Engineering Unit News

Bangladesh started in recent days a large crude oil receiving and offloading facility built by China that allows the south Asian oil importer to significantly reduce the cost of shipping in crude oil.The single-point mooring facility at Chattogram port last Sunday offloaded 82,000 tons (about 600,000 barrels) of crude oil from a 100,000-ton tanker, said an official with state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC).The project is majority-funded by the Chinese government and build by a unit of Chinese state oil major CNPC, said the BPC official who declined to be named as he's not authorized to sp

First Class Cadet Owen Gibson, a Civil Engineering major from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, has received a Fulbright Award to pursue a two-year Master of Science degree in Water Resource Engineering and Management at the University of Stuttgart, Germany.Gibson’s Fulbright research project will focus on climate change and soil erosion models. The goal of his research is to develop a model for assessing coastal soil erosion rates. The model will address the uncertainty of climate change using probability analysis and will be tested throughout coastal regions in Northern Germany.

Indonesia's state owned energy holding company, Pertamina, has decided not to go ahead with what would have been the country's second land-based receiving terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG), its chief executive said on Monday.Indonesia has forecast sharp increases in gas demand after 2020, but increases in domestic consumption of the super-cooled fuel have been hampered by an abundance of cheap coal and sluggish development of gas infrastructure."Today we are not going ahead, because it is not yet feasible to continue," Pertamina acting CEO Nicke Widyawati told reporters, referring to the project that would have been built in Bojonegara…

Crowley Maritime Corp. appointed four industry veterans to oversee the consolidated lines of business under the recently formed Crowley Shipping group, which provides petroleum and chemical transportation, commercial ship management, offshore energy support and ship assist and tanker escort services in the U.S. and international markets. Crowley said the new business unit structure better aligns vessel operations and services with customers, positioning the company for greater growth and efficiency under Rob Grune, senior vice president and general manager.

Crowley Maritime Corporation announced it has restructured its business units as the company aims to increase its focus on government-related business and better align vessel operations and fuel distribution services. Over the coming months, the 125-year-old company will transition its non-liner and logistics business units into three main service lines: Crowley Shipping, Crowley Fuels and Crowley Solutions. “This plan facilitates a pivot towards growing the company’s government portfolio of work…

The world's first floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, built by Petronas, is expected to supply its first cargoes in the first quarter of 2016, senior officials from the Malaysian state-oil firm said on Tuesday. The 365-metre (1,200 ft) long Petronas Floating LNG 1 (PFLNG1), with a capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum, would be completed by March next year, the firm's Vice President and Venture Director LNG Projects (Domestic) Abdullah Karim told reporters. "We expect the first cargo of LNG to be available in the first quarter of 2016," Abdullah said, adding that the gas supplies will likely be used for domestic consumption.

Sales were NOK 11.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, up from NOK 11.2 in the fourth quarter of 2012. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to NOK 1.06 billion in the quarter, compared with NOK 1.09 billion in the year-earlier period. The prior-year figure includes a gain of NOK 160 million from the sale of real estate. The EBITDA margin was 9.3 percent in the quarter versus 9.7 percent a year earlier. The prior-year margin was 8.4 percent excluding the sales gain.

Ellicott Dredge Enterprises announced two personnel changes to its senior management team. Gert de Vries has joined as Senior Director of Engineering, in which capacity he will be supporting the engineering departments of all of Ellicott's brands, principally Ellicott and Rohr-Idreco. He will also be mentoring the company’s engineering teams. Additionally, Rob Schettle has been promoted to General Manager at Ellicott's subsidiary Liquid Waste Technology. He will now be responsible for running Ellicott’s plant in New Richmond, Wisconsin.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. announces the appointment of Richard K. Murphy as a senior manager working on Coast Guard and other governmental programs. Murphy joins Bollinger Shipyards following a very successful 30-year career with the United States Coast Guard, culminating with the rank of Captain. His most recent assignment was Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Yard, Baltimore, Md. His prior assignments include staff tours at Coast Guard Headquarters, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Civil Engineering Unit in Miami…

Ballast water management poses problems in design and operation of ships. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) offers solutions with design, type approval and trouble-shooting. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) denotes collectively techniques for solving equations describing the physics of fluid flow. CFD is by now widely known and accepted in the maritime industry, but mostly associated with flows around the hull and propellers, for example in the context of designing more fuel-efficient ships. However, CFD is in many ways far more versatile than classical model testing.

Serco Inc wins production & engineering services contract in support of United States Navy's Automated Digital Network Systems (ADNS). The five year contract exercises a one-year base period and four one-year option periods, with a total value of $68 million, if all options are exercised. Under the contract, Serco will perform hardware integration and testing to deliver the Navy's newest ADNS configuration in support of Shore, Ship and Submarine installations. Deployment of the system first began in 1997 to combine Internet Protocol (IP) traffic from different sources across a single radio path. This newest deployment will provide enhancements…

1 Engineering & Manufacturing (1EM) is an engineering and manufacturing company in the United States specializing in the provision of advanced manned and unmanned intervention systems for the sub-sea oil and gas industry. After acquiring and-renaming the large-scale fabrication and engineering unit previously owned by France-based Veolia Environmental Services, the new U.S.-based owners of 1 Engineering & Manufacturing (1EM) say they have moved quickly to triple their operating capacity as demand for energy production and transportation equipment grows. Business partners Mark Berge and Todd Marohl launched 1 Engineering & Manufacturing…

Alaris Companies (Alaris) is helping the U.S. Coast Guard to decrease energy use and greenhouse gas emissions with its fleet energy management program. Working under a previously announced Michael Baker Jr., Inc (Baker) Department of Homeland Security - Coast Guard contract for Architect / Engineering Services, engineers from Alaris completed an assessment and report for the 110-ft Patrol Boat (WPB) and 225-ft Seagoing Buoy Tender (WLB) class of cutters. Through an energy audit and report…

Alaris Companies (Alaris) is helping the U.S. Coast Guard to save taxpayer dollars, decrease energy usage, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a unique fleet energy management program. Working under a previously announced Michael Baker Jr., Inc (Baker) Department of Homeland Security - Coast Guard contract for Architect / Engineering Services, engineers from Alaris completed an assessment and report for the 110-ft Patrol Boat (WPB) and 225-ft Seagoing Buoy Tender (WLB) class of cutters.

