STX France Lorient SAS has just signed a contract with STFMO (Société de Transports Fluvio-Maritimes de l’Ouest), a subsidiary of Sablières de l’Atlantique, for the construction of a sand dredger. This ship order is the first placed with STX Lorient since 2008 and comes during a significantly low period. Construction will begin at the start of 2011 with delivery of the ship to STFMO scheduled for mid-2012. Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday 23 July, First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama christened the US Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, a vessel that was detail designed and production engineered by Northrop Grumman using ShipConstructor CAD/CAM software. The ship is named in honour of Dorothy Constance Stratton, the first female commissioned officer in Coast Guard history and director of the Women’s Reserve during World War II. Read the rest of this entry »

Alnmaritec Limited, which is recognised as one of the UK’s leading specialist boat builders, is rapidly also gaining recognition in the market for oil spill response / pollution control vessels with two new boats already delivered in 2010. The most recent delivery was a vessel delivered to the Barbados National Terminal Company Ltd. for operation on their oil export facility at Oistins Bay on the South Coast of the island.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tognum subsidiary L’Orange GmbH today celebrates the production of its 500,000th injector - a new record for the manufacturer of highpressure injection systems for diesel and heavy-oil engines. “Against the background of ever more stringent emissions legislation, injection is of enormous strategic significance for engine manufacturers,” explained L’Orange CEO Dr. Ralph-Michael Schmidt (right). Read the rest of this entry »

In recent trials carried out in co-operation with the Spliethoff Group, the Wärtsilä Energopac solution delivered significant reductions in fuel costs. The trials involved eight 17,700 DWT vessels. The trials have shown that the Energopac solution saves close to 4% power in design condition. This represents annual fuel cost savings of more than USD 120,000 (at fuel prices in July 2010). Read the rest of this entry »

The Ship Manoeuvring Simulator Centre (SMS) of Trondheim, Norway is the first training centre to have its navigation course certified to DNV’s ice navigation standard. “Representing the world’s only competence standard in this area we are stressing the importance that the additional challenges in Arctic waters must be met with a highly skilled crew”, says Jon Rysst, DNV’s regional manager of Norway, Finland and Baltics. Read the rest of this entry »

OceanSaver announced that Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) has ordered ballast water management (BWM) systems for six VLCCs thus lifting the company’s order book to approximately NOK 280 million. The DSIC VLCC contract follows recent OceanSaver BWM system orders with Hyundai Heavy Industries for two Suezmax crude-oil tankers and six VLCCs at the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Company. Read the rest of this entry »

Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) announced the signing of a letter of intent with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., Ltd., Korea (DSME), for the building of a new Deep Water Construction Vessel. Jan Pieter Klaver, Chief Executive Officer of HMC: “With this new Deep Water Construction Vessel, HMC will reinforce its unique position in the deepwater pipelay market.” Read the rest of this entry »

On 12 July, the green light was given to launch the first Multi-Mission Frigate under construction for the Royal Moroccan Navy. The 105m ship has been constructed entirely on land at the Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS) yard at Vlissingen East, the Netherlands. Following its ‘direct launch’ , the vessel was towed to DSNS’s Vlissingen-City yard for fimal outfitting. Image courtesy Jorrit Lousberg. Read the rest of this entry »

Retail facilities on P&O Cruises Australia’s cruise ship Pacific Dawn have been upgraded after a major logistics exercise by Southampton marine outfitters Trimline. Trimline Sales and Marketing Director Mike Oliver: “It was one of the biggest logistical exercises that we have completed and getting 40 personnel and 14 containers of equipment to the other side of the world required considerable planning.” Read the rest of this entry »