ICTSI gets new equipment for MICT

International Container Terminal Services recently acquired three brand new eight-high Kalmar side lifters and five new Ottawa-Kalmar prime movers.

This was acquired for its flagship, Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), to further improve efficiency of operations at Manila's leading trade gateway. Specifically built for handling empty containers, the side lifters each have a 19,000mm lifting height, a turning radius of 6,000mm x 200mm, and a safe work load of 9 tonnes. The acquisition now enables the stacking of empty containers to a maximum of 7-high. The addition of the new equipment is expected to improve stacking, and bring about approximately 10 to 15 percent increase in yard capacity. This will result in the freeing up of more slots for import and export full containers. The MICT continues to have the largest and most modern container handling equipment fleet in the Philippines today.

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Stallion deals into California game

US consortium the Stallion Group has inked a deal with Production Specialties to participate in a natural gas prospect in California.

Under the terms of the farm-in agreement, Stallion will pay 12.5% of the costs of the first well to earn a 6.5% interest. Thereafter, Stallion will pay 6.5% of the costs of future wells to earn 6.5%. Stallion has participated in the drilling of the first well, located in North Sacramento Valley, and encountered a number of prospective pay zones.

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Transocean wins Indonesian drilling contract

StatoilHydro and other members of the Makassar Strait Explorers Consortium awarded a two-year contract to Transocean for the drillship GSF Explorer to drill on the Karama block offshore west Sulawesi in Indonesia.

Under the contract, which will begin in late 2009, GSF Explorer will drill 12 exploration wells. The first of the three wells in the Karama license is scheduled for the second half of 2010. StatoilHydro is operator of the three wells with a 51 percent stake; Pertamina will hold a 49 percent share in the wells. The consortium consists of Marathon International Petroleum Indonesia Ltd., Anadarko Popodi Ltd., ConocoPhillips (Kuma) Ltd., ENI Bukat Ltd., Statoil Indonesia Karama AS and Talisman (Sageri) Ltd. Marathon is acting as lead operator for the group, but each member is responsible for their own committed wells.
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Sonangol and Stena Bulk Start Panamax Tanker Pool

Stena Bulk and Sonangol have expanded their shipping collaboration and are now operating a pool with Panamax tankers.

These vessels transport crude oil and petroleum products in Atlantic trade as well as sailing in a round-the-world service. Initially, the pool consists of five Panamax tankers but the aim is to expand it over the next few years to ten vessels by means of purchases or charters. "This new venture is a direct spinoff from the successful collaboration involving a Suezmax pool, which Stena Bulk and Sonangol have been operating for some years. The aim is the same - to enhance efficiency and thus increase revenue", says Ulf G. Ryder, President and CEO of Stena Bulk. "In addition, we will also continue to offer training and education for both Stena and Sonangol seagoing and shore-based personnel", continues Ulf G. Ryder. The Suezmax pool, which was started up in 2005, currently consists of 13 vessels, both owned and chartered. The new Panamax pool is a further development of the same concept but in another market segment. The head office for the pool is located in Stena Bulk's Houston, Texas, headquarters although the group's other offices all over the world are also involved.

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Five missing as cargo ship sinks off Sorsogon

Search and rescue operations continued Friday for five crewmembers of a cargo ship which sank in the San Bernardino Strait off the coasts of Bulusan and Matnog, Sorsogon.

The missing persons were part of the 19-man crew of the LCT Don Wilfredo, which capsized and then sank after being battered by giant waves and strong winds on its way to Legazpi City, said Superintendent Edgardo Ardales, operations chief of the Sorsogon Police Provincial Office. He said the 996-gross-ton vessel, owned by the Candano Shipping Line based in Legazpi City, was loaded with 780 palettes of San Miguel Beer from Mandaue City. Ardales identified the missing as boat captain Nathaniel Latorena, Jose Ordaneta of Cotabato City, Rey Catubuan of Roxas City, Rommel Espinosa of Mindanao, and Jervy Palad of Pampanga. The other 15 crewmembers were rescued by local anglers and police personnel in the towns of Matnog, Bulusan and Barcelon, he said. The vessel left Samar at around noon of Wednesday but when it reached the San Bernardino Strait past noon Thursday, its port side started to list due to huge waves.
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Remedial Offshore selects GE V228 diesel engines

Remedial Offshore announces the purchase of V228 medium-speed diesel engines from GE Marine, Erie, Pa.

The engines will be used to power the new Remedial Offshore Elevating Support Vessels. As the world's first self-propelled, 100-metre nominal water depth-rated jack-up well intervention vessel, Remedial Offhore's ESV design provides a hybrid between a jack-up drilling rig and a marine vessel. The new ESV concept offers tremendous versatility and operational functionality, ranging from an incorporated electric well work over package to a large open deck for offshore support functions. Each vessel is uniquely outfitted to provide a stable work environment for deploying today's most advanced well intervention or production enhancement technologies. ESV abilities include well workovers, sidetracking, well abandonment, facility upgrades, brownfield rejuvenation projects and small field developments, as well as providing complete services for well intervention. Each ESV will employ four GE diesels, one 8-cylinder V228 and three 16-cylinder engines. Two Remedial Offshore ESVs are under construction in China, one at the Yantai Raffles Shipyard. in Shandong, and the second at the COSCO Shipyard Group's facility in Nantong. GE has already delivered to the shipyards two 8V228 and six 16V228 engines.

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IBIA campaigning produces results at IMO

The International Bunker Industry Association has reported a number of significant, positive developments for the bunker industry following the meeting in London of the IMO Bulk Liquids and Gases subcommittee.

Firstly, the subcommittee agreed to streamline proposals designed to reduce sulphur emissions from marine fuel oil. Three options now remain on the table, for discussion at MEPC 57 starting on March 31, 2008. These include a proposal lowering the global cap in two stages and removing the need for Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs), a lowering of sulphur limits in SECAs, and a lowering of the global sulphur limit alongside tighter SECA regimes and the possibility of even stricter so-called 'micro-emissions control areas' close to designated sensitive coastal areas. IBIA secretary-general Ian Adams says, 'IBIA took a full and active part in the BLG discussions. It remains committed to its position that all options, which have the potential to limit harmful emissions from shipping, must be examined and debated before a final decision is made. On another subject, the BLG meeting also agreed that bunker vessels should be excluded from the debate about whether or not to impose more stringent controls and reporting procedures on ship-to-ship transfers of oil. IBIA was one of four delegations asked to participate in discussions over the precision of testing methods used to determine sulphur content in marine fuel oils, and the so-called 'grey area' surrounding test results.

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