Lean News

Ocean Infinity signed a global framework agreement (GFA) with Shell to provide its robotic fleet for servicing the offshore energy sector.The GFA marks a significant milestone in the provision of lean-crewed and robotic seabed geomatics, spanning geophysical and geotechnical services, within the offshore energy sector.It covers a 5-year period, encompassing all countries where Shell is currently active or plans to operate in the future.Services governed by the GFA include the Armada fleet of uncrewed and lean-crewed vessels."This agreement enables new…

Naval architecture and marine engineering firm TAI Engineers, owned by S&B, announced it has appointed Amer Kalla as director of production design, based in Houston."We are excited to have Amer Kalla join the TAI team. His wealth of experience and expertise will play a crucial role in advancing our production design capabilities and contributing to the success of our projects,” said Kris Karri, senior vice president of operations and chief engineer at TAI Engineers. “Kalla will be responsible for TAI’s global production design team in the U.S.

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The European Parliament has officially adopted the Berendsen report, an own-initiative report on “building a comprehensive European Port Strategy” (585 in favor, 21 against, 26 abstentions).The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomed the support for the strategic and vital role that Europe’s ports play for European society and economy. ESPO supports the Parliament’s plea to further harmonize the measures to strengthen the resilience and protection of Europe’s critical infrastructure, including ports.

Anxiety and uncertainty reign across the shipowning community at large, especially for those with units trading in, or simply passing through the shipping lanes that are currently besieged by Houthi Rebel attacks in the Red Sea, says cash buyer GMS. This is invariably resulting in many owners avoiding the Suez Canal altogether, electing instead to sail around the Cape and subsequently increase voyage times, costs, and inadvertently assist global inflation.On the ship recycling front…

Austal USA has named Jim Blastos as vice president supply chain management, with responsibility for the company’s procurement, strategic sourcing, warehousing, logistics, material management and production control activities.Blastos has over 25 years of experience in developing strategic organizational transformation, collaborative solutions and operational processing. He has held leadership positions in supply chain and operations in the U.S. Navy and industry, including Overhead Door Corporation…

Dutch tank storage company Vopak has signed an initial agreement with Japan's IHI Corporation to explore the development and operation of ammonia terminals, as they expect demand for the low-carbon fuel to grow amid energy transition.The companies will lean on their experience in building ammonia storage tanks and terminals to focus on developing large-scale ammonia storage terminals that will allow for economical distribution of the fuel, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.They…

Cummins is working with partners in the U.K. to develop and deploy a methanol conversion kit for an engine aboard an Ocean Infinity offshore support vessel (OSV) as the maritime industry works toward transitioning to cleaner fuels.The engine manufacturer announced its proposal to jointly develop a Methanol Kit for its QSK60 engine was selected to receive funding as part of the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI) competition, funded by the U.K. government and delivered…

Jonathan (Jon) Henkin has been promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer for Mack Boring & Parts Co. Most recently Henkin was Director of Operations since 2010, and has led the integration of lean manufacturing principles into our operations, implemented his second ERP upgrade in 2020, planned and led a facility move from Union, NJ to Somerset, NJ and has been instrumental in the many systems Mack Boring has developed internally to manage its 400+ dealers and eight major product lines.Henkin joined Mack Boring in 1999…

Mobile, Ala. shipbuilder Austal USA announced it has been awarded a contract potentially worth more than $3 billion for the detail design and construction of new TAGOS-25 class ocean surveillance ships for the U.S. Navy.The $113.9 million fixed-price incentive (firm target) and firm-fixed-price contract includes options for detail design and construction of up to seven T-AGOS 25 class ships which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to $3.195 billion.Austal…

BYD-Naval Architects has secured a contract to develop the design for a new electric 27-meter passenger catamaran for Ottawa Boat Cruises as part of their initiative to continue delivering zero emissions tourism to Canada.Robert Taillefer, president of Ottawa Boat Cruises, said, “Ottawa Boat Cruises is a leader in sustainable technology innovation. They built the first certified 100% electrical boat in the world in 2016. Their second electrical boat was built in 2022 and they are now building two new electrical vessels.

Ocean Infinity, a seabed survey and ocean research company based in the United States, said Tuesday that two of its new vessels, part of the Armada USV fleet, had set sail from Vietnam."We're officially the proud owner of not just one but two brand new ships. Armada 7801 and 7802 have set sail from Vietnam and are headed to Norway. The delivery of these first two ships marks an important milestone on our journey towards tech-enabled lean-crewed operations for a safer and greener maritime future…

Marine electric drives manufacturer Torqeedo GmbH celebrated the grand opening of a brand-new 8,300 m2 building near Munich where all company activities, including research, development, and production, will now take place.Fabian Bez, Torqeedo's chief executive officer, said, Whether by road, rail, air or water, sustainable forms of propulsion are needed to achieve the climate targets. In the transport sector, in particular, there is still a lot to be done. As Torqeedo, we recognized this trend early on and developed battery-electric drives for watercraft.

