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Department Of Trade And Industry News

09 Sep 2020

Damen Lays Keel for South African Patrol Boat

(Photo: Damen)

On August 28, Damen Shipyards Cape Town (DSCT) held a keel-laying for the second of three Multi-Mission Inshore Patrol Vessels (MMIPV) that it is building for the South African Navy’s Project BIRO.The South African Navy’s Project BIRO aims to develop maritime security, ensuring the country’s capabilities to respond effectively, rapidly, and cost-efficiently to maritime threats such as piracy and illegal fishing.The MMIPVs draw on proven technology from Damen’s standardized range of patrol boats…

26 Nov 2012

Philippines Positioned as Ship Repair Hub

The Philippines is ideally positioned in the Asia-Pacific region to repair ocean-going & fishing vessels according to a Japanese study. The report was contained in a study on the ship building and ship repair industry of the Philippines conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Nomura Research Institute as part of the ongoing formulation of industry roadmaps by the [Philippine] Department of Trade and Industry reports the Manila Bulletin. Based on the study, the Philippines has the right ingredients to become a ship repair hub with strengths that include an inland sea, bay and deep seashore, abundant labor and legalized fiscal incentives.

28 Jan 2002

MCA and DTI Will Conduct Exercise Discovery in Scotland

The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) issued a news release stating that a major maritime exercise to test preparedness for a maritime and oil incident, called Exercise Discovery, will be held in Aberdeen, Scotland on January 29, 2002. The exercise is intended to test the interaction between those who might be involved in a real incident, including MCA, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), oil companies, and organizations that provide emergency services. Source: HK Law

07 Feb 2001

Cammell Laird $500M Contract In Jeopardy

Cammell Laird's $500 million contract with U.S. firm Luxus could fail unless loan guarantees are received from the British government by the end of February. "It's urgent. I'd like to think it (loan guarantee approval) was certainly this month," Juan Kelly said. Kelly said he had written to British Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers to urge the speedy approval of loan guarantees for Luxus, which has ordered two luxury liners from Cammell Laird. Without the guarantees, Luxus, which is a start-up company, may not get bank loans to fund the orders, sources at Cammell Laird said recently. The guarantees could cover some 60 percent of the value of the contract.

21 Feb 2001

Cammell Laird Rescue Attempt in Danger

The British government's attempts to save 1,500 jobs at struggling shipbuilder Cammell Laird were apparently in grave danger on Wednesday after the chairman of a cruise firm offering Cammell a lifeline contract reportedly said the deal looked dead. "We have been offered impossible terms. I do not want to be the one to bring bad news but you cannot keep pushing water up a hill indefinitely," Luxus chairman Jim Davis reportedly said. It was also reported that the shipbuilder is undergoing further difficulties, specifically that the government was now insisting on a $150 million performance bond to protect itself should the investment fail. With assets of only $110 million, Cammell would most likely not be able to secure banking support for such a bond.

16 Mar 2001

S&P Downgrades Cammell Laird

Standard & Poor's downgraded British shipbuilder and repairer Cammell Laird, stoking fears it will miss the first coupon payment next month on a 125 million euro high-yield bond. S&P cut the company's long-term credit rating to CC from CCC and its senior unsecured debt to "C" from CCC-minus. It said in a statement that the company's ratings would stay on review for a further downgrade. Cammell Laird hit stormy waters in January when Italian customer Costa Crociere cancelled a 51 million pound contract to refit a liner. Explaining the ratings cut, S&P also cited Cammell Laird's failure to secure aid from the UK government to clinch a $500 million contract with U.S. start-up cruise liner company Luxus.

13 Mar 2001

Trade Dept. Says No Change for Cammell Laird Offer

The UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) made no change to its aid offer to British shipbuilder and repairer Cammell Laird, stoking concerns the firm could lose a $500 million contract. Bonds issued by the troubled company have halved in price over the past week as fears grow that the company will not make its first interest rate payment, due on April 15, bankers said. The debt is now worth just 10 cents to the euro. The company said in February it would lose the make-or-break contract with U.S. cruise ship firm Luxus unless the government improved an aid and loan guarantee package to secure the deal by the beginning of March. But the DTI told Reuters on Monday it had written to Cammell Laird last Monday restating the same position and that it is now awaiting the company’s response.

