Shipbuilding Unit News

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said it had agreed to begin talks with Mitsui E&S Holdings to acquire its shipbuilding business.A deal to acquire Mitsui E&S's shipbuilding unit could help Mitsubishi Heavy, Japan's biggest defense company, better compete for naval contracts.

The influx of ships and rigs sailing into and out of Brazilian ports since the discovery of large pre-salt plays off Brazil in 2007, and the opening of new ports and shipyards during the past decade has led to a sharp increase in towing operations in Brazil. MR spoke to Sergio Guedes, Director of Operations at Wilson Sons Towage, about the towage and salvage markets in Brazil. Wilson Sons Group is one of the largest integrated operators in port and maritime logistics in Brazil. The company has more than a century of experience and is also present in shipbuilding and offshore support services. Its towage fleet is present in ports all along Brazil’s lengthy coast.

The launch this week of Prumo Logistica's $3.7 billion Port of Açu, the largest in Latin America, marked the revival of a Brazilian logistics hub many thought doomed when the empire of its former billionaire owner collapsed. Açu's more than 25 km (15.5 miles) of docks, piers and breakwaters is a much-needed step towards narrowing a crippling infrastructure gap in Latin America's largest economy. The Manhattan-sized industrial complex northeast of Rio de Janeiro, which officially opened on Tuesday, however, remains a far cry from the plans drafted by Eike Batista before his $60 billion EBX industrial empire disappeared almost overnight in 2013.

The South Korea government plans to drop its forceful measures to push ailing local shipbuilders to merge with each other as mergers or additional cash outlays to Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) are unlikely to boost their bottom line, reports Korea Times. The Korean ship buildes are under heavy pressure on accumulating debt and  zero new building orders in April. The creditors have been urging the ship builders to carry out their respective restructuring plans as well as come up with additional rescue measures as they struggle with mounting losses. The top three shipbuilders were opening up a possibility of significant restructuring measures including that of a merger.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc, which builds aircraft carriers and U.S. Navy warships, on Tuesday said it was keen to bid to build new icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard, after President Barack Obama pushed for quicker work on the program. The company's Ingalls shipbuilding unit, based in Pascagoula, Miss., built the newest U.S. icebreaker in the U.S. fleet, the USCGC Healy, which was delivered in November 1999. Huntington Ingalls spokesman Bill Glenn said his company had…

Creditors have decided to provide additional liquidity to the shipbuilding unit of ailing STX Group in a move to help it overcome a cash crunch, reports Yonhap News Agency. Citing officials at the main creditors, Korea Development Bank, Yonhap say that more than 75 percent of other creditors approved the rescue measures including 1.8 trillion won (US$1.69 billion) in liquidity supply for STX Offshore & Shipbuilding. The rescue measures also include a debt-to-equity swap worth around 1.3 trillion won.

South Korean shares rebounded Tuesday from the prior session's fall as local institutions rushed to hunt for bargains on views that the recent decline was excessive. STX Group shares benefit from the rebound. STX group shares ended bullish on news that its shipbuilding unit was assessed to have higher value of business continuation than liquidation value, reports Xinhua. The holding company STX Corp. surged at the daily permissible limit of 15 percent, and STX Heavy Industries and STX Engine jumped 9.4 percent and 13.3 percent each. The shipping unit STX Pan Ocean, which filed for court receivership, tumbled 14.8 percent. Source: Xinhua

Creditors of the ailing shipbuilder agree to provide STX Offshore with (US$540 million) in emergency loans. The news is cited as coming from the main creditor bank and is reported by the Yonhap News Agency. STX Offshore, the shipbuilding unit of STX Group, a South Korean shipping and shipbuilding conglomerate, has been suffering a credit crunch as demand for new ships has fallen sharply in the past few years. Source: Yonhap News Agency

