Open Business

US Marine Repair Joins Lockheed Martin LCS Team

The Lockheed Martin LCS Team is adding United States Marine Repair to its group of core teammates supporting the Sea Blade LCS solution. Using an open business model, the Lockheed Martin LCS Team is recruiting "best of breed" technical specialists from the U.S. and overseas in its bid to win this important transformational Navy program. "A key focus of Lockheed Martin's LCS proposal is to find the best companies, in the U.S. and abroad, to deliver to the Navy the most affordable and effective ship possible," said Fred Moosally, president of Lockheed Martin's Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems. "Our team is harnessing world class expertise in a wide range of disciplines. United States Marine Repair, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Defense, adds another important element to our Sea Blade littoral combat ship proposal for the Navy." United States Marine Repair provides ship repair and logistics services experience to the team. Potential long-term roles for the company within the Sea Blade solution include fleet maintenance, training, module fabrication, ship outfitting and porting. "United States Marine Repair is honored to join the highly regarded group of technical specialists on the Lockheed Martin LCS Program Team," said retired Rear Adm. Dick Camacho, the company's vice president of business development

Freightgate Announces Opening in France

Freightgate Inc., a leading provider of Internet applications for the freight and logistics industry, announced that it has opened a new sales, service and support facility in Marseille, France in order to reinforce its commitment to the European market. "Our new office in France will not only facilitate the relationships with our current customers in Europe, but also to develop new business within this area. We believe the door is open for additional activity in Europe," said Martin Hubert

ACL Opens Houston Headquarters

American Commercial Lines Inc. (ACL) opened its new Liquid Transportation Division Headquarters in Houston, Texas. The opening of the new regional headquarters, combined with ACL's recent announcement to build 30 new 30,000 barrel tank barges in 2008, begins the foundation for the Company's long-term strategy to increase liquid business from 24% to 40% of its total transportation revenue.

Kobelt Opens Houston Branch

Kobelt Manufacturing Company Limited has opened an office in Houston, vice president Tom Kobelt announced. "Our Houston office, staffed with professionals who understand the Latin American Culture and business customs will help us improve presence in the Latin American and the Gulf of Mexico marketplace, and provide better service to our customers," said Kobelt.

WIL Lines Opens Home Base in Tripoli, Libya

WIL Lines, a worldwide logistics integrator with offices throughout the U.S., Africa, Middle East and Europe, recently opened its Libyan office in the capital, Tripoli. Since the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 2004, Libya’s economy has opened significantly. Foreign businesses are finding it easier to do business there and the profits to be made are significant. The country has one of the highest GDPs in the world and is a major importer of dry foods and other

General Dynamics to Supply Core Mission System for U.S. Combat Ships

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems was awarded a contract by Austal USA to be the Platform Systems Engineering Agent (PSEA) of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) 14 and 16. These are the fifth and sixth ships of the Independence-variant LCS to be ordered by the U.S. Navy under a 10-ship block buy contract awarded in December 2010 to Austal USA. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics.

Rolls Royce Factory to Serve Equipment to Yards

Rolls Royce has opened a new factory in Shanghai, China, to serve the world’s largest commercial shipbuilding market. Together with an existing facility in Korea, the factory forms a new production hub for north-east Asia enabling the company to supply shipyards with marine equipment at the point of manufacture – and open up new markets in the process. The Asian shipbuilding market is currently worth £19 billion annually and accounts for around 80 percent of all global construction

Navy Wants to Give Battleship to Norfolk

The Navy wants to donate the retired World War II-era battleship USS Wisconsin to Norfolk more quickly than officials had expected. The Navy requires the city to submit a letter of intent by May 27, and a completed business plan for operating the Wisconsin by Sept. 30. The Navy was given authorization to donate the Wisconsin in December, but city officials did not expect to receive word on that donation until later this year

TEN to Host Third Quarter 2003 Conference Call

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. will report earnings for the third quarter of 2003 before the market open on Friday, November 7, 2003. That same day, at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time, TEN will host a conference call to review third quarter results as well as management's outlook for the business.

Open Ocean Launches Maritime Security Program

Aboard the HQS Wellington in London yesterday, Chenega UK Ltd. launched its fully integrated maritime security system to combat piracy and provide the ship owning community with a holistic, single point of contact security program to mitigate the risk of piracy.   The system was received with excitement by the shipowners, managers, insurers, flag states and others engaged in transporting more than 90% of the world's goods, as "currently