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Manufacturing Costs News

13 Jun 2023

Mainstay Marine to Build Crew Transfer Vessel for Seacat Services

Ian Baylis, Founder of Seacat Services and Charlotte Wood, Business Development and Sales Manager at Mainstay Marine Solutions - Credit: Seacat Services

Offshore energy support vessel operator Seacat Services has partnered up with marine engineering firm Mainstay Marine Solutions, to build the 20th vessel in its fleet, and the fifth Seacat Chartwell Ambitious design.The partnership comes amidst ongoing complexities in the UK shipbuilding market, where skill shortages and a lack of financial support from the UK Government have driven up manufacturing costs and derailed local content goals across the industry, Seacat Services, which specializes in offshore crew transfers…

20 Jan 2022

Xeneta: Intra-Asian Spot Rates Contribute to Rising Manufacturing Costs in The Region

Credit: Travel mania/AdobeStock

Among most global trades, intra-Asian rates have seen considerable increases in recent years, though the costs on the world’s busiest container trade have not risen as quickly as in other places, Xeneta, and ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform said Thursday.According to Xeneta, in the first half of January, spot rates from the main Chinese ports to the main Japanese and South Korean ports have risen back above USD 1 800 per FEU. This comes after…

29 Mar 2019

Customs Demands Bigger Bonds as Tariffs Bite

File Image: AdobeStock / © Nightman 1965

Stephen Wang is counting the costs of President Donald Trump's trade war. He had to put down 12 times more cash as a guarantee to U.S. customs that he would pay the bill for tariffs on the Chinese-made pumps, valves and motors he imports.The cost of the guarantee - a U.S. customs bond - has shot up, an additional hit to importers already facing steep customs bills adding up to tens of billions of dollars for tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on incoming Chinese goods…

10 May 2017

Ferry Design Contest Winners Selected

First place inner (Image: WFSA)

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) has announced the winners of its 2017 competition for the design of a safe and affordable ferry, chosen by a panel of judges. The awards will be presented on May 11, at WFSA’s Ferry Safety & Technology Conference. Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, the Executive Director of the WFSA, said, “Urban linear ferries like Bangkok and New York are in growth mode everywhere. The students have garnered useful experience, especially the awardees, in designing for a growing market.

01 Mar 2017

Op/Ed: Offshore Energy Can Power US Growth

Randall Luthi  (Photo: NOIA)

Following President Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress, National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) president Randall Luthi weighs in on  shifting U.S. policy and its effects on offshore energy and the American economy. As President Trump begins work on his ambitious agenda, it appears that efficiency and cost cutting are major themes throughout much of the federal government. Those of us in the energy producing industries say welcome to our world. While low commodity prices and overly burdensome regulations devastated job growth in the energy sector during the last two years…

10 Feb 2016

GTT, DSME Partner for NO96 Max Development

GTT, a designer of membrane containment systems for the maritime transportation and storage of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has signed a cooperation agreement with the South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for the industrialization of its new NO96 Max technology and the commercialization of the system in the course of the year 2016. According to GTT, the agreement stipulates that DSME will build a mock-up aiming at validating both the assembly and the cryogenic performance of the membrane containment system, and includes a study on the adaptation of industrial means in order to optimize manufacturing costs.

10 Feb 2016

GTT, DSME Ink Cooperation Deal

GTT, the world leader in the design of membrane containment systems for the maritime transportation and storage of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) announces the signature of a cooperation agreement with the South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for the industrialization of its new NO96 Max technology and the commercialization of the system in the course of the year 2016. The agreement stipulates that DSME will build a mock-up aiming at validating both the assembly and the cryogenic performance of the membrane containment system, and includes a study on the adaptation of industrial means in order to optimize manufacturing costs.

16 Nov 2014

MHI to Revamp its Casting Operations

Effective April 1, 2015 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) will revamp its production structure for casting products. From that date all current Group casting operations will be consolidated at the company's Futami Plant, part of its Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works, and the existing casting plants at the Hiroshima Machinery Works and Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works (Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd.'s Nagasaki Works) will be closed down. In consolidating casting-related functions at one plant MHI looks to reduce in-house manufacturing costs and forge a robust production system capable of withstanding operational fluctuations.

