Qa News

Frank Manning has quickly risen through the ranks during his eight years in the shipyard business, today serving as president and COO at Diversified Marine, Inc. (DMI) in Portland, Ore. Crucial along the way has been a passion for the business itself and the people that make it all possible.“The first day I walked in a shipyard I knew that I was in the right industry,” Manning said. “DMI has always been a relationship-based business. All of our customers are close friends, and we have relationships that are second to none,” he said.

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. (ESG) said it has signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Louisiana’s Bayou Metal Supply to provide material and labor in support of the production of the U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) Program. ESG is the prime contractor of the OPC program and landed this exclusive materials and labor relationship to strengthen its bid for Stage II of the program which will be awarded in early 2022.“As the prime contractor for the Offshore Patrol Cutter Program…

The year 2020 has presented a litany of challenges to the safe movement of global project cargo. While heavy lifts and engineered cargo movements always present challenges from a rigging and execution standpoint, we have also faced exceptional challenges on other fronts. These have included cancelled vessel bookings, port facilities as well as prefabrication/modulization yard closures, lack of vessel and facility access as well as travel restrictions. At Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS)…

Technology group Wärtsilä has launched of its global Smart Support Center service. This service is aimed at improving asset uptime via remote access for customers of Wärtsilä’s Voyage business, thereby substantially reducing the need for physical service attendance. Operational support is delivered via virtual service engineers. Smart Support is designed to maintain all Wärtsilä Voyage equipment, including ship handling solutions, such as ECDIS and charts, simulation and training systems, and ship traffic control solutions.

Offshore wind farm vessels provider Fred. Olsen Windcarrier announced that its jack-up vessel Blue Tern has been contracted to finish installing the remaining 11 Senvion 6.2M152 turbines on the Trianel Windpark Borkum II (TWB II).“We are looking forward to working with our new client and to get the chance to support the finalization of the Trianel wind farm with our jack-up vessel Blue Tern. Blue Tern is ideal for this project due to her capacity”, said Kristina Pind Løvgren, Head of Nautical, Fred. Olsen Windcarrier.Kristina added: "Our related company, Global Wind Service, is already on the project and delivers technicians, QA and Site Management for the installation and mechanical completion of the turbines.

Merseyside UK shipyard and engineering services company Cammell Laird has appointed a new quality assurance manager to forge closer relationships with suppliers and bring best practice from other industries to his new role.Gordon Maxwell is the new QA manager heading up a team of 19 striving to deliver the company vision of getting it right first time.He said he is looking to take a more proactive approach to quality assurance as he draws on his experience of working for the likes of television parts manufacturer Philips Components and central heating manufacturer Baxi.

Cimco Marine AB, the maker of OXE Diesel, the world's first diesel outboard engine in the high-power segment, announced that Per Wigren has been appointed chief technology officer (CTO).The Swedish company said that Per Wigren assumed the role of CTO at Cimco Marine AB on July 1, 2019. Per has previous experience from R&D, design, project management, production, QA and Sales and marketing.He is a business-oriented M.Sc. in mechanical engineering and naval architecture with a genuine interest in demanding technology and business development, it said.Per has a background of developing new products and further improve existing products.

The Board of Directors of Russian tanker shipping company PAO Novoship has elected Alexey Khaydukov as the company’s new President.Khaydukov replaces the firm’s previous President, Yury Tsvetkov, who stepped down from his role on August 8, 2018, following his appointment as a Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia, Head of the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport.Prior to his appointment, Khaydukov was Managing Director of SCF Management Services (Novorossiysk) Ltd.

Victaulic’s forward-thinking vertical integration remains, at the same time, solidly connected to a rich and varied past. It is still common to hear waterfront stakeholders refer to alternative pipe connection systems as temporary or simply as ‘a new development.’ While none of that could be further from the truth, the education of the marine community as to the merits of these products as an alternative to traditional flanges continues. These products – like Victaulic’s market offerings – are indeed mainstream parts of the marine sector, their use limited only by the imagination of designers, builders and operators who constantly find new applications to improve their bottom line. Since the 1920s, Victaulic couplings have demonstrated their value in countless maritime applications.

Anything but unconventional, Viega piping products and systems provide uncommon time savings and safer repairs, leading to a better bottom line. The maritime industry, over time, has been unusually resistant to change in many aspects of how it operates. Arguably, the ‘biggest’ advances on the water spanning a five decade period leading up to the beginning of the new millennium could be measured in terms of deadweight tonnage and/or the length of a particular class of hulls. Nowhere is that reality more evident than in the shipyard, and looking at what equipment and hardware is used to build and repair marine vessels – now and in the past. Marine piping systems are a perfect example.

Louisiana-based shipbuilder Metal Shark has announced an expansion project now underway at its waterfront shipbuilding complex in Franklin, La. To accommodate increased production needs, Metal Shark is erecting a fully-enclosed 200’ x 80’ large vessel assembly building to enable weather-independent construction of vessels up to 180’ in length. In addition, a new standalone office building will provide over 4,000 square foot of space for the yard’s executive, engineering, project management and administrative personnel.

