Finning News

Swiss-based shipping line MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company is taking the opportunity to clarify and raise awareness of its zero-tolerance position on shark fin carriage, following a reported shark fin discovery earlier this year, involving a booking by another container carrier."MSC is proud to be implementing since several years a complete global ban on consignments of any type of shark fin and of endangered shark," said the global container shipping and a company in a press release.Sharks are an important part of marine ecosystems around the world and MSC supports regulations and standards imposed by competent authorities to preserve populations of these animals.

Finning has opened its £8 million purpose-built National Distribution Center in Cannock to support its continued customer growth in after sales support and maintenance. The warehouse facility in Cannock houses all of the dealership’s engines plus 60,000 different product lines, all of which are available for next day delivery. In addition the company has worked with their transport and logistics provider to replace eight of their existing trailers with new higher spec vehicles.

Solent Towage Ltd (STL) reports that is has saved more than 60-man hours since December 2013 by installing gplink, the remote monitoring and tracking solution from Finning Power Systems (Finning) for Cat engines. The company operates a fleet of seven tugboats off the UK’s south coast, two of which use Cat engines. Several vessels in Solent Towage’s fleet are chartered for 186 days per year by the operator of a large oil refinery in the area, according to the charter, fuel consumed by the STL fleet is provided by the refinery.

Solent Towage Ltd (STL), the UK arm of Norwegian marine services company, Ostensjo Rederi AS, has saved over 60-man hours since December 2013 by installing gplink, the remote monitoring and tracking solution from Finning Power Systems (Finning) for Cat® engines. The company, which operates a fleet of seven tugboats off the UK’s south coast, two of which use Cat engines, became the first commercial Finning customer in the UK to use gplink. Some vessels in Solent Towage’s fleet are chartered for 186 days per year by the operator of a large oil refinery in the area.

Following an extensive Thales UK-led refurbishment and reactivation program, the Lithuanian Navy has formally accepted and commissioned two former Royal Navy minehunters into its fleet. In a ceremony at the Klaipeda naval base, LNS Skalvis and LNS Kuršis were commissioned into the fleet. Formerly the Royal Navy Hunt-class ships Dulverton and Cottesmore, the two warships are now fitted with a world-class minehunting capability from Thales, including new sonar, command and control, propulsion, degaussing, mine disposal and machinery control and surveillance systems. Thales was awarded the contract by the Disposals Services Authority (DSA) of the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) to refit the two former British minehunters for delivery to the Lithuanians.

Finning Power Systems, the U.K.’s sole supplier of Caterpillar engines has signed an exclusive £2.5 million, five-year agreement with Serco, the international service company, to provide product support for all of the company’s U.K. and Ireland marine operations as well as all land-based generator sets located at over 400 facilities nationwide. Finning has been providing engine support to Serco for the past year on its “Future Provision of Maritime Services contract (FMPS),” a contract awarded to Serco by the U.K. Ministry of Defense for the provision of marine services at UK Royal Navy bases.

Finning Power Systems (Finning) has achieved Platinum status in maritime industry consulting firm, Germanischer Lloyd’s Marine Service Assessment. Finning, the sole supplier of Caterpillar equipment in the UK has received a Platinum award from global maritime industry consulting firm, Germanischer Lloyd (GL), for its high levels of service, delivery and support on marine diesel engines and generator sets. Following a two day assessment by GL, Finning achieved the highest score of any Caterpillar dealer to date, and became the third dealer in the EAME to be awarded Platinum status.

Offshore Marine Support’s marine survey vessel, the Mabel Alice, has a long and distinguished track record spanning more than 30 years which, as skipper, Andy Iannetta explains, has been made possible thanks to the durability and performance of its original Cat 3408 engines, supplied by Finning Power Systems (Finning). "Mabel Alice was built as an RNLI vessel and served as the replacement for the ill-fated Solomon Browne, which tragically lost all of its crew during the Penlee lifeboat disaster in Cornwall in December 1981.

To mark this year’s National Apprentice Week (6 – 10 February 2012), Finning Power Systems (Finning), the UK’s sole supplier of Caterpillar marine engines, is announcing that places are now available for its next intake of marine apprentices. The company is seeking young, enthusiastic talent to join its long-established marine apprenticeship scheme; a scheme that has been offering young people in the UK the opportunity to develop their engineering skills since the early 1960s.

Finning Power Systems (Finning), the UK’s sole supplier of Caterpillar engines, has signed a contract in excess of  $11.2M with BAE Systems for the supply of propulsion engines and associated machinery for the re-propulsion of eight Royal Navy HUNT Class Mine Counter-Measure Vessels (MCMVs). Following an agreement between the UK Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems, the vessels are to be refitted over a five-year period at Portsmouth naval base. Under the terms of the contract, Finning will supply the eight ships with sixteen Caterpillar C32 ACERT marine propulsion engines, gearboxes, mounting rafts, local operating panels and hydraulic systems that drive the existing bow thrusters.

The first ever unassisted crossing of the North Atlantic just south of the arctic circle in a small, open, single Caterpillar® engine powered, rib-type (Rigid Inflatable) power boat, has been completed successfully by a team of dedicated adventurers led by Bear Grylls. Travelling from Nova Scotia to John O’Groats via a route which passed just south of the Arctic Circle, the expedition, which has raised around £50,000 for the UK young persons’ charity, The Prince’s Trust, has been completed a week ahead of schedule despite encountering icebergs and horrendous weather conditions.

