Coast Guard Auxiliary Supports Research Efforts
Unique among the nation’s armed services, the Coast Guard’s missions include national defense, law enforcement, natural disaster incident management, recreational boating safety and environmental protection. This diversity of mission scope presents opportunities for the Coast Guard at the strategic, operational and tactical levels as the service works to make their efforts as effective and efficient as possible.Contributing to the service’s overall execution effort is the Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC), based in New London, Connecticut.
Malaysia's Silk Holdings Buys Two AHTS
Silk subsidiary, Jasa Merin Sdn Bhd, signs up to buy two Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels from previous owners. The vessels named IDS Darul Ehsan and IDS Darussalam are 70-metre 120-tonne bollard pull AHTS with an engine rating of 10,800 break horsepower and were acquired from their previous owners for a total consideration of RM 240.6 million funded by internally generated funds and bank borrowings. Jasa Merin has partly settled a total of RM 16 million of the purchase price for the vessels. Dato’ Mohd Azlan bin Hashim, Executive Chairman of SILK Holdings said, “The Group is delighted with the additions to the fleet, bringing the total number of owned-vessels in the fleet to 18 vessels. The vessels are ready-built and are immediately able to contribute to earnings.
Outlook for Floating Production Strong
IMA has just completed a detailed assessment of the floating production sector. The study examines the impact of the global economic downturn, assesses the underlying long term market drivers and forecasts production floater orders over the next five years. The market for new floating production systems has frozen as a result of the abrupt downturn in the global economy. Over the past quarter no orders have been placed for production floaters. This is the first time since 1996, when IMA began tracking the floating production sector, where no orders have been placed during a reporting quarter. As a result, order backlog for production floaters has dropped 30 percent from the same time last year. Several orders for production floaters have been delayed, including three FPSOs and a MinDoc.
