Important new developments in marine and coastal GIS seminar

METOC will be hosting a one day seminar on marine and coastal GIS for the marine engineering and scientific community at the City Conference Centre in London on Wednesday 18th June 2003. The seminar will be chaired by David Green of the Association of Geographic Information (AGI), Marine and Coastal Special Interest Group, and is being supported by the AGI, the Hydrographic Society, The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST), the Association of Marine Scientific Industries (AMSI) and the UK Marine Information Council (UKMIC).

New dredger officially launched

The first in a series of two dredgers has rolled out of the Izar Sestao Shipyard in Spain. Contracted by operator Jan de Nul, the Filippo Brunelleschi is a trailing suction hopper dredger featuring a 11 300m3 hopper capacity. The 138.94m long 18 590dwt vessel has two dredging pumps manufactured by IHC - a shore discharge dredge pump of the double walled type with a 7500kWmaximum power rating; and a submerged dredge pump, single walled unit featuring a 3400kW rating at a nominal speed of 280rev/min. Propulsion is catered for via a pair of Man B&W 12V32/40 diesel engines offering 5760kW at 750rev/min. Izar predicts an operational life of at least 50 000 work hours when the vessel is delivered next September to begin operations in SE Asia where she will be used to gain land to the sea.

Major coating deal announced

International Coatings is celebrating sealing the contract for the exclusive supply of drydock coatings for some 60-plus vessels. Part of the Azko Nobel Group, International has agreed the deal with the Marine Contracting Association Ltd (Marcas), Bermuda, which negotiates supply contracts on behalf of its members. As such, member companies Teekay Shipping Corp, World Wide Shipping Managers Pte and Marenostrum have placed all scheduled 2003 drydockings in the hands of International. Additionally, the V-Ships Group has allocated a 'significant' proportion of its year's business. The contract is being heralded as something of a landmark, with the extensive list of work on the impending agenda representing more than one million square metres on a variety of vessel types including VLCCs, oil tankers, bulkers and product carriers and container vessels.

Survey highlights rise in tanker salvage operations

The International Salvage Union (ISU) has reported a significant rise in both the number of tanker assistances and potential pollutants salved during 2002. According to the annual Pollution Prevention Survey, the recovery of oils, chemicals, bunker fuels and other forms of pollutants totaled 957 122t, as compared with 539 073t in 2001 - an increase of some 77.5%. The latest survey was completed by 43 ISU members, and in 2002, salvors responsible for the 268 salvage assistances recovered the following:
" 603 736t of crude oil - representing 63% of total pollutants recovered
" 272 556t of other pollutants (gasoline, dirty ballast, slops, etc) - 28%
" 72 651t of bunker fuel - 8%
" 8179t of chemicals - 1%
Despite the relatively modest increase of 8.5% in casualty assists, the increase in potential pollutants salved was 77.5%. This again, though, is due predominantly to the rare case of a tanker in distress. The figures also indicate a dramatic fall of 86% in the tonnage of chemicals salved, while the amount of bunkers salved rose by just over 11%. The other major change was in the 'other pollutants' category, which saw a marked rise from 72 911t (2001) to 272 556t. 2002 also witnessed a sharp rise in the number of tanker salvage operations - 39 as opposed to 19 the year before - while the number of casualties requiring ship-to-ship transfer services or cargoes and/or bunkers rose from 15 cases to 35.

Canyon Offshore has recently signed a three-year, multi-service agreement with Technip to provide remote intervention services under a preferred subcontractor basis. The agreement governs all regions worldwide that Technip-Coflexip entities operate in, with the exception of Brazil. Under this contract Canyon will provide advanced work class systems and personnel, ROV tooling, remote intervention engineering services and Class 2 and 3 ROV support vessels. To enable Canyon to service the requirements under this agreement, the company will be increasing its fleet of ROV systems by the addition of three 2500m rated Perry Slingsby Triton XLS work class ROV systems, scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2003. Projects likely to be undertaken by Canyon as part of the agreement include deepwater subsea installations of suction anchors, rigid spools, jumpers, structures, mattresses and crossing supports, pipeline pigging and testing, free-span rectification, acoustic metrology, pre- and post-lay surveys, subsea tie-ins and other deepwater constriction support activities. Operations under the agreement have already commenced.

Classification in West Africa

ABS has been contracted by Single Buoy Mooring (SBM), the contractor of ExxonMobil, to provide classification and certification services including condition assessment of tankers, technical design review, surveys during refurbishment, conversion and hook-up and commissioning for three FPSOs for installation offshore West Africa. These FPSOs will be operated by Esso Deepwater, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. The Esso project known as Early Production Systems, or EPS, and SBM has the contract for the design, procurement and construction of the trio of FPSOs with ABS as the classification society of record. The three systems are currently undergoing conversion from existing VLCCs into FPSOs in Singapore and Dubai. On completion they will be assigned a new class notation + A1 Floating Offshore Installation and issued an IMO MODU Safety Certificate on behalf of the Bahamas Flag Administration. The three FPSOs being classed by ABS are FPSO Falcon, FPSO Eagle and FPSO Atlantic.

Finnish shipbuilder Kvaerner Masa-Yards has developed a groundbreaking LNG containment design that will forever change the way in which LNG carriers are powered. Although unable to go into full technical detail, as the concept is currently awaiting patent, Matti Torma, KM-Y Vice-President Sales, reported that a ship installed with its revolutionary containment system, based on KM-Y's spherical stretch LNG tank design, would need neither a reliquefication plant nor the release of boil-off gas from its cargo tanks. The containment system, which has already been reviewed and verified by a classification society, must mean the death knell for the steam turbine, as the LNG carrier market can now be powered by conventional slow-speed diesel engines. Ship manager Dorchester Maritime, a division of Germany's Schulte Group, is heavily involved in the project. David Furnival, Dorchester's Operations Director, intimated that the two companies are in the process of designing a twin-screwed, diesel-engined, 145 000m3-capacity LNG vessel using conventional slow-speed diesel engines. 'The new design has massive interest, as there is no need for boil-off gas. The cost savings are huge,' said Furnival, adding that Dorchester Marine could offer a turn-key package that would include the design and supervision of the ship building, the management of the vessel and the training of the seafarers tasked with operating the new containment technology. He divulged that Dorchester Maritime is on the short-list for a project that could see the provision of a complete management service, at state level, for a country with major LNG exports.