Turkish shipyard fatalities put industry under fire

Booming worldwide demand for cargo ships of every kind has greatly benefited Turkey as an "emerging shipbuilding country" in recent years.

It has infused the country with significant amounts of foreign cash and providing an abundance of employment opportunities to local markets. However, this has come at a cost as labor unions become increasingly uneasy over occupational hazards and safety issues that have led to accidents and deaths, problems that threaten the lucrative shipbuilding industry, the world's fourth largest after Japan, South Korea and China. The tragic deaths of two workers at a Tuzla shipyard last week prompted unions and civil society organizations to call on the government to take swift action in regulating the industry. All political parties seem to have a unified position on the issue as well. Parliament's Human Rights Investigation Commission has established a subcommittee to examine the topic and investigate accidents involving fatalities. The government has introduced new safety regulations in line with European Union standards and started to implement safety inspections. New regulations adopted by the International Maritime Association (IMO) have also pushed the industry to build more vessels with greater tonnage. The industry provides a sizable contribution to the Turkish economy, totaling over $2.5 billion in foreign currency, offers employment opportunities to 30,000 people directly and over 70,000 people through parts and related sectors. Industry estimates project a 300,000-strong labor force in total by 2013. The number of shipyards is increasing rapidly in Turkey. The Tuzla shipyards are home to 44 shipbuilders and currently account for 80 percent of export and 70 percent of the sector's employment. With 265 new ship orders, Turkey is fourth in the global shipbuilding market.
Read More

Algeria and Libya seal PSA

A consortium led by Algeria's state energy giant Sonatrach is primed to explore a permit area in Libya after signing a production sharing agreement with Libya's National Oil Corporation.

The deal, signed in Libya by NOC and Sonatrach International Petroleum Exploration and Production (Sipex), Oil India and the Indian Oil Corporation, provides for exploration and production sharing at block 95/96 in the Ghadames basin near the Algerian-Libyan border, Sonatrach said. Sipex, the operator, is an offshoot of Sonatrach. The block was awarded to the outfit in December last year as part of Libya's first gas-focused licensing round. Libya wants to become a major gas producer and aims to increase production to 3 billion cubic feet per day by 2010, with a potential for 3.8 bcfd by 2015, compared with 2.7 bcfd now. Compared with other hydrocarbon provinces, Libya is under-developed because of years of international sanctions. Demand for its gas has been boosted as Europe seeks to curb its dependence on Russia and because gas produces relatively few of the carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

Read More

Nautilus Minerals to mine high-grade mineral deposits on the sea floor

Nautilus Minerals has announced that Teck Cominco has commenced the second phase of its 2008 US$12 million offshore exploration program, with the departure of the vessel ‘DEA Surveyor' from Singapore.

This 150-day program will involve geochemical surveying and sampling, and Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) based sampling over Nautilus tenements in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the exclusive economic zone of Tonga. Part of this program will involve following up on targets defined by surveys completed by the ‘Sepura' in PNG earlier this month. "We have an aggressive offshore exploration program that we are implementing in 2008," said VP Exploration for Teck Cominco, Fred Daley. "This program involves four vessels deploying geophysical and geochemical instruments; and in the case of the ‘DEA Surveyor', an ROV that will have the capability to take rock samples." Nautilus Minerals is following the lead by the petroleum industry to tap vast offshore resources and is planning to mine high-grade seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits of copper, zinc gold and silver. Mine planning is well underway for the world's first seafloor copper gold mine in 1,500 metres of water at the Solwara 1 project in Bismarck Sea in PNG, 50km north of Rabaul Township. The company holds more than 365,000km² of tenement licences and exploration applications in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand along the western Pacific Ocean's Rim of Fire. In March 2005, Nautilus, in joint venture with Placer Dome, undertook new exploration at Solwara 1 aboard the ‘Genesis' with side scan sonar and dredge sampling.
Read More

NOL readies bid of up to $7bn for Hapag-Lloyd

Singapore: Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. is ready to make a cash offer for Hapag-Lloyd of $6 billion to $7 billion and is confident of winning the German container shipper despite an expected bid from a consortium led by the German city of Hamburg.

" NOL is expecting Hapag's formal invitation for bids at the end of this month or early June. Once the request for offers lands, the bid will be made," said one of the people. Hapag-Lloyd, the shipping arm of German tourism company TUI AG, has held talks with NOL about a possible takeover since the beginning of the year. A deal would make NOL the world's third-largest container-shipping firm by capacity. NOL Chief Executive Thomas Held confirmed last month that he was interested in buying Hapag-Lloyd, and TUI said it was in the process of approaching potential buyers. One rival bid likely will come from the city of Hamburg, which has taken a 20% stake in a consortium that plans to make an offer for Hapag-Lloyd, Hamburg Financial Secretary Michael Freytag said. While the consortium would give Hamburg an indirect stake in Hapag-Lloyd, Mr. Freytag said the city doesn't rule out taking a direct stake. Other members of the newly formed consortium are German logistics company Kuhne Holding AG and Hamburg private bank M.M. Warburg & Co.

Read More

MOG's Ombrina Mare 2 provides 'very good results'

Mediterranean Oil & Gas had good results from a horizontal side track well drilled inside the carbonate reservoir at the Ombrina Mare 2 well offshore Italy.

MOG's geological prognosis and the oil appraisal expectations have been met. Transocean jackup George H. Galloway drilled the well to a total depth of 2,145 metres (7,037 ft) in 20 metres (66 ft) of water in the Adriatic Sea. A production test to verify the oil production rates obtainable should get underway in the next few days and be completed by the end of the month. MOG CEO Sergio Morandi said, "The programme to appraise the Ombrina Mare oil and gas field continues to provide very good results. The horizontal well has now appraised the Ombrina Mare structure for a considerable distance away from OM1 and encountered significant oil shows along the entire horizontal hole. Once the full production test is carried out we will be in a position to commission an assessment of the field volumetrics and reserves based on the appraisal results."

Read More

ODC Marine launches new passenger vessel

French-owned Dalian ODC Marine, based in Dalian, China, has just completed a new Bureau Veritas-classified passenger vessel for Corsica, France, designed by Laurent Fourré.

To be operated by Via Mare, the aluminium vessel is 18.3 metres long, and has a displacement of 16.25 tonnes. It is propelled by a pair of 300kW Cummins main engines for a maximum speed of 22 knots and cruising speed of 20 knots.

Read More

Port of Melbourne's fee changes to fund infrastructure

Both loaded container wharfage and empty container charges remain unchanged in the revised Reference Tariff Schedule for port charges which will apply from July 1, 2008, Port of Melbourne Corporation announced.

The new tariff schedule follows the introduction of an amended tariff schedule on April 1, 2008 to recover the costs of the Port Philip channel deepening project, previously announced on 21 December 2007. Under the new schedule, wharfage charges for loaded TEUs remain unchanged at AU$35.50 plus GST (US$33.96), and empty container charges have also been held constant at AU$9.00 plus GST per TEU. Similarly, there are no changes to the infrastructure levy of AU$31.50 plus GST to fund the channel deepening project. PoMC says a moderate price increase has been applied to channel access charges and reflect increased operating costs and planned investment. Passenger cruise vessels were subject to tonnage dues for the use of the channels and navigational aids for the first time in 2007. These vessels will be subject to a tonnage rate of 40 per cent of the published rate to provide for long-term development and improvement of Station Pier, home to Melbourne's growing number of cruise ship visits.

Read More