Wss News

Wilhelmsen announced it has entered into an agreement with Seven Seas to acquire 100% of its shares in cargo hold cleaning subsidiary Stromme.Wilhelmsen will acquire the company in Norway from parent Seven Seas including operations in Germany and Singapore, as Stromme will transfer all of its people, business and assets into Wilhelmsen Ships Service. Stromme will retain its brand and operate as a fully owned subsidiary of Ships Service. Completion of the transaction is subject…

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) will launch its new line of cargo hold cleaning equipment at maritime exhibition INMEX India. The new high pressure lance and add-on heating system are tailor made for cleaning difficult to reach areas of the hold, enabling crews to get the right cleaning results, irrespective of where stains are located, without scaffolding, ladders and specialist-cleaning crews. Dubbed Anaconda, because of its impressive size and power, the high pressure lance measures over 20 meters and the attached hose 25 meters.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) are bringing the maritime digital solutions of the future to life at Nor-Shipping. Unveiling their augmented reality (AR) project at the world’s biggest maritime show, this immersive, interactive tool enables visitors to view the company’s very latest products and systems, inside and out. Developed in conjunction with Austrian technology company Imagination Computer Serv. GesmbH, using their AR software ‘MagicLens’, visitors will download a reader app to their phones and scan a printed image to unlock the AR system.

Marking a seismic shift in just how ships agents can support their customers, Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) will soon be delivering its agency essentials via drone. A much talked about technology, with obvious applications for the shipping industry, it is WSS’ ships agency team, rather than the company’s supply chain, or product divisions, which have been assessing the business opportunities offered by drones. Marius Johansen, VP Business Solutions & Marketing, WSS Ships Agency explains, “Whether it is deliveries of critical documents or vital medical supplies, tank inspections, or monitoring cargo and stockpile levels, we believe semi-autonomous drone flights can support and further enhance what our ships agency team can offer our customers”.

Marking a shift in how ship agents can support customers, Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) said it will soon begin delivering its agency essentials via drone. A much talked about technology, with obvious applications for the shipping industry, it is WSS’ships agency team, rather than the company’s supply chain, or product divisions, which have been assessing the business opportunities offered by drones. Dispensing with the need for launch boats to deliver such essentials to vessels at anchorage, along with cutting delivery times, Johansen estimates drone flights will also slash costs.

Ship operators shuld make on board fuel testing an operational necessity, urges Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS). There are a host of issues, which can arise with both traditional heavy fuels and modern low sulphur distillates that, if left unchecked, cause significant problems in the engine room. Water content is a common problem for both fuels, but there specific issues associated with the two distinct fuel types. Jonas Östlund, Product Marketing Manager, Oil, WSS, explains, “Heavy fuels are prone to problems with stability and the ominous catalytic fines that wear down engines…

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS), provider of products and services to the shipping industry, said it has signed a partnership with Turner Designs USA to market its Ballast-Check 2 PAM Fluorometer to shipowners worldwide. The easy to use handheld device enables crew to qickly check the quality of treated ballast water for compliance with the D2 standard of the IMO’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention. Turner Design’s fluorometer, used by authorities around the world for testing water quality, is simple, uses no chemicals and provides reliable results in less than a minute.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) is moving to ensure that its customers’ vessels pass through the new Panama and Suez Canals with the optimum efficiency, speed and safety thanks to a fresh Ships Agency ‘canal transit’ solution. The service, which will be run by dedicated local teams, has already picked up its first contract, securing an agreement with leading very large gas carrier (VLGC) owner and operator Avance Gas for the Panama Canal transit of its neo-panamax ships Passat and Breeze. WSS, the leading global provider of products and services to the shipping industry, has created 24/7 Transit Desks in both Panama and Egypt. These combine local knowledge with global support and service standards…

Survitec Group announced a transformational deal with the Marine Safety business of Wilhelmsen Maritime Services AS (WMS), in which WMS will transfer into Survitec all related safety products and services, including Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions, WSS Technical Services and WSS Safety Products. The combined business will operate under the Survitec Group name. “Upon completion of the merger, WMS will hold a 20 percent stake in Survitec, which will cement the long-term relationship between our two organizations and ensure Wilhelmsen’s continued and significant involvement in the future success of the combined group,” said Dag Schjerven, President and CEO of Wilhelmsen Maritime Services, who will take a position on the Survitec Group Board of Directors.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service, a provider of products and services to the shipping industry, is advising vessel operators to wage war on soot. According to WSS, soot accumulation in a ship’s exhaust gas boiler (EGB) is a serious issue, leading to reduced EGB efficiency, significant cleaning costs, corrosion, and the risk of soot fires. However, a simple post-combustion fuel treatment can solve all these problems, at negligible cost. Refined heavy marine fuels are full of contaminants, such as Vanadium, Sodium, Aluminium, Silica, and Potassium, which leave deposits when burnt.

