Laboratory Services News

Hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations May 24 in support of Pacific Partnership 2016. Now in its 11th year, Pacific Partnership is a multilateral, disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region. "Partner nations, who invited Pacific Partnership 2016 to visit, refined our mission's focus this year," said Capt. Tom Williams, U.S. Navy, Pacific Partnership 2016 mission commander. Pacific Partnership 2016 will conduct stops in Timor Leste, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Palau, with partners from around the Pacific -- including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Intertek has enhanced its sample cylinders services with the aim of providing further cost savings for clients. Sample cylinders are used by offshore chemists to transport live crude, gas and water samples from offshore to onshore laboratories for testing. Intertek has invested £180,000 in 200 high-pressure cylinders to meet an increased demand from clients for analysis services. Fifty cylinders will be specially coated to allow the safe and effective transportation of samples containing mercury and hydrogen sulphide. Both elements can adhere to the internal surfaces of standard stainless steel cylinders, rendering analysis unreliable.

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today that Fletcher Construction has been awarded a contract to renovate the new Huntington Ingalls Industries Family Health Center. The health center, scheduled to open this summer in Gautier, MS, will offer primary care, radiology, physical therapy, on-site pharmacy and laboratory services for Ingalls employees and their covered dependents. "Ingalls Shipbuilding is a long-standing economic pillar of this community, and our company is looking forward to providing work on this unique project," said Lance McCarty, co-owner of Fletcher Construction.

The merger earlier this year of Fugro's three UK-based environmental service providers to form Fugro EMU made it the largest organisation in the UK. Fugro EMU Limited, the largest commercial marine environmental services organisation in the UK, employs in excess of 220 staff with expertise in oil and gas, renewables, aggregates, ports and harbours, cables and pipelines. "Fugro EMU will build on the excellent reputation of the three predecessor organisations within all industry sectors. In the oil and gas industry we have over 40 years’ experience and have undertaken over 150 environmental assessments and 1,000 environmental surveys for exploration, development and decommissioning projects.

Stolt-Nielsen Limited (Oslo Børs: SNI) announced today that it reached an agreement to acquire a bulk-liquid storage terminal at Dagenham, Port of London, UK, from Norbert Dentressangle SA. The completion of the acquisition is subject to the transfer of licenses and permits, and the receipt of necessary approvals to operate the facility. The transaction is expected to close during the Company's fourth quarter of 2012. Further terms were not disclosed. The terminal occupies 9.4 hectares and consists of 195 tanks with a total capacity of 134,000 cbm and a jetty with a draft of 9.3 meters. In addition to bulk-liquid storage, services include warehousing, drumming and bulk container filling, laboratory services, blending, dilution and product heating.

OW Bunker, a supplier and trader of marine fuel, announced the appointment of Stathis Grafakos as the new manager of OW Bunker Malta's Trading Division. Prior to joining OW Bunker, Grafakos spent 10 years in a variety of roles with ExxonMobil, including laboratory services, supply chain & logistics and sales. A Greek national, Grafakos has an expertise in the manufacturing and development of marine lubricants, along with extensive experience in technical and commercial operations within the marine sector. Grafakos will work closely alongside  Panayotis Bachtis, Branch Manager of OW Bunker Malta Ltd. “We're delighted that Stathis has taken up this new role with OW Bunker Malta,” said Søren Christian Meyer, Global Sales Director, OW Bunker.

CCS-DNV Technology Institute, a joint venture between the two leading class societies - China Classification Society and Det Norske Veritas, was recently inaugurated in Shanghai. The institute is the first of its kind in China. It aims to support both the maritime and offshore industries on various laboratory and research challenges. The first phase will focus on coating testing to respond to the IMO rules on PSPC. The institute’s coating laboratory performs testing according to the IMO’s PSPC requirement of prequalification testing of coatings for seawater ballast tanks. The practical testing is to simulate exposure by submerging samples into a tank of seawater and replicating the movement of the ship for 180 days.