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Paul English News

14 Mar 2015

Smooth Sailing for MSC with GE Marine On Board

When it comes to taking thousands of passengers on the luxury cruise of a lifetime, it’s reassuring to have a name like GE ensuring you a smooth and pleasant journey. While MSC with its next generation ships may be setting off to conquer more distant waters, it won’t be making the voyage alone:  GE Marine will continue to propel the way. Since confirming in 2014 the order for two new cruise liners to be delivered by Fincantieri in 2017 and 2018, GE has now been selected to lead the Italian consortium that will power MSC Crociere’s planned ‘Seaside’ platform. The two new cruise ships will join the existing fleet of 12 vessels, all of which use electrical propulsion from GE.

29 Jan 2015

GE Launches GE Marine Organization

Image: GE

GE unveiled today its new GE Marine organization which cumulates several GE businesses and will be led by Tim Schweikert, vice president, GE Marine. The new organization brings together GE’s commercial and technological expertise in the marine sector from gas turbines and diesel engines to motors and generators, variable speed drives and drilling systems to automation and control systems and all the electrical equipment in between. GE Marine combines this with system integration capabilities and a global infrastructure—including training and service facilities.

27 Jan 2015

GE Powers Diadema Cruise Ship

Fincantieri shipyard to equip in-board propulsion for Carnival and Costa vessels, GE’s Power Conversion business has helped the shipyard successfully deliver the Costa Diadema cruise ship to the Carnival Corporation on October 28, 2014. Constructed at the Marghera Shipyards near Venice, Italy, the cruise ship, 306-meters in length and 132,500 gross tonnage in weight, has the capacity to carry up to 5,000 passengers. The Costa Diadema cruise ship benefits from GE’s latest technology and vast experience from the cruise industry. GE’s capability to meet customers’ demanding requirements has supported this valuable relationship with the Carnival Corporation for more than 10 years.

19 Jan 2015

GE Electric Propulsion Equipment for LNG Carriers

GE’s Power Conversion business has received a new order from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. for electric power and propulsion systems for two LNG carriers. The LNG carriers will be built for the purpose of transporting LNG from Louisiana, U.S.A. Their construction is scheduled to be completed from 2017 through 2018. According to GE, from the perspective of improved performance, electric propulsion technology is optimal for LNG carriers. GE said its induction-based propulsion motor technology and high output power pulse width modulation (PWM) technology improve reliability and help lower maintenance costs for vessels. “GE has demonstrated a low risk solution to KHI…

24 Oct 2013

Samsung LNG Carriers Powered, Propelled by GE

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is one of the fastest growing energy markets worldwide, and global production capacity could be more than double by the end of the decade. Higher natural gas prices and growing efficiencies in the LNG value chain are making it economically attractive to ship LNG over long distances, transforming natural gas from a regional to a global market. GE’s Power Conversion business is working closely together as a partner with the Power & Control Systems division (PCSD) of Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI). Power Conversion has been appointed to equip four LNG carriers to be built by SHI at its Geoje facility in South Korea. SHI, one of the world’s largest ship builders, is a leader in the market with its LNG carriers and ultra-large container ships.

18 Sep 2013

GE's Power Conversion Business at Your Side

GE Power Conversion: GEPCPR204

GE’s Power Conversion Business Can’t Control the Weather but Allows the Mariner to Control the Ship. As much as we hate to admit it, success is based on how well we adapt to situations we simply can’t control. That’s why, when it comes to holding a drillship on-site, as winds whip the sea and the underwater currents into a frenzy, oil companies and their contractors turn to GE’s Power Conversion business (NYSE: GE). It’s what we do. We are your watchful experts on the bridge with…

08 Jul 2013

GE Powers, Propels and Positions Tomorrow’s Fleets

Ask any Mariner, weathering a storm is hair raising. Weathering the perfect storm literally leaves fingernail marks deep in the leather of a captain’s chair. The making of today’s perfect storms results from a combination of the industries financial restraints and environmental responsibility coupled with the need to go further, deeper, faster in ever more challenging environments. Ship’s crews, captains, owners and operators weather these risks every day. GE Power Conversion experts and technologies are providing robust solutions to face the planet’s toughest challenges. According to the company, they do this by understanding the operational environments their customers are at work in. Moreover, GE Power Conversion knows ships.

01 Jul 2013

Maran Takes Delivery of Electric LNG Carrier

Equipped with a GE electrical induction-based propulsion solution, the Woodside Rogers can be powered by tri-fuel engines that run on natural gas, marine diesel gas or heavy fuel oil.

The first electrical LNG carrier to be ordered by Maran Gas incorporating induction-based electric propulsion motor technology from GE’s Power Conversion business is expected to enter commercial service in July. The Woodside Rogers, built by one of the major Korean shipbuilders, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), at its shipyard near Busan, successfully completed sea trials in late April and was handed over to Maran Gas on July 1. It is the first of seven LNG carriers…

28 Jun 2013

A New Direction for DP

GE pioneers a friendlier operating system for mariners. GE’s Power Conversion business is bringing enhanced operability to the company’s Dynamic Positioning (DP) system. According to GE, the latest version is more energy efficient, better integrated and more mariner friendly. Defining that concept further, Paul English, marine leader of GE Power Conversion, told MarineNews in May, “We are giving ship control back to the mariners.” GE leverages more than 40 years of experience in its effort to reduce the burden of the technology on the operator. It’s a new direction in DP. It’s the mariner’s DP. GE’s latest DP offering is mariner-focused, enhancing situational awareness and rebalancing attention from system management to true seamanship.

07 May 2013

New Dynamic Positioning System from GE

GE’s DP system. Photo: GE

GE’s Power Conversion business debuted its latest Dynamic Positioning (DP) system at OTC. It is more energy efficient, better integrated and—most importantly—more mariner friendly, GE said. Since they were introduced some 50 years ago, DP systems have become increasingly complex in their configurations and in their operation. Sensors have become more sophisticated, there are more of them and the same level of increased complexity applies to the electrical and propulsion systems.

06 May 2013

GE Improves Propulsion Systems Efficiency

GE's VF-AFE, helps optimize engine speed on platform support and helps to reduce specific fuel consumption up to 15%, GE says.

GE’s Power Conversion business unveiled a new power and propulsion system at OTC that they say reduces fuel consumption by controlling engine speed on platform support vessels. The Variable Frequency Active Front-End power and propulsion system, or VF-AFE, enables ship owners using conventional power system components to lower engine speeds when feasible, cut fuel consumption and reduce emissions and maintenance requirements, the manufacturer claims. “We are increasing efficiency of existing technology for the benefit of our customers,” says Paul English, marine leader of GE Power Conversion.

03 Apr 2013

GE Wins More Than $600m to Expand Brazil’s Pre-Salt O&G Fields

In the last 12 months, GE has won contracts valued at more than $600 million to provide propulsion systems with customers in the pre-salt oilfield expansion off Brazil’s east coast. GE’s systems will power, propel, navigate, position and control drillships and also power and control the drilling process itself. Today, GE is in the process of building systems for 22 of the 29 drillships for the current phase of the Brazilian oil and gas exploration by Brazilian energy corporation Petrobras. “Our advanced power generation, propulsion technology, drilling drives, dynamic positioning (DP) and automation and control systems are being harnessed to improve today’s marine and offshore processes with cleaner…

09 Aug 2012

GE (France) to Supply Propulsion Systems for 23 New LNG Carriers

LNG Carrier: Photo credit Wikimedia CCL 'Rana'

Korean companies Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Hyundai Heavy Industries contract GE technology. The GE equipment will be installed on 23 new LNG ships and represents total propulsion power of 1,105 megawatts. Traditionally, the propulsion of LNG tankers has been based on boil-off boilers and steam turbines. In recent years, more and more ship owners have turned to dual-fuel engine systems combined with electric propulsion as more efficient solutions, up to 30 percent at high loads.

16 Jul 2003

Alstom to Equip DP-Controlled Vessels

built when it goes into service in 2003. controlled vessels in the world - a 14.9 metre long multipurpose catamaran. Norway. environmental concerns about damage to the local eco-system. locations for tendering. conditions. positioning with a broad range of automation functions. system, which can be operated from three points on the vessel. speed with Doppler log and 'relaxed DP'. generation and propulsion equipment. propulsion system - the first four-pod installation to date. noise and vibration levels.

02 Apr 2003

Technology: DPS: Expanding Options for Many Operators

Paul English, sales and business development manager for Alstom's Marine and Offshore activities, looks back at the company's role in the development of Dynamic Positioning Systems. In recent years, dynamic positioning (DP) systems have become almost as accepted a feature of certain types of marine and offshore vessels as autopilot. DP — which automatically controls a ship's heading and station keeping (either a fixed or moving target) while minimizing thruster activity — has considerably expanded the options for shipowners/operators whose vessels remain at sea for long periods of time, often in deep water and in areas where laying anchors is either not an option due to seabed structures, or impractical because of timescales.

28 Oct 2002

Alstom Diesel Electric Solution Selected by Otto Candies

Alstom won contract to supply electrical systems for a vessel being built for Otto Candies by the de Hoop shipyard in the Netherlands. The order includes a simplex dynamic positioning (DP) system from Altsom's 'A' series, plus manual thrusters controls and an independent joystick, for the NB400 offshore support vessel for Otto Candies, which is to be built at the Dutch shipyard. This DP order comes on the back of an earlier contract for the same vessel, to supply variable speed drives from Alstom's MV3000 liquid cooled range, plus transformers and motors for the two main 900kW azimuth thrusters. Two of Otto Candies' diving support vessels built by de Hoop - Caballo de Mar and Caballo de Trabajo - are now in service…