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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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.  (more…)

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.” (more…)

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. (more…)

Imtech is observing a recovery of the technological maritime market in the Far East and Singapore. Imtech draws this conclusion based on of the growing intake of orders in this region over the past few months. In this period, Imtech has obtained new orders representing a total value of EUR 36 million. Imtech CEO René van der Bruggen:”The maritime economic climate is recovering there.” (more…)

STX Norway Offshore AS and partner PJMR Empreendimentos Ltda have through its subsidiary Estaileiro Promar S.A entered into contracts for building eight LPG carriers at the new shipyard in Brazil. The value of the contract is approximately million USD 536. On 9 July, 2010 Estaleiro Promar S.A. signed the contracts to build the LPG carriers for Transpetro, the shipping arm of the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras. (more…)

The Swedish Coast Guard is to install Volvo Penta’s Inboard Performance System (IPS) in an entirely new type of vessel - KBV 312 - for surveillance, border control, fishing control, sea rescue and safety at sea activities. Using the IPS system, the Coast Guard will reduce the fuel consumption of the five new vessels by about 30%. The first KBV 312 vessel in the series is scheduled for completion during autumn 2011. (more…)

Having successfully completed her second sea trials, the seismic/research vessel Oceanic Vega for Eidesvik Seismic Vessels AS, will be officially named today. The vessel will enter into a twelve-year contract with CGG Veritas - one of the world’s leading geophysical exploration specialists - with  five year options. Built by Ulstein, the Oceanic Vega is the first of two sisters: Oceanic Sirius  is set for delivery in September 2011. (more…)

The Turkish Government has recognised the opportunities of the shipbuilding industry, and launched a funding programme for Turkish companies in the maritime industries. (more…)