Dockstavarvet delivers ‘LOS 118’

Norway: Dockstavarvet has delivered the new pilot boat ‘LOS 18’ to the Norwegian Coastal Administration’s Ålesund Pilot Station.

‘LOS 118’ features a new configuration that reduces its fuel consumption by 25 percent. When Dockstavarvet delivered ‘LOS 116’ (Yard No 551), to the Norwegian Coastal Administration in May 2008, the boat fulfilled all requirements regarding seakeeping, operational characteristics and comfort. However, with a full load displacement of 38 tonnes and oil prices peaking in mid 2008, fuel cost became worrying. ‘LOS 116’ is fitted with a quite heavy propulsion system of two 720kW engines with CP propellers giving a service speed of 27 knots. Before executing an option for four more units of the same type the customer ordered a review of the design aiming to reduce fuel consumption. Docksta’s design team soon found out that switching to Volvo-Penta’s D16 engines at Rating 2 with Twin Disc Quick Shift gearboxes and FP propellers would reduce weight by three tonnes plus another tonne on piping and auxiliary systems. One more tonne was shaved off from other equipment bringing the total weight saving to five tonnes. The preliminary calculations indicated that the same speed could be achieved with a reduction in fuel consumption of 25 percent.

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MISC container vessel transformed into anti-pirate naval auxiliary

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian shipping company MISC has turned one its feeder ships into an auxiliary naval vessel for combating Somali pirates, writes Anderimar Shipping News.

The move follows last year's hijacking of MISC tankers Bunga Melati Dua and Bunga Melati 5 in the gulf. A company statement says: “MISC Berhad, in collaboration with the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) and the National Security Council (NSC), has successfully modified its container ship Bunga Mas Lima into a RMN Auxiliary Vessel for the purpose of escorting and protecting MISC's ships sailing through the Gulf of Aden.”The 699teu Bunga Mas Lima, is the first Malaysian merchant ship to be modified as an Auxiliary Vessel and is first such conversion reported in connection with the build-up of warships from many countries off the Somali coast.

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Newfield makes two discoveries in Gulf of Mexico

HOUSTON: Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE: NFX) has made two discoveries this year in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Pyrenees and Winter. Both wells were drilled by Diamond Offshore semisubmersible Ocean Star.

The Pyrenees discovery in 2,100 feet (640 m) of water on Garden Banks Block 293 encountered around 125 feet (38 m) of net hydrocarbon pay in three separate intervals. The well was temporarily abandoned and the partners are working on field development plans. Delineation drilling is planned for the second half of 2009. Newfield operates Pyrenees with 40 percent working interest. Additional partners include Stone Energy Corp., Ridgewood Energy Corp., Arena Exploration and Deep Gulf Energy, each with 15 percent interest.

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MR product tankers earning more than VLCCs

Even though MR product tankers cost three times less than VLCCs, the smaller vessels have been earning more than the supertankers in western markets, and there are fundamental factors driving product tanker rates higher and VLCC rates lower.

There has been a significant dip in cargoes for VLCCs and other types of crude carriers on the back of OPEC cuts in their crude output.“OPEC is supposedly trying its best to cut 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from the market. Full compliance is equivalent to at least two VLCCs out of a job every day,” said one broker to Tankerworld.“However, the same downturn in trade is not necessarily the case for products, where the interaction between regional refinery throughput and oil demand can lead to substantial arbitrage trades taking place,” said Gibson.According to Gibson, the Atlantic basin gasoline market is a good example of this, “with European exports pressurizing US refinery margins to such as extent that US refiners have had to cut throughput.”“However, US gasoline demand has started to pick up seasonally with the driving season now under-way. These factors, along with recent refinery outages, have led to US gasoline stocks falling sharply to levels lower than a year ago, which in turn has supported the market and given rise to increases in gasoline trade from NW Europe to the US.“Add to this more gasoline trade to West Africa and Mexico, along with congestion in NW Europe and there has been enough activity to push the MR market much higher over the past 4-5 weeks,” Gibson said.

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Daewoo Engineering wins Algerian port expansion contract

Seoul: Algeria's Transport Ministry has awarded Daewoo Engineering & Construction a construction deal covering the expansion of Djen Djen port, 350 kms east of Algiers, writes news source Meed.

The award follows Dubai based ports operator DP World winning a management contract in March 2009 to redevelop and operate Djen Djen port as well as the larger Port of Algiers.One source close to Daewoo, which has not disclosed the value of the contract, said that the company will expand the north and east breakwaters by 400mtr and 250mtr respectively. Daewoo will also create a new breakwater and an absorbing beach. The Transport Ministry wants the new port, which has been renamed DP World Djen Djen to act as a transshipment hub to serve the western part of the Mediterranean. The port will also serve as the main terminus for the eastern part of Algeria.

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Somali piracy a boost for London's shipping insurers

London's shipping insurers are emerging as big winners from the surge in piracy across the Gulf of Aden.

As the frequency of attacks rises, so, too, does coverage of vessels plying pirate-infested waters.London has been home to the world's marine underwriting market since 1688 – when Edward Lloyd's coffee shop became the meeting place to sell coverage for slave ships. And it is the Lloyd's of London syndicates that make money insuring ships routed through the Gulf. (US insurers do not cover piracy. Figures released last month by marine broker Aon reveal the surcharge for separate kidnap and ransom coverage could mean a shipowner pays an extra $30,000 per journey – for every $3 million worth of coverage – through high-risk seas – 10 times that charged last year. Insurance firms are sensitive to suggestions that they benefit from the actions of pirates wielding rocket-propelled grenades, more so when their shipowning clients are wheezing from the impact of recession. But with 22,000 Gulf transits a year, additional premiums could be worth up to $400 million, says J. Peter Pham, a piracy expert at James Madison University in Harrisburg, Va.

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‘Norman Arrow’ arrives in Dover

LD Lines' new Incat 112-metre wave piercing catamaran, ‘Norman Arrow’, arrived in the Port of Dover for the first time on May 26, following completion of her three-week delivery voyage from Hobart, Australia.

“The vessel has performed admirably throughout the voyage,” said the master for the voyage, Captain Nick Dunn. The ‘Norman Arrow’ will be the largest fast ferry to operate on the cross channel routes between England and France, when she commences servicee on the Dover – Boulogne route from Saturday June 6.

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