The Brazillian shipbuilding endeavor received a significant financial injection, as OSX Construção Naval entered into contracts with lending agents BNDES – National Development Bank and CEF - Caixa Econômica Federal for financing with resources from the FMM - Merchant Marine Fund, in the approximate amount of $700m  each, totaling approximately $1.3b. This $1.3b financing is dedicated to the implementation of the Açu Shipbuilding Unit, the largest shipyard in the Americas, which OSX has been building since July 2011 in the north of the State of Rio de Janeiro…

Mr. Danilo Baptista, who currently occupies the position of Executive Manager at OSX´s Açu Shipbuilding Unit (UCN Açu), has been nominated the new Shipyard Operations Officer replacing Mr. Eduardo Costa Vaz Musa. Mr. Baptista is one of the Company’s 52 engineers that have an average of 26 years of experience in naval construction. Mr. Baptista has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and has a specialization degree in Equipment and Maintenance Engineering and Managerial development by the University of São Paulo. Mr. Baptista began his career in 1978 as an Equipment Engineer at Petrobras where he worked for 33 years in the engineering and international areas of the company.

Local equipment suppliers reap dividends, but there’s room for foreign businesses – if they know how to play. After huge oil finds in recent years, Brazil's need for offshore vessels continues to expand and could double between now and the end of the decade. Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras wants to extract billions of barrels of oil while also developing its shipbuilding and service industries to create jobs. Meanwhile, Brazil is trying to use locally made vessels and equipment, but foreign companies are benefiting from the nation's oil bonanza too.

OSX, an EBX Group Company of integrated solutions for offshore units and services, received an order from its anchor client OGX Petróleo e Gás for construction and charter of two new Wellhead Platforms, WHP-3 and WHP-4, pursuant to the Strategic Cooperation Agreement entered into by the companies. The two new units will be built by OSX Construção Naval S/A in the Açu Shipbuilding Unit, which is currently being implemented in the northern region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, and are destined to meet OGX’s oil and gas production program.

The date by which OSX will comply with the 25 percent minimum free float requirement of OSX shares, as set out in the Regulamento de Listagem do Novo Mercado (“Regulation”), was extended for one year, in accordance with the terms of the BM&FBOVESPA notice  067/2012-DP, dated March 30, 2012. OSX is a Brazilian publicly-held corporation which provides equipment and services for the offshore oil and gas industry, being dedicated to supply the Brazilian industry’s growing demand for integrated solutions in three different segments - shipbuilding, E&P unit chartering and O&M services. Compliance with the minimum percentage of outstanding free float shares shall occur in a period of up to one year…

OSX, a company which provides equipment and services for the offshore oil and gas industry, part of EBX Group, consolidated third quarter 2011 results with important achievements, including the start of the construction of the Açu Shipbuilding Unit (UCN Açu); arrival of FPSO OSX-1 in Rio de Janeiro; agreement for the construction of the FPSO OSX-3; a financing agreement for the construction of FPSO OSX-2 ($850 Million); and Disclosure of its 2011-2015 Execution Plan. OSX finished the fourth quarter with a R$7 million net profit and the full year of 2011. The consolidated cash position of the Company and its subsidiaries on December 31st, 2011 was of R$1.0 billion (R$ 2.2 billion on December 31st, 2010).

OSX was hired by Kingfish do Brasil Navegação S/A to build 11 medium range tankers, with 45,000 DWT (Deadweight Tonnage) each, for transportation of oil and clear products. These vessels shall be chartered by Kingfish to Petrobras. The approximate total value of the shipbuilding contract between Kingfish and OSX is US$ 732 million with deliveries expected to take place until 2017, at the Açu Shipbuilding Unit, located in the north of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Kingfish do Brasil is dedicated to providing logistics and marine transportation solutions to the Brazilian oil and gas market, by means of cabotage and long haul shipping. The company was founded by Kingfish Trading in 2009.

OSX was hired by Sapura Navegação Marítima S/A for the construction of one PLSV (Pipe-Laying Support Vessel), for a total amount of approximately US$ 263 million, to be built and delivered by OSX at the Açu Shipbuilding Unit, in the north of the State of Rio de Janeiro. A PLSV is used for laying and installing flexible pipelines on the seabed. Sapura is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seabras Sapura Participações S/A, which is currently wholly owned by SapuraCrest Petroleum Berhad, a company based in Malaysia, where it holds a leading position in engineering and offshore transportation & installation services for the oil and gas industry.

OSX, an EBX Group Company focused on offshore naval industry, received the Installation License for its Shipbuilding Unit, which will be installed at the Açu Superport Industrial Complex, in São João da Barra (RJ). The document was issued on June 22nd, 2011, approximately one year after the beginning of the environmental licensing process. OSX will commence construction of the largest shipyard of the Americas in the month of July, creating approximately 14,000 direct jobs; 10,000 of them during the shipyard´s operational phase and 4,000 during the implementation and construction phase. The Açu Shipbuilding Unit team will benefit from training and professional capacity building provided by the Naval Technology Institute (ITN).

According to a report from The Chosun Ilbo, the labor union of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction's shipbuilding unit agreed on June 27 to end a strike that has lasted for over six months. The company will not rehire laid-off workers, but will compensate them if they voluntarily retire. Both sides also agreed to drop the legal cases against each other.    Source: The Chosun Ilbo

According to a Bloomberg report, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) may keep its Avondale shipyard in Louisiana open beyond 2013 by turning it into a site for other manufacturing. Huntington, with 2010 sales of $6.7 billion, became a separate company in March when Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) spun off its shipbuilding unit. Former parent Northrop and Huntington have said the Avondale yard would be shut when work on the Navy’s two amphibious ships there is completed in 2013. Huntington, based in Newport News, Virginia, operates two other yards. One is in its home city and the other at Pascagoula, Miss. According to the Bloomberg story, the 268-acre Avondale site, about 10 miles upriver from New Orleans, would be suitable for heavy manufacturing, in maritime and other industries.

OSX, an EBX Group company focused on offshore naval industry, signed a partnership with SENAI (National Service for Industrial Apprenticeship) from Rio de Janeiro to train 3,100 people for its Shipbuilding Unit (UCN Açu), to be built in the Açu Superport Industrial Complex, in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro state. The goal is to train skilled manpower that may work at the Shipbuilding Unit. The initiative, which has an investment of $13 million, will primarily benefit residents of Campos dos Goytacazes and São João da Barra, where the Superport is being installed. The agreement with SENAI, considered the leading institution for professional education in Brazil…

OSX Brasil S.A., announced a new Plan of Activities, to be implemented by its subsidiary OSX Construção Naval S/A, for production of offshore oil and gas E&P equipment at its Açu Shipbuilding Unit ("UCN Açu") up to 2015.OSX Brasil aims to construct the largest shipyard in the Americas, in partnership with Hyundai Heavy Industries, in the city of São João da Barra, Rio de Janeiro state. The company also hopes to satisfy customers' demands for oil and gas exploration and production equipment. UCN Açu has a total area of 3.2 million square meters, of which 2.55 million square meters will be used in the first phase of development. This phase includes the possibility of integrating up to 6 FPSOs and building up to 8 fixed platforms (WHPs) simultaneously…

Germany's Luerssen has reportedly made a bid for all of ThyssenKrupp's (TKAG.DE) shipbuilding unit Blohm + Voss, German daily Hamburger Abendblatt reported on Wednesday, according to Reuters. ThyssenKrupp in July scrapped a deal for Abu Dhabi MAR to buy Blohm + Voss. (Source: Reuters)

The business of building ships has largely been tumultuous since the economic collapse of 2008 and lingering global malaise. - Your shipyard has a $4.8B orderbook and plans for its first delivery (an FPSO) in 3Q2011 … BEFORE the shipyard is complete. Meet OSX Brasil S.A., an EBX Group company, designed to supply the industry's demand for integrated service solutions to the Oil & Gas market, which is rapidly expanding in Brazil. In January of this year Maritime Reporter presented a one-on-one with Roberto Monteiro, CFO of OSX Shipbuilding, Chartering and Offshore Services, in the wake of OSX Brasil S.A raising $1.4B in its IPO. This month, Maritime Reporter checks in with Mr.