11 Oct 2012

Eye on Desgin: Improved Propulsion

Fuel saving and emission reduction are motivating factors in the drive to improve marine propulsor technology and in the renewed interest in special devices that improve propulsion. Together with the industry, MARIN is actively investigating their working principles and the critical design aspects, using modern design and analysis tools. Fuel efficiency and reduction of CO2 emissions are expected to have a strong influence on the design and operation of ships. With the arrival of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) in 2013…

08 Mar 2012

US Navy Supports Advanced Welding Project

Alcoa has been awarded a U.S. Navy $2.1 million contract to develop advanced welding techniques designed to reduce manufacturing costs on aluminum-intensive ships. Under the program, developed through a collaboration by Alcoa’s Government Affairs team and researchers at the Alcoa Technical Center in New Kensington, PA, Alcoa will adapt high-deposition gas metal arc welding technology to marine structures, enabling the Navy to reduce the cost of shipbuilding. Total projected savings for the Navy could be as much as $200 million under current shipbuilding plans. High-deposition gas metal arc welding is a semi-automated welding process that reduces weld passes, thus reducing labor costs and improving weld quality.

23 Feb 2012

HFT Launches Weld Purging Technology

new Tube and Pipe weld purge systems for Shipbuilding and Shiprepair industries.

Launch of  new Tube and Pipe weld purge systems for Shipbuilding and Shiprepair industries. Having been manufacturing Tube and Pipe Weld Purging Systems since 1975 Huntingdon Fusion Techniques (HFT) has now reached the MKV version of its designs by launching the new PurgElite series of Tube and Pipe Purging systems for diameters from 1” to 12” diameter inclusive. This particular range is especially suitable for the Stainless Steels, Duplex Steels and Nickel alloys that are being used in the manufacture of much of ships’ piping systems today.

19 Dec 2011

Wärtsilä CEO Addresses Challenges, Opportunities

Björn Rosengren was appointed President and CEO at Wärtsilä Corporation, as from September 1 this year. In a recent interview he told Maritime Reporter his views on the current business environment, the markets and about tasks ahead. Henrik Segercrantz reports. Wärtsilä, a leading global provider of power solutions for ships and power plants, is a global market leader in some of its segments. On the maritime side, the group has over the years expanded from its core products, that of producing medium- and low-speed engines…

19 May 2011

Wärtsilä Extends Engine Portfolio, 62 & 72 Bore

Wärtsilä, the marine industry's leading ship power system integrator, strengthens its offering in the mid-size, low-speed engine sector by adding new 62- and 72-bore low-speed engines to its portfolio. These standardised engines offer high propulsion efficiency, reliability, and optimised total cost of ownership for customers in the bulker, tanker, and feeder container markets. Both engines employ well-proven Wärtsilä low-speed technology, and incorporate electronically-controlled fuel supply and control.

28 Apr 2009

MacGregor Anchor-Handling/Towing Winch

MacGregor can now offer anchor-handling towing winches (AHTW) with pulling powers of between 300 tonnes and 600 tonnes and will be able to supply them in both hydraulically and electrically-driven versions. MacGregor is part of Cargotec Corporation, the world's leading provider of cargo handling solutions used in local transportation, terminals, ports, distribution centres and ships. Although traditionally supplied as hydraulically-operated, the new range of AHTWs will also be available as electrically-driven units.

08 Sep 2008

MHI and Wärtsilä to Jointly Develop Small-Size Engines

Wärtsilä program of low-speed marine engines, all available in fully electronically-controlled common-rail RT-flex versions, highlighting the new 350 and 400 mm-bore engines.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and Wärtsilä Corporation of will jointly develop new small, low-speed marine diesel engines with cylinder bores of 350 and 400 millimeters (mm). The two companies agreed on joint design and development of engines of less than 450 mm cylinder bore in May 2008, based on a previously signed strategic alliance agreement. The new engines, to have a power range of 3,500–9,000 kW, will be developed in collaboration, taking advantage of the strengths of the two companies.

16 Jun 2008

Wärtsilä Books Orders for 820 mm-Bore Low-Speed Engines

The new 820 mm-bore low-speed marine engines developed by Wärtsilä Corporation are proving to be successful in the market. With the second engine passing its factory acceptance test, orders booked by Wärtsilä's licensed engine builders have amounted to 129 engines with an aggregate power of 4415 MW (6.0 million bhp). The engines are being installed in panamax-sized container ships, large tankers such as VLCCs (Very Large Crude Oil Carriers), and VLOCs (Very Large Ore Carriers) being constructed at shipyards in South Korea, China and Germany. The 129 engines so far ordered comprise 74 engines of the RT-flex82C type, 29 of the RT-flex82T type, 22 of the RTA82C type and four of the RTA82T type.

