Shipping & Marine Issue 137 October 2016

137 October 2016

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The magazine for maritime management

Weighty issues New international safety rules regarding container weights came into force in July 2016 and they will have some major impacts across the sector

In this issue:

u Ship design u Marine engines u Ferry design u Tank measurement u Navigation u Marine litter u Fire safety u Propeller technology u Brexit u New technologies u SMM 2016 review

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Autumn 2016

S

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Editor’s comments

THE MAGAZINE FOR MARITIME MANAGEMENT

‘‘

After so many years of uncertainty, ship owners and operators must now actively look to make final decisions about the systems they will fit

Weighty issues New international safety rules regarding container weights came into force in July 2016 and they will have some major impacts across the sector

In this issue:

u Ship design u Marine engines u Ferry design u Tank measurement u Navigation u Marine litter u Fire safety u Propeller technology u Brexit u New technologies u SMM 2016 review

Chairman Andrew Schofield Editor Libbie Hammond libbie @ schofieldpublishing.co.uk Production Manager Fleur Daniels Art Editor/Design David Howard Profiles Editor Jo Cooper Staff Writers Andrew Dann Joshua Younespour Production dhoward @ schofieldpublishing.co.uk studio @ schofieldpublishing.co.uk Advertisement Administrator Tracy Chynoweth studio @ schofieldpublishing.co.uk

Operations Director Philip Monument Editorial Researchers Rory Gallacher Jo-Ann Jeffery Jeff Goldenberg

Advertising Sales Joe Woolsgrove - Sales Director Mark Cawston Tim Eakins Andy Ellis Darren Jolliffe Jonas Junca Dave King Theresa McDonald

Subscriptions ikidd @ schofieldpublishing.co.uk

Convention

ratified

A

fter covering the topic of Ballast Water in Shipping & Marine many times over the past few years, it was exciting to receive the recent announcement that the IMO Convention has finally been ratified. This means that the Ballast Water Convention will enter into force in 2017, and after so many years of uncertainty, ship owners and operators must now actively look to make final decisions about the systems they will fit. I am sure once the New Year arrives the issue will be at the top of the agenda and we will be discussing all the new technology available in order to highlight the challenges and the solutions.

Let me know if this issue is one that affects you, as I would love to hear your story!

Editor: Libbie Hammond libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

Follow us at: @ShippingMarine

Schofield Publishing Cringleford Business Centre, 10 Intwood Road, Cringleford, Norwich, NR4 6AU, U.K. Tel: 044 (0)1603 274130 Fax: 044 (0)1603 274131 www.shipping-and-marine.com

Please note: The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, and correct at time of writing, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information can be accepted by the publisher. All rights reserved. The contents of the magazine are strictly copyright, the property of Schofield Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

©2016 Schofield Publishing Ltd

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Features 4 News

20 Waste lines

Updates and announcements from the shipping and maritime arena

8 Designed for life

Marine debris is a major issue and the impact of it reaches from tiny organisms to the largest ocean mammals

22 Hot topic

Digital tools are bringing naval architecture into the future – software developer NAPA has created a state-of-the-art geometry modelling tool to assist clients with their productivity

Cutting maintenance costs can have knock-on effects on fire safety and the consequences this can have

10 Powering forward

26 Silence the singing

There is a need for ultimate reliability for ship’s power supplies, as Matt Wilson reports

12 Including all elements When designing a ferry, a holistic approach needs

28 The implications of Brexit

to be taken that considers all the factors involved

14 Tank measurement goes digital

on 1st July and these regulations will have three major impacts

What can the maritime sector expect when article 50 is invoked?

30 An eye on the horizon

How digital tank gauging technology offer benefits including flexibility and accuracy, continuous measurement and centralised real time displays

Gerry Northwood assesses the impact of Brexit on maritime security

31 Time to embrace the future

16 Weighty issues New container weight safety rules came into force

A recent project has been successful in dealing with an important propeller design issue

The shipping industry’s reluctance to embrace new technology is frustrating Dick Welsh

28

18 Take your position

The first local position reference sensor that does not use targets has been launched by Guidance Marine

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34 SMM 2016 Review The leading international maritime trade fair SMM took place from 6-9 2016 Sept in Hamburg, Germany - the show saw many new innovations and launches

73 Royal Bodewes 76 Optimarin AS 79 Anytec 82 Brødrene 84 VT Group 86 Norled 89 Griffon Hoverwork 93 Jo Tankers 97 Luka Koper/Port of Koper

36 LNGTainer Ltd 39 Cummins Inc. 41 Insatech Marine 44 Viewsafe 46 SeaNet Group 48 McMurdo Group 53 Frese

97 Luka Koper/ Port of Koper

100 Hepworth 103 Port of Constantza

Profiles

106 PD Ports 108 Sea2Cradle

57 NorthLink Ferries

110 Gibraltar Port Authority

64 MAATS Tech Limited

114 Europlan Engineering Ltd

67 Strainstall

116 SureWind Marine Ltd.

70 Fiskerstrand

119 A&P Falmouth 122 SCAMP Worldwide Network 124 Finnlines Plc 128 Nordic Hamburg Group 130 C. u. A. Heiderich GmbH 133 UN RO-RO Isletmeleri AS 136 Diana Yacht Design

70 Fiskerstrand

139 BMO Offshore

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Maritime news Two new Carnival ships uAs part of a new multi-ship order announced recently by Carnival Corporation & plc, Carnival Cruise Line is scheduled to take delivery of two new 180,000 grossregistered-tonne cruise ships in 2020 and 2022 which will be the largest in the fleet of the world’s most popular cruise line. Both ships will be powered by Liquefied Natural Gas under Carnival Corp.’s exclusive ‘green cruising’ design and will mark the first time LNG-powered cruise ships are based in North America. The two ships, with an approximate passenger capacity of 5200 based on double occupancy, are being constructed by Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku at the company’s Turku, Finland shipyard.

Savings confirmed uSilverstream Technologies and Shell have confirmed consistent net efficiency savings

Keep an eye out uKelvin Hughes can now bring all the benefits of its innovative SharpEye radar technology to submarines. Traditionally, submarines only use radar for navigation in and out of port because a high power RF transmission can compromise its ability to remain undetected. However, with its low power output – up to 300W as opposed to the 25kW of legacy submarine radar systems - SharpEye can significantly reduce the probability of detection by ESM systems.

Due to the solid state technology at the heart of SharpEye, it is now possible, for the first time, to locate the X-band transceiver downmast within the pressure hull, making use of the existing bulkhead infrastructure and the existing external antenna, rotational drive and waveguide connections. The downmast transceiver enclosure measures only 743 x 487 x 330mm.

Moreover, the Doppler processing of the radar returns means it can detect more targets, earlier and at a longer range. The SharpEye system can either be installed on new-build submarines or retro-fitted to existing boats.

in excess of four per cent in fuel consumed, following the successful long-term operation of Silverstream Technologies’ proprietary air lubrication technology, the Silverstream System, on-board the 40,000 DWT tanker MT Amalienborg. Further analysis of the data gathered through this process predicts that for larger vessels, efficiency savings of up to eight per cent are possible.

Powerhouse partnership uThe North of England’s four main ports - Liverpool (run by Peel Ports), Hull (ABP), Teesport (PD Ports) and Tyne (Port of Tyne) - have agreed a new partnership to create jobs, boost exports and prosperity across the whole of the North of England. The new Northern Ports Association will unite northern ports and make importing and exporting much easier than currently. The association’s creation is a recommendation in IPPR North’s Northern Ports report, which highlighted the domination of southern ports and the problems this creates in transporting imports and exports across the UK.

First sea trials completed uThe first of two SIGMA 10514 PKR naval frigates for the Indonesian Navy has successfully completed its sea trials as of 7 September.

This is a major milestone on a project for which the first steel was cut in January 2014.

The 105-metre, 2365 tonne PKR frigates are designed to undertake a wide range of missions in and around the waters of Indonesia.

Their primary mission is anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare. However, they are also equipped for maritime security, search and rescue, and humanitarian support tasks.

The two vessels have been/are being been built using a collaborative modular process operating simultaneously at Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS) in the Netherlands and PT PAL shipyard in Indonesia. The success of the programme rested on the two yards working together with the end client operating almost as a single unit. The strong relationship also allowed the massive technology-transfer programme to proceed smoothly, both in Indonesia and in the Netherlands.

The first Sigma 10514 is on schedule for delivery at the end of January 2017 following the completion of three months of crew training. Meanwhile, work is currently proceeding in both the Netherlands and Indonesia on the second vessel in the contract.

Brazilian expansion uJust weeks after opening its seventh office serving the Açu port complex, GAC Brazil has started operations in its eighth office in Vitória, offering shipping, forwarding and clearance services. The new office represents the latest stage of GAC’s on-going expansion in the south-east of the Brazil which will, according to Lars Heisselberg, Group Vice President – Americas, further strengthen the region’s contribution to the global GAC network..

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Ballast water update uThe International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) welcomed the news that the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention enters into force on 8 September 2017, and has produced a 12-point information sheet on the Convention for its members. The BWM Convention aims to stop the spread of potentially invasive aquatic species in ships’ ballast water. It was Finland’s accession on 8 September this year that triggered the entry into force of the Convention in a year’s time.

Under the Convention’s terms, ships will be required to manage their ballast water to remove, render harmless, or avoid the uptake or discharge of aquatic organisms and pathogens within ballast water and sediments.

“This is a significant environmental development, which provides certainty with regard to a definite implementation date,” says IMCA’s Technical Director, Richard Benzie.

Maritime news New opportunities uGlobal Marine Systems has achieved SPS (Special Purpose Ships) notation for its C.S. Sovereign multi-role DPS-2 vessel. The achievement means that C.S. Sovereign can now carry up to 50 people on board over and above the working crew, such as client representatives or project specific personnel. As a result, greater flexibility can now be offered to customers on projects where the C.S. Sovereign is deployed.

“Gaining SPS notation has taken two years and a lot of hard work in consultation with ABS [our classification society] and the UK Flag State for the vessel in the form of the MCA,” said Captain Simon Hibberd, Director Fleet & Operational Support at Global Marine. “It opens up opportunities for C.S. Sovereign that we previously have not had. It’s been a big undertaking for the ship and crew to achieve; however this is an important development as the SPS notation offers genuine market differentiation positioning us to meet the demands of the ever changing offshore market.”

The SPS Code, introduced 1983, and updated and revised into the SPS Code 2008, provides an appropriate level of safety for both the vessel and the persons carried.

The code has provided a solution, which bridges the gap between the regulations required for either cargo or passenger ships, and is already proving valuable to Global Marine’s customers providing operational flexibility to multiple industry sectors including offshore renewables.

Lloyd’s Maritime Academy Lloyd’s Maritime Academy is the world’s largest provider of professional development and academic education for the maritime industry, and is fast approaching its 40th anniversary.

The academy delivers courses for shipping and maritime professionals around the world via public distance learning and dedicated in-company training programs.

Lloyd’s Maritime Academy offers the widest range of courses available from short Certificate level tutored distance learning subjects, including chartering and procurement, to 12-month Diploma courses on Ship Management to Marine Surveying and academic programs led by the renowned flagship MBA in Shipping and Logistics and the PG Dip / LLM in International Maritime Law, delivered in partnership with top universities.

For in-company corporate solutions, bespoke courses are designed to specifically address an organization’s individual requirements.

Lloyd’s Maritime Academy’s reputation for delivering the most effective education and development programs is unsurpassed and the academy is renowned for its hard work in ensuring every student has the best learning experience.

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Maritime news Purpose-built training centre

uNorthumberland College will soon be opening a £1.2m purpose-built training centre based at the Port of Blyth with state-of-the-art workshops and the latest teaching and learning technologies for renewables. Students who enrol for 2016 start dates will join the first cohort of students in the brand-new hub at the port of Blyth.

The courses on offer are developed in conjunction with the industry and European partners to ensure that students gain necessary experience and qualifications set for a career in the renewables and engineering sector.

Ian Palmer, Renewables lecturer for Northumberland College said: “Our courses in our Renewables Academy consist of practical training produced by the industry for the industry and are designed to equip the future workforce with knowledge for further development of wind power.”

Courses in renewables at Northumberland College include Level 3 BZEE Wind Turbine Technician Studies - a course where 90 per cent of students go on to work in the window power industry within 12 months.

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New online tool uIn partnership with Maersk, BMT Surveys (BMT), a subsidiary of BMT Group, has developed an online Marine Application for survey, Trend Evaluation and reporting (MATE) platform, which provides real time data on the condition of vessels and changes in that condition over time.

As part of Maersk’s extensive inspection programme, BMT carries out over 100 vessel inspections a year providing a vessel scoring system on areas including: cargo care, pollution prevention, certification, navigational incidents and structural condition. MATE offers an interactive, moderator environment for developing and managing inspections, data analysis and provides customised reporting.

Olivier van de Kruijs at BMT Surveys comments: “The scope of the inspection programme is completely unique. It has been set up in such a way that it doesn’t matter if the inspection is carried out in Rotterdam, Shanghai or South Africa, the results will be both objective and consistent.

This provides Maersk with valuable intelligence on the vessels that they operate in which they can benchmark against average data.”

Luxury afloat uAfter a successful introduction of the game changing Sunreef Supreme line and the launch of two spectacular 68 ft sailing catamarans – the Sunreef Supreme 68 Eagle Wings and Midori, Sunreef Yachts proudly announces its latest release – the Sunreef Supreme 68 Power yacht.

Long awaited and carefully crafted in every detail at the company’s shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, the first Sunreef Supreme 68 motor yacht has touched water. Named Athena, after the Greek goddess of wisdom, she is a continuation of the Sunreef Supreme philosophy, focusing on innovative solutions and lifestyle onboard.

The Sunreef Supreme 68 Athena is a private, 21m motor unit with genuine superyacht features and a simply unbelievable living space equalling 300m². Her architecture and radical superstructure design allow to keep the saloon and exterior deck on the same level. Surrounded with floor to ceiling glass, the immense saloon opens onto the cockpit and passageways. The 65m² interior deck is vast enough to place a beamy master cabin in the bow with direct access to the front terrace and its large relaxing area with a Jacuzzi. Her interiors and layout are fully customised and created by the Sunreef Yachts in-house Design Office.

This white-hulled beauty is also equipped with an aft garage, which is implemented on all of the Sunreef Supreme units. This solution is a truly revolutionary feature on a catamaran under 70 feet. This voluminous space allows to conveniently store a 5m tender, up to two jet-skis, diving gear and numerous water toys. The garage door, when lowered, creates a large aft platform that is perfect for water sports. Her flybridge, the company’s trademark, is topped with an elegant bimini and features a navigation station, a bar, a dining table and mattresses.

