Marine Chemical News

Private equity firm MiddleGround Capital has acquired PVI Holdings, Inc., the parent company of W&O Supply, Setpoint Integrated Solutions and A-T Controls.“It was a cultural fit from our first meeting. MiddleGround brings a unique style to private equity that has my team fired up about the future,” said Brad Bergeron, PVI CEO. “We value their operational expertise, passion for continuous improvement, and believe they are the perfect owner for PVI’s next phase of growth.”PVI is a flow control distributor focused on serving MRO applications across marine…

BMT SMART (BMT), the specialist fleet and vessel performance management company of BMT Group, has announced the successful installation of its vessel performance monitoring system on board two of Minerva Marine’s chemical tankers, MINERVA LEO and MINERVA TYCHI. For the most accurate Performance Management, the BMT SMART system combines data collected automatically on-board, from the navigation and automation systems, with data only available on shore, such as accurate Hindcast Metocean data.

W&O, a global supplier to the marine offshore and marine markets for pipe, valves and fittings, valve automation and engineered solutions, announced today that OEM partner Garlock Sealing Technologies LLC has received fire rating for its ABS type approval certificate for GARFLEX 8100 and Style 206 EZ-FLO rubber expansion joints. These new approvals allow for expanded applications in the oil and gas industry and offshore sector of the maritime industry, including fuel, hydraulic lube oil and other oil piping systems.

Transas Marine Denmark contracted by A/S to supply & install 28 Navi-Sailor 4000 Multifunction Display Dual ECDIS units. Transas is also to upgrade another six Eitzen Chemical vessels to the latest hardware and software ECDIS standards over the next two years. The package for each vessel includes 2 x 26" Hatteland monitors, RS6B computers, radar overlay and Firewall enabling a direct connection between the vessel's satellite communication equipment and the Transas ECDIS. After the installations, all vessels will run the unique "Pay As You Sail" chart concept from Transas.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) is launching a revised portfolio with Unitor and Nalfleet product brands as the first part of their strengthened chemicals offer today. When this scheme has been fully rolled out it will offer an increased product range, enhanced customer service, specialist support in the form of an innovative new customer portal and an improved global logistics network. “The concept called Active Solutions is about people, products - and ultimately - better performance. This is more than a just a make-up exercise, I believe the full version of the new offer will be a game changer in this business. We’ve worked closely with our customers to look at critical operational issues affecting them.

Hyde Marine’s chemical-free, IMO Type Approved ballast water treatment solution packs performance in a smaller footprint. That’s good news for small vessel operators who may soon find themselves impacted by a problem that previously was thought to be a “bluewater” issue. The notion that ballast water treatment and invasive species are both strictly the domain of big, bluewater liners coming from the Far East and other exotic locales quickly went out the porthole last November when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its long-awaited, updated draft Vessel General Permit (VGP) rule. The new rules potentially bring regulations to bear on vessels as small as 79 feet LOA and others, depending on service and routing.

The cliche “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” certainly applies to the past, current and future role of the Norwegian maritime cluster in the grand scheme of the international ship and boat building communities. Few countries, if any, can boast the maritime history of Norway, a history that entails many colorful tales surpassed only by the number and magnitude of marine innovations, which have emerged from a country with a population (approx. five million), which is smaller than many large cities. And while corporate consolidations around the globe continue to morph the marine market — including many notable Norwegian companies such as Ulstein…

While ballast water environmental issues have been news for decades, a renewed focus on the marine industry, specifically the effects ships and boats have on the aquatic environment, is picking up steam and not looking to slowdown. Per an executive order from President Clinton, the U.S. Invasive Species Council is finally getting off the ground, a council which will study the problem and make recommendations regarding treatment. A recent report from the General Accounting Office (GAO-RCED-00-219) found that the U.S. federal goverment spent $513 million in FY ‘99 and will spend $631 million in FY ‘00 for activities related to invasive species.

Unitor has taken the next step in giving customers the power to manage their fleets. Customer empowerment in the area of information technology is the next generation of service supported product offerings. Unitor's new information technology system named PartnerSHIP offers subscribers access to all critical information regarding their fleet as well as data about Unitor's worldwide network. This Web-based program offers secure and direct customer access into Unitor's mainframe computer. This computer network acts as a data repository for all of the customer's information. In conjunction with that information it also accesses Unitor's own central database regarding its products, services and port information through a secure web server.

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…

The EU is working toward creating a general standard for protective suits in the high-pressure water jet industry. On December 12, 2002, experts representing manufacturers and test houses from France, Germany, Sweden, and Belgium, as well an observer from the United States met in Brussels, Belgium. The host of the meeting was the Notified Body Centexbel, coordinated by Fred Foubert. The group worked towards developing a standard method of testing that could be used throughout Europe to evaluate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) used by operators in the water jet industry. There is currently no uniform standard of protection levels for the water jet industry. Three tiers of protection were discussed using energy criteria.

We all know OPA 1990 contained directions to EPA and the USCG concerning incident response planning and handling with respect to oil. Many of us forget the Act contained similar requirements for chemical incidents. The major difference between the two was oil pollution planning requirements were to be completed by EPA and the USCG within a specified time. There were no such time-directed response planning requirements concerning chemical incidents within the Act. Initially, in 1990, the USCG took the lead on oil spill response planning and EPA was to take the lead on chemical response planning. For some reason, EPA was unable to move forward and develop effective rules for chemical response plan incident planning.