Hydrocomp’s ProCad facilitates in-house Process Control of Propeller Design and Manufacture. Maritime Tactical Systems Inc. (MARTAC) is a Florida-based company building next-generation unmanned vessels for military applications. In preparation for the “Rim of the Pacific” (RIMPAC) military exercises in Pearl Harbor this last July, MARTAC needed a new propeller design for their MANTAS series high-speed vessels. Unfortunately, their current supplier was not meeting delivery schedules for the high-quality surface-piercing propellers that they need…

The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) is hosting a Security Seminar in London on Thursday, November 10, which will focus on human factors in modern maritime security. Sponsored by Subsea 7 and Technip, the event is a continuation of IMCA's new series of mini-seminars – niche events tailored to tackle specific topics. “The day-long seminar at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in South Kensington will provide an invaluable opportunity for all concerned to understand the impact of human factors on security in key areas of the offshore marine contracting industry – both in the oil and gas, and renewable energy sectors,” explained Richard Benzie, IMCA’s Technical Director. “It will cover both the global risk to people, and the internal cyber security threat.

Private partnerships, executed perfectly – that’s West Coast boatbuilding in today’s challenging business climates. P3 Partnerships: no, we’re not talking about infrastructure funding. But, in our P3 version, boatbuilding in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska is alive and well, because of it. Long-standing enterprises and relative newcomers are all experiencing an uptick in projects. Here, as part of our annual MN100 top company profiles, we take a look at how three organizations have either merged and/or partnered with complementary companies to expand skills…

Kongsberg Maritime has delivered new fleet and vessel management functionality through a recent customized software update across Dampskibsselskabet NORDEN A/S’ fleet and shore offices. The software roll-out took place during January 2016 and included updates to vessel and shore based modules covering maintenance, spare parts, information sharing, procurement and budgeting. The updated software was developed in close co-operation with NORDEN, an independent Danish shipping company operating a large global fleet of dry cargo vessels and product tankers.

French company BIO-UV possesses more than 15 years of experience in UV water treatment for drinking water, wastewater, industrial processes, and has mastered the design of UV reactors to ensure performance suitable for the technical environment. The company designs and produces the UV systems directly in its factory in France, ISO 9001:2000 certified since 2010, and has gained many other international certifications, including NSF, ONORM, UL, IMO statutory approval, BV class approval and more.

Secure, robust, flexible, scalable and future-proof, the new ESAB WeldCloud online data management platform works with ESAB’s Aristo Mig semi-automatic, Aristo Mig 5000iR robotic and LAF/TAF sub arc welding systems. Users can purchase these systems WeldCloud-ready, and ESAB can retrofit most existing systems with a communication module. Much more than data recording systems, Weld Cloud integrates with other customer systems (ERP, MDM, MRP, QA, etc.) and enables a wealth of analytics. Using any device with a web browser, users access applications and dashboards with functionality tailored for the job needs of different personnel: operations managers, quality managers, engineers, welders, maintenance staff, training supervisors and others.

Collisions at sea have always been a major risk for seafarers and while the exact numbers of incidents that take place across the globe each year are hard to quantify, the number is significant. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) reports on average six collisions between merchant vessels in British waters every year and for every collision reported to the appropriate authorities there will be many more near-misses that go unreported. Paul Morter, Business Line Manager…

Global Diving & Salvage has announced the addition of Global Technical Services (GTS) to its three core services: marine construction, marine casualty response and offshore support. GTS is offering a wide range of Non Destructive Testing (NDT) instruction services to industry clients in coordination with Alaska Technical. Courses will offered to energy company, aviation, rail and infrastructure clients and will include visual, magnetic particle, dye penetrant, ultrasonic, radiography, radiographic film interpretation and eddy current courses.

BMT Asia Pacific (BMT), a subsidiary of BMT Group, the leading international maritime design, engineering and risk management consultancy, has opened its first ever environmental testing facility in Jakarta, Indonesia. Certified to ISO17025 by Komite Akreditasi Nasional (KAN), Indonesia’s national accreditation body, the new laboratory provides high-quality technical testing services for BMT’s Oil and Gas clients including: Noise, ambient air quality, water quality, toxicity and emissions. Previously outsourced, these technical testing services have been brought in-house to better support BMT’s world-class environmental assessment and consenting offering which includes statutory compliance, environmental impact assessments and decommissioning studies.

Greencarrier Freight Services’ business has strengthened its position in the energy and project forwarding markets by achieving management (ISO 9001) and environmental (ISO 14001) certification for its Energy & Project Business Unit. “As a new and relatively small company in the oil and gas and project logistics industries, we have to produce a level of quality, personal service and knowledge that exceeds what the competition is doing,” said Georg Skivik Moltu, Director Energy & Projects and Head of HSE & QA, Greencarrier.

LNG and LPG carrier tanks hold both a source of income and a potential source of danger. To avert the danger, inert gas systems (IGS) have been required on all new tankers over 20,000 dwt since 1978 — a move that has surely saved untold lives. Yet with increasing demand, tighter delivery schedules, the constant need to optimize onboard footprints and numerous other factors, Alfa Laval believes IGS should go beyond fire safety to protect against other disasters that chisel away at the potential income for both shipyards and shipowners.

Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine (N-KOM) has achieved another milestone with the keel laying of its first liftboat newbuild project, awarded in July 2014 by long-time client Gulf Drilling International (GDI). The project marks the shipyard’s first foray into the offshore jack-up newbuild market and is also the first such project to be undertaken in Qatar. Once completed in 2015, the liftboat will support GDI’s growing offshore fleet of jack-up rigs. Senior management from N-KOM…