The IMarEST shines at premier offshore event

The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is the premier event for the Oil and Gas market and almost 51, 000 participants representing 110 nations from around the world visited the 2004 event at the Reliant Center in Houston.

The IMarEST is an official supporting organisation of OTC. The local Houston branch, HQ, and Institute’s President Bil Loth, himself no stranger to Houston attended this year’s show. In common with previous years the Institute had a stand which attracted a steady number of visitors and resulted in a number of new elective and student members being signed up.The stand also attracted a broad cross-section of people connected with the offshore industry, including UK Minister for Energy, Stephen Timms,

A number of companies expressed an interest in the Institute’s Marine Partners scheme. For a nominal fee, participating companies benefit from a comprehensive range of marketing and networking opportunities, as well as access to key technical support and information. The IMarEST Marine Partners initiative has already attracted a range of heavyweights from the world of industry and academia including Rolls-Royce, Lloyd’s Register, Novar Marine, the UK Marine Information Council and the Scottish Association for Marine Science.

The Institute jointly hosted an evening networking reception with the Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) entertaining over 150 guests. The IMarEST and SUT recently entered into a Marine Engineering Science and Technology (MEST) federation agreement as a means of co-ordinating efforts in the MEST sector.

Another obvious highlight of an extremely hectic programme was a visit to Texas A&M University at Galveston. Bil Loth, Kathy Goodrich and Houston Branch Chairman Ben Thurmond received briefings on the Marine Engineering and Marine Science departments. ‘We met with lecturers and students to discuss the benefits of IMarEST as well as key issues in the offshore industry at the moment,’ says Kathy. ‘Many students are already IMarEST members, with the enthusiasm of Raresh Pascali and Vincent Treglia, who both are lecturers in the marine engineering department, playing no small part in this fact.’

Further details: marketing@imarest.org

World's Largest trimaran on course in Western Australia

AUSTAL SHIP’S groundbreaking 40kt Auto Express 126.7m cargo-vehicle passenger trimaran currently under construction for Spanish ferry operator Fred. Olsen SA is rapidly taking shape at the Henderson shipyard in Western Australia.

Construction is on schedule and the stern of the vessel is easily identifiable with the waterjet ducts now in place, while on the hulls plating work is proceeding. Above the hull the superstructure upper deck and observation deck extends over the midship section of the vessel and the forward chain and roof structure have been erected. Fit out work on the bridge has commenced and the forward
console structure and laminate surfaces are now in place.

After it is delivered later this year, the new triamaran will operate around the
Canary Islands on the routes from Los Cristianos, Tenerifeto San Sebastian, Gomera and the island of Palma as Benchijigua Express.

‘The ship is clearly being viewed by many as the benchmark for a new generation of large fast ferries,’ says Austal managing director Bob Mckinnon. Seatrials will take place in a few months time.

SOURCE MER

CHIRP: a confident approach to safety

Launched last year, the Confidential Hazardous Incident Reporting Programme (CHIRP) provides an independent confidential reporting programme for people employed or having an active interest in the maritime industry. Mike Powell, Director (Maritime) at CHIRP, will outline the results and experience of CHIRP’s first year with a particular emphasis on the engineering and design issues raised so far, and they have been progressed, a technical evening meeting
which takes place on Tuesday 13 July at Institute HQ. Visit http://www.imarest.org/events/event.asp?ID=4031 for full details or email events@imarest.org

SOURCE THE IMAREST NEWS

Offshore Northern Seas ONS 2004

Visit IMarEST at ONS exhibition - Stand 1035, Hall J, where you can find out more about what the IMarEST and Offshore group do. ONS is the largest meeting place for the European offshore sector, setting the agenda for key issues and current trends in the industry.

The IMarEST Offshore activities include publishing a wide range of books, trade journals and peer reviewed technical papers. The Journal of Offshore Technology fills a unique niche in the offshore publication arena, and the only offshore publication to feature conference paper reports. It contains in-depth articles explaining the latest offshore (energy) exploration and exploitation engineering/technology, subsea, seabed and surface systems including floating structures.

The Journal of Marine Engineering & Technology and Journal of Marine Design & Operations updates professionals with the latest research and developments in marine and offshore technology and the application of technology.

Inundate our editorial!

Below is the current list of events organised by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology itself: