Liferaft Exchange News

Marine safety equipment manufacturer and servicing provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment A/S is to establish a local presence in Korea through a joint venture agreement with leading Korean marine safety equipment and servicing company Daemyung Marine Co. Ltd. The new joint venture, VIKING Life-Saving Equipment Korea LLC, has VIKING as the majority shareholder. The venture aims to bring faster access for Korean-based and foreign-flag ship managers in the cargo, passenger and offshore segments to the full range of VIKING products and service concepts. It is also the logical next step for a highly successful partnership that has extended over more than 30 years.

Leading marine and fire safety equipment and service provider, VIKING Life-Saving Equipment (VIKING) is stocking ready-packaged liferafts to provide fixed-price liferaft exchange to vessels calling Japanese ports. “The world of shipping is dominated by a small group of countries,” says Henrik Uhd Christensen, CEO of VIKING Life-Saving Equipment. “Japan rates in the top three in terms of deadweight tonnage and newbuilding, so locally based shipowners have a broad set of needs for marine safety.

The New Fitzwright Liferaft is now available in Canada. FitzWright Survival Inc., has been recognized for over 30 years as one a high quality manufacturer of Life-Saving Equipment in Canada. FitzWright is proud to announce that it has expanded its product offering under the FitzWright Brand to bring a far greater variety of products to the market. The showcase of this new Life-Saving Equipment Program launch is FitzWright’s NEW Transport Canada and SOLAS Approved Liferafts. The FitzWright Liferafts have been designed and built to not only meet the challenging approval requirements, but also to meet the needs of customers. Taking a Performance and Safety first approach, FitzWright has been able to find the perfect balance which will bring cost effective solutions to its customers.

Visitors to SMM 2014 will be able to find out more about Survitec Group's growing portfolio of products and services for the cruise, ferry, cargo, tanker and offshore shipping markets. At this year's show Survitec will be highlighting its RFD, SurvitecZodiac, DSB, DBC and Brude Marine Evacuation Systems (MES), Crewsaver lifejackets, Brude telescopic gangways and Brude fast rescue boats like the HD 720. Survitec will also be promoting its Global Liferaft Hire program, which leverages the largest service network of any liferaft manufacturer in the world.

Andrew Sheriff, Business Director Safety at Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) spoke to leading cruise industry representatives at the recent CLIA Leadership Forum in Miami, explaining what drives his team when it comes to continuously developing its portfolio. During his presentation “Navigating Change - Innovation on equipment and life cycle”, Sheriff offered views on innovation from a supplier’s perspective. He stated that only by creating real value through the development and implementation of new ideas would WSS…

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) opened a new FRS (fire, rescue & service) Center and Safety Training Academy in Antwerp, Belgium. “The opening of new safety service training facilities around the world will play a vital role in the growth of our total safety offer,” said. Andrew Sheriff, Business Director Safety. “Centers also housing a Safety Academy, such as this one, allow us to focus on specialized training alongside the ongoing development of our safety technicians. Antwerp was seen as a key location for expansion.

The new, transparent multi-year service agreement concept from Viking revolutionizes the way offshore owners and operators solve the difficulties of managing multiple brands, equipment types and regulatory approvals for safety equipment and servicing. Handling safety equipment servicing is often regarded as a time-consuming and hard-to-budget headache for offshore vessel and infrastructure owners and operators. In fact, the range of products and servicing agreements can be a minefield of hidden costs and complexities even for the most experienced of safety managers.

With the earning of ABS global approval for its safety services and the opening of a Houston Training facility, Wilhelmsen Ships Services (WSS) passed two critical milestone’s in a quest to build and operate an efficient, technically superior maritime and offshore services juggernaut. More than a decade ago Wilhelmsen Ships Service planted the seeds for what today is growing one of the world’s premier providers of services to the maritime and offshore markets globally. The company celebrated two significant milestones in its quest…

Wilhelmsen Ships Services (WSS) late last month obtained global approval for its safety services from ABS (American Bureau of Shipping). The approval comes after a two year process involving the entire safety services team and covers all safety services worldwide. “Along with Radio Holland, we are now the only maritime service provider in the world with global approval from ABS, and indeed, the only service provider within the safety sector. We are immensely proud of this,” said John Sanford, Technical Sales Manager Safety for the Americas.

Just a year since its launch, Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) reports positive uptake of the ‘Your Strait Solution’ initiative – an integrated service solution for vessels passing through the Straits of Gibraltar. According to Nicholai Bado, Ships Agency Service Manager, 2012 was an ‘intensive year’, with the centralization of one dedicated team and coordination of services within the three Strait ports of Algeciras, Ceuta and Gibraltar. Bado said: “We are on track to exceed all initial expectations of the project…

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has announced the appointment of John Sanford as Technical Sales Manager for Safety covering the Americas. Andrew Sheriff, Business Director Safety said: “Getting the right people and competence in place is critical in the changing market place today. Adding John to our team is part of our plans to further develop our safety offering across the region.” “We have seen a significant increase in sales of the LRE (Liferaft Exchange) Programme across both North and South America in the last year.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has opened a new liferaft service station in Suez, Egypt, which will service vessels transiting the Suez Canal and Egypt’s main ports. Russell Dinwoodie; General Manager WSS Egypt said: “With over 17,000 vessel transits per year in the Suez Canal, this new Liferaft Service Station is an important addition to our global network. Its’ strategic location will benefit ship operators by allowing them to utilze our full range of liferaft services whilst waiting to transit the Canal…

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has reported  consistent growth and increased market awareness over the last few years for its world-leading portfolio of  Marine Products in New Zealand, according to Nigel Smith, WSS General Manager for New Zealand and Pacific Islands. Recently relocated from central city offices to a new warehouse complex, WSS New Zealand is now able to concentrate on delivering a stronger mix of marine products, as well as new initiatives such as the innovative LRE (Liferaft Exchange Program).

Liferaft Exchange concept continues to expand globally. Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s (WSS) market-leading global Liferaft Exchange Programme (LRE) is set to hit 15,000 exchanges since its launch just over two years ago and continues to expand, according to Dave Evans, WSS product marketing manager for liferafts. The LRE concept, which exchanges service-due liferafts and life-saving appliances for operational ones, allows vessel operators to take better control of costs and reduces…

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has reported the rapid growth worldwide of its Liferaft Exchange Program (LRE) since the start of 2011. The maritime services provider has opened eight new liferaft servicing stations since January. These stations are a vital component of the LRE offer, providing ready-serviced liferafts to vessels that have signed up to the scheme. The liferaft rental and exchange concept (LRE) has been a great success since its launch with over 12,000 liferafts now operating but it has not been without its challenges. To enable the scheme to work effectively, WSS has strategically placed 42 service stations covering 900 ports across the globe, equipped with service and liferaft exchange stocks to meet customer demands.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) New Zealand has announced the signing of its first Liferaft Exchange Program (LRE) contract with Neptune Pacific Line. “When we introduced them to the LRE concept they were extremely interested to see how it could work for their business," says Nigel Smith, General Manager WSS New Zealand and Pacific Islands. WSS New Zealand’s first assignment for Neptune Pacific was an exchange in Shanghai, where the crew were working to a very tight schedule with little more than 24 hours to deliver the complete set of five liferafts before the vessel sailed for Australia. According to Smith, the smooth exchange was carried…

Viking Life-Saving Equipment reports it is finding success with its Shipowner Agreement servicing contracts, with the latest being the signing of a liferaft exchange contract with Stolt Tankers BV worldwide. With a fleet of more than 70 deep draft tankers, and more than 80 coastal tankers and inland tankers, Stolt Tankers operates one of the most technically advanced tanker fleets in the world. Stolt Tankers vessels will receive Viking liferafts, which will simply be exchanged as their certificates expire. www.VIKING-life.com

Wilhelmsen Ships Service won a major contract to supply its Unitor brand of around 200 life rafts to 47 vessels of the MMS fleet. The life rafts are being supplied to the Japan-based company as part of Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s Liferaft Exchange Programme. The liferaft exchange programme, a system of exchanging service-due life rafts on the dockside to avoid the delays of servicing, has grown rapidly in popularity across the globe. The agreement with MMS is the latest in a series…

Wilhelmsen Ships Service has secured a five-year agreement with Delphin Kreuzfahrten GmbH to supply 16 liferafts to the MS Delphin cruise liner. The liferafts are being supplied to the Germany-based company as part of Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s Liferaft Exchange Programme (LRE). The LRE programme is a system of exchanging service-due liferafts on the dockside to avoid the delays of servicing. The LRE programme takes service-due liferafts off vessels and immediately replaces them with serviced ones. By avoiding a delay period where a vessel would have to wait for a liferaft to be serviced, the system both saves money and increases the operational efficiency of each single vessel. The system ensures that each vessel is always prepared for annual inspection and meets safety legislation.

The world’s leading maritime service network Wilhelmsen Ships Service has entered an agreement with German company DS-Schiffahrt / Quadrant Bereederung to supply liferafts to their entire fleet of 39 vessels. In an agreement worth $200,000 per annum, the liferafts will be supplied within Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s unique Liferaft Exchange Agreement, which exchanges service-due liferafts off vessels and immediately replaces them with serviced ones. By avoiding a delay period where a vessel would have to wait for a liferaft to be serviced, the system both saves money and increases the operational efficiency of each single vessel. The service system provides a dockside exchange of liferafts, ensuring that each vessel is always prepared for annual inspection and meets safety legislation.

Manufacturers’ approvals of a number of Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s liferaft stations have now taken the number of approved stations to 30. Since Wilhelmsen Ships Service launched its Liferaft Exchange Programme one year ago, the programme has made approximately 10,000 liferaft exchanges and continues to expand. The concept, which exchanges service-due liferafts and life-saving appliances for operational ones, takes better control of costs and reduces the chance of getting caught out by unforeseen service dates and costly weak links in the supply chain.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service has opened a combined new warehouse and fire, rescue & safety station in Gothenburg. Both are already operational. The station is conveniently situated only a kilometre from the port of Gothenburg and approximately ten kilometres from the city centre. The positioning of the station will enable Wilhelmsen Ships Service to provide its range of services to both the east and west coasts of Sweden, to Denmark and to the southern part of Norway. The region of Gothenburg is of strategic importance for Wilhelmsen Ships Service since it is home to car manufacturers and other major Swedish industry. It is the largest port in Scandinavia with a number of maintenance dockyards.