According to an August 22 report from Bloomberg, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. and Schahin Engenharia SA won a $1.2b order from Petroleo Brasileiro SA to build a floating oil platform for use in the Guara oil fields off Rio de Janeiro. Mitsui Engineering unit Modec Inc., the second-largest maker of floating oil platform, will build a floating production, storage and offloading vessel by remodeling a used oil tanker, and lease it for 20 years, said Masahiro Takaoka, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Mitsui Engineering. (Source: Bloomberg)

Captain Richard Murphy, United States Coast Guard (USCG), recently assumed command of the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Md. He is the 40th Commanding Officer in the 111-year history of the shipyard, the only shipbuilding and ship repair facility of the United States Coast Guard. Captain Murphy took charge of the Coast Guard Yard from Captain John Kaplan who served as the shipyard’s Commanding Officer from May 2008 to May 2010. Captain Kaplan retired from the U.S. Coast Guard with 28 years active duty service.

On December 11, the last newbuilding of a series of 3,400 TEU container ships entered the waters at the Emden-based TKMS Blohm + Voss Nordseewerke – a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. This technical launch took place nine months after the laying down of the first double-bottom section. Once fully afloat, the vessel was immediately hauled over to the outfitting pier, where it will remain moored until its scheduled handover at the end of the first quarter of 2010. The container vessel (yard number 559) is the last of a series of six 3…

MAN Diesel SE and MAN Turbo AG are to work more closely together in future with the aim of forming a merger with each other under corporate law. By combining the product portfolios, the merged company will strive for further growth and a stronger position in its respective market segments. “This will allow the MAN Group to combine the engine and power plant expertise of the Diesel Engines business area with the compressor and turbine technology of the Turbomachinery business area to form a strong Power Engineering unit for the long term,” said Håkan Samuelsson, Chairman of the Executive Board of MAN SE. MAN Diesel provides large-bore diesel engines for use in ships and power plants, while MAN Turbo specializes in the development and construction of compressors, gas and steam turbines.

Malaysian liquefied natural gas shipper MISC Bhd reported a 10 percent jump in fourth-quarter net profit on Monday, boosted by its heavy-engineering unit and offshore businesses. But the firm, a unit of state oil company Petronas, painted a tough outlook, saying its results could be hurt by record crude oil prices, which were pushing up its bunker fuel costs, and by weaker markets for both LNG and containers. The firm made net profit of $241m for the three months ended March 31, compared with $219.5m a year earlier, largely thanks to continued growth of its heavy-engineering unit, which makes oil rigs. Its core energy-related shipping business reported an 11 percent fall in annual operating profit. Source:  Reuters

MISChas proposed a $973m deal to merge its shipbuilding business with Ramunia Holdings, an oil services company. The merger would expand MISC’s plans to create a regional business building oil rigs to compete against neighbouring Singapore, which is the world’s largest producer of offshore energy platforms. The deal would be a reverse takeover that could allow MISC to list its Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering unit under the Ramunia name in hopes of copying the success of Keppel Corp and SembCorp Industries, Singapore’s biggest oil rig builders, which saw a sharp rise in their shares last year due to higher oil prices. However, the…

Malaysian shipper MISC Bhd expects freight rates for crude oil to remain soft over the next two years as competitors put more new tankers to sea, Reuters reported. MISC earns 90 percent of its profits from shipping oil and liquefied natural gas. A subsidiary of state oil firm Petronas, it is the world's largest carrier of LNG. LNG is shipped under long-term contracts, but MISC still faces significant exposure to oil freight rates, with crude oil tankers accounting for 40 percent of its profits. The International Maritime Organization requires single hulled tankers to be phased out by 2010 to reduce the risk of oil spills. But the move has yet to make a dent in the world's fleet of oil tankers as more new tankers are launched.

MISC Bhd expects freight rates for crude oil to remain soft over the next two years as competitors put more new tankers to sea. MISC earns 90% of its profits from shipping oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). A subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), the world's largest carrier of LNG. LNG is shipped under long-term contracts, but MISC still faces significant exposure to oil freight rates, with crude oil tankers accounting for 40% of its profits. The IMO requires single hulled tankers to be phased out by 2010 to reduce the risk of oil spills. But the move has yet to make a dent in the world's fleet of oil tankers as more new tankers are launched. The Baltic Exchange's Dirty Tanker Index stands about 60% lower than its historic peak in November 2004.

The Coast Guard is advising all mariners to take safety precautions while it works with local, state and other federal agencies to prepare for Isidore. The service is constantly monitoring the storm and coordinating any necessary response with emergency and law enforcement officials. to affect rescue operations after the storm," said Capt. Bradford Black, chief of operations for the Eighth Coast Guard District. The best safety measure is to keep away from the water completely. Capt. Jake Korn, chief of search and rescue for the district. The Coast Guard is recalling essential personnel to fulfill any search and rescue, aids to navigation and environmental safety missions following the storm.