Acquisition strongly boosts RINA offshore and port development services.
By taking control of the D’Appolonia Group, a global engineering consultancy, international classification society RINA has increased its group turnover by almost 50 per cent and significantly strengthened its expertise and range of services in the offshore and port development fields. Says Ugo Salerno, CEO, RINA, “By bringing the D’Appolonia Group’s 580 multidisciplinary staff and Euro87m turnover into RINA we have made a quantum jump in size and capability. We bring a lot of new skills and services into RINA, especially in the environmental fields, and we significantly strengthen our teams working on offshore energy and port development projects.”
In the offshore energy field D’Appolonia has key skills in site engineering, geophysical surveys and investigations, seismic hazard evaluation, coastal engineering, environmental impact assessment, HSE, layout and geotechnical engineering, training, commissioning and maintenance engineering. It has played key roles in recent on and offshore LNG projects including the Esso Highlands Papua New Guinea project, the Dunkerque LNG Terminal for Technint and several projects in Italy, Libya and Indonesia.
In the port development field D’Appolonia has developed feasibility studies and designs for the Russian ports of Sochi and Taman, Beira in Mozambique, Ain El Ghazalah in Libya, and in Italy Gaeta, Manfredonia and specific detailed engineering and supervision for ports such as Gioia Tauro and the Genoa Cruise terminal. Salerno says, “D’Applonia’s expertise in construction, brownfield site recovery and materials handling especially complement our existing marine expertise. Together we can add a strong global dimension to RINA’s services, able to bring together marine and engineering knowledge with respect for the environment and deliver port and offshore projects safely and cleanly.”