Hanjin adds capacity replacing two smaller ships with bigger newbuilds

Hanjin Shipping has named its two latest 6,500-TEU vessels, the Hanjin Mumbai and Hanjin Shenzhen, which were built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries yards in Ulsan, South Korea.

The vessels are the sixth and seventh containerships in a series of eight in the 6,500-TEU class currently being built by HHI. The two larger newbuilds are intended to replace the 5,500-TEU ships now on Hanjin's Far East Europe Express (FEX) service. The shipping line said "this supply of more vessel space from Asia to Europe service will contribute to stable transportation of cargo". The port rotation for the FEX service is: Xingang, Gwangyang, Busan, Yantian, Singapore, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Singapore, Kaohsiung, returning to Xingang.
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Nichols Brothers Resumes Work

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders returned to work after the company laid off 185 employees.

Shortly thereafter, the company filed for bankruptcy protection, a move necessitated by a big lawsuit filed by a disgruntled customer. While the bankruptcy issues are far from settled, Nichols Brothers was allowed to negotiate with individual boat owners to see that their projects, shut down on Nov. 2, could be completed. Those boat owners are now paying the workers’ salaries, as Nichols Brothers as a company is broke and is up for sale. The rehiring process will continue as more existing contracts are placed online though negotiations with individual companies. The 54 workers brought back Monday are working on two tugboats and one catamaran already started, and another catamaran that’s ready to start.
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Hatteland Names Hawthorne as General Manager

Hatteland Display computers and panel computers has appointed David Hawthorne as General Manager of its American operations.

The appointment comes as Hatteland Display's global growth continues in the wake of the introduction of new Naval displays, upgraded Series 1 displays and the 2006 launch of the sophisticated Series 2 product family. David, who is based in San Diego, California, joined Hatteland Display on 23rd October 2007, from his position as Business Development Manager at L-3 Communications RCCS Division. Previous to this, he spent time as a Sales Manager for Barco and has a total of 15 years experience as an Electrical Engineer at major U.S. defense contractors including Loral and Lockheed Martin. These previous roles have given him vast experience in the military market that will be put to good use as the General Manager for Hatteland Display in the USA.

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China becomes Japan's largest trading partner

China has become the largest trading partner of Japan with cumulative trade value rose 14 per cent year on year to US$191.9 billion from January to October in 2007.

At the same time Japan found itself the third largest trading partner of China. Value of trade between the two countries for the first time exceeded $200 billion in 2006. By the end of October, Japan has invested $60.8 billion in 39,334 projects in China, making it the second largest investor in China.

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Wuhan's Yangluo Port capacity to reach 150,000 TEU

Capacity of the Port of Yangluo in the middle reaches of the Yangtze of near the central city of Wuhan is expected to reach 150,000 TEU by the end of the year.

Yangluo's capacity will rise to 210,000 TEU by 2011 and surpass 260,000 TEU by 2020. According to the development plan, the city has attracted CNY10 billion (US$1.4 billion) investment for the mega logistics park which covers an area of about 670 hectares and is expected to generate revenue between CNY20 - CNY30 billion. In another deal, customs in Wuhan and Nanning recently signed a regional customs clearance co-operation memo to provide convenience for trade between Hubei and south east Asia via Nanning.

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GL Opens New Office in Vladivostok

Pushed by strong shipping investments and a world-wide shortage in yard capacity, Russia’ shipping industry is back in business.

Accordingly, the demand for classificatory services increases. With its new site-office in Vladivostok classification society Germanischer Lloyd systematically expands its surveyor network. The service network in Russia managed by Guido Försterling encompasses offices in St Petersburg, Volgograd and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Another site-office will be opened in Novorossijsk soon. The classification society offers the full range of services for shipowners from newbuilding surveillance to International Safety Management (ISM) and International Ship and Port Facility Security audits. GL is also closely cooperating with the State Marine Technical University of St Petersburg (SMTU), jointly propagating high scientific standards and practical relevance for a first class maritime education.

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Super Computer accelerates Super yacht design

Urban Voyage, a New Zealand based 3D Design Studio have introduced Supercomputing power to the Super yacht industry through a recent collaboration with yacht owners and award winning builder ‘Yachting Developments’ in project ‘Bristolian’.

Bringing the 120ft (37m), Phillipe Briand designed composite sloop project to life, Urban Voyage were able to deliver overnight design changes and work 24-hour workdays to complete the project and its requirements. Utilizing an exclusive and ongoing partnership with Gen-i’s New Zealand Supercomputing Centre, Urban Voyage could process information with the power of the equivalent of over 1,000 cpus, thus dramatically reducing rendering time and allowing ‘on the go’ and real time changes to the project benefiting the owners, designers and builders unanimously.

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