Fram News

With a lame-duck CNO, a divided Congress and the impending launch of the next Presidential election cycle, America’s naval market is locked into something of a fragile and fearful autopilot, cruising inexorably towards whatever excitement 2024 might bring.Materially, don’t expect much change: The demand for naval platforms will continue to outstrip available funding, meaning there will be little movement or growth in America’s major shipbuilding programs of record. The procurement outlines are already set.

Marine insurance brokers Marine Assekuranz from Hamburg and Fram from Norway are joining forces. With the core expertise in insuring ships and transports worldwide for decades – now they are joining forces under the umbrella of the "Marine Alliance". The alliance was founded last year by Söderberg & Partners, a Stockholm-based family business that is the majority shareholder of Fram. The Marine Alliance will offer specialized industry know-how, provide marketing services for both partners and bundle their purchasing power.

Offshore seismic survey contractors PGS and Shearwater GeoServices have been awarded framework agreements with Equinor for 4D towed streamer seismic acquisition on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) in what Equinor said was a new way of working with seismic contractors.The agreements have a total estimated value of around NOK 700 million (~USD 82,7 million).“This is a new way of working with seismic suppliers. We are moving away from annual tenders towards a more long-term collaboration model.

Building on its 125-year heritage, Norwegian shipowner Hurtigruten has become a leader in exploration travel offering voyages to more than 200 unique destinations in more than 30 countries ranging across the globe from the Arctic to the Antarctic and including cruises in Norway, Greenland, Svalbard, Iceland, Western Europe, and the Americas. In an interview with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, Dan Skjeldam, the company’s CEO, emphasizes the need for the cruise industry…

Hurtigruten orders third hybrid-powered expedition cruise shipGrowth in the global cruise sector continues, as Hurtigruten, the world’s largest expedition cruise operator, signed an MOU with shipbuilder Kleven Verft AS for the construction of a third hybrid-powered expedition cruise ship. Tom Mulligan, Maritime Reporter’s Science & Technology writer, reports from Norway.“We are thrilled to introduce yet another revolutionary hybrid-powered expedition ship,” enthused Hurtigruten’s CEO, Daniel Skjeldam.

Norway has been forced to close the Sture Oil Terminal near Bergen and has started closing down the nearby Kollsness gas-and-condensate terminal — a lifeline of heating gas to Europe — after an early morning collision between a $440-million frigate and an oil tanker.The frigate Helge Ingstad, now listing heavily to its port side, is loaded with torpedoes and weapons systems said to be unstable as a result of the collision. Eight navy personnel are said to be injured, including two flown to regional hospital…

Equinor has awarded Odfjell a contract for drilling two times three production wells for the Fram and Askeladd licences by using the Deepsea Atlantic rig. Odfjell has also been awarded a master framework agreement (MFA). Equinor has signed a framework agreement with Odfjell with terms that will be used for future rig contracts with Odfjell on the Norwegian continental shelf. At the same time, the first rig contract has been signed for Deepsea Atlantic under this contract format. “We have reached a long-term agreement with standard terms that will ensure more efficient procurement processes for future assignments with Odfjell. In addition…

On the seafloor of the shallow coastal regions north of Siberia, microorganisms produce methane when they break down plant remains. If this greenhouse gas finds its way into the water, it can also become trapped in the sea ice that forms in these coastal waters. As a result, the gas can be transported thousands of kilometres across the Arctic Ocean and released in a completely different region months later. This phenomenon is the subject of an article by researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, published in the current issue of the online journal Scientific Reports. Although this interaction between methane, ocean and ice has a significant influence on climate change, to date it has not been reflected in climate models.

Brazil is still attracting cruise lines, such as Norwegian Cruise Line, which is bringing a ship to Brazil for the first time in the 2016/2017 season. However, hard numbers do not bode well for the industry as the number of cruises dropped by more than half in four years, with a staggering 54 percent decrease in the number of regular cruise ships on the Brazilian coast. In 2012, the season had 15 regular ships, while this year there will be only seven, and the number of passengers boarding at Santos port will be 42 percent lower. The 2010/2011 season of cruises hit the record for ships on the Brazilian coast: 20. Since then, this number has fallen year on year…

The Arctic has a serious litter problem: in just ten years, the concentration of marine litter at a deep-sea station in the Arctic Ocean has risen 20-fold. This was recently reported in a study by researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Plastic bags, glass shards and fishing nets: despite its location, far from any urban areas, the amount of litter in the depths of the Arctic Ocean continues to rise, posing a serious threat to its fragile ecosystem. Since 2002, AWI researchers have been documenting the amount of litter at two stations of the AWI’s “Hausgarten”, a deep-sea observatory network, which comprises 21 stations in the Fram Strait, between Greenland and Svalbard.

Statoil decided to cancel the contract with Stena Drilling for the mobile rig Stena Don. The rig has been on contract to Statoil since February 7, 2014, performing operations for the Troll and Fram licences. The original contract termination date is February 7, 2017. The cancellation will take effect after the plugging activity on the Troll field has been completed, in early November. After this, Stena Don was committed to the Fram licence. However, the licence does not have any work program for the rig, nor does Statoil have any other activities where the available capacity can be used.

Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) are setting out with the research vessel Polarstern towards Spitsbergen, to use newly developed equipment in the Arctic Ocean. Autonomous instruments on the seabed, in the water column and in the air will complement the long-term measurements of the deep-sea research group. In this way researchers can analyse the climatic changes in the Arctic and their impact on the fauna in the future with higher temporal and spatial resolution. For the first time the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) "Tramper" will be set on its own for a year on the Arctic seabed. "The newly developed device is to measure oxygen along the depth gradients on a weekly basis.

