Nordic Yards News

While orders for new vessels have continued to decline worldwide in 2017, the situation in the German and European shipbuilding market is different, with an increase of incoming orders. As shipping experts state: “…this is not a trend but a snapshot, but it indicates a high competitiveness of the German shipbuilding industry, particularly on technologically advanced projects.”The global mood barometer of the maritime industry had reached its lowest point in 2016. From the abyss confidence and order have carefully increased…

Genting Hong Kong, a unit of Malaysia's gaming giant Genting, is building 10 cruise ships worth 3.5 billion euros ($4 billion) in anticipation of higher demand from the Chinese market. Genting has signed an order for 10 ships with the Lloyd Werft Group, comprising two mega cruise ships for Star Cruises and eight vessels for Crystal Cruises. "We are focused on delivering a world-class vacation experience for Chinese cruise passengers," said Genting and Genting Hong Kong Chairman Lim Kok Thay. The signing ceremony was attended by Uwe Beckmeyer, State Secretary of Maritime Affairs, Erwin Sellering, Prime Minister of the State Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Martin Günthner, Senator for Economics and Port Affairs of Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, Chairman of Genting Hong Kong.

Genting Hong Kong, announced the completion of the acquisition of Nordic Yards’ three shipyards in Wismar, Warnemunde and Stralsund, Germany for the consideration of 230.6 million Euros. The deal will give Genting Hong Kong the core expertise, manpower, fabrication capacity and covered drydocks to build a global cruise fleet for its three brands - Crystal Cruises, The World Most Awarded Luxury Cruise Line ; Dream Cruises, Asia’s Most Luxury Cruise Line; and, Star Cruises, Asia’s Leading Cruise Line. “We are pleased with the completion of the transaction as ownership of the yards provides certainty that we can build a fleet of high quality cruise ships at a pace dictated by our growth rather than constrained by supply as cruise ship order book continues to reach all-time highs…

Cruise ship operator Genting Hong Kong Ltd is buying three shipyards in Wismar, Warnemünde and Stralsund respectively owned by German shipbuilding company Nordic Yards for $358 million to further enable its presence in the sector. The purchase from Nordic Yard is expected to be funded by internal resources of the group, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The purchase of the three shipyards, along with Lloyd Werft last year, enables Genting Hong Kong to realize its global cruise ships fleet strategy over the next decade for its three brands - Crystal, Star and Dream, said Genting in a statement. “The rapid growth of the world cruise industry…

An investor has been found in Malaysia’s Genting Group to enable the continued existence of the three shipyards in Wismar, Rostock and Stralsund. The takeover contract was signed in Hamburg on Tuesday this week. In the weeks following the conclusion of the applicable checks by the authorities, the takeover will become final and business operations will be transferred to the Genting Group. At the start of the year Genting, a major cooperation with worldwide operations, acquired all the shares in Bremerhaven’s Lloyd Werft. The result is a group consisting of four shipyards in Northern Germany.

Iran has finalised a deal with South Korea to launch a joint shipbuilding venture between the two countries, IRNA reported. The venture will be established between Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex Company (ISOICO) and Hyundai. ISOICO managing director Hamid Rezaian revealed that the related consultations as well as key agreements for the move have already been taken care of, and the company will work over the development of the seventh generation of ships with Hyundai. He added that marketing and taking advantage of joint markets would be on the agenda of the two companies. Rezaian had announced in late November that ISOICO is looking into partnerships with major international shipbuilders including Hyundai and Germany’s Nordic Yards Wismar, said the report.

On a sunny day on the Helsinki seafront, sparks fly from steel welding at the bustling Arctech shipyard, which seems insulated from Finland's economic recession as it strives to meet an order book that stretches into 2017. The world's biggest manufacturer of icebreakers, or ships that can navigate ice-covered waters, Arctech is poised to benefit from an expected flurry of activity in the Arctic, which is being reinforced by U.S. President Barack Obama's Arctic push. As climate change is melting sea ice and opening the Arctic to more shipping, mining and oil drilling, icebreakers will forge waterways for other ships, carry out rescue missions and do stand-by duties for oil platforms in the region.

