Ferrostaal News

Stephan Reimelt has been appointed as president and CEO of GE’s Power Conversion business, succeeding Joe Mastrangelo who becomes president and CEO of Power Generation Products for GE Power & Water, GE Energy Management president and CEO Mark Begor announced today. Power Conversion is at the heart of generating cleaner and more efficient power for multiple industries. Ge said it is a growing business, operating in 160 locations worldwide, with more than 7,000 employees. Under Mastrangelo’s leadership the backlog grew more than 70 percent in four years to reach $3.5 billion, being a crucial cornerstone for what will become a $13 billion Energy Management business when combined with Alstom Grid Solutions.

The Board of Directors of Petrobras approved at a meeting held today, the creation of a special committee to act as interlocutor ("Reporting line") of independent internal investigations conducted by the Trench, Rossi e Watanabe and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher offices . This Committee shall act independently and will report directly to the Board. The powers and responsibilities of the Special Committee shall include (i) approve the research plan; (Ii) receive and analyze the information submitted by the offices of lawyers; (Iii) ensure that research maintain independence by ensuring that this is not impeded or obstructed; (Iv) review, approve and feasibility of the implementation of the recommendations made ​​by offices…

The "Consórcio Tomé Ferrostaal" (CTF) named consortium of Rheinmetall International Engineering, a joint venture of Ferrostaal and Rheinmetall, and the Brazilian company Tomé Engenharia have handed over two modules for the first of a series of six vessels to an international consortium led by Petrobras. "CTF" was awarded in 2012 the modules order to equip six FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) vessels. At the end of October, the Barge S. Tomé loaded with the Modules M8 and M10 was handed over to the integrator and successfully shipped away to its final integration destination in Angra dos Reis. The total order is worth today approx.

The P-66 platform’s first modules, built at the Tomé Ferrostaal Consortium’s Module Plant located at the Port of Maceió, Alagoas, are now ready and loaded on the São Tomé barge. The oil processing module (M08) and the oil processing and produced water treatment module (M10) will be taken on the barge to the Brasfels Shipyard in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro. The barge is expected to arrive in Angra dos Reis on November 12. Another barge, called São Luís, will transport the launcher, receiver and manifold modules (M09A and M09B) by the end of November. The Brasfels Shipyard was hired to integrate the P-66 and P-69 platforms. This integration work includes hoisting the modules…

Brazilian joint venture will use SmartMarine® Enterprise components for project with oil giant Petrobras. Tome Ferrostaal, a joint venture between Tome Engenharia and Ferrostaal in Brazil, has selected Intergraph® SmartMarine® Enterprise solutions, distributed by Sisgraph, as part of a project with Petrobras, one of the world's largest energy companies. Intergraph's enterprise engineering software will be used to construct the topsides of six identical floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, which will be built in Brazil. Sisgraph, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been a distributor of Intergraph solutions in South America for more than 30 years. Intergraph and Sisgraph are part of Hexagon.

Petrobras subsidiaries Tupi BV and Guará BV, together with consortium members BG Group, Petrogal Brasil, and Repsol Sinopec Brasil SA, have given the go-ahead for ten contracts totaling US$4.5 billion for the construction of the first six topside modules (processing plant, utilities and living quarters) for eight identical (“Replicant”) FPSOs (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading units). The modules are to be constructed in Brazil for pre-salt projects (a geophysical layer) in Santos Basin blocks BM-S-9 and BM-S-11. The contracts will be signed in the next few days.

Germanischer Lloyd (GL) has appointed Mr Christian Freiherr von Oldershausen to the newly created position of Senior Vice President Global Sales. In his new position, Mr von Oldershausen will be responsible for enhancing global sales, working closely together with GL’s regional and area management. The appointment of Mr von Oldershausen reflects GL’s ambition to further sharpen its customer focus and continue to expand its global activities. Mr von Oldershausen will be based in GL’s Head Office in Hamburg and begins in his new role on 1 January 2012.

A unit of Germany's MAN AG reportedly confirmed to a major news agency that it would buy a 15 percent stake in Howaldtswerke- Deutsche Werft (HDW) by October 1. The move follows a surprise takeover of the shipyard by U.S.-based One Equity Partners last month who freed the yard from the control of ailing engineering firm Babcock Borsig. The head of MAN unit Ferrostaal AG, reportedly told a news conference that the firm agreed to buy a 15 percent stake offered by One Equity soon after it gained control of 75 percent of HDW's shares. HDW is the world's leading producer of non-nuclear submarines. One Equity said it bought the controlling stake as a financial investment.

