Manufacturing Activities News

OX2 and the Bank of Åland’s mutual fund subsidiary Ålandsbanken Fondbolag, which are developing the Noatun North and Noatun South offshore wind power projects near Finland’s Åland archipelago in the Baltic Sea, have initiated a feasibility study for the planning and establishment of a “Mega Grön Hamn” (Mega Green Port) with a location coexisting with the port of Långnäs in Åland. The project is part of an effort to create a green hub in Åland, with an extra focus in this project…

EllaLink, a planned submarine cable linking Brazil and Portugal, announced that Alcatel Submarine Networks has finalized the Cable Route Study and mobilized the marine survey vessel for the EllaLink submarine cable system.The survey will be performed over the coming months and permit acquisition continues in line with EllaLink’s plans to be Ready for Service by the end of 2020.EllaLink is a 4 fiber pair submarine cable system designed to satisfy the growing demand for traffic between Europe and Latin America. The low latency EllaLink route avoids the congestion of the North Atlantic by offering the first ever direct fiber pair between…

The Spanish company SENER, Ingeniería y Sistemas S.A has closed a contract with U.K.-based BAE Systems PLC for the integration between FORAN CAD/CAM System and PTC’s Windchill PLM System to be used in the design and manufacturing activities of Type 26 Program. According to the contract, FORAN-Windchill Integration (FWI) will be implemented in BAE Systems Naval Ships in Scotstoun and Portsmouth. FWI is being deployed following a phased approach. Key milestones include publishing and synchronization of Type 26 items and components (July 2015), change management (December 2015) and configuration management (December 2016). BAE Systems Naval…

Even though the struggle for independence from Britain finally resulted in Ireland being declared “a sovereign, independent, democratic state” in 1937 there was little interest being shown in the maritime affairs of the country. This, despite Ireland being seen as having opportunities to derive added value from its vast marine resources. Up until a few years ago, sporadic endeavors failed to achieve optimum economic benefits. Ireland’s ambition to create a maritime cluster gathered momentum only during the last few years. It began with the introduction of the tonnage tax regime in 2003. This made Ireland an attractive destination for shipping. The immediate effect was that it reversed the trend of Irish shipping companies flagging out to foreign registries.

The world’s second-largest container manufacturer Singamas Container reported 2014 net profit which is lower than the previous year, but is expecting a better 2015 bolstered by pent-up demand from shipping lines and the firm’s investment in a gateway province between China and Southeast Asia. The Hong Kong-listed box-maker saw net profit fall 21 per cent to US$28 million (HK$217miilion), falling short of an estimated US$36.5 million in a Bloomberg poll of three analysts. Revenue jumped 20 per cent to US$1.5 billion, but this failed to translate into a higher bottom-line due to the lower selling price of the standard 20-foot dry freight containers, the firm’s main product used to carry industrial and consumer goods such as apparel, rubber and toys.

India's shipping ministry is asking for a tax holiday and more incentives for the shipbuilding industry in the upcoming Union budget, according to a report in the Economic Times. The Ministry has also prepared proposals to give a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India campaign. In a letter to the finance ministry, the Shipping counterpart also makes its case to get an excise duty exemption on raw materials and customs duty on imported capital goods used for shipbuilding. It asked that a 10-year tax holiday be granted to loss-making shipyards to help them save capital for further expansion. The country has so far been a destination for breaking up ships that were done with their duty on the high seas, but the country now wants to become a hub to make them as well.

Canada-based Aecon Group Inc. Revenue was $590 million for the second quarter of 2014 compared to $698 million for the same period of 2013, largely due to lower revenue in Mining (as a result of lower volume of site installation work following the substantial completion of a significant project in 2013, and lower demand for contract mining services largely driven by temporary client production shutdowns in the oil sands during the second quarter). Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2014 was $13.8 million compared to $36.7 million for the second quarter of 2013 driven by the slower quarter in the Mining segment. For the first half of 2014, Adjusted EBITDA was $16.9 million compared to $25.4 million in the prior year.

For years, general manufacturing companies have enjoyed the benefit of laser cutting systems for producing complex or simple parts in batch volumes as low as one, and as high as tens of thousands. The laser is an incredibly powerful tool that remains unsurpassed in manufacturing activities across the world. As flexible and reconfigurable production tool that provides welding, cutting and machining capabilities in a single device, lasers are readily automated and have demonstrated that they can easily operate in "lights-out" mode for even greater productivity. With all this said, why aren't there any laser shipyards? Why hasn't one of the worlds largest and most important transportation industries rushed to implement laser cutting and welding technology?