January 2015 Marine Log

M&A: A year of wheeling and dealing

arine oG M L Reporting on Marine Business & Technology since 1878

www.marinelog.com

january 2015

Navy budget Will the

be on target?

FATAL FERRY FIRE Under scrutiny SHIPPING DELIVERS Cuts in GHG emissions COASTAL TANK BARGES Strong demand to continue?

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contents

January 2015 Vol. 120, NO. 1

10 departments 2 Editorial

21

The Navy wants a 300-ship battle force in the next 30 years.

The question is, “Will there be enough budget to do it?”

features 14 Propulsion

25 Finance

From humble beginnings over 30 years ago, Thrustmaster of Texas has grown to become a propulsion innovator and expanded its offerings to include waterjets Plus: Karl Senner & EPD ink a new representation agreement

The year 2014 saw more than $3 trillion in mergers and acquisitions worldwide—a sign that optimism and confidence has returned to the market. Among those transactions, there were a number of notable shipbuildingrelated deals

19 Environment

27 Subsea

You’ve come a long way, baby

Doing the dirty work

Cruise ship operators, like Carnival and Royal Caribbean, are turning to exhaust gas cleaning systems to scrub emissions

21 Navy outlook

Budgeting enough for dreams

The U.S. Navy aims to have a battleship force of 300 plus—but the question remains: Will there be funding available to bring such a hefty dream to fruition?

A year of wheeling & dealing

Avoid drydock with underwater propeller repair Performing repair and maintenance operations underwater and on-site will save operators both time and money

Turning dreams into reality

6 Update • Steamship Authority awards ferry contract to Conrad •G D Nassco wins another Navy MLP contract • F ormer ST Marine executives face corruption and bribery charges • F erry fire claims lives on the Adriatic Sea •M oran Iron Works to build highspeed ferry •U .S. coastal tank capacity to grow

12 Washington Coast Guard Authorization Act signed into law

31 tech News U.S Navy test “Star Wars” technology

32 Newsmakers CLIA’s CEO named President of Carnival Cruise Lines 33 Contracts Willard Marine wins U.S. Navy contract for RIBs

36 Marine Salvage Prevention or response?

January 2015 MARINE LOG 1

editorial

Turning dreams into reality Life is all about dreams, hopes and ambitions. One of the eternal struggles for the U.S. Navy seems to be achieving its dream of a 300-ship battle force—the minimum number of combatants it feels it needs to properly project American power.

Of course, that dream has to be tempered by affordability and budget. As Nick Blenkey writes this month in “Budgeting enough for dreams,” there are two factors that could move the 300-ship battle force closer to reality over the next 30 years.

One factor is that a good chunk of that future battle force will be made up of Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) or a more lethal variant called a Small Surface Combatant or SSC. Production of the new SSC will begin no later than Fiscal Year 2019. By Navy standards the ships should still be affordable—only about 20% more than current copies. Defense

John R. Snyder, Publisher & Editor jsnyder@sbpub.com

Secretary Chuck Hagel said he directed the Navy to buy a total of 52 LCSs and SSCs. That’s good news for LCS shipbuilders Austal USA, Mobile, AL, and Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine, Marinette, WI. While Hagel has already tendered his resignation, he has agreed to stay on until his successor is named. The Senate is expected to consider the President’s nomination of Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter as Defense Secretary at a hearing in February.

Another factor in the National Defense Authorization Act is that it contains a provision to establish a National Sea-based Deterrent Fund. The fund would be used to cover the costs of constructing the replacement of the Ohio Class ballistic missile submarines as part of an overall defense wide budget. If money is actually appropriated to the fund, it would free up money in

the Navy’s shipbuilding budget to construct other combatants.

The dreams of commercial vessel operators are probably being haunted by the specters of emissions and energy efficiency, two of the other topics that we tackle this month. If you are operating in an Emission Control Area (ECA), you better be burning fuel with a sulfur content of 0.1%, using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as your fuel, or operating an exhaust gas scrubber—or face some stiff fines for non-compliance. Something that we’re sure to see over the next year is stricter enforcement from the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. EPA. This month, we highlight Carnival’s and Royal Caribbean’s efforts to fit their fleets with scrubbers, which is going to cost a shipload of money, but something they can’t afford not to do.

Maritime Trivia Trivia Question #21: Admiral Lord Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar. How was he sent home?

The first sailor or lubber who correctly answers the Maritime Trivia question will receive a color J. Clary collector print. E-mail your guess to: marineart@jclary.com

Answer to November’s trivia question: In the days of sail what useful item was fashioned from the legs of an albatross? Stems of pipes.

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MarineLoG JANUARY 2015 Vol. 120, NO. 1 ISSN 08970491 USPS 576-910 PRESIDENT Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr. amcginnis@sbpub.com

INTERNATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Louise Cooper lcooper@sbpub.com

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UPDATE biz notes GD Nassco wins another Navy MLP contract

Steamship Authority awards ferry contract to Conrad Conrad Shipyard, LLC, Morgan City, LA, has been awarded a $36.4 million contract to build a new 235 ft passenger/vehicle ferry for The Steamship Authority (SSA), Martha’s Vineyard, MA. The ferry will have capacity to carry 384 passengers and 55 vehicles.

To be named the M/V Woods Hole, the ferry will be delivered in the spring 2016, providing service to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The new vessel will replace the aging freight ferry, the 242 ft Governor.

The Steamship Authority’s Board approved a $40,236,500 overall budget for the ferry project. The budget includes the estimated cost of design and engineering services, owner-furnished equipment, the cost of having authority representatives at the shipyard during vessel construction, and an allowance of 2.5% for unforeseen contingencies.

However, in order to pay for the vessel, the board approved a bond resolution authorizing the sale of up to $38,250,000 Steamship Bonds. The remaining balance was paid from the SSA’s Replacement Fund.

Island Home undergoes repairs The SSA board also awarded a $948,893 contract to New London, CT-based Thames Shipyard & Repair Co. The yard will provide dry dock and overhaul services to the M/V Island Home (shown in photo above).

While in dry dock—scheduled for March 2015 to April 2015—the ferry will undergo a required U.S. Coast Guard hull inspection, machinery inspections, underwater hull cleaning and painting, superstructure painting, rub rail repairs, and installation of anti-swaying equipment for the lift decks.

Under a $498 million contract from the U.S. Navy, General Dynamics NASSCO, San Diego, CA, will build a fourth Mobile Landing Platform and the second configured as an Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) for mine countermeasure (MCM) helicopters and special operations forces (SOF) and U.S. Marines.

What’s interesting about the ship is that it is based on an Alaska Class tanker design, demonstrating clear synergy between GD NASSCO’s commercial and Navy shipbuilding activity.

Under this option, NASSCO will provide the detail design and construction.

The work will be performed at NASSCO’s San Diego shipyard and will be completed by March 2018.

This past November, GD NASSCO launched the Lewis B. Puller (T-MLP-3/TAFSB-1), the first MLP configured as an Afloat Forward Staging Base.

The MLP AFSB is a flexible platform and a key element in the Navy’s largescale airborne mine countermeasures mission. It has accommodations for 250 and a large helicopter flight deck.

Former ST Marine execs face corruption and bribery charges Former President of shipbuilder Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd. (ST Marine), Chang Cheow Teck, will face corruption charges under the provisions of Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Act and the Penal Code, along with two other former executives of the company, Mok Kim Whang and Ong Tek Liam. Allegedly, Chang and the former executives paid bribes in exchange for contracts.

Chang, who was President of ST Marine from March 2008 to April 2010, faces three charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Meanwhile, Mok, a former Senior Vice President of ST Marine’s Tuas Yard (from June 2000 to July 2004) was charged on one count under the PCA. Ong, 6 MARINE LOG January 2015

the Group Financial Controller and Senior Vice President of Finance for ST Marine from April 2007 to December 2012, faces 118 charges under the Penal Code.

ST Marine is a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd and is the parent of VT Halter Marine in the U.S. In a statement, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd said: “ST Marine has been extending its fullest cooperation to the CPIB in its investigation since 2011,” and assured that the charges against the former employees wont have “any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets or consolidated earnings per share of the ST Engineering Group for the financial year ending 31 December 2014.”

The company added that its “committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and recognizes that fraud is detrimental” to the group’s reputation.

“ST Engineering does not condone fraud, including corruption and bribery, and is fully committed to proactively mitigating the risk of its occurrence.”

As we were going to press, a fourth former ST Marine executive was charged. See Leong Teck, President of ST Marine from December 1997 to February 2008, faces seven charges including conspiring to pay bribes in return for contracts. The bribes are said to have been paid between May 2004 and December 2007 as part of conspiracies allegedly taking place between 2004 and 2010.

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UPDATE Moran Iron Works to build high-speed ferry Michigan-based Moran Iron Works will build a new 85 ft high-speed ferry for Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry, Mackinaw City, MI. The ferry will be the first of its kind built in Michigan in recent memory—bringing thousands of man hours of work to the region—and is the first ferry construction project the two companies collaborate on.

The $3.8 million vessel, designed

by Seacraft Design, Sturgeon Bay, WI, will be a 281-passenger, all-aluminum ferry named Miss Margy, after CEO Bill Shepler’s mother.

The ferry will be built in accordance with U.S. Coast Guard Subchapter K rules and will be the operator’s largest ferry in the fleet. The ferry will travel at a top speed of 40 mph (about 34 knots).

