Bazan News

At least two tanker owners delivering crude oil to Israel have asked to divert from Ashkelon to the port of Haifa because of fighting, shipping sources said on Friday.The most serious fighting between Israel and Gaza militants since 2014 began on Monday after the enclave's ruling Hamas group fired rockets at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.On Tuesday, an industrial area near Ashkelon was hit by…

Less than nine months after the historic inauguration of the Expanded Canal, the Panama Canal has announced that it has welcomed its 1,000th Neopanamax vessel through the waterway, highlighting the importance of the route and customers’ continued faith in the safe, reliable and efficient service the Canal provides. On Sunday, March 19, the containership Mediterranean Shipping Company's MSC Anzu made the historic 1,000th transit through the Expanded Canal, heading northbound from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

MAAG Gear Ag,a Swiss based company of FLS Industries, Denmark, has been awarded the contract by the Spanish shipyard IZAR, one of the biggest shipyards world-wide for naval ships. The contract covers the supply of five gearbox systems for new F-310 type frigates of the Norwegian Navy. The new frigates will be equipped with the most modern systems available today, including a combined Diesel and gasturbine (CODAG)propulsion system with high efficiency and low noise level gear units. The delivery of the first gearset will be end of 2002, followed by one gearset each year until 2006. The order is included in this years sales budget for naval gears, and the total order intake by mid year for MAAG is considerably higher than budgeted.

To great fanfare, Iñigo Tapias, the new 138,000 cu. m. liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier was launched on January 29 by IZAR's Sestao yard in Bilbao. The ship — standing in testament to the 1,213 workers at Sestao who physically made the ship a reality as well as the underlying strength of the IZAR company — is a highly significant one for many reasons, both technical and business. The 933-ft. (284.4-m), 19.5 knot ship embodies the hopes of a shipbuilding nation that is seeking to re-establish its presence in the LNG niche that it has not occupied for more than three decades, as the production of gas ships generally lays in the hands of Far East builders today.

Spain's Izar, for the Spanish Navy, reently launched the second of four frigates that are part of its F-100 program. All four frigates will be equipped with the Lockheed Martin Aegis Combat System. The ship, Almirante Juan de Borbon (F-102), was launched in ceremonies at the Izar shipyard in Ferrol, Spain. In addition, the keel was laid for F-103 during today's ceremonies. Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems (NE&SS) is the combat system engineering agent on the F-100 program. The first ship in the class, Alvaro de Bazan (F-101), is scheduled to be commissioned in October. The Spanish Navy selected the Aegis Combat System for its F-100 frigate program in 1996.

The advent of software solutions has infiltrated nearly every sector of the maritime market - from propulsion performance monitoring packages to personnel. It arguably has had no greater impact, though, than in the design and construction of new vessels. CAD/CAM/CAE programs are invaluable assets to the designer, builder and operator of vessels of all sizes and dimensions. Not only do advanced programs allow for the creation of the an efficient and cost effective ship structure and outfitting, they provide for enhanced manufacturing practices and techniques, and increasingly help devise a life-cycle maintenance and care plan which can tack profitable years onto a vessel's life.

Spain's state holding company Sepi said it had created the world's 10th largest shipbuilder with annual sales of around $1.25 billion. The group, which formally begins in October, will be formed from the merger of Spain's military shipbuilder Bazan with the civil yards including Astano, Cadiz and Manises. Its order book will be worth 638 billion pesetas, Sepi said in a statement. The merger is part of Sepi's plan to cut losses in the state-controlled industry and improve operating results by 20 billion pesetas, with the help of 100 billion pesetas of investment between now and 2005. This should make the new group profitable and competitive in world markets, Sepi said. Spain has tried to shake up its civilian shipbuilding interests four times in the last 15 years.

