Mike Smith News

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) said it plans to establish a permanent presence in Australia by opening an office in Canberra. “Establishing a permanent presence in Australia demonstrates HII’s commitment to supporting Australia and the U.S. military forces in the Pacific,” said HII President and CEO Mike Petters. “It also facilitates our ability to conduct real-time, frequent engagement with the Royal Australian Navy and the U.S. The U.S. based shipbuilder has hired Jeff McCray as vice president…

The Office of Naval Research Global (ONR Global) announced Jan. 30 a grant to the University of Melbourne that will provide new insights into ocean conditions-crucial information for Navy planners involved in tactical and strategic decision-making. The project is intended to improve understanding of conditions in the Indian Ocean, including validating satellite data on salinity, or salt, levels. Confirming satellite findings with actual field-level research is an area scientists have deemed essential to improving the Navy's oceanographic models. The research is in collaboration with Kenyan and Indian scientific organizations. "The major goal of this kind of research is to be able to provide the best information possible on the environmental…

Produced Water Absorbents, Inc., (PWA) of Ohio, U.S., expanded its global footprint, choosing Aberdeen to locate its first international entity, PWA Europe Ltd. The environmental oilfield service provider was incorporated in June 2011 and has its global headquarters in Wooster, Ohio, USA. Its European hub will be located in Buchan House, in the Northfield area of Aberdeen. The company provides revolutionary waste water treatment solutions and services to the oil and gas industry. The firm has developed a regenerable absorption media used for the treatment of oil and gas waste water streams.

Royal Navy Type 23 frigate 'HMS Somerset' returns to sea for the first time in 9 months following an extensive modernization. The Type 23 frigate has a new lease of life as one of the most advanced fighting ships in the fleet due following docking and upgrade in her home port, Devonport Naval Base,  in partnership with Babcock Marine. The warship’s fighting capability is now among the most advanced in the world, while the living arrangements and main machinery have been improved and overhauled.

At a bilateral meeting on April 8 with Moroccan Foreign Minister Dr. Taieb Fassi Fihri, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised Morocco for its "extraordinary progress" and reaffirmed America's commitment to its longstanding relationship of friendship and cooperation with the North African nation. She emphasized the need for international cooperation on security issues, such as the recent act of Somali piracy that threatened 21 American crew members, and remarked that Morocco was the first ally of the United States to offer assistance in the protection of its merchant fleet more than 200 years ago. "Morocco was the very first country that recognized us, going back a long time," said Secretary Clinton.

A&P Southampton has drydocked three RoRo vessels from Italian shipping company - Grimaldi Group in the King George V drydock this summer. This is the first time Grimaldi has drydocked in the UK. The first ship to arrive was the 25,450 dwt the Repubblica di Amalfi. Following a successful refit, A&P were subsequently awarded the 18,427 dwt Grande Mediterraneo and 19,287 dwt Repubblica di Roma. A&P Southampton Managing Director, Mike Smith is very pleased that once again the yard’s management team and employees have demonstrated that by providing a tailor made service that meets the owner’s strict requirements in terms of programme, quality and cost, this repeat business has been won against tough international competition.

Voyager and Quest could not be two more apt names for Sun Towings pair of new tugboats, as it was precisely this that was required to complete the vessel's construction. The two hulls were started nearly 10 years ago, and had more than 2,000 miles experience before the first main engines were installed. The hulls were originally built by Marine Power and Equipment in Seattle in 1990, and moved three different times, from Washington State through the Panama Canal to Texas, then finally to Louisiana. The odyssey of the hulls was well worth it, however, according to their owner, Captain Mike Smith of Sun Towing, Morgan City, La. The 150 x 40 x 19.5 ft.

P&O Cruises' Oriana has completed it's second refit in A&P Group's Southampton yard. Oriana was in dry-dock between 1st and 12th December, followed by sea trials and returned into service on schedule on 13th December when the ship departed on her Christmas cruise, with a full compliment of passengers. The refit works comprised routine ship repair work including the application of International's Intersleek 700 biocide-free fouling-control system to the outer hull. A&P was the first ship repairer ever to apply this product to a cruise ship when Star Cruises' Norway visited the yard during 1996. A&P Southampton's Managing Director, Mike Smith, said that, "the timescale for this refit were extremely tight with only 12 days in dock followed by passengers immediately joining the vessel.

A&P Southampton recently welcomed a slightly unusual vessel to their dry-dock. The ship repair, maintenance and conversion company, whose customers mainly consist of Cruise, Ferry, and Trading Vessels have successfully completed a refit of Coflexip Stena Offshore’s CSO Seawell, an offshore support vessel at their King George V dry-dock. The ‘Seawell’ is a highly technical vessel accommodating three moonpools, two diving bells, divers decompression chambers, hyperbaric lifeboats and has a derrick with active heave capability and is normally employed doing well intervention in the North Sea. The Seawell arrived in Southampton during March for a dry dock and repair period lasting just over 5 weeks and involved various routine repairs including steelwork…

A&P Southampton recently hosted the P&O Cruises ship Arcadia once again in their King George V dry dock. This was the second visit to the dry dock for the 63,524 grt vessel, following its last planned refit early in 2000. The vessel arrived during May for an 8 day refit and general repair period. Work included painting of boottop and topsides, replacement of window gaskets, various steelwork repairs including installation of cross flooding ducts and repairs to pipework and statutory testing. In order to maximise work completed in the available timescales, the vessel was positioned on the docking blocks but remained ‘wet’ throughout the refit. A&P Southampton is pleased to say that the vessel was handed back to P&O Cruises with all work completed within the agreed timescales and budget.

Lockheed Martin has completed the final Site Acceptance Test (SAT) for the Gulf of Suez Vessel Traffic Information Management System (VTIMS), which will monitor and control ship traffic in all major port and harbor waters. program. Work boats and fishing vessels traverse the 175-nautical-mile-long Gulf along with huge oil tankers and boats full of tourists visiting the famous Red Sea coral reefs. "The oil rigs on the Gulf of Suez and the tourism that surrounds our popular coral reefs help make up the backbone of our economy," said Admiral Sherin El Kady, chairman of the Ports and Lighthouses Administration, the customer for the project. Lockheed Martin has provided the VTIMS under a contract signed in 1998.