20 Mar 2001

Cammell Laird Conducts Strategic Review

Bonds issued by British shipbuilder Cammell Laird held steady at deeply-discounted levels on Tuesday after the company unveiled a strategic review which could include a debt restructuring. Investors quoted Cammell's 125 million euro high-yield bond due October 2010 at 11 to 13 percent of face value at around 1245 GMT, down by around half a percentage point from Tuesday's opening. The bonds have been trading at levels that clearly imply default for some time, dealers said. Investors said they expected Cammell to miss the first coupon payment on the bond, due on April 15. "The market was clearly expecting this and the news looked as though it had already been priced in," said Martin Reeves, vice-president of fixed income at Alliance Capital.

27 Mar 2006

UK’s North Sea Faces Rig Shortage

The government is putting together an action plan to solve a rig shortage crisis in the North Sea, but experts claim that no new rigs are available for hire until the end of 2007, the Sunday Herald reported. Surging demand for equipment is caused by the high oil price, which has made previously abandoned discoveries economically viable again. The shortage of exploring rigs has forced the industry and the Department of Trade and Industry to come up with a plan, yet to be published, which involves the sharing of rigs. Mobile rigs are used to drill for oil and assess the extent of a find. Rigs, which sat disused in the Moray Firth three years ago, in a flat exploration market, are now the hottest properties on the sea.

20 Jun 2006

North Sea Drilling Applications Reach High

Stv is reporting that the number of applications for companies applying to drill for oil in the north sea is at a 30 year high. Government ministers say fields are clearly not in their twilight years and so far it seems that oil companies have not been put off by recent tax rises. The north sea rigs and platforms are supplied by vessels which leave from Aberdeen's harbour, so this boom certainly seems to be good news for the industry and the local economy. The government licence companies to explore and drill certain blocks in the sea and applications for those licences are at a 30 year high - 147 applications from 121 companies. Technology developed in Aberdeen has developed innovative new ways of extracting oil and the energy minister has praised local firms and staff.

12 Nov 1999

Greenpeace Wins Bid To Delay North Atlantic Exploration

Greenpeace won its bid to delay oil exploration in the north Atlantic when a judge ruled the British government was failing to apply a European Commission environmental directive in allocating licenses. "The decision is a huge victory for whales, dolphins and coral reefs," Peter Melchett, the environmental group's executive director, told reporters after the ruling. The government is considering an appeal against the judgment that it is not taking into account the Commission's Habitats Directive in issuing exploration licenses. A spokesman said the government had been planning to issue new licenses in its 19th round early in 2000, but this was likely to be delayed.

08 Aug 2001

U.K. Manufacturers Seek to Forge New Partnerships

Launched in March 2001, The Marine Export Partnership (MEP) is a new initiative designed to assist British marine companies in their exporting efforts and to raise the profile of the British marine industry to potential overseas customers. The partnership was formed under the auspices of Trade Partners U.K. (part of the British government department for trade and industry) to encourage all sectors of the U.K. marine industry to work together to promote itself overseas. The initiative is being driven by the three main trade associations in the U.K.: The British Marine Equipment Council (BMEC); The British Marine Industries Federation (BMIF); and The Shipbuilders and Shiprepairers Association (SSA).

15 Oct 1999

Greenpeace In Legal Battle With U.K. Over Oil Exploration

Environmentalist group Greenpeace took the U.K. government to court over what it sees as Britain's failure to protect coral beds, whales, dolphins and other marine life from the effects of oil and gas exploration. Nigel Plemming QC, representing Greenpeace, told London's High Court that the government had failed to apply the European Union Habitats Directive to oil and gas exploration in the relatively deep waters of the Atlantic Frontier, where oil companies believe large new oil reserves are waiting to be tapped. He said that the Department of Trade and Industry is under a legal duty to apply the EU Directive even though the Atlantic Frontier, on the edge of U.K.'s Continental Shelf, lay beyond British territorial waters.

09 Mar 2000

U.K. Government To Bolster Harland and Wolff Bid

Britain has pledged to help save the historic Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff, which built the Titanic, from going the same way as the ill-fated liner. The shipyard, a key pillar of Northern Ireland's economy, warned last week that its 1,745 workers could lose their jobs if it does not land a $600 million contract for Cunard's new Queen Mary cruise liner. A government official said that the Department of Trade and Industry and Northern Ireland Office had come up with a funding package to help the shipyard, details of which will remain confidential. "The government has been working closely with the company on this issue," the official said. The yard has pinned hopes of survival on winning an order from Cunard - a division of Carnival Corp.