According to the experts, the corvettes are “electronically undetectable at more than 8 miles in rough seas and at more than 13.5 miles in calm seas”. Their creation was an answer to the incursion of foreign submarines in Swedish waters in the mid-eighties.

The corvettes are designed to travel at more than 35 knots in between the many beautiful islands that populate Sweden’s shallow coast, thanks to waterjets-made by Rolls-Royce subsidiary Kamewa-that reduce their draft. Their mission will be to quickly patrol their territorial waters while hunting for enemy submarines and other ships.

While I prefer to travel the Swedish coast on a sailing ship, I wouldn’t mind getting a quick surf on these things when they enter in service at the end of this year (as they are probably staffed with non-stealth blonde valkyries – source: http://i.gizmodo.com).

The Holland Shipbuilding Catalogue is one of the most encompassing catalogues to be found. Apart from all relevant company information, it contains a strategy report of the Holland Shipbuilding Association, and information on the developments of the innovative Dutch maritime cluster.

For more information about Dutch shipyards and suppliers and the Holland Shipbuilding Association, please visit www.shipbuilding.nl. If you have any questions please contact the Holland Shipbuilding Association (Tel.: +31793531165 or e-mail: info@shipbuilding.nl).

The Holland Shipbuilding Association is the central organisation of the Netherlands’ Shipbuilding Industry Association (VNSI) and Holland Marine Equipment Association (HME).

Tangguh Jaya is one of a fleet of seven LNG carriers being built in Korea for the carriage of LNG from the new Tangguh LNG export plant in Indonesia’s Papua province for carriage to customers in China, Korea and the west coast of North America. Jaya is the name of a mountain in Papua. The seven-ship fleet comprises two 145,700m3 LNG carriers built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering for Sovcomflot/NYK, two 155,000m3 vessels from Hyundai Heavy Industries for Teekay and three 155,000m3 ships from SHI for K Line. The LNG carriers are being delivered over the November 2008-May 2009 period and Indonesian shipping lines hold minority stakes in the vessels. The Tangguh LNG plant is scheduled to commence operations in the second quarter of 2009.

There are a further 89 LNG carriers on order worldwide for delivery through 2011, according to LNG World Shipping. The pace of LNG carrier ordering has slowed in recent years due to delays in final investment decisions for further new LNG export projects. As a result, the pace of LNG carrier construction that has taken place over the last 30 months is unlikely to be equalled for some considerable time.

The global LNGC fleet has experienced a period of not only rapid growth, but also change. For example, while Maersk Qatar is powered by a steam turbine propulsion system traditionally favoured by LNG carrier owners, Tangguh Jaya has a dual-fuel diesel-electric propulsion (DFDE) system. The vast majority of conventional size LNG carriers ordered during the past three years have been specified with DFDE systems (source: shippingtimes.co.uk).

According to Brian Uhlmer, research analyst with Pritchard Capital Partners LLC, Scorpion already had invested about $74 million into it.

“It was contracted with Petrobras and it could not get financed,” he says. “So even with a contract, a well-known yard, a company that—although relatively new has been around a few years now, and has got jackups actually working so they have some operational experience and some cash flows—but they couldn’t get financed.”

Scorpion blames the “continuing turmoil in the global credit market” for its inability to get financing. The company says it has reached amicable agreements with Keppel FELS and third party vendors to terminate the construction contact and equipment orders on “mutually acceptable terms.”

Seadrill also announced today that it has amended its agreements with PPL Shipyard and Keppel FELS for the construction of four new jackups—postponing payments. Seadrill has issued corporate guarantees for the remaining installments on the first two units; no guarantees were made for payments on the second units at the yards.

“But they’re also trying to buy Scorpion which has seven jackups—so they had to make a decision and they realized it would be cheaper to average in and buy all of Scorpion,” Uhlmer says (prior to the official announcement from Seadrill).

In Pride International’s latest monthly fleet update, the company announced its jackup Pride Nevada, which contract ended in December, has been cold stacked. Pride Mississippi was cold stacked after its contract was up in October. Earlier in the year, Pride Alabama and Pride Colorado took the same path (Pride Utah in 2007).

