Gould News

New Regional Director Doug Ross will lead CXO300 diesel outboard engine manufacturer’s expansion in North America with Sales Manager Chuck Gould in support.Cox Marine announced two sales appointments in North America as it builds its regional team to drive business growth. Doug Ross was confirmed as Regional Sales Director, North America, to lead Cox Marine’s sales strategy, overseeing all business channels in the country and working closely with the U.S. distributors to stimulate growth.Based in South Florida…

Since mid 2015 when MCA first approved a Thailand based seafarer training facility, that destination has experienced growth as a popular focus for both advanced seafarers and also entry level crew to complete STCW 2010 and the new updating STCW courses.Anthony Gould, CEO and major investor in Galileo Maritime Academy, said at the recent launch of their Survival Craft and Fast Rescue Boats training facility in Phuket, “Over the last three years international professional seafarers coming to Phuket…

New coffee’s sales will raise money for maritime charities. Hampshire, U.K. based Sailors’ Society has launched a new coffee in partnership with The National Museum of the Royal Navy that will help raise money for seafarers and their families in need. Sailors’ Society, which celebrates its 200th anniversary in March, said it launched BySea coffee as a way of diversifying its income. Now, profits from a new blend, HMS Victory – which shares its name with Nelson’s famous flagship – will go to the charity’s work supporting global seafaring communities…

BP, Eni, ExxonMobil, Repsol, Shell, Statoil, Total and Wintershall have committed to further reduce methane emissions from the natural gas assets they operate around the world. The energy companies also agreed to encourage others across the natural gas value chain – from production to the final consumer – to do the same. The commitment was made as part of wider efforts by the global energy industry to ensure that natural gas continues to play a critical role in helping meet future energy demand while addressing climate change. Since natural gas consists mainly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, its role in the transition to a low-carbon future will be influenced by the extent to which methane emissions are reduced.

Kelvin Hughes has been acquired by HENSOLDT (formerly Airbus Defense Electronics) as a result of an agreement by its owners ECI Partners to sell its investment in the company. “Following the buyout from Smiths Group, ECI has been a consistent and supportive partner as we have consolidated our position as a global leader in surveillance and security radar solutions,” said Kelvin Hughes CEO, Russell Gould. Completion of the transaction remains subject to regulatory clearances. HENSOLDT, an independent sensor house, is a provider of radar and IFF systems on airborne, naval and land platforms.

Kelvin Hughes is celebrating 70 years of radar in 2017. In 1947 the first Type 1 radar was produced and installed on a new fishing trawler, the Type 1 then went on to be the first type approved radar, gaining its type approval certificate on August 11, 1948, the first radar to do so. Kelvin Hughes, a  maritime navigation and security surveillance radar, has a history stretching back over 250 years. Over the course of that period, the company has been responsible for a number of significant technology ‘firsts’, including the first navigation radar for commercial ships to be type-approved.

German state-backed lender NordLB now expects to report a loss in 2016 after non-performing loans in shipping, where it is one of the world's top lenders, helped push it into the red in the first quarter. The results at NordLB, which previously said it expected an earnings decline this year but did not point to a loss, bode ill for German peers HSH, Commerzbank, DVB and KFW, who have also been forced to take writedowns and boost capital buffers against shipping loan portfolios turning bad. "We are expecting NORDLB to close the current year with a negative result," Chief Executive Gunter Dunkel said in a statement on Wednesday. That would be its first full year loss since 2009.

The runner ignored a previously issued order from U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) to not depart on his seagoing journey. The order outlined specific safety conditions which Baluchi failed to meet. At approximately 2 a.m. Sunday, a Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale boatcrew discovered Reza Baluchi aboard his makeshift hydro pod approximately 7 miles off the coast of Jupiter en route to Bermuda. Coast Guard crews remained on-scene with Baluchi throughout the night to ensure his safety and to prevent other vessels from colliding with the hydro pod.

