Technology Division News

Austal USA Advanced Technologies is working with the US Navy on technical solutions that will power the next-gen of navy assets. Don Hairston recently took the helm of the AAT team, and discusses how additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence are powering the future of naval asset design, construction and lifecycle maintenance.Don, what specifically attracted you to the position as GM of Austal USA Advanced Technologies?I liked Austal USA as an up-and-comer; it offers tremendous growth opportunities.

CLdN announced one of its RoRo car carrier vessels is ready for its return to service after being fitted with a rotor sail wind propulsion system.The Luxembourg based company is the latest in a string of ship owners and operators to have turned to wind propulsion systems as a means to reduce fuel burn and emissions amid its journey to improve operational efficiency and its environmental footprint.Now fitted with two 35mx5m rotor sails, Delphine is the first vessel in the CLdN fleet to be fitted with the system and will return to service from Zeebrugge…

Dr. Holger Klein, Member of the Board of Management responsible for the Asia-Pacific region, Car Chassis Technology Division, Aftermarket and Production, will succeed Wolf-Henning Scheider as Chairman and CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG at the end of 2022.At the same time, Dr. Peter Laier will join the Board of Management to lead the Commercial Vehicle Solutions (CVS) and Industrial Technology divisions succeeding Wilhelm Rehm. ZF Chief Financial Officer Dr. Konstantin Sauer will leave the company by the end of 2022 after many years of service.

Three new multipurpose vessels ordered from the Abeking & Rasmussen ship and yacht shipyard (A&R) in Lemwerder by the German government for the Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) will be equipped with SCHOTTEL propulsion systems. Planning and design as well as tendering and continuous construction supervision are carried out by the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW), Ship Technology division.Maneuverability, high bollard pull, increased availability combined with maximum propulsion efficiency are important for these vessels.

A captain claims victory at the end of a popular high-stakes fishing competition thanks to help from a new electronic boat control system.When the Summer to Fall bluefin tuna season ends in Gloucester, Mass., it’s only just beginning in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. It’s in these rough waters that commercial fishermen compete on the TV show, “Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks.” A spin-off of the original “Wicked Tuna,” this series has run on National Geographic since 2014 and recently completed its seventh season on air in September 2020.Fishing for bluefin tuna comes with unique challenges.

Martyn Thomas is the Chief of Staff at Stream Marine Training Ltd (SMT Ltd.) following many years working for both global training providers and cruise companies. SMT is a maritime skills and technology business providing fire-fighting, sea survival, survival craft and HSE training to the global maritime, oil and gas, renewables and construction industries.Thomas works out of SMT’s head office in Glasgow where SMT trains the majority of its theoretical based courses, including Alternative Fuels…

Corvus Energy announced it has been selected by BMA Technology in Turkey to supply the lithium-ion battery-based energy storage system (ESS) for a new Live Fish Carrier to be built at Tersan Shipyard in Turkey.This is the second vessel in a series of two for Norwegian salmon and trout producer, Nordlaks. Corvus Energy also delivered the ESS for Bjørg Pauline, which was recently launched from Tersan Shipyard.The NSK Design 4126 – Live Fish Carrier, LNG HYBRID is among the most efficient and most advanced of its type.

A fisherman from a popular reality television series recently outfitted his vessel with a new electronic control system—giving him the edge in a high-stakes fishing competition.The waters of the North Atlantic Ocean can be treacherous—especially for fishermen pursuing the elusive bluefin tuna. This pursuit is the subject of the popular reality television series, “Wicked Tuna,” which chronicles the competition between commercial bluefin tuna fishermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced leadership changes for its Newport News Shipbuilding division.Damon Saetre has been promoted to vice president of integrated planning and production control. In this role, he oversees all direct planning, supply chain planning and production control functions across the organization. This includes leading the Navy program work plans, as well as workforce and capacity planning.Saetre, who assumed his new role this week and reports to Newport News President Jennifer Boykin…

While merriam-webster.com is succinct in its definition of ‘autonomous’, ask 10 people in the maritime sector what ‘autonomous’ vessel means to them and the responses vary widely. Achieving autonomous, unmanned operations is not high, today, on the agenda of many (if any) shipowners. What does command their attention? Building ships that are increasingly ‘smart,’ with integrated, connected systems that take on additional decision-making processes while helping to reduce crew size (and cost)…

ZF Friedrichshafen AG's Supervisory Board has appointed Sabine Jaskula and Dr. Holger Klein to the company's Board of Management.Jaskula, an experienced HR manager and lawyer, will be responsible for Corporate HR and Legal functions from latest January 1, 2019. In this function, she will also be in charge of compliance. Dr. Klein has been appointed to ZF's Board of Management with effect from October 1, 2018. His responsibilities will include Car Chassis Technology and Aftermarket (service and parts business).

Taiwan is becoming the next battleground for the world's top offshore wind developers as they seek a foothold in Asia for a technology that has been expanding fast in Europe.Taiwan announced results on Monday of its first major offshore wind farm auction that aims to add 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of capacity to its existing network of just 8 megawatts (MW).The island's offshore wind market is expected to expand to 5.5 GW by 2025, and the government aims to invest $23 billion on onshore and offshore wind projects by 2025…

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, said it will reorganize its offshore and merchant shipping operations as part of a plan aiming to achieve €13 million in annual cost savings. Under the plan, MacGregor’s Smart Ocean Technology division will be divided into two new divisions: Cargo Handling and Advanced Offshore Solutions. The statutory cooperation negotiations have now been finalized, resulting in restructuring of operations and reducing approximately 170 full-time equivalents globally. The measures affect MacGregor operations in Norway, Germany, China and Singapore. MacGregor employed globally 1,876 persons at the end of September 2017. Restructuring costs are estimated to be approximately €7 million in the final quarter of 2017, with planned savings to be reached in 2018.

