Offshore Department News

Bremen-based shipping company Harren & Partner announced the acquisition of the offshore construction vessel, MV Blue Giant for an undisclosed price from the English operator, OIG Group. Harren & Partner’s Offshore Department, headed by Robert Fowler ([email protected]) will be responsible for managing the vessel. Peter Harren, Founder and Managing Director of Harren & Partner, explains the strategy behind the purchase: “Although the oil markets are currently still recovering, we have deliberately opted for this investment despite its counter-cyclical nature. “Blue Giant is a cutting-edge vessel which represents an important enhancement of our diversified H&P fleet. It extends our scope of action to provide our customers with comprehensive, yet customised solutions,” says Dr.

Bremen-based shipping company Harren & Partner is looking to grow its offshore salvage business with the purchase of the offshore construction vessel MV Blue Giant from English operator OIG Group.“Although the oil markets are currently still recovering, we have deliberately opted for this investment despite its counter-cyclical nature. Alongside our classic offshore activities, we also wish to further strengthen our position in attractive niche markets such as the salvage business…

ACE Winches hosted a delegation from SPRING Singapore to its Towie Barclay Works facility for a visit to share an overview of its products and services, including manufacturing and engineering expertise. Several delegates from the Marine and Offshore Department in SPRING Singapore were welcomed to ACE Winches global headquarters by key personnel during their visit to Northeast Scotland. SPRING Singapore is a statutory board under the Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, responsible for helping Singapore enterprises grow.

MARIN combined CFD with fast-time simulations and intensive testing on its bridge simulator to explore the full potential of the new SSP HUB. To save on costly helicopter crew transport, SSP Offshore took a good look at its SSP Plus design and decided to add a large crew boat docking tunnel, running straight through the center of the big round floater. The tunnel allows fast sailing crew boats to dock inside the HUB, thereby cutting out helicopter transfers. MARIN was put to work…

In the offshore industry, time is always of the essence. Vessel owners make it a priority to keep the necessary yard visits as short as possible. To contribute to this short time priority, Heinen & Hopman has developed a containerized fan room that can be completely prefabricated and tested before delivery to the vessel. Due to this design, installation time onboard can be shortened tremendously. A modified cargo or offshore certified container is used as the base for this fan room. The size of this container may vary from 10 feet up to 40 feet in high cube execution.

To calculate the operability of the whole logistics chain, rather than only individual operations, MARIN has developed the hydrodynamic scenario analysis program ScenSim. The uptime, or operability, of a specific operation can be calculated with existing methods and tools in different ways. However, each specific operation is often just a small stage in a long chain. When planning an operation a key parameter is to know the efficiency and duration of the operation. When the operation is a continuous process…

Euronav NV today announced that it has sold its oldest double-hulled VLCC Luxembourg (1999 – 299,150 dwt), for $28 million (USD). The vessel is wholly owned by Euronav. The capital gain on that sale of about $6 million will be recorded at delivery. The net cash proceeds available to Euronav after the mandatory repayment of its debt obligation will be $5 million. The vessel is foreseen to be delivered to its new owner between May 1, 2014 and mid June 2014 which should allow for two more profitable voyages prior to her delivery.

SAL Heavy Lift has opened the doors of its new head office at Brooktorkai 20 in HafenCity, Hamburg. The premises sprawl over the 6th floor, and 116 employees are working there. SAL Heavy Lift, a member of the Japanese “K” Line Group, is one of the leading heavy lift shipping companies worldwide. For more than 30 years, SAL Heavy Lift had been based in Steinkirchen on the Lower Elbe, 40 kilometers outside of Hamburg. From now on, SAL Heavy Lift will operate its fleet of 16 heavy lift vessels from Hamburg’s HafenCity. At the beginning of this year a new Offshore Department was founded to serve the expanding markets of heavy equipment transportation for the oil and gas industry as well as the installation of offshore wind parks.

The SAL head office moves to new premises in Hamburg’s HafenCity, to accommodate growing staff numbers. In particular the move will give adequate space for the company's new Project and Offshore department. SAL say that the new location is comfortably close to Hamburg’s main station and airport and will facilitate communication with their international customers. With a fleet of 16 heavy lift vessels, SAL provides customized and reliable sea transportation solutions for all types of project cargoes including heavy machinery, equipment for the oil and gas industry, (offshore) wind energy, cranes and floating cargo. Amongst the trademarks of the fleet is a  crane capacity of up to 2…

Belgian owners, Euronav NV, of  the VLCC 'Algarve' announce its delivery to the new owner for conversion. The 298,969 dwt VLCC Algarve, built in 1999, was sold for USD 35,875,000 yielding Euronav a capital gain of USD 7.3 million which will be recorded, whilst the net cash proceeds available to the company after the mandatory repayment of its debt obligation will be USD 17.3 million. The ship will be converted to a FPSO (Floating Storage Production & Offloading) vessel by her new owner and will therefore leave the worldwide VLCC trading fleet. The firm price of this sale reflects on the company’s strategy to have set up an offshore department last year capable of understanding the needs of potential offshore buyers as well as having always maintained the ship well above industry standards.

As of January 1st Bas Buchner is president of the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN). He’s taken over the helm from Arne Hubregtse, who stood down to become general director of the heavy lift shipping company Biglift. Buchner: “Under my predecessors George Remery and Arne Hubregtse MARIN has evolved into an entrepreneurial organization at the heart of the Dutch and international maritime market and the biggest of its kind. We’re going to keep pursuing that course…