Alcan News

Hundreds of construction workers in booming northern British Columbia will take up residence this week in unique digs on board a cruise ferry revamped into a floating luxury hotel. The aging ship will help relieve a housing shortage in one busy Canadian port town already bursting ahead of a promised energy boom that could last more than a decade. The Silja Festival - a Baltic ferry made over as the Delta Spirit Lodge - will spend at least a year docked outside Kitimat, British Columbia, where it will provide housing for about 600 workers in town for Rio Tinto Alcan's $3.3 billion smelter-upgrade project, which is expected to wrap up in 2015.

David Sneddon is to succeed Robert Hingley-Wilson as Chief Accounting Officer and Senior Vice President of Seadrill Management Limited. Mr Sneddon joined Seadrill effective December 1, 2013 as Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to Seadrill he held several senior positions in Novelis Inc., most recently as VP Finance in Europe, and prior to that held various positions in Alcan. Per Wullf, CEO of Seadrill said, "Thanks to Robert for his contribution to Seadrill over the last two years.

Jean-Christophe Deslarzes has been appointed by ABB  to its Executive Committee as Head of Human Resources as of Nov. 15, 2013. He succeeds Gary Steel, 60, who will retire at a date that is still to be determined. Deslarzes, a 49-year-old Swiss national, has served for the past three years as Chief Human Resources and Organization Officer and member of the Executive Board at the global retail group Carrefour. From 1994 to 2010, he worked at Rio Tinto Alcan and its predecessors Alcan Inc. and Alusuisse, in a variety of human resources and management roles in Europe and Canada.

Arrival of a pneumatic ship unloader at Richards Bay, South Africa, bulk terminal marks start of equipment renewal project. Port operator Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) has earmarked the biggest slice of its R33-billion budget over the next seven years for new equipment acquisition projects at Richards Bay, the country’s largest bulk export facility. The arrival of one of the terminal’s largest assets, a custom-built pneumatic ship unloader produced by Swiss shipping manufacturer, Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) Alesa Engineering Ltd. sends a powerful signal of Richards Bay modernisation project.

Dutra Dredging Co., San Rafael, Calif., was awarded on May 15, 2009 an $18,224,915 firm-fixed-price contract for Harbor Improvements Phase III, St. Paul, Alaska, St. Paul, Alaska Dredging approximately 150,000 Cubic Yard (CY) for the entrance channel, maneuvering area, mooring area, and the intertidal beach area, dredging approximately 27,000 CY for the breakwater berth dredge area (optional item), demolish an existing rubblemound breakwater, construct a 435-foot long rubblemound breakwater (attached) in the existing harbor, construct a 160-foot long rubblemound breakwater (detached) in the existing harbor, construct a 485-foot long rubblemound circulation berm in the existing harbor. Work is to be performed in St. Paul Island, Ala., with an estimated completion date of Jan. 25, 2012.

Technology, The Aluminum Association, Inc. Aluminum has been used in the marine industry for more than 100 years because of its light weight and ease of fabrication combined with good corrosion and fatigue resistance. However, for much of the past 30 years, fiberglass has been the material of choice of North American boatbuilders, particularly for higher-volume production lines. Competitively priced compared with boats made from most other materials, fiberglass boats can also be made from standardized molds that reduce their construction time and labor. Aluminum alloys, which are specified for marine use, offer many benefits, though, too.

Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries -- the world's largest shipbuilder -- said it expects this year's net profit to tumble as it had to write off losses stemming from its sister firms. "We expect this year's net profit to drop to about $134.5 million (150 billion won) from 323 billion won in 1999," President and CEO Cho Choong-hooy said. "We have to clean up losses in Hyundai Space and Aircraft and Aluminium of Korea this year. But our sales will be steady along with strong shipbuilding demand and operating profits will be similar to last year's 670 billion won," he added. Hyundai Heavy had a 42.5 percent stake at Hyundai Space, which was liquidated earlier this year, and a 14.9 percent stake at Aluminium of Korea, which was sold in May to Alcan Aluminium.