Germany's shipping lenders are preparing for sustained pain as weakening trade and an over-supply of ships show no signs of easing, industry officials said. Europe's biggest economy was one of the world's main centres of global ship finance before the 2008 credit crisis and the five most involved banks still have around 80 billion euros ($88 billion) of loans outstanding to the sector, a difficult exposure to manage given tighter scrutiny from bank regulators. "The structural imbalance from the over-supply of transport capacity and low demand will continue and we don't expect any encouraging upswing as a result," shipping bank DVB Chief Executive Ralf Bedranowsky said on Thursday.

German bank NordLB and two partners have formed a joint venture that will specialise in advising on the restructuring of non-performing ship loans, the state-backed lender said on Monday. The shipping industry has been stuck in a multi-year slump brought about by global economic weakness and overcapacity, weighing heavily on lenders with exposure to the sector, including NordLB, HSH, Commerzbank and state development bank KFW. The venture, Crystal Ocean Advisors, will offer restructuring services for troubled ship financing portfolios but will not take ownership of the assets. NordLB, shipper Offen Group and alternative assets specialist Caplantic will each own a third of the business, NordLB said.

A stricken cargo ship drifting on its side off the French Atlantic coast was being towed to the Spanish port of Bilbao on Monday, local officials said. The 164-metre Modern Express, which was transporting 3,600 tonnes of wood along with construction machinery from Gabon to France, had been drifting towards the coast since its crew was evacuated by helicopter last week. The extreme incline of the ship as well as the difficult sea conditions had so far prevented teams from boarding and it would have hit the French shore on Monday or Tuesday if the salvage effort had failed. However, four specialists boarded the ship on Monday as the weather improved and hooked a cable up to the vessel before being winched up into a helicopter.

* Caution remains over U.S. SYDNEY/LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Global insurance firms are circling Iran for business opportunities following the lifting of sanctions - and the first test of their appetite could come in March when some Iranian companies seek new cover. Insurers, the reinsurers that share their risk and the brokers that forge deals are exploring ways to tap a market worth $7.4 billion in premiums after a nuclear accord between world powers and Tehran led to the removal of restrictions on financial dealings with Iran this month. Allianz, Zurich Insurance, Hannover Re and RSA, for example, said in recent days that they would evaluate potential opportunities in the country.

Reinsurance rates in the marine sector continued to fall at the start of the year, in spite of the huge cost of explosions at China's Tianjin port last August, reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter said on Thursday. Rising competition to offer reinsurance and slower activity in China, were two factors depressing rates, it said. The blasts at Tianjin caused insured losses of up to $3.3 billion, Guy Carpenter has estimated, while reinsurer Swiss Re has called it the largest man-made insurance loss in Asia. The explosions killed more than 170 people. "Tianjin has had little or no impact on marine pricing," Chris Klein, head of EMEA strategy management at Guy Carpenter, told a news conference.

Norwegian operator Umoe Mandal has purchased six External Panorama Pantograph heavy duty windscreen wipers from U.K. based DuroWipers to equip a newbuild Surface Effect Ship (SES). Statkraft has entered into an initial six month charter agreement for the new WaveCraft vessel to transport its O&M turbine technicians to and from the Sheringham Shoal offshore windfarm off the coast of Norfolk. Ole Guttorm Ihme, contract manager, Umoe Mandal, said, “DuroWipers were selected based on their weight, price and quality.

The Coast Guard has made a change in the Fort Pierce Inlet safety zone Thursday afternoon. Recreational vessels with less than six-foot draft are now allowed to transit through the Fort Pierce Inlet safety zone upon receiving clearance from the on-scene representative. All other persons and vessels are prohibited from entering, transiting through, anchoring in, or remaining within any of the safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Miami or a designated representative. The safety zone is located at the entrance of Fort Pierce Inlet and was established Wednesday to protect the public from hazards associated with a sunken barge. "We thank all affected for their patience while we work alongside partner agencies to get the sunken barge removed as soon as possible," said Capt.

BG Group plc informed today that Helge Lund will join the Company as Chief Executive and an Executive Director with effect from February 9, 2015.  This is ahead of the previously announced start date of March 2, 2015. Lund’s start date has been brought forward following agreement last week from his former employer to release him from his contractual commitments. Andrew Gould, who has been serving as interim Executive Chairman of BG Group since April 2014, will return to his role as Non-Executive Chairman with effect from February 9, 2015.