Ferry fire claims lives on the Adriatic Sea The 186 m RoPax Norman Atlantic was on its way from Greece to Ancona, Italy when a fire broke out on its car deck on December 28, 2014. At the time, the ferry, operated by ANEK Lines, was reportedly carrying more than 400 passengers and 55 crew.

The rescue and towing efforts, conducted by the Italian Navy and Coast Guard, Greek authorities, and salvors from Albania, were hampered with delays due to choppy seas, bad weather conditions and the slow burning fire—which prevented rescue crews from searching the vehicle deck on board the ferry, even after the vessel had been towed to the Southern Italian Port of Brindisi.

In total, over the 36-hour rescue operation, 477 were rescued.

At press time, 13 were confirmed dead and more than 10 were unaccounted for.

The death toll could rise according to Giuseppe Volpe, the prosecutor leading the Italian Inquiry. Although the ship’s manifest listed 478 on board, its believed that a large number of stowaways were onboard.

While the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, investigators have been able to retrieve the ferry’s black box.

The ferry’s Captain, Argilio Giacomazzi, and owner, Carlo Visentini, are being investigated by prosecutors.

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UPDATE NASSCO, Braemar ink deal on innovative LNG containment system Br aemar LNG BV, the wholly owned subsidiary of Braemar Shipping Services PLC, has signed a license agreement with General Dynamics NASSCO to use its patents in the design and construction of FSP LNG Containment systems.

The FSP system—a new flat-panel, semimembrane, prismatic-shaped LNG tank-containment system Type B—uses new flat plate

technology to overcome the issues associated with partial filling and sloshing. The system’s design enables it to be constructed, outfitted, insulated and tested off-hull and lifted complete into the vessel while its undergoing construction.

“The industry is asking not if, but when, FSP will come to market, and I am pleased to now be in a position to deliver a positive

time

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response,” says Geoff Green, Managing Director of Braemar Engineering. “FSP can be used in a wide range of applications: Floating Production and Storage (FPSO); Floating Storage Regasification Units (FSRU), LNG transportation and LNG marine fuel tanks. It can even be used as offshore storage.”

T he system obtained Approval in Principle from Lloyds Register (LR) and ABS.

U.S. coastal tank capacity to grow

time

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The U.S.-flag, domestic Articulated Tug Barge/Integrated Tug Barge fleet has a liquid bulk carrying capacity of 15.2 million barrels, according to a database recently released by the U.S. Maritime Administration.

There are 134 complete ATB/ITB units— barge and associated tug—listed in the database, along with three unassigned ocean tugs and three unassigned barges.

The capacity of the coastwise domestic fleet will grow over the next two years, with new ATB units being built by Kirby, Bouchard Transportation, Melville, NY, Harley Marine Services, Seattle, WA, Moran Towing, New Canaan, CT, and Seabulk Towing, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Kirby is building two 185,000 bbl tank barges at Gunderson Marine, Portland, OR, two 155,000 bbl tank barges and two 6,000 hp tugs at Fincantieri’s Bay Shipbuilding, Sturgeon Bay, WI, and two 10,000 hp tugs at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Freeland, WA. Moran Towing is building two 150,000 bbl tank barges and one 110,000 bbl and one 6,000 hp and another 5,300 hp tug at Fincantieri’s Bay Shipbuilding.

Bouchard has two 10,000 hp and two 6,000 hp tugs and two 250,000 bbl on order at VT Halter Marine, Pascagoula, MS. Harley Marine is building two 83,000 bbl tank barges at Vigor, Portland, OR. Seabulk is building two 12,000 hp tugs at BAE Systems, Jacksonville, FL, and an 185,000 bbl tank barge at DonJon Shipbuilding, Erie, PA.

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Coast Guard Authorization act signed into law Just a week before Christmas, President Obama signed the Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 into law, after the bill was passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate. The legislation authorizes appropriations for the United States Coast Guard for Fiscal Year 2015.

For FY 2015, the legislation authorizes appropriations of $6.981 billion for the operation and maintenance of the Coast Guard, $1.546 billion for acquisition, construction, and rebuilding of vessels and aircraft; $16.7 billion for environmental compliance and restoration of Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, and facilities; $140 million for the Coast Guard Reserve program; $19.89 billion for R&D, test, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors directly related to improving the performance of the Coast Guard’s mission with respect to search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness;

and $16 billion for the removal or alteration of bridges over navigable waterways.

Rep. John Garamendi, Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, applauded the passage of the legislation, saying, “This bill will modernize our Coast Guard, make our maritime businesses more competitive, and strengthen American shipbuilding—the backbone of our maritime sector. While the bill has some minor flaws, on balance, it is a very good compromise that will strengthen our economy and national security.”

Contained within the legislation is Garamendi’s Growing American Shipping Act, which promotes the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to “the maximum extent practicable” on U.S. flag vessels. There are currently no U.S.-flag LNG carriers. the highlights OF THE ACT • Reauthorizing the highly popular Small Shipyard Program, for FY 2015-FY 2017, administered by MarAd;

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• Granting multi-year procurements for the new Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC), which will help expedite the construction of this new class of cutter; • Provide new directives that the Coast Guard needs to prepare for full-time operations and for the safety of maritime transportation in the Arctic; • Requiring the development of a comprehensive National Maritime Strategy; • Provide explicit cooperative agreement authority to enhance the Coast Guard’s ability to develop beneficial partnerships with other maritime stakeholders, including private businesses, nonprofits, and foreign governments; • Authorizing the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve for fiscal year 2015; • Supporting Coast Guard service members/families by providing new child care and family support programs; The legislation is named in honor of Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), who is retiring after serving 30 years as a Representative.

Coble is the only current Member of Congress to have served in the Coast Guard.

FAST FORWARD INTO THE FUTURE OF MARITIME

FEBRUARY 18, 2015 The Houstonian Hotel, Houston, TX The North American marine industry will be gathering on February 18th in Houston to see what the future holds for our industry. Join your colleagues as we explore the economic landscape, new regulations, air emission, port waste management strategies and more. There will be an important Arctic policy update from Admiral Robert Papp, who is now the US Special Representative for the Arctic (as the United States takes over the Chairmanship for The Arctic Council). The day will end with a senior leadership roundtable discussion on where our industry is heading.

AGENDA Lunch Keynote Address: ADM Robert Papp, Jr., USCG (Ret.), US Special Representative for the Arctic, Department of State

Welcome: Mayor of Houston (invited) NAMEPA Welcome and Introduction: Clay Maitland, NAMEPA Chairman Conference Chairman: Craig Eason, Lloyd’s List World Economic View -Dr. Maria Burns, Director, Center for Logistics & Transportation Policy; University of Houston The Shale Revolution -Helen Currie, Senior Economist, ConocoPhillips Regulations Today and Tomorrow -RADM Paul Thomas, Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy, US Coast Guard (Invited) Impact on Shipowners and Offshore -James Watson, Americas Division President & COO, American Bureau of Shipping What’s new in Washington -Jeanne Grasso, Blank Rome Break Mitigating Air Emissions Shipowner view -Kevin Krick, APL Scrubber technology -Rich Pruitt, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (invited) Engine Technology -Paul Glandt, Wartsila (Invited) LNG as Fuel -Langley Meek, GDF Suez Gas Compliance benefits -Anuj Chopra, Rightship

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Propulsion

Seacor’s Alex F. McCall is outfitted with Thrustmaster tunnels thrusters

You’ve come a long way, baby From humble beginnings, Thrustmaster of Texas grows into propulsion system innovator

B

ack in the late sixties, Virginia Slims—long, slender cigarettes—were introduced to appeal to young career-minded women who were entering the workplace. The cigarettes were marketed with the slogan, “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

That slogan is certainly apropos of Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc., which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. Back in 1984, the Houston-based company landed its first thruster order—a selfcontained propulsion unit for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for mounting on a deck barge. The order hardly registered as a blimp on the radar of established marine propulsion manufacturers, who viewed the company as more of a curiosity than an emerging competitor.

Little did they realize that they were witnessing the birth of a wellrespected innovator in specialized marine propulsion and dynamic positioning applications. Thrustmaster now has a product line that spans azimuth thrusters (from 55 kW to 8 MW units) to tunnel thrusters, manufacturing and service facilities in seven countries, with about 280 employees. In 2011, annual sales topped $150 million.

Today, Thrustmaster has a strong market position in fast supply vessels and crewboats, and built a solid reputation with operators of large offshore service vessels, pipelay barges, heavy-lift ships, semisubmersibles, drill ships, and navy and military vessels worldwide.

Thrustmaster’s retractable azimuthing thrusters, for example, are 14 MARINE LOG January 2015

Compiled by Marine Log Staff

fitted on the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships built by Austal USA, Mobile, AL. The founder and guiding hand behind Thrustmaster of Texas is President and CEO Joe R. Bekker. Anyone who has met Bekker is familiar with his quick wit and dry sense of humor. Don’t be fooled.

Underneath that good nature is an acute business sense and a driving ambition for constant improvement.

Bekker is leading his team through the implementation of lean manufacturing at its Houston plant. Thrustmaster is working with the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), a Cambridge, MA, think tank that helps organizations transform their businesses. Lean manufacturing wrings out any inefficiencies in the production process, improves the quality, lowers production costs and improves throughput.

“It’s about optimizing the value product. Keeping as little inventory as possible, shortening production times, reducing costs, and increasing quality,” says Bekker. “Right now, we are six months into the process. To make this successful, you have to have a strong buy in from management. We will see substantial benefits probably in just one year.”

