Cruise ship 'Queen Victoria' launched

Fincantieri's Venice-Marghera shipyard held a ceremony to launch the cruise ship 'Queen Victoria', ordered by Carnival Group for its British brand, Cunard Line.

The ship will be delivered at the end of 2007. 295 metres long and with a gross tonnage of around 90,000, the 'Queen Victoria' is one of the largest panamax ships ever built. With 1,007 cabins - including a high proportion of luxury suites and mini suites, of which 864 with a sea view, and the majority with an external balcony, the ship is the natural evolution of the concept of the ocean liner following Cunard's long-standing tradition. Godmother to the 'Queen Victoria' was Maureen Ryan, who has worked for Cunard since 1963. Carol Marlow, President and Managing Director of Cunard Line, and, representing Fincantieri, the Chairman Corrado Antonini, the General Manager of the Merchant Ship Business Unit, Enrico Buschi, and the director of Marghera shipyard, Paolo Capobianco were present at the ceremony.
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Tui sets new production records

Production from the Tui Area Oil Project off New Zealand’s Taranaki coast has set new records, with output last week totaling 345,117 barrels or an average of 49,302 barrels per day.

This is the highest weekly production total to date, joint venture partner New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) said. Since the start of production on 30 July, the Tui project has produced about 4.7 million barrels of oil, with 4.5 million barrels having been shipped, mainly to Australian refiners. These exports have contributed to record New Zealand trade figures for August, September and October. Economists have predicted that Tui production will add 0.3% to New Zealand’s GDP in the September quarter. Australian Worldwide Exploration (AWE) operates the Tui oil field with a 42.5% interest. Partners in the project are Mitsui (35%), NZOG (12.5%) and Pan Pacific Petroleum (10%).

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Launch and naming YN-712 'Toisa Pegasus'

IHC Merwede is proud to announce the launch of a new Diving Support/Offshore Construction vessel for Bermuda based Toisa.

The Launch will take place on Saturday November 24, 2007 at Merwede Shipyard and will be performed by Mrs Lorena Vázquez de Hernández, spouse of Mr José Hernández Cantarell, President CICSA. In March 2006 Merwede Shipyard was granted this order because of its ability to design and offer a fixed price for the vessel including the integration of the complete owner furnished dive spread and cranes within the required short delivery time. The vessel has been built under yard No 712. Merwede Shipyard has developed the ship in close co-operation with Toisa (Owners) and Sealion Shipping (Managers). It will be a fully Dynamically Positioned Construction Class Diving Support Vessel, suitable for worldwide operation. As an enhanced sister vessel to the Toisa 'Proteus', 'Polaris' and 'Perseus', with a fully in-built Saturation Diving System, the vessel can, and will, support a wide variety of subsea operations worldwide.
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MacArthur record to be broken

Dame Ellen MacArthur believes her solo round-the-world record will be broken by one of two Frenchmen this winter.

Francis Joyon, 51, set sail from Brest last Friday in an attempt to regain the record taken from him by MacArthur in February 2005. Both Joyon and his compatriot Thomas Colville, who is yet to leave, are sailing longer boats than MacArthur's B&Q, which should ensure greater speed.The 31 year old Briton says that she expects her record to be broken by one of them. MacArthur set the record of 71 days 14 hours. Joyon, the 24-hour solo speed world record holder, should beat it in his 97ft trimaran IDEC II, which is 20 feet longer than the boat MacArthur used. Colville, who had briefly to postpone his departure on Friday from Les Sables D'Ollones, has a 15ft advantage on MacArthur's B&Q in his boat, Sodebo.
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Keppel awarded conversion contract for first FDPSO

Prosafe Production Pte. Ltd. awarded Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. subsidiary Keppel Shipyard Ltd. a US$69.3 million contract for conversion of very large crude carrier size tanker MT Europe into the world's first floating drilling production storage and offloading facility (FDPSO).

Following the conversion, the FDSPO will have a storage capacity of 1.4 million barrels of oil and a processing capacity of 60,000 b/d of fluids, or 40,000 b/d of oil, and natural gas compression capacity of 18 MMcf/d. Work on the vessel is expected to be complete by late 2008.The FDPSO will have a moonpool to be used for drilling purposes, with drilling package modules and a derrick integrated into the FDPSO. The drilling packages will be provided by Murphy West Africa Ltd., which awarded Norway-based Prosafe the conversion and operation contract for the FDPSO earlier this month. The estimated contract value of the firm period is US$400 million.

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New reefer container solution significantly reduces CO2 emissions

Maersk Line announces the implementation of QUEST, which will enable a significant reduction in the energy consumption, and CO2 emissions of our refrigerated containers.

QUEST (Quality and Energy efficiency in Storage and Transport) is a software solution, providing a new temperature control regime. Thereby we can cut the energy consumption used for cooling with up to 50 percent without affecting the quality of our refrigeration solutions. Maersk Line estimates that QUEST will lead to CO2 emission reductions of 325,000 tonnes annually when fully implemented during 2008. The solution is the result of a joint development project sponsored by the Dutch Government, and involving amongst others Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, and Maersk Line. The solution is innovative and successfully challenges conventional wisdom.
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Explorer crew and passengers safe

All 100 passengers and 54 crew of the cruise ship Explorer are safe, says the ship’s operator and technical manager Gap Shipping.

They have been transferred from lifeboats to Nordnorge with a smaller vessel, National Geographic Endeavour. No injuries have been reported. A statement released on behalf of Gap Shipping thanked Chile’s and Argentina’s Marine Response Coordination Centres, which had been immediately, advised when the accident happened and were kept in close touch throughout the emergency. Gap Shipping praised the MRCC Services for their speedy and professional response and paid tribute to the masters and operators of the vessels, which responded so speedily to this emergency. The operator pledged a full investigation to discover how the hull was damaged.
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