The tendering process for the Yamal Novy Port terminal icebreaker design and build contract has kicked off, seeing seven companies submit bids for the project, IAA PortNews reported. The tender, announced by Vyborg Shipyard entrusted to build the vessels, received bids for the icebreaker’s design and construction from Spetssudoproekt CJSC, Nordic Yards Holding GmbH, Aker Arctic, FSUE Krylov State Research Center, Design Bureau for Shipbuilding “Vympel” OJSC, Marine Engineering Bureau – Design-SPb CJSC, and KhS Morskoye Proektirovanie LLC.

German shipbuilding has made a significant turnaround. The country’s shipbuilding industry has seen increases in the number of employees, orders and deliveries compared to 2013, according to the German Shipbuilding and Ocean Industries Association (VSM). The special shipbuilding sector drove this growth, as 20 of the 34 delivered new builds could be classified as high-quality special vessels or naval units. Although VSM announces its annual balance officially in May of each year, MR was able to obtain some early insights into the results.

Dr.-Ing. Herbert Aly has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board of Management of the Nordic Yards Group. He succeeds Dr. Vitaly Yusufov, who will preserve his links with the company as a member. The appointment of Dr.-Ing. Aly strengthens the top management of the Nordic Yards shipyard group and moves the focus specifically on to high-margin areas of business. "We will further develop our know-how and expertise to deliver best quality, adherence to program and acceptable prices," Dr.-Ing. Herbert Aly said.

The new Wind Server Wind Turbine Service Jack-Up Vessel was delivered to owner DBB Jack-Up Services in December 2014, with a full complement of Kongsberg Maritime control and automation technology on board. Built at Nordic Yards in Wismar, Germany, Wind Server went into operation maintaining offshore wind turbines throughout Northern Europe in February 2015. Wind Server’s Full Picture technology solution covers navigation, automation and maneuvering systems, and is designed to support safety and efficiency during offshore maintenance operations.

The German shipbuilder Nordic Yards is considering constructing shipyards in Russia, in particular in the Far East. The owner of the shipbuilder, Vitaly Yusufov confirmed that his company is actively considering the possibility of building own facilities, since the trend toward increasing localization is such that the longer, the higher by year the percentage of necessary localization. Nordic Yards expects, and this is evident from the practice of holding tenders, that tender documents in our country will define requirements for localization. "But in order to participate in tenders, we have to prove the capabilities of production," he added.

After a construction period of around 17 months, two identically designed icebreaking rescue and salvage vessels have been named Beringov Proliv and Murman during a ceremony at Nordic Yards in Wismar. In addition to representatives of the customer Rosmorrechflot, other participants in the naming ceremony included Russia's Deputy Transport Minister Viktor Olerskiy. During the naming ceremony, Dr. Vitaly Yusufov, Chairman of the Management Board of Nordic Yards, stated, "Today we are naming two of the world's most modern and specialized rescue vessels.

Nordic Yards has performed the dock-laying of a steel element of the offshore converter platform DolWin gamma took place on January 30 in Warnemünde. The placing of a 200-metric-ton section marked another milestone in the production of the High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) platform, the builder said. As general contractor, Alstom placed an order with Nordic Yards in February 2013 for the construction of the offshore platform for the DolWin3 project run by the Dutch transmission system operator TenneT. The offshore platform DolWin gamma is the fourth platform manufactured by Nordic Yards.

Nordic Yards officially handed over the offshore service vessel to the Danish company DBB Jack-Up Services A/S. During the handover ceremony, the ship was named ‘WIND SERVER’. The facilities with which the ‘WIND SERVER’ is equipped have been optimised to meet the current requirements of the offshore wind market. For example, the on-board crane of the 80 m long and 32 m wide ship has a lifting height of just under 100 m and a lifting capacity of 400 t. With its four 75 m long jack-up legs and innovative jack-up system it can position itself in depths of up to 45 m and forms a stable platform for the execution of maintenance and repair work even on large 5 to 8 MW wind turbines.

