Sunday, July 27, 2008

Aker to build well intervention unit for Island Offshore

Aker Yards has signed a contract with fellow Norwegian company Island Offshore for the building of a well intervention unit.

The vessel will be based on the same design as ‘Island Wellserver’, delivered from Aker Yards earlier this year. The value of the contract is approximately US$240 million included equipment supplied by the owners. The well intervention unit is scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of 2011. The new vessel will be based on the same design as ‘Island Wellserver’, upgraded with increased length, engine capacity, thrusters capacity and topside capacity. The vessel will measure 130.3 metres in overall length with a 25-metre moulded beam, and a depth to main deck midship of 11.2 metres. The well intervention unit will be of Rolls-Royce UT 767 CDL design, and will be built at Aker Yards in Norway.
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Rolls-Royce wins Specialist Vessel Order

Rolls-Royce has won a $33.4m follow-up order to design and equip a specialist well intervention vessel.

The latest order, from Island Offshore, follows the successful delivery of the first well intervention vessel, Island Wellserver, in March this year. The new 130 m long UT 767CDL vessel, which will drill in ultra deep waters, offers single cabins for 97 crew members. As with the UT 767CD Island Wellserver, the vessel meets cruise ship standards for noise and vibration.The vessel, to be delivered in 2011, will be built at Aker Yards, Langsten, Norway. In addition to design, Rolls-Royce will also deliver four main engines, propulsion, deck machinery and automation systems.The contract brings the total number of Rolls-Royce UT Design offshore vessels under construction worldwide to 120. Around 650 of these ships have been built or ordered since the mid 1970s.
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Massive bulker order from Dalian

The Haichang Group, headquartered in Dalian, has placed one of the biggest orders of the year in China.

The firm, founded in 1992, is spending $900m on 20 bulkers to be built at Co has clinched a huge bulker order for 20 panamax ships at a domestic shipbuilder Jiujiang Yinxing Shipyard, according to local news outlet SinoCast. Haichang is also involved in petrochemicals and property. Sea Fortune is perhaps its best known shipping subsidiary. Its last notable order was six years ago for a quartet of 300,000 dwt VLCCs.
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Asian port operators scoop up Greek port tenders

A group including Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), Hong Kong, and Greek pharmaceuticals group Alapis, has made the highest bid to run and upgrade cargo facilities at the Greek port of Thessaliniki.

The Government plans to turn the outdated port facilities into a new modernised facility, with the aim of becoming a regional hub while boosting cargo business. HPH offered US$4.85 billion over the 30-year duration of the project and is guaranteeing 70 percent of the offer prices, even if revenues from the port fall short of expectations. HPH also plans to invest US$766.85 in upgrading the port’s facilities. Meanwhile, COSCO Pacific has won the tender to run Piraeus Port. COSCO Pacific offered US$1.38 billion with a 70 percent guarantee and said it would invest US$519.8 million in upgrades.
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China Coal, China Shipping team up to ship coal

China National Coal Group Corp and China Shipping (Group) Company will cooperate on coal transportation and the establishment of coal transfer centres, the China Securities Journal reported on Thursday.

The newspaper also said the two companies would form a joint venture in the future. Chronic transportation bottlenecks have constrained the flow of coal from China's resource-rich north to the south, partly contributing to a serious power shortage. China Shipping, one of China's largest shipping groups, is the parent of China Shipping Development Co and China Shipping Container Lines Co. China Coal Energy Co is the listed arm of China National Coal Group Corp, the country's No. 2 coal producer.
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Saturday, July 26, 2008

Management fees “must rise”

SHIPOWNERS can expect to pay more for shipmanagement according to Ole Stene, President of the ship managers association InterManager.

In an InterManager statement he says that ship owners must realise that shipmanagement fees need to increase otherwise the majority of professional managers will become reluctant to take on more ships for management. Claiming that ship owners still had to recognise the valuable role that third party managers play in today’s shipping industry, Mr Stene complains that owners still “did not want to pay the fees that managers’ deserve for taking care of their assets”. He adds “I have not seen much improvement in the management fee structure since it first started to be debated in the media and when you see how the shipping market has improved coupled with the concerns we have on recruiting and manning and taking care of the asset value of the ships, we are surprised owners are not prepared to share their fortune with us in taking care of their ships.” Despite this reticence on the part of the owners, he claims it is inevitable that fees will rise and that owners will start to realise they have to invest in manning but also in paying for the management services they are receiving.
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Subsea 7 wins EPIC US$70 million contract

Subsea 7, UK, has been awarded an engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) contract valued at US$70 million by Centrica Resources Limited for the Grove Extension and Seven Seas Development Projects in the Southern North Sea.

The EPIC contract is a tieback of new gas production wells to the existing Grove and West Sole Alpha Platforms via 15.2cm and 20.3cm carbon steel production pipelines and integrated service and control umbilicals. Engineering will commence immediately and will be performed at Subsea 7’s Aberdeen offices. Fabrication of the pipelines will be carried out at Subsea 7’s new North Sea pipeline fabrication and spoolbase facility at Vigra, on the west coast of Norway. Offshore operations are due to take place during the second and third quarters of 2009 and will utilise a number of Subsea 7’s vessels, including the recently acquired ‘Seven Navica’.
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