Houston Facility News

Amogy, developer of emission-free ammonia power solutions, on Tuesday announced it will open a new manufacturing facility in the energy and maritime hub city Houston.The Brooklyn-headquartered company said it will invest more than $40 million to renovate a 53,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that was formerly used to produce oil and gas equipment. The site is located within four acres of space that Amogy leases.Set to be operational in early 2024, the facility will be used for the assembly manufacturing of Amogy’s “powerpack” clean energy solution…

In 2001, George Burkley, a maritime educator, wrote a look-ahead article for Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, presenting the benefits and real-world payoffs from using simulators in maritime education. In the late 1990s, new tech and software advances were creating scenario programs that moved a student closer and closer to the realities demanded by, well, reality. “The future is here, and we are ready to simulate it,” Burkley concluded.Burkley is now executive director at the Maritime Pilots Institute in Covington, La.

Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. said it has been awarded a contract from Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) for the design, development and manufacture of the auxiliary propulsion unit (APU) on the U.S. Navy’s future guided missile frigate (FFG 62). Thrustmaster will be supplying the complete APU package consisting of the 1MW retractable azimuthing thruster, controls, prime mover electric motor, variable frequency drive and steering and retraction power unit. The APU package will…

With much of North America still reeling from the pandemic, HGG Profiling Equipment continues to grow, responding to immediate and anticipated customer demand for profile-cutting machinery. Since opening its new 6,500-square-foot facility in Houston in this spring 2020, HGG has added an area manager to its sales and support team, three new customer service and support specialists, and two new service technicians.HGG recently expanded its North American sales coverage by adding Todd Wellens as Area Manager for eastern and midwestern US and Canada…

Maersk has signed a five year contract with BP to provide offshore oil rig training at the virtual reality training center the company is currently building in Houston, the companies announced today. Maersk Training will provide BP with advanced training programs for offshore drilling teams at the new center, located in north Houston, which Maersk says will be operational by the end of 2015. BP will train employees and contractors at the facility, which offers what BP calls an "immersive simulation environment" and is based on the design of the company's Denmark offshore simulation complex…

Thrustmaster of Texas, a manufacturer of commercial marine propulsion products, signed a deal last week to expand its Houston-based production facility by 100,000 sqft (93,000 sq m). Thrustmaster said the multimillion dollar investment has been in the making for two years and is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2015 by Third Coast General Contractors. The project includes plans to double the size of the product testing area, add an onsite paint and blast facility, develop a new fabrication shop…

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation announces plans to open a new sales and business development office in Houston, Texas, U.S. Trelleborg said it will establish a local “feet on the ground” presence in the area and confirms the company’s commitment to the global oil and gas industry. Citing growth in the region as a strategic priority, Trelleborg Marine Systems will relocate its USA President, Faiyaz Kolsawala, to operate from Houston as well as a number of its global sales team, including a specialist docking and mooring representative and a dedicated oil and gas transfer and vessel technology salesperson to provide a closer relationship with customers in the area and the reassurance of a face-to-face presence.

Oiltanking Partners, L.P. says it has expanded its terminal agreement with Enterprise Products Partners, L.P. to further increase exports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at the Partnership's terminal on the Houston Ship Channel. With an expected completion date of year-end 2015, the expanded LPG export terminal will have total loading capacity in excess of 16 million barrels per month of low-ethane propane and/or butane. Under the expanded agreement with Enterprise, the Partnership will provide additional dock capacity to load LPG vessels and land for Enterprise to expand its export facility.

ABS, a provider of classification services to the global offshore industry, is establishing an office in Houston's Energy Corridor near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Highway 6. The new facility will co-locate members from ABS engineering, project management, technology and business management, allowing ABS to better serve its client base in this significant energy research and development hub. "ABS recognizes that our customer base in the offshore industry demands on-site support with best-in-class services," says ABS Chairman Christopher J. Wiernicki.

