Lancaster Hotel News

MJM Group Chairman Brian McConville announced that he has bought Mivan out of administration. Established in 1983 by the McConville family, MJM Group refurbishes Cruise Liners, Ferries, Super Yachts, luxury hotel and leisure facilities, office and retail and private residential. Mivan, one of Northern Ireland's best known construction companies, was founded by Ivan McCabrey in 1975 and specialized in fitting out cruise ships and high-end commercial and residential developments. Earlier this week, Mivan announced that they have ceased trading, but this news means that the Mivan brand will continue. “There are obvious synergies between the two operations which will allow us great efficiencies and economies of scale.

Taiwan's Evergreen Line was presented with the Environment Award at the 2013 Lloyd's List Global Awards Ceremony recently held in the Lancaster Hotel in London. Davis Lian, President of Evergreen Shipping Agency (U.K.), accepted the award stating "It is a great credit to the Company. This Award recognises our commitment to bring the highest quality of service to our customers while preserving the global ecosystem. Striking a balance between providing transport services and being environmentally sensitive is not easy.

The Evergreen Group was honored with “The Corporate Social Responsibility Award” on September 8 at the presentation of the 2009 Lloyd’s List Global Awards. The award recognizes the leadership demonstrated by the Evergreen Group for its efforts aimed at safeguarding the environment. Evergreen provides disaster relief and other welfare programs through the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation and supports cultural promotion and educational initiatives through Evergreen Symphony Orchestra and Evergreen Maritime Museum.

Applied Weather Technology, Inc. (AWT), the worldwide leader in ship routing which routes more than 30,000 voyages per year, announced that it is a finalist for the prestigious Innovation Award, an award category of Lloyd’s List Global 2009 Awards. Lloyd’s List is the leading global daily newspaper for the maritime industry and the awards recognize elite companies and individuals within the industry. The Innovation Award recognizes a firm or individual that has developed new hardware or software that provides a clear and meaningful advancement for the shipping industry. BonVoyage System (BVS) is an onboard system for optimizing marine voyages.

This year's Cruise + Ferry Exhibition promises to be even bigger than it was in 1999. The biennial show, which draws thousands of cruise and ferry operators, chief engineers, interior designers and naval architects is recognized worldwide as the premier exhibition in its market. With more than 450 companies representing more than 45 countries already scheduled to show off their innovations, record visitor and delegate participation is also expected at the conference, which will be held from May 8-10. With booths situated in London's Grand and West halls of Olympia, attendees will have the opportunity to meet and share ideas with the leading providers of products and services to the cruise, ferry and fast ferry industries.

Despite a marked drop in shipbuilding volume during the past decade to lower cost competitors in the East, Germany's marine market has maintained it adherence to the highest technical standard while carving its niche in the world of constructing complex, high-value vessels. In many ways, the saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same" could be aptly applied to the current status of the German marine market. While the world, and certainly the business of constructing commercial ships for the world fleet, has changed dramatically in the past decade, Germany's role in this market has stayed remarkably on course. Facing steady market erosion to competitors in Japan…