Alan Johnstone News

There’s a digital disconnect offshore. The communication standards we take for granted on land are cut adrift at sea; hampering data transfer for businesses, while severing individuals’ lifelines to social media networks. What’s to ‘like’ about that? Frode Støldal, CEO of MCP, has had enough. “We think it’s time for a new mobile communications reality,” says a steely eyed Frode Støldal from his seat at the Offshore Technology Days conference in Bergen, Norway. “The offshore community suffers…

The MEPC 65 resolution was meant to help facilitate the long-awaited ratification of the IMO’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention. But has it actually done more harm than good? The ballast water treatment supplier sector and environmental lobby are unequivocal in their assessment. Alan Johnstone reports. “My initial reaction was guarded, but hopeful,” confesses Lars Erik Mangset of the WWF, when asked about his response to the MEPC 65 draft resolution on ballast water in May.

TTS has set its sights on becoming a billion euro business and is focusing on China as a key growth driver. Through long-term joint ventures with state-owned Chinese concerns, TTS has established itself as the leading (and largest) Norwegian business in China. Ivar K. Hanson, the chief operating officer of marine, offshore and ports and logistics equipment supplier TTS Group, has adopted the diplomatic smile of an experienced politician. He’s batted away a question about the tense…

March 2013 saw Rolls Royce collect the Green Ship Technology Award at the Green Ship Technology Conference in Hamburg for its Environship concept, which has lean burn Bergen Engines gas power units at it core. The Environship combines a range of Rolls Royce technologies (Bergen Engines is a subsidiary business) in a cargo ship model that, set against comparable vessels using diesel power engines, offers CO2 reductions of up to 40% (alongside 92% reductions in NOx and 100% less SOx emissions).

Multi-role Rescue Vessel (MRV) and Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) specialist Atlantic Offshore recently took its active fleet number to 19 vessels (six newbuilds are also under construction), with the delivery of the Ocean Response (pictured). Built by nearby Bergen shipyards, the vessel is the first of its kind to use a configuration of varying sized Wärtsilä engines (two of the Wärtsilä 6L32 models and two 6L20 generating sets) to maximize fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

Last year Bergen’s Norwegian Electric Systems (NES) made a bold claim. The designer and manufacturer of diesel electric and hybrid electric systems for the maritime sector, established in 2009 and already past NOK 1 billion in sales revenues ($171m), revealed that it had produced the largest ever low voltage marine diesel electric system. The 690v 60Hz system was created for the 125m long, 7,500 dwt OSV Grand Canyon (pictured), released from Bergen Group’s Fosen yard to owner Volstad Management in October 2012.

Saving money and the planet, it’s the Holy Grail for today’s cost and image conscious shipowners. Bearing that in mind, fellow open hatch cargo vessel operators should sit up and pay attention to the findings of a new research project conducted by Grieg Star, in partnership with DNV Research & Innovation, and supported by the Research Council of Norway. Grieg and DNV have been investigating the potential of hybrid battery/diesel solutions for powering onboard cargo cranes. In a unique simulation project…

Atle Jacobsen, the CEO of Dolphin Geophysical, is, in many ways, a bit of a paradox. An experienced, no-nonsense, veteran of the marine seismic surveying industry, he is also disarmingly easy to “talk shop” with, engaging and has an obvious thirst for new ideas and technology. But the core contradiction lies in his approach to business. This is a man that shows no qualms about ripping up the rulebooks and making brave decisions, but at the same time there is a steadfast caution that underpins the very essence of the Dolphin business model.

The weather might be depressing, but the outlook for the city is anything but. Bergen’s shipping industry and maritime related services sectors are going from strength to strength, bullishly rebutting the worst of the waves caused by the ongoing global financial crisis. The secret, locals argue, is a long-term industry view, the strength and diversity of the maritime cluster and the fact that Bergen blood is very much thicker than water. Maritime Reporter goes native to investigate. Rain, mountains and fjords: The three things that spring most readily to mind when the name Bergen is mentioned.