The last in a series of innovative, next-generation technology drillships left the building ways of Astilleros Españoles' Astano yard recently, heading for a neighboring shipyard for final fitting of its six massive Aquamaster thrusters. Discoverer Deep Seas, at the time of visit to tour the ship in Ferrol, Spain in early May, was dockside in nearby Bazan for the task of placing its six propulsion units, as task made easier by Bazan’ s deeper water facilities. Discoverer Deep Seas, along with its sister ships Discoverer Enterprise and Discoverer Spirit (the former named MR/EN’s Great Ship of 1999), embody not only the latest in drillship technology…

In extending its adherence to delivering cost-efficient and safety driven technologies, DNV has introduced a new means of quickly and accurately determining steel thickness can speed ship surveys. It is especially valuable in inspecting old and corroded steelwork. Present-day methods, based on ultrasonic thickness measurements, are said to have dubious reliability on heavily corroded plates, and for large vessels are also considered too slow. The basic technological challenge was to transmit 100 percent of the signal energy through corroded steel plates, and receive and interpret the reflected signal to give an accurate thickness measurement. The basic principles of the new measuring method (half-wave resonance) have been known for 40 years.

Reporting this year's SMM 2000 Shipbuilding, Machinery & Marine Technology Exhibition as "booked out," Hamburg Messe is dubbing the exhibition as one that is multi-cultural and lingual - the bi-annual conference is predicted to attract more than 1,000 from 42 countries. Designating Spain as this year's partner country, the exhibition, which has been dubbed the leading trade fair of world shipbuilding, SMM 2000, will take place at Hamburg Exhibition Centre from September 26-30, 2000. Holding a place as the main international forum for executives in the shipping and shipbuilding sector for many years, SMM has further consolidated its top position with its "Hall of Nations" strategy involving grouping national pavilions under one roof, which was implemented for the first time at SMM `98.

A new niche for Alstom to equip the first 8,500 cu. m. hopper dredge with electric propulsion. Alstom Power Conversion has been awarded a contract by E.N. Bazan-Juliana Constructora Gijonesa SA to equip the new 8,500 cu. m. hopper dredge for Dragages-Ports. Alstom will supply diesel electric power and propulsion systems including main generators, a 6.6 kV switchboard, distribution transformers and two synchronous motors each of 2,500 kW @ 1,500 rpm supplied through synchroconverters. This 8,500 cu. m. hopper dredge will be the first worldwide to be equipped with electric propulsion. This new dredge will operate in France from Summer 2002.

A new niche for Alstom to equip the first 8,500 cu. m. hopper dredge with electric propulsion. Alstom Power Conversion has been awarded a contract by E.N. Bazan-Juliana Constructora Gijonesa SA to equip the new 8,500 cu. m. hopper dredge for Dragages-Ports. Alstom will supply diesel electric power and propulsion systems including main generators, a 6.6 kV switchboard, distribution transformers and two synchronous motors each of 2,500 kW @ 1,500 rpm supplied through synchroconverters. This 8,500 cu. m. hopper dredge will be the first worldwide to be equipped with electric propulsion. This new dredge will operate in France from Summer 2002.

Spain is in talks with several shipbuilders in Europe to create a joint European company similar to the aerospace EADS, the chairman of Spain's state holding company (SEPI) said. After a presentation in Madrid of Spain's new civilian and military shipbuilder Izar, Pedro Ferreras said SEPI was already talking to groups in France, Germany and Italy. "We want to begin working on projects common to European countries, like the model followed by the aerospace sector, but that takes time," he said, referring to the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS). EADS was born from the merger of SEPI-controlled Casa, France's Aerospatiale Matra and Germany's DaimlerChrysler Aerospace.

A ceremony held aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) (TR) May 4 recognized the ongoing friendship between Spain and the United States with the joining of a Spanish ship to the TR Carrier Strike Group. Alvaro de Bazan (F 101), a medium-size Spanish frigate, is now officially a part of Carrier Strike Group 2. “We are pleased and honored to welcome Alvaro de Bazan to Norfolk, Va., and into the TR strike group,” said Commander, Carrier Strike Group 2 Rear Adm. James A. Winnefeld. “This project was born in 2003 with the highest leaders of the Navy, and the Memorandum of Understanding was signed a week ago. High-ranking officials from the Spanish navy, marine corps, air force and army attended the ceremony along with U.S. officials from Joint Forces Command, Fleet Forces Command and U.S.

