Alternative Solution News

Preparing for industrialization, the floating offshore wind industry is tackling its unique mooring and cabling challenges.The idea of keeping floating offshore wind platforms in place using dynamic positioning has been considered. The trouble is: it could take up to 80% of the electricity generated by the turbine to do it.So, as Maersk Supply Service said a few years back: In a field of 100 turbines with 4-5 mooring lines each, there is going to be a lot of subsea “spaghetti.” It’s not a problem unique to the industry…

Thousands of cars are now entering Turkey after DP World Yarımca introduced a ‘cars in containers’ shipping solution that has helped solve an automotive supply chain crisis in the region.Congestion at Turkish ports has resulted in significant delays in delivering new vehicles against a backdrop of skyrocketing demand in the burgeoning automotive market. Turkey recently experienced an auto sales boom with a record 110,000 vehicles sold in June which is a 37.5% year-on-year increase…

A containerized liquefied natural gas (LNG) solution jointly developed by Marine Service GmbH and Newport Shipping has received approval in principle (AIP) from classification society Bureau Veritas (BV).The 40' ISO LNG Fuel Tank Container System is suitable for LNG-fueled newbuildings and retrofits of container vessels.The LNG fuel tank container is a class approved Type C LNG fuel tank in accordance with the IGF-code and is based on German TÜV certified IMDG Container. The capacity of the tank is 31 gross tonnes and about 33m3 of LNG.

Will Roberts joined Seattle-based Foss Maritime in 2017 as chief commercial officer, and in 2018 he was named chief operating officer. Prior to joining Foss, Roberts held a number of leadership roles for marine systems and services provider Rolls-Royce, rising to senior vice president, customer and services–Americas. A U.S. Navy veteran, Roberts served as a qualified deck and engineering officer aboard the fast attack submarine USS Honolulu. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in ocean engineering and holds a Master of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University.

Swiss-Italian international shipping line MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) announced that its vessels bunkering in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, will now bunker biofuel blends on a routine basis - the first  major shipping line to do so.Following successful trials with biofuel blends earlier this year, MSC has decided to continue bunkering responsibly sourced biofuel blends on a routine basis.The trials were completed with a minimal 10% blend fuel and following further trials the company is now using much higher 30% blends.“We are pleased to see these trials completed successfully and look forward to now using biofuel on our vessels as a routine matter.

Golar LNG Partners announced that it has executed a 15-year charter with an energy and logistics company for the provision of an FSRU (floating storage and regasification unit) and related services in the Atlantic Basin. The charter provides the Partnership with the flexibility to nominate either the Golar Spirit or the Golar Freeze to service the contract provided that the nominated FSRU satisfies certain technical specifications ahead of project start-up, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2018. The vessel is expected to remain in service for up to 15 years without drydock and will therefore undergo drydocking as well as some minor modifications prior to service commencement.

With vessels and crew having become a recent target by the militant jihadist group Abu Sayyaf in the Sulu Sea, it has now become an area of high risk for mariners. Dryad is therefore expanding its Vessel Safety Monitoring (VSM) service to the Sulu Sea. Managed from our 24-hour Operations Centre by experienced mariners and intelligence analysts, this service continuously tracks clients’ vessels and delivers the most up to date intelligence picture to Masters and shore teams on the latest emerging threats in the area. To minimise disruption to planned routes, dynamic routing advice will also be offered to Masters so that they can avoid the current location of assailants if deemed necessary to ensure the safety of the vessel.

Fugro and 3D at Depth, a global provider of advanced subsea LiDAR systems and solutions, announce the world's first application of subsea LiDAR data used to 3D Print an accurate 1:1 physical model of a damaged well part. The ability to use accurate spatial data in subsea part fabrication with 3D printing, introduces a wide range of possibilities to reduce costs across intervention planning and Life of Field programs. The subsea part fabrication was part of a larger project conducted in early 2016, using 3D at Depth's subsea LiDAR SL 2 technology and point cloud software. 3D at Depth was contracted by Fugro to perform subsea laser scanning services on a well abandonment project in Oceania, Australia.

European shipowners hope that the momentum created by the Dutch Presidency’s High Level Event on Short Sea Shipping held in Amsterdam last February will result in maritime directors putting Short Sea Shipping on the top priority list when they meet today in Brussels. “At the Dutch Presidency event, all participants strongly agreed on the need and urgency to finally remove all barriers. The lack of a single market, cumbersome administrative procedures, market access restrictions for service providers in ports and other barriers makes short sea shipping less competitive and also less attractive than other transport modes”, commented European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven.

Offshore drilling company Seadrill Limited said it has exercised its right to cancel the contract for the construction of the West Mira drilling unit following builder Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd.’s inability to complete the project on deadline. West Mira, a sixth generation ultra-deepwater harsh environment semisubmersible drilling unit, was ordered during the second quarter of 2012 and was supposed to be delivered at or before December 31, 2014. “Due to the shipyard's inability to deliver the unit within the timeframe required under the contract, the company has exercised its cancellation rights,” Seadrill said in a press release.

ME Production subsidiary Marine Exhaust Technology has been awarded a new contract for the DFDS vessel Finlandia sailing on the route Rosyth-Zeebrugge. The scrubber contract includes design, engineering, manufacturing, and installation. Additionally, MET has signed a newbuilding contract with the shipyard Balenciaga S.A. in Spain for a new cargo vessel. The contract includes an Inline Hybrid scrubber system. The system is designed with an integrated silencer and does not require a bypass.

The Bergen Group has decided to terminate a sales agreement that would see Semco Maritime acquire its rig service yard facilities at Hanøytangen. The real estate and the rig service activity at Hanøytangen will continue to be under the Bergen Group's ownership. According to Semco Maritime, the transaction, initially announced on April 13, 2015, was subject to final closing no later than April 30, but ran into “unforeseen issues” which caused the Bergen Group to cancel the deal.

Hot work required for welding, grinding and cutting operations presents certain potential hazards when conducted in potentially explosive and flammable environments. According to the Health and Safety Executive guidance 2013, “flammable liquids and vapors such as petrol, diesel, fuel oil, paints, solvents, glue, lacquer and cleaning agents are found in many places of work. In order to minimize the risk, cold bonding solutions involving materials that are applied and cured at ambient temperatures can offer an alternative solution for repair and newbuild applications on metallic surfaces.

PMI Energy Services, a Superior Energy Services company, has opened a shorebase in Morgan City, Louisiana, focused on supporting shelf, coastal and inland waters production and drilling activities. PMI’s shorebase is centrally located on the Louisiana coast and provides better protection from weather events than ports located directly on the Louisiana coastline. It maintains a close proximity to established fuel docks, mud docks, 29-B waste transfer stations, rental and supply companies…

Thordon Bearings Inc., a company in grease and oil-free bearing solutions announced the introduction of TG100, a new water lubricated mechanical face seal for 100-305 mm (4-12”) shaft diameters specifically designed for operation in abrasive waters, but can operate in clean water as well. The TG100 uses Silicon Carbide seal faces designed to last the life of the vessel and operate in both clean and abrasive-laden waters. If the face seals should ever experience damage, a feature…

While seeking to consolidate its existing LNG carrier workload by bidding for new tonnage to serve the Qatari export traffic and other projects, Spanish shipbuilder IZAR has intensified its research endeavors so as to create a broader business platform in the energy market. The group has thrown its weight behind a new initiative aimed at developing floating plant incorporating gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology to extract and convert gas from remote offshore fields into premium grade liquid products. The joint industry research and development project, known as Seagas, draws in IZAR Fene Shipyard (the former Astano establishment), Bermuda-based engineering corporation Foster Wheeler, and other partners from various disciplines.

A typical driveway mechanic can open up the hood, dive into a car’s guts and emerge hours later with an understanding of what is wrong. Even if the mechanic can't get the engine to purr, the situation usually ends up no worse than when he started. A ship repairer has a much trickier challenge. Whether in a huge marine repair facility, sharing his duties with thousands of other employees, or on his own, traveling from marina to marina performing maintenance and repairs, he usually is dealing with a vessel that was not designed for attention on land. In addition, unlike automobiles that roll off an assembly line, each essentially like the others manufactured in that plant, vessels come in all shapes and sizes – each with their own idiosyncrasies.

The International Ship Recycling Association (ISRA) is quite clear; Bangladeshi ship breakers who are using tidal beaches are, as ISRA understands the court decision, illegal. The ruling by the Bangladeshi High Court on the petition filed by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association to close the ship breaking yards is a logical outcome as beaching practices are against future international law. The court order seems to confirm ISRA’s point that the practice of using a tidal beach as a facility for breaking ships is not a safe and environmental appropriate practice for recycling ships. According to ISRA, the International Maritime Organization can do nothing else than to confirm this in the upcoming Convention on Ship Recycling.

Having been involved in the relief effort since the earthquake struck Haiti, the CMA CGM Group announced that it has resumed a regular service between Port-au-Prince and Kingston in Jamaica. On February 7th, a 516 teu capacity CMA CGM feeder vessel made a call to Port-au-Prince as an extension of its Europe-Caribbean Service (ECS). A second call was made on February 15th thanks to the 400-ft long floating dock that has recently been installed at the Haiti Terminal. On February 11th CMA CGM was also back in business with the reopening of the VITAL Agency, its Port-au-Prince representative. This regular service via Kingston, a major Caribbean transhipment hub, offers an alternative solution for all commodities coming from and going to Port-au-Prince.