Saturday, May 30, 2009

Rolls-Royce Marine Tech Off Brazil’s Coast

Rolls-Royce has secured a $61.3b contract to supply a newly-developed anchor handling system that will enable floating oil platforms to be secured to the seabed in the extreme depths off the coast of Brazil.

The system has been developed in response to the increase in deep water oil exploration and will be fitted to two vessels serving platforms owned by Brazilian oil company Petrobas.The vessels are currently under construction by STX Brasil Offshore and each one will carry more than 1,000 tonnes of Rolls-Royce equipment. The equipment package includes winches specially designed for the maneuver and installation of torpedo anchors. Weighing in at 130 tonnes each, the torpedo anchors have been developed by Petrobras. By penetrating the seabed, they give a secure fixing for the heavy-duty cables used to keep oil platforms in position.
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Vietnam inaugurates first deep-water port

Vietnam today inaugurated the country’s first deep-water port for container ships, SP-PSA Port.

The port, located in the Ba Ria " Vung Tau Province, is a project between Saigon Port and PSA Singapore, and is being built in two stages for eventual capacity of 2.2m teu.The first stage, costing $240m has equipped the port with a 1.1m teu capacity from two container wharfs able to receive 80,000 ton ships.Yesterday the port received the 3,821teu APL Alexandrite (the largest container ship to ever arrive in Vietnam) a day ahead of the inauguration. The vessel is scheduled to operate on the first direct service between Vietnam and the US, launching next week.
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Chinese newbuild orders down 95 percent

Statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that newbuild contracts at shipyards in China fell a whopping 95 percent in the first four months of 2009 to 990,000DWT.

“Most of China’s shipbuilders haven’t received any new orders in recent months,” said CANSI Secretary-General Wang Jinlian.One example is south China builder, Guangzhou Shipyard International. The builder received only one contract in April, for a firefighting vessel. At the company’s recent annual general meeting, it was revealed that the shipyard had suffered a 50 percent fall in net profit due to rising costs and the lack of new ordersBased on CANSI research, Mr Wang added that demand for newbuild tankers, boxships and bulkers would remain low in the next few months.Furthermore, numbers form the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) revealed that 28 vessels (1.1 million DWT) were cancelled in April.Statistics from UK-based shipping researcher Clarkson told a similar story- it said that the total number of new orders fell 99.46 percent in April and reached the lowest level since 1996.
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Asia to become world's dominant shipping force

What might feel like a global shipping meltdown will, in hindsight, be viewed as a worldwide shift to an Asian domination of the maritime industry. Such was the conclusion of a recent shipping finance forum in Tokyo.

Asia's determination to protect its shipbuilding industries and to secure its means of supply through nationally owned tonnage has destroyed predictions that a lack of finance would mitigate the impact of an over-exuberant newbuilding market through cancellations. FSL Trust Management president and chief executive Philip Clausius told a gathering of international shipping financiers that the widely-predicted massive cancellation of the orderbook will happen while state-owned Chinese shipowners are being offered 17% subsidies to soak up cancellations from foreign owners."Ship deliveries may be delayed a year or so. They may not go to the original owners, but they will come. And the massive oversupply hangover will not go away any time soon," he said. In a similar vein, Marine Money Asia's financial analyst Rodericks Wong pointed to the speed of Asian governments, primarily in South Korea and China, in initiating larger financial stimulus packages than elsewhere to support both their domestic shipbuilders and owners. This was a leading driver that would shift the balance of shipowning primacy eastward, he said.
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Indian port to develop coal handling terminal

India: The Tuticorin Port Trust (TPT) will invest US$14.7 million into the development of coal handling facilities for the Neyveli Lignite Corporation and Coastal Energy Company.

The NLC facility which will be developed at the North Cargo berth will have an annual capacity of five million tonnes. The coal will be used at a new 1,000 MW power plant in Tuticorin. The power plant and coal handling facility are both scheduled to begin operation in June 2011.
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