Thousands of friends and family members gathered at Naval Station Norfolk for the return of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), March 11, following a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf in support of the global war on terrorism. The early morning arrival of Theodore Roosevelt didn’t deter the crowd. Family members waited in the early Saturday morning chill, anticipating the return of their loved ones. “It’s like Christmas all over again,” said Diane Drach, mother of Machinist's Mate Fireman Ashley Drach, who is stationed aboard Theodore Roosevelt. While deployed, Theodore Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 launched 5,412 sorties totaling nearly 19,362 flight hours in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Maritime Security Operations (MSO).

IZAR, the new Spanish shipbuilding consortium formed with the combination of the former Astilleros Españoles and Bazan, has delivered to Stena Line its brand new ferry Stena Hollandica, which entered service in the Hook of Holland-Harwich route. In October 2000 Stena Line had already introduced its sister ship Stena Britannica. Stena Hollandica was built at the IZAR Puerto Real yard, as well as the Stena Britannica and the first and second in series, Finneagle and Finnclipper, operated by the Finnish owner Finnlines. IZAR Puerto Real yard has became a world leader in the construction of RoRo and passenger ferries, as in the last three years it has delivered seven totaling an output over 225,000 gt.

As the sole shipbuilding organization outside eastern Asia with a current involvement in the construction of large LNG carriers, IZAR is determined to maintain a long-term position in a promising, higher value-added field of the newbuild market. The present business profile is based on a series of membrane-type vessels of 138,000-cu. m. capacity, contracted in recent years in the face of fierce international competition and oriental domination of gas tanker production. However, the gathering momentum behind the Spanish group's research and development drive has increased its offering to the LNG transportation sector beyond the impressive new generation of ships now taking form in Sestao and Puerto Real for Spanish and Norwegian interests.

The shiprepair yard of IZAR Ferrol surpassed previous occupancy records recently, as it simultaneously worked on eight vessels. The yard facilities were fully busy and there was no room to accommodate any other vessels at the yard's two drydocks (of 1,083 x 164 ft. [330 x 50 m] and 673 x 82 ft. [205 x 25 m]) and 5,577 ft. (1,700 m) long quays. One of the vessels, a tanker owned by Spain’s CLH, is the first example of the cooperation capacity between the repair yards of Ferrol and Fene (the former Astano), now part of IZAR since the company took over the facilities of Bazan and AESA. The repair order for the crude oil carrier was awarded to Ferrol, but the vessel had to be docked at Fene due to the high occupancy of Ferrol facilities.

The actual extent of European public funding to promote a modal shift from road to waterborne transportation has up until now — been far outweighed by political discourse on the subject — no doubt designed to appeal to the popular, environmentalist vote. However, a recently more pragmatic approach by government to the issue, coupled with the maritime industries' development of new technical solutions for efficient, intra-regional freight exchange, suggests that the tide might be turning in favor of short-sea shipping. An appreciation that economic and environmental considerations are increasingly intertwined, and that environmental performance bears more and more on competitive position…

Halter Marine, Inc., a subsidiary of Halter Marine Group, Inc., and Empresa Nacional Bazan de C.N.M., S.A., of Madrid, Spain, have formed Halter-Bazan, a joint venture to build Bazan-designed aluminum passenger/vehicle fast ferries at a Halter facility in the U.S. of an "Alhambra" Class fast ferry. Construction for an undisclosed customer is expected to begin in February 1999 on a 410 ft., 1,250 passenger/240 vehicle, diesel/waterjet, 40-knot monohull ferry. Completion is planned by year-end 2000. Halter-Bazan is negotiating an option for a second similar ferry for the same European operator. Bazan-built "Mestral" and "Alhambra" Class ferries are now operating on routes in Europe and South America.

The shiprepair yard of IZAR Ferrol last week surpassed previous occupancy records, as it simultaneously worked on eight vessels. The yard facilities were fully busy and there were no room to accommodate any further vessel at the yard's two drydocks (of 330 m long by 50 m wide and 205 m long by 25 m wide) and 1,700 m long quays. One of the vessels, a tanker owned by the Spanish company CLH, has become the first example of the cooperation capacity between the repair yards of Ferrol and Fene (the former Astano), now part of IZAR since the company took over the facilities of Bazan and AESA. The repairing order for the Spanish crude oil carrier…