Universal Shipbuilding News

Reederei Nord and Synergy Group, on behalf of Nissen Kaiun, have officially launched N2Tankers, a new Aframax tanker pool the two shipowning companies have set up as a joint venture.N2Tankers brings the shipowning and operational expertise of Nissen Kaiun and Reederei Nord under one central umbrella administration for the first time. It will focus on generating commercial and technical management efficiency benefits for clients and owners by streamlining fleet operations and improving…

German shipowner Reederei Nord and Singapore-based ship manager Synergy Group, on behalf of Nissen Kaiun, have launched N2Tankers, a new Aframax tanker pool the two shipowning companies have set up as a joint venture (JV).The combined fleet currently pooled under N2Tankers consists of 13 state-of-the art Aframax tankers built to the highest standards over 2007-2018 in Japanese yards Universal Shipbuilding Corporation, Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering Co., Tsuneishi Holding Corporation, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd, and Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co.According to a press statement, N2Tankers brings the shipowning and operational…

Rolls-Royce won a contract to supply a high-strength controllable pitch propeller for a new ice-breaking cargo ship which will transport nickel and copper concentrates from Canada, through the Arctic ice, to customers in Europe. Canada’s Fednav Limited, one of the world’s largest operators of high ice-class vessels, has agreed a long term transportation contract with Canadian Royalties Inc. for the shipping of concentrates from the Nunavik Nickel mine in northern Quebec. The new ship…

ClassNK, IHI Marine United (IHIMU), Diesel United (DU) and IBM Japan have announced they will jointly develop a ship maintenance management system to help reduce ship lifecycle cost. The jointly developed system, which will make use of the latest condition monitoring sensor technology and data analysis systems, will be offered by ClassNK as a cloud-based service to shipowners, managers and operators from June 2013. As ships face dramatically changing ocean conditions, appropriate maintenance and condition monitoring of on-board machinery is essential to ensuring smooth operations. With bunker prices near historic highs, shipowners are increasingly turning their attention to maintenance management schemes utilizing on-board sensors data and diagnostic analysis tools to prevent malfunctions…

Fednav Ltd. orders ice-breaking bulk carrier from Sumitomo Corporation & Universal Shipbuilding Corporation, Japan. The new vessel has been ordered in order for Fednav to fulfil a long-term contract which provides for the transportation of nickel and copper concentrates from Canadian Royalties' Nunavik Nickel Project in northern Quebec to customers in Europe as well as the import from Europe of mine supplies and equipment. The Polar Class 4, 25,000 dot vessel,will be built at Universal's Tsu shipyard, and will be classed by Det Norske Veritas. The scheduled delivery date is December 2013.

Offshore Ship Designers UK division OSD-IMT has been awarded a contract to supply the design for a modified version of its IMT 982 Platform Supply Vessel to be built at the new shipyard facility of Honghua Offshore Oil & Gas Equipment in Jiangsu, China. The contract is the result of increased marketing and technical collaboration between OSD group companies. It is contracted through OSD-Shanghai, with OSD-Singapore providing design engineering technical support to OSD Shanghai for design modification.

Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO) confirms it has ordered six high-specification 3,700 dwt PSVs from Universal Shipbuilding Corp in Japan The vessels will be built at USC's Keihin Shipyard and be delivered progressively from the third quarter of 2014. The orders follow-on from an order for four 5000 dwt PSVs from USC in late 2011. Mr Neil Glenn, Managing Director of Swire Pacific Offshore, said: "We are delighted to announce this additional PSV order with USC. "SPO now has 29 vessels on order and will have one of the youngest, most technologically advanced and reliable fleets in the industry - ensuring we are well aligned with the future demands of our customers." The contract includes options for a further four vessels of this type from Universal Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).

Swire has ordered eight IMT-997 platform supply vessels (PSVs), with four to be built by Universal Shipbuilding Corporation in Japan and a further four to be built by EISA Shipyard in Brazil. Each vessel will be equipped with 4 × 6L27/38 MAN gensets, with each unit rated at 1,980 kW at 720 rpm. All generating sets will be constructed by MAN Diesel & Turbo’s Korean licensee, Doosan Engine Co. Ltd. The 97-metre, 5,000-dwt PSVs will be approved with DP2 (dynamic positioning) capability and have diesel-electric propulsion systems with azimuth propulsion units.

