Grandweld holds keel laying for thee vessels

Dubai, UAE: Grandweld has celebrated a keel laying ceremony for three new shipbuilding contracts for the offshore oil and gas industry.

The ceremony for two 36-metre utility vessels and one 41-metre crewboat was held on June 18. The vessels will be owned and operated by UAE-based fleet operator Humaid Badir Marine Shipping. The three-vessel order comes after a long history of ship repair work being carried out by Grandweld for Humaid Badir. The 36-metre steel utility vessels will carry 70 tonnes of deck cargo with a maximum speed of 13 knots. The design has an accommodation for 44 persons and is powered by two caterpillar engines rated at 1,080kW each. The aluminium crewboat is yet another order for the highly successful 41-metre series, being the tenth vessel of the design to be built. The vessel carries 45 tonnes of deck cargo, 60 persons and has a maximum speed of 24 knots. Grandweld is also in the final stages of sea trials before delivery for the first of four 100-tonne bollard pull tugs for Bourbon. The other three sister ships to follow later in the year.

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Germanischer Lloyd, Celebrating 10 years in Ireland

June 2009 sees the International Classification Society Germanischer Lloyd (GL) celebrate its 10th anniversary in Ireland.

GL established its Irish subsidiary to service its local client base as well as its international clients on the island of Ireland. For several years, surveyors from the UK and continental Europe were seconded to operate Station Dublin but for the last two and a half years, the station has been manned by a local surveyor. This has permitted the forging of a good local contact point for all clients regardless of their parent company location.Mr Harald Seibicke (Area Vice-President) says “despite Ireland being considered a fringe nation on the map of Europe by many, it provides a very necessary cog in the service that GL provides it clients globally”.As Ireland is an island nation it has a high dependency on maritime trade which in turn leads to many ship calls each year. Figures released by the MSO/MSD of the Dept of Transport show that in excess of 70% of vessels visited in Irish ports are classed with GL. This has led to a recent increase in staff level with the employment of a second local surveyor. Even with this, vessels classed with GL have a very good record in the Paris MoU/PSC inspection results as carried out by the Irish Authorities.

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Shipping on V-shaped recovery: Wei Jiafu

Shanghai: Shipping is on a V-shaped recovery, maintained the boss of China’s most powerful shipping conglomerate.

Capt Wei Jiafu, president and ceo of COSCO, made this announcement in the final morning session of the China Maritime Congress held in Shanghai, coorganised by Shanghai JiaoTong University and Seatrade. Wei pointed to the recoveries in the Baltic Dry Index and western stock markets as grounds for optimism. In China domestic consumption has rocketed this year, he said. Wei revealed he had timed this cycle to perfection, offloading 126 ships in January 2008 at the height of the market. He called on his fellow shipowners to sort out the oversupply of tonnage together, praising Gao Yanming of HOSCO for his decision to cancel a tranche of his orderbook. Wei also said it was up to owners to voice their support for greater trade liberalization at a time when the spectre of protectionism hangs over world trade.

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Crowley Earns CSA Safety Award

Three Crowley vessels and their crews were recently awarded 2008 Jones F. Devlin Awards at the Chamber of Shipping of America's (CSA) Annual Safety Awards Luncheon for operating more than two years without a lost time incident.

The Crowley articulated tug barge (ATB) Sea Reliance/550-1; ATB Sound Reliance/550-2; and the tanker Blue Ridge were recognized for their exemplary safety records. More than 160 people representing over 60 companies attended the annual event held at the Hilton Houston North Hotel. "We have been holding these annual award ceremonies since the mid-1950s," said Joseph Cox, president of the CSA. "For that initial year, we honored six vessels having a total of twelve years operation with no lost-time incidents. This year, we gave awards to 1,094 vessels that operated 7,108 years without a lost-time incident. This extraordinary record is directly attributable to the professionalism of our seafarers and the dedication of shore-based company personnel to safe operation."

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DSME wins $200 million Greek ferry order

Attica Group S.A. of Greece has signed shipbuilding contracts with Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. (DSME), for two monohull-type, fast car-passenger ferries at a price of €68.50 million each [about $200 million for the pair].

The delivery of the first vessel will take place in spring 2011 and of the second vessel in the first quarter of 2012. Both ships are designed to operate in Greek domestic waters. The ships will have overall length 145.5 meters and speed of 25.5 knots and the capacity to carry 2,400 passengers and 450 private vehicles or 50 freight units and 150 private vehicles. Attica CEO Petros Vettas said: "We are pleased to sign the shipbuilding contracts for the construction of two new vessels for our group with the world-class shipyard DSME. The same shipyard has built our most successful vessels, Blue Star Paros, Blue Star Naxos and Blue Star Ithaki a few years ago. Our group's scope to provide first class sea transportation services in domestic and international waters with modern, new and fast ships will be further enhanced with the addition of these two units."

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