First Phase

First Phase Completed at Changxing Shipbuilding Base

The first phase of the Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding Base has been finished and is already in operation on Changxing Island, Shanghai. Built by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), it has three production lines and four boatyards capable of holding 300,000-ton ships. Almost unparalleled in the world, it is the biggest shipbuilding project ever to be undertaken in China. Shanghai has the potential to be the world's largest shipbuilding base. Dubbed Project Hope, the Changxing Shipbuilding Base will accelerate the development of China's shipbuilding industry. It includes seven large boatyards and will have the capacity to manufacture 8-million-ton ships by 2015. This will help Shanghai to become the biggest shipbuilding location in the world. The base has received $2.67b worth of orders for 38 ships weighing 6 million tons, projects that will keep it busy until 2010. Source: People's Daily Online

Cosco and Kawasaki Sign Deal

Cosco Group, China's shipping conglomerate, signed a deal with Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd to build a shipyard in northeast China. Cosco would control 70% of the facility, which would cost $500m in its first phase, and the Japanese heavy machinery maker would hold the remainder. Source: Malaysia Star

Mexico Plans Huge Air, Rail And Sea Terminal

The Mexican state of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico is planning to build a massive air, rail and sea cargo terminal for international trade, according to state officials. Veracruz officials are in talks with U.S. asset manager Alliance Capital and an international consortium that includes Mexican construction company Grupo Tribasa for the project, the first phase of which would cost $500 million. Working in conjunction with local authorities

First Vessel Trials New Berth at Aberdeen

The first phase of a multi-million pound redevelopment project of Aberdeen Harbor’s Torry Quay has been completed.   A project milestone, it was marked by the vessel Skandi Foula, which docked at the quay before loading cargo destined for a North Sea installation.   The vessel is the first to have used the new facilities, which include 300 meters of realigned, deep water berths, a stronger quayside for heavier lifts, and a wider channel in the River Dee

MMS Grant for Lake Pontchartrain

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has approved a grant for $699,400 to Tangipahoa Parish in Louisiana through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) for the first phase of a proposed shoreline protection project on the northern edge of Lake Pontchartrain. Grant funding for the first phase of the project will provide for engineering and design service, coordination of land rights, and administration costs

Shell Begins Production at Parque das Conchas

Shell has started production at its multi-field Parque das Conchas project 110 km off Brazil's southeast coast, where heavy oil resources lie beneath waters nearly two km deep in the Campos Basin. Parque das Conchas is a two-phase project with initial production drawn from Abalone, Ostra and Argonauta B-West. The first phase, now on-stream, involves nine producing wells and one gas injector well, which the second phase will focus on the Argonauta O-North field

NASSCO Lands $22 Million Conversion Contract

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), was awarded a contract valued up to $22 million to finish off the second phase of a program to convert a U.S. Navy Strategic Sealift Program vessel to comply with the enhanced readiness capabilities of the U.S. Marine Corps' Maritime Prepositioning Force. Preceding by this was the project first phase, which called for the development, design, material specifications and planning for Phase II - the actual conversion work - which will commence

MMS $1.2M Grant for Marsh Repair

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has approved a grant for $1,237,608 to the Plaquemines Parish Government in La. through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP). The money will be used for the first phase of a planned wetland repair and restoration project along Fringe Marsh, in the vicinity of the Plaquemines Levee in Plaquemines Parish, located approximately 50 miles southeast of New Orleans. Grant funding for the first phase will include planning, engineering and design

Transpetro Inks Orders Tankers

Transpetro, a unit of Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, signed contracts worth $866m for the construction of nine new oil tankers. The Rio Naval consortium will build five Aframax tankers for $517m, and four Panamax oil tankers for $349 million , Petrobras said. The vessels are to join Transpetro's fleet between 2009 and 2011, and are part of a $2.48b program to buy 26 new oil vessels in an initial phase

Proposals Requested for Federal Ballast Water Demonstration Project

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are jointly requesting proposals for ballast water technology demonstration projects. Nearly $2.1 million, and/or the use of MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force ships as test platforms, will be made available for successful proposals. Interested parties may apply for funding, for use of a vessel, or both.