Tokyo—Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. announced the completion of the 297,000-ton iron ore carrier Ore Sao Luis at the Universal Shipbuilding Corporation, Ariake Shipyard. The Ore Sao Luis will transport iron ore from Brazil mainly to China, under a long-term contract with Vale.   Among those on hand for the naming and delivery ceremonies were Vale International General Manager, Shipping, Pietro Allevato, who named the vessel, and Universal Shipbuilding Director and Senior Managing Officer Kuniteru Ishikawa. The ship’s name is derived from the capital and largest city in Maranhão state in Brazil. MOL operates a class of six 300,000 DWT VLOCs in total, including Ore Sao Luis.

Bloomberg reported that JFE Holdings and IHI Corp. will seek to increase sales of their combined shipbuilding units by about 30 percent in five years to fend off competition from South Korean and Chinese rivals. The units, set to be merged on October 1, will target annual revenue of $6.2 billion by 2017, said Shinjiro Mishima, who will be president of the new entity. The company will speed up development of fuel-efficient and cost-competitive ships, including on container vessels, bulk carriers and oil tankers, he said. Combining JFE’s Universal Shipbuilding and IHI Marine United Inc. will create Japan’s biggest shipbuilder, which will challenge larger rivals, including Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world’s largest.

Offshore Ship Designers has sealed ten new design contracts for large diesel-electric Platform Supply Vessels for two major offshore operators building at three shipyards in Brazil, Japan and Spain. Swire Pacific Offshore Operations (Pte) Limited has ordered four IMT-997 Platform Supply Vessels to be built by Universal Shipbuilding Corporation in Japan and four sister vessels to be built at the EISA shipyard in Brazil. The 97 m LOA 5,000 dwt vessels will be classed with DP2 capability and have diesel-electric propulsion systems with azimuth propulsion units.

Based on Advanced ISHIN-III Technologies. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President: Koichi Muto) today announced that it has ordered a new cape-size bulker that will adopt element technologies of the next-generation ISHIN-III vessel program to achieve high fuel efficiency. Universal Shipbuilding Corporation (President: Shinjiro Mishima) will construct the new ship, slated for completion in late 2014. MOL has repeatedly studied various technologies to realize the concept for the ISHIN-III series of next-generation vessels (large-scale iron ore carriers) announced in April 2010.

Capital Product Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: CPLP) secured long term fixed rate time charter employment with profit share arrangements for its remaining spot VLCC, the M/T Achilleas. In particular, the M/T Achilleas (297,863 dwt, built 2010 Universal Shipbuilding Corp.) has secured employment with the Partnership's sponsor, Capital Maritime & Trading Corp. ('CMTC') for a maximum charter term of up to 3 years. It will be earning a gross daily charter rate of $28,000 per day plus 50/50 profit share on actual earnings settled every 6 months for the first 12 months of its time charter to CMTC. CMTC has the option to extend the time charter employment for a second year at $34,000 per day and for a third year at $38,000 per day with the same profit share arrangements.

Oman Shipping Company S.A.O.C. accepted delivery of a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), SAMAIL, from Universal Shipbuilding Corporation, in Kawasaki city inJapan, becoming the 29th vessel to be operated by the company. The 300,000-dwt Panamanian flagged vessel SAMAIL measures 330 x 60 m with a draft of around 22 m. She will be the first VLCC to be technically managed "in house" by OSC’s subsidiary by Oman Ship Management Company S.A.O.C. in Muscat. With this addition, OSC now operates a diversified fleet of 29 vessels comprising of 10 VLCCs…

Crude Carriers Corp. (NYSE: CRU) announced that it took delivery of the M/T Waltz to be renamed M/T Aias (150,096 dwt), June 3, 2010. In addition, the 12-month fixed-price option to acquire the M/T Atlantas from Capital Maritime & Trading Corp. commenced on June 1, 2010. The M/T Aias, a modern, high-specification Suezmax-class oil tanker was built in 2008 at Universal Shipbuilding Corporation in Japan, the same yard as its sister ship M/T Amoureux which was delivered to the company on May 10, 2010. The vessel was acquired at a purchase price of $66.2m, a cost significantly below the average 10-year historical values and is the fourth vessel of the Company's fleet to be delivered.

Crude Carriers Corp. (NYSE: CRU) announced that on March 26 it took delivery of the M/T Alexander the Great, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) with carrying capacity of 297,958 mt, from Universal Shipbuilding Corporation at the Ariake Shipyard in Japan. The M/T Alexander the Great is the first of the three vessels comprising the company's initial fleet and was acquired at a purchase price of $96.5m. The remaining two vessels, the M/T Miltiadis M II, a 2006-built high specification Suezmax tanker and the M/T Achilleas, a sister newbuilding VLCC currently under construction at Universal Shipbuilding Corporation in Japan, are expected to be delivered within the next few days and at the end of June 2010, respectively.