The yacht features a powerful Volvo IPS 800 system for a maximum of manoeuvrability and optimised performance. An additional joystick and aft cameras are installed to ease the mooring in crowded marinas. With 7000L of fuel capacity, Athena enjoys all the autonomy she needs to cross the Atlantic. She will leave the shipyard after technical tests and sea trials.

Maritime news Mermaid has the answers

uJames Fisher Marine Services, part of James Fisher and Sons plc, has announced that Vattenfall, one of Europe’s leading wind park operators, has ordered a full Mermaid system license for the strategic planning of its offshore wind farm operations.

Mermaid provides increased understanding of the impact of weather and tidal forces on a project’s schedule to companies involved in marine operations. By accurately simulating marine operations against historical weather and tidal data, Mermaid enables enhanced decision-making in the early planning stages to support significant cost-savings through project optimisation.

Since its launch by Mojo Maritime - a trading division of JFMS - in autumn

2015, Mermaid has seen significant interest from the marine industry, and become intrinsic to early adopter’s project planning processes. Vattenfall was a key participant in the development of the Mermaid system, providing user testing and feedback during its late development phases prior to launch and has gone on to order a full license.

“Mermaid is a comprehensive solution for our marine weather risk modelling. We need to know how much and for how long the weather will cost us, and Mermaid supplies the answers. It’s fully flexible, being able to model the smallest operations to large-scale programmes and its easy-to-use interface allows us to model fast, and iterate project plans quickly,” explained Anne Lina Holy, project simulation analyst at Vattenfall.

With a proven track record of success, Mermaid allows users to realistically simulate marine operations to uncover risks and critical operations prior to going offshore, which can be critical to the success and cost-effectiveness of an operation. Its flexible licensing model makes it affordable for the smallest marine operators to the largest project developers and new users can benefit from a twoweek trial period as well.

“The high quality platform design ensuring that policies for data security and data protection are met, as well as a reliable update mechanism, means that Mermaid fits easily within our IT policies and infrastructure,” said Anders Wilhelmsson, IT demand, business area wind at Vattenfall.

“Not to mention, the support from Mojo developers is first-class; responsive, helpful and knowledgeable,” Holy adds.

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Ship design

Designed for

life

S

hip design is constantly evolving. Heightened regulations and growing expectations for vessels to achieve greater efficiency and optimisation mean that naval architects and shipyards needing to stay at the forefront of technology to keep up. It is their role to make a vessel fully compliant while satisfying the needs of different stakeholders, including the owner, the classification society and colleagues. Naval architects are constantly adapting their expectations and their designs to meet new market, legislative and owner-driven requirements and the tools they use to keep up with changing demands should be adapting too.

Ninety-five per cent of newbuild vessels are designed at shipyards that use NAPA software. We are therefore acutely aware that our systems must enable design teams to confidently meet the challenges of the future, while remaining as widely accessible to new users as possible and applicable to the specific tasks undertaken. Over the last few years we have invested in extensive, systematic research with over 200 NAPA customers from 22 different countries to get a real insight into what designers need and how the digital-native designers of the today will approach vessel design software.

The result is a state-of-the-art geometry-modelling tool that delivers CAD usability with engineering functionality and an intuitive shift from 2D to 3D design. The combination of this interface with a broadened scope of the NAPA Steel and NAPA Statutory Compliance tools produces a total system that can be used intuitively by anyone. This is then able to meet

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Tools for the digital-native naval architects of the future.

By Tapio Hulkkonen

the day-to-day challenges of ship design with easy-to-use, interactive 3D modelling that has been fine-tuned to deliver the outputs required by a yard.

Increasingly a core aim of shipyards is to reduce lead-time while ensuring that new designs are as safe, efficient and competitive as possible. Trying to achieve this in an environment where the data is spread in different systems is complex, and can introduce human error in both the duplication and transfer of data between software systems. With this upgrade, NAPA has introduced a single system with one flexible 3D model and data sharing interfaces with key class society rule check tools, to avoid duplication and manual data transfer.

The initial design phase, when changes are frequent and updated results are needed quickly, is made much simpler by a system that employs flexible geometry. In addition, a working standard interface to supporting analysis tools - like those for scantling analysis needed for class approval of structures - supports the yard in meeting the engineering challenges they face. All this reduces the man-hours needed both to design vessels and to compile compliance documentation.

In a project with SUNGDONG Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in late 2015, this new interface showed what it was capable of in the structural design of a 158,0000dwt Suezmax Tanker. Under the previous process, a 2D design drawing of each individual vessel hold was created and then translated manually into 3D models in the unique software used by the class society. However, using NAPA Designer’s interactive

3D structural modelling interface, the whole vessel was modelled as a single design. NAPA’s direct data interfaces with class society software then enabled the required data and model to be exported to the rule check system and results that fulfilled the requirements of the rule check were then imported directly back to the 3D product model.

The throughput time for design and class approval of the entire vessel design, including time to familiarise with the software, was eight weeks; approximately the same as the time for a single vessel hold under the previous process. A subsequent whole-ship design took around five weeks and it is believed the process can be further reduced to two to three weeks, up to a 75 per cent reduction in overall throughput time.

These 3D design tools are also able to automatically generate rich 2D section drawings from the 3D NAPA ship model. NAPA Drafting can easily and quickly extract the data from the in-progress, or completed, 3D product models created in NAPA Steel and translate it into the 2D drawings required for class approval. By connecting directly to a user’s 3D database, drawings can be created or updated at any stage of the structural design process, on demand, and exported as an industry standard .DWG file.

NAPA Drafting also has a significant advantage in ensuring that each connected 2D section is fully compatible with its neighbours, as they are each drawn from the same, highly-accurate, 3D structural model. Users will also be able to use NAPA Drafting to create specific object drawings, for example for single surfaces like knuckled decks, and expansion

drawings for shells and other structures. This includes automatically importing data such as plate thickness and material or compartment name and purpose, to automatically create the annotations typically used in ship structural drawings. This process has been developed using the AutoCAD OEM platform from Autodesk allowing the system to deliver the market standard in 2D drawing functionality, enhancing productivity for yards and speeding compliance processes.

With the introduction of NAPA Designer to the market, we aim to improve the tools that help our customers enhance the productivity of their design process, as well as the safety and efficiency of the vessels that they produce. NAPA Designer is available as a free upgrade to our existing customers, and demonstrates our extensive consultation in this area and commitment to R&D. v Tapio Hulkkonen is Product Manager at NAPA. In its nearly 30 years of operation, NAPA has become a global leader in software, services and data analysis for the maritime industry; providing best in class data-led solutions for safety, efficiency and productivity in both ship design and operations.

NAPA operates globally, with 11 offices across Asia, Europe and the Americas supported by its Helsinki headquarters. To date, NAPA has nearly 400 user organisations for its design solutions and over 2000 installations onboard vessels. www.napa.fi

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Marine engines

Powering

forward Matt Wilson talks about increasing demands on ships’ power supplies and how this increases the need for ultimate reliability

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T

he marine industry has experienced the most significant changes to the legislative landscape in recent years.

With the current staged enforcement of IMO III, and the proposed Inland Waterways legislation, engines must continue to achieve stable and reliable power across all levels whilst improving efficiency and power density. These standards give manufacturers the opportunity to increase efficiencies and deliver further benefits to the customer.

One area where the new standards place progressively greater demands is on a vessels power supply, as an increasing number of systems and equipment needing robust reliable power, are installed on board. Perkins refers to this requirement as ‘Trusted Reliability’, where it aims to deliver dependable solutions that consistently provide the power its customers demand. The power supply needs to meet customer requirements no matter where a vessel might be; a few miles offshore, in the middle of the ocean or in port.

Perkins designs, engineers and manufactures marine auxiliary engines, which ultimately when packaged, power generators on board vessels.

These vessels can be at sea for short journeys lasting up to an hour, to long journeys lasting months at a time. The engines chosen to power the

generators need to be reliable, durable and straightforward to service in confined spaces.

When considering power options on board, there are a number of factors to be taken into account: 1) The actual physical output of power required at any one time during normal operation 2) The actual physical output of power required during peak times 3) The quality of power that is drawn at any one time needs to be an uninterrupted continuous stream.

Intelligence is key. Vessels now have or are moving towards intelligent monitoring systems that need to be one step ahead of issues and detect problems that are not able to be identified by human monitoring. Such systems manage, monitor and control. They manage the power required and the percentage load across a number of engines at any one time, which helps to make sure no one engine is overloaded at any given time, and that the engines are all working to optimum efficiency. Having the ability to monitor ensures operators know exactly what is happening on all the systems at any one time and where the power will next be drawn from. Finally, the monitoring systems control the network as a whole so the systems are working together at optimum efficiency. It is this control that manages the systems and ultimately maximises the life of the engine and the system as a whole, as well as achieving fuel savings over the life of the engine.

What is true today and what will be different in the future? We have touched on increasing pressures on a vessel’s generators and how the reliability of the engines powering those generators needs to be proven and robust. Today multiple systems and equipment draw power off a generator. All systems on board a vessel need a robust, reliable power supply, from the equipment that enhances the experience on board such as air conditioning to more role specific apparatus such as cranes, hoists and surveying equipment. The demand for high quality power is expected to rise as additional demands on vessel systems increases.

The industrial market is ‘further advanced’ than the marine market in terms of emission requirements, and therefore engine manufacturers that are in a position where they operate in both markets find themselves already able to meet upcoming marine legislation. Perkins like other engine manufacturers, is fortunate to find itself in a dominant position where the tougher standards such as the IMO III and the Inland Waterways have already been met on the equivalent industrial side of their business. Companies such as this find they are able to select, modify and marinise competitive marine applications for the future.

What next for auxiliary engines? Vessels already exist that are unmanned and with remote monitoring, could self-maintaining engines be next? Systems that can change oil, refuel, reset themselves either via remote access or via an intelligent piece of software are not as far away as you think! Then there is a diesel electric propulsion model, but perhaps that is for another day! v Matt Wilson is sales and marketing manager for Perkins marine engines. Perkins is one of the world’s leading suppliers of offhighway diesel and gas engines in the 4 – 2000 kW (5 – 2800 hp) market. Its key strength is its ability to tailor engines precisely to meet customers’ requirements, which is why its engine solutions are trusted by more than 1000 leading manufacturers in the industrial, construction, agricultural, materials handling, electrical power generation and marine markets. In marine, Perkins is a preferred manufacturer for propulsion and auxiliary engines for yachting enthusiasts, motorboat owners, workboat operators, pilot boat skippers and fishermen. www.perkins.com/marine

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Ferry design

Including all the

elements Ferry capability is more than managing an asset

F

erry operations are extremely complex with a combination of inputs that will all impact the ferry’s ability to deliver effective operational capability – the asset itself forms only a small part of a system for transporting people and vehicles between two points. All inputs to the ferry transportation system need to be considered to deliver the system’s capability and ensure the service is successful. Too much emphasis is often placed on the acquisition of a ferry, rather than on the remaining operational inputs, resulting in an ineffective, inefficient and unsuccessful operation. Only by robust management of all of the capability inputs can an operation be effectively maintained.

To develop a better understanding of the inputs to capability, lessons can be taken from organisations that operate complex systems, such as the defence forces. There is a range of available frameworks that define inputs to maritime system capability, which may include the following elements: l Personnel; l Logistics; l Equipment; l Infrastructure; l Policies and Procedures; l Organisation; and l Training.

Each of these elements forms part of a capability. The physical asset, in this case a ferry, is just one of the seven inputs that needs to be considered.

Fig 1. Capability Inputs

Although significant investment is made in equipment, when considering the through life costs of vessel ownership, the remaining capability elements, as shown in Figure 1, represent a large portion of the overall investment. As such, greater emphasis should be placed on this.

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Fig 2. Iceberg Analogy for Vessel Operating Costs Beyond equipment, the operational coverage of capability elements includes: l Issues relating to recruitment, retention, training and development of people; l Spares, administrative and training supplies; l Systems and infrastructure put in place to support an operation, such as transport; l Procedures and processes, security, command and responsibilities; l Those parts of the organisational structure which undertake critical tasks, other than operation and maintenance of the asset; l Buildings, docks, maintenance facilities, training facilities and wharves; and l The maintenance of competency of the organisation.

Throughout the lifecycle of a ferry, a comprehensive understanding of associated costs is crucial for business planning and reporting. For this reason, it’s important for stakeholders to duly consider the capability elements aforementioned at all stages of the ferry’s lifecycle. Taking the time to understand these elements at the beginning of a project will allow organisations to manage the costs effectively throughout. However, if there are major changes in capability this may trigger the need for a review.

A capability upgrade can not only trigger substantial, physical modifications to a ferry, it can mean additional, hidden costs related to the other capability elements, which in turn can become significant if not addressed and managed accordingly.

As an example, consider a ferry modification, which has resulted in

an additional five metres being added to its length to allow an extra 20 passengers to be transported. The costs associated with such a modification should not just centre on the physical asset itself – organisations must look at all of the capability elements and the impact of such a modification.

Considerations of associated cost issues could include: l Crew numbers and ensuring competencies are sufficient in light of the upgrade; l Making sure adequate spares are available; l Other systems which may be affected by the upgrade (i.e. portable water capacity); l Whether sufficient wharf space is available; l If there will be an increase in berthing fees; l Ensuring the maintenance facilities being used have capacity to deal with a larger vessel.

In addition to a capability upgrade, an assessment of capability elements is also critical when investigating the potential to extend the life of an asset.

Although there may not be a change in the ferry’s capability, understanding the costs for a life extension period is important, given that any business case made at project inception has been made with an assumption of ferry life. If this assumption changes, it is then necessary to assess the capability elements to help validate whether or not there is a strong business case for life extension and identify the costs of doing so.

Life extension studies are best used as part of the decision making process when considering a vessel’s future, as it nears the end of its service life. Organisations will be looking at two options: to dispose of a vessel at its designated end of service date and replace with a new capability or, extend the life of the current vessel and delay the purchase of a new capability.

In most cases, this decision will simply be down to whether or not it is more cost effective to carry out a replacement project or invest resources into a heightened maintenance regime or major upgrade – it will not remove the need for eventual replacement. Regardless of the decision, consideration of all capability elements is crucial in developing an accurate picture of costs.

There is a range of similar approaches used by organisations around the world, which could be considered suitable depending on the operation in question. Whether it is in consideration of capability upgrade, life extension or in gaining an initial understanding of the cost of ownership of a ferry, it is recommended that a holistic approach is taken to defining the operation, extending well beyond the acquisition of the asset. v

BMT Design & Technology Pty Ltd BMT Design & Technology is an independent professional engineering firm that provides services to the Defence and commercial maritime sectors across the Asia Pacific region. With offices in Melbourne and Canberra, Australia, the consultancy offers a dedicated, highly motivated and qualified workforce, whose core skills and experience enable tailored solutions to customer requirements. Services offered include naval architecture, marine engineering, cost modelling and analysis, risk management, safety management, asset management, vessel surveying, capability definition and project management services. BMT Design & Technology also offers a range of tailored training courses focused on niche maritime engineering and management skill sets. www.bmtdesigntechnology.com.au BMT Group BMT Group is an international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, working principally in the defence, energy and environment, marine risk and insurance, maritime transport and ports and logistics sectors.