One of Bekker’s concerns is the increasingly high value of the dollar—it recently hit an 11-year high, according to the Wall Street Journal. That’s why lean manufacturing is so important, explains Bekker. “It will help us reduce cost, so that we can be cost competitive.”

Propulsion

Joe Bekker, Thrustmaster of Texas President & CEO

Facility expansion The impressive facility is the largest thruster manufacturing plant in the world at 200,000 ft2 and will grow by another 100,000 ft2, following a multimillion dollar investment expansion set to be completed this summer. The expansion will double the size of the product testing area, add an onsite paint and blast facility, a new fabrication shop, expand machine shop operations and the assembly area, and include upgrades that will boast thruster production. Thrustmaster has only developed about one-third of its 60-acre site.

One of the new products that will be manufactured in the facility is waterjets, thanks to a deal last year to the acquire waterjet designs and a manufacturing license from Australia’s Doen. Thrustmaster’s agreement with Doen enables Thrustmaster waterjets to be sold in Europe, North America and South America.

Doen is one of only five marine waterjet manufacturers in the world building waterjets up to 5,500 hp (4,000 kW). And Thrustmaster is pushing that range even higher to meet the demands of larger fast supply vessels and crewboats that support deepwater oil and gas operations. Last year, it unveiled 400/450 series Thrustmaster waterjets with a power range to 8,500 hp (6,400kW), accommodating vessels of over 230 feet (70m) in length. Thrustmaster supplied four Thrustmaster TH300MLR Retractable Thrusters to the 70m Muslim Magomayev, the world’s largest fast supply vessel. The Muslim Magomayev was also fitted with four HamiltonJet HT 900 waterjets.

Bekker is bullish on Thrustmaster’s growth, following its Doen deal. “We’re really excited about our expansion into waterjets,” says Bekker. “There are already 300 Doen units in operation for the U.S. Navy. Doen waterjets have features that set us apart from the competition.” Bekker thinks that Doen’s proven axial flow, stainless steel casting impeller designs provide a competitive advantage.

A good example is the 36m crewboat BS Camburi, built in Brazil

by Arpoador Engenharia to the Petrobras type P2 specification for Brasil Supply. Fully loaded with 50 tons of cargo, freshwater and fuel, the crewboat can reach a service speed of 17+ knots.

Designed by Incat Crowther, the BS Camburi has three Caterpillar

Thrustmaster can manufacture a complete range of azimuthing thrusters up to 8 MW. Thrustmaster’s Johnray Strickland and Adam Jost stand in front of a unit for an offshore drilling customer

C32 ACERT main engines coupled to three Thrustmaster Doen DJ290 waterjets.

The Thrustmaster DJ290 waterjets were specified with stainless steel pump assemblies fitted with 29 in. high volume single stage axial flow impellers.

These waterjets provide high-speed efficiency with superior cavitation margins allowing full power application at any load condition and also at zero speed for maximum possible thrust during docking and station-keeping maneuvers.

Each DJ290 waterjet has its own fully integrated hydraulic system providing steering and reverse control. All of the hydraulic equipment including cylinders hydraulic and associated hose connections are completely inboard mounted. All hydraulic pumps are directly driven from the gearbox PTO’s.

Vessel propulsion control is managed using Thrustmaster’s CAN BUS–Control system. Configured for triple engine–twin station; the system simply combines primary control of engine throttle and gear command with the waterjet steering and reverse functions and all necessary monitoring, alarm and back-up control functions. The second (rear facing) station has been fitted with Doen’s eDOCK joystick control system. This provides a single joystick lever control that simultaneously actuates and controls waterjets and engines for precise and intuitive low speed maneuvering control.

The waterjets and control system are supplied to DNV HSCLC R2 CARGO B CREW boat.

“In South America,” says Bekker, “they not only look at your products, but also the person they are doing business with. It’s about building long-term relationships and trust.”

He says Thrustmaster will continue to improve its customer service by adding new offices around the world, expanding its product line and improving its manufacturing processes.

Adds Bekker, “We’re not a shop that fits all, but we focus on what we do well.”

January 2015 MARINE LOG 15

Propulsion Karl Senner & EPD: New representation agreement

U

KS represents Steerprop azimuth propulsors in the U.S. and Mexico

16 MARINE LOG January 2015

nder a recently signed agreement, propulsion specialist Karl Senner, LLC (KS), Kenner, LA, will now represent electrical systems integrator Electronic Power Design, Inc. (EPD), Houston, TX, in the marine markets of North America. The representation agreement expands Karl Senner, LLC’s propulsion portfolio, allowing the company to offer electrical power systems, electrical integration, hybrid solutions and power management to its marine customers.

KS currently represents Reintjes marine gears in North America, and Steerprop Azimuth propulsors for the United States and Mexican markets. Karl Senner also carries Berg Propulsion CP propellers and transverse thrusters. The relationship began in 1982.

Karl Senner has been the exclusive North American distributor for Reintjes Marine Transmissions since 1972. Reintjes manufactures marine gearboxes with inputs ranging from 250 to 30,000 kW. As a result of the new agreement Chris Senner, Sales, Karl Senner, LLC, sees real opportunities in the market. “Our agreement with EPD allows us to vertically integrate

our product lines to supply our customers with complete diesel-electric and/or hybrid packages in conjunction with Steerprop and Reintjes propulsion products.” he says.

“Our product lines couldn’t compliment one-another better. All of our products represent the highest quality marine propulsion equipment, backed by premium support.”

Ralph Senner, CEO added, “EPD’s business model and values are a great fit for us.

We are both family owned companies, with a strong focus on always putting the customer first, and we stand behind our core values.”

John Norwood Senior Vice President of Business Development for EPD says, “We are extremely excited about the new partnership with Karl Senner. Both EPD and KS have excellent long lasting reputations for providing quality products to the market worldwide. We look forward to a long future together as the market’s premier suppliers for integrated marine power systems.”

The most recent agreement builds on long-standing cooperation between the two family owned companies. The collaboration originated when the two companies were selected as vendors for a major U.S.-based Offshore Support Vessel Company’s dieselelectric newbuild program in 2000. This collaboration continued in 2008 when they were selected as vendors for an excess of 100 newbuild diesel-electric Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) of various types. Karl Senner supplied three Steerprop Azimuth Z-drives and two Berg bow thrusters per vessel. EPD, meanwhile, supplied the complete electrical power systems which included its patented integrated Engine Operator Station (EOS) module as the electrical systems integrator to meet the requirements for each type OSV built. The EOS module was designed

by EPD; it comes pre-assembled and tested, allowing the shipyard to save numerous man-hours accumulating to weeks in installation and commission time savings . This allows the yards to reduce costs and allows the vessel to be delivered much quicker to the vessel owner.

For after-sales service, Karl Senner President/Service Manager Karl A. Senner says, “Both KS and EPD share a similar outlook on the importance of significant parts availability and prompt/effective service work.

We are combining our knowledgeable teams to provide superior products and service that will save our customers time and money for a long-term investment. We both work by setting the industry standard for supplying quality products, backed by unmatched reliability and service.”

Propulsion Becker Marine Systems add a “twist” to reducing CO2 emissions

B

ecker Marine Systems posted a solid year in 2014, recording a number of milestones: Among them was the christening of a new LNG Hybrid Barge for supplying low-emission power to cruise ships. Another was as a result of the use of the Becker Mewis Ducts on ships, CO2 emissions have been reduced by more than one million tonnes.

Just as notable, the world’s largest containership, the 19,000-TEU CSCL Globe, was outfitted with a high-performance rudder from the Hamburg-based company.

The CSCL Globe was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and named one of MARINE LOG’s Distinctive Ships of 2014.

“We are proud that our twisted rudder was chosen for this special containership,” says Dirk Lehmann and Henning Kuhlmann, both Managing Directors of the global market leader for high-performance rudders.

The CSCL Globe’s four planned sister ships will also be equipped with highly maneuverable and efficient TLKSRs (Twisted Leading Edge King Support Rudder).

Other large orders in 2014 for Becker Marine Systems included twisted rudders and the energy-saving Becker Twisted Fin for

United Arab Shipping Company’s (UASC) 18,000- and 14,000 TEU ships, as well as additional Becker Twisted Fins for Canadabased Seaspan Ship Management’s 10,000 and 5,100 TEU ships. And yet another innovative order is for the steerable nozzle of a dredger being built at a Dutch shipyard.

“We are very satisfied with the new orders.

In 2014 we were also able to perform very well in a difficult market environment,” says Lehmann and Kuhlmann. Becker Marine Systems is forecast to increase sales by about 20% in the current business year.

Sustainability in shippng is an important core value at Becker Marine Systems. Right before the end of the year, the company achieved a sustainable shipping milestone through the sales of its Becker Mewis Duct.

As a result of the worldwide use of all of the delivered Becker Mewis Ducts, shipping has been able to the reduce its CO2 emissions by 1 million tonnes.

Overall, Becker Marine Systems has sold more than 800 of its Becker Mewis Ducts.

It recently opened its own office in Houston in order to better serve the strong demand for its products from numerous shipping companies in North America.

Becker’s Twisted Leading Edge King Support Rudder

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January 2015 MARINE LOG 17

Propulsion New DEVELOPMENTS at Kobelt, Rolls-Royce

R Rolls-Royce unveiled the new S4 series waterjet last year at SMM

UNCOMPROMISED

CONTROL

olls-Royce has successfully completed seatrials of its first S4 series of waterjets, designed to give higher efficiency at lower speeds.

