Private Investor News

The American shipbuilding scene, filled with participants constructing all manner of vessels, has been navigating through stormy times (lately, yards along the Gulf Coast have literally been dealing with storms). The orders for newbuild, repair and conversion projects continue to flow in—albeit at a reduced pace—and the boats and ships go down the ways into the water, but the overall panorama has seen tremendous sea changes as the business has shifted.Maritime businesses worldwide have been grappling with currents both internal and external.

On February 12, President Trump released his highly anticipated infrastructure proposal, a “Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America.” Unlike prior federal infrastructure development strategies, which rarely discussed the need for maritime infrastructure investment, the proposal places maritime infrastructure on equal footing with other surface transportation modes in terms of potential funding opportunities. The outline contains proposals that would create three new major programs…

France: Italy's Fincantieri best option. France wants a private investor for the STX France shipyards and Fincantieri is the best option but the government will be forced to consider other alternatives should negotiations with the Italian shipbuilder fail, the French Finance Minister said on Tuesday in an Italian paper. "The (STX) Saint Nazaire shipyards must not be directed by the French State. We want a private shareholder and Fincantieri today is the best industrial group to join this big European and Franco-Italian project," Bruno Le Maire told daily il Corriere della Sera in an interview. Le Maire, who will reopen talks with Italy on Tuesday…

The European Commission said on Friday it had opened an in-depth investigation into alleged state aid to two container terminal operators in Europe's second busiest port, Antwerp in Belgium. The Commission said concession agreements for PSA Antwerp NV and Antwerp Gateway NV contained a requirement for the handling of a minimum tonnage. The two did not reach this between 2009 and 2012, meaning they would have to pay compensation to the publicly-owned port authority. However, the Antwerp Port Authority decided in 2013 to reduce the minimum tonnage retroactively, reducing the compensation to be paid by some 80 percent. The Commission said…

The former operator of Portugal's largest shipyard Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo (ENVC) must pay back around 290 million euros ($329.79 million) in public support, the European Commission said on Thursday. It said the new operator WestSea did not need to pay the money as it purchased the assets at market conditions and there was no "economic continuity" between ENVC and WestSea, owned by Martifer and Navalria. On the basis of an in-depth investigation opened in 2013, the Commission found that no private investor would have subsidised a loss-making company for 13 years. The roughly 290 million euros were therefore illegal state aid and had to be repaid.   Reporting by Barbara Lewis

Shanghai Stock Exchange-listed COSCO Shipping Company Limited (COSCOL) says its profits shot up 491% year on year (y/y) to CNY193M ($31M) in 2014. Revenue improved 3% year-on-year. The results also boosted by government subsidies and benefitted from cost cutting measures. On 30 September the company received a total of CNY183M in government subsidies for scrapping old tonnage and replacing them with new building orders. In 2013, the Chinese government introduced policies with subsidies to encourage Chinese ship-owners to scrap older Chinese-flagged vessels. The subsidies would be doubled if the ship-owners then ordered new tonnage at Chinese shipyards to replace the scrapped tonnage.

Cash-strapped ferry operator SNCM looks set to seek legal protection from its creditors after Europe's highest court ruled on Thursday it must pay back 220 million euros ($289 million) of French state aid. SNCM, owned 66 percent by transport group Transdev, has racked up losses as low-cost competitors have eaten away its market share and is fast running out of funds. Transdev - itself a joint venture between water and waste firm Veolia and French state bank CDC - has said it will…

After an in-depth investigation, the European Commission has concluded that part of the support measures that Sardinia had granted to the maritime company Saremar in 2011 and 2012 was incompatible with EU state aid rules. In particular, a capital injection not approved on market conditions and the compensation for carrying out certain maritime services have provided an undue economic advantage to Saremar that its competitors did not have. Saremar needs to pay back this undue advantage of around €10.8 million in total, to remedy the distortion of competition this has created. At the same time the Commission concluded that two letters of comfort issued by the Region did not guarantee any financial obligation of the company and did not therefore constitute State aid to Saremar.

Björn Rosengren was appointed President and CEO at Wärtsilä Corporation, as from September 1 this year. In a recent interview he told Maritime Reporter his views on the current business environment, the markets and about tasks ahead. Henrik Segercrantz reports. Wärtsilä, a leading global provider of power solutions for ships and power plants, is a global market leader in some of its segments. On the maritime side, the group has over the years expanded from its core products, that of producing medium- and low-speed engines…

Hercules Offshore, Inc. (NASDAQ:HERO) reported a loss from continuing operations of $16.0 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, on revenues of $150.8 million for the first quarter 2010, compared with a loss from continuing operations of $4.5 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, on revenues of $223.5 million for the first quarter 2009. John T. Rynd, Chief Executive Officer and President of Hercules Offshore stated, "While our financial results remain depressed following the industry-wide downturn that began in 2008, drilling activity in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has increased meaningfully over the past two quarters, and bidding activity has remained fairly steady despite the recent pressure on natural gas prices.