BMT invests significantly in research. Its customers are served through a network of international subsidiary companies. The group’s assets are held in beneficial ownership for its staff. www.bmt.org

BMT Design & Technology Pty Ltd (BMT) has recently completed a design project for the South Australian Government’s Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI). Working in partnership with the DPTI, BMT has developed a replacement design for ferries that operate on the River Murray, the third longest navigable river in the world, after the Amazon and Nile.

The steel hull, built by local firm Bowhill Engineering, was fit out by the Department’s Morgan dockyard. The first ferry has now gone into service in Lyrup with another three scheduled for completion by July 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively. These ferries are heavily relied upon by the local communities for safe passage across the River Murray. BMT delivered a robust design, a critical factor for a service that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The team at BMT provided structural engineering and naval architecture services to deliver a detailed design, which aligned with the customer requirements. BMT also carried out condition surveys on a further four timber hulled ferries which were nearing end of life. Following the surveys, the Department applied weight restrictions to help maintain the longevity of these ferries for safe operation until they are replaced. Constructed of steel and 22m long, these cable driven ferries can take two lanes of cars or trucks of up to 50 tonnes, or a maximum of 70 passengers.

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Tank measurement

Tank measurement goes

digital

As the range of tasks carried out by OSV’s and tugs continues to increase, so do the requirements for safety and efficiency. Mark Jones looks at how the latest digital tank gauging technology can assist in meeting these twin challenges

A

s they become ever more sophisticated in design, tugs and OSV’s have seen their role at sea expand, with ever-increasing expectations placed on their flexibility and capabilities. In addition to towing, these vessels may be called to assist with offshore lifting operations, rig moves and the relocation of mobile production units as well as inspection, maintenance and repair for the offshore energy and subsea sectors.

Designed to meet the high specification demands of modern vessels, digital tank gauging solutions are flexible and highly accurate, offering continuous measurement and a centralised display in real-time. For smaller vessel operators and owners, however, the initial up-front cost of upgrading from their existing mechanical and

visual monitoring methods has been a deterrent.

Recognising the need for a solution tailored to meet the needs of smaller vessels PSM drew upon its global marine system experience in conceiving the VPM4310 Integrated Tank Gauging System, which was launched earlier this year.

Optimised for vessels with up to 15 tank measuring points, the new streamlined system offers a viable alternative for operators and owners looking to upgrade existing mechanical and visual monitoring systems. Supplied as a packaged solution, this latest development provides smaller vessel fleets with access to the same level of technology at a reduced cost compared to more complex radar-based inventory systems or transmitters connected to a PLC running custom software.

VPM System Network connection example

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All weather operation The rugged design of the monitors ensures reliable operation, in the often harsh environments prevailing at sea, while the termination modules which partner the hydrostatic transmitters are typically housed in aluminium for below deck mounting or painted steel construction for abovedeck mounting to ensure system protection and operating reliability in all conditions.

Integrated system architecture Modern tank gauging systems such as the VPM4310 are designed to be flexible, providing measurement for a range of fluid types to include fuel, lube oil, water, bilge and ballast levels. Fluid levels are measured electronically by hydrostatic level transmitters with submersed in-tank mountings. All transmitters are inter-connected via a multi-drop network constructed with purpose designed termination modules also provided

by PSM. The acquired data is relayed via serial communication to a display, which provides real time readings.

The display provides operators with an immediate view of all tank measurements, depicted in both bar graph and numeric format with information on level, volume and temperature.

Alarm states are also clearly displayed, allowing prompt action to be taken as required. Having all system components interconnected on a single network significantly reduces cabling needs and simplifies installation. Additional display points can easily be added if required.

Where transmitters will be installed in hazardous areas, which are subject to Intrinsic Safety requirements this is accommodated by the addition of a single safety barrier between the display and transmitter network.

Fast track installation In developing the packaged solution, a key objective has been to simplify installation, enabling fitting to be carried out by local engineers without the need for specialist support. Systems are supplied pre-configured to suit the requirements of individual vessel applications, based on the number and size of tanks to be measured. The connection modules require just one four wire cable to distribute power and communications.

This combination of speed and flexibility, together with the potential to customise the system is an attractive option for smaller vessel owners and shipyards, offering a cost-effective route for retrofits and conversions and enabling new vessels to be customised at short notice to meet fast-changing operational demands.

Vestmannaeyjar Harbour Company

The Vestmannaeyjar Harbour Company provides port services for the Westman Islands located off the south coast of Iceland.

The company identified that the existing tank system on its harbour tugboat Lodsinn was proving unreliable with ever-increasing maintenance costs. With purchase price and installation and commissioning cost a key concern, the VPM 4310 offered a replacement solution at a reduced cost compared to conventional systems. As the components were supplied already configured to suit the application, only local cabling was required by the onsite engineering team, meaning there was no need for additional specialist support.

Since installation, the tugboat’s fuel, service and water digital tank gauging system has significantly improved accuracy and reliability, increasing efficiency and saving money.

Delivering added functionality The whole life benefits of the latest digital tank gauging systems extend beyond initial commissioning. Minimal maintenance is required in use, while the systems are upgradable to accommodate expanding needs and other instrumentation can be integrated into the measurement loop for maximum interoperability.

The availability of a simplified solution with powerful functionality and low construction costs paves the way for a significant uptake in digital tank gauging solutions as a technologically-driven approach, raising the benchmark for systems performance while delivering improved efficiency and safety and helping to ensure industry compliance. v

Mark Jones works at PSM. Established for over 30 years, PSM Instrumentation is a specialist in the design, manufacture and supply of advanced marine control instrumentation and marine protection systems for the marine transportation industry. PSM offers a range of application solutions for designers, ship builders and endusers, to ensure vessels operate efficiently and reliably and are compliant with legal, safety and environmental regulations. PSM products carry all required type approvals from the main leading marine societies, in addition to many country specific approval standards. PSM is approved to BS EN ISO 9001:2000. www.psmmarine.com

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Shipping containers

Weighty

issues

Failure to observe new container weight safety rules will be punishable by fine or imprisonment. By Giles Searby

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ajor new international rules came into force on 1st July 2016, which require a container’s weight to be verified by prescribed methods before it can be loaded on to a ship. The laws will stipulate the weighing of packed containers by calibrated and certified equipment, although in limited circumstances, pre-weighed packages may be placed into the container and added to its tare weight.

This amendment to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) was approved by the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee, in 2014. Failure to comply will be a criminal offence, punishable by a heavy fine or a prison term.

Now regulated by the IMO, a UN agency, most coastal states worldwide are signatories to SOLAS, which was first, convened in 1914 following the sinking of the Titanic two years previously. SOLAS already demands that shippers declare container weight on the Bill of Lading and associated paperwork. However, it is

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estimated that more than a third of the 130 million containers transported around the word each year are overweight, which has clear safety consequences - hence the need for stricter verification.

For example, when the MSC Napoli sank off the coast of Cornwall in 2007, it was discovered that 20 per cent of the containers on board were at least three tonnes over their declared weight – and some were as much as 20 tonnes heavier.

The obligation to declare the weight of the loaded container falls on the shipper, as stated on the Bill of Lading or transport document. The named shipper will often be the company that is exporting the goods and responsibility falls upon that company - irrespective of whether they are using a third party - to actually move the goods.

Any exporter using containerised freight to ship goods must either ensure that they have carried out the weight verification themselves or that their freight forwarder can offer the service in a SOLAS-compliant manner.

If a valid weight certificate is not supplied, the container will not be loaded on to the intended

ship, with an obvious commercial cost including repacking, detention etc - as well as causing delays which may heap additional financial penalties on the shipper. Such penalties are in addition to criminal punishment.

In the UK, the amendment will become law without the need for an Act of Parliament and will be enforced by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

These regulations will have three major impacts.

Firstly, shipper-forwarder contracts will need to be revised to reflect the shipper’s new responsibilities. A clear definition of roles and responsibilities is required – and potentially some provision for an additional charge for weighing services.

The responsibility to declare weight lies with the shipper - and the question of who is named as shipper on the Bill of Lading/way-bill is more important than ever. A freight-forwarder may wish to define itself as being only a ‘booking

“

Any exporter using containerised freight to ship goods must either ensure that they have carried out the weight verification themselves or that their freight forwarder can offer the service in a SOLAScompliant manner

party’ to ensure the liability remains further down the supply chain. If weighing services are to be offered at a cost, then T&Cs will need to address this and whether they are offering Method 1 which entails weighing the loaded container by an approved means and/or Method 2. T&Cs should also reflect the consequences of verified gross mass (‘VGM’) not being supplied in terms of additional costs that might be incurred as a result.

Secondly, for the Method 2 weighing – i.e. where all items going into the container, including packaging, pallets, dunnage, and securing equipment are weighed and added to the container’s tare weight – there is an unresolved issue, as something like a wet wooden floor could throw the tare weight out. There is debate about there being a five per cent +/- tolerance but that is not explicitly stated in the written regulations.

Finally, where a terminal offers weighing services, it does not alter the liability of the shipper, save that a shipper might have a potential claim on the terminal if it was negligent in the weighing, for example. There is some debate around the fact

that there is a danger that weighing in terminal could be too late as the carrier will need to be advised of shipping instructions of the VGM in advance of loading, which adds to the risk of shipping slots being missed.

The feeling is that the industry might have some practical issues to address in areas like this, which may cause some initial teething issues in the system – notably regarding the Method 2 aggregated containers, where the forwarder is gathering packages into a container at the terminal. A system may develop where VGM has to be advised separately from other instructions, which only serves to add to the documentary requirements at point of shipment.

Ultimately, businesses that ship goods abroad using containerised transport will be required to make the necessary changes to their systems to be compliant with the amended regulations.

This may be something that freight forwarders can assist with - and most will be updating their Terms and Conditions and services to reflect the revised regulations. v

Giles Searby is a partner in the litigation and dispute resolution team at hlw Keeble Hawson with experience of shipping. With offices in Sheffield, Leeds and Doncaster, hlw Keeble Hawson is one of the region’s biggest law firms and is at the heart of the business and wider community. Highly regarded and with more than 200 years of history, experienced commercial and private client teams provide the very best support, guidance and technical advice to entrepreneurs, SMEs and individuals. www.hlwkeeblehawson.co.uk

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Navigation

Take your

position Guidance Marine has launched the first local position reference sensor that does not use targets

2

Trials onboard the Ocean Zephyr

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016 has seen the launch of a new type of sensor that is changing the way that vessels operate around wind farms. RangeGuard is the first sensor from Guidance Marine that does not use physical targets. It uses radar reflections from its surroundings to calculate precisely the vessel’s range to the nearest object in its field of view. Combining the information from two sensors allows range and bearing to be calculated and input into the dynamic positioning (DP) system of a vessel. The result was the first targetless DP local position reference sensor (PRS).

Guidance Marine presented a paper at the Royal Institute of Naval Architects conference Design & Construction of Wind Farm Support Vessels, on 30th March titled A ‘ New Era in Position Referencing’. Business Development Manager, Dr Sasha Heriot, described a collaboration between Bernhard Schulte Ship Management, Marine Technologies and Guidance Marine where two RangeGuard sensors were installed on the Bernhard Schulte managed vessel, the Ocean Zephyr.

Hendrick Busshoff, Offshore Marine Superintendent at Bernhard Schulte Ship Management trained as a Master mariner in the offshore oil and gas industry before moving to offshore wind. He recognised the differences in vessel operation in a wind farm compared to an oil field and identified the need for a new type of position reference sensor.

A vessel approaches a wind turbine on DP and typically uses DGPS and a laser PRS to obtain precise position. If poor quality reflector targets are installed on the wind turbine it can lead to the laser sensor detecting false reflections due to their proximity to other highly reflective surfaces, such as the high vis jackets

the sensors were not connected into the DP system, the sensors successfully recorded the movements of the vessel. The next stage of the project is now underway at Marine Technologies to connect the sensors into the DP system of the ship.

After the promising results obtained during the trials on the Ocean Zephyr, Bernhard Schulte decided to make full use of the potential of RangeGuard and install a fully DP integrated system on its SOV new build Windea La Cour. The technologically advanced vessel is scheduled to set sail in Q2 2016 and the RangeGuard system will ideally complement and expand the capabilities of the ship. v

of workmen on the landing platform and walk-towork gangway. To overcome this problem, high quality reflective prism targets should replace low quality reflectors, but the cost of installing these on every single wind turbine in a wind farm can be prohibitive. Removing the need for physical targets altogether is a step change in wind farm navigation.

Guidance Marine installed two RangeGuard

sensors on the starboard side of the Ocean Zephyr. The 24GHz radar sensors send out a low power signal and the radar reflections from their field of view are detected. By combining information from two sensors, the location of the wind tower relative to the vessel can be calculated precisely.

Data was collected during a sea trial to the BARD 1 wind farm in August 2015. Although

Guidance Marine is an expert in designing and manufacturing local position reference sensors and is the leading sensor supplier to vessels in the oil and gas industry. Guidance Marine invests heavily in its people and in their skills with innovation as a pivotal culture. The expertise, passion, ambition and collective team ethos forms the cornerstone of the business. www.guidance.eu.com

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Marine litter

Waste

lines

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he problem of marine litter is well known but little understood. Most of us get glimpses of the visible effects through bleak images; albatross carcasses stuffed full with plastic, seals tangled in old nets, beaches strewn with litter. For others it is a vocational hazard, as propellers tangle in tackle and fish get caught in old nets (‘ghost fishing’). Or for those switched on to recent research, it might be the slow and impalpable movement of microplastics up the food chain that causes most concern.

As with so many environmental concerns, when the scientific details begin to emerge, the reality they illuminate is far worse than most dared to expect. Each year, millions of tons of litter finds its way into the marine environment, and its impacts reach from the smallest and most remote ocean organisms all the way up to the largest ocean mammals. The damage continues on land and in human society, as citizens and businesses both feel the effects, be it through possible concerns about eating contaminated fish, the losses of revenue to littered beach side resorts or ghost fishing further contributing to declining fish stocks.

It is crucial, then, to understand how litter finds its way into the sea. Many believe that the

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Chiarina Darrah analyses the need to tackle the issue of marine debris

majority originates from land-based rather than sea-based sources – 80 per cent is the figure usually cited. But what about the rest? Trade associations representing ship owners and big industry players state they follow regulations regarding correct disposal of solid waste. But evidence from marine litter surveys tells us that waste from at-sea sources is getting into the marine environment, and in some places it accounts for much more than 20 per cent of the items found – indeed, in one extreme example from the North Sea it makes up as much as 90 per cent 1.

