Metal Plates News

HII’s (NYSE: HII) Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division hosted a keel authentication ceremony for Virginia-class submarine Arkansas (SSN 800).The ship’s sponsors are the six women of the historic group known as the Little Rock Nine, the first African American students to attend all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas during desegregation. NNS honored all nine members, including the three men, during Saturday’s ceremony.The Little Rock Nine made history in 1957 with their response to the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v.

The fiercely competitive domestic boatbuilding industry looks for any advantage in the day-to-day battle for bottom line efficiencies. ‘XR Technologies’ offer an edge to shipyards as they grow their workforce.In the shipyard, skills such as welding and coating are in high demand. The ability to lay down a proper bead, or perfect the mil build on a ship’s hull can make the difference between a successful project and a failed inspection. XR technologies are valuable compliments to traditional training programs (XR is an umbrella category for virtual reality [VR]…

Damen ARNO Dunkerque, part of the Damen Shiprepair & Conversion Group, has given a new set of feet to what they are caling the world’s first purpose-built offshore wind turbine installation and maintenance vessel, the 2003-built MPI Resolution*.The yard has carried out upgrades on the feet or spudcans of all the jack-up vessel’s six legs to give them the additional strength they need to withstand the huge loads to which they are subjected when spudding on rocky seabeds. The operation…

The theme of the 4th International RoboBoat Competition, sponsored by The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Foundation and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), was “The Four Elements.” Teams of students designed and built autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) that faced challenges involving earth, air, fire and water. The competition was held at The Founders Inn and Spa, Virginia Beach, VA, June 8-12, 2011 and included 15 teams representing colleges and universities around the world.

Despite the quality of protection and commitment to maintenance, a certainty in the marine business is that metal structures eventually corrode and wear. Whether it is 25 months or 25 years, most all marine structures will enter a shipyard for some quantity of steel renewal throughout its life. While the process of removing and replacing steel, particularly decks, is at best a manual and laborious process, Intelligent Engineering (IE) is touting its innovative SPS Overlay structural re-instatement process as a means to help shipowners and ship repairers to save valuable time and money. What is SPS? SPS, invented by IE in association with BASF, is a patented system whereby two metal plates are bonded to a solid elastomer core.

The Intracoastal Waterway is clear and officials have begun an inquiry they hope will explain how a huge piece of debris ended up in the channel. So far, no one has been able to identify the massive, whale-shaped bundle of wood pulled from the waterway. It is suspected of damaging the cruise ship Spirit of Nantucket recently, forcing its captain to ground the vessel to prevent it from sinking. The debris measures 40 feet in length and is 7 to 8 feet tall, and is about 13 feet wide. It appears to be fashioned mostly of solid timber and has the remnants of metal plates and spikes in it. Worms have left artistic channels on its surfaces, and other marine life appears to have made it a home.

Lloyd’s Register, in conjunction with Intelligent Engineering, Ltd, has developed a set of provisional Rules for new construction and ship repair using steel sandwich construction. Entitled Provisional Rules for the Application of Sandwich Panel Construction to Ship Structure, the Rules were approved in early 2006 by a specially convened sub-committee of Lloyd’s Register’s Technical Committee, comprising independent experts drawn from across the industry. Sandwich Plate System (SPS) is a technology created by UK-based Intelligent Engineering Ltd in which two metal plates are bonded to a solid elastomer core. The elastomer provides continuous support to the plates and stops local plate buckling, eliminating the need for stiffeners.

A&P Birkenhead has won a three-ship contract from P&O European Ferries for passenger/car ferries operating across the Irish Sea. The ships involved are the 14,426 grt European Pioneer, the 18,653 grt European Envoy, and the 12,879 grt European Leader. All three ferries will be drydocked over the coming weeks, the first due to arrive in Birkenhead on July 21. The principle work on all three is deck renewals using the "Sandwich Plate System", patented by UK's Intelligent Engineering. Other scheduled repair work will also be carried out, with the yard remaining very flexible over the requirements of P&O. Intelligent Engineering (IE) has designed and patented the revolutionary technology called Sandwich Plate System (SPS).