At the recent ABS Council meeting in N.Y., 40 prominent members of the shipping and offshore industries were elected as new members of the international classification society. The ABS Council also elected two new members to the society’s Technical Committee. “ABS governance is vested in a membership comprised of distinguished individuals drawn from the international shipping, shipbuilding and offshore industries, from academia, the insurance sector and other related disciplines,” said ABS Chairman and CEO Robert D. Somerville. Akimitsu Ashida, President, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. Noel L. Captain Ali M. Belhag, Chairman, GNMTC – General National Maritime Transport Co. Joseph L. Takatoshi Funada, President, Funada Kaiun Co., Ltd. Kevin M.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. announced that MOL became the first overseas shipowner to sign a long-term iron ore transport contract with Jiangsu Shagang Group Co., Ltd. of China on October 19. MOL will transport iron ore from Australia and Brazil to Jiangsu Shagang. A 207,000-tonne iron ore carrier, to be constructed at the Universal Shipbuilding Corporation for the contract, is scheduled for completion in late 2011. The company signed a 10-year voyage contract to transport iron ore between West Australia/Brazil and Ningbo starting late 2011.

Itochu Corp. and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. have reached an agreement with Sonatrach, an Algerian state-owned oil and gas company, to build and operate ships to transport liquefied natural gas, wire reports said. The three and a marine transport unit of Sonatrach will set up a company to build two 75,500-cu. m. LNG carriers under a 35 billion yen investment project. Japan's Universal Shipbuilding Co. will build the two carriers in 2007 and 2009, the report said, adding the carriers will be lent to Sonatrach for LNG shipping to Greece, Italy, Spain and other countries on the Mediterranean coast. Demand for LNG is growing because of rising oil prices and the fight against global warming, the report said. Algeria is one of the world's largest LNG exporters.

According to reports, Japanese steelmaker JFE Holdings Inc said it has reached an agreement with shipbuilder and engineering company Hitachi Zosen Corp to turn their shipbuilding joint venture into a JFE subsidiary. JFE will acquire an additional 34.9 percent stake in Universal Shipbuilding Corp, its 50-50 joint venture with Hitachi Zosen, for 34.9 billion yen. With the deal, JFE's stake in Universal Shipbuilding will increase to 85 percent while Zosen will hold the remaining 15 percent. JFE said the move is aimed at further increasing Universal Shipbuilding's business efficiency and profitability. Source: Thomson Financial News

Japanese heavy machinery makers IHI Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc. said they have agreed to begin concrete talks on merging their shipbuilding subsidiaries, a move that would create 's biggest shipbuilder. The move comes as Japanese shipbuilders face intensifying competition from regional rivals and , the International Tribune reported. IHI and JFE will establish a committee to discuss the details of how operations of IHI subsidiary, IHI Marine United Inc., and its JFE counterpart, Universal Shipbuilding Corp., can be integrated, the companies said in a joint statement. They will also discuss production details, merger ratios and ways to stay competitive in shipbuilding operations, they said.

At the recent ABS Council meeting, 31 prominent members of the shipping and offshore industries were elected as new members of the prominent international classification society. The ABS Council also elected seven new members to the society’s Technical Committee. “Our strength as a classification society is the breadth of experience and depth of wisdom of our membership,” said ABS Chairman & CEO Robert D. Somerville. Zamil A. Thomas J. Angiolino, Senior Vice President, Willis of New York, Inc. Commodore R. Balasubrmaniam, IN (Retd.), Director, Rajapur Shipyard Pvt. Ltd. Dong-Su Choi, President & CEO, SLS Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. Robert G. George A. Cupstid, Senior Vice President and General Manager, LeTourneau Technologies, Inc. Tim E. Steven Durrell, President, Irving Shipbuilding Inc.

Aveva (LSE:AVV), supplier of engineering IT systems for the plant and marine industries, announced that several Japanese shipbuilders -- Namura Shipbuilding, Universal Shipbuilding Corporation, Shin Kurushima Dockyard, Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering and Imabari Shipbuilding Group -- have signed contracts worth over $2.5m to extend their use of Aveva marine solutions. The contracts were made in the first half of Aveva’s financial year ending 30 September 2008. Aveva marine solutions were first used in Japan by Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation in 1994. Kawasaki has since expanded the use of Aveva marine solutions to its commercial and naval yards. To date, there are more than twenty Japanese customers who actively subscribe to Aveva’s shipbuilding solutions.