BG Group began loading the first cargo of LNG from its Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facility to the vessel Methane Rita Andrea December 28. The second cargo of LNG from the facility will be loaded onto the Methane Mickie Harper, which is expected in Gladstone in the first week of January. QCLNG is the world's first LNG project to be supplied by coal seam gas. The start of production from the plant's first LNG train is the result of more than four years of development and construction on Curtis Island.

BG Group today announced that it has been loading the first cargo of LNG from its Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facility since 28 December. The vessel being loaded is the Methane Rita Andrea. The second cargo of LNG from the facility will be loaded onto the Methane Mickie Harper which is expected in Gladstone in the first week of January. QCLNG is the world's first LNG project to be supplied by coal seam gas. The start of production from the plant's first LNG train is the result of more than four years of development and construction on Curtis Island. "This is an immense achievement which demonstrates the company's ability to deliver a highly complex LNG project.

German wind turbine maker Nordex is mulling paying a dividend for the first time since listing on the stock exchange as part of efforts to create a long-term investor base, its chief financial officer told a German newspaper. "We will think about it but I cannot already today promise a dividend," Bernard Schaeferbarthold told Boersen-Zeitung newspaper in an interview published on Saturday. Nordex, which is part-owned by Germany's richest woman Susanne Klatten, wants a stable base of long-term investors, Schaeferbarthold said. "Dividends could help us in that regard," he said. Nordex has not paid a dividend since it floated on the stock exchange in 2001.

* LNGL has signed a non-binding memorandum of intent (MOI) for gas supply with Tri-Star Petroleum Company (Tri-Star). Liquefied Natural Gas Limited yesterday announced that its 100% owned subsidiary, Gladstone LNG Pty Ltd has agreed to a Variation to the Agreement for Lease with the Gladstone Ports Corporation until 31 March 2016 in two phases. The first phase is an extension of the term from 1 November 2014 to 31 March 2015, with the Company paying an Option Fee of $500,000 and the second phase, at the Company’s election, is a further extension to 31 March 2016, with the payment of a further Option Fee of $1 million. The company executed a non-binding MOI for a proposed gas sales agreement (GSA) with Tri-Star.

The Coast Guard suspended its search Wednesday at 3 p.m. for two missing Cuban migrants in the vicinity of Caesar Creek, Florida, to Haulover Inlet, Florida. "Our Coast Guard men and women worked tirelessly looking for the two missing Cuban migrants; however, despite our best efforts we have been unable to locate them, and have decided to suspended the search," said Capt. Austin Gould, commander of Coast Guard Sector Miami. "This illegal migrant venture demonstrates just how dangerous taking to the sea in unseaworthy vessels can be. In total, 11 lives were saved by Coast Guard and partner agency rescue crews. Search and rescue crews completed 27 search patterns covering approximately 3,145 square miles over a 55 hour period.

British oil and gas producer BG Group Plc will delay until the next decade a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal on Canada's Pacific coast, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting the head of the company's Canadian unit. "We'd always said (construction would begin) as early as 2016, but we now recognize it'll likely be later, with commercial operations likely beginning early in the next decade," BG Canada President Madeline Whitaker said in an interview with the Journal. Kim Blomley, a spokesman for BG Group, said he could not immediately confirm if the project had slipped into the next decade, but he noted comments by interim Executive Chairman Andrew Gould during a post-earnings conference call on Tuesday.

Edison, the Italian power company controlled by France's EDF, is set to enter private talks with E.On to buy the German group's Italian unit E.On Italia, three sources close to the matter said on Friday. If talks are successful, Edison and E.On Italia would be merged together, the sources told Reuters. Edison and E.On declined to comment. The sources also said Italian regional utility A2A had presented a non-binding offer for E.On's hydropower assets and gas clients in Italy, while GDF Suez was interested in E.On's hydropower, solar and wind assets as well as its gas clients. Burdened by 31.1 billion euros in net debt, a collapse in wholesale power prices and the demise of its traditional generation business…