Soa News

After two years of slightly declining revenue, VIKING Life-Saving Equipment A/S is seeing growth once more, said the global market leader in maritime and offshore safety.In 2018, VIKING acquired the Norwegian manufacturer of lifeboats Norsafe AS. Adjusting for the costs of integrating this business and the impact on revenue in the last quarter of the year, the results show growth in both revenue and earnings.“We were able to deliver growth in activities and earnings in the original VIKING business, and we expect that the picture will remain the same for both areas of business in 2019," says CEO Henrik Uhd Christensen.Norsafe’s lifeboat…

A unit of China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) on Friday issued a blue alert for sea ice in a key port area in the north of the country, potentially disrupting commodities shipments, as temperatures in the region plummet. Sea ice in the Liaodong Bay, the northern arm of China's Bohai Sea, now extends 67 nautical miles (124 km) from the shoreline, the North China Sea Marine Forecasting Center said in an 0700 GMT alert. Ice also extends 18 nautical miles out in the northern part of the Yellow Sea, the Center said.

A sunken Iranian oil tanker may be leaking heavy bunker fuel as well as light oil off the east coast of China and the best remedy was to recover the vessel, officials said on Friday. It was unclear how much bunker fuel was left aboard the tanker when it sank on Sunday after being ablaze for days but experts estimated it may have been carrying about 1,000 tonnes at the time of collision. "There have been multiple appearances of oil slicks of different sizes and types at the sinking spot and nearby... the slicks exceeded 200 sq kilometres (77 sq miles) on Thursday," Huo Chuanlin, of the State Oceanic Administration's Ecological Protection Department, told reporters. It was not immediately clear where the oil could wash up or the extent of the damage it could cause.

Oil from an Iranian tanker that sank in the East China Sea has diffused into four separate slicks, covering a combined area of just over 100 square kms (39 square miles), Chinese authorites said late on Wednesday. Earlier satellite imaging showed two large slicks, with the larger one also thicker and more concentrated, but the latest data had found four slicks ranging in size from 48 square kms (19 square miles) to 5.5 square kms (2.1 square miles), the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said. The large tanker Sanchi (IMO:9356608) sank in the worst oil ship disaster in decades on Sunday, raising worries about damage to the marine ecosystem. The bodies of two sailors were recovered from the ship while a third body was pulled from the sea near the vessel.

An Iranian oil tanker that sank in the East China Sea has left two oil slicks covering a combined 109 square km (42 square miles), the Chinese government said, as maritime police scoured for damage and prepared to explore the wreck. Satellite imaging showed a slick of 69 square km (26.6 square miles) and a second 40 square km (15.4 square miles) slick, which is less thick and not as concentrated, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said in a statement late on Tuesday. The large tanker Sanchi (IMO:9356608) sank in the worst oil ship disaster in decades on Sunday, raising worries about damage to the marine ecosystem. The bodies of two sailors were recovered from the ship while a third body was pulled from the sea near the vessel. The remaining 29 crew of the ship are presumed dead.

Total maritime output or maritime economy of China  is expected to generate nearly 6.5 trillion yuan (988.79 billion U.S. dollar) in 2015, about 7 percent more than 2014, reports Xinhua. State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said that the total production value last year is expected to account for 9.6 percent of the total gross domestic product (GDP). The maritime economy has become an important boost to the national economy, with its total production value growing by an average 8.1 percent annually from 2011 to 2015. The industry employed more than 35 million people and maritime science and technology contributed to 60 percent of the maritime economy, the SOA figures show.

Marine safety equipment manufacturer and servicing provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment A/S is to establish a local presence in Korea through a joint venture agreement with leading Korean marine safety equipment and servicing company Daemyung Marine Co. Ltd. The new joint venture, VIKING Life-Saving Equipment Korea LLC, has VIKING as the majority shareholder. The venture aims to bring faster access for Korean-based and foreign-flag ship managers in the cargo, passenger and offshore segments to the full range of VIKING products and service concepts. It is also the logical next step for a highly successful partnership that has extended over more than 30 years.

The total production value of China's maritime industry grew by an average of 8.4 percent annually from 2011 to 2014, representing over 9.3 percent of the GDP each year, reports China's official media. During the same time frame, the industrialized utilization of ocean water had accelerated, according to the 2015 report on China's marine economy development issued by the State Oceanic Administration (SOA). The daily desalination capacity increased by 331,000 tonnes and annual growth rate of maritime biological medicine added value reached 19.6 percent, the report said. Since 2010, the central government approved Tianjin Municipality and provinces of Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian to pilot development of the maritime economy.

The Marseille Fos port authority has introduced a new fully automated information system, Neptune Port, to simplify and harmonize administrative procedures for vessels calling at the leading French port. Developed at a cost of €3 million, the new system replaces Escale V2 Nautique - in use since 1992 – which in contrast was only partially automated and not entirely paper-free. Neptune Port is linked to the private systems of some 600 users in the port community, allowing them to synchronize declarations. It also provides real time nautical, administrative and logistical data relevant to all calls across the port’s activity range – including container, bulk, cruise, ferry and inland waterways operations – which last year totaled more than 10,400 calls and 78 million metric ton of cargo.

China will actively promote maritime scientific research and innovation as well as international cooperation to advance sustainable marine development, according to the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), reports Xinhua. Chen Lianzeng, deputy director of the SOA, made the remarks at an annual meeting of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) in Qingdao, a coastal city in East China's Shandong Province, on Monday. Chen pointed out that global research in ocean science and technology has entered a new stage involving cross-disciplinary studies and international collaboration, adding that all countries should work together to protect the marine environment and combat climate change.

Leading marine and fire safety equipment and service provider, VIKING Life-Saving Equipment (VIKING) is stocking ready-packaged liferafts to provide fixed-price liferaft exchange to vessels calling Japanese ports. “The world of shipping is dominated by a small group of countries,” says Henrik Uhd Christensen, CEO of VIKING Life-Saving Equipment. “Japan rates in the top three in terms of deadweight tonnage and newbuilding, so locally based shipowners have a broad set of needs for marine safety.

China's maritime economy generated a total of 5.99 trillion yuan (962.4 billion U.S. dollar) in 2014, a 7.7-percent increase over 2013, says the State Oceanic Administration (SOA). The SOA report said China's maritime economy has become an important part and a boost to the national economy, and its total output accounted for 9.4 percent of the total gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014. It is estimated that in 2014 the country related to the sea employed 35.54 million people. According to preliminary calculation, in 2014 the gross national marine production of 5.9936 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.7% over the previous year, accounting for 9.4% of gross production of marine GDP which marine industry was 3.5611 trillion Yuan…

China's manned submersible 'Jiaolong', aboard its support ship 'Xiangyanghong-9', leaves Jiangyin on a marine science expedition. During the 103-day mission, the submersible will submerge for scientific research in the South China Sea, the northeast Pacific Ocean and the west Pacific. Jiaolong set a new dive record after reaching 7,062 meters deep in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench in June 2012, demonstrating China's ability to conduct deep-sea scientific research and resource exploration in 99.8 percent of the world's oceans.

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert has left the People's Republic of China (PRC) after a successful four-day counterpart visit with military leaders, fleet units and leaders of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) says the Chief of Naval Operations Public Affairs Office. Adm. Wu Shengli, commander in chief of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), hosted Greenert's visit, which marked the fourth major interaction between Greenert and Wu in the past year and is a clear indication of each country's desire to grow their existing relationship. Ensuring the full understanding and implementation of the Code for Unplanned…

China's seas will contribute $433b or more than five percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), in 2010, according to a report on China's marine development. The report, issued on Friday by the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), also predicted the country's offshore crude oil output would exceed 50 million tons. It said China's current offshore oil and gas exploration was "still in an infant stage", with 80 percent of oil and gas resources yet to be tapped. The country's explored crude oil only accounted for 17.6 percent of the reserve at sea, and natural gas that was tapped out only made up 11.9 percent of the national sea reserve, it said.

China's marine shipping business continued to grow rapidly and notched up 341.4 billion yuan (about 46.77 billion U.S. dollars) in value added last year, according to a report from Xinhua. The figure poses a year-on-year rise of 21.1 percent, according to a statistical bulletin released at an ongoing annual conference of the State Oceanic administration (SOA). The number of coastal ports with handling capacity exceeding 100 million dwt each has totaled 14 in the country. Shanghai Port, for example, handled 26.15 million TEU in 2007, surpassing Hong Kong to rank second globally. And the TEU throughput grew by more than 20 percent from 2006. In tandem with the fast growth in marine shipping business, China also saw expansion in the shipbuilding industry.

China's icebreaker Xuelong, or "Snow Dragon", returned to its Shanghai base after completing the country's 28th Antarctic expedition. Xuelong, an A-2 class icebreaker capable of breaking ice 1.2 meters thick, left the port of Tianjin on Nov. 3, 2011, and covered an estimated 28,000 nautical miles over the 163-day mission. During the expedition, Xuelong delivered supplies to the country's Antarctic stations, and scientists aboard conducted various scientific research tasks, including polar environmental survey and the installation of an Antarctica survey telescope.

Marine and fire safety equipment leader VIKING Life-Saving Equipment (VIKING) and MOL Techno-Trade Ltd. (MOLTECH) have entered a strategic alliance and sole agency agreement, establishing MOLTECH as the exclusive agent for VIKING in Japan. MOLTECH will be offering the full range of VIKING’s safety solutions including the industry leading Shipowner Agreements (SOA) - agreements that combine global product availability and servicing with financing in fixed price structures and the convenience of VIKING’s management of the service schedules. The Shipowner Agreements are planned and monitored from a single point of contact and were an industry game-changer, when first introduced back in 2009.

China's manned submersible Jiaolong, which reached 5,188 meters below the sea during its deepest dive in the Pacific Ocean this year, is on its way to attempt a 7,000-meter dive in the Marianas Trench, according to the State Oceanic Administration (SOA). China's intention is to develop deep-sea technologies and equipment, including comprehensive research ships, mothership of manned undersea grafts, and deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicles, according to Liu Cigui, head of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

A plan has been organized by State Oceanic Administration (SOA),China, Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (CAA)  and the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) to build an advanced new icebreaking research vessel to meet the increased need of polar scientific research. The new vessel will be equipped with advanced scientific equipment for polar oceans research. The integrated survey systems include marine geological and geophysical equipment,  marine biological and ecological instruments. Meanwhile, helicopters with associated systems will also be provided. For the integrated environmental science programs the vessel will have marine and atmospheric observing and sampling capabilities closely related with climate change monitoring.

The world’s move north to the Arctic for the exploration of energy resources has attracted global attention of Arctic and non-Arctic states. The newest player: China, which last month announced its plan to design and build its first ever Polar Research Vessel. The plan has been organized by State Oceanic Administration (SOA),China, Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (CAA)  and the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) to build a new icebreaking research vessel to meet the country’s increased need of polar scientific research.

IFS announce that Damen Group, has chosen to extend its agreement with them by purchasing additional user licenses for IFS Applications™. organization. By extending its use of IFS Applications, Damen Group is reinforcing its strategic, long-term partnership with IFS. "We will deploy IFS globally for all Damen companies," said Marc de Thouars, Group IT Director of Damen Group. “The maritime sector is one of IFS’s target industries. from engineering, procurement, materials management and management to installation and commissioning,” said Nico van Heuven, Managing Director, IFS Benelux. “IFS staff worldwide has extensive experience in this industry, which we have used to develop best-practice solutions in collaboration with our customers.