Designed Equipment News

Solid-State Welding Processes Being Developed for NASA Manufacturing Programs Could Significantly Reduce Workboat Fabrication CostsWhether it is for a tug boat, cargo vessel, or an offshore supply ship, much of the workboat fabrication industry is located along the Southern Coast of the U.S. But a visit to any one of the workboat facilities in that area (or any other in the country) would reveal antiquated and archaic fabrication processes used seventy years ago. The workboat manufacturing process is very expensive, labor intensive, and has not really changed since World War II.

The City of Suzhou in eastern China has deployed a fleet of electric workboats powered by Torqeedo motors as part of a program to clean up its canals and waterways. The ancient city of Suzhou, located in Jiangsu Province near Shanghai, is home to more than 10 million people. Often called the “Venice of the East” the 2,500 year old city is noted for its many canals, rivers, lakes, ancient stone bridges, pagodas and gardens. Suzhou Creek, which flows through the city to Shanghai, was at one time said to be the most contaminated waterway in China, filled with sewage and garbage.

The dynamic dredge builder navigates a complicated dredge building market by augmenting an impressive array of standard equipment with a customized approach that satisfies domestic and international customers alike. It isn’t as easy as it looks. The New Year typically brings new challenges to all sectors of the waterfront and 2018 will be no different. As the newly expanded and improved Panama and Suez Canals bring larger, so-called post-Panamax vessels to U.S. shores, stakeholders tend to focus on domestic dredging needs. And, there’s plenty of that to go around. At the same time, global infrastructure requirements are also growing.

A Container-on-Barge service intended to be an integral part of the regional intermodal equation is gathering momentum – and customers. Quietly, the Port of New Orleans (NOLA) has marked some important accomplishments in the past two years, across multiple business sectors. For example, in April 2016, NOLA’s Board dedicated a $25 million Mississippi River intermodal terminal, capable of handling 160,000 twenty-foot-equivalent (TEU) units per year by rail. CN Railroad signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) a year earlier (2015)…

Royal IHC informs it has completed the upgrade of the underwater pump and jet water system on trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) VOLVOX TERRANOVA for Van Oord. The renovation involved a complete engineering package, including a plan of repairs for the ship’s hull and modifications to accommodate a jet pump unit and the frequency drive of the new submerged dredge pump unit. The delivery of a 1,700kW jet pump unit and the modification of the complete suction tube was completed on schedule.

Mammoet, a service provider specializing in engineered heavy lifting and transport, has lifted up a 120-meter-high crane for its installation in the port of Szczecin in Poland. The Goliath crane was built by Van Haagen Kraanbouw in the Netherlands and transported to the fabrication site of Bilfinger Mars Offshore. Mammoet constructed a tailor-made gantry with a height of 127 meters especially for this project – the tallest gantry ever built by the company in Europe – to execute this lifting operation. Gantries normally raise loads from an overhead beam between two supporting towers.

Satcom Global has announced the launch of three new exclusive postpay voice and data bundles for the Inmarsat Fleet One service. Fleet One brings cost effective satellite communications to small vessels including yachts and fishing vessels, through a compact, lightweight and easy to install antenna. Accessing weather information and chart updates, keeping in contact with loved ones or simply checking the news are now as simple to do at sea as they are on land. As well as these new postpay bundles, we also offer a Fleet One Prepaid service, with vouchers available in a flexible range of unit denominations and validity lengths. With Fleet One, smaller vessel owners can now stay connected without having to worry about cellular coverage or network roaming charges.

U.K.-based Christie & Grey, Ltd., a company in vibration mitigation technology, announced it is celebrating a century of developing vibration and shock isolation solutions for a wide variety of industries. The present company evolved from the British Anti-Vibration & Noise Co Ltd and Typhoon Mixer Co, two firms formed by British engineer Robert Bertram Grey in 1912. At that time, most of the business was focused on Typhoon Mixer Co, which designed equipment principally used in the mixing and agitation of industrial chemicals.

U.K. based Christie & Grey, Ltd., a leader in vibration mitigation technology is celebrating a century of developing high performance, cost-effective vibration and shock isolation solutions for a wide variety of industries. The present company evolved from the British Anti-Vibration & Noise Co Ltd and Typhoon Mixer Co, two firms formed by British engineer Robert Bertram Grey in 1912. At that time most of the business was focused on Typhoon Mixer Co, which designed equipment principally used in the mixing and agitation of industrial chemicals. The British Anti-Vibration & Noise Company (BAV&N Co) was involved in the development of a natural cork isolation mat (a product trade named Coresil) used to isolate electrical power generators from their foundations.

'Blue Vision New Generation' automation system presented for MTU Series 2000 and 4000 engines, with new bridge components designed by Pininfarina. Tognum subsidiary MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH presents its Blue Vision New Generation automation system at the Salone Nautico Internazionale yacht show in Genoa. The automation system monitors and remotely controls propulsion systems based on MTU Series 2000 or 4000 engines. The system will be available in a simple, non-classifiable version…

The Braemar recovery team recovered 167 tonnes of butterfat from the wrecked containership 'Rena' –  now  repackaged for recycling into biodiesel fuel. Braemar Operations Manager Neil Lloyd says that over the course of the project, some large quantities of cargo have been recycled. "Without the efforts of our team, including distressed cargo, port and waste specialists, and our local environmental partner, this would have been dumped into a landfill site. Neil Lloyd says that re-packaging the butterfat was a tricky task because the product was in bladders which had 'ballooned' out of shape when the cardboard boxes they were in disintegrated. "We designed equipment that allowed us to squeeze the semi-soft material into one metre containers holding one tonne each.

The J D Neuhaus company have a long established reputation for the design and manufacture of materials handling products. They also supply purpose designed equipment for specialized applications such as the oil and gas industry where safety and reliability are primary requisites. For this purpose they can supply hoists, with a lift capacity range from 0.25Kg up to 100 tons, to API7K certification. These are high durability products rated explosion proof/spark resistant and powered by compressed air or hydraulics with corrosion resistant options also available.

Hydrex has developed a new method enabling permanent repairs of rudders without drydocking the ship. The newly designed equipment is lightweight and can be mobilized very rapidly in our special flight containers. Major defects on rudders very often cause unscheduled drydocking of ships. The new method designed by Hydrex’s technical department allows engineers, welders and inspectors to perform their tasks in dry conditions. Class approved permanent repairs in-situ, without moving the ship, are now possible and commercial operations can continue.

Wärtsilä has been assigned overall responsibility for systems integration in the pioneering FellowSHIP project. Wärtsilä's specially designed equipment is being used to integrate and create synergies between marine technology and state-of-the-art fuel cell technology. The equipment has been installed onboard the platform supply vessel Viking Lady for extensive sea tests. The innovative solution is seen as being an important contributor in the development of environmentally sustainable marine propulsion systems.