Orkney Islands News

Earlier this month Sanmar Shipyards delivered a pair of Robert Allan Ltd. designed terminal support/escort tugs to Orkney Islands Council Marine Services, in Scotland. The unique and historical names Odin of Scapa and Thor of Scapa were chosen by a widely supported, local voting exercise launched by the Council in November of 2019. The two 32-meter newbuilds are replacing two of the three tugs currently operated by the owners.The RAstar 3200-SX tugs are purposely designed with…

Turkish tug boat builder Sanmar Shipyards said that it has launched Odin of Scapa, first of the Orkney Islands Council (OIC) two new tugs, at its shipyard at Altinova in Turkey."The launch was on schedule and the program is currently within budget," informed the shipbuilder.Following a period of final fitting out, equipment commissioning and then sea trials the purpose-built tug will commence a three week passage from Turkey and is due to arrive at its new home in Scapa Flow in Orkney at the end of the second week in May.The second tug – Thor of Scapa – is ahead of schedule and is due to arrive in Orkney some 2 months after its sister ship.OIC’s Head of Marine Services…

BMT Specialized Ship Design has recently designed an 85m catamaran vehicle-passenger ferry built by Strategic Marine Vietnam, for family-owned Scottish ferry operator Pentland Ferries. The vessel is the latest in a series of collaborations between Strategic Marine and BMT, which now includes a variety of ferries and the extensive portfolio of windfarm support vessels, with the partnership continuing to expand. The MV Alfred, delivered on Thursday, August 29th, was named after the father of Andrew Banks…

Canada's oldest privately owned consulting Naval Architectural firm Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) announced that Sanmar Shipyards in Turkey started the construction of a new series of RAstar 3200-SX tugs in March of 2019.The tugs which are named by Sanmar after a large river in Turkey as the Kocaçay series, are exclusively designed by Robert Allan Ltd. for construction by Sanmar and are key additions to the line up of Sanmar built tugs.This wide range of tug starts at the highly capable 15 m RAscal 1500 line-handling tugs up to 34 m long RAstar 3400 escort tugs all finished to impeccable quality standards. The first two vessels are currently…

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises presented the Hanseatic nature for the first time in Hamburg on Saturday (May 04, 2019).The provider of adventure and classic cruising with luxury voyages to Polar Regions, Caribbean, Central America, Europe & more said that Hanseatic nature is the first of three, structurally- identical ships in the cruise line’s new expedition class. The ship left Hamburg on May 5, 2019 for its inaugural cruise, which will take it to the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, finishing in Bergen. This summer, the ship will visit the Arctic.The Hanseatic nature is a small, manoeuvrable and expedition ship, to be positioned in the 5-star segment. Its construction, design and routes revolve around providing a true expedition experience and getting as close as possible to nature.

International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN body, announced that a major five-year project to help protect marine biodiversity has been kick-started at a global workshop at IMO Headquarters in London, United Kingdom (18-20 March).The IMO-executed GloFouling Partnerships project will address bioinvasions by organisms which can build up on ships’ hulls and other marine structures. The project is a collaboration between the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IMO.Representatives from 12 lead partnering countries, four regional organizations, IOC-UNESCO, the World Ocean Council and…

Interferry CEO Mike Corrigan reflects on the global trade association’s hectic year of involvement in three key areas of concern.Readers with long memories will have a strong sense of déjà vu when I say that safety, security and the environment are at the forefront of Interferry’s networking and lobbying mission right now. I highlighted the very same issues in this column last January, so let me explain why I’m not entirely repeating myself.It’s a fact of life that a lot can happen in a short space of time.

BMT Group subsidiary BMT Nigel Gee (BMT) said it has secured a new project to design an 85-meter steel-hulled catamaran RoPax ferry for Strategic Marine, a subsidiary of Triyards Holding Limited. The ferry is for Scottish ferry operator Pentland Ferries, and BMT will be responsible for concept through to production design, working closely with Strategic Marine. The vessel will replace Pentalina that has been operating on the route from the Scottish mainland to the Orkney Islands since 2008.

ExxonMobil, Babcock International Group, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), Calor and Orkney Islands Council have signed an agreement to collaborate in the “Caledonia LNG ” project. The aim is to develop the infrastructure, storage and technical support needed to enable safe liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations for customers in the north of the UK and North Sea, including bunkering. The parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 22 November to investigate opportunities to supply LNG for marine and land-based applications. ExxonMobil will explore the potential for its global marine network to deliver LNG bunker fuel to customers in the region as well as providing technical support and expertise to enable safe LNG bunkering operations.

Aiming to develop the infrastructure, storage and technical support needed to enable safe liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations for customers in the north of the U.K. and North Sea, including bunkering, partners ExxonMobil, Babcock International Group, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), Calor and Orkney Islands Council have signed an agreement to collaborate in the Caledonia LNG project. The parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on November 22 to investigate opportunities to supply LNG for marine and land-based applications.