In general, fishing vessels and aquaculture are a predominant source of marine plastics. In one EU-wide analysis, fishing and aquaculture related items such as nets, fish boxes, fishing buoys, were found to make up an average of 22 per cent of all beach litter. Other types of vessels are also a key source of marine litter, e.g. merchant ships, ferries, cruise liners and recreational vessels. The same EU study found that litter from other vessels made up 13 per cent of beach litter, indicated by items such as catering and industrial packaging.

Last year, Eunomia completed a marine litter report for the European Commission looking into at-sea sources of debris in the EU, and

measures to mitigate them, such as the Port Reception Facilities (PRF) Directive. We wanted to get a better picture of the at-sea sources of marine debris. First, we looked at solid waste generated by ships, of the type that can become marine debris. We then compared this with the amount of waste that ships delivered to ports.

The gap between the two was considerable; between 2006 and 2013, an average of 170,000 tonnes more waste was generated each year than disposed of in port. Compare this with the amount of marine litter input from land, estimated in the EU at 110,000 tonnes2, and we could be looking at a much larger contribution of at-sea sources in the EU than previously thought.

With this in mind, it is clear that the maritime sector is an important stakeholder when it comes to marine litter. Waste disposal at sea of most types is already prohibited globally by legislation like the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) and the London Convention and Protocol. At EU level the most important piece of legislation is arguably the Port Reception Facilities (PRF) Directive, which requires ports to provide facilities for receiving waste from ships, and requires ships to deliver their waste when they are in port. But

the issue of enforcement remains; how do you detect infringement? And how can you encourage good behaviour where the risk of detection is minimal?

One aspect we looked at in our study was the financial incentivisation of proper waste management. The PRF Directive states that all vessels must contribute significantly to the cost of waste management. The idea behind this is that a vessel is paying towards waste management whether it uses the facilities or not, and that this reduces the financial saving a vessel would make by discharging its waste at sea. However, this doesn't mean there's mathematically zero financial incentive to discharge at sea - some still remains.

Furthermore, it doesn't tackle other, non-financial ('hidden') incentives to discharge waste at sea, such as the hassle factor, other priorities of crew members, and limited time.

So what would be the most effective way of incentivising proper waste management?

A very different scenario would be financial disincentives to discharge waste at sea - i.e. if ships actually faced a cost for doing so. This could be achieved by charging a refundable deposit, which is returned when ships deliver their waste in port. In this way, vessels are rewarded for doing it right, and they would lose out if they discharged their waste at sea.

At present however, fishing vessels and recreational vessels (under 12-person capacity) are exempt from the charging system prescribed by the PRF Directive. These vessel types account for approximately 33 per cent of activity at sea and, as such, it is highly important to bring

them too into the legislative fold. The time for this is now; the PRF Directive is currently undergoing a lengthy revision process. This includes considering amendments to help reduce atsea marine litter emissions. Both the scope of vessels under different provisions, and the cost structure of port reception facilities will come under the spotlight.

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) states that by 2020, “Good Environmental Status” must be achieved for European seas; for marine litter this means that: “Properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment”. This is a rightly ambitious goal. If we are to achieve it, we need all hands on deck, both on land and at sea.

Only then will we be able to secure the future of our seas. v

Chiarina Darrah is Senior Consultant at Eunomia.

Established in 2001, Eunomia Research & Consulting Ltd is a Bristol-based, independent consultancy dedicated to adding value to organisations through the delivery of improved outcomes. Eunomia has over 65 employees in the UK, and has offices in Bristol, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Brussels and Auckland. www.eunomia.co.uk

“

Each year, millions of tons of litter finds its way into the marine environment, and its impacts reach from the smallest and most remote ocean organisms all the way up to the largest ocean mammals

1 Van Franeker, J.A., Meijboom, A., De Jong, M., and Verdaat, H. (2010) Fulmar litter EcoQO monitoring in the Netherlands 1979-2008 in relation to EU directive 2000/59/EC on port reception facilities, Wageningen IMARES Report, No.C027/10 2 See Eunomia (2015) and Jambeck, J.R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., et al. (2015) Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean, Science, Vol.347, No.6223, pp.768–771

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Fire safety

Hot topic When market conditions are challenging, maintenance programmes can be cut and this has serious implications for fire safety. Libbie Hammond spoke to Henry Green, operations director oil and gas, Tyco, about this issue

“T

here are a number of difficulties facing ship owners and operators at the moment,” Henry began.

“Capacity exceeding demand is always a problem for any industry, but within commercial shipping it also drives a reduction in charter rates. This challenges ship owners and operators’ ability to effectively manage operating and fuel costs while maintaining environmental compliance. Added threats from piracy and cyber-attack weigh heavily on the minds of those tempted to reduce or even postpone expenditure on maintaining safety systems. The perception is often that fire and security systems can be serviced and maintained by ship staff rather than trained engineers, which can often result in system integrity becoming compromised.”

He continued: “Commercial shipbuilding hasn’t fully recovered from the last economic crash, and the oil and gas industry is also still coming to terms with low oil prices. As a result, financial returns are low, with owners and operators looking to minimise their capital and operational expenditure.”

Nevertheless, regardless of cost reduction

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programmes, or efficiency drives, it remains the duty of everyone to act responsibly where the risk of fire is present. “Ships operate under an international minimum standard for fire safety at sea and should be fitted with appropriate protection systems. These systems reside in a passive state waiting for an event and as such must operate flawlessly when called upon. As a working example, prior to the 9/11 attacks, Morgan Stanley staff were made to practice drills over and over again, and it is estimated that this action saved more than 2500 lives. Whatever your ship’s fire and security plan, you have to ensure your systems are meticulously maintained and your crew is well prepared,” emphasised Henry.

Tyco works closely with its clients in order to ensure that they not only minimise risk to life, but also the company is also very experienced in the marine market and understands the areas that are most important to its customers. For container shipping groups, for example, this is to maximise business continuity. Based on the sheer size of today’s modern container ships, the possibility of business disruption from the threat of a fire is a constant one. For CMA-CGM Container Line, an

organisation with over 336 ships on more than 100 shipping routes, the need to keep sailing is paramount, and to this end, Tyco Marine Division’s design and project management teams were specified to protect its ships with Minerva T2000 digital analogue fire detection and alarm systems.

Manufactured to BSEN ISO 9001/2 and approved by all the major marine authorities, this system is designed to meet the fire detection and alarm needs of the ship, its crew and cargo. The decision to sound the alarm is made at the controller allowing adjustments and compensations to be made for changes on environmental conditions.

In short, providing maximum security whilst minimising the risk of false alarms. These systems have been the result of intensive and proactive research and development acquired from working in partnership with the marine industry and marine approval authorities for a period in excess of 60 years.

Another market segment that is benefitting from Tyco’s new and innovative products is the naval sector, where Henry identifies an appetite for investment globally. “This market continues to be successful, led by those companies

which continue to invest in a broad spectrum of innovative safety and security solutions to support their efforts in meeting both the economic and legislative challenges they face,” he said.

“With regards to environmental regulatory issues for example, the IGF code, effective from 1st Jan 2017 as an adoption of MSC 391(95), will require that traditional fire extinguishing agents such as CO2 are used in far higher concentrations than currently permitted. It is expected that newer chemical gases will replace these old standards. For example, Novec 1230 is expected to become the agent of choice as it is approved for hydrocarbon fuel fires.”

Another part of the green agenda relevant to the marine sector, is the trend towards dual fuel engines, and as Henry noted, as this technology becomes more prevalent, so too are fire suppression systems becoming more specialised and detection systems are required to report more detailed information faster.

That is where the value of having programmable logic controller (PLC)-based surveillance systems on board, becomes apparent, as these enable remote diagnostics. “The resulting situational

awareness enables early identification of potential issues and risks, in order to help response teams to act upon them well in advance and thereby preserving life and integrity of the vessel,” explained Henry.”

As the challenges of the market continue, a host of new opportunities and problems are on the horizon for the shipping sector. “As with any industry, shipping is affected by supply and demand. Oil prices, green fuels and commercial and political unrest are all becoming increasingly influential factors in the sector, and with owners replacing their fleets less frequently and the potential growing for the life of a ship to be extended, the challenge of maintaining a vessel’s integrity is becoming ever more pertinent,” said Henry.

“Shipping companies must rise to the challenge and ensure that their fleet is sound, secure and prepared for any emergency. In a time of economic uncertainty, fire and safety should be the last thing to go by the board: as we have seen all too often, a failure to address these systems can have much worse than financial consequences,” he concluded. v

“

Morgan Stanley staff were made to practice drills over and over again, and it is estimated that this action saved more than 2500 lives

Henry Green is operations director oil and gas, Tyco. Tyco develops practical, integrated fire protection and security solutions for increasingly complex environments. Tyco’s solutions can be found aboard 80 per cent of the world’s naval fleet. Tyco is proud to have a marine heritage spanning almost 80 years, and has contributed to some landmark projects across the world’s naval, cruise, commercial shipping and super yacht sectors. www.tyco.com

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D

rew Marine Signal and Safety (DMSS) is the world’s leading supplier of SOLAS, MED & USCG-approved marine distress signals. The company markets the Comet brand alongside sister brand Pains Wessex.

Chris Feibusch of DMSS explained that SOLAS requirements state the specific safety equipment that has to be stocked on the bridge, including two MOB man overboard (MOB) units, four linethrowers (with a minimum 230 metre line) and 12 parachute rockets. “In 2014, we updated our MOB unit to the Mark 9, which now incorporates an LED bulb in the lamp and lithium batteries. It is also smaller, so it fits inside a lifebuoy ring and it can be automatically deployed by releasing the attached lifebuoy, or manually activated. It will emit dense orange smoke for 15 minutes and the lamp will emit light for a minimum of two hours at a two candela, and this exceeds SOLAS regulations,” he said.

Comet has also released an improved version of its Smoke Signal, which is now manufactured in-house, and Comet believes it is now more reliable and easier to use.

Comet rockets, flares and smoke signals can be found on the bridges, life rafts and lifeboats of ships around the world, and these are all supported by a worldwide network of specialist distributors, offering a truly global availability.

Full details can be found on the Comet website.

The singing propeller

Silence the

singing City, University of London with sponsorship from Finnish engineering firm Wärtsilä has conducted a research project into identifying the specific design parameters that create the risk of propellers singing and has developed a new methodology for design stage risk detection of the singing propeller phenomenon

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S

ome propellers in service produce a periodic tonal noise that can be heard in the steering flat, shaft tunnel, engine-room or even in the accommodation. The singing noise has been reported to be of both harmonic and non-harmonic nature and can take a variety of forms ranging from a deep sounding grunting noise to a high-pitched warbling noise, typical of an incorrectly set turning operation on a lathe. The phenomenon rather than being anything particularly harmful is a matter of annoyance to the human ear and so has a negative effect on comfort levels on-board operating vessels.

For many years since the end of the 2nd World War it was considered that the problem of propeller singing could be solved by the application of sharp edged, single or double, chamfers to the tips and trailing edges of propellers. Indeed, for most propellers when they have a tendency to sing, such standard remedies, dating back to the 1940s and 50s, would have shown themselves to be effective in curing the problem. However, this has not been the case with some of the more modern advanced propeller designs.

There have been many exploratory studies on the origins of singing and how to prevent it. The generally accepted reason why a propeller sings is that the natural frequency of a vibrating blade coincides with the vortices being shed from the outer trailing edge and, rarely, the tip region of the blades. This results in a resonance condition known as ‘lock-on’.

This mechanism is also known as ‘Vortex Induced Vibration’ (VIV), where the exciting force is generated continuously by the shedding of parallel vortices.

The propeller singing phenomenon is a complex and sensitive problem in that, for example, from series of nominally identical propellers that have been produced from a common design, perhaps only one member of the series will sing. Such an observation suggests that either small propeller blade dimensional changes or minor differences in the wake fields may give rise to the problem. The numerous and extensive studies on the topic have shown the sensitivity of the vortex shedding, known as von Kármán streets, from the trailing edge geometry of the blade sections and the influence of the development of the boundary layer over the hydrofoil form.

The new research began in 2011 and set out to investigate the parameters governing the phenomena of singing. The research was undertaken as part of a PhD project at City, University of London and added to Wärtsilä’s own internal investigations. This research showed that the singing problem can be controlled by altering the propeller main design parameters; careful attention to the vibration modes of the blade and modifying the trailing edge of the blade to eliminate the shedding vortices and, therefore, also the hydrodynamic excitation forces (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Stream-wise vorticity contour of a profile with a conventional ASE (top) and after modification of the trailing edge (bottom) The results of this research established three major findings: 1. Singing is generated from the lock-on between vortex shedding at the trailing edges and the modal response from the propeller blades.

2. Propellers potentially at risk of singing can be distinguished from non singing propellers (such as with a certain bandwidth) by a careful evaluation of vibration modes.

3. The occurrence of the singing behaviour requires periodic excitation forces, and so in this respect, trailing edge and ASE details are very important and will determine whether vortices are shed or not.

The new approach examined Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis of flow and vortex shedding at the trailing edge, as well as the influence of cavitation; mechanical exploration, such as 3D measurements of geometries; vibration measurement in air and water; modal analysis using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and the analysis of impact of other affecting factors including a parametric analysis and sensitivity studies previous design records as well as a detailed literature review.

The results, concluded in December 2015, have now led to a method by which vessels at risk for singing are identified in the design process. City, University of London’s Professor of Marine Engineering, Professor John Carlton FREng, is quoted to say: “This has been an extremely successful project in dealing with an important propeller design issue. As an industry, we thought we had discovered a pragmatic solution to the singing propeller problem many years ago. However, some recent advanced propeller designs did not respond to the conventional treatments. As such, this research has now led to a method which enables designers to assess the singing potential of a propeller at the design stage.” v

City, University of London is a leading international institution and it is committed to academic excellence and focused on business and the professions. It was placed in the top five per cent of world universities according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015. www.city.ac.uk

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Brexit

The implications of

Brexit

The potential impact of Brexit on the maritime sector if Article 50 is invoked.

By Lindsey Keeble, Asha Kumar, Toby Royal, Andrew Ward and Richard Stephens

W

hile the nature of the United Kingdom’s future trading relationship with the European Union (EU) will take some time to become clear, it is important to realise that in the immediate aftermath of the result of the UK’s recent EU referendum, nothing has changed in terms of the trading relationship and the movement of people and goods between the EU and the UK and the laws which apply to your maritime business and contractual arrangements.

New UK Prime Minister Theresa May has made it clear she does not intend to invoke Article 50 before 2017. Once invoked, the UK has an extendable period of two years to negotiate new trade arrangements with the EU. During this negotiating period the UK remains a full member of the EU and subject to all the related rules and regulations. While trade relationships of various forms between the UK and EU have been suggested as possibilities by different

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people, organisations and publications, ultimately it is difficult at this stage to know what form that relationship will take, or to be able to advise in detail on the full potential impact of a Brexit from the EU for the maritime sector.