Hercules Offshore has no fewer than nine vessels warm stacked and six cold stacked.
ODS Petrodata reported Hercules 252 and Hercules 250 jackups also have been released and stacked. The company said it expects an additional two Gulf of Mexico jackups stacked as well in the coming weeks.

The US GoM contracted offshore rig fleet utilization rate was at 75.8% at the end of December, with 94 of the 124 offshore rigs deployed. Worldwide offshore rig fleet utilization was at 87.9% (source: offshore-mag.com).

Giant vessels are so sophisticated that they require only a handful of crew members. But the ships still burn a thick, dirty sludge called bunker fuel while at sea and slurp diesel to keep the lights and air conditioning running while in port.

Inefficient yard tractors and cranes guzzle fuel and spew exhaust as they stack containers. And tugboats, pound for pound the most powerful vessels on the water, waste most of that idling or cruising.Now, as seaports try to raise their environmental standards, some companies are finding business opportunities.

Foss Maritime, of Seattle, for instance, has developed the Prius of tugboats, which consumes less diesel and generates less pollution by using batteries for all the vessel’s low-power needs.

Foss calls it the world’s first hybrid tug and expects to deliver it to the Port of Los Angeles later this month. The tugboat currently is undergoing testing, said Foss spokesman Dave Hill.

The tugboat, which is being built at the Foss shipyard in Rainier, Ore., across the Columbia River from Longview, will be based at Southern California’s twin ports for five years in exchange for the funding help.

Outwardly, it looks much like other tugboats. Inside, the tug is so different that it will be able to operate like a regular work boat while using less fuel and expelling less exhaust.

The stakes are high for the Port of Los Angeles, said William Lyte, co-founder of Technoplex Group in Los Angeles, a consulting company that helps entrepreneurs market new technology.

“The ports have about $5 billion in expansion projects they want to do, and they can’t do it without mitigating the impact of pollution. Green systems will have to be in place to get these projects approved,” Lyte said. “Companies from all over the world will be trying to sell that kind of technology here, so California businesses have to be prepared to compete.”

Those companies will discover what Foss learned. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest cargo-container ports in the nation, are willing to serve as testing grounds, business incubators and venture capitalists. About $1.35 million in development costs for the Foss hybrid tug came from the two ports and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

“We asked for help to offset the increased capital costs of doing this,” said Susan Hayman, vice president of environmental and corporate development for Foss.

Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said she hoped other businesses would bring their best ideas to the busy harbor.

“The concept of a hybrid tug really gets to the heart of our technology advancement program, where both ports have set aside a funding pool for the development of clean-technology applications in a maritime environment,” she said of the $15 million, five-year program. “So it’s very exciting for us to see this concept that Foss brought to us come to fruition.”

Ruminating on idea

The idea had been kicking around Foss’ offices since 2006, based on the knowledge that tugboats tend to run on full power only 7 percent of the time and waste their 5,000-plus horsepower by idling 50 percent of the time. Knowing that railroads were moving to electric propulsion, Foss initially looked at switching locomotives, which are used to move trains inside rail yards.

There was one big problem.

“The batteries were too heavy. They would have sunk the boat,” Foss Chief Engineer Rick McKenna said.

The solution came from the oil industry.

Canada’s Aspin Kemp & Associates had expertise with “ultra-deep-water” drilling rigs that are held in position with “dynamic positioning thrusters” instead of anchors. The thrusters have to power up quickly to keep the rig in place.

New design

The engineering company designed a way to run the diesel engine and the electrical motor generator through the same drive shaft, McKenna said, enabling Foss to switch to smaller batteries and smaller diesel engines.

“It drives like a normal tug,” McKenna said. The system’s design would enable most existing tugboats to switch to the diesel-battery setup through a retrofit. Foss is hoping that will be a key selling point.

Tests have raised expectations that turning hybrid would cut a tug’s particulate and nitrogen-oxide emissions as much as 44 percent. That’s enough to impress environmental groups that have been some of the ports’ harshest critics.

“Moving the ports’ tugboat fleet toward hybrid technology is a benefit to both local residents and companies who do business at the ports,” said Jessica Lass, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It shows it’s entirely possible to move the ports toward greener, hybrid technology that cuts down on toxic greenhouse emissions and diesel fuel that fouls our local waterways and bodies.”

