Possible Solutions News

Subsea 7 has signed a three-year strategic partnership with Talos Energy to deliver commercial solutions for subsea engineering, construction and installation projects in the U.S.

Finland-based marine enginer maker and maritime technology provider Wärtsilä and Brazil-based offshore vessel owner Companhia Brasileira de Offshore (CBO) have signed an agreement for decarbonisation modelling. The objective is to support and accelerate CBO´s journey towards decarbonised operations for its fleet of offshore support vessels, which is one of the largest in its segment in Brazil, Wärtsilä said."The advanced Wärtsilä platform utilizes a vast bank of vessel data and machine learning algorithms…

The law governing marine insurance in the United States has long been a source of considerable confusion. And if there was once a clear set of principles applicable in such cases, the Supreme Court long ago muddied the waters with their infamous ruling in Wilburn Boat Co. v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co., 348 U.S. 310 (1955). That case, involving a fire on a houseboat on an inland man-made lake on the Texas-Oklahoma border, established the “litmus test” for when maritime law should…

Industry stakeholders at PortPIC stressed the importance of more innovation, collaboration and aligned initiatives to shape sustainable solutions for in-water cleaning.This was the main message from the inaugural In-Port Inspection & Cleaning Conference (PortPIC) held last week, organized by Jotun and DNV GL.In his opening address, Geir Axel Oftedahl, business development director, Jotun Marine Coatings raised the issue of biofouling and emphasized, “There’s an increasing focus…

The United Nations said on Tuesday it was still waiting for Yemen's Houthi group to authorize deployment of an assessment team to a decaying oil tanker that is threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil off the war-torn country's coast.Two weeks ago U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock told the U.N. Security Council that Houthi officials had agreed to allow a U.N. team to conduct a technical assessment and whatever initial repairs might be feasible on the Safer tanker.U.N. Yemen…

ESVAGT UK has appointed Ian Taylor as iUK Regional Director.Taylor brings many years of shipping experience and a considerable amount of ESVAGT knowledge to ESVAGT’s UK office at Dock Gate House in the heart of Aberdeen’s harbor area. As a Chartered Shipbroker, he has been handling contracts with ESVAGT for North Sea Charterers for the past decade.Having ‘sold’ ESVAGT to clients for years, getting onboard full time was an easy step. “It is a company I have known well for several years,” Taylor said. “ESVAGT has a significant presence in the U.K.

Maritime safety equipment manufacturer and global servicing provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment has signed with Rosenby Engineering to exclusively distribute the award-winning Danish startup’s HydroPen fire extinguishing system for container vessels.VIKING’s Product Management and New Building Director Jørgen Holm, sees the HydroPen System as a leap forward for protecting container vessels, their cargo and crew from one of modern shipping’s most hazardous situations.“Traditionally, container fires at heights above the reach of the crew have been fought indirectly by dowsing the burning container and its surroundings with water,” he explains, “It’s a drawn-out approach and does not address the fire in the container directly.

Industry frets about the coming deadline. Shipping desperately wants to be ready, but will global shore-based infrastructure and refining capacity match the demand that is sure to come? And … are regulators listening to industry’s concerns? In early June, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a public workshop in Washington to help the agencies prepare for the January 1, 2020 deadline for worldwide implementation of very low sulfur marine fuel that meets the new 0.50% sulfur cap as set forth by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

European Transport Workers Federation, (ETF) and the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) have discussed possible solutions to increase women’s participation in the shipping industry in Europe. Currently only 2% of the seafaring workforce available for the EU fleet consist of women, whilst gender equality is being put at the heart of the EU’s fundamental values for sustainable and inclusive growth. Discussions focused on maritime training and career development for women, as well as the recruitment and retention of women in the shipping industry. Alongside representatives of both the ETF and the ECSA, participants came from a wide range of stakeholders such as the European Commission (Platform for Change)…

The European shipowners together with MEP Wim Van de Camp yesterday organised a seminar in the European Parliament to discuss the International Maritime Organization (IMO) initial Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction strategy for shipping. The initial strategy was adopted in the 72nd session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the IMO in April this year, said a release from  European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA). Van de Camp opened the well-attended event and said: “Today I have invited you here to discuss the efforts of the international shipping industry to reduce its GHG emissions. It’s important that the Transport committee pays attention to the international shipping sector’s goals”.

In its 36th run, The CadetsPlus program has benefitted close to 3,000 cadets across 15 cities in six countries.A historical training collaboration between the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU), the Thai Seafarers’ Association (TSFA) and various shipping companies in Thailand, upskilled close to 90 Thai cadets who are ready to be deployed onboard Singapore’s shipping fleet having completed a two-week CadetsPlus pre-sea preparatory program developed by Singapore’s Wavelink Maritime Institute (WMI).In conjunction with SMOU’s first Bangkok Nite for its Thai union members…

Belgian underwater repair specialist Hydrex says it is carrying out more modifications to a ship’s underwater areas and equipment in addition to the company’s more common damage rectification work. The increase in this type of work - to propellers, in particular – follows the recent introduction of the European MRV regulation which has seen more shipowners look at ways of further reducing fuel consumption (and emissions) when operating to and from European ports. The EU MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification) regulation entered into force in July 2015.