In Wismar, Rostock-Warnemünde, Germany, today the fourth and last steel jack-up leg was settled into its jacking position on the wind turbine service vessel WIND SERVER, currently under construction at Nordic Yards in Wismar for Danish customer DBB Jack-Up Services. During the past eight days the four huge steel pipes, which were transported to the Wismar shipyard by sea from Cuxhaven, were vertically raised and installed one by one with the aid of a giant lattice boom crane supplied specially for this project.

Sonardyne International Ltd.’s Ranger 2 acoustic positioning technology has been selected by marine navigation systems group, Transas, for use on two new build ice-class multipurpose salvage vessels (MPSVs, the project is developed by Marine Engineering Bureau) commissioned by the Russian Ministry of Transport. The vessels are currently under construction at Nordic Yards in Germany and will each be fitted with dual Ranger 2 Pro systems, the highest specification available, to support complex underwater positioning and critical DP station keeping tasks.

Scana Industrier ASA has through its subsidiary Scana Propulsion recently signed new contracts: one for delivery of a propulsion systems to Kleven verft, and two more for tunnel thrusters to Nordic Yards and Guangzhou Salvage Bureau. The contracts have a total value of approx. 22 million NOK. This is for delivery of gear and propellers to a new construction vessel for Østensjø Rederi. The vessel is designed by Salt Ship Design and is to be delivered in March 2016. Scana Propulsion will provide gear and propellers within first quarter 2015. The contracts for delivery of tunnel thrusters have been signed with customers in Germany and China.

ABB has won an order worth around $25 million to supply its marine propulsion system, Azipod, and complete electric power plants for two new rescue and salvage icebreakers that are under construction at Nordic Yards GmbH in Germany. The new vessels, owned by Russia’s State Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (SMRCC), will be used for patrols and rescue operations in offshore oil-and-gas fields. They will be fitted with equipment for search and rescue tasks and oil-spill response.

Nordic Yards started construction of two ice-breaking rescue and salvage vessels for the Russian Ministry of Transport today. The cutting of the first steel section, which traditionally marks the start of flame-cutting, was celebrated at the Wismar yard in the presence of representatives of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RMRS) classification society. The Russian Ministry of Transport ordered the two multipurpose rescue and salvage vessels from Nordic Yards in December 2012.

"Russia is and will remain an essential market for us", stated Vitaly Yusufov, owner and Managing Director of Nordic Yards. Currently there are a number of Russian contracts in the Nordic order books. For example yesterday, September 23, construction of two ice-breaking rescue and salvage ships ordered by Russia's Ministry of Transport in December 2012 started at the Nordic Yards shipyard in Wismar. After delivery in 2015 they will be used for patrol and rescue operations on the northern Polar Sea route.

ABB, a power and automation technology group, has won an order worth around $25 million to supply its marine propulsion system, Azipod, and complete electric power plants for two new rescue and salvage icebreakers that are under construction at Nordic Yards GmbH in Germany. The new vessels, owned by Russia’s State Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (SMRCC), will be used for patrols and rescue operations in offshore oil-and-gas fields. They will be fitted with equipment for search and rescue tasks and oil-spill response.

Nordic Yards in Wismar, Germany, has awarded Kongsberg Maritime a contract to deliver an Integrated Vessel Control System for a newbuild 80m Wind Turbine Service Jack-Up Vessel, owned by Danish offshore services specialist, DBB Jack-Up. The integrated 'Full Picture' solution covers navigation, automation and manoeuvring systems, and will be one of the first to feature Kongsberg Maritime's recently launched LAN-based Radar system. The new radar concept, K-Bridge 'Composite Picture' Radar CP360, is an integral part of the K-Bridge navigation system to be installed.