General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), was awarded a contract to provide information technology services and security assistance support to the Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS) and Navy International Programs Office. The 48-month contract value is $46.7 million. Under this contract, General Dynamics will provide the U.S. Navy with support for project, financial and logistical analysis and management; IT services; cooperative programs; and international training and educational programs. Work on the contract is being performed in Philadelphia, PA; Washington, D.C.; Pensacola, FL; and Dayton, OH.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS), who conducts safety inspections of onboard welding equipment and consumables at 26 ports throughout the world, said its findings reveal how a lack of maintenance, respect and care for this essential, yet highly dangerous, technology is putting safety, efficiency and even lives at risk every day. WSS offers inspections at a network of international shipping hubs, including New Orleans, Dubai, Rotterdam, Panama and Shanghai. These involve approved…

Ship operators who rely on a myriad of companies for their global bunkering needs are wasting time, money and energy, with no guarantee of standardized quality of products and services, says Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS). In an industry defined by tight margins and cost constraints this approach, WSS believes, is ultimately bad for business. The global provider of maritime products and services WSS says it offers an alternative, with its global Bunker Service Agreements. These provide shipping firms with peace of mind and uniform quality…

Ship operators must combine vigilance, structure and care with the new SOLAS X1-1/7 - MSC.1/Circ.1477 & MSC.1/Circ.1485 regulations to safeguard crews from the dangers of gas when entering enclosed spaces, warns Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS), stressing that just supplying vessels with one portable four-gas detection unit, as stipulated by the IMO, simply isn’t sufficient. The new regulation, coming into force on July 1, 2016, requires all ships engaged in international voyages to have at least one unit capable of detecting the presence of oxygen, flammable gases or vapors, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide. This is an important step forward, acknowledges WSS, global provider of maritime products and services, but not the end of the road when it comes to safety.

Ship owners will need to act now to ensure they comply with new firefighting rules brought into force on January 1, 2016 for all new buildings warns WSS. New amendments to the safety of life at sea convention (SOLAS), which are now in force have laid down extensive ground rules for firefighting on ships designed to carry containers on or above the weather deck and built on or after January 1, 2016. Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s (WSS) Unitor lance and X-flow water monitor have been specifically designed to meet all the requirements of the new SOLAS rules. “As container ships have increased in size, so too has the need for effective measures to ensure the safety of the crew and cargo when substantial numbers of containers are carried on deck,” says Andrew Sheriff, Business Manager, Safety, WSS.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has signed a contract with COSCO Container Lines Co. Ltd (COSCON) to supply its Unitor multi-gas detectors to the company’s expanding container fleet. The deal, worth more than $200,000, covers 70 vessels, including 20 newbuilds scheduled to launch between now and 2018, plus a five-year service agreement to maintain the detection units. “WSS have consistently delivered the products and service solutions our business demands,” said Mao QingDao, Technical Director of the COSCON fleet.

In the wake of new regulations, Wilhelmsen Ships Services (WSS) says bulk owners and operators must pay as much attention to the products used to clean their cargo holds as the holds themselves. WSS is urging firms to heed details included in the revised MARPOL Annex V Resolution MEPC.201(62), relating to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, which came into force on January 1, 2016. A key element is the Annex ‘garbage regulation’, stipulating that discharge of garbage into the sea is prohibited…

Ultra low sulphur fuels may be the key to compliant operations in Emission Control Areas (ECAs), but they can also open the door to an unwanted, and slimy, guest in your vessels’ engines and fuel tanks. Jonas Ostlund and Sachin Gupta of Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) discuss the cold flow characteristics of distillate fuels and the formation of paraffin wax in cold temperatures. “It’s like mucus,” says Jonas Ostlund, WSS Product Marketing Manager Oil. “When a cold comes on it starts forming in your tubes.

From racing boats to steel pipelines, windmill blades to massive hydraulic hammers, Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) says its personnel in the Middle East can move just about anything, anywhere. Last summer, WSS was contracted to source ocean transportation options for the return of offshore marine equipment from the United Arab Emirates to Germany. The cargo consisted of 10 packages of pile driving accessories for onshore and offshore installation, including 13 meters long, 123 metric ton hydraulic hammer.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) is aiming to consolidate its position within the Ships Agency segment by building stronger agent-customer relationships. By doing so, Frederic Fontarosa believes the firm can offer enhanced efficiency, understanding and value. Frederic Fontarosa is a people person. Mixing an easy going, laid back French-American drawl with suddenly energetic outbursts on subjects close to his heart, he’s engaging to talk to and easy to like. Seated  in his Houston office…

As Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s (WSS) new Northeast Asia Distribution Center, located in Busan, South Korea approaches its first birthday, the 6,500 sq. m warehouse facility continues to help the firm establish its position in the regional marketplace. Situated beside the Busan New Container Terminal, WSS officially opened the facility on January 1, 2015, marking a shift in the company’s regional strategy by creating a dedicated Northeast Asian base and allowing the former Asian hub in Singapore to focus on the Southeast of the region.

The shipping industry is facing price, supply and safety risks in the run-up to the global ban on R-22 (chlorodifluoromethane or HCFC) refrigerant, warns Wilhelmsen Ships Service, a global provider of services and products. The colorless gas, which has high ozone depletion and global warming potential, is still said to be in use on between 6,000 and 8,000 vessels worldwide. R-22 was outlawed throughout the EU in a process that ran from 2010 to January 1, 2015. It is currently being phased out in the U.S., where no new or imported R-22 will be permitted from January 1, 2020.

In 2011, several refrigerated, reefer containers exploded, killing three port workers. While there has been no further tragedies since then, counterfeit refrigerants remain in circulation and still represent a safety risk. Counterfeit refrigerant cylinders can consist of a dangerously unstable cocktail of gases, blended to roughly mimic the most common refrigerant, R-134a. These cylinders are often loaded with rogue gases such as R-40. Though similar to R-134a, R-40 reacts with aluminium to form trimethylaluminum, a highly volatile substance that, when exposed to air, can explode.