Planning Department News

Wärtsilä will deliver its cargo handling and LPG fuel supply systems for two LPG/Midsize gas carrier vessels being built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea for EXMAR LPG.EXMAR LPG is a joint venture between EXMAR, a maritime and offshore solutions provider and Seapeak. According to Wärtsilä, the 46,000 m3 capacity vessels will be the largest of their kind in the world, and there is an option for two additional ships as well. Wärtsilä recently supplied a similar scope of solutions…

GTT, a French company designing LNG tanks for gas carriers and cargo ships, has named Virginie Aubagnac its new Chief Financial Officer. With nearly 20 years of experience in finance, she joined GTT in April 2021 as Special Advisor to the Chairman. She succeeds Marc Haestier, who will leave the Group to retire.A graduate of HEC Paris, Virginie Aubagnac began her career in the Finance Department of Rallye, and then became project manager for the Deputy Managing Director of the same company. She then joined the Strategy and Planning Department of the Casino Group.

In December Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Compressor Corporation (MCO), a Group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) based in Hiroshima, will establish a new company in Brazil in a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), to be known as MHI Compressor do Brasil Ltda. (MCO-B). Creation of the new entity, which will launch commercial operations in February 2016, is targeted at developing the Latin American market for compressors, with a focus on expanding sales of compressors for use in Floating Production, Storage and Offloading systems (FPSO), a market expected to see robust demand as Brazil develops deepwater oil fields. Initially MCO-B will perform sales and after-sale servicing functions, with local manufacturing capability targeted for the future.

About 200 protesters gathered at the Port of Seattle on Monday to block access to a Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig headed for the Arctic this summer to resume exploration for oil and gas reserves. Holding signs reading "Shell No" and "Seattle Loves the Arctic," protesters gathered early to prevent workers from reaching the rig, one of two that Shell will store in Seattle before sending to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Environmental groups have planned days of demonstrations over Shell's plans, saying drilling in the icy Arctic region, where weather changes rapidly, could lead to a catastrophic spill that would be next to impossible to clean up.

Hundreds of activists in kayaks and small boats fanned out on a Seattle bay on Saturday to protest plans by Royal Dutch Shell to resume oil exploration in the Arctic and keep two of its drilling rigs stored in the city's port. Environmental groups have vowed to disrupt the Anglo-Dutch oil company's efforts to use the Seattle as a home base as it outfits the rigs to return to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, saying drilling in the remote Arctic waters could lead to an ecological catastrophe. Demonstrators have planned days of protests, both on land and in Elliott Bay, home to the Port of Seattle, where the first of the two rigs docked on Thursday.

Royal Dutch Shell's quest to return to Arctic drilling for the first time in three years could face delays after Seattle ruled that the city's port must apply for a permit before hosting rigs. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, a Democrat who has fought against new projects by coal and oil companies, threw a serious barrier in front of the waterfront when he announced the port doesn't have the right permit to allow Shell's vessels to dock at Terminal 5. He applauded the requirement by the city's planning department. Despite months of public outcry and protests against plans to moor Royal Dutch Shell’s Arctic oil drilling fleet in the Port of Seattle, the oil giant’s ship is inching closer to the Emerald City.

Quad Cities Navy Week kicked off May 4 with a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) presentation by USS Constitution and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit (EODTEU) 1 Sailors at the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa, and United Township High School in East Moline, Illinois. Other events that took place May 4 included Sailors from the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) -- Iowa's namesake ship, named to honor five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, who served together aboard USS Juneu during World War II and lost their lives during the Battle of Guadalcanal -- volunteering with Living Lands and Waters in Hampton, Illinois, and U.S. Navy Band Great Lakes performing at the River Music Experience in Davenport.

Royal Dutch Shell's quest to return to Arctic drilling for the first time in three years could face delays after Seattle ruled that the city's port must apply for a permit for the company to use it as a hub for drilling rigs. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, a Democrat who has fought against new projects by coal and oil companies, applauded the requirement by the city's planning department. "This is an opportunity for the port and all of us to make a bold statement about how oil companies contribute to climate change, oil spills and other environmental disasters - and reject this short-term lease," Seattle's Mayor Ed Murray said on his website. The Puget Sound region has a decades-long history as a hub for equipment used in energy drilling in Alaska.

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, FSG, was founded in 1872 by a group of five local ship owners who previously had all their steamboats built in England as most German ship owners did in the 19th century. The first ship, the iron tall ship Doris Brodersen, was delivered to one of the founding partners in 1875. The cargo steamer Septima was commissioned a year later. In 1892 a floating dock, with a capacity of 2,300 tons has been built. At the turn of the year 1900, more than 2c000 employees worked at FSG.

Effective October 1, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) will implement changes to its Technology & Innovation Headquarters and Global Business Planning & Operations Headquarters. Topping the list of changes is the establishment of a new "Global Business Innovation Department" integrating the functions of the two headquarters. The organizational revamp is aimed at strengthening the business competitiveness of the MHI Group by reinforcing the intelligence functions and through enhancing support to business expansion and risk management.

Tokyo - Japanese ship classification society Nippon Ippon Kyokai (ClassNK) has announced the following changes in its Executive Board of Directors, effective March 22, 2012. Executive Vice President Hiroshige Kitada has retired, and two executive officers, Tetsushi Agata and Tetsuya Kinoshita, General Managers of the General Affairs Department and Planning Department, respectively, have been promoted to the position of managing director. The board consists of Noboru Ueda, Chairman and President; Toshitomo Matsui, Executive Vice President; Shosuke Kakubari, Executive Vice President; Koichi Fujiwara, Executive Vice President; Takuya Yoneya, Executive Vice President; Yasushi Nakamura, Executive Vice President; Tetsushi Agata, Managing Director; Tetsuya Kinoshita, Managing Director. Dr.

Classification society ClassNK has announced that it will reorganize its Board of Directors as part of a larger corporate reorganization, effective July 1, 2011. As part of the reorganization, ClassNK’s four current Managing Directors -- Shosuke Kakubari, Koichi Fujiwara, Takuya Yoneya, and Yasushi Nakamura -- will be promoted to Executive Vice Presidents and take up positions alongside current Executive Vice Presidents Hiroshige Kitada and Toshitomo Matsui. In addition to the promotion of the four executives, ClassNK will also establish a new second tier of Operating Officers who will oversee the day to day operations of the 110 year old classification society. ClassNK General Affairs Department General Manager T. Agata, Finance Department General Manager M.

Dr. April 7 (London) - ClassNK officially announced the appointment of Dr. M. Abdul Rahim to the role of Regional Manager in charge of the Society’s European and African operations at a party at the InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel last night. Nearly 100 guests from without the local maritime industry we’re in attendance at the party to welcome Dr. Rahim to his new position and see off former Regional Manager Tetsuya Kinoshita, including current IACS Chairman and ClassNK Chairman and President Noboru Ueda. Mr. Ueda opened the evening by saying that this new appointment represented one part of ClassNK’s ongoing efforts to provide even better service to the maritime industry in Europe and Africa, saying that “Dr.

Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) has begun work on the first of two steel landing craft being built for the Royal Bahrain Naval Forces. The contract for the 137.8 ft vessels was won against stiff competition from international shipyards, further confirming ADSB’s position as the region’s leading provider of support services to GCC navies. It is ADSB’s first new building contract for Bahrain and also includes two 62.5 ft Sea keeper landing craft constructed in composite materials.

After three years, Osamu Suzuki is retiring as the President/CEO and Chairman of MOL (America) Inc. Mr. Suzuki held numerous positions world-wide since joining MOL in 1973. His liner division experience began in 1984 when he became a Long Beach, California Representative. He served as General Manager of the Liner Division and Managing Director of MOL (Asia) before being appointed to MOL (America) Inc.’s top position in 2005. Suzuki accepted a post-retirement position as Executive Vice President of MOL Ferry Co., Ltd., Japan. Replacing Suzuki as MOL America’s new President/CEO and Chairman will be Noboru Kitazawa. A graduate of Tokyo University, Mr. Kitazawa is a 33-year MOL Liner veteran. He comes to the U.S.

The Southeastern New England Shipbuilding Corporation (SENESCO) announced recently that the company formally changed its name to Senesco Marine and instituted a sweeping new design and build process to enhance the speed with which the company can design, build and deliver barges. Gary C. Schuler, who was recently appointed chief executive officer, said that SENESCO has grown beyond its original focus as a Southeastern New England shipbuilding company. "Our most recent double hulled barge was built for a west coast customer and we continue to see increased activity out of our New Orleans office," said Schuler. The change is not as superficial as a name change alone, however, and Schuler touted the company's new partnership with Guarino & Cox, a respected naval architecture firms.

By Eugene Bradley Jr. Lean times call for "leaner" boats and what better to employ than Lean Shipbuilding, which is known as a proven approach that shipyards can use to improve shipbuilding efficiency. It has the advantages of reducing defects while remaining responsive to change. How does this differ from the traditional method of shipbuilding? Broken down into three steps these components deal with: Push vs. Pull; Batch and Queue vs. Continuous; and Top Down vs. Bottom Up. Each element builds on the others to make Lean Shipbuilding work. Therefore, when trying to implement Lean Shipbuilding, the whole concept should be implemented rather than just a few important pieces. The Lean Shipbuilding Model will then be introduced.

Over the past 30 years, computer-aided ship design and construction has progressed from mainframe computers to PCs, from independent programs to fully integrated programs, and from large shipyards to all sizes of shipyards. More to the point, key advances during the past several years have made 3-D product modeling a tool that can significantly improve small yard efficiency, quality, and profit. However, 3-D product modeling can do these things only if implemented in a planned and well thought-out manner, tailored to the specific yard. 3-D product modeling, when combined with other innovations such as NC production equipment and the workstation approach to production…

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS), harbored on an island between Kittery, Maine and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has weathered many a storm since its creation in 1800 under President John Adams. As the nation's first naval shipyard, PNS has risen and fallen with the fortunes of sail, steam, and atomic-powered seacraft. In recent decades, it has reinvented itself as a top-notch provider in the life cycle maintenance of modern Navy submarines. Yet like other shipyards nationwide, PNS has been under pressure to streamline operations and maximize productivity. To this end, the shipyard has been upgrading its facilities. As buildings for storage…

The Mississippi Queen, one of the boats of the Delta Queen Steamboat Line, will arrive at the new North Shore docking facility on Tuesday, July 16. This is the first voyage of one of the Delta Queen boats into Pittsburgh this year and it will be repeated by the Mississippi Queen in August. Dale McClelland of Celebrate Pittsburgh and Beyond, the contracted receptive operator in Pittsburgh, is "very excited about the arrival of the Mississippi Queen and the future of the Delta Queen Steamboat operation. The possibility exists for expanding the Queens' layovers and making Pittsburgh a multi-night port city in the future." Providing the needed hotel rooms, dining facilities and entertainment would give an economic lift to tourism in Pittsburgh.

As head of the United States Merchant Marine Academy's (USMMA), engineering department, Professor Jose Femenia noted 1995 as the year in which the Academy's shipyard management program was loosely formatted. It was through his efforts the program became a reality one year later. Beginning with a focus on ship maintenance and repair, several elective courses had been developed - such as ship maintenance and repair, and shipyard design and operations - but were not yet part of a fully formalized agenda. In turn, these electives led to the birth of the Academy's shipyard management program. This blend of marine engineering, industrial engineering and engineering management…

The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), located in Kings Point, N.Y., strives to produce graduates who have the expertise, as well as the understanding of not only how a ship works, but what it takes to operate and build a ship. An ordinary preparatory program? Not so, as the Academy holds a unique spot in the maritime education and engineering world - they are known as the only learning institution to offer a fully consolidated undergraduate program geared specifically towards shipyard management. MR/EN recently spent the day with various professors involved, as well as members of the program's class of 2000, as they shared their thoughts and views on this premier curriculum. By Regina P. Step back in time to 1995 for a moment.

The Mississippi Queen, one of the best-known boats of the Delta Queen Steamboat Line, will arrived at the new North Shore docking facility in the early this morning. This is the first voyage of one of the Delta Queen boats into Pittsburgh this year. Dale McClelland of Celebrate Pittsburgh and Beyond, the contracted receptive operator in Pittsburgh, is "very excited about the arrival of the Mississippi Queen and the future of the Delta Queen Steamboat operation. The possibility exists for expanding the Queens' layovers and making Pittsburgh a multi-night port city in the future." Providing the needed hotel rooms, dining facilities and entertainment would give an economic lift to tourism in Pittsburgh.