English law: a favourable contractual & dispute resolution regime for maritime contracts?

Whatever the outcome of the UK’s trade relationship with Europe, we are of the belief that English law will remain a favourable legal regime for the documentation of international contracts and transactions. The choice of English law is due to the certainty of its long established legal precedent and court system, not because the UK is part of the EU. Generally speaking other elements of law that directly regulate the maritime sector are international in scope and incorporated into English law so the status quo would largely remain in place.

As regards England as a jurisdiction for disputes,

Brexit should not have any effect on the preeminence of London and its arbitral institutions in the resolution of international arbitrations. The current worldwide enforceability of London awards should remain.

As regards court litigation, the various EU regulations in respect of jurisdiction, applicable law, enforceability of judgments and insolvency should be applied by English courts, and by the courts across the EU in respect of UK matters, until such time as the UK has left the EU. Nothing should change during this period, although it remains to be seen how different courts in fact deal with matters as the date of departure approaches.

As regards the situation after the UK leaves the EU, we consider it too early to draw conclusions on what the landscape might look like for dispute resolution and insolvency. However, we do not consider it a necessary or probable outcome of the UK leaving the EU that the English courts and those of the remaining Member States will lose a common framework for ruling on jurisdiction or

Employment & Immigration law in the maritime sector

applicable law or that the reciprocal enforcement of judgments or recognition of insolvency proceedings will cease.

UK Tonnage Tax & UK flag Whilst the UK Tonnage Tax regime currently needs to comply with EU State Aid Law, the regime itself is not derived from EU law.

The legislation that governs tonnage tax is domestic legislation and, accordingly, Brexit does not need to have any impact on the UK Tonnage Tax regime. If the UK is able to operate without the need to comply with the EU State Aid Law, then there could even be the possibility of relaxations to the rules, for example, on the limits on time chartered in tonnage.

It is to be hoped that the UK Government will retain its current support of the tonnage tax system, and continues to recognise the important role it has in contributing to the UK economy and attracting shipowners to set up businesses in the UK.

In terms of employment law implications, the position is very uncertain. One view is that the Government may seek to deregulate this area in order to make the UK appear more competitive compared with countries remaining within the EU. However, laws underpinning employment on board ships arise from the ILO Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (the Convention), which the Government ratified on 7 August 2013, and a number of enforcing EU Regulations.

The overriding aim of the Convention was to set decent, minimum global standards for seafarers’ living and working conditions and to help create conditions of fair competition and a level playing field throughout the shipping industry. In order to comply with the Convention, UK legislation (insofar as it was necessary) was brought in line with its standards and in our view it is unlikely that the UK will in any way seek to deviate from its Convention obligations not least because of the international repercussions. However, many believe that there will be some watering down of certain employment law rights, such as rules relating to the calculation of holiday pay, which could be relaxed allowing employers to reach their own decisions on the appropriate level of pay, and also on the ability of employees to carry forward leave in cases of long term sickness absence. It is also unlikely that the anti-discrimination laws will undergo a radical change but we agree with the views expressed by the UK Chamber of Shipping that the Government may seek to introduce a cap on the damages awarded in such claims.

In terms of immigration we expect big changes in this area and we would be very surprised if the UK Immigration Rules and Tier 2 remain in their current form. For example, the government may need to open the Tier 3 ‘low-skilled’ category of the Points Based System (PBS) (currently suspended) to fill any void left by EU workers e.g. agricultural workers. In terms of the maritime sector, this could be beneficial by opening up a category to non-EU nationals (e.g. Filipino nationals) who don’t currently qualify under Tier 2. However, if the plan is to move EU nationals into the current PBS system then this will increase pressure on the system and the current PBS problems, which include delay and inconsistency across different jurisdictions, will apply to EU nationals also (although, this, of course, depends on the negotiations).

Border controls and customs Potential changes to border controls are of particular concern to cruise & ferry operators; however, as the UK is not part of Schengen and passport controls are already in place at UK ports no practical changes are anticipated and there will be no immediate changes in any event. Whether there will be changes to applicable customs rules will depend on the negotiations surrounding the UK’s continued access to the Single Market.

Environmental and safety regimes While the EU has done much to advance environmental and safety legislation, there have been thoughts in some quarters that such legislation is at times as much a burden as a benefit. Practically speaking, once the UK leaves the EU we would expect most EU environmental legislation that has shown itself to be of value to be incorporated into the laws of the UK. An interesting case that might provide opportunities for the UK concerns the recycling of decommissioned vessels. Recycling activity is currently governed by the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, which takes elements from the 2009 Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. Once no longer beholden to some of the more onerous elements of the regulations, more ship recycling may be possible in the UK and thus provide a boost to this industry. Metal from a number of already decommissioned North Sea offshore platforms still standing could be recycled if their owners no longer had to abide by the exacting standards of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation.

Conclusion The extent to which changes resulting from Brexit will impact the shipping industry will depend heavily on the relationship of individual companies with the UK and the EU and, ultimately, as for all sectors, where the discussions between the UK and the other EU member states finally come out on the key issues of free movement and access to the Single Market. It is, at present, ‘business as usual’ and, as the maritime industry is a global, predominantly US dollar industry many may not directly feel the impact of Brexit.

We will be watching developments closely to determine how they will affect our clients. v

Lindsey Keeble, Asha Kumar, Toby Royal, Andrew Ward and Richard Stephens are all partners at Watson Farley & Williams, a leading international law firm providing services of high quality and value to clients throughout a range of industry sectors, with particular focus on: Energy & Infrastructure, Maritime, Natural Resources, Real Estate and Transport. Lawyers from its international offices work as integrated teams to provide practical, commercially focused legal services. Its locations allow the business sufficient geographical spread to be competitive in the global market and to provide consistently high-quality legal services to clients. www.wfw.com

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Brexit

An eye on the

horizon

T

he UK’s decision to leave the European Union in July shocked many worldwide. As the dust begins to settle, the debate around the result of the Referendum continues to bring many different arguments to the fore about the effect a British exit from the EU could potentially have on the economy, trade and, most importantly from our perspective as a risk management company, maritime security.

Anyone who works in the shipping industry will know well that we live in a highly interconnected world. Brexit will not change that and both the EU and the UK will no doubt adapt their relationships with international and national organisations, as well as industry bodies, to develop and strengthen existing security structures.

What is yet to be seen is how the EU without the UK, and the UK outside the EU, will seek to adapt their respective roles, though there are already some important indications of the direction of travel. Indeed the risk is that, after Brexit, some within the maritime community based in the UK will try to drop existing EU regulations. Others may leave because they need an EU base. This was echoed by Stena Line who warned after the referendum decision that it might re-flag its UK vessels.

The maritime domain is a relatively new departure for the EU as it is only since 2008 that the EU became involved in maritime operations firstly by taking a lead in suppressing Somali piracy in the Indian Ocean, and most recently to combat the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. Given that the EU shares its maritime assets with NATO, and that EU Member States have been cutting back on the size of their navies, maintaining two highly demanding operations in their current form is not sustainable for much longer. Furthermore, the EU without the UK will inevitably see Eastern Europe as its centre of gravity, as more political power shifts east to Berlin, and concerns over protecting the eastern borders from migrant flows and a resurgent Russia, become the prevailing security priority.

Add to this the natural temptation toward introspection to tackle the Islamist terror threat operating at the heart of Europe, and it is clear that

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Gerry Northwood assesses the impact of Brexit on maritime security

the EU will have to work hard if it is to maintain an open and outward looking maritime posture.

To this end the EU Naval Force in the Mediterranean will no doubt continue to focus on the migrant problem. This is a task shared with NATO, and it is fortunate for the EU that it is to NATO and the United States that the really important work in the Mediterranean will devolve that of protecting the EU’s southeastern flank by containing the Russians in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. So, as the EU at best is likely to play no more than a supporting role in contributing to maritime security around Europe, what role will the post Brexit UK play? By ordering the next generation of Trident nuclear missile submarines the UK parliament has made a positive commitment to play its part maintaining the international order; to have credibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to remain a firm and trusted partner of the US, and a leading and influential member of NATO. This is of course a continuation of the UK’s global role as a member of the EU. As one of the great global trading nations and the fifth largest economy in the world, post Brexit it is doubly important that the UK maintains global reach and influence. With commercial access to the sea routes of the South China Sea, West Africa, Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, to name just a few flashpoints, under threat from criminality or state action, the maritime community needs the UK to be out there supporting the United States and its many allies.

Maintaining our freedom of trade in the interest of continued globalisation is a maritime mission, something that is often overlooked by those who are not directly connected to maritime affairs. In these unsettled and troubled times, it behoves the maritime community to insist that both the UK and the EU keep their eyes lifted to the far horizon. v

Gerry Northwood is COO at MAST, the international maritime security company.

MAST is a leading global security provider with the expertise and capability to provide comprehensive security advice, including the delivery of intelligence information, physical security solutions and technology.

MAST is without doubt one of the pioneers in the maritime security industry, having been at the heart of development of the legal and operational standards that now allow clients to engage security services in the marine sector with confidence. www.mast-security.com.

Follow MAST_security on Twitter for real time information on global security developments.

New technologies

Time to embrace the

future

Dick Welsh gives his opinions on the shipping industry’s reluctance to leap into new technologies, particularly ECDIS

Dick Welsh

I

was recently in Posidonia, one of the largest gatherings in the shipping calendar, with the great and good of shipping. At one of the many social events, we got to talking about new technologies, in particular ECDIS (electronic chart display information system), and a general trend within the industry of reluctance to take the leap into new technologies. You can imagine, as an engineer, I felt well out of my depth, but extremely loath to admit it.

Why the reluctance, I thought? On further reflection I am still wondering.

I want designers and regulators to embrace new technology. I want to show youngsters that the bridge of a ship or yacht looks more like the Star Ship Enterprise than the Titanic. They expect touch screens and up to the minute displays of where they are, where they are going, and what else is out there to bump into. They want state-of-the-art not state of the Ark. They don’t want, or need, magnetic compasses, sextants and monstrous steering wheels. Yes, they need windows to look out of and to keep a proper look out. They should also not be distracted by multiple screens, but really? Let’s move on!

When was the last time you looked at an A to Z of London, or any city for that matter? When was the last time you drove around with a big book of road maps next to you on the passenger seat – desperately looking for where you are and where you should be? Let me guess. You use a smartphone to find your way around a strange city and a Satnav to navigate your way as you drive. Granted, you still need to put your head up to stop walking into lamp posts while walking and look out of the windows of the car

whilst driving – but it is the technology that is navigating!

Since voicing my opinions I have received many positive comments on social media from various sectors and disciplines within the industry.

I have also had a few quoting technical reasons behind the navigator’s reticence to let go of their paper charts, corrections, erasers, and second mate’s pencils! These are mainly to do with global coverage of electronic charts and the lack of consistency in different manufacturer’s systems. There is also unwavering support for the good oldfashioned magnetic compass, which requires no power source and appears to be a step too far to remove altogether.

As an engineer, I probably have no place to say this – but I will. Let’s stop this reluctance to embrace new technologies. Let’s consign these magnetic compasses; sextants; and paper charts to museums, and equip modern ships with the latest technology. Let’s provide and regulate for the redundancy, back-up supplies and install robust designs the ships need to be safe and efficient. I would go one stage further – let’s stop training our poor cadets in yesterday’s navigation techniques. They are not Polynesian adventurers steering by the stars to find new and uncharted lands.

There I have said it and I feel better! I have also thrown my slide rule and steam tables in the bin lest anyone accuse me of not following my own advice! v Dick Welsh is Director of the Isle of Man Ship Registry. The Isle of Man Ship Registry was established as an international register in 1984. Since then it has become highly recognised as a quality register offering unrivalled levels of service. It boasts some of the world’s most highly respected shipping companies among its clients. www.iomshipregistry.com www.whereyoucan.im/maritime

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New products

McMurdo’s brand new range of Powerful EPIRBs are MEOSAR Compatible for enhanced detection and location performance

Shaping the Future of Search and Rescue The promises of innovation and technology go hand in hand and nowhere is that more important than in the field of search and rescue electronics, reflected in the creation of the COSPAS SARSAT SAR ecosystem, the impact of which can be seen in the 41,000 lives saved since its inception in 1982. But where next for Search and Rescue…?

www.mcmurdogroup.com

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MEOSAR In the next few years the world of search and rescue will be revolutionised, the existing COSPAS SARSAT rescue ecosystem will have enhanced capabilities, offering near instantaneous signal detection and greater location accuracy. A network of Medium-altitude Earth Orbit Satellites – MEOSAR, will accelerate rescue times and ultimately save lives.

The Future Now McMurdo’s new range of EPIRBs bring fresh innovation and a glimpse of an even safer future. The next generation of EPIRBs from McMurdo are compatible with MEOSAR and already offer faster detection and more accurate location performance by working with the EOC (Early Operation Capability) MEOSAR satellite ground stations, Mission Control

How the end-to-end satellite-based SAR Ecosystem works

1 A beacon distress signal is sent from aircraft, marine vessel or individual 2 Beacon positioning/location data is relayed by satellite communications to satellite ground stations or Local User Terminals (LUTs)

First life saved through next-generation MEOSAR search and rescue network McMurdo instrumental in upgraded Cospas-Sarsat satellite system that found hiker 50 minutes faster than the existing system.

Don Stevens, a 53-year-old teacher from Wellington, New Zealand, was hiking over rugged terrain in the Tararua Range when he fell more than 90 feet, breaking his leg and leaving him unable to walk. After he activated his McMurdo FastFind 220 personal locator beacon (PLB), the distress signal was relayed by the MEOSAR satellite system to the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand in only four minutes – 50 minutes sooner than the existing system picked up the same distress signal.

McMurdo was instrumental in all phases of the rescue, from the McMurdo FastFind 220 PLB to the McMurdo designed and installed MEOSAR satellite ground stations, Mission Control Centres and Rescue Coordination Centres.

3 The Local User Terminal computes the location before sending alerts to the appropriate Mission Control Centers (MCC) 4 The Mission Control Center collects, stores and sorts the data received from LUTs and other MCCs and distributes alerts to associated Rescue Coordination Centers (RCC) 5 The Rescue Coordination Center notifies and coordinates emergency response/rescue teams 6 Emergency response/rescue teams engage in rescue operation using Mission Aircraft Solutions * Items in red are supplied by McMurdo Group

Centres and Rescue Coordination Centres, like those now operating in New Zealand, designed and installed by McMurdo.

Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand Manager Mike Hill, said: “The extra time created by receiving the signal faster is invaluable and potentially lifesaving’.

The World’s First 4 frequency EPIRBs McMurdo’s new range of EPIRBs include the SmartFind G8 AIS and the Kannad SafePro AIS which offers its customers the World’s First EPIRB to include 406MHz, 121.5MHz, AIS and GNSS (GPS) to support the ALERT, LOCATE, TRACK & RECOVER stages of search and rescue.

The unique power of this new beacon is in its flexibility and additional tracking features long demanded by maritime customers, which will again reduce rescue times and save lives by combining the global location power of 406MHz with the localised rescue capabilities of AIS, first introduced to the world with McMurdo’s AIS MOB range.

Multi-GNSS Receiver The new range also offer users a greater level of location accuracy and safety redundancy by including multiple GNSS receivers, which in its simplest form means the EPIRB will receive GNSS (more generally known by the brand name GPS) from more than one source of satellite frequency, increasing the speed and accuracy of locating your position on the water.

I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for that beacon Don Stevens

Unique products from a unique company Only McMurdo offers this gold standard EPIRB range based on the company’s unique contribution to the search and rescue network, by developing beacons, the land based infrastructure and the rescue coordination centres that facilitate your rescue. Coupled with McMurdo’s unparalleled marine heritage, commitment to quality and history for technological innovation, its customers know they can Trust McMurdo to shape the Future of Search and Rescue.

Learn more at McMurdogroup.com

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©Hamburg Messe und Congress/SMM

Review: SMM 2016

A smart show

O

With a reputation for being the shipping event for the Who’s Who of the maritime industry, this year’s SMM saw industry visitors from around 100 nations attend

ver the years it as been running the exhibition and conference, SMM has gained a strong reputation for showcasing tomorrow’s trends and developments, with 2016 being no different. Taking place from 6th to 9th September 2016, the 27th SMM was enhanced and expanded to offer further valuable insights to those in the shipping industry.

Seeing over approximately 50,000 industry visitors, this year’s event was a great success. “The overwhelming turnout is proof of a general sense of anticipation that was palpable during the four days of the fair, as well,” said Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO of Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH. Considering the difficult situation of the industry, this was an especially encouraging fair, he added.

Uwe Beckmeyer, Parliamentary Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, and Federal Government Coordinator for the Maritime Industry, emphasised the importance of SMM as an innovation driver: “SMM is a very special platform. The world loves to gather here for this event,” he said.

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Visitors to 2016’s event encountered all the international key players from the shipping sector, covering the entire value chain. The fair has also become more international with more than 60 nations being represented this time and Iran, Malaysia and Greece all setting up 2016 country pavilions of their own for the first time this year.

Drawing huge interest, SMM had more than 2100 exhibitors registered by June 2016 and was fully booked months in advance even after being expanded by an additional 3500 square metres. Additional changes include the offering of hall A5, which was exclusively dedicated to green propulsion, and the clear division of halls in accordance with product areas. Moreover, visitors of SMM 2016 were guided to exhibitors through the utilisation of specific routes that provided special offers on the themes digitalisation, green shipping, maritime security and careers.

The theme that ran throughout the event was ‘digitalisation’, which was represented across the entire SMM programme this year. Believed to bring fundamental change to the industry, experts are

calling it the third revolution of shipping. What makes this topic so very important is the current situation of the industry, which is marked by low freight and charter rates, a weak global economy, and strong fluctuations of the global flow of goods, all of which threaten the financial basis of the shipping sector. At the same time, it is faced with tightening safety and environmental protection regulations. The only way out of this dilemma is to optimise performance further, and the name of the solution is Smart Shipping.

One exhibitor, Christian Ausfelder, Managing Director RWO + System CS Bio, was very pleased with the quality of the content at SMM 2016. “A strong programme line-up drew many of our partners to Hamburg, so we were able to engage in many constructive conversations,” he said. “Digitalisation, sustainability and security – SMM 2016 took a farsighted look at the top issues trending in the sector.”

At the fair, RWO presented the CleanSewage Bio water treatment system, Seawater Reverse Osmosis SRO-COM as well as a further development of the Oily Water separator OWS-COM. “Visitors to our stand were particularly interested in treating

©Hamburg Messe und Congress/SMM

©Hamburg Messe und Congress/SMM

wastewater with the CleanSewage Bio, which saves up to 25 per cent of space compared to other systems, is easy to operate, requires substantially lower maintenance and enables a faster restart,” said Christian.

The Seawater Reverse Osmosis SRO-COM, a desalination system aboard ships, stood out in particular due to its lower capital expenditures, energy costs and a smaller version with a capacity of up to 60 m3/day. An improved version of the world’s leading product of its category, the RWO Oily Water Separator OWS-COM was also presented to those gathered at the stand: New filter cartridges with twice the service life lower operating costs and increase operational reliability. “’Total Water Management’, or focusing on the totality of on board water systems, was a major topic discussed at our stand. We have been seeing significantly growing demand for integrated water treatment solutions, especially for cruise ships, even prior to the SMM. We took some firm orders here,” summarised Christian. “Our conversations also mirrored the growing significance of digitalisation in marine technology. Of special relevance to us

are things like remote inspection and predictive maintenance of the water treatment systems on board and on land.”

SMM 2016 was accompanied by an attractive supporting programme that included the newly created conference Maritime Future Summit on 5th September. Taking place one day ahead of the opening of SMM, the summit saw software experts and CEOs of leading manufacturers of ship propulsion systems discuss the consequences of Smart Shipping and Big Data for the shipping industry of the future.

With smart fleet management and networking viewed as the next step for the industry, companies will need to embrace key new technologies such as telematics, satellite communication, data storage, information technology and automation to remain competitive in the long-term. Because Smart Solutions and the digital revolution are a major topic for this year’s exhibition, digital solutions were naturally central to the portfolios of many of the 2100+ exhibitors presenting their products and services on more than 90,000 square metres of exhibition area.

Part of this exhibition space was comprised of a

new area set up to highlight new developments in the field of green propulsion, with LNG a particular focus. Hall A5 covered all aspects of alternative and environmentally friendly technologies in marine propulsion and thus provided shipyards and equipment suppliers the ideal showcase for their alternative and low-emission technologies; these included LNG, methanol, fuel cells and hybrid and dual-fuel propulsion systems. Alongside exhibiting state-of-the-art innovations, SMM also boasted a solid conference programme that included the Global Maritime Environmental Congress (GMEC) on 6th September.

The Ship of the Year Award, run by Norwegian publication Skipsrevyen, is also a popular event at the Show, and on 7th September, the innovative carbon fibre-hulled tourist vessel Vision of the Fjords was announced as the winner. Designed and built

by Brødrene Aa, the ship operates an innovative propulsion system that uses a combination of two 749kW MAN Diesel engines and two 150kW Oswald electric motors, with an ABB Onboard DC Grid system. It was chosen as the winner due to its unique approach to sustainable, sensitive and high quality operations in the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Nærøyfjord. The vessel uses the diesel engines up to the entrance of the protected Nærøyfjord, before switching to silent running, emission free electric power. It also features a special hull designed to minimise wake and thus reduce impact erosion on the vulnerable shoreline of the Fjord. The judges were impressed by its modern design and sympathy to the environment in which it operates.

In addition to all of the topics mentioned, SMM was brimming with expert advice and technological developments from a wide range of companies, organisations and speakers on subjects ranging from cyber attacks to career opportunities. For example, the Maritime Career Market (MCM), which concluded SMM 2016, provided companies with an excellent opportunity to meet up with promising young talents and experienced potential leaders.

The countdown is already on for SMM 2018, which is running 4-7th September, 2018. For more information, visit: www.smm-hamburg.com/en v

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Profile: LNGTainer

Thinking

Ltd

differently by having the insulation

on the inside of the LNG tank

T

he background to LNGTainer is tied to Finnish engineer and inventor Tom Sommardal, and the origins of the founder are key to understanding the business and providing an insight into how well the company knows the industry. Now CEO, Tom expanded on this: “My background was as a deck officer and then as a naval architect, and I have been in the industry since I was 16 years old, throughout these many years I have worked mainly on oil tankers – which mostly operated in the North Sea and other areas of Europe – so energy and shipping has been a passion my entire life.” Tom’s career then went onto involve working with a range of shipping, from passenger to 100,000 tonne oil tankers, which provides the company with an understanding of the industry and the issues it faces.

The LNGTainer is the culmination of research and development efforts by Tom to create a low-cost solution to the transportation of LNG products. It took several years of secret product design

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and testing to create, but as of June 2015 the new innovation in LNG transportation – a storage and consumption container was unveiled, ready for large-scale serial production.

The most revolutionary aspect of the new tank container, and what gives a basis for the advanced design, is the fact that the insulation has been moved from the outside of the cryogenic tanks to the inside. The patented LNGTainer tank container that Tom has created stands head and shoulders above many others in the market, which Tom highlighted: “One reason we have had so many enquiries is that we have by far the biggest capacity in its class combined with light weight construction which give exact same weight when fully loaded as a normal 40 foot container.” This feature will clearly make it a tempting proposition for those within shipping that want to maximise space and capacity. Tom went on to provide other positives of the product: “We have a rigid outer tank with the micro glass/perlite insulation on its inside covered with a thin

metallic inner tank. When the inner tank is laying on a micro glass/perlite bed, it is very tolerant – for vibrations and other similar things, especially if there are bad roads or terrains. These often can lead to micro cracks in the standard LNG tank containers’ inner tanks, and these cracks mean you lose the vacuum and thereby the isolating capacity, which could be critical for a safe LNG transport. Whereas, with our tanks the micro glass/perlite bed is so tolerant and strong that it can handle these. This is why we call them the second generation tank containers - the whole thing is about making sure the LNG product is delivered safe and as cheaply as possible to the end user.” Then on top of this there is also the provision of tank tracking for companies, which is a useful tool that provides an overview of where all the tanks are and help arrange all the transport in advance. These present just some of the reasons why customers are so keen to invest in LNG tank containers.

The tanker company has already received paid requests for manufacturing

the containers, and the number within the orders range from 50s to 1000s, which demonstrates that LNGTainer has made a product that many within the industry wanted. Tom provided more details about the LNG tanker: “It is actually 15 per cent bigger volume than others in the market and we also get about 30 per cent less weight, which are both extremely good for the transport sector.

The LNGTainers can be fast loaded even with warm tanks. Because its inner tanks small mass need only minimum cooling and it will not heat up the LNG and evaporate it to gas, which is important.”

The company has a clear sense of environmental awareness, something which has always been of interest to Tom: “I thought it would be good to do something which might reduce the emissions and give us a slightly better future for our children. And for us it has always been about thinking how we can reduce the energy consumption.” That in essence is what the LNG tank container will do, it will pair profit with environmental awareness. Tom went into further detail about what the product will achieve: “This has been my goal the whole time, to do something

in order to reduce the CO2 emissions. I strongly believe that this is one of the best ways to get the fuel CO2 down, as well as many other emissions.”

The huge potential of the LNGTainer and the almost unlimited growth potential of the worldwide market makes the company one of the most interesting energy solution opportunities in the world. LNG has the possibility to be the energy source that could replace the heavy fuel oil, diesel oil and petrol, which is used by vessels and vehicles. The research and development achievements of LNGTainer clearly present a company that looks to the future – it thinks outside of the box to find solutions. Therefore, the very ambitious outlook LNGTainer has for the future is not to be scoffed at, it sees itself becoming the leading tank provider in the world - based on the quality of the product that seems realistic.

The final resounding statement for the future of LNGTainer will go to Tom: “We are sure we will become the biggest – because we have a light weight product that is 15 per cent bigger volume, which gives more than 15 per cent less OPEX per transported ton – for the same investment cost. That is why we will become the largest in the world.”

LNGTainer Ltd www.lngtainer.com • World’s biggest capacity in its class • Heavy reduction of weight • More environmentally friendly

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With ratings up to 4200 hp (3132 kW), Cummins QSK95 achieves power previously exclusive to medium-speed engines in a more compact installation.

Innovative design makes it possible to provide 95 liters in a 78-liter platform weighing 25 to 70% less than medium speed platforms with similar power.

Plus, we optimized transient response using a unique turbo arrangement and dry system to provide operators with advanced maneuverability. Combined, all of this makes the QSK95 the ideal solution for high-hour, hardworking vessels such as tugs, offshore support vessels, short sea cargo and coastal tankers.

Ready for more? Visit marine.cummins.com or see us at this year’s SMM in Hamburg, September 6-9, hall A4 stand no. 208.

Š2016 Cummins Inc., 4500 Leeds Ave., Suite 301, Charleston, SC 29405 U.S.A.

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Profile: Cummins

Inc.

Platform for

growth S

ince its foundation in 1919, Cummins Inc. has become a global power leader in the design, manufacture, sale and service of diesel engines and related technologies to customers located in 190 countries and territories. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana (the US), Cummins employs around 55,000 personnel worldwide and serves its clients through a network of approximately 600 company-owned and independent distributor locations as well as more than 7200 dealer locations. Having earned $1.4 billion profit in sales of $19.1 billion in 2015, Cummins anticipates further growth with the launch of its QSK95 into the marine industry.

As Cummins’ newest, largest and most powerful engine to date, the QSK95 boasts advanced features to make common service tasks more simple and to keep downtime to a minimum in target markets such as locomotive, power generation and, now, marine. Key to the groundbreaking

capabilities of the engine is its thorough design, which enables the engine to have easy access to traditionally challenging maintenance procedures as well as innovative improvements that significantly enhance reliability, as Richard Newman, Sales Director at Cummins Inc. comments: “One example of this is the externally-mounted, screw-type lube pump, which is very reliable and robust.

By mounting the pump externally, we avoid the need to drop the oil pan or lift the engine to change it, thus making it easier to service or replace.”

He continues: “When it comes to the oil pan itself, we developed a tool that makes it easy to lower and raise the pan with a couple of people in a safe manner that doesn’t involve lifting the entire engine; the tool is fully integrated into the product. Meanwhile, the cylinder head in the fuel pump can be easily lifted off the engine with a small, very compact crane that we designed and developed; this not only reduces service time, but also

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Profile: Cummins

Inc.

improves the safety and service of the operation.”

The company has also extended oil change intervals on the engine, which is attributed to longer service life as well as reduced operating costs, and has a centrifugal lubrication filtration system that is known as an Eliminator. This is agency approved and allows for longer oil change cycles when customers are monitoring their lubrication qualities. “Ultimately, we have done a lot to ensure that the operating costs are minimised and that we give a lot of life to our products,” says Richard.

Alongside these coveted benefits, the QSK95 will increase the company’s marine power range by 50 per cent, making the engine an ideal solution for high-hour, hardworking vessels such as offshore support vessels, crewboats, passenger vessels, patrol vessels and superyachts.

With ratings from 2386 kW to 3132 kW, the QSK95 achieves a power output that was previously only possible from larger medium-speed marine engines; it also brings the advantages of a lower capital cost and a more compact installation. Furthermore, the engine provides 95 litres of displacement in a 78-litre package, while nested cylinders and a 60-degree V enables a short, narrow engine block that is relative to other engines of similar displacement. In addition, the QSK95 weighs in at just over 13,000 kg, which is between 25 per cent and 70 per cent less than medium speed platforms of a similar power output.

Aware that operators are seeking enhanced vessel maneuverability, the QSK95 also delivers faster transient response thanks to a unique turbo arrangement and dry system.

In fact, by using one turbo per four cylinders, the innovative engine is able to use a small turbo model. The dry turbo housings and dry exhaust manifold maximise the available energy to the turbos, which allows them to spool up quickly; this leads to a fast engine response.

Discussing the time and effort that went into creating a game-changing product, Richard highlights: “More than 3000 voices went into the design and development of the QSK95. Over the last six years, more than 200 engineers spent more than 750,000 design and analysis hours developing the engine, with an extra 80,000 hours spent testing the engine for various target markets. We spent this time, and approximately $1.4 billion dollars,

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As we progress into the marine industry, emissions will have an increasingly important role for the QSK95; this means variants of the engine will be released to meet more stringent emission regulations on not only making an innovative and durable product, but also on ensuring a product that is easy to service.”

Unveiled for the first time to the Asian maritime market at Asia Pacific Maritime, Cummins QSK95 generated a positive amount of booth traffic as people that designed, built, operated and maintained vessels stopped by to gain an understanding of the product’s benefits. “There is a long cycle between when customers begin evaluating engines of this size and when said product is actually installed in the vessel. We want to be ahead of that cycle by getting people excited and interested

in the benefits of the product so they start thinking about designing a boat around it,” says Andy Kelly, Communications Manager at Cummins Inc. “Asia Pacific Maritime was a great opportunity for us to show this engine to the Asia Pacific Region and get them to consider the engine for their upcoming projects over the next 12-24 months.”

Soon to be shown at SMM 2016 in September, Cummins’ QSK95 will be delivered to early adopter customers before it is delivered to other clients for a limited production in the final quarter of 2016.

Following this, Cummins will generate market awareness of the engine’s capabilities and help customers understand how to leverage the features and benefits of the product as it continues to develop and improve in line with market trends and demands. “As we progress into the marine industry, emissions will have an increasingly important role for the QSK95; this means variants of the engine will be released to meet more stringent emission regulations across the world over the next three to five years. This is a platform product, so Cummins fully intends to bring out other derivatives to fully support the marine industry as we move forward,” concludes Richard.

Cummins Inc. http://marine.cummins.com • Global power leader that serves customers in 190 countries and territories • Launched QSK95 engine for marine use at Asia Pacific Maritime • QSK95 is Cummins’ newest, largest and most powerful engine to date

Profile: Insatech

Marine

High

performance E

With a mission to be a trustworthy and competent partner, the company has developed longstanding relationships with some of the leading manufacturers within instrumentation and automation across the globe

stablished in 1989, Insatech A/S has been focused on automation and instrumentation since its inception, and, with more than 25 years of experience, it has become a strong partner for customers and suppliers alike. With a mission to be a trustworthy and competent partner, the company has developed longstanding relationships with leading manufacturers across the globe. Continuously striving for the best possible solution the company boasts enviable knowledge and experience of the maritime industry in business segments such as process instrumentation and calibration equipment, automation control and data acquisition; system design, engineering and validation of DCS, as well as marine and ship systems.

A recent successful project for Insatech Marine took place in 2015, when Team Tankers International chose the company’s Performance Monitoring System to ensure continued success in an increasingly competitive freight market. Continuously searching for ways to enhance their fleet’s performance in order to stay competitive, Team Tankers knew that in order to optimise, they first needed to measure; in response to this the company researched a number of options before installing a performance monitoring system from Insatech Marine. After

only three months the benefits are already emerging.

As a worldwide chemical carrier, the key to Team Tankers International staying competitive is its ability to manage each voyage thoroughly. This means running a tight ship by focusing on fuel and energy consumption and by enhancing crew awareness, as well as implementing fleet wide optimisation projects.

However, as technical project manager Henrik Marloth explains: “If we can’t measure the effect of a project, we can’t optimise. We needed a tool to monitor performance.” Team Tankers considered several different systems, but the choice fell on Insatech Marine’s performance monitoring system. “The platform is great and the system is very flexible; if we decide to add new measures, we can do so.

We have had influence on the system and could design it almost as we wanted, which has been really important to us. Furthermore we wanted to own the data, which we do with the performance monitoring system.”

Crew awareness: The cornerstone of performance optimisation success “The performance monitoring system does not earn you money – unless you apply awareness,” says Henrik Marloth. Having done so, Henrik sees a clear advantage: “We are able to operate our ships more efficiently;

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Profile: Insatech

Marine

Performance monitoring system

furthermore our staff at shore is able to view the same data and trends. It’s a valuable tool, which the crew has really adopted. One of our captains called it liberating to always know how the vessel was performing against the KPI’s.”

Henrik describes the system as a decision enabler, aiding operator and vessel senior management in determining the best course of action: “If the expected voyage conditions changes, for example, due to bad weather, and thereby increases bunker consumption higher than planned, we can, as a team (ship-shore), act immediately and decide our best course of action. In the past we had limited information and basically we could only conclude upon voyage result at each voyage completion. However, now we are able to make changes in real time taking more factors into consideration, when we decide whether to keep the same speed or change it. The factors can be weather, next voyage and other commercial factors. The goal is to be able to optimise our performance in real time, and we are convinced that we will be able to do so with the performance monitoring system.”

Annual savings based on recent performance system optimisations The installation of the performance system was made in 2015, Henrik explains that after only three months they have already made some interesting discoveries, which will translate into huge annual savings. “Based on the data we were able to reduce fuel consumption significantly, as the data has allowed us to optimise trim and compare sister vessels, to thereby increase vessel performance.” Trim optimising is an important performance factor, however Team Tankers International also has other goals.

Testing and verification of pilot projects The system has several uses. By creating a valid baseline Team Tankers International evaluates pilot projects to find the most feasible investments before rolling it out on fleet level. “Currently we are evaluating high end antifouling products on our hull and propeller coating.” The goal is to verify that the products are complying with the manufacturer’s specifications. Furthermore, a reduction in hull cleaning and propeller polishing is expected. Other enhancements such as propeller boss cap fin are at the moment being evaluated using the performance system.

“By utilising the system and data we will be able to verify and confirm which types of antifouling products are most optimal, as well as the timing of hull and propeller cleaning,” says Henrik.

Based on the initial experience with the performance system Henrik says: “We expect to cut down our total fuel consumption with three to five per cent per ship/year, but that is probably a little conservative.” While technical tests and projects are now possible

to evaluate, Henrik stresses that the ultimate benefit of the system is the crew awareness and the added value it will create. “Without it you cannot leverage consumption reductions or operational optimisation,” he concludes.

Team Tankers is just one example of Insatech Marine’s capabilities when it comes to delivering customer satisfaction through innovation and reliability, the future looks positive for the company as it continues to help optimise performance and co-operation between ship and shore.

Currently Insatech Marine is developing a fleet management tool, Fleet Viewer, which enables management staff at ship and shore to compare and analyse all vessels to enhance large scale decision making.

Insatech Marine www.insatechmarine.com • Supplier of performance optimisation solutions • Supplier of bunker management systems • More than 25 years of experience

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Profile: Viewsafe

Safety first T

he creation of Lewis Rowland, Viewsafe is the safety assured maintenance aperture for the condition monitoring of live electrical switchgear and assets that has taken the shipping and oil and gas industries by storm. “Viewsafe was developed whilst I completed my Masters in Business Management at Lancaster University. The product design work was completed at this stage, and the past five years have seen the design develop into the product it is today,” says Lewis Rowland, owner of Viewsafe.

“The initial designs and concepts of Viewsafe were created with the basis of creating a product that was safer, more flexible and offered better performance than what was out there in the market.

We were well aware of the practices of Thermal Imaging and Partial Discharge, but there was nothing in the market that could combine the two techniques. Customers had to make a choice of one or the other,

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but if there were a single system to complete both inspections, that choice would not have to be made. Off the back of the initial designs, Viewsafe developed further as we introduced the capability of Visual inspection and Emergency CO2 access to equipment.

The early investment in items such as global patents, trademarks and internal arc testing meant it was always going to take a period of time to get to full implementation in the market. With safety being paramount to the product, it was imperative that we covered all aspects of safety before introducing the product to potential customers,” he continues.

Today used by the likes of Norwegian Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, P&O Cruise Lines, Cunard and Teekay Gas Shipping, the product offers the unique ability of enabling operators to complete condition monitoring of their live electrical switchgear through both thermal imaging and partial discharge in a safe manner. “With many of the clients,

we are moving towards complete fleet or asset coverage with the Viewsafe system.

For example, when the three Cunard vessels, Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth were all in Liverpool to mark the 175th anniversary of the company it was a proud moment for us as Viewsafe is installed on all three of these vessels.

“We are also working very closely with switchgear manufacturers such as Powell Industries, ABB and GE Energy Management for Viewsafe’s inclusion in new-build switchgear projects, which brings an entirely new dimension to the product and business,” highlights Lewis.

Since previously featuring in Shipping & Marine magazine in July 2015, Viewsafe has enjoyed a surge of demand both in the UK and overseas, particularly in the maritime sector. “We have also seen an increase in new types of marine customers with the likes of subsea construction, diving and pipelaying vessels taking Viewsafe on-board,

as well as an ever-increasing continuation of installations within the cruise market.

Geographically we continue to expand all around the world from the USA, Europe to the Far East and as Viewsafe continues to grow in brand and reputation we expect this to continue,” says Lewis. “Another notable development is that Viewsafe has been working closely with GE Energy Management on the integration of a ‘New-Build’ version of Viewsafe that will be installed at the fabrication point of electrical switchgear assets, and we hope that this strategic move alongside such a prestigious company as GE will take Viewsafe onto another level in the coming years.”

With innovation clearly playing a vital role in the product’s success, from what has already been developed to what the company plans to do with Viewsafe in the future, the dynamic firm was nominated as a finalist in the Institution of Engineering and Technology Awards and followed this with finalist places in the UK Energy Innovation Awards 2016.

Discussing the reasons behind Viewsafe achieving recognition, Lewis comments: “I

think the product offers operators something that no other product can offer, and the judges of the Awards bodies have identified this from our entries. Whilst the combining of multiple techniques is not a new concept, the fact Viewsafe has managed to do this with high value assets and switchgear in a way nothing else can make us stand out.”

As more people become aware of the benefits of Viewsafe, Lewis says the company has focused on managing demand in the market: “As our scope of delivery expands further around the globe this quality control becomes an even more important focus. Due to this high demand for Viewsafe, we were forced to introduce new suppliers for the system, which in itself has been a challenge. Ensuring the same output quality between suppliers has been time intensive but has been very satisfying at the same time. Furthermore, we have opened up a Far East Office that is located in Singapore to deal with the Far East and Australian market and it will be a focus for us to develop this sector more in the next 12-24 months.”

Keen for Viewsafe to become the first

choice for customers seeking condition monitoring tools for electrical switchgears, Lewis sees a strong future for Viewsafe, despite challenges in the oil and gas market.

“Obviously the significant drop in oil prices has seen a dip in the offshore market sector, not just for Viewsafe but for all companies associated. For Viewsafe it has been important to diversify our customer base and this diversification has seen our focus turn to other types of maritime customers as mentioned earlier.

“Despite these difficulties, the next three to five years will no doubt see a further increase in condition monitoring practices globally and Viewsafe intends to be at the forefront of this push,” Lewis concludes.

Viewsafe www.viewsafe.co.uk • Provider of revolutionary switchgear inspection products • Ensure operator safety during inspection • Exhibiting at SMM

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Profile: seanet

group

Glass balcony

Side door

Drop keel

Hyperbaric chambers

Special

delivery

F

ounded in 1975, SeaNet Group is a leading maritime engineering company with a long tradition of providing a range of integrated solutions to marine safety and handling systems around the world. Headquartered in Genève, Switzerland, and with its main production facilities in Italy, the group consists of four companies that develop a range of innovative systems to the cruise, ferry, military, mega-yacht, research (for which it supplies the drop keel system) and offshore sectors.

Today, over 4000 SeaNet systems have been installed around the world, 3000 of which are its core offering of watertight doors and over 650 relating to special systems projects.

“The company was initially born to provide watertight and, later on, splashtight doors, which remain central to the business, yet it has grown now to provide a range of key equipment and special projects to various sectors under our different brands,” outlines Chairman, Giovanni Lanza de Cristoforis. “The

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Selmar brand, for instance, which we acquired in 2015, perfectly suits our philosophy where safety and innovation are paramount. Selmar is a world leader in drop keel systems – a world first innovation – and so complements SeaNet’s business very well. We also provide access equipment such as stern and side ramps, elevators, car decks and shell doors, plus a range of ship automation systems.

However it is our innovative special divisions business that is particularly interesting.”

Throughout its history SeaNet has maintained a leading position at the cutting edge of marine engineering solutions, and has a number of world firsts under its belt to prove it. In automation, for example, it was the first company in the world to use electronic circuit boards in marine safety equipment, a move that was immediately approved by all necessary certification bodies. Then, in 2010, it patented its Web Interface Safety System (WISS), which revolutionised safety systems as the first to create a browser interface making

them independent from the hardware installed, and creating lots of safety, reliability and easeof-use benefits.

One such project that demonstrates the level of innovation and engineering expertise inherent in SeaNet’s market approach is its work on the MOSE water defence system designed to isolate the Venice Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea during high tide events. “We have been entrusted with the compartmentalisation, control system and deep seabed hydraulic gate, and, having manufactured these special sectional hyperbaric chambers, are now delivering them,” explains Giovanni. “These hyperbaric chambers use a revolutionary sectional design and feature pressurising and balance systems that enable maintenance operations to be performed on the barrier system underwater.”

Providing highly bespoke solutions such as that illustrated by the MOSE project lies at the heart of SeaNet’s success. “We are not too big, and this makes us extremely flexible

Terrace platform

in understanding our customers’ needs and delivering on them,” Giovanni continues. “A major competitor may be strong at providing multiple replicated units with the exact same specifications but we have a well-proven ability to design special innovations with lower costs and a wealth of experience. Whilst we are of course multinational, operating and selling around the world, we maintain this familyowned, personal service wherever we work.”

A result of this family focus is a strong affinity to close working relationships with clients and the supply chain. “Most of our most interesting projects tend to start with an idea that the client doesn’t fully believe is possible, but we can prove otherwise and consistently deliver solutions,” details Giovanni. “The mega-yacht market is a really strong sector for these kinds of projects as we can solve problems for all kinds of mega-toys the owners are looking for.”

Keen to continue delivering its leading engineering solutions and innovative services to the global market, SeaNet Group is currently focused on a major expansion strategy. At present there are two manufacturing facilities in Italy and one in Miami, Florida, with main offices set up in

Switzerland. “We have been looking closely at Canada for a while and this year we hope to open up a new business subsidiary in the region as well as a new workshop,” Giovanni discusses. “We hope to apply the same strategy in the Far East to set up an asset over there in support of the healthy sales activity going on in China and Southeast Asia.”

Over recent years, SeaNet Group has experienced growth rates in the region of 10 to 15 per cent every year. Expanding its global footprint will be key to the company making the most of generally favourable market conditions around the world and continuing this trend. The cruise, mega-yachts and navy sectors remain strong, according to Giovanni, and whilst not traditionally a major market for the business, the oil and gas industry will be the focus of fresh attention once it regains some strength and confidence.

SeaNet Group www.seanetgroup.ch • Continues to deliver innovative solutions to special projects around the world • Experiencing strong market conditions • Focused on global expansion strategy

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Fast

response S

ynonymous with quality, reliability and innovation in the marine industry, McMurdo Group has shaped the future of the sector for more than 150 combined years with commercial-grade GMDSS and leisure marine products and systems that keep those at sea safe. With a proven history behind it and a solid reputation as a company to trust, McMurdo has grown an enviable global customer base that includes BP, British Royal Navy, Maersk, RNLI and Shell.

“McMurdo Group’s extensive experience in the area of search and rescue was created by the combination of the Boatracks, McMurdo, Kannad and SARBE brands, and over those one and a half centuries McMurdo has revolutionised innovation and continues to drive improvements in two main areas of marine safety. The first of these is the development of products that save lives, starting from early 121.5 & 243 MHz based tracking beacons for the military after World War Two under the SARBE brand, to the first personal and compact personal 406 based location beacons and, most recently, the first jacket fitted, AIS-based man overboard recovery solution - the Smartfind S20,” begins Sean McCrystal, Marketing Manager of McMurdo Group.

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Profile: McMurdo

Group

“The second area is McMurdo’s unique contribution to the COSPAS SARSAT search and rescue ecosystem where we develop the beacons, infrastructure, satellite connectivity and rescue co-ordination software that has contributed to 43,000 lives being saved since 1981,” he adds. “Geographically we are global, and working with the infrastructure and satellite connectivity elements of the group has opened up new markets that require McMurdo’s unique skill sets in support, search and rescue. Within the marine industry all of the shipbuilding and energy sectors work with McMurdo and the workboat market has seen growth with our AIS (Automatic Identification System) technologies, particularly in America in support of their new AIS mandate requirements.”

At the heart of McMurdo is this everevolving product portfolio that provides resilient positioning, navigation and tracking services to customers requiring search and rescue and maritime domain awareness solutions. Complementing this diverse range of products is the company’s offering of the world’s first complete end-to-end readiness and response platform; a development that

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McMurdo’s development of the MEOSAR ground-based MEOLUTS and our leading position on developing new MEOSAR products under the European-funded HELIOS project means we will be at the forefront of this technological revolution and I can see more lives will be saved

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stems from the consolidation of the proven brands mentioned previously - Boatracs, Kannad, McMurdo, SARBE and TechoSciences, Inc. “We supply the world’s first start to finish search and rescue ecosystem – from distress beacons to satellite connectivity to mission control and rescue co-ordination centre systems and eventually to rescue operations,” confirms Sean. “Our solutions have been at the core of the COSPASSARSAT satellite-based search and rescue system, which co-ordinates global land, sea and air rescues via the 406MHz frequency, since its inception in 1982. McMurdo’s unique contribution is the development and support of all aspects of the ecosystem as well as our work with the international bodies that define standards within the network.

Through our shared knowledge of the ground infrastructure, satellite connectivity and 406MHz beacon solutions, we can help create a ‘gold standard’ in our equipment to maximise the effectiveness throughout interoperability, innovation and support.

Regardless of what 406MHz beacon you deploy, your rescue will be supported by some aspect of the McMurdo ecosystem.”

In more detail, the search and rescue ecosystem starts with a beacon distress signal being sent from the aircraft, marine vessel or individual before beacon

positioning/location data is relayed by satellite communications to satellite ground stations or Local User Terminals (LUTs). From here the LUT computes the location of the aircraft, vessel or individual and sends alerts to the appropriate Mission Control Centres (MCCs), which then collects, stores and sorts the data receieved from LUTs and other MCCs before distributing alerts to associated Rescue Co-ordination Centres (RCCs); the RCC then notifies and co-ordinates emergency response/rescue teams.

Having recently upgraded the COSPASSARSAT satellite system, McMurdo announced the first life saved using the Medium-altitude Earth Orbit Search and Rescue system (MEOSAR), an advanced next-generation satellite-based technology that is revolutionising search and rescue (SAR), in July 2016. The person saved was Don Stevens, a 53-year-old teacher from Wellington, New Zealand, who fell more than 90 feet while hiking and activated his McMurdo FastFind 220 personal locator beacon (PLB); the distress signal was then relayed by the MEOSAR satellite system to the Rescue Co-Ordination Centre New Zealand in a mere four minutes – 50 minutes sooner than the existing system picked up the same distress signal.

Proud of the immense capabilities of the

Profile: McMurdo

upgraded system, Sean highlights: “Our unique contribution to the development and support of the COSPAS SARSAT search and rescue infrastructure means I see huge opportunities ahead for McMurdo. The future of search and rescue is moving to the next generation in terms of speed and accuracy in the next three or four years with the introduction of MEOSAR to the COSPAS SARSAT ecosystem. McMurdo’s development of the MEOSAR ground-based MEOLUTS and our leading position on developing new MEOSAR products under the European-funded HELIOS project means we will be at the forefront of this technological revolution and I can see more lives will be saved.”

Alongside this game-changing innovative development on the revolutionary new SAR network, the company has also been busy with the launch of the McMurdo SmartFind R8F. Launched at Seawork 2016 in Southampton, the UK, on Survitec’s stand, the radio was developed in response to a number of measures set out by the International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) to improve fire safety at sea. Improvements include the mandatory provision of specific types of handheld two-way radios for firefighting operations: SOLAS Chapter II-2, which means ships must carry firefighting radios that are explosion-proof or intrinsically safe.

Offering all the features that are needed in a radio by an emergency team, the new rugged McMurdo SmartFind R8F has enhanced grip and large tactile buttons for fast and easy operation. Moreover, it has a powerful in-built loudspeaker and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) for optimised indoor use.

“With all McMurdo Products our aim is to improve safety and save lives and the SmartFind R8F specifically supports the extreme requirements of ship firefighting

Group

crews. As ships get bigger and the danger and cost of uncontrolled fire in an enclosed environment increase, the new SOLAS mandate rightfully supports the equipment requirements for these teams, which ensures ease of use, improves communication and puts team safety at the heart of regulation,” says Sean.

With major product launches at the forefront of 2016 for McMurdo, the company is certain to continue its trend for growth, as land-based customers increasingly adopt 406MHz technologies for distress awareness and demand remains strong for the company’s AIS electronics and Man Overboard (MOB) devices in the workboat market. “McMurdo is leading many existing new developments in search and rescue technology in the coming years and we would ask people that when they think of the safety of their marine crews, they always look for the ‘M’,” concludes Sean.

McMurdo Group www.mcmurdogroup.com • Global leader in emergency readiness and response • Offer the world’s only complete end-to-end emergency readiness and response platform • Recently launched the innovative SmartFind R8F radio

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Profile: frese

AS

Dynamic hydronic balancing

controls W

ith roots dating back as far 1944, Frese has more than seven decades of experience and specialist knowledge in developing innovative fluid control and component solutions for the HVAC, plumbing, marine and offshore market sectors.

Børge Frese founded the business when he acquired a modest foundry producing small-machined products in a basement in the Danish city of Slagelse. The company soon established a solid reputation across Denmark for the production of

metal products including aluminium pots and pans, doorknockers and bronze candlesticks. As Frese continued to expand Børge gradually extended the foundry and soon made room to accommodate the production of valves. This development allowed the business to expand rapidly and quickly establish itself as a leading specialist in the production of valves and associated components for clients operating within the commercial heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), shipping and offshore sectors.

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The oil and gas and marine industries each have stringent requirements such as special test qualifications and certification to obtain, which is where having different focus areas across the company allows us to provide each industry with best solution for the application

Throughout the 1960s Frese continued to invest heavily in advanced valve production machinery, which later enabled the company to develop and patent innovative new valve technologies. During the 1980s Frese finally introduced its renowned dynamic balancing valves and by 1989 had taken the milestone step of dividing the business into two separate companies, forming what would eventually grow into the Frese Group. Frese Metal - og Stålstøberi A/S operates as a high-tech foundry, while Frese A/S continues to develop and produce dynamic balancing valves. Today the Frese Group continues to operate two separate businesses that provide a solid group structure that incorporates the skills and collective knowledge base to develop and deliver the best fluid control and component solutions to its customers across the globe.

The continued success of the business has lead to the development of a global network of specialist distributors, sales offices, partners and subsidiaries. Frese is

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currently represented throughout the world with subsidiary offices within China, the UK, Germany and Turkey and sales offices in the Middle East, Australia and Europe.

Frese continues in the tradition of being a family-owned company that divides its focus across four key business areas, comprised of HVAC, foundry, marine and plumbing applications. To further emphasise the group’s competency across its four targeted market sectors as well as the common synergies throughout the business, the Frese Group unveiled a reinvigorated brand image and newly designed website during January 2016. The new brand image consists of a refreshed Frese logo that combines the traditional and recognisable Frese logo with the company’s corporate colours, which is today used across the Frese Group to create a common brand identity. In addition to the new logo, a new Frese Group website has been developed to deliver information about the Frese Group as well as providing a gateway to the individual business unit

Profile: Frese

websites. “These changes form part of our strategy that aims to present a stronger, united group image to all of our stakeholders,” comments Frese Group CEO, René Barington. “The new branding will help to create a consistent image for the Frese brand globally whilst helping to demonstrate our knowledge and expertise across the individual areas of our business.”

“The approach for Frese over the past couple of years has been to have a more dedicated industry focus. To do this we can take the same innovative valve technology and deploy it in various industry applications” adds Business Development Director, Morten Møller. “This means that we are able to adapt our valve technology to meet the environmental or other unique requirements of each market sector.

For example the oil and gas and marine industries each have stringent requirements such as special test qualifications and certification to obtain, which is where having different focus areas across the company

allows us to provide each industry with best solution for the application.”

Core to the success of the Frese Group is the company’s position as a global leader in manufacture of dynamic balancing valves for a range of markets including HVAC, marine and industrial. Dynamic balancing valves represent an innovative alternative to traditional hydronic balancing methods through the use of static balancing valves to provide a system with efficient and accurate flow limitation as well as differential pressure control. This means that intended flow conditions are achieved at all time, regardless of pressure fluctuations. “The general benefits of using dynamic valve technology are huge, as the basic principle of dynamic balancing is that it is possible to always control the flow through various systems at all times,” Morten explains.

“In typical marine and offshore heating and cooling applications for example, systems do not control themselves due to the constant changes in the system

AS

characteristic but dynamic balancing valves control the hydrostatic balance in the system at all times. This offers significant cost savings in terms of the amount of energy used, the increase in system performance and efficiency as well as in terms of the number of valves installed.

Dynamic balancing valves have three distinct functions, flow, pressure and temperature control, that can reduce the initial cost of investment in a new system by reducing the number of required valves.”

The Frese range of dynamic balancing valves include pressure independent control valves (PICV) and flow limiting valves in a range of materials that ensure that clients have control of their systems at all times.

Dynamic balancing valves offer a huge variety of additional benefits including energy savings, increased overall efficiency, low initial investment costs and reduced commissioning costs. Throughout the remainder of 2016 and beyond, Frese will seek to continue to highlight the benefits of dynamic balancing valve technology to offer clients an effective solution with both environmental and cost-saving implications.

“The offshore and oil and gas industries tend to have a very traditional and conservative approach towards changes in technology.

However this is not a new technology, as we have been providing dynamic balancing valves for over 25 years meaning that it is a proven solution with many domestic, marine and industrial installations,” Morten observes.

“With the on-going push for reduced energy consumption in environmental legislation throughout world, dynamic balancing valves offer greater environmental accountability and increased sustainability,” he concludes. “We are specialists in working with special alloys and we manufacture all of our products ourselves, which means that we can control the manufacturing process and the resulting quality of the valves. We intend to see Frese continue to be the leading supplier of dynamic valve technology and will continue to push the benefits of this system as a green and sustainable solution.”

Frese AS www.frese.eu • Rebranded in January 2016 • Innovative dynamic balancing valve technology • Seven decades of valve experience

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Profiles There are thousands of ships sailing the oceans today, transporting every kind of cargo.

The global fleet is manned by over a million seafarers of virtually every nationality and the companies involved in this sector are among the most technologically sophisticated of any in the world.

The prominent and successful companies that are highlighted in the next pages of Shipping & Marine provide real world examples of how state-of-the-art technology, best practices and modern innovations are put into practice in the maritime sector.

NorthLink Ferries MAATS Tech Limited Strainstall Fiskerstrand Royal Bodewes Optimarin AS Anytec Brødrene VT Group Norled Griffon Hoverwork Jo Tankers Luka Koper/Port of Koper Hepworth Port of Constantza PD Ports Sea2Cradle Gibraltar Port Authority Europlan Engineering Ltd SureWind Marine Ltd. A&P Falmouth Scamp Worldwide Network Finnlines Plc Nordic Hamburg Group C. u. A. Heiderich GmbH UN RO-RO Isletmeleri AS Diana Yacht Design BMO Offshore

Profile: NorthLink

Ferries

(Vi)King of the

waves

S

ince taking over the operations of NorthLink Ferries in July 2012, which provides crucial ferry services from the Scottish mainland to Orkney and Shetland, Serco has worked towards its pledge to ‘overhaul catering, seating and onboard entertainment’ on NorthLink Ferries’ vessels.

An internationally renowned service company, Serco combines commercial expertise with strong public service values to successfully improve services by managing people, processes, technology and assets in a more effective manner. Awarded the six-year £243 million contract over four years ago, Serco has been working on behalf of the Scottish Government, local authorities and UK government, to deliver a number of improvements on NorthLink’s vessels. Among these enhancements, the company has made investments in a revamped catering service, including a new café bar and restaurant in 2013, as well as additional seating and the

introduction of the first ever POD recliners on any ferry route..

Operating three passenger vessels on the Orkney & Shetland routes: the MV Hjatland, the MV Hrossey and MV Hamnavoe, the company also operates two freight vessels: MV Hildasay and MV Helliar. Supporting its operations are the company’s offices in Stromness, Kirkwall, Lerwick and Aberdeen, as well as the ferry terminals at Hatston and Scrabster.

Not only providing a vital lifeline service to the Northern Isles for islanders and visitors alike, these vessels operate 363 days per year supplying industry sectors such as agriculture, aquaculture, construction, oil and gas and retail. In their last contract year NorthLink shipped over 470,000 lane metres of freight, the equivalent to nearly 35,000 articulated trailers as