The trials aboard the recently upgraded Tangalooma Jet, a 350 passenger-carrying high-speed catamaran operating in Australia, indicated a 3% increase in thrust when compared to the previously installed Kamewa 63SII waterjets.

As importantly, Rolls-Royce Hydrodynamic Research Center Manager, Reima Aartojärvi, says noise and vibration levels were lower, significantly improving passenger comfort. “The owner is very happy with the improved performance, which is easily understandable since the new arrangement can save the operator about AUS $80,000 per annum in fuel costs.”

Unveiled at SMM 2014 in Hamburg, the S4 next generation waterjet was developed specifically to meet the reduced speed requirements of many high-speed ferry operators.

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Low Submergence Requirement Small Hull Penetrations Auxiliary Propulsion/ “Take Home” Capability Effective Thrust in Currents JT Series

Waterjet Bow/Stern Thrusters Up to 2,200HP

18 MARINE LOG January 2015

Proudly Made in the USA!

Meanwhile, Kobelt Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Surrey, BC, Canada, recently expanded its propulsion offerings with the acquisition of Keypower Equipment Inc., a Canadianbased manufacturer of thrusters, stabilizers, drives and hydraulic systems.

Kobelt is retaining the Keypower brand name and its products and services will be supported through Kobelt’s Global Partner Networking located in 60 countires.

“Our goal is to become a complete systems company, where our partners can offer multiple systems for controlling their vessels from a single supplier,” says Kobelt’s Greg Henderon.

“The bow thrusters are more of an assist to the steering system and controls, rather than propulsion, so we consider this to add to our steering and control system offerings.”

James Webber, President and Cofounder of Keypower, says, “Given the synergies in the product lines and manufacturing processes, the two companies will now be able to offer one integrated package of products, making the design and purchasing process easier for our customers.

Adds David Bockhold, Kobelt CEO, “The Keypower product line complements and expands Kobelt’s commitment to offering high quality, single source comprehensive solutions to its customers. Our customers are looking for one company to take responsibility for the integration of multiple systems, so we are responding to this demand. Keypower is a perfect fit.” ■

ENVIRONMENT

Doing The Dirty Work Carnival turns to exhaust gas cleaning systems to scrub emissions

C

arnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping company, is on target to cut its CO2 emissions by 20% a year ahead of its corporate goal, thanks for the most part to reducing energy consumption, according to its recently released sustainability report for the fiscal year 2013.

Carnival operates 101 ships under its global brands: Carnival, Holland America Lines, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn based in the U.S., AIDA, Ibero Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, and P&O Cruises headquartered in Europe, and P&O Australia located in Australia.

In order to compare apples to apples, Carnival tracked its f leet emissions using the metric CO 2 e per ALB-km. ALB-km stands for Available Lower Berth kilometers, which is composed of the number of guest beds per ship and the distance the ship travels in kilometers.

It has reduced CO2 emissions by 19.3% as of FY 2013 compared with the data from the baseline year of 2005.

Carnival’s overall fleet CO2 emissions rose from 8,576,173 metric tonnes of CO 2 e in 2005, when it was operating 79 ships, to 10,284,768 metric tonnes of CO2e in 2013, when it was operating 101 ships. However, grams of CO 2 e per ALB-km have declined steadily, dropping from 347 in 2005 to 280 in 2013.

It is also gathering CO 2 emissions data on supply chain emissions, such as employee travel, purchased goods and services, upstream transportation and distribution, etc.

Compiled by Marine Log Staff

As part of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction strategy, Carnival implemented a number of energy efficiency initiatives and energy conservation and training programs tailored for its shipboard crew and passengers.

Fuel switchover As of January 1, the new IMO MARPOL Annex VI regulations capped fuel sulfur content in Emissions Control Areas (ECAs) at 0.1%. IMO’s sulfur limit outside of ECAs is 3.5%, with an expected drop to 0.5% by 2020.

Emissions due to the ship’s fuel consumption represented the bulk of the direct GHG emissions—97.5%, according to Carnival. The volume of NOx, SOx, and PM emissions depends on the quantities of the different types of shipboard fuel consumed. Carnival ships burn three different types of fuel: High sulfur fuel oil (HFO), Low sulfur fuel oil (LSFO) and Marine diesel oil/Marine gas oil (MDO/MGO) depending on the engine design, operation and maintenance, and regulatory standards.

Carnival ships have been increasingly burning a higher percentage of more expensive LSFO and MDO/MGO, which results in lower SOx emissions as compared with HFO. In 2011, for example, HFO represented 87.8% of the fuel burned, LSFO 7%, and MDO/ MGO 5.2%. In 2013, HFO represented 66.8% of the fuel burned, LSFO 27.2%, and MDO/MGO, 6%.

January 2015 MARINE LOG 19

ENVIRONMENT Carnival is also active in developing new abatement technologies, spending about $30 million annually on shipbuilding R&D. One technological strategy Carnival has adopted is to invest in exhaust gas cleaning systems for 70 of its 101 ships. Initially, in September 2013, Carnival had said it would install exhaust gas cleaning systems on 32 ships. At the time, Carnival said it would adapt a proven exhaust gas cleaning technology to use on its ships. The system is called ECO Exhaust Gas Cleaning (ECO-EGC) for its ability to remove major pollutants from the exhaust gases at any operating condition of a ship—at sea, during maneuvering and in port.

While it was in dry dock at Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany from April 26 to May 5 last year, AIDAluna became the first Carnival brand cruise ship to be fitted with the first stage of the comprehensive exhaust gas treatment system. The scrubber is expected to reduce SOx emissions by around 90%. Further elements of the exhaust gas treatment system will be installed in due course.

Overall, Carnival expects to invest about $400 million to design, build and install the systems, which will enable it to meet new MARPOL Annex VI 0.1 sulfur content regulations. The systems will help the company meet its environmental sustainability goals, as well as mitigate escalating fuel costs.

The systems, known for their ability to clean—or “scrub”— exhaust from high-sulfur fuel, are scheduled to be installed this year and next.

Carnival’s advanced ECO-EGC systems have the added benefit of ensuring compliance with both North American and global IMO standards.

The ECO-EGC system waiting to be installed at Blohm + Voss

Carnival’s system combines two established technologies that have been successfully used in shore applications like power plants, factories and vehicles. For the first time this combination is being developed to accommodate restricted spaces on existing ships.

Carnival’s plan incorporates a two-pronged system—one to reduce particulates from the ship’s engine emissions, and another to use seawater to “scrub” sulfur compounds from the exhaust gases. ■

Royal Caribbean CRUISE ships to get refit with scrubbers, too Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will retrofit 19 of its cruise ships with exhaust gas scrubbers. Using scrubbers to meet ECA sulfur limits involves more than going out shopping for the needed hardware.

Formal exemptions from the ECA limits also must be obtained.

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that it and the U.S. Coast Guard have authorized formal exemptions for Royal Caribbean that allow for the enlargement of the cruise line’s research program to develop and install exhaust gas scrubber systems on its cruise ships. Under the exemption, as articulated in MARPOL, Royal Caribbean will expand the program from six to 19 ships.

“Royal Caribbean’s research program has developed exhaust gas scrubber technology that has the potential to provide greater emission reductions than would be achieved using only ECA compliant low-sulfur fuel, and at a much lower cost. Under this research program extension, a total of 19 ships covering a range of vessel sizes and applications will begin using these scrubbers starting in 2015.

“These permits,” continued the EPA, “provide a temporary relief from the ECA’s fuel sulfur content requirements. This approach will enable Royal Caribbean to meet its emission requirements through exhaust gas scrubber technology, rather than with engine and fuel system modifications. This trial program will also provide valuable information on developing advanced emissions control technologies for other marine engines.”

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has been involved in developing, testing and planning for the use of scrubbers or what they refer to as Advanced Emissions Purification (AEP) technology since 2010. Two newly built RCL ships that entered into service this year, Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas and TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 3, were among the first cruise ships to be built with AEP systems installed during initial construction. Royal

20 MARINE LOG January 2015

Caribbean International’s Liberty of the Seas has been operating one of its six engines with a retrofitted AEP system for two years.

AEP systems “scrub” exhaust gases by injecting high volumes of water spray into the exhaust stream, removing more than 97% of sulfur dioxide emissions.

“AEP technology for maritime vessels is very new, and we expect that by utilizing multiple technological solutions to accommodate the differences among our ships, additional development will ultimately help industrialize AEP technology even more, which will benefit not only RCL but also the larger maritime industry,” said Adam Goldstein, President and COO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. The company faced significant challenges in order to accommodate the AEP systems on its existing ships – some pieces of which can be as large as a school bus, an entire system having an operational weight of several hundred tons of equipment and liquids. “A retrofit project of this size and complexity – and the scale and intricacy of the research, planning, and design required – is unprecedented for our company, and has required a very systematic process and involved the world’s leading expertise in this field,” said Harri Kulovaara, Executive Vice President, Maritime, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. To ensure the right systems are available for each ship’s unique requirements, RCL contracted two different AEP technology suppliers, Alfa Laval and Wärtsilä. Additional companies are being hired to execute the installations.

Beginning in January 2015, installation will take place on 13 Royal Caribbean International ships and six Celebrity Cruises ships, during scheduled dry-dockings and while ships are in service. While preliminary work has begun on several of the ships receiving AEP systems, most will take place between 2015 and 2017. Each installation will take approximately eight months.

