Onboard Maintenance News

Optimarin is setting up a manufacturing base in China to boost the availability of its ballast water treatment system (BWTS) for the Asian shipbuilding market. It also targets further retrofits of the existing fleet.The Norwegian BWTS supplier is now pursuing partnerships with several Chinese suppliers to focus on high-quality production of BWTS components at a reasonable cost for delivery to regional yards, according to Optimarin’s Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing Tore…

Wärtsilä launched its FuelFlex Injection Control Unit (ICU) upgrading solution available for retrofitting on vessels with Wärtsilä RT-flex96C-B and RT-flex84T-D two-stroke engines to meet the requirements of operating its RT-flex type two-stroke diesel engines with both residual and low-viscosity marine fuels. According to Wärtsilä, this is particularly relevant in view of the industry’s increasing use of low-sulphur-content fuels in order to be compliant with sulphur emission regulations.ICUs deliver a precisely controlled quantity of fuel into the cylinder at timed intervals…

A fleet of specially-designed, durable and productive Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor Cranes is enhancing supply chain efficiency for Winning International Group.The cranes play a critical role in Winning International Group’s supply chain, by loading 30,000 tonnes per day of bauxite from feeder barges onto a mother vessel, ready for shipment between China and West Africa.“Our Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor Cranes have proven themselves in a rough open-sea environment. They have been custom-tailored to our bauxite handling application…

The developer of augmented and mixed reality technology Kognitiv Spark will be providing the Royal Canadian Navy with the opportunity to test drive a Mixed Reality Remote Assistant Support (MIRRAS) system, as part of a project that aims to improve maintenance and repairs aboard active naval vessels.The project aims to validate technology adopted from Kognitiv Spark, whose software is designed for use with the Microsoft HoloLens.The software leverages Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and the integration of Artificial Intelligence to improve efficiencies with ship operations including repairs, maintenance and knowledge transfer.This system can be used by RCN Marine Technicians and Weapons Engineering Technicians…

Navy’s deployed ship in the Middle East, HMAS Arunta, has had its small arms weapons inspected, serviced and certified during a recent port visit. HMAS Arunta is serving on a nine-month Operation MANITOU deployment which has necessitated an all-important maintenance period. With all previous ships only spending six months away, the requirement to have weapons inspected and maintained while in the area of operations had not been required. The fly-away team was required as embarked personnel are not qualified to conduct the tightly-controlled specific technical maintenance which is undertaken by the joint logistic units at Australian major bases in Sydney and Perth.

Innovation and new technology continue to shape the marine coatings market. A narrowing field of global coatings manufacturers offer new products while improving existing ones to meet customer demand. Ultimately, customer demand, along with environmental compliance pressures are all driving the marine coatings industry as ship owners, operators and shipyards alike seek better products. Customer demands are often related to cost and efficiency. Costs – and the list is a long one – include not just product cost…

The U.S. Navy awarded General Dynamics Bath Iron Works a $100 million contract to provide planning yard services for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. General Dynamics Bath Iron Works is a business unit of General Dynamics. Bath Iron Works, as the LCS Planning Yard, will provide maintenance and modernization support for all Navy LCS 1 and LCS 2 variant ships.Work to be performed under this contract includes availability advanced planning, ship alteration design and logistics support, material support, ship planned maintenance, class services, onboard maintenance, and planning of all maintenance availabilities in the U.S. and abroad. Bath Iron Works is also the planning yard for the DDG 51 and FFG 7 ship classes.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) is currently running a campaign to promote safe onboard welding across the Asia Pacific region. The Welding Safety Inspection Service, launched earlier this year in Singapore, deals head-on with the challenges faced by vessel owners and operators in maintaining welding equipment onboard and ensuring operational practices are up to date with regulations. At this time, the inspection service is offered free of charge to existing customers. Paul Rogers…

Revised IMO guidelines for maintenance, testing and inspection of fire protection systems and appliances will become effective on May 31, 2013 and are contained in the circular MSC.1/Circ. 1432. These guidelines should be followed in accordance with SOLAS regulation II-2/14, which requires that all fire protection systems and appliances are kept in good order and that a maintenance plan is developed. The guidelines state that certain maintenance procedures and inspections may be performed by competent crew members who have completed an advanced fire-fighting training course, while others should be performed by people specially trained in the maintenance of such systems.

