Aerospace Industry News

Marine Towing of Tampa announced it is expanding its ship assist services to Florida's east coast following a deal with E.N. Bisso & Son to acquire towing assets formerly owned by SEACOR Holdings' Seabulk arm.In September 2023, SEACOR divested its U.S. harbor towing operations, selling to Bisso 12 tugs across ports in Florida and Alabama.Under a recently executed asset purchase agreement with Bisso, Marine Towing of Tampa acquired the Port Canaveral operations and assets from the SEACOR-Bisso deal and will operate them in Canaveral under a newly formed affiliate…

Chris Wiernicki, CEO, ABS, discusses the evolution of multi-physics simulation and its importance in reaching decarbonization goals through 2050.As the pace of technological evolution rapidly quickens, shipowners are increasingly forced to embrace change to ensure their fleets stay in compliance with new regulations and stave off obsolescence.Going forward, efficient, cost-effective delivery of goods from ‘point A to point B’ must be done in a more environmentally benign manner…

In the United States, it is a frustrating time to be in the government shipbuilding business. Even though America depends upon maritime commerce and faces growing security risks at sea, shipbuilding is just not a major national focus.Up to now, shipbuilders have had it pretty good. For the past several years, big naval shipbuilders have enjoyed steady growth and strong performance. In 2020, Huntington Ingalls Industries enjoyed record revenue of $9.4 billion, an 8.5% margin and gave a quarter billion back to shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks.

Two Belgian companies - Aerospace industry supplier SABCA and DEME Offshore - have formed a partnership to use drones for inspection services in the offshore wind energy industry.SABCA, a leading tier 1 aerospace industry supplier and DEME Offshore, a worldwide leader in solutions and services for the offshore energy market, have entered into a partnership for the development and deployment of Unmanned Vehicles to perform surveillance and inspection works in the offshore industry.Complementing each other’s core experience and know-how, both companies are convinced that these innovative, advanced technologies have a game-changing potential to increase health and safety of their employees…

The Port of Everett has achieved another vital step in reducing congestion on the I-5 corridor while moving more freight in the region. The Port was notified this month that it received designation by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation as a Federal Maritime Administration Marine Highway Project for the Puget Sound Container on Barge Service under the America’s Marine Highway Program.The Port is one of 25 marine highway projects in the nation, and the only marine project designation on the West Coast.

Solid-State Welding Processes Being Developed for NASA Manufacturing Programs Could Significantly Reduce Workboat Fabrication CostsWhether it is for a tug boat, cargo vessel, or an offshore supply ship, much of the workboat fabrication industry is located along the Southern Coast of the U.S. But a visit to any one of the workboat facilities in that area (or any other in the country) would reveal antiquated and archaic fabrication processes used seventy years ago. The workboat manufacturing process is very expensive, labor intensive, and has not really changed since World War II.

The Maritime sector makes a substantive macroeconomic contribution to the UK through turnover, Gross Value Added (GVA), employment and through the compensation of employees., says a report by Maritime UK, which is  commissioned the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR)  to estimate the value of the UK maritime sector. The CEBR findings were formally launched in Parliament on Wednesday 13 September 2017 by Maritime Minister, Rt Hon John Hayes MP, Chair of International Trade select committee, Angus MacNeil MP, former Maritime Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP and Maritime UK Chairman David Dingle. It is estimated that the sector directly supported just over GBP 40 billion in business turnover, GBP14.5 billion in GVA and 185,700 jobs for UK employees in 2015.

i-Tech's CEO Philip Chaabane is intent on keeping hulls clean, one barnacle at a time. Please provide a brief personal/professional background, with insight on how you’ve come to occupy the CEO seat at I-Tech. I have a Swedish and French MSc in Engineering and have spent some six years in the aerospace industry working for Volvo Aero (today GKN) with jet engine components within product development as well as production and supply chain in general. Robust long term business plans…

Siemens and CD-adapco have entered into a stock purchase agreement for the acquisition of CD-adapco by Siemens. The purchase price is $970 million. CD-adapco is a global engineering simulation company with software solutions covering a wide range of engineering disciplines including Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Solid Mechanics (CSM), heat transfer, particle dynamics, reactant flow, electrochemistry, acoustics and rheology. Last fiscal year, CD-adapco had over 900 employees and revenue of close to $200 million with software-typical double digit margins.

The joint venture group FSP LNG BV stated that it is taking the FSP LNG Flat Panel Semi-membrane Prismatic Type B containment system through General Design Approval (GDA) with the American Bureau of Shipping in Houston, and is projecting that construction of the first tank will begin at the end of this year. Formed earlier this year to take the FSP LNG containment system through the general approval process, the group comprises Braemar Engineering, Honghua Group EnTX and Jamestown Marine Metals. In a joint statement, Chairman Zhang Mi, Chairman and President of Honghua Group, and Geoff Green, Managing Director of Braemar Engineering, said that “substantial progress has been made to date, and this is expected to continue going forward”.

Rolls-Royce Holdings plc today announces the appointment of Sir Kevin Smith CBE as a Non-Executive Director. Sir Kevin will join the Board with effect from 1 November 2015 and will become a member of the Nominations and Governance Committee, the Remuneration Committee and the Science & Technology Committee. Sir Kevin joins from Unitas Capital, a leading Asian private equity firm, where he has been a full-time partner based in Hong Kong since joining the firm in February 2012. He has used his extensive industrial leadership experience to work closely with Unitas' portfolio companies, including being a director of technology company Edwards Group Limited (previously NASDAQ listed) from March 2012 until its sale to Atlas Copco in August 2013.

Classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) informs it has extended the range of reliability solutions it provides for the global offshore industry through a partnership with aerospace risk management firm APSYS. Under the agreement, APSYS will adapt best aerospace practices and tools to the offshore oil and gas industry and BV will implement APSYS solutions to assist clients in building robust and safe installations while optimizing design and operating costs. Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice-President and head of Offshore, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore Division, said, “Everything we do today for our clients in offshore energy has to be focused on reducing costs and operating downtime while improving efficiency and safety.

Eagle Bay, the second of two new U.S.-flag crude oil tankers for Exxon Mobil Corporation’s marine affiliate SeaRiver Maritime, Inc., was named at a ceremony at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard. The first-in-class vessel constructed at the shipyard incorporates the latest safety, navigation and engine room technologies and will begin supplying crude oil from Alaska North Slope to refineries along the U.S. west coast later this year. The double hull Eagle Bay is 820-feet long and has capacity to carry 800,000 barrels of oil. SeaRiver Maritime said its contract with Aker for two tankers, valued at $400 million, delivered an economic boost to the greater Philadelphia region where it generated employment and millions of dollars in revenue.

The Executive Control Board of the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) has selected a new round of research and development projects for award, as part of the program's continuing mission to reduce costs associated with U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair. These new projects, valued at over $11 million, including cost share, were among those proposed in response to Research Announcement 13-01, issued in June. Objective: The goal of this project is to transfer a cost-saving and quality-enhancing technology from the aerospace industry to the shipbuilding industry. The vision is to demonstrate the superiority of laser peening over select current shipbuilding processes in specific applications.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. headquartered in Lockport, La., inform of the upcoming retirement of its Vice President Repair, Eastern Division, Dave Marmillion, after 46 years in the shipyard industry. Marmillion’s retirement was announced by Bollinger’s Chief Operating Officer, Ben Bordelon, who said, “Dave has been an integral part of Bollinger’s growth and a mentor to many in the shipyard industry over the past 46 years. Marmillion started his shipyard career as a lifelong resident of the New Orleans Westbank area. He attended West Jefferson High School and graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana in Industrial Technology.

Jerry DeMuro, formerly executive vice-president and corporate vice president of the Information Systems and Technology group at General Dynamics,  has been appointed as president and CEO of BAE Systems, Inc., effective February 1, 2014 to succeed Linda P. Hudson, who had announced last year her intention to retire from the company in 2014. DeMuro will be appointed as an executive director of BAE Systems plc and will serve on BAE Systems’ Executive Committee, as well as on the board of BAE Systems, Inc.

Early in the coming year, the U.S. export control regime governing the shipbuilding supply chain will undergo a sea change with the implementation of export reform in the naval and marine categories of the U.S. Munitions List (USML) and the Commerce Control List (CCL). Reforms affecting the aerospace industry(1)  were published April 16, 2013(2)  and took effect October 15 of this year, and the final rules published on July 8, 2013 for the naval and marine categories will take effect on January 6, 2014. As previously reported,(3)  one of the goals of the export reform initiative is to protect the nation’s “crown jewels” with higher export control walls while removing restrictions on less important items and technologies in order to promote, among other things, interoperability of U.S.

Norway is no stranger to maritime innovation, as the small Scandinavian country with a population just north of five million (according to most recent statistics from the World Bank) has a strong historical and current affinity towards anything to do with the sea. In addition, Norwegians are traditionally a population that considers environmental matters a top concern, so it’s little surprise to see continued commercial maritime innovation emanating from Norway. Project Vindskip is a hybrid merchant vessel for sustainable sea transport.

CD-adapco release STAR-CCM+ v8.02, a major new version of its integrated solution for multidisciplinary engineering problems. CD-adapco is the world's largest independent CFD focused CAE provider. "The STAR-CCM+ v8 releases are specifically aimed at increasing engineering productivity, making the software even easier to use and interact with, and significantly reducing the time required to get a high-quality solution," said Senior VP Product Management Jean-Claude Ercolanelli. Parts Based Meshing allows users to associate mesh definitions with geometric entities, resulting in greater control, better automation and reduced turnaround time.

Siemens Subsea Products has chosen an all-electric tube bender from Unison to improve the quality and speed the production of the small-bore hydraulic tubes it uses on subsea hydraulic flying leads with Multiple Quick Connections (MQC), Cobra Heads and associated offshore oil and gas recovery equipment. The tubes feature complex bends of extremely high accuracy, and until now the company has either fabricated them manually or bought them in as pre-formed sub-assemblies. Siemens Subsea Products produces a wide range of subsea electric…

Keppel Corporation forms, Ocean Mineral Singapore Pte., to explore for polymetallic nodules several kilometres beneath the ocean's surface. Polymetallic nodules contain copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese, as well as rare earth minerals, and have the potential of supplying these key metals to meet growing global demand in applications as diverse as construction, aerospace and alternative energy. OMS has applied to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for its first seabed exploration licence which will be considered by the ISA in July. OMS is a Singapore-incorporated company majority owned by Keppel Corporation, with UK Seabed Resources Ltd…

ThyssenKrupp Aerospace, via its U.K. subsidiary, has acquired the business activities of The Waterjet Group, based in Darton, South Yorkshire/U.K. The closing took place on July 31, 2013. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The Waterjet Group (around 40 employees) was established in 2002 and is a U.K. waterjet cutting company for the aerospace industry. The company has several waterjets and related value add equipment, a large number of aerospace approvals and to a smaller extent also serves other high-tech industries, including the medical technology sector. The Waterjet Group operates out of a site near Leeds. With its equipment the company is able to process a wide range of materials and sizes for the European and international customer base.

OpenGate Capital, LLC, a private investment and acquisition firm, acquires Zodiac Recreational from Zodiac Marine & Pool. Zodiac Recreational designs, manufactures and distributes inflatable and Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIBs). Zodiac is a recognized brand in the nautical industry with an extensive range of products including RIBs, recreational tenders, inflatable boats, jet tenders, life rafts, and related boat accessories as well as two other branded lines of products, Bombard and Avon.