NAVY

USNS Coronado (LCS 4) and USNS Millinocket (JHSV 3) in an exercise off of Southern California

BUDGETING ENOUGH for dreams Navy aims for 300-ship battle force, but will there be funding?

S

hortly before Christmas, President Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 3979, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. It included a provision establishing a “National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund.” The aim of the new fund— which as yet contains not one solitary dollar—is to take the costs of the Ohio replacement submarine out of the Navy’s shipbuilding budget altogether and put it in the overall “Defense-wide” budget.

The submarine-based, nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles carried by the Ohio class are the most credible element of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Their strategic importance is such that it seems safe to say that the Ohio replacement boats are the one class of vessels in the Navy 30-year shipbuilding program that will get built, no matter the consequences for other also sorely needed programs.

Shipbuilders had therefore better hope that the new fund actually gets funded because if it doesn’t the $5 billion-plus per copy cost of replacing the Navy’s Ohio Class ballistic missile class submarines will have to be sucked out of the rest of the Navy’s shipbuilding budget—effectively gutting any hope of reaching the target of a 306-strong battle force fleet 30 years from now.

U.S. Navy/CMCS Mark C. Schutlz

Striving for Affordability Any 30-year plan that the Navy puts forward is always going to be a compromise arrived at after agonized behind the scenes wrangling that tries to balance the competing needs of various branches of the service, while making at least some nod to affordability. It’s the “affordability” part that’s the toughest.

The Department of Defense (DoD) submitted the Navy’s 2015 shipbuilding plan, which covers fiscal years 2015 to 2044, to the Congress in July 2014, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has now delivered its assessment: The total costs of carrying out the

By Nick Blenkey, Web Editor

2015 plan—an average of about $21 billion in 2014 dollars per year over the next 30 years—would be one-third higher than the funding amounts that the Navy has received in recent decades.

The CBO says that Navy’s 2015 shipbuilding plan is very similar, but not identical, to its 2014 plan with respect to the Navy’s total inventory goal and mix of ships.

The goal is now to achieve 306 battle force ships and under this latest 30-year plan, the Navy would build a total of 218 combat ships and 46 combat and logistics ships (see Table I).

The CBO says the latest shipbuilding plan falls short of meeting the service’s inventory goals for some types of ships in some years, although the shortfalls are smaller than in previous plans.

Given the rate at which the Navy plans to retire ships, the inventory goal of 306 ships would not be met until 2019 under new rules for counting ships that the Navy implemented this year or until 2022 under the old counting rules (the rule change basically amounts to counting some ships as available to the battle force that previously were excluded).

The Navy estimates that buying the new ships specified in the 2015 plan would cost $500 billion over 30 years, or an average of $16.7 billion per year—slightly less than the costs of the 2014 plan. Those figures apply only to the construction of new ships. The CBO estimated that other activities typically funded from the Navy’s budget accounts for ship construction—such as refueling nuclear-powered aircraft carriers —would add another $1.9 billion to the Navy’s average actual annual shipbuilding costs under the 2015 plan.

Using its own models and assumptions, CBO estimates that the cost of new-ship construction in the Navy’s 2015 plan will total $566 billion over 30 years, or an average of $18.9 billion per year.

Including the costs of refueling aircraft carriers and other items, January 2015 MARINE LOG 21

NAVY such as outfitting new ships, raises the overall average cost of the Navy’s plan to $20.7 billion per year.

CBO’s estimate of the cost of new-ship construction in the Navy’s 2015 shipbuilding plan is $66 billion, or 13%, higher over the next 30 years than the Navy’s estimate. The estimate is 6 percent higher than the Navy’s for the first 10 years of the plan, 14 percent higher for the following decade, and 20% higher for the final 10 years. CBO says the difference widens over time in part “because the Navy, in its constant-dollar estimates and in contrast with CBO, does not appear to have accounted for the fact that costs of labor and materials have traditionally grown faster in the shipbuilding industry than in the economy as a whole.

What’s the Ship Mix? According to the Navy’s submission, the current battle force is 289 ships. The objective for 306 ships includes the following: 12 fleet ballistic missile submarines; 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers ; 48 nuclear-powered attack submarines; 0-4 nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines; 88 large, multi-mission, surface combatants; 52 small, multi-role, surface combatants; 33 amphibious landing ships; 29 combat logistics force ships; and 33 support vessels.

The First Five Years Projections over a 30-year term obviously get fuzzier the further out in time that one looks. The Navy’s Five-Year plan for battle force ship additions should, however, be fairly firm. Here’s how it looks.

The CBO is not the only place outside the Pentagon that the Congress can go for advice on matters like naval shipbuilding procurement. It also has the assessments of the widely respected Congressional Research Service available to it.

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22 MARINE LOG January 2015

Following are its comments on the five-year plan.

• A total of 44 ships. This compares to a total of 41 ships in the FY2014-FY2018 five-year shipbuilding plan.

• Average of 8.8 ships per year. The steady-state replacement rate for a fleet of 306 ships with an average service life of 35 years is about 8.7 ships per year. In light of how the average shipbuilding rate since FY1993 has been substantially below 8.7 ships per year, shipbuilding supporters for some time have wanted to increase the shipbuilding rate to a steady rate of 10 or more battle force ships per year.

• DDG-51 destroyers and Virginia-class submarines being procured under MYP arrangements. Ten DDG-51 destroyers in FY2013- FY2017 and 10 Virginia-class attack submarines in FY2014- FY2018 are being procured under multiyear procurement (MYP) contracts.

• Navy is requesting three rather than four LCSs for FY2015.

LCSs are being procured under a pair of block buy contracts covering the years FY2010-FY2015.

These two contracts call for a total of four LCSs in FY2015. The Navy, however, is requesting funding for the procurement of three LCSs in FY2015. If three LCSs are funded in FY2015, one of the two LCS block buy contracts would not be fully implemented in its final year. [Although the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 did fund just three LCS’s, U.S. Senator for Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin pledged “I will continue to fight for the inclusion of additional advanced procurement for a fourth LCS in the final Fiscal Year 2015 appropriations bill.”]

• Start of LX(R) amphibious ship procurement deferred to FY2020. The FY2015-FY2019 five-year shipbuilding plan defers the procurement of the first LX(R) amphibious ship to FY2020, compared to FY2019 in the FY2014-FY2018 plan, FY2018 in the FY2013-FY2017 plan, and FY2017 in the FY2012-FY2016 plan. In each of these five-year plans, the lead LX(R) ship was scheduled one year beyond the end of the five-year period.

• MLP/AFSB ship added to FY2017. The FY2015-FY2019 fiveyear shipbuilding plan adds an MLP/AFSB (Mobile Landing Platform/Afloat Forward Staging Base) ship in FY2017. This ship, not previously planned, would likely be built by General Dynamics, NASSCO, San Diego, CA, which constructed the prior MLP/ AFSB ship, Lewis Puller, and was recently awarded a $498 million contract for a second one. In addition to providing a platform that would help the Navy meet certain operational needs, adding this ship to the shipbuilding plan might help the Navy ensure strong competition for two other Navy ship programs—the TAO(X) oiler program, the first ship of which is to be procured in FY2016, and the LX(R) amphibious ship program, the first ship of which is to be procured in FY2020.

One Navy procurement problem that pretty much went away in December was created earlier last year when Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel expressed concern that the U.S. Navy was relying too heavily on the LCS to meet long-term targets for the size of the fleet.

He said that the Defense Department would not undertake new contract negotiations beyond 32 LCS’s, and directed the Navy to submit alternative proposals to identify and procure a more lethal and survivable small surface combatant, with capabilities generally consistent with those of a frigate. He told the Navy to consider completely new designs, existing ship designs, and modified LCS designs, and to provide its recommendations in time to inform the President’s FY2016 defense budget.

Bottom line: Hagel bought into the proposal that beefed up variants of the two present LCS designs were sufficiently frigate-like.

NAVY According to Sean Stackley, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition (RDA), the planned upgrades to the existing ships will add $60 million to $75 million, or less than 20%, to the current cost of the ships.

Stackley said the Navy had reviewed 18 existing ship designs in addition to a various permutations of the existing LCS before deciding on the two designs.

The new SSC (small surface combatants) will offer improvements in ship lethality and survivability compared to the LCS, delivering enhanced naval combat performance at an affordable price.

“I have directed the Navy to assume a total buy of 52 LSCs and SSCs, with the final number and mix dependent on future f leet requirements, final procurement costs, and overall Navy resources,” said Secretary Hagel. “Production of the new SSC will begin no later than fiscal year 2019, and there will be no gap between production of the last LCS and the first SSC. A significant advantage to this approach is the ability to enhance naval combat performance by back-fitting select SSC improvements to the LCS fleet.”

The Navy says that its plan reflects constraints on the flexibility of naval construction “which are significant because of the longlead time, specialized skills, and extent of integration needed to build military ships.

“The complex configuration and size of naval vessels result in design times that range from two to seven or more years, and construction schedules that can span up to nine years,” says the Navy.

“Individual ships cost from hundreds of millions to several billions of dollars, making each one a significant fraction of the shipbuilding budget in anyone year. Moreover, because of their technological complexity, physical size, propulsion plant type, and warfare systems, Navy ships can only be constructed at a limited number of U.S. shipyards. The timing of ship procurement is a critical matter to the health and sustainment of U.S. shipbuilding and combat system industries. The Department of the Navy must procure the right mix of ships at an efficient production rate to maintain production lines, the skilled work force and numerous support vendors that build complex naval vessels and their systems.”