Foss has been in the tugboat business since 1889. But Heather Tomley, senior environmental specialist at the Port of Long Beach, said companies don’t have to have a maritime background to gain the ports’ attention.

Yorba Linda, Calif.-based Vycon has developed a flywheel technology that attaches to yard cranes. The flywheel system collects energy as cargo containers are lowered and then releases it, helping lift containers. That reduces the power the diesel engine has to supply, cutting fuel consumption and the release of pollutants.

Tomley said Vycon achieved more than a 25 percent reduction in particulate emissions in California Air Resources Board testing.

Vycon has been watching sales of the $150,000 devices grow. “This year we have sold 38 machines,” said Louis Romo, vice president of sales. “We sold five during all of 2007, so that is a nice jump for us.” (source: seattletimes.nwsource.com).

Access to the Arctic Ocean and the ability to cope with pack ice are essential in order to perform scientific drilling, so that the unresolved questions of climate change and variability can be answered. “Aurora Borealis” will thus be equipped with a drilling rig that enables researchers to drill more than 1000 m into the sea floor, in water depths between 100 and 5000 m. For the first time, scientific deep-sea drilling will become possible even in drifting pack ice, without need of support from additional icebreakers. To perform these drilling operations, the ship has to be kept exactly in position on the floating ice. A dynamic positioning system capable for manoeuvring in ice is mandatory for this task. Extensive model tests in the ice tanks of the Hamburg Ship Model Basin (HSVA) and Aker Arctic Research Centre in Helsinki, Finland, have proven that “Aurora Borealis” will indeed be able to dynamically position in ice cover of two or more metres thickness.

Another unique characteristic of “Aurora Borealis” design are the two seven by seven metres moon pools. These are continuous vertical funnels in the midst of the hull going into the water below the vessel, enabling scientists to deploy their equipment into the ocean without being subject to wind, waves and ice. The aft moon pool is mainly dedicated to drilling operations, while the forward moon pool is reserved for most other scientific works. This allows, for the first time, deployment of very sensitive and expensive equipment, such as remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicles, within closed sea ice cover. Scientific laboratories are located on several decks around the moon pool, which is designed in an atrium-like shape with circular walkways and preparation areas. In order to optimally equip the ship for all kinds of specialised expeditions, containerised laboratories can be also loaded here and become fully integrated into the scientific workflow on board.

Subject to sufficient financial support, the preparations for the construction of the vessel should be completed by 2011, and construction could start as early as 2012. This would enable the first scientific operations to be undertaken in 2014 or thereabouts (source: marinetalk.com).

The recent completion of the world’s first Q-Max LNG carrier, named ‘Mozah,’ marks a step change in LNG shipping by reducing transportation cost, while improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. The innovative Q-Max ships carry up to 80 percent more cargo, yet require approximately 40 percent less energy per unit of cargo than conventional LNG carriers due to economies of scale and efficiency of the engines.

“The Q-Max carriers break the LNG shipping mold in nearly every way,” said Neil Duffin, President, ExxonMobil Development Company. “The same technology capability that drove us to develop a new class of LNG carrier is driving innovation in all aspects of the LNG value chain.”

The large LNG ship technologies, developed in conjunction with joint venture partner Qatar Petroleum, include a number of industry breakthroughs and significant enhancements, including increased ship size, onboard reliquefaction units, slow-speed diesel engines, twin propellers and rudders, largest ship-board LNG tanks ever built, the latest in hull antifouling protection and improved fire-protection systems. The end result of these new generation ships is a 20-30 percent reduction in transportation cost.

“Qatar Petroleum, with ExxonMobil, led a major technical effort to enable this groundbreaking enhancement in the LNG shipping industry,” said Mr. Faisal Al Suwaidi, Qatargas Chief Executive Officer. “Shipping is a critical link in the LNG value chain that extends from Qatar’s North Field, the largest non-associated gas field in the world with recoverable resources of more than 900 trillion cubic feet, to homes in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. With our innovative technology, we have effectively transformed the LNG business and opened up more of the world for Qatar LNG,” said Al Suwaidi. Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil are shareholders in a Qatar joint venture, Qatargas, that will charter the Mozah and five other Q-Max carriers to supply LNG from new liquefaction trains in Qatar.

