Retrieval Systems News

The oil and gas industry has just 18 months to upgrade critical release hook systems on offshore lifeboats to meet new regulations imposed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to improve safety at sea. According to the organization, the number of failures during drills and inspections which resulted in casualties or injured crew members has been unacceptably high. Launched in 2011, the IMO regulations state that lifeboat release and retrieval systems must be evaluated and replaced no later than July 1, 2019.

President Donald Trump addressed the more than 10,000 people attending the ceremony where the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), was commissioned on Saturday, July 22 in Norfolk, Va. “Wherever this vessel cuts through the horizon, our allies will rest easy and our enemies will shake with fear because everyone will know that America is coming and America is coming strong,” said Trump. Acting Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley recalled President Theodore Roosevelt, who used to say, “Walk softly, and carry a big stick.” Stackley then turned to Trump and said, “Mr.

Continuing voracious demand for mined materials in China, India and other developing nations has led to an associated requirement for increased bulk terminal capacity for both export by suppliers and import by users. Whether developing an existing facility or building from scratch it is imperative that any scheme is planned in advance from engineering, commercial and operational perspectives in order to deliver maximum value to the customer. Rajan Narayan, Technical Director at BMT Consultants India, a subsidiary of BMT Group, provides an overview of current themes in the market.

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.

Marine safety equipment leader VIKING Life-Saving Equipment will appear in force at Nor-Shipping 2015, displaying both innovative products and services that are proving popular with shipowners around the world. Few innovations in the safety equipment servicing arena have caught on as strongly as VIKING’s Shipowner Agreements. Based on the concept of fixed prices and centralized, single-source servicing for multi-brand safety equipment, these agreements have been rapidly adopted by forward-thinking shipowners across the globe. VIKING’s stand at Nor-Shipping will be manned by experts ready to discuss the options available and explain the popularity of this type of servicing contract.

Survival Craft Inspectorate (SCI), a global provider of emergency marine evacuation systems, has selected a Swedish company to drive further growth in Scandinavia. Scanunit has agreed to a partnership with SCI for sales and installation rights of Safelaunch lifeboat release and retrieval systems (LRRS), which comply with the latest Solas MSC.1 / Circ 1392 guidelines. SCI said Scanunit’s success in Denmark and Sweden will complement its existing office in Norway. SCI, which has 14 operations of its own worldwide…

Survival Craft Inspectorate (SCI), a global provider of emergency marine evacuation systems, has appointed two new distributors as the business targets growth opportunities in Scandinavia. SCI has agreed partnerships with Danish firms Hysafe and Hytek, both part of the Hytek Group. The companies will have sales and installation rights for SCI's Safelaunch lifeboat release and retrieval systems (LRRS), which comply with the latest Solas MSC.1 / Circ 1392 guidelines. This latest agreement follows similar SCI announcements of partnerships in Holland, Belgium, Germany and Greece.

Survival Craft Inspectorate, a global provider of emergency marine evacuation systems, has appointed two distributors for the Dutch market as it eyes new growth opportunities. The business has agreed partnerships with North Sea Davit & Lifeboat Services BV at Nieuwegein, as well as Polyrep BV at Hellevoetsluis. Both companies will have sales and installation rights for the Aberdeen-based company's Safelaunch lifeboat release and retrieval systems, which comply with the latest Solas MSC.1 / Circ 1392 guidelines.

The National Gas Shipping Company (NGSCO) of Abu Dhabi said new Lifeboat Release and Retrieval Systems (LRRS) are being installed in advance of new IMO regulations coming into force this year. The combination of the innovative Nadiro Drop-in-Ball  technology and Viking UAE’s certified lifeboat service technicians were the perfect solution to achieve compliance. New IMO regulations call for major and mandatory improvements to safeguard lives both during lifeboat drills and during emergencies at sea.

DNV is taking lifeboat safety one step further. The company claims that maritime lifeboat safety will be enhanced by transferring offshore lifeboat design practices to ships. The shortcomings of existing free fall lifeboat designs were revealed in a number of incidents related to structural safety, human loads and headway back in 2005. A joint industry project was initiated by OLF (the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association) to find the reasons for these incidents. The project revealed that the SOLAS requirements, on which the design criteria were built, were based on lifeboat performance during test launches into calm waters and from heights significantly smaller than those encountered on host facilities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Viking Life-Saving Equipment said it will take advantage of Nor-Shipping 2013 to help shipowners make safety equipment and servicing a smooth and problem-free experience. Having revolutionized the safety equipment servicing world with far-reaching, customizable agreements that have reduced unpredictable, fluctuating costs, Viking is now focusing its attention on further fine-tuning its workflows and providing even faster response times fromservicing under the company’s highly popular Shipowner Agreements.

Survival Craft Inspectorate (SCI), a global provider of emergency marine evacuation systems, has delivered a fastrack safety refit for a global cruise shipping company. SCI replaced and serviced key safety systems on board the Holland America cruise ship Rotterdam while she was docked in Hamburg, Germany. SCI sent over a specialist team to carry out the £260,000 (US$400,000) project in just 10 days. Tio Devaney, SCI Country Manager for Americas – who flew over to Hamburg from the Americas Office to oversee the contract – said…

SOLAS amendments aimed to prevent accidents during lifeboat launching entered into force on 1 January 2013. IMO informs that the amendments, adopted in May 2011, add a new paragraph 5 to SOLAS regulation III/1, to require lifeboat on-load release mechanisms not complying with new International Life-Saving Appliances (LSA) Code requirements to be replaced, no later than the first scheduled dry-docking of the ship after 1 July 2014 but, in any case, not later than 1 July 2019. The SOLAS amendment is intended to establish new, stricter, safety standards for lifeboat release and retrieval systems, and will require the assessment and possible replacement of a large number of lifeboat release hooks.

Leading lifeboat manufacturer and service provider Schat-Harding has completed all tests required by IMO to ensure that its SeaCure lifeboat release and retrieval systems (the new name for hooks) meet the new IMO guidelines for existing and new lifeboats. Reacting to industry requests Schat-Harding has also developed a Secondary Safety System (SSS) for the SeaCure hook. Although not required by IMO guidelines or SOLAS regulations, the SSS is recommended by many shipping industry groups…

The USCG has issued an interim rule requiring anchors and emergency retrieval systems on tank barges and the vessels towing them in coastal and Great Lakes service. In a significant change from the October 1997 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), the rule requires all single-hulled tank barges operating on the U.S. territorial sea, the Great Lakes, Long Island Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and parts of Puget Sound, be equipped with an operable anchor system. In addition, both single- and double-hulled tank barges and the vessels towing them must be equipped with an emergency retrieval system, such as an emergency towline or an Orville Hook. The rule also requires equipment be maintained and inspected regularly, and crewmembers be trained and drilled in its use.