Offshore wind power continues to gain momentum in the United States. How will the Jones Act affect the development, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms? After years of planning and some unsuccessful attempts, offshore wind power developers finally have their first success in the United States. The Block Island Wind Farm, a 30-megawatt wind farm located just off the coast of Rhode Island, began operations in December 2016, fulfilling the goal of the project’s developer, Deepwater Wind LLC, to build America’s first offshore wind farm.

MARIN (Maritime Research Institute) tested an innovative concept for a floating mega island. The island comprises 87 large floating triangles that are flexibility connected to one another. Together they form a flexible floating island that can be as large as 1 to 5 km in cross-section. Olaf Waals, project manager and the concept developer: “As sea level rises, cities become overcrowded and more activities are carried out at sea, raising the dikes and reclaiming land from the seas are perhaps no longer an effective solution. • Building houses and recreation close to the water.

FEPORT supports the approach of the Estonian presidency and believes that four priorities constitute a consistent strategy for Europe. The four priorities are:  An open and innovative European Economy, A safe and secure Europe,  A digital Europe and the free flow of data and  An inclusive and sustainable Europe. Besides endorsing the content of the paper that has been co-signed by 22 organizations representing different industries of the logistics chain, FEPORT would like to underline in this paper a number of key items for private terminal operators. FEPORT members believe that an efficient, sustainable and resilient logistics sector…

The Danish Government receives recommendations from the Maritime Strategy Team on how to maintain the Danish stronghold as a maritime nation towards 2025. The Maritime Strategy Team, headed by Chairman Jesper Lok, presents its recommendations to the Danish government. The recommendations represent the maritime industry’s input on maintaining and strengthening the industry’s international competitiveness and making Denmark a global maritime power hub. The maritime industry – Blue Denmark – represents 25 % of Danish exports, making it the largest Danish exporting industry. The industry, however, faces tough global competition. Therefore, a Maritime Strategy Team has studied possible solutions to specific challenges as well as the general framework conditions.

Aker Solutions won a contract from Statoil for the hook-up of the riser platform for the Johan Sverdrup field, Norway's largest offshore development in the past three decades. The company will work closely with subcontractor Kvaerner on joining together the platform's seven modules, which will be transported to Norway in the second quarter of 2018. The scope also covers planning, management and prefabrication. The contract value is approximately NOK 900 million and will be split about equally between Aker Solutions and Kvaerner. Aker Solutions' share will be booked in its first-quarter orders. "We're very pleased to continue supporting Statoil in driving forward this giant development…

Last month we were offered an in-depth discussion on marine salvage with Captain Gregg W. Baumann, U.S. Navy, Director of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving. Captain Baumann and his team have a long history regarding difficult missions accomplished, including most recently the location and filming of the lost TOTE containership El Faro. What is the scope of the responsibility of the Supervisor of Salvage & Diving; Director of Ocean Engineering? The responsibilities of the Supervisor of Salvage & Diving…

Pioneer Marine Inc., today accepted delivery of a 38,419 DWT Green Dolphin eco-design handysize vessel, the M.V. Kite Bay. The new vessel, which was constructed at Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding Co., Ltd, is Pioneer’s second Green Dolphin eco-design handysize vessel. The ship’s fuel consumption is about 6 tonnes per day lower than the non-eco design vessels. In addition to eco-friendly efficiencies, Pioneer’s Green Dolphin newbuilding series are equipped with features which offer substantial commercial flexibility such as hull strengthened to Ice Class 1C, fully logs fitted, suitable for the carriage of various dangerous cargoes, grab fitted, ABB Octopus system for fuel consumption optimization, mass flow meters on the bunker line and more.

HydroComp, Inc. of Durham, N.H. Rapid Design Space Optimization (RDSO) with HydroComp NavCad Premium allows a naval architect to focus CFD resources on high-value computations and avoid irrelevant time and expense. HydroComp NavCad provides resistance and propulsion prediction for naval architects. With the recent introduction of the Premium Edition, NavCad is now able to provide integrated support for design optimization. To ensure that process efficiency and cost-effectiveness of resource-intensive CFD calculations are as high as possible…

Japanese shipbuilder Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (MES) announced it has developed a next generation hull platform for floating production, storage and offloading system (FPSO) that aims to offer improved flexibility between projects. Offshore oilfields vary in environmental conditions and oil properties relative to geographical location, requiring shipyards to frequently change hull design and construction scheme to satisfy varying requirements for each project. Though some concepts of standardized FPSO or simple generic FPSO have been proposed as possible solutions for this issue, MES said it seems essentially difficult to use a single and simple fixed design across various projects.

The benefits of offshore ports in the U.S. In many parts of the world, offshore ports are a good solution for meeting the requirements of the rapid changes in the international container and bulk shipping industry. Bigger ships, changing routes and destinations require larger and deeper ports, which port owners and operators can be confident will be capable of handling ever-increasing sizes of vessels for many years to come. One of the major challenges in the current container shipping industry is to bundle and organize capacity in the most economical way.

Norwegian Energy Company’s (Noreco) production in the third quarter of 2014 was basically unchanged from the previous quarter, significant impairments took down Noreco net results after tax to minus NOK 1 101 million. Revenues in the third quarter 2014 were NOK 296 million, down from NOK 318 million in the previous quarter. Exploration and evaluation expenses amounted to NOK 629 million, primarily due to a write-off of the Huntington Fulmar (Maxwell) discovery in the UK, and the operating result before depreciation and write-downs (EBITDA) was negative by NOK 556 million, compared with negative NOK 29 million in the previous quarter.