The warming of arctic waters in the wake of climate change is likely to produce radical changes in the marine habitats of the High North. This is indicated by data from long-term observations in the Fram Strait, which researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) have now analysed. Their most important finding: even a short-term influx of warm water into the Arctic Ocean would suffice to fundamentally impact the local symbiotic communities, from the water’s surface down to the deep seas. As the authors recently reported in the journal “Ecological Indicators”, that’s precisely what happened between 2005 and 2008. The Arctic is a remote and extreme habitat.

In a new study, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) show for the first time that marine litter can even be found at the sea surface of Arctic waters. Though it remains unclear how the litter made it so far north, it is likely to pose new problems for local marine life, the authors report on the online portal of the scientific journal Polar Biology. Plastic has already been reported from stomachs of resident seabirds and Greenland sharks. Plastic waste finds its way into the ocean, and from there to the farthest reaches of the planet – even as far as the Arctic. This was confirmed in one of the first litter surveys conducted north of the Arctic Circle…

On Wednesday, 14 October 2015 the research icebreaker Polarstern from the Alfred-Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), entered its homeport in Bremerhaven. Since mid-May, over 200 biologists, physicists, chemists, ice physicists, oceanographers and geoscientists have taken part in a total of four expeditions, with changes of personnel in Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen) and Tromsø (Norway). In the course of these five months, RV Polarstern covered over 16,000 nautical miles (more than 30,000 kilometres). Climate change is proceeding especially rapidly and intensively in the Arctic. Over the past few decades, the mean temperature in the High North has risen twice as fast as the global average.

A new vessel has been designed as a luxury expedition cruise vessel for worldwide operation including Arctic and Antarctic regions for itineraries up to 21 days with 300 passengers aboard. The vessel is designed for unrestricted ocean voyages and strengthened for Ice Class 1A service. According to designers KNUD E. HANSEN A/S, the vessel has been developed to meet and challenge the increasing interest from the market concerning smaller size vessels for specialized and customized cruising and expeditions.

How do you get an aircraft in the far reaches of the Arctic Ocean to the goal, if the compass does not provide reliable location data? Engineers aboard the research icebreaker Polarstern of the Alfred Wegener Institute programmed a Multikopter so that he can navigate near the North Pole, despite declination of the Earth's magnetic field. A first successful test flight together with autonomous landing celebrated scientists recently on an ice floe. "The autonomous navigation is in high latitudes is a major challenge," says Sascha Lehmenhecker, engineer at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). "Navigation is by means of magnetic sensors.

Statoil’s fast-track development projects are increasing the company’s and partners’ oil and gas production through a combination of standardised subsea development solutions and utilisation of infrastructure in a manner which helps extend the lifetime of existing fields. Production start-up on Fram H-North and Svalin C marks the eighth and ninth fast-track development projects for Statoil. "Together with partners, authorities and suppliers we have been able to develop standardised technical solutions and methods of interaction that yield increased production from the Norwegian shelf," says Statoil’s head of field development on the Norwegian shelf, Ivar Aasheim. "We have achieved a lot with regard to costs, development time and HSE.

There are 320 oil/gas floating production units are now in service, on order or available for reuse on another field. FPSOs account for 64% of the existing systems, 79% of systems on order. Production semis, barges, spars and TLPs comprise the balance. Total oil/gas inventory is the same as last month – but two units on order last month (N’Goma FPSO and Delta House Semi) were completed and are now in the active inventory. Another 29 floating LNG processing systems are in service or on order. Liquefaction floaters account for 17%, regasification floaters 83%.

Norway's Statoil shut oil and gas production at its Troll C platform in the North Sea after inspections found corrosion damage on a pipeline, the company said in a statement on its website on Wednesday. The platform was shut on Sunday and the repair is expected to take seven days, Statoil said. "Troll C has a daily equity production of some 58,000 barrels of oil, and exports 8 million cubic metres of gas," Statoil said. "In addition some 34,000 barrels of oil and 2 million cubic metres of gas are transported from the Fram field through the Troll C platform." Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis

Norway's Statoil has drilled a dry well in the North Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Monday. The well was drilled in production license 248 C some 5 kilometres from the Fram field. Statoil has a 60-percent stake in the license, while state-owned firm Petoro has the remaining 40 percent.   Reporting by Gwladys Fouche

E-navigation specialist Navtor  has secured arguably one of its most high-profile customers to date, with the news that the entire Hurtigruten fleet has signed up to use its innovative ENC Service. The agreement has been reached ahead of the July 2014 deadline for existing passenger vessels to conform with IMO’s ECDIS Carriage Requirement (ECDIS Mandate). Hurtigruten, translating as ‘the express route,’ is one of Norway’s most iconic shipping brand. Established 120 years ago, the fleet serves the country’s west and northern coastline…

Aberdeen Harbor welcomed its first cruise vessel as it prepares for 12 expected visits to the city during the summer season. The arrival of the cruise vessel Island Sky, famed for its large suites and spacious outside decks, signals the start of the season when it arrives tomorrow (May 21) for the first of what will be three visits as it tours the Scottish Islands and Scandinavia over the course of the summer. Many of the cruises scheduled on such vessels this year will start and end in Aberdeen, with Aberdeen becoming a common cruise embarkation point.