Cargotec can now offer electrically-driven versions of its proven range of offshore MacGregor anchor handling/ towing winches (eAHT). "This new series of electrically-driven winches inherits the best characteristics of our proven designs," says Francis Wong, Cargotec's Sales Director for offshore winch solutions. He adds: "All our eAHTs are designed to meet the most stringent offshore standards, including those set by the Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD). The eAHT series comprises winches with line pulls ranging from 200 tonnes to 600 tonnes…

German shipbuilder Meyer Werft and Dutch deck specialist Bolidt Kunststoftoepassing BV have extended their close relationship. This includes work on the latest cruise ship to be built at Meyer Werft’s Papenburg shipyard. The 130,000gt vessel, delivered this month, is fitted with some 15,500 m2 of Bolidt material for the outdoor decks. The majority of the deck areas, as well as the stairs and steps, have been covered using Bolidt’s environmentally-friendly Bolideck Future Teak…

New Centers provide complete managed-communications services worldwide. Stratos Global, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, today announced it has expanded its maritime service-delivery capabilities by opening Global Installation & Service Centers (GIS Centers) in four major maritime regions. The Stratos GIS Centers in Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Singapore and Lafayette, Louisiana provide complete managed-communications services for ship owners and ship-management companies worldwide.

One of the main complaints from passengers onboard cruise ships and cruise-ferries relates to the noise generated by the flushing of vacuum toilets, which can cause considerable disturbance, especially at night-time. Helsinki-based Evac Oy has come up with a solution to this problem with its recently launched Evac 910 vacuum toilet. As the result of the incorporation of a new patented quick relief valve, which cuts discharge noise by around 4dB(A) and peak noise by approximately 8dB(A), the Evac 910 vacuum toilet is much quieter than previous generation vacuum toilets.

Taiyo Nippon Kisen Co., Ltd. has again selected BASS, maritime software to be its software supplier. Taiyo Nippon Kisen purchased planned maintenance system (Star IPS) and safety and incident reporting solution (SAFIR 4.0) to complement its existing systems. Taiyo Nippon Kisen. has purchased the complete integrated office-vessel BASSware solutions. The earlier purchase took place in the beginning of 2001. Taiyo Nippon Kisen Co., Ltd. has committed to install Star IPS and SAFIR in the office and onboard 62 vessels under its management. The planned maintenance software will enable Taiyo Nippon Kisen. to manage onboard maintenance and spare parts effectively. BASS will populate all PMS-related data in order for Taiyo Nippon Kisen Co., Ltd.

e4marine is a web/EDI B2B solution that relies on the strengths of not only its technical merit but the key strengths of the founding partners Unitor ASA, Visma AS and Umoe ASA. The service is designed to ensure shipowners, managers and operators with a completely free means of procuring the essential goods and services required for use onboard. Unitor's experience in the world-wide provision of marine products and services, coupled with Visma's expertise in onboard maintenance and planning systems and Umoe's strengths in the marine and offshore business have combined to enable shipowners and operators to leverage cost savings throughout the marine supply chain.

Norway's Bergesen DY Group has awarded international ships service provider Unitor a three year agreement, plus two one-year options, to supply marine products and services to its commercial fleet, which is one of the largest in the world. The agreement involves a wide range of products and services needed for onboard maintenance; fire, rescue and safety, as well as technical chemicals. Bergesen wished to consolidate on the supplier side and carried out a comparison of the major marine suppliers. Pricing, delivery capability, service level and use of information technology were included in the evaluation. Bergesen is heavily committed to working for a cleaner marine environment…

NorShipping 2001, held in Oslo, Norway in early June, once again proved to be a dynamic exhibition complete with some of the more influential personnel in the marine business on-hand for the week long event. As usual, marine manufacturers used the platform of NorShipping to launch new products, systems and services to the international market, some of which is detailed in the following report. Wärtsilä Corp., the ubiquitous propulsion system manufacturer announced that it had received a contact to supply the complete marine power system for the first of a series of environmentally safe 40,000-dwt chemical/product tankers building at the San Marco shipyard in Italy. For the 40,000-dwt tankers, Wärtsilä will be just that, as it is responsible for the complete functionality of the system.