FLIR Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: FLIR) announced that John W. Wood, Jr. has been elected to the Board of Directors for a term expiring at the Company's 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Mr. Wood has also been appointed to serve on the Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors. Mr. Wood served as chief executive officer of Analogic Corporation, a leading designer and manufacturer of medical imaging and security systems, from 2003 to 2006, and is currently a consultant. Prior to joining Analogic, he held senior executive positions over a 22-year career at Thermo Electron Corporation. He served as president of Peek Ltd., a division of Thermo Electron Corporation, and as a senior vice president of the parent company.

On Friday Dec 19 the naming and launching ceremony of a new 634 ft RoRo freight ferry will take place in Flensburg, Germany. The freight ferry is the thirteenth of fourteen RoRo vessels, which our longstanding Turkish customer U.N. Ro-Ro has ordered with Flensburger. U.N. Ro-Ro is in ownership of the private investor KKR (New York), who took over the shipping company U.N Ro-Ro in 2007. The vessel will be christened Cüneyt Solakoglu. The vessel’s godmother is Mrs. Zeynap Feryal Solakoglu, spouse of Mr. Cüneyt Solakoglu (CEO of UN RoRo). Main particulars of the U.N. Length o.a. Breadth    85.

On March 14, 2008 the Naming and Launching ceremony of a new 3735 lane metres RoRo freight ferry took place in . She is the eleventh of fourteen RoRo vessels, which our longstanding Turkish customer U.N. Ro-Ro has ordered with Flensburger. U.N. RoRo is now in ownership of the private investor KKR (), who took over the shipping company U.N RoRo in 2007 for approximately 910 million Euro. The vessel will be christened UN Akdeniz and then launched. The first ship of the series had the same name. She and the second vessel UN Karadeniz have in the meantime been sold to Norfolk Line, a subsidiary of the Maersk Group. Approx. 11:15: Beginning of speeches Approx. 11:45: Launching Godmother is Ms. Maria Triep Pfeffer, spouse of Mr. John Pfeffer (KKR-Manager).

Edward Muller has been appointed to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of RigNet Inc. Paul Gundersen, RigNet chairman and CEO, said, "Ed Muller brings a valuable blend of industry knowledge and business experience to RigNet. Mr. Edward Muller was elected to the Global Marine Board of Directors in February 1997, and now serves on the GlobalSantaFe Board. A private investor, Mr. Muller was President and Chief Executive Officer of Edison Mission Energy, the wholly owned global power subsidiary of Edison International, from 1993 until 2000. In addition to RigNet, Mr. Muller currently serves as a Director for Interval, Inc., Strategic Data Corp. and The Keith Companies, Inc.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday gave final approval to two liquefied natural gas import terminals along the Mississippi coast. The LNG Clean Energy Project, located in the Port of Pascagoula, will be able to send out up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day. The $450m terminal, which will be owned by the Houston-based private investor group Gulf LNG Energy LLC, will be able to handle 150 LNG tankers a year. Separately, Chevron Corp's Casotte Landing LNG project will be located next to the company's Pascagoula refinery and will process imported LNG for distribution to industrial, commercial and residential customers in Mississippi and the Southeast region, including the growing Florida market. The terminal will be able to send out 1.6 billion cubic feet of LNG a day.

Bureau Veritas is preparing an improved offer for presentation later this week to the shareholders of Germanischer Lloyd, as it pushes ahead with its plan to combine the strengths of the two societies to create a new global leader in ship classification, based in Hamburg. The original Bureau Veritas share acquisition offer was presented to Germanischer Lloyd shareholders on November 9, since which time other potential investors have reportedly declared an intention to acquire an interest in the Hamburg-headquartered classification society. But Bureau Veritas is confident that the revised terms of its new offer will be attractive to Germanischer Lloyd shareholders, while creating a long-term global market leader in maritime classification in Hamburg.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff recently said two proposed liquefied natural gas import terminals on the Mississippi coast would not significantly harm the environment, clearing a major hurdle for the projects to win final approval from the agency. The proposed LNG Clean Energy Project that would be located in the Port of Pascagoula would be able to send out up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day. The $450 million terminal, which would be operated by the Houston-based private investor group Gulf LNG Energy LLC, would be able to handle 150 LNG tankers a year. Separately, Chevron Corp's Casotte Landing LNG project would be located next to the company's Pascagoula refinery and will process imported LNG for distribution to industrial…