1907 - A U.S. Marine Corps detachment from the patrol gunboat Paducah serves ashore at Laguna, Honduras, to protect Americans during a war between Honduras and Nicaragua. 1942 - The U.S. Navys Task Force 99, which consists of USS Wasp, USS Tuscaloosa and USS Wichita, plus four destroyers, sail from the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, as part of the mixed U.S.-British force Distaff, to provide cover for Russian convoy at Iceland. 1944 - German torpedo boats attack U.S. Navy LST convoy in Lyme Bay during Operation Tiger training for the Normandy Invasion.

U.K. Royal Navy bomb disposal experts have found a German torpedo from World War II at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. The torpedo was found on the seabed March 1 after a recent routine sonar survey on behalf of Orkney Islands Council. It was also filmed using an underwater remote-operated vehicle (ROV). Footage showed a seven-meter-long suspected torpedo and Northern Diving Group (NDG) were soon alerted to the incident. “There is currently no threat to shipping or the public and so we have marked the location so that we can return in the near future and safely dispose of it,” Hampshire said.

Shipping vessels have been advised not to anchor where an object thought to be a torpedo was discovered on the seabed of Scapa Flow, Scotland. On Saturday, February 27, Orkney Vessel Traffic Services informed the U.K. Coastguard that a 7-meter torpedo-like object had been found during a routine seabed sonar survey carried out by SULA Diving on behalf of Orkney Islands Council Marine Services. Video footage was then captured using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which has now been forwarded to the relevant authorities. U.K. Coastguard has informed the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team and the Senior Coastal Operations Officer based in Orkney.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker Arctic Princess is expected to transfer a cargo to the Excelerate off Scotland's coast this week, a spokesman at Orkney Islands Council said. The transfer between the two vessels while at anchor in the stretch of water known as the Scapa Flow had been planned for last weekend, but was delayed due to unfavourable weather conditions, the spokesman said. This is the fourth ship-to-ship transfer in the Scapa Flow following previous transfers in 2007, 2010 and 2013. Reporting by Sarah McFarlane

An exclusion zone was set up around Hatston Pier earlier as the offshore support vessel Subsea Viking which was tied up alongside at the time caught fire at Hatson Pier in Orkney Islands in Scotland’s Orkney Island. The fire started from the diesel generator due to short circuit and extended to the deck. In fire fighting was engaged a coastguard tug, which succeeded to extinguish it for about an hour, but continued to pour water over the support vessel Subsea Viking for half day attempting to cool gas cylinders stored on the deck and to prevent explosion. During the accident there were no injured people and no water pollution, but the quay was closed for a day and forced the ferry due to call to be diverted to a neighboring facility.

Orkney is set for a multimillion pound tourism bonanza with a record-breaking year of cruise liners due to visit. The number of cruise ships visiting Orkney will top the 80 mark for the first time this year, says a Orkney Islands Council press release. So far, 83 port calls by liners are expected in the islands – four more than in 2014. In total, the ships have the capacity to carry more than 80,000 passengers and 25,000 crew. More bookings are still expected for 2015. Michael Morrison, business development manager for Council's marine services, said that they all set for a record-breaking year for cruise ship visits. Orkney is seeing more visits by bigger vessels, resulting in greater overall passenger numbers for Orkney.

Birkenhead shipyard and engineering services company Cammell Laird said it has developed an advanced shipyard environmental package for ferries, following its strongest year of trading in the sector. Cammell Laird said it has docked 24 ferries between 2013 and the beginning of 2014 and, in addition, has carried out a further 24 afloat repairs for ferry operators. During 2013 Cammell Laird repaired, built and converted almost 250,000 gross tons of ferry and Ro-Ro ships for a wide range of owners. Already in 2014 it has docked and repaired ferries of 150,000 gross tons.

The sale is expected to complete within the next few months, subject to closing conditions. About Tidal Generation Ltd. 1.    Rolls-Royce will sell TGL to Alstom UK Holdings Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alstom. 2.    TGL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Holdings plc that is managed and reported in the Energy business segment. 3.    In September 2010 TGL’s 500kWe tidal stream turbine concept demonstrator unit was deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) offshore test site, off the Orkney Islands in Scotland, and generated over 200 megawatt hours of electricity supply to the grid. It was the first EMEC located project to receive Renewable Obligation Certificates.

British tidal energy company, Marine Current Turbines Ltd, announced that Siemens is increasing its share in the company to 45%. “With this increase in its stake, Siemens is strengthening its activities in ocean power generation. We will actively shape the commercialization process of innovative marine current power plants,” said Michael Axmann, CFO of the newly founded Solar & Hydro Division within Siemens’ Energy Sector. Marine Current Turbines (MCT) has evolved from a pioneer to a technology leader in horizontal axis marine current turbines and now has 25 employees. In February 2010 Siemens acquired a minor stake in the Bristol-based company and thus entered the marine tidal current market. Financial details of today’s announcement are not disclosed.

Businesses will have the chance to learn more about the marine energy opportunities for the Orkney and Pentland Firth waters at an event in Caithness on Tuesday 5 April. Organised jointly by North Scotland Industries Group (NSIG), Caithness Chamber of Commerce, Orkney Islands Council, The Crown Estate and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the event is open to members and non-members and will be held at North Highland College, Thurso from 10am to 4.30pm. John Thurso MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross will be the keynote speaker.

The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said that a general cargo vessel reported that it lost 20 empty containers overboard in rough seas east of the Orkney Islands.