Nine companies expressed interest in the privatization of Hellenic Shipyards at Skaramanga, part of the country's privatization agenda for 2001, the development ministry reported. The government's advisers on the project will shortlist bidders in the next 15 days and then ask for binding bids for the shipyard, whose major shareholders are ETBA Bank and workers. The ministry expects the project to be concluded by June. The companies that expressed interest are: Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie; General Electric Company; Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG-Ferrostaal AG; Louis Cruise Lines Ltd ; Mentor Technologies; Elefsina Industrial Companies SA; Pacific & Atlantic Corporation; Royal Schelde BV-Damen Shipyards Group BV; and Vosper Thornycroft Ltd.

German industry is doing much to advance the development and application of fuel cell technology, and is responsible for many of the initiatives launched so far in the marine sector. Although skeptics in the commercial shipping domain discount the chances of a substantial uptake of fuel cell power aboard mercantile traders in the foreseeable future, there is a growing realization of the long-term possibilities offered by the technology, albeit in specialized areas. Use in auxiliary plant may hold out certain opportunities in some types of vessel. Minimal environmental impact, due to an absence of the noxious emissions produced by internal combustion engines…

South Africa's first shipyard to construct oil and gas production platforms was recently opened, according to a Reuters report. The shipyard will provide a foothold for the country to take advantage of a booming oil sector in Angola and other West African countries. South Africa is hoping the $30.4m plant, part of a $258.3m investment by Germany-based MAN Ferrostaal AG, will act as a service hub for Africa's burgeoning oil industry. The facility in Saldanha, about 100 km (62 miles) north of Cape Town, will manufacture components, such as bridges, decks and hulls for offshore oil platforms, largely to service fields in Angola and Nigeria to the north. [Source: Reuters]

The South African navy has commissioned Germanischer Lloyd with the classification of three submarines. The order includes the inspection of the construction plans as well as annual technical safety checks. This makes Germanischer Lloyd the first classification society worldwide to be entrusted with the technical support of military submarines. The conventional class 209 submarines of type 1400 MOD are part of a comprehensive programme to modernise the South African navy. The vessels were constructed by the German Submarine Consortium, consisting of Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG (HDW), Kiel, Nordseewerke GmbH (NSWE), Emden, and MAN Ferrostaal AG, Essen. The first S101 submarine constructed in Kiel was delivered in March 2006.

Greece's Skaramanga shipyard workers are in favor of a Hoawaldtswerke Deutsche Werft-Ferrostaal (HDW/FS) offer to buy out 100 percent of the shipyard for 1.5 billion drachmas ($3.8 million), a shipyard executive said. George Kontakis, vice president of Skaramanga shipyards and representative of the 49 percent stake owned by its workers, said the union's approval was unanimous. "The union's board decided unanimously (in favor), as ETBA Bank did, and announced HDW/FS as the highest bidder for the sale of 100 percent of the shipyard," Kontakis said. Earlier this week ETBA Bank, which holds a 51 percent stake in Skaramanga shipyards, said…

Greece received three bids for the sale of a majority stake in Hellenic (Skaramanga) Shipyards, one of 10 privatizations the development ministry has planned for 2001. "We have three bids, but one bid has no letter of guarantee. It's important that we have two bids that are good. They are what we were expecting," Deputy Development Minister Alekos Kalafatis said. Germany's biggest shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW)-Ferrostaal AG and Greece's Neorion Shipyards subsidiary Elefsina Shipyards submitted binding bids, he said. An expression of continued interest, without a letter of guarantee, came from France's Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie (CMN).

Romanian Black Sea shipyard Santierul Naval Constanta reportedly is close to clinching shipbuilding contracts worth the equivalent of $32 million with two big German companies this year. The yard was expected to sign a contract worth $20 million with Ferrostaal Essen and another $12 million contract with Thyssen-Krupp group. The shipyard, slated for selloff later this year and needing an annual $50 million in contracts to operate properly, has so far secured orders totaling $20 million.

State-run Romanian Black Sea shipyard Santierul Naval Constanta expects to cut losses this year and to upgrade facilities to make it more attractive ahead of its sell-off, an official said. "Declining traffic in the Constanta Port last year, mainly due to the Yugoslav conflict, has affected our 1999 results," Dan Mocanu, head of the shipyard's privatization department, said. He said the shipyard had losses of $21.9 million last year, but revived port activity was expected to trim these to $7.8 million by end-2000. "We are expecting increased activity, with more vessels to be repaired and new ones built this year, to cushion part of last year's losses," he said.