It’s all about that Base

Expensive Business

Secretary Hagel’s decision on the SSC/LSC issue was greeted with relief by those who had feared that a change to a different design could have had an unnecessarily disruptive effect on the Navy shipbuilding base. Sustaining that base is a major consideration in crafting the 30-year plan and, in its submission to Congress, the Navy underscored the fact that procuring the ships ref lected in the plan will not only produce a battle force that meets Quadrennial Defense Review requirements, but will also adequately sustain the national shipbuilding and naval combat systems design industrial bases.

Nobody is denying that building military ships is an expensive business. The Navy doesn’t deny this —and the main difference between its assessment and the CBO’s is one of degree.

The Navy concedes that its plan “requires funding at an unsustainable level, particularly between FY25 and FY34.” It says that the average cost of its plan during the period in which it is procuring the Ohio Replacement SSBN “cannot be accommodated by the Navy from existing resources.”

In addition the Ohio Replacement SSBN, another significant challenge facing the Navy is what it calls the “block obsolescence

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January 2015 MARINE LOG 23

NAVY Table 1. Navy FY2014 Five-Year (FY2015-FY2019) Shipbuilding Plan (Battle force ships—i.e., ships that count against 306-ship goal) Ship type

FY15

FY16

FY17

FY18

FY19

Total

Ford (CVN-78) class aircraft carrier

1 1

Virginia (SSN-774) attack submarine

2

2

2

2

2

10

Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class destroyer

2

2

2

2

2

10

Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)

3

3

3

3

2

14

LHA(R) amphibious assault ship

1

Fleet tug (TATF)

2

Mobile Landing Platform (MLP/AFSB)

1

1

1

1 4 1

TAO(X) oiler

1

1

1

3

TOTAL

8

9

9

44

7

11

Notes: The MLP/AFSB is a variant of the MLP with additional features permitting it to serve in the role of an AFSB. The Navy proposes to fund the TATFs and TAO(X)s through the National Defense Sealift Fund (NDSF) and the other ships through the Navy’s shipbuilding account, known formally as the Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy (SCN) appropriation account.

built into our shipbuilding program in the 1980s.”

“Over the last two decades, the Navy has divested itself of those ships built prior to 1980, and most of our current f leet is comprised of ships built between 1980 and 1990,” the Navy says. “A great number of ship classes were built at a rate of three or four ships per year. Therefore, this fleet has a large number of ships that are about the same age and will retire as a group. These retiring ships will need to be recapitalized at rates that are unaffordable in today’s environment. This phenomenon leads to a requirement to increase shipbuilding funding over historic levels. Only with additional funding in FY2020 and beyond, will we mitigate the impact

of these retirements.”

Among steps being taken to minimize the impact of ship retirements, the Navy plans to retain ships until at least their Expected Service Life (ESL). Ships will be upgraded with appropriate payloads and flexible combat systems to stay relevant.

“The service lives of specific ships will be extended, if technically feasible, and new ships will incorporate modularity and open-architecture mechanical, electrical and information systems to enable rapid and economical upgrades and adaptations,” says the Navy. “All of these measures will help maintain the size and effectiveness of the battle force inventory in the 2020s to early 2030s.” ■

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24 MARINE LOG January 2015

FInAnCE

Bollinger Shipyards now controls 30 drydocks on the U.S. Gulf Coast, after adding two new units, including one with a 10,500-ton lifting capacity at its Port Fourchon facility

A year of wheeling & dealing Notable shipyard transactions among mergers and acquisitions in 2014

T

he long-rumored sale of Bollinger Shipyards—the largest privately held shipyard group in the U.S.—just two days before Christmas, was part of a year of fast and furious mergers and acquisitions in 2014.

There were more than $3 trillion in mergers and acquisitions worldwide in 2014—the highest level since the financial crisis six years ago and a sign that optimism, cheap capital, and confidence has returned to the market. The mega deals were in pharmaceuticals and media, and energy (Halliburton and Baker Hughes), but there were notable transactions in shipbuilding and shipbuildingrelated companies.

One of those was the insider acquisition of Bollinger Shipyards.

The Lockport, LA-headquartered company was purchased by Ben Bordelon, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, and members of the Chouest family, owners of Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), Galliano, LA. The deal keeps the privately held shipyard in the hands of a member of the Bollinger family—Bordelon is the nephew of former Chairman Donald “Boysie” Bollinger, and also a long-time company executive, and a former pro football player.

He’s sat on the board of Bollinger Shipyards since 2002. Bordelon takes over the reigns as Chairman, President, and CEO.

By John R. Snyder, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Bollinger Shipyards controls 10 shipyards and 30 dry docks along the Gulf Coast in South Louisiana and Texas. While commercial vessel construction and repair is an important part of its business, Bollinger Shipyards has been a primary builder of patrol boats for the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy for decades. It is in the midst of building the Coast Guard’s new Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutters, which could potentially turn into a $1.54 billion contract for the company.

Bollinger along with Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, FL, and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME, were all awarded contracts in the neighborhood of $22 million to produce preliminary and contract designs for the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC). That program could see up to 25 vessels built at a cost of $10.5 billion.

In February this past year, ECO purchased effectively all of the assets of Bee Mar, LLC, Broussard, LA. Bee Mar was a sister company to Bollinger Shipyards created by Boysie Bollinger to operate vessels that had been built on spec. At the time of the acquisition, the assets of Bee Mar were seven vessels—four 300 Class and three 270 Class Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs). The deepwater support vessels were on order at Bollinger Marine Fabricators (BMF), Amelia, LA, in various stages of production. The last of those vessels is expected to be completed by BMF in 2015.

January 2015 MARINE LOG 25

FInAnCE Vigor gets bigger in Pacific Northwest

Vigor Industrial, Portland, OR, already the big dog in the Pacific Northwest shipyard region, solidified its position this past year with two shipyard acquisitions. One was Seward Ship’s Drydock, Seward, AK, which became a subsidiary of Vigor Alaska, and the other was Oregon Iron Works, which was merged with Vigor Industrial to become a wholly owned subsidiary.

Led by Frank Foti, Vigor Industrial now employs about 2,300 workers at its nine locations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

The acquisition of Oregon Iron Works is particularly interesting in that it expands Vigor’s portfolio of non-marine-related complex fabrication projects. OIW, for example, is the steel fabrication company for San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center.

Two U.S. shipyards that were rumored to be in play but didn’t change hands in 2014 were Signal International, Inc., Mobile, AL, and Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and is majority-owned by Converto Capital Fund, which in turn is majority-owned by Aker ASA. With significant shipbuilding and repair activity in the Jones Act market, both shipyards could potentially have new owners in 2015.

VARD grabs STX Canada Marine

Acquisitions or mergers are geared towards growing a company rapidly in a particular market. That’s exactly what VARD did with the acquisition of naval architectural and marine engineering firm STX Canada Marine, Inc., this past year. VARD, a Fincantieri company, bought STX Canada Marine, Inc., Vancouver, Canada—now operating as Vard Marine, Inc.—for NOK65 million (about $10.5 million).

The move enabled VARD to grab one of the top offshore support vessel designers in North America, as well as position itself for involvement in Canada’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.

Shipyard saved on the Clyde

In the European shipbuilding sector, Clyde Blowers Capital controlled by billionaire Jim McColl acquired Ferguson Shipbuilders, saving the shipyard from closure after it had experienced “significant cash-flow pressure” and gone into administration.

It has since won a 12.3 million British pounds contract from the Scottish government to construct a hybrid ferry for Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CalMac). The new hybrid ferry will carry 150 passengers and 23 cars and will enter service in the fall

The Meyer Turku shipyard is important to creating business for the Finnish maritime cluster

of 2016. The shipyard built two other hybrid ferries for CalMac. The shipyard in the port of Glasgow has been renamed Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd. Meyer Werft GRABS TURKU SHIPYARD

Germany’s Meyer Werft and the Finnish Government negotiated with STX Europe to purchase a 70% stake in STX Finland Oy, Turku, Finland. Newly named Meyer Turku Shipyard Oy, the shipyard acquisition strengthens Meyer Werft’s presence in the cruise ship and cruise ferry market.

Meyer Werft Managing Partner Dr. Jan Meyer said the acquisition would provide the company more flexibility and improve its working processes.

“We are confident that in this way,” said Meyer, “we can create a good opportunity for the Finnish maritime cluster to thrive and also hope to interest many young people to join us for building the future high-tech ships.”

Just three weeks after the change of hands, Meyer Turku Oy f loated out the 99,500 gross ton cruise ship Mein Schiff 4. The 2,500-passenger cruise ship will be handed over to TUI Cruises in the spring of 2015 for operation in the Baltic Sea and in northern Europe around Norway. During the winter, the ship will sail on seven-day voyages to the Canary Islands, taking in Morocco or Madeira.

Meyer Turku Oy has already started production of the next ship of the series, Mein Schiff 5, and will begin cutting steel for the Mein Schiff 6 in November 2015. ■

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS OF 2014: Some of the year’s notable shipbuilding-related transactions Company

Transaction

Bollinger Shipyards (Lockport, LA)

Acquired by Ben Bordelon and Chouest family

CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Ltd. (Guangzhou, China)

Acquired by Guangzhou Shipyard International

Ferguson Shipbuilders (Glasgow, Scotland)

Acquired by Clyde Blowers Capital

Joiner Systems Inc. (Montreal, Canada)

Acquired by USJ-IMECO

Keypower Equipment, Inc. (Surrey, Canada)

Acquired by Kobelt Manufacturing Co., Inc.