The L.S. Starrett Company, a manufacturer of precision measuring tools and gages, metrology systems and more, appointed Matthew Wells as Director of Operations and Continuous Improvement, responsible for Production, Planning, Production Control and Purchasing, Inventory Management, Warehouse and Shipping, Quality, Manufacturing Engineering, Facility, EHS, Maintenance and Continuous Improvement. Wells reports directly to Mr. Emerson Leme, Vice President, Starrett Industrial Products, North America.

Shipbuilder Austal USA and has formed a strategic partnership with Saildrone, Inc to build cutting-edge, autonomous uncrewed surface vehicles.The partnership  ensures that production of the autonomous and uncrewed Saildrone Surveyor will accelerate to meet the growing demand of the U.S. Navy and other government customers for the cutting-edge solution for maritime domain awareness, hydrographic survey, and other missions requiring persistent wide area coverage. Autonomous vessel capability has been identified as an area of strategic importance by the U.S. Navy.

Johan Inden heads Volvo Penta’s global marine business unit as part of the company’s executive management team. “I have global strategy responsibility, global product responsibility, direct commercial responsibility for everything except North America; we have our own commercial setup with our local president there, Fredrik Högberg. Of course, we collaborate very closely, but we have in our DNA to be very close to customers, so we think we need a dedicated commercial organization in North America as well…

Austal USA won the Detailed Design and Construction (DD&C) contract on June 17 valued at $128 million for the U.S. Navy Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock Medium (AFDM), which marks Austal USA’s second steel vessel program for the U.S. Navy. The AFDM will be built in Austal’s modern steel panel line in Mobile, Ala. The design incorporates features to improve operability and maintainability based on the company’s experience and lessons learned from owning, operating, and maintaining a similar dry dock at its repair facility at Austal West Campus.Austal USA President Rusty Murdaugh said.

As the move toward advanced remote and autonomous operation of vessels proceeds at speed, Vard Electro introduced SeaQ Remote to facilitate a new generation of larger robotic vessels.The new product, which will see its debut delivery on a total of 14 newbuild marine robotic vessels contracted with shipbuilder VARD, is designed to unify the SeaQ suite of automation systems into a single user interface with the full range of remote functionality from shore.“We are now investing heavily in autonomous technology and digitalization…

Norwegian ballast water treatment systems manufacturer Optimarin said it has so far been able to overcome global supply chain challenges by leveraging a flexible delivery model for key components for its systems.While the world continues to deal with supply chain issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, the company has implemented a dual-supplier strategy that has enabled it to maintain efficient system deliveries even though supply capacity has been strained as demand has rebounded…

Norfolk, Va. ship repair yard Colonna’s Shipyard announced a series of senior management promotions along with a revised organizational structure effective July 2022.Jordan Webb, currently Vice President, Contracts, has been promoted to Vice President of Shipyard Operations. Randall Crutchfield, currently Colonna’s Chief Experience Officer and Executive Director of Steel America and Weld America, has been named Vice President of Industrial Operations and Facilities. Chris Marsh…

Mobile, Ala. shipbuilder Austal USA hosted a ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new facility which adds steel shipbuilding capability to the company’s well-established aluminum shipbuilding expertise.“We are so excited to see our plans to add steel to our capabilities come to fruition,” said Austal USA President Rusty Murdaugh. “The addition of steel capability is a game changer as it opens up our capability to support the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and other customers with high-quality ships.

Alfa Laval announced it has appointed Tristan Matthews as the Head of Marine Division for the U.K. and Ireland, effective March 1, 2022.In the new role, Matthews will hold responsibility for driving partnerships with U.K. customers in the marine industry with a strong focus on sustainability, decarbonization, future fuels and alternative technologies.Matthews originally joined Alfa Laval in 2016 as a Marine Sales Engineer for Alfa Laval Marine Service. His preceding role was Business Unit Manager - Marine Capital Sales, UK & Ireland.

PTL Marine announces the hiring of Mohamed Tounkara as Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Manager - West Coast and Donnie Lowe as Operations Manager - Seattle. With decades of combined experience, both Tounkara and Lowe possess an extensive skillset from past roles ranging from Fortune 100 companies to Main Street entrepreneurial businesses. PTL Marine continues its flurry of recent hiring as it shores up operations in major West Coast ports including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.