High Tech Ships News

Cruise operator Genting Hong Kong (GHK) said that its unit Dream Cruises has launched the construction of the second Global Class cruise ship at German shipbuilder MV Werften  in Rostock-Warnemünde.“Production of Dream Cruises’ second Global Class ship commenced at MV Werften in Rostock-Warnemünde today, almost exactly a year after the keel laying of the flagship of the series," said Genting Hong Kong’s Chairman and CEO Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay while initiating at the press of a button the first steel cutting for the 342m long, 46m wide, 208,000 gross ton cruise vessel.“We are delighted that our comprehensive investments at the three shipyard…

Fincantieri and the Grimaldi Group have signed a letter of intent for the cruise ship lengthening and transformation program "Cruise Rome" and "Cruise Barcelona" . The construction of the sections that will be inserted in the ships will begin in 2018, while the end of the operations is expected, at the Palermo plant, by the summer of 2019. The two units, currently used on the daily route Civitavecchia-Porto Torres-Barcelona with the livery "Grimaldi Lines", were built by Fincantieri in the construction site of Castellammare di Stabia and delivered to the Neapolitan group respectively in 2007 and 2008. They are 225 meters long , have a tonnage of about 54,000 tons, and a transport capacity of about 3,000 people, with 2,400 m 2 of car deck and about 3,000 linear meters for heavy vehicles.

Technology group Wärtsilä and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) have signed a new joint venture company agreement. The new joint venture, to be known as CSSC Wärtsilä Electrical & Automation Co Ltd (CWE&A), will focus on the growing Chinese electrical and automation (E&A) market, especially for high-tech ship applications. The joint venture company is expected to be fully operational before the middle of 2017. China is a growing market within the high-tech ships segment, and Chinese yards are increasingly active in newbuild projects for high-tech and high-added value ships.

March 24, the national standards prepared by the COSCO Shipyard led - "Chinese ship repair quality standards" by the review of the national marine vessel Standardization Technical Committee ten third annual meeting, marking the first Chinese ship repair industry has a more systematic and comprehensive quality standards, to fill the domestic blank standard marine vessels, but also making China the world's first launch of a complete repair quality standards countries. "China's ship repair quality standards," the Ministry of Civil special high-tech ships scientific and technical research projects, "International standards and safety standards for ship structure research ship construction and repair quality…

Diesel engines specialist Royston has supported and completed the overhaul and maintenance of a range of engine components for a platform supply vessel (PSV) undergoing a scheduled service at Babcock’s Rosyth facility. A change in operating schedules for the E.R. Georgina required a fast four day turnaround of 24 sets of cylinder heads, piston and connector rod assemblies and bottom end bearing bocks that had been removed from the vessel as part of the maintenance of its Rolls Royce Bergen engines.

India's Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) has decided to tie up with the foreign yards for the technology transfer required to create these high-tech ships, after bagging the deal to build Mines Counter-Measures Vessels (MCMVs) for the Indian Navy. Chairman and managing director (CMD) of GSL Rear Admiral (retired) Shekhar Mital said that the building of 12 MCMVs by the GSL would start after 3 years, following the approval of Defence Acquisition Council and finalisation of the contract. The Union Defence Ministry had recently cleared the Rs 32,000 crore ($5.3 billion) -worth project to manufacture 12 MCMVs, which will be built by the GSL. "We will have to tie up with a foreign shipyard because we don't have the technology to build MCMVs. The contract will be finalized in 8 months.

German cruise ship builder strengthens its yards. MEYER WERFT joins forces with the STX Finland shipyard in Turku. Following weeks of negotiations the Finnish Government and MEYER WERFT signed a share purchase agreement with the current owner STX Europe. With its 70% stake MEYER WERFT takes the industrial leadership of the new company. At present some 1,300 employees and a specialized supplier network are involved in the construction of the cruise ship Mein Schiff 4 for the German cruise operator TUI Cruises from Hamburg.

The famous Gdansk shipyard is once again in trouble as Its new Ukrainian operator has run out of money to pay wages. In its golden years, the 1980s, 17,000 people worked in Gdansk shipyard, reports Deutsche Welle. Those times are long gone. The shipyard faced bankruptcy twice. Then a Ukrainian investor came along with plans to build modern high tech ships and a factory for wind turbines. But the investor's plans haven't worked out, and the Solidarity trade union has taken industrial action.

According to The New Anatolian there are over 60 shipyards in Turkey at the moment and this number will reach 125 by the year 2008, the Turkish Shipbuilders' Association (GISBIR). The Turkish shipbuilding industry has been going on an upward trend in recent years and it will continue until 2015. He said Turkey is ranked the fifth in terms of orders behind South Korea, China, Japan and Germany, noting that Turkey will soon outsell Germany which focuses on high-tech ships such as warships, research ships and platforms. The reports said imports make 60 percent of building costs in Turkish shipbuilding industry and stated that they have been seeking investment opportunities in technology to reduce imports in shipbuilding.

Yonhap reported that South Korean shipyards have unparalleled competitiveness despite recent challenges posed by Chinese shipyards, industry and government sources said. The optimistic predictions come as alarm bells have been sounded over Chinese yards outpacing domestic companies in shipbuilding orders received in the first two months of this year. Such developments have caused some in China to boast that it can become the world's number one shipbuilding country by 2015. The Korea Shipbuilders' Association (KOSHIPA) said China is competitive in relatively small-sized bulk carriers that are simple, low-tech and do not bring very big profits. These views were echoed by Park Dong-hyuk, executive vice president for production management at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co.