For more than 30 years the size of LNG ships remained virtually unchanged with capacity of about 140,000 cubic meters. Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil’s ship operators, hydrodynamicists, naval architects and structural engineers worked closely to develop and rigorously test the larger Q-Max cargo tank designs. Comprehensive evaluation of cargo sloshing was performed to prove that the larger systems were feasible and reliable. The resulting Q-Max carriers are longer than three football fields, tower twenty stories tall from keel to masthead and are equipped with the largest membrane containment tanks ever built. With a total capacity of up to 266,000 cubic meters, each ship carries enough natural gas to meet the energy needs of 70,000 U.S. homes for one year.

In addition to increasing the size of the ship, a major initiative was undertaken to design, test and implement the on-board reliquefaction plant that re-liquefies natural gas that is vaporized during transit, re-injecting it as liquid into the cargo tanks rather than using it as vaporized gas to power the tanker itself – allowing for delivery of nearly 100 percent of the cargo. This is particularly beneficial for the long-haul voyages from Qatar to Europe and the Americas. The on-board reliquefaction facilities created an opportunity to shift from steam boilers and turbines used for propulsion by conventional LNG ships to highly efficient slow-speed diesel engines. The Q-Max ships are equipped with two diesel engines driving twin propellers and rudders. This leads to more energy efficient, reliable and maneuverable ships, reducing fuel consumption by up to one-third.

Recognized by industry veterans as a pioneer in LNG production and technology innovation, ExxonMobil’s joint ventures in Qatar will see the advent of more industry firsts over the next 18 months. In addition to pioneering the industry’s largest vessels to carry LNG to market, ExxonMobil in partnership with Qatar Petroleum is employing new technology in Qatar to build four of the largest LNG production facilities in the world and is participating in the development of LNG regasification terminal projects in Italy, UK and the US (source: marinenorway.no).

The sails that were being made as part on the reconstruction of the VOC ship Batavia were destroyed. Ten years of intense labor has been lost! Large parts of the buildings at the shipyards are also lost.

(source: telegraaf.nl)

Firefighters are doing their utmost to avoid that the fire misses replicas of the 17th century warship De 7 Provinciën and Bataviastad. Luckily, the replica of the Batavia has been saved from the fire.

In the area there were some loud bangs because of exploding gas tanks. The damage is in the hundreds of thousands.

The cutter suction dredger is characterised by its high level of reliability and its robust construction. In addition to state-of-the-art components and materials, a large number of innovative and sustainable systems are also used:

• New-generation hydraulic flexible spud carriage to increase workability
• IHC Cutter Special pumps for excellent suction power and efficient mixture transport
• Flexibly designed engines and a flexibly designed deck house to provide comfort in the accommodation and wheelhouse
• Environmentally friendly systems and accreditations, including the “green passport”

The vessel complies in all respects with the latest, more stringent regulations on emissions.

IHC Merwede is also building a new, very large trailing suction hopper dredger for Van Oord: the 32,000 m³ VOX DUBAI. The vessel is due to be launched in 2009. Van Oord has undertaken a major investment programme of more than EUR 1 billion. ‘A heavy-duty, self-propelled cutter suction dredger will be an important addition to our fleet,’ says managing director Pieter van Oord. ‘As a leading international dredging company, we are expanding our activities in the heavy cutter suction dredger market. Global long-term demographics and economic growth are leading to a growing demand for new land, ports and navigable waterways. It’s no wonder that Van Oord has a well-filled order book (source: vanoord.com)

The ‘Celebrity Solstice’ is one of the five Solstice ships that will be launched between now and 2012. The ‘Celebrity Solstice’ can carry almost 3,000 passengers. She even has an authentic grass lawn on its top deck.

This means that there are tremendous job opportunities on these cruise ships. In the coming five years they will need +10,000 people to operate these giants!

The ‘Celebrity Solstice’ will makes her debut as a US cruise ship in November this year.

Let us know if you are planning to work on the ‘Celebrity Solstice’ …