Oregon Iron Works, Inc. (Portland, OR)

Merged with Vigor Industrial. Becomes wholly owned subsidiary

Robichaux Automation and Control, Inc. (New Orleans, LA)

Acquired by Acquired by USJ-IMECO

Rolls-Royce Power Systems (Friedrichshafen, Germany)

Acquired 50% stake by Rolls-Royce from Daimler AG for EUR2.43 billion

Sasebo Heavy Industries (Tokyo, Japan)

Acquired by Nakamura Shipbuilding

Seward Ship’s Drydock, Inc. (Seward, AK)

Acquired by Vigor Industrial. Now subsidiary of Vigor Alaska

SSP Offshore (Houston, TX)

Acquired by Sembcorp Marine for $21 million. Now Sembmarine SSP Inc.

STX Canada Marine, Inc. (Vancouver, Canada)

Acquired by VARD for about $10.5 million. Now named Vard Marine, Inc.

STX Finland Shipyard (Turku, Finland)

Meyer Werft acquires 70% stake from STX Europe. Renamed Meyer Turku Shipyard

26 MARINE LOG January 2015

Underwater repairs

By performing repair and maintenance operations underwater and on-site, Hydrex saves ship owners precious time and money

Avoid dry dock, with underwater propeller repair

W

hen propellers are damaged by ice or other f loating or submerged debris, underwater repair and maintenance specialists Hydrex can help, without dry docking the vessel—even if the damage is quite extensive. A ship with bent or cracked propeller blades might experience severe vibrations while sailing. In such a case, a classification society might demand that the vessel is repaired before it is allowed to sail. By straightening the blades or cropping them, Hydrex can restore the propeller’s balance, resulting in a green light from class for the vessel.

A propeller modification can easily be combined with any other maintenance or repair operation that needs to be carried out on the vessel. Thanks to the flexibility of the Hydrex teams this allows a vessel to keep to its schedule.

Detailed underwater inspection Prior to a propeller repair, Hydrex divers carry out a detailed underwater inspection. They are certified to make a full assessment of the condition of the propeller. The exact dimensions and position of the damage can then be communicated to the Hydrex technical department supervising the operation. This is essential because the calculations need to be perfectly accurate to achieve an ideal result with the repair. Hydrex team members are not only divers, but also have experience in dealing with all kinds of different situations and circumstances. They are trained to think with the

people in the technical department. As diver/technician experts, they can assist in working out the best solution and have the skill and experience needed to implement the theoretical solutions that have been worked out.

Propeller blade straightening and cropping By taking advantage of the in-house developed cold straightening technique, damaged blades can be straightened underwater, allowing the ship to return to commercial operations without the need to drydock. Optimum efficiency of the propellers can be restored by bringing the blades back close to their original form. The cold straightening machine has been in use for quite some time now but the Hydrex research department has been looking into ways to enhance the technique even further to improve our services. A new model of the straightening machine was recently put into service.

It is compatible with the existing model and is used to restore more severely bent propeller blades.

If straightening is not an option, the affected area on the blade will be cropped to restore the hydrodynamic balance. This is done to achieve the greatest possible efficiency for the vessel. This kind of repair is carried out with the propeller blade cutting equipment that was also developed by the Hydrex research department. First a detailed underwater inspection is performed by a Hydrex diver/ technician team to obtain the exact parameters of the damage that are then used for a detailed calculation of the ideal cutting line. This January 2015 MARINE LOG 27

Underwater repairs allows the customer to know in advance what the result of the operation will be.

Hydrex also has the tools to carry out detailed crack inspections on propeller blades. An informed decision can then be made concerning any required follow-up action. Catching problems early can save much time and money Re stor i ng opt i mu m propel ler performance Hydrex not only offers repair ser v ices, but ca n a lso help customers

when they have the need for preventive or other special custom projects. For example, preventive modifications were made in Bremerhaven, Germany, to the blades of three ice-going sister vessels. When several of this customer’s vessels suffered damage and the propellers needed cropping after the winter, the owner wanted to find a way to prevent this from occurring to his other container vessels. When the next winter promised to be equally harsh, he wanted

to give the blades extra strength and make them less susceptible to damage from ice or other debris. This was done by modifying the blades to a very specific design that made them less prone to damage while keeping the performance of the propeller as close to optimum as possible. The operation was performed in close communication with the manufacturer of the propellers.

By performing these repair and maintenance operations underwater and on-site, Hydrex saves ship owners precious time and money. It allows ships to return to commercial operations without the need to dry dock.

Stern tube repairs

DESIGN

ASSE

28 MARINE LOG January 2015

SSED

For instance, last November a Hydrex diver/technician team carried out underwater stern tube seal repairs on a 196-meter LPG tanker in Panama. At the time, the ship was suffering from an oil leak, making an on-site repair necessary. Using a Hydrex f lexible mobdock the team was able to carry out the entire operation on-site and underwater, saving the owner an expensive and time-consuming trip to drydock.

The Hydrex mobdock enables repairs to be done afloat and underwater on all types of seals. Hydrex was able to create a dry underwater working environment around a seal assembly. This allows for work on the seal assembly in dry conditions. Prior to this technology the only option was to go into drydock, along with all the attendant loss of time and money.

After the diving team had set up a monitoring station they removed the rope guard and performed a thorough underwater inspection of the stern tube seal assembly.

Next they installed the f lexible mobdock.

The team then removed the four damaged seals one by one and replaced them with new ones.

All parts of the stern tube seal assembly were then reinstalled and secured. Leakage tests were carried out with positive results, after which the divers removed the flexible mobdock. The operation ended with the reinstallation of the rope guard.

By replacing the seals on-site when the damage is first discovered Hydrex was able to keep down time low while the ship kept its schedule.

Headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium, the Hydrex Group also has locations in Clearwater, FL, and Algeciras, Spain. Every Hydrex office has a fast response center equipped with all the latest facilities, equipment and tools. Each of the centers have been designed specifically to increase speed of service. ■

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techNews NSF INTERNATIONAL to test SeaCURE BWMS

The NSF International Independent Laboratory (IL) will test Evoqua Water Technologies’ SeaCURE ballast water management system (BWMS) in preparation for U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) full type approval.

SeaCURE BWMS has already received IMO type approval and USCG alternate management system (AMS) acceptance for capacities of 300 to 4,000 m 3/h in all salinities. NSF testing is anticipated to be complete by the fall of 2015.

NSF is the first IL to be accepted by the USCG for BWMS testing and is leading a partnership that includes Retlif Testing Laboratories, the Maritime Environmental Resource Center and the Great Ships Initiative (GSI).

The system works by injecting biocide into the ballast seawater before it reaches the surface filter intakes to reduce the growth of marine organisms; then Chloropac concentric tubular electrodes (CTE) generate sodium hypochlorite from the salinity in the seawater. The self-cleaning feature of the Chloropac CTE results in low energy requirements and reduced maintenance costs. www.evoqua.com

Carus system

for Alaska ferry system The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) recently awarded Finland’s Carus a contract to provide the ferry system’s booking, ticketing, departure control and attendant administrative functions.

Under the contract Carus will provide sof tware and hardware solutions for booking, check-in, self-service, CRM and business information tools.

Carus will establish an office in North America and recruit local personnel who understand the market and its nuances.

Carus CEO Anders Rundberg says “Its a very complex operation in terms of the route network and the remoteness of some of the terminals but Carus specializes in simplifying the IT in complexity!”

“Carus already operates in the U.S.,” adds Rundberg, “but this AMHS contract is a major step forward in our U.S. expansion program and signifies the intent of Carus to become a major player in the North American market. Our commitment to this region is demonstrated by the new North America support office that is being established.” www.carus.com

U.S. Navy tests “Star Wars” technology

Zapping enemy planes, ships and boats with lasers may seem like something straight out of Star Wars, but the U.S. Navy inched a step closer to that reality during a recent demonstration on board the USS Ponce, an Austin Class amphibious transport dock ship operating in the Arabian Gulf.

The deployment and testing of the Laser Weapons System (LaWS) on board the USS Ponce was announced by officials from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) last month.

The laser weapon system, which could be deployed on guided missile destroyers and Littoral Combat Ships in the early 2020’s, has the potential to be a pivotal asset against what the agency refers to as “asymmetric threats,” this includes small attack boats and UAVs. Dur ing the tests, LaWS hit targets mounted on a speeding oncoming small boat, shot down a Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and destroyed ordnance on an unmanned surface vehicle.

The system is operated using a videogame like controller, and can address multiple threats using a range of escalating options, from non-lethal measures such as optical “dazzling” and disabling, to lethal destruction if necessary.

The project was a collaborative effort between ONR, Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and industry partners.

Researchers say the revolutionary technology breakthroughs demonstrated by LaWS will ultimately benefit not only U.S. Navy surface ships, but also airborne and ground-based weapon systems.

The technology’s benefits are plentiful.

Laser weapons offer new levels of precision and speed for naval warfighters, they also bring increased safety for ships and crews, and cost less to build, install and fire than traditional kinetic weapons.

Rolls-Royce and VTT unveil futuristic bridge

Rolls-Royce and VTT Technical Research Center of Finland unveiled their latest vision of ship intelligence, a futuristic ship bridge concept which could become reality by 2025.

The bridge, known as the Future Operator Experience Concept, or “oX,” is a smart workstation that recognizes individuals when they walk into the bridge, and automatically adjust to the user’s preferences.

The system includes augmented reality displays of the vessel’s surrounding—including 3D visualization of potential hazards that would otherwise be invisible to the human eye.

According to Rolls-Royce, the use of ship intelligence will usher in the next transition for the industry—with more complex ships requiring high levels of data analysis to operate on-board systems and manage propulsion, and navigation.

“Over the next 10 to 20 years we believe ship intelligence is going to be the driving force that will determine the future of our industry, the type of ships at sea, and the competence levels required from tomorrow’s seafarers,” says Mikael Makinen, Rolls-Royce, President - Marine. www.rolls-royce.com/marine January 2015 MARINE LOG 31

newsmakers

CLIA’s CEO named President of Carnival Cruise Lines Koji K awamur a has been appointed Sener’s Count r y Manager for Japan. Kawamura’s management role will focus on the marine activity for both the FORAN system and ship engineering projects.

Carnival Corporation & plc. has named Christine Duff y President of Car nival Cruise Lines, which, with 24 ships, is the largest of Carnival Corporation’s nine distinct cruise brands. Duffy, currently pre sident and C EO of Cr uise L ine s International Association (CLIA), will assume the role on Feb. 1, reporting to Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc.

Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Board of Directors has elected K e l ly e W a l k e r to serve as Corporate Vice President and General Counsel. Walker will lead HII’s law department and outside counsel.

The Board also announced the election of Charles R. “Chuck” Monroe Jr. as Corporate Vice President, Associate General Counsel, and Secretary.

Ken Orben has been promoted to General Manager of Terminal Operations in Crowley Maritime Corporation’s Puerto Rico liner services group, Jacksonville, FL, division.

Meanwhile, K aren Dempsey has been promoted to Director of Port Operations in Pennsauken, NJ.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has announced that Jason Montague has been named President and Chief Operating Officer of Prestige Cruise Holdings, Inc. Montague was instrumental in launching Oceania Cruises in 2012.

Senior Vice President of Matson, Inc.’s Ocean Ser vices, Dave Hoppes, has announced his retirement. Hoppes will be replaced by John Lauer, Vice President, Transpacific Services, Matson Navigation Company, Inc. Meanwhile, with Lauer taking over for Hoppes, current Director of Asia at Matson Navigation Company, Chris Scot t, will step in as Vice President, Transpacific Services.

Hamburg-based ship management company E.R. Schiffahrt GmbH & Cie. KG has named Nils Aden its new Chief Executive Officer.

In his new role, Aden will be responsible for the fleet management, crewing, customer relations, chartering and quality divisions.

After more than 27 years, Rajaish Bajpaee handed over CEO responsibility of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) to his deputy, Captain Norbert Aschmann.

Bajpaee will remain as Chairman in a nonexecutive capacity.

Following its emergence from bankruptcy last August, Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) has appointed Douglas Wheat as Chairman of the Board. Wheat has served as Director of the company since August 2014.

32 MARINE LOG January 2015

contracts Shipyard Contracts While every care has been taken to present the most accurate information, our survey gathering system is far from perfect. We welcome your input. Please e-mail any changes to: marinelog@sbpub.com. Some contract values and contract completion dates are estimated. Information based on data as of about December 1, 2014. (*) Asterisk indicates first in series delivered. A “C” after a vessel type indicates a major conversion, overhaul or refit. Additional commercial and government contracts are listed on our website, www.marinelog.com.

Shipyard

Location

Qty Type Particulars Owner/OPERATOR Est. $ Mil Est. DEL.

RECENT CONTRACTS Conrad Shipyard GD-NASSCO Moran Iron Works Steiner Shipyard Willard Marine

Morgan City, LA 1 San Diego, CA 1 Onaway, MI 1 Bayou La Batre, AL 2 Anaheim, CA 24

Ferry MLP/AFSB Ferry ASD Tugs RIBs

235 ft, 384/55 39,900 ldt 281 PAX, 85 ft 5,360 hp, 92 ft 7m

The Steamship Authority 36.4 U.S. Navy 498 Shepler’s Mackinac Island 3.8 Crescent Towing U.S. Navy

Sp2016 MAR18 JUL15 JAN16 2015

Houma, LA Bayou La Batre, AL Bayou La Batre, AL

OSV Towboat Towboat

220 ft 120 ft 80 ft

Seamar, LLC FMT FMT

DEC14 NOV14 NOV14

DELIVERIES Gulf Island Fabricators Horizon Shipbuilding Horizon Shipbuilding

1 1 1

PENDING CONTRACTS

NOTES

Aker Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA 4 BAE Systems Southeast Mobile, AL 2 1 BAE Systems Southeast Jacksonville, FL Candies Shipbuilders Houma, LA 1 Gulf Coast Shipyard Gulfport, MS 4 Kvichak Marine Seattle, WA 30 Leevac Shipyards Jennings, LA 2 TBD TBD 2 TBD 1 6 TBD TBD 3 TBD 2

Crowley Maritime $500 Great Lakes Dredge Seabulk Tankers Inc. Otto Candies LLC Harvey Gulf Intl. Marine U.S. Navy Tidewater U.S. Coast Guard Horizon Lines VDOT $25 Washington State Ferries NYCDOT $309 WETA

2017 Options Option Option Options Opt. to 2019 Options RFP/Phase I RFP 2018-2020 RFP issued EBDG design RFP issued

DRBA

2018-2021

TBD

3

Options dump scows tug subsea vessel PSVs skimmers PSVs OPCs LASH carriers double-end ferry car ferries double-end ferries passenger ferries

50,000 dwt 7,700 ft3 141 ft x 46 ft, 12,000 bhp 108m x 22m, MT6022 dual fuel, 302 ft x 64 ft 30 ft 3 in x 9 ft 8 in 300 ft x 62 ft Offshore Patrol Cutters convert steam to LNG 70-car similar to Pocohontas 1,200 PAX (convert to LNG) 4,500 PAX 135 ft, 400 PAX, 27 knots

pass./vehicle ferries 1,000 PAX/100 vehicles

$101

Index of Advertisers Company Page #

Company Page #

ABS Americas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

KVH Industries, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Baker Marine Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3

MCE Deepwater Development. . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Becker Marine Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Metal Shark Aluminum Boats . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chesapeake Shipbuilding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

NAMEPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Christie & Grey Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

National Maintenance & Repair. . . . . . . . . . . . 2

CMA Shipping 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

National Oceanic and

Corporate Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Atmospheric Administration . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Cruise Shipping Miami 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Omnithruster Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

DNV-GL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2

Smith Berger Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

FloScan Instrument Co., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Thrustmaster of Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Great American Insurance Group. . . . . . . . . . 12

Viega. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Gunderson Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Vulkan Couplings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4

Kobelt Manufacturing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 January 2015 MARINE LOG 33

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January 2015 MARINE LOG 35

Marine Salvage

Prevention or Response?

Consider the world of maritime shipping incidents for a moment. If one were to pose the question, “Which is more important, Prevention or Response,” no doubt a variety of answers (I won’t say “responses”) would be received. And if one were to count only the clearcut answers, prevention or response, ignoring for a moment the caveats that would surely come with the answers, it would be interesting to see which answer received the most votes.

But no, I don’t have the polling data nor the answer. But it’s a topic worthy of serious discussion, for often we get so caught up in categorizing an issue, trying to put a label on its ultimate intention, that we lose sight of a simple fact—that any measure applied to a shipping incident is ultimately designed to do one thing—keep or return the system to normalcy.

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Granted, that’s an oversized generalization that doesn’t particularly help either side, except that it lays bare an important element of any marine incident measure.

Examining the spectrum of these measures, one finds that they are all implemented first to arrest further degradation of the system and second to restore already degraded component(s) of a system to an improved, if not original, state.

Pretty basic, I’ll admit. But in today’s world of competing resources and desire to place everything in neat boxes, this basic reality is lost. Take for example the subset of marine incidents involving potential or actual oil spills—the realm of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90). One of the first questions asked about any measure is, “Is it a preventative measure or a response measure?” The answer allows us to place the measure in its proper neat category. And that’s where we get tripped up.

I would argue that ALL these measures are both—they prevent further degradation and they respond to existing degradation, with the ultimate goal of restoration to normalcy. Rather than categories, the two elements should more appropriately be viewed on a continuum. From a state of normalcy—that could be defined as routine operations—on the left side of that

continuum to a state of complete catastrophy on the right. EVERYTHING we do in the world of OPA-90 ‘response’ can be placed on that continuum and EVERYTHING we do in OPA-90 ‘prevention’ can be similarly placed on that same continuum.

We would be far better served if we managed those “EVERYTHINGS” in that regard, rather than view a ‘response’ measure differently than a ‘prevention’ measure. Examples proliferate the OPA-90 world and could be the subject of a lengthy paper, but I have the luxury of short editorial space so will skip that important examination for now. But the first place to look at the trouble this prevention and response dichotomy creates is the U.S. Coast Guard organization.

We have felt compelled to split our efforts that move us down the continuum of an incident into these two groups, the direct result of which (I would argue) is a confusion of roles, a loss of efficiency, and a general decline in the ability to quickly restore that ever-sought after normalcy.

I believe its past time to take a hard look at these definitions and perhaps restore our Coast Guard organization to one that combines these over-simplified branches into a single team charged with keeping the industry on the left side of that continuum. It just might prevent a failed response.

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36 MARINE LOG January 2015

Paul Hankins, President, American Salvage Association

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