Voith Delivers First U.S.-Built VSP Units
The first two American-made Voith Schneider Propeller (VSP) units have been delivered and installed in the Rodanthe ferry.Rodanthe is a ferry to be operated by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and used in its service to the Outer Banks, a string of barrier islands between North Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean.“With the new VSP units installed, the Rodanthe will offer years of smooth, efficient service to the islands. By linking steering and propulsion together, the VSP allows for fast response and precision movement in even the roughest of waters. This helps the operators pilot their ferry better while also keeping passengers and cargo safe thanks to the VSP’s superior handling in comparison to other propulsion systems available on the market…
Trelleborg Expands Its Marine Operations in India
Trelleborg’s marine systems operation has relocated and almost doubled the size of its engineering and design center of excellence in a new 1,000 square meter premises in Ahmedabad, India. Since 2009, the marine center of excellence has provided detailed engineering design, modelling and analysis for projects across multiple operations within Trelleborg. The new premises represents a significant expansion to Trelleborg’s in-house engineering capability, which includes Finite Element Analysis (FEA)…
Metal Shark Awarded $192M Coast Guard Contract
Louisiana Manufacturer will Replace Coast Guard's Small Response Boat Fleet. Metal Shark Boats has been awarded a contract to replace the U.S. Coast Guard's fleet of Response Boat - Small (RB-S) vessels. Up to 470 boats will be delivered across the Coast Guard fleet, with an additional 20 boats will be available to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, with another ten slated for purchase by the U.S. Navy. The $192 million contract is one of the largest boat buys of its kind for the Coast Guard, and provides a significant economic boost to the state of Louisiana.
Trelleborg Marine Systems Centralizes in India
The regional offices of Trelleborg Marine Systems have in-house engineering capability, provide initial specification and front end applications engineering. The more detailed engineering design, modelling and analysis engineering for projects are sent to the Indian centre of excellence for progressing forward. Scott Smith, Regional Director for Trelleborg's Asia Pacific region, said: "We have very high expectations for the performance of the improved engineering and design centre in Ahmedabad.
NASA Tools Could Cross Over to Shipbuilding
HyperSizer is a structural sizing and design optimization software tool that works in a feedback loop with finite element analysis (FEA) to automatically search for solutions that minimize weight and maximize manufacturability. Although it can also be used on metallic structures, HyperSizer is particularly applicable to complex composite materials, providing the capability to optimize the architecture of large structures—like space vehicles, aircraft, railcars, or even ships—ply-by-ply and element-by-element.
Deep Down - $11.1m Contract
Deep Down, Inc. announced that it has received an executed $11.1m contract from Delba Drilling International Cooperatie U.A. to supply and install the deepwater marine drilling riser flotation system for the new-build Delba III semisubmersible drilling rig. The original letter of intent, initially estimated at $9m, was received May 23, 2008. The increase in the value of the contract is reflective of engineering changes to satisfy additional lift requirements. The Delba III semisubmersible drilling rig is rated to drill in 7,874 ft of water and is readily upgradeable to 8,858 ft. The Delba III has long-term contracts to drill in Brazilian waters. The rig set of flotation for the Delba III is scheduled to be delivered by early 2010.
