MID AMERICA SHIPYARDS

Mid America Delivers Three Tugs to MNO

Mid America Shipyards LLC, out of Ft. Smith, Ark., has just delivered three tug boats to MNO operating out of Suriname in South America. Two of the vessels are 31.5 ft long by 14 ft wide with a hull depth of 5.5 ft and an eye level of 1.8 ft.  Each vessel is equipped with two Cummins engines QSL9 at 330 hp each continuous duty, provided by Mid South Cummins.  These 660 hp tugs came complete with living quarters featuring a set of bunk beds, toilet, sink, shower, refrigerator, hotplate, air conditioning, 9 KW gen set, two 10 ton winches, 3-inch shafts and 38-inch props.  These tug boats will be used to push 195-ft hopper barges up and down the rivers in Suriname. The third boat was a single engine 135 hp (John Deere) helper tug.  It is 25.5 ft long by 8 ft wide with a 3.5 ft deep hull.  Its engine was provided by C K Power.  

NSA And SCA Merge

Donald T. 'Boysie' Bollinger, chairman and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., and chairman of the National Shipyard Association (NSA) and Daniel L. Gulling, president of Marinette Marine Corp., and chairman of the Shipbuilders Council of America have announced the merger of the two associations. The new association, also called Shipbuilders Council of America, represents more than 50 shipyard companies that own and operate more than 100 shipyards in 20 states

Hamburg Süd, Maersk Line, and NYK Announce Joint Operations

Hamburg Süd, Maersk Line, and NYK announced that they have reached agreement to operate jointly in the trade between Asia, South Africa, and South America. From mid April, the linew will replace the current three strings (one operated by Maersk Line and two operated by Hamburg Süd and NYK) by two strings with modern and fast vessels. The overall capacity produced by the new two string system is roughly the same as the capacity presently provided by the three Lines

Cruise Companies Slump On EPA Report

Cruise shipping lines, which were already weathering a slump to start 2000, were smacked with more bad news on Wednesday when it was revealed that six cruise ship companies -- Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Carnival Cruise Lines - were cited for emitting illegal amounts of smoke in scenic areas of Alaska, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. Princess Cruises reportedly plans to review the allegations and to request a conference

Lloyd’s Center of Excellence, North America

Lloyd’s Register North America, Inc. held an open house for its newly expanded offices in Fort Lauderdale on February 25, unveiling a modern training facility that will host an array of marine training courses and topical seminars for clients and industry associates. The new training facility in Fort Lauderdale is the latest addition to a global training strategy and highlights plans to broaden learning opportunities for the maritime industry in North America.

Simplex Expands Service Team

Simplex Americas LLC, the representative office for Blohm & Voss Industries GmbH in the Americas, has expanded its Factory Trained & Authorized service team with the hiring of Jay M. Lewis as Service Engineer. Lewis’ 15 years of propulsion and shaft experience includes progressive positions as Outside Machinist for various Marine Contractors, Outside Machinist Foreman at Bender Shipbuilding, and ultimately Outside Machinist Leaderman at Atlantic Marine Inc., in Mobile, Alabama

Victoria Shipyard Racks Up Cruise Ship Jobs

First making headlines this past summer, when the Vancouver-based yard performed the emergency pod repair on Celebrity's Infinity, Victoria Shipyards has booked an additional five cruise vessels that are scheduled for routine repairs and drydockings from May 9 through the middle of October. With the departure of Cascade General's Number Four drydock last year to Grand Bahama Island, Victoria has gained a foothold in the realm of West Coast ship repair for cruise vessels that frequent the

USS Hopper Returns from Deployment

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper (DDG 70) returned to her homeport of Naval Station Pearl Harbor April 23 following a three month deployment to the Western Pacific in support of the Mid-Pacific Surface Combatant Operational Employment program. Hopper departed Pearl Harbor Jan. 20 to join the John C. Stennis Battle Group and members of Destroyer Squadron 15 while supporting the Mid-Pacific Surface Combatant Operational Employment program

Cunard Narrows Field To Five

Cunard Line says it has five bids from European shipyards to build the Queen Mary 2, a rare new transatlantic liner that will rank with the world's largest passenger ships upon its completion in 2003. Cunard’s president Larry Pimentel was quoted as saying the a letter of intent should be forthcoming in the next few weeks, or month. All of the shipyards bidding are reportedly based in Europe. The original Queen Mary, built in a British shipyard, is now a floating hotel in southern California

GL Signs Multi-Purpose-Vessels in Bangladesh

Two 7,250 dwt multi-purpose-vessels are the latest addition to the orderbook of classification society Germanischer Lloyd. The ships will be built at Ananda Shipyard in Bangladesh for German shipowners Komrowski and Herrmann Lohmann Schiffahrt. Germanischer Lloyd Member of the Executive Board Dr Hermann J. Klein and Ananda Shipyard’s Managing Director Mrs. Afruja Bari signed the agreement at SMM in Hamburg. The two multi-purpose-vessels belong to a series