06 Mar 2008

Large Shipbuilders Keep Profits Despite Steel Price Hike

An analyst from CITIC Securities Co., Ltd., said that the prices of steel products for shipbuilding would not increase as much as others, thanks to the long term partnership between shipbuilders and steel producers. Baosteel, a flagship in China's iron and steel industry, is a shareholder of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, and the two parties have co-invested in a leading shipbuilding base in China, Gao noted. Although China's steel enterprises have not yet released the growth rate of steel prices for the shipbuilding industry, Gao remained positive on the development of large shipbuilders. A researcher from China Shipbuilding Industrial Economy Research Center…

12 May 2004

Pushing for Inland Waterways Funding

Stressing the high value to the nation and the critical condition of some of its chief assets, the Inland Waterways Users Board released its Annual Report to Congress, and provides recommendations related to the inland waterways system of the United States. Sent to Assistant Secretary of the Army John Woodley, President of the Senate and Vice President Dick Cheney, and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, this year's report strongly urges Congress and the Administration to view our nation’s waterways as much more than just transportation routes, but also living resources that provide benefits such as flood control, hydroelectric power, local water supply, recreational opportunities, and habitat for fish and wildlife.

16 Jan 2001

3-D Modeling for Small and Large Vessel Construction

Developments in shipbuilding have been driven by needs to simplify the engineering and manufacturing. The cause is not just to become more competitive but also to avoid problems in controlling engineering and manufacturing costs. Two recent examples carried out with ShipConstructor include a small 7.5-m aluminum police boat and a 120-m car/truck/pax mono-hull fast ferry. Both vessels have been 3-D modeled using the same ShipConstructor software, which can be scaled to be a price efficient solution for small and large vessels at the same time. The software maintains the same functionality. The reduced cost version is only limited in the maximum number of parts in the project.

23 Feb 2001

Japanese Shipbuilders to Merge

Japanese shipbuilder Hitachi Zosen Corp and steelmaker NKK Corp. agreed to merge their shipbuilding operations into a single company on October 1, 2002. The move, which will result in Japan's second-biggest shipmaker after Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., is aimed at coping with increasingly harsh global competition by reducing production costs and speeding up product development. It comes as a growing number of Japanese companies are forming alliances in the shipbuilding industry to compete with South Korean rivals, which are benefiting from low manufacturing costs and the weakened won. The news boosted shares of both companies. NKK surged 9.52 percent to close at 92 yen, its highest price for the business year to March, while Hitachi Zosen jumped 4.49 percent to 93 yen.

03 Apr 2001

Japanese Shipbuilding Giants Cut Their Losses

Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd (IHI) said on Tuesday they would integrate their loss-making shipbuilding divisions in October 2002. News of the alliance was welcomed by investors, who sent shares in Kawasaki Heavy up five percent to 168 yen while IHI closed at 272 yen, gaining 7.5 percent. The alliance of Japan's second- and third-biggest heavy machinery and ship makers, intended to bring them back to profitability, reflects growing competition from Korean shipbuilders able to take advantage of low manufacturing costs and a weak won. The two companies will form a 50-50 joint venture based in Tokyo and will make joint use of Kawasaki's plants in Kobe and Sakaide and IHI's plants in Yokohama and Kure, they said.

09 Jul 2002

MAN B&W 48/60B Engine

The current basic family of MAN B&W's large medium-speed diesel engines consists of four sizes L 58/64, L/V 48/60, L 40/54 and L/V 32/40, launched between 1985 and 1995. This engine family covers an output range from 2,880 kW (6L 32/40) to 18,900 kW (18V 48/60). Within the last few years, this portfolio has been supplemented by the V 40/50, the smaller engine sizes L 16/24 and L 27/38, and, finally, the new L 21/31 (2002/03). All engines are fully heavy fuel oil compatible and have been optimized for both high fuel economy and lowest exhaust gas emissions. In terms of sold power, the 48/60 engine is second in the list of MAN B&W's bestsellers. The 48/60 has evolved with the needs of the market in its 13 years.

11 Sep 2007

EU Project IMPROVE Aims to Build Better Ships

The EU-funded IMPROVE project is developing three next generation ship designs in an effort to keep the competitiveness of European shipbuilding afloat. As competition from the Far East intensifies, the only way for the European shipbuilding industry to survive is to build on its technological advantage and offer ships with added value. Through the innovative use of advanced conceptual design and manufacturing techniques, the project will seek to develop concepts for small series and highly customized production environments, which will take into account important factors such as structure, production, operations, performance and safety at the pre-production stage of a ship's construction.