The new facility has dedicated transmission and thruster repair facilities, and larger warehouse and training areas. ZF Marine has a long standing presence in Louisiana, opening their first location in the city of St. Rose in 1996. The ever increasing customer base combined with the addition of the commercial thruster product line in 2009 resulted in the need to create a larger physical presence in the region. A comprehensive search of the region resulted in ZF finding a new home at 677 Time Saver Avenue in Elmwood, Louisiana. ZF Marine’s new facility is three times the size of its previous location. The new facility not only houses dedicated transmission and thruster repair facilities, but also a significantly larger warehouse area.

Ship owners can expect a rich digitalized offering from Kongsberg Group after the merger of its software-producing, oil-and-gas technology division; its maritime simulation (SIM) business and the company’s renewable energy department. Kongsberg Digital is the successor to these, and among the new entity’s cloudlike offerings are new ways to learn and train, as well as new SIM business models. Behind it all is the ultimate learning academy, one for all the world’s SIM and the Internet of Things — their trademarked digital “ecosystem”, Kognifai.

An agreement between ZF Friedrichshafen AG and Rolls-Royce Power Systems will see the two companies collaborate even more closely on the development, marketing, sales and service of marine propulsion systems. The combination of MTU engines from Rolls-Royce Power Systems and marine transmissions from ZF have long been a match for many commercial ships and yachts. Now, the two companies plan to work together even more intensively to develop new technologies and products to help ensure clients are provided with fully optimized propulsion solutions.

MacGregor has won davit orders for two low-emission 81m service operation vessels (SOVs) designed to act as 'mother-ships' for wind turbine technicians. The contracts have been placed by Spanish shipyard GONDAN, responsible for the construction of the SOVs. The order was booked in Cargotec's 2016 third quarter order intake. The SOVs have been ordered by Norwegian operator Østensjø Rederi. They will serve UK-headquartered DONG Energy's Race Bank and Project One offshore wind farms in the North Sea. Each vessel will be fitted with a MacGregor HMD G110 davit designed for launching and recovery of personnel-carrying 'daughter' craft and a MacGregor HMD A34 davit designed for launching and recovery of rescue boats.

MacGregor has won Pusnes deck machinery orders for a new series of 400,000 dwt very large ore carriers (VLOCs) under construction at Chinese shipyard, Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industries. The orders are booked in Cargotec's 2016 third quarter order intake.   MacGregor will deliver high-pressure hydraulically-operated deck machinery based on Pusnes designs. "The equipment is simple to operate, well-proven and known for its high-quality," says Esko Karvonen, Head of Smart Ocean Technology division at MacGregor. "For example, the windlasses are equipped with MacGregor's proven dual-motor installation, which ensures high capacity and reliability."   Construction of the Valemax vessels is part of an agreement between Brazilian mining company, Vale and the Chinese Government.

Onboard and ashore, IoT application services, which rely on ships’ onboard equipment data, have become increasingly prevalent throughout the maritime industry. Japan Ship Machinery & Equipment Association’s (JSMEA) Smart Ship concept utilizes IoT application services to achieve optimum ship operation in terms of safety and energy efficiency. Armed with two new international standards – ISO/CD 19847:Shipboard data servers to share field data on the sea and ISO/CD 19848:Standard…

Onboard and ashore, IoT application services, which rely on ships’ onboard equipment data, have become increasingly prevalent throughout the maritime industry. Japan Ship Machinery & Equipment Association’s (JSMEA) Smart Ship concept utilizes IoT application services to achieve optimum ship operation in terms of safety and energy efficiency. Armed with two new international standards – ISO/CD 19847:Shipboard data servers to share field data on the sea and ISO/CD 19848:Standard…

Onboard and ashore, IoT application services, which rely on ships’ onboard equipment data, have become increasingly prevalent throughout the maritime industry. Japan Ship Machinery & Equipment Association’s (JSMEA) Smart Ship concept utilizes IoT application services to achieve optimum ship operation in terms of safety and energy efficiency. Armed with two new international standards – ISO/CD 19847:Shipboard data servers to share field data on the sea and ISO/CD 19848:Standard…

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has won comprehensive equipment package contracts for a variety of seven specialist support vessels that will operate in the Middle East region. MacGregor will deliver deck cranes and a range of deck machinery to each vessel. The order is booked into the third quarter 2016 order intake. "These orders are a good demonstration of MacGregor's ability to deliver a one-stop-shop solution, using products from across our range of market-leading brands. All backed-up by good global aftersales and service support," says Esko Karvonen, Head of Smart Ocean Technology division, MacGregor. MacGregor will deliver: a deck crane and deck machinery…

Semco Maritime, a global provider of communications solutions, telecoms systems integration services and collaborative applications to the offshore oil and gas industry, has won a multi-million dollar contract to deliver communications systems and infrastructure for the production platforms at the new Maersk Oil operated Culzean field in the UK sector of the North Sea. The award of this contract by Singapore based yard Sembcorp Marine Offshore Platform Pte. Lts. continues Semco…