just shy of 158m cgt, owners are practically absent from newbuilding orders. The world new ship contracts kept low at 693,700 dwt in March the fifth month with turnover down 1 million dwt. CANSI’s newly published survey this week showed China's ship industry continued the downturn from end 2008 to January and February grabbing very few new orders. It's expected the new orders will keep rare in H1 then rally in H2.Shipbuilders like Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co Ltd revealed that they started to feel hard to receive new orders, though they had relatively plentiful holdings which could spread to 2011 and 2012. Meanwhile, order cancellation continued. During January to February there was an accumulative cancellation of 13 ships equal to 664,000 dwt.

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