The first ever unassisted crossing of the North Atlantic just south of the arctic circle in a small, open, Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) has been completed by a team of dedicated adventurers led by Bear Grylls. Traveling from Nova Scotia to John O'Groats via a route which passed just south of the Arctic Circle, the expedition, which has raised around $80,000 for the UK young persons' charity, The Prince's Trust, has been completed a week ahead of schedule despite encountering icebergs and horrendous weather conditions. The expedition, which involved a five-man team sailing the open boat across 3,000 miles of the North Atlantic on a route that saw landfall in Halifax…

The latest additions of the Perkins Sabre offering are the new M85T, M92 and theM115T, which all continue the tradition of the Perkins Sabre marque by being robustly engineered for reliability and durability, and by offering owners and operators a reasonable cost-of-ownership. The turbo-charged models now start with the new three-liter four-cylinder M85T, which develops its maximum 85 hp at 2,600 rpm. This is followed by the four-liter M115T, which develops 115 hp at 2,400 rpm and, like the M92, is a replacement for the M90/4.236; the most popular Perkins Sabre ever built. Sabre engines manages the Perkins marine business worldwide.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of General Counsel has settled a multiple-violation shark case with the owner of Brooklyn-based Agger Fish Corporation. The fish dealer admitted to purchasing shark meat and fins without a federal permit, failing to report the vast majority of those purchases to federal authorities, and possessing fins from seven shark species that are prohibited from harvest under federal law, including basking and white sharks. he settlement agreement requires Agger Fish to pay a civil penalty of $750,000 and forfeit nearly 1,000 lbs. of dried shark fins, including more than 230 lbs. from prohibited species worth approximately $80,000. An additional $250,000 penalty was suspended.

Coast Guard Cutter Tybee arrived in San Diego, Ca. on Friday escorting the King Diamond II, a Honolulu-based, 82-ft. fishing vessel with 12 tons of prohibited shark fins onboard. A Coast Guard law enforcement detachment operating from a U.S. Navy ship boarded the King Diamond II approximately 350 miles southeast of Acapulco on the afternoon of August 13 and seized the vessel after discovering the illegal shark fins. The Coast Guard Cutter Chase arrived on scene on August 15 and took custody of the vessel, its crew and the catch. The Coast Guard law enforcement detachment returned to the Navy ship, which continued its patrol, and Chase began its escort of the King Diamond II toward San Diego.

Bear Grylls’ expedition relies on Caterpillar main propulsion power supplied by Finning (UK) Ltd. A world record breaking attempt, to cross the North Atlantic in a RIB power boat this month, will see a team of adventurers led by Bear Grylls, travelling from Nova Scotia to John O’Groats via a route which passes just south of the Arctic Circle. The expedition, which will raise around £50,000 for the U.K. young person’s charity The Prince’s Trust, has come to fruition following major contributions from a wide range of organisations and will, if successful, be a world first after a previous attempt, in 1997, resulted in an icebreaker needing to be employed to get a different intrepid team out of the polar icepack. The RIB, built by Ocean Dynamics, is a 35-ft.

Having built over 200 aluminum RHIB's, Silver Ships, Inc. / AMBAR Marine, has grabbed a foothold in the design and construction of aluminum RHIB's - all of which are constructed in accordance with SOLAS regulations. The U.S. Coast Guard operates 90 AMBAR Marine Non-Standard RHIB's and the U.S. Navy Sea Systems Command operates 40 AMBAR Marine Special Service RHIB's. Silver Ships, Inc./AMBAR Marine constructs approximately 43 vessels per year, 80 percent of which are RHIB's while the remaining 20% have been Patrol/Security boats, and various work boats ranging from 23-48 ft. (7-14.6 m). Upon discovery, in 1966 following extensive R&D, Lanness McKee, Sr. uncovered the secret to the most rugged, unsinkable marine construction in the market.

To recognize the "best of the best" Cat Marine Dealer service technicians, Caterpillar Engine Products Division developed the TEC Masters Top Gun Competition. Throughout the past year, 211 North American Cat Marine Dealer service technicians completed three training modules on electronic diesel engine systems. The 19 scoring the highest competed against each other in a national finals competition that included a written exam, hands-on diesel engine troubleshooting and a test on customer service skills. The day-long event provided contestants with 45 minutes to correctly troubleshoot twin "bugged" Cat electronic engines aboard a mid-sized sportfishing boat. An example of the problem they were faced with was low power. They needed to identify the problem and correct it.

The Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane returns home Saturday, June 7 at 1 p.m. from a 61-day patrol in support of maritime homeland security, counter-drug operations and alien migrant interdiction in the Florida Straits and Caribbean Sea. At the opening of Operation Iraqi Freedom and with the national threat level at orange, Harriet Lane was ordered to patrol the Florida Straits and positively identify shipping traffic approaching the southern U.S. through the well-traveled old Bahama channel. The immediate threat in the region was high-speed small boats (often called go-fasts), which ferried illegal Cuban migrants between Cuba and the Florida Keys 80 miles to the north.