Have you ever wanted to tour the largest dedicated thruster factory in the world located in Houston, Texas? Now you can. A peek behind the curtain of Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. was typically available for customers and open day events but now this experience is available online. Thrustmaster of Texas, working with a partner of Google’s Business Photos has developed a virtual tour showcasing the scale of operation underway in the 200,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The tour highlights the scope of the azimuth thrusters in the assembly area…

Delta Rigging & Tools recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the start of construction on a 27,000-square-foot multipurpose building located on 3.7 acres of land in Pasadena, Texas. Representatives from Capital Commercial Investments, Tomorrow Planning, Investment & Development Ventures, & Structura participated in the ceremony, along with some of the Delta Rigging & Tools’ employees and executives. "Today we take an important step in providing support for our growing business with this year’s most eagerly anticipated project at Delta Rigging & Tools…

The Resource Power Group appointed Chimas Sylve as Spare Parts Coordinator at its new Deer Park facility near the Houston Ship Channel. “Chimas brings with him knowledge of not only the MaK engine line, but also MaK gas engines as well as the entire Caterpillar engine line,” said Mike Kriner, Branch Manager for the Houston facility. “Our Houston facility is less than a year old, but is already growing rapidly both in medium speed engine and turbocharger services,” said Mike. Previously Mr. Sylve spent nine years at the parent company, Louisiana Cat, where he provided both parts and service support for the Caterpillar line of engines including the MaK gas and diesel products.

The Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) signed a contract to purchase new equipment for its Center for Maritime Education in Houston, Texas, initiating a multiphase upgrade to SCI’s simulator technology located in one of the largest petrochemical complexes in the world. The upgrades introduce a path for future groundbreaking safety and security training. The first phase of SCI’s technology improvement places the Houston simulator on par with upgrades installed in 2009 at SCI’s Center for Maritime Education in Paducah, Ky.

Jeppesen Marine has donated its Workboat Navigator software packages to two Seamen’s Church Institute’s (SCI) Centers for Maritime Education for use in mariner training courses. Both the Paducah, Ky. and Houston, Texas facilities received four licenses to run on the installed simulators, plus an additional program for the lab computer. Founded in 1834, SCI’s education facilities provide navigational training to mariners through simulator-based facilities. The Paducah education center is used for training inland mariners, and the Houston facility trains inland, coastal and deep-sea mariners. The institute is recognized by the U.S. government, including Congress, U.S.

GE Marine Engines has been supplying integrated propulsion systems for a variety of commercial and military marine customers for more than 25 years. GE's complete line of aeroderivative gas turbines includes the LM500 (6,000 hp), LM1600 (20,000 hp), the LM2500 (33,600 hp), the LM2500+ (40,500 hp) and the LM6000 (57,330 hp). For instance, the first gas turbine-powered fast ferry in Greece entered service in the summer of 2001. This Corsaire 14000-class monohull is powered by two GE LM2500+ gas turbines in a combined diesel and gas turbine (CODAG) arrangement with two diesel engines. The ship was built for operator Maritime Company of Levos (NEL), Piraeus, Greece, by Alstom Leroux Naval Shipyard in France.

Seaman’s Church Institute (SCI), recently opened a simulator training facility in Houston. SCI's third facility represents state-of-the-art technology as well as world-class instruction for professional mariners. After attending the Center's first training class in April, Kirby Instructor John Moyle said, "The simulation was so real that when they stopped the simulator, I actually lurched forward." Moyle has over 30 years of experience as a captain and is now an instructor. "Training is more than increased efficiency. A well-trained crew saves lives and protects the environment," said Captain Eric Larsson, Director of the Center for Maritime Education that also includes SCI training facilities in New York City and Paducah, Ky.

Thrustmaster of Texas has expanded their Houston manufacturing facility by over 65 percent. The expansion, which was completed this week, now gives Thrustmaster over 50,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space, in addition to over 10,000 sq. ft. of administrative, design, and research space on their six-acre Northwest Houston location. The expansion, which was started with the official groundbreaking and pouring of slab in September, took five months to complete without any interruption in ongoing work. “We were in the middle of a huge portable dynamic positioning system job building eight 1,000 hp thrusters and hydraulic power units while the slab was being poured and the new roof was being added.