Preferred Distributor News

Marine and fire safety equipment and servicing provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment A/S announced the acquisition of Nadiro A/S, a company owned by maritime and energy conglomerate Maersk Group and SH Group. Established in 2009, Svendborg, Denmark-based Nadiro manufactures lifeboat and rescue craft systems, developing and promoting its Drop-in-Ball technology to help ensure crew safety. VIKING has had the status of Preferred Distributor and Service Provider, supplying the company’s…

Leading marine and fire safety equipment and servicing provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment A/S has today announced the acquisition of Nadiro A/S, a company owned by maritime and energy conglomerate Maersk Group and SH Group. Established in 2009, Svendborg, Denmark-based Nadiro manufactures high-quality lifeboat and rescue craft systems, developing and promoting its Drop-in-BallTM technology to help ensure crew safety. VIKING has had the status of Preferred Distributor and Service Provider, supplying the company’s LRRSs (lifeboat release and retrieval systems) to enable the world’s shipowners to comply with new SOLAS regulations by or before 2019. Hook retrofitting is necessary to prevent serious accidents resulting from unsafe lifeboat deployment systems.

W&O, a global supplier to the marine and upstream oil and gas markets for pipe, valves and fittings, valve automation and engineered solutions, announced new fittings for the Georg Fischer SeaCor marine thermoplastic piping system. The addition of Schedule 80 drain waste and vent (DWV) fittings will complete the current product offering for SeaCor Schedule 80 thermoplastic pipe. Customers will now have access to a complete thermoplastic piping system solution, with one material and one installation process, for use in all nonessential grey, black and freshwater applications.

Owners and shipyards come to the realization that alternative composition piping and pumps represent the way forward. You cannot put a vessel to work without pumps, valves and piping. Too often, product selection is left to the discretion of those who view these items as inconsequential decisions, driven primarily by not much more than initial cost. That mindset, in an atmosphere of cost-cutting, the quest for fuel economy and reduction in total lifecycle costs, is changing – albeit ever so slowly. Led in part by success in the military and naval sector, workboat operators are now taking a hard look at both plastic and glass reinforced epoxy (GRE) piping, as well as pumps and valves built with alternative composite materials.

W&O designated preferred North American distributor of first United States Coast Guard-approved marine plastic piping system. W&O, a global supplier of marine pipe, valves and fittings, valve automation, and engineered solutions, has partnered with Georg Fischer Piping Systems to bring to market the first and only commercially available United States Coast Guard-approved marine plastic piping system in the world, known as SeaCor™. SeaCor is the only thermoplastic piping system that meets the IMO and USCG requirements for flame spread, low smoke and toxicity. It also carries Type Approval from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). As the preferred distributor in North America, W&O will bring SeaCor to the commercial marine, military, and upstream oil and gas industries.

W&O takes the guesswork out of distribution, supply and the marine manufacturing environment. In the busy U.S. Gulf Coast shipbuilding sectors, W&O Supply remains active within four very strong markets: navy marine, commercial marine, marine offshore and offshore fabrication. Even with the uncertainty surrounding sequestration, business in the Gulf continues to be strong, as well as diversified. With major shipyards in the region continuing to receive contracts for follow-on vessels, the opportunity for continued success is therefore very good. Nevertheless, and not content to sit back and do ‘business as usual,’ W&O continues to look for new ways to do business, with new products and further enhance their offerings to the marine markets.