Excellent Management News

The largest fast passenger ferry order for a U.K. shipyard in over 25 years has been confirmed by MBNA Thames Clippers. Two new 170 capacity passenger boats will be built at the Wight Shipyard Co on the Isle of Wight, and will join London’s growing river transport network in summer 2017. Representing an investment worth over £6.3 million, the order will see the creation of 75 new jobs across the Isle of Wight and London, and the involvement of over 100 businesses in the South of England as part of the delivery supply chain.

IRClass, the Leading Ship Classification Society has hired 17 of the brightest and best Naval Architecture students from the elite technical institutes of India. IRClass celebrates its 40th Anniversary this year. In keeping with the philosophy of acquiring the brightest talent, IRClass has visited four technical institutes of India namely, IIT-Chennai, IIT-Kharagpur, Indian Maritime Institute-Vizag and CUSAT-Kochin for campus placements to induct best talent from the field of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. The management has constituted a four member senior management team to visit and select trainees from these Institutes. After gruelling selection process, 17 students including batch toppers were selected and invited to join the prestigious Trainee Scheme of the organisation.

The Hatlapa shareholders have entered into an agreement with Cargotec´s MacGregor to transfer all company shares and to integrate the merchant ship and offshore deck equipment business into the MacGregor portfolio. MacGregor offers integrated cargo flow solutions for maritime transportation and offshore industries. MacGregor’s offering includes hatch covers, lashing systems, cranes, RoRo cargo and passenger access equipment and self-unloading systems. For the offshore industry…

ERRIA A/S confirmed that they have acquired APM Terminal´s 51 percent stake in APM Saigon Shipping (APMSS). APM Saigon Shipping (APMSS) is an inland container services company with about 300 employees, which annually handles and maintains approximately 350,000 containers in Vietnam. APMSS is a 51/49 Joint Venture with "Saigon Shipping J/S Company”, where ERRIA has had a 34 percent ownershipfor more than 10 years. ERRIA's ambition is to expand the strong position that APMSS has…

The California State University Board of Trustees has named Thomas A. Cropper, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, as president of California Maritime Academy. "I am pleased and honored to be chosen as the next president of the California Maritime Academy, and look forward to working closely with the exceptional students, staff and faculty," said Cropper. Cropper was among the finalists for the position to succeed retiring President William B. Eisenhardt, who has served as president since 2001. He is expected to begin in his new role as president on July 1 following retirement from active duty.

Crowley Maritime Corp. announced today that it has named Ken Black director of product logistics and engineering. He will continue to be based in Jacksonville and report to Steve Collar, senior vice president and general manager, logistics. In this new position, Black has oversight for Crowley's product logistics team, which develops a wide array of logistics solutions for customers, in addition to managing pricing and vendor relations. He will maintain his previous responsibilities for the company's supply chain operations…

The International Maritime Hall of Fame announced recently the Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) Executive Director Doug J. Marchand will be honored as one of its newest members on May 13, 2009, at the United Nations in New York City. The International Maritime Hall of Fame was founded in 1993 and recognizes maritime visionaries, who, through excellence in their company, organization, or services, best exemplify the qualities of futuristic thinking that will guide the maritime industry in the 21st Century. “By creating unique opportunities and success at the Ports of Savannah and Brunswick, Doug has set the standard in the port industry and developed a model others attempt to duplicate,” said GPA’s Chairman of the Board Steve Green. Marchand has served as GPA’s Executive Director since 1995.

It looks as though the notoriously cyclical shipping sector is heading back up the mountain, as last week one of the world's prestigious financial firms stamped four companies with an investment ratings uprade. ING Barings last Wednesday raised its ratings on four shipping companies to strong buy from buy. Analyst Stephen Gengaro raised his ratings on shares of Frontline Ltd., OMI Corp., Overseas Shipping Group and Teekay Shipping. Frontline was raised to a strong buy from buy and Gengaro's 2000 and 2001 estimates to $1.60 from 40 cents and to $2.35 from $1.00 to reflect the company's "tremendous" leverage to rising time-charter equivalent (TCE) rates for its very large crude carriers (VLCC) tankers.

ING Barings raised its ratings on four shipping companies to strong buy from buy. Analyst Stephen Gengaro raised his ratings on shares of Frontline Ltd. to a strong buy from buy to reflect the company's "tremendous" leverage to rising time-charter equivalent (TCE) rates for its very large crude carriers (VLCC) tankers. The rating on shares of international tanker owner OMI Corp. was raised to strong buy from buy, with revised estimates reflecting upward revisions to his rate assumptions for company's crude tanker and product tanker fleets. The rating on shares of Overseas Shipping Group was raised to strong buy from buy with a $30 price target based on 7.5 times the midpoint of his peak earnings estimate and peak pretax earnings per share estimate.

Seacor Smit Inc. and Stirling Shipping Company Ltd., a private UK company based in Glasgow, Scotland, signed a letter of intent for Seacor to acquire all of the issued share capital of Stirling Shipping and certain subsidiaries. Purchase consideration will be based on the adjusted assets less liabilities of Stirling Shipping at closing and is estimated to total approximately 58 million pounds. The purchase price will be payable approximately 50% in cash, 20% in shares of Seacor common stock, 20% in loan notes and 10% in convertible notes. Stirling’s long term debt is projected to be approximately (pound)38.3 million at closing. The final price is subject to certain closing adjustments.

The Port of Tacoma has selected John Wolfe as Deputy Executive Director. Wolfe, is currently Executive Director at the Port of Olympia. He is a native of Puyallup, Washington and a graduate of Tacoma's Pacific Lutheran University (B.A. in Business Administration, 1987). Port of Tacoma Executive Director Timothy J. Farrell says Wolfe brings a collaborative leadership style to Tacoma. "We have known John for many years and respect his ability to build teams and lead an organization," he said. "As our Port grows, it is important to bring people with John's capabilities into our organization. Before being named Port of Olympia Executive Director in December 2003, Wolfe served as Olympia's Director of Operations and Marine Terminal General Manager.

ING Barings has raised its ratings of the shares of several oil and gas companies. ING raised Burlington Resources to strong buy from hold, Transocean Offshore to strong buy from buy and Ocean Energy Inc. to buy from hold. On Transocean, analyst Stephen Gengaro wrote: "We believe the stock has lagged the group because of the relatively high level of contract rollovers over the next six months, which includes some of the company's high-specification semis currently working at high day rates. "While these rollovers will likely keep pressure on earnings over the next several quarters, we do not expect the company to sign any long-term contracts…

The Panama Canal services more than 140 different transportation routes from every corner of the globe and serves as a critical global link between commodities and consumers. The route linking the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast with Asia is increasingly becoming the most important, representing a significant portion of the more than 13,000 vessels that traveled through the Canal in 2002. The United States, Japan and the People's Republic of China are the three largest users of the Canal. Sixty-eight percent of all Canal cargo originates from or is destined for the United States. These insights and more were shared by Jerry Salazar, chairman of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Board of Directors…