Electronic Product News

Classification society BV acquire  LVQ-WP, a German group specializing in non-destructive testing (NDT) and industrial inspection services. Founded in 1994, LVQ-WP is headquartered in Muelheim in the Rhein-Ruhr area, which is a strategic industrial cluster in Germany, and provides services to the power, process and manufacturing sectors in Germany and Eastern Europe. LVQ-WP currently has 120 highly qualified employees and its 2012 revenues totaled around EUR9 million. In Europe, non-destructive testing and industrial inspection services represent an attractive market, estimated at EUR850 million with a growth rate of around 8% per year, in which demand is driven by the need to maintain the integrity of ageing infrastructure.

Seaspan CEO  addresses concerns raised by the Parliamentary Budget Officer about the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS). (Seaspan affiliate companies include Vancouver Drydock, Vancouver Shipyards and Victoria Shipyards). We are confident the NSPS program as described in 2010, as awarded in October 2011, and as signed in the umbrella agreement (UA) on February 14, 2012, is solidly on track. Since the signing of the UA, Seaspan has realized success in building the right management team, processes and infrastructure to set the yard up for long-term success. When Seaspan was awarded the Non-Combat program package, we hoped to have secured a design contract in about one year. We signed it last week, four months past the one-year anniversary of the contract award.

Intermarine Electronics announced that its new cost effective IME300 BNWAS received a US Coast Guard approval no 2012 2957. With USCG approval, in addition to GL type approval, IME 300 is accepted by all major classification societies. IME 300 is a marine electronic product that meets and exceeds all IMO criteria. It connects instantly with any VDR or Autopilot without extra interfaces. Power supply and rechargeable battery are included. It is protected from over voltage, short circuit and inversed polarity. A built-in test instrument checks health status and automatically identifies failures.

Caterpillar announces the introduction of a secured intranet database for CAT dealers that enables Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) the opportunity to provide CAT dealers with model specific information. The system also has the capability to electronically notify an OEM when a CAT dealer accesses this database to service their product. The benefits to OEM’s and their customers, allow OEM's to leverage the CAT worldwide product support network;ncrease communication and response time between the OEM's and CAT dealers. The CAT OEM SERVICE INTERLINK allows OEM's to provide the Caterpillar product support network with a complete range of product support information.

This edition of our annual World Yearbook mirrors the changes sweeping the maritime markets within which you operate. While there are traditional departments and sections with which you have become accustomed to and comfortable with, there is also a good deal of space dedicated to extolling the values of emerging e-commerce technologies, a topic that I’m reasonably sure is far from the theoretical comfort level enjoyed by many owners and operators in the domestic and international maritime markets. The dot com craze, which has swept consumer markets in the U.S. and abroad has fully infiltrated the maritime niche, and there is currently a staggering rush by companies large and small…