Room Equipment News

Global maritime group Mercmarine has unveiled a new state-of-the-art engine room simulator at its training base in Sri Lanka. Hailed the most advanced simulator of its type in the country, the Transas 5000 TechSim marine engine room simulator was officially opened by Ministry of Ports and Shipping secretary L P Jayampathy in Colombo. Mercmarine’s purpose-built training facilities in Colombo and Galle have delivered deck and engine related courses in all qualifications for more than two decades, and currently cater for more than 160 students.

Kongsberg Maritime has won the competitive tender to conduct an upgrade and extension of the simulation facility at Noorderpoort Eemsdollard – Energy & Maritime in Delfzil, The Netherlands. The contract includes upgrade of the Kongsberg Maritime simulators installed at Noorderpoort Eemsdollard’s Abel Tasman College in 2006, which have now been moved to a brand new training facility in Delfzil. Starting autumn 2013, Kongsberg Maritime will deliver an extensive upgrade of the school’s ship’s bridge and engine room training capabilities…

Transas Marine International in cooperation with its local distributor Radio Holland South Africa has recently installed a new engine room simulator at Durban University of Technology (DUT) Department of Maritime Studies, South Africa. The first group to be trained on the new engine room simulator will be the students registered for Marine Engineering Knowledge I, starting this semester. Part of their assessment will be a completion of series of progressive tasks aimed at obtaining basic operator skills and familiarization with an engine room equipment.

Wärtsilä introduces a new, comprehensive package of services, designed to cost efficiently manage hot and cold vessel lay-ups. Reduced transportation demand, over-capacity, and low freight and charter rates have become a major concern throughout the marine industry. The laying-up of ships is one option available to ship owners for meeting these challenges. However, when laying-up, it is of the utmost importance that the vessel's machinery be kept in good condition. This is achieved through professional management of the de-activation and re-activation phases, and by regular inspections and maintenance during the interim period. Wärtsilä's lay-up services will be available for engine room equipment covering 2-stroke & 4-stroke engines…

The City of Baltimore has just taken delivery of a new 87 ft. Emergency Response Fireboat. Hike Metal Products won the contract in 2006 under a “design build” bid competition. The vessel was designed by Robert Allan Ltd, Vancouver BC. The vessel measures 87 ft LOA x 22ft. beam and has a draft of 7ft – 3”. It is built with a steel hull and aluminum superstructure and is powered by two Caterpillar 3512 developing 1650BHP each at 1600RPM driving 61 inch dia. Five blade propellers, giving the vessel a speed of 17 knots. Firefighting is provided from two Caterpillar C18 engines rated at 750BHp at 2100 RPM each driving FSS Fire pumps and delivering water to a total of four fire monitors rated for 12,500 GPM, plus manifold fire hose connectors, and 1000 gallons of foam capacity.

David G. Williams, a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard and the Main Propulsion Assistant for the Coast Guard Cutter RUSH, was indicted by a federal grand jury for obstructing the investigation into his authorization of the direct overboard discharge of bilge wastes through the deep sink into the Honolulu Harbor, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment & Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii Edward H. Kubo Jr. Williams was charged with two counts: one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making a false statement. As the Main Propulsion Assistant…

Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Navy for maintenance work on the nuclear-powered submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723). Northrop Grumman's Newport News sector is the prime contractor for the work, which will include inspection and repair of the submarine's hull, sail, tanks and torpedo systems, as well as modifications to engine room equipment. The contract is valued at approximately $15m and is a modification to a contract awarded in 2004 for initial planning work. The total estimated value of that contract, including the planning and execution, is approximately $21.5m. The ship arrived at the Newport News sector on April 10 for a performance period to last approximately two months. Approximately 300 employees will work on the project.

Shipboard oily water separators are internationally mandated as engine room equipment and are intended to allow engine room crews to clean engine room bilge water prior to discharge into the world’s oceans. This equipment was mandated based on the assumption that uncleaned discharge of engine room bilge water would result in discharge of oil into the environment. Oily water separator equipment has now been installed aboard commercial vessels for over 30 years, but there is reason to question the actual effectiveness of this equipment. It has never been clearly established if oily water separators actually work to a level that enables crews to operate them in a reliable fashion.

Who is in charge when a land-based fire brigade responds to a blaze at sea? What are the fire risks for ships in port and under construction? How can design and technology enhance marine fire protection? Prevention, detection and control on ships and offshore structures will be examined at a new forum in London in March by key personnel including ship owners and managers, ship and harbour masters, safety officers, marine and fire protection engineers, insurance executives and senior fire-fighters. The first International Fire on Ships Conference takes place at the Inmarsat Conference Centre on March 11-12, organised by Lloyd’s List Events and supported by UK body the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CACFOA).

Unauthorized welding on laundry room equipment triggered a fire aboard the cruise ship Ecstasy off Miami in 1998, injuring 22 people and causing more than $17 million in damages, U.S. safety investigators concluded on Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that sparks from the welding equipment caused a fire that quickly spread and ignited a large accumulation of lint in the laundry room ventilation ducts. The fire migrated through that system to the aft mooring deck where it fed on dock lines, generating such intense heat that it knocked out an electrical system that helped power the ship's engines. Owned by Carnival Corp.…

The shiprepair yard of IZAR Ferrol surpassed previous occupancy records recently, as it simultaneously worked on eight vessels. The yard facilities were fully busy and there was no room to accommodate any other vessels at the yard's two drydocks (of 1,083 x 164 ft. [330 x 50 m] and 673 x 82 ft. [205 x 25 m]) and 5,577 ft. (1,700 m) long quays. One of the vessels, a tanker owned by Spain’s CLH, is the first example of the cooperation capacity between the repair yards of Ferrol and Fene (the former Astano), now part of IZAR since the company took over the facilities of Bazan and AESA. The repair order for the crude oil carrier was awarded to Ferrol, but the vessel had to be docked at Fene due to the high occupancy of Ferrol facilities.

The shiprepair yard of IZAR Ferrol last week surpassed previous occupancy records, as it simultaneously worked on eight vessels. The yard facilities were fully busy and there were no room to accommodate any further vessel at the yard's two drydocks (of 330 m long by 50 m wide and 205 m long by 25 m wide) and 1,700 m long quays. One of the vessels, a tanker owned by the Spanish company CLH, has become the first example of the cooperation capacity between the repair yards of Ferrol and Fene (the former Astano), now part of IZAR since the company took over the facilities of Bazan and AESA. The repairing order for the Spanish crude oil carrier…

Aberdeen’s River Dee Shiprepairers, part of the A&P Group, has won a second drydocking contract from BP Oil following the successful completion of the scheduled repair to the 2,734 dwt coastal tanker Border Jouster. River Dee initially quoted for the repair of the Border Jouster but were then asked to make it a two-ship deal; involving the 2,257 dwt Border Warrior. Work on the Border Jouster, which arrived in Aberdeen on May 13th, included overhaul of the main engine and auxiliary engine room equipment, tailshaft and underwater valves, refurbishment of the cargo pumps and the boiler unit, and washing and painting the ship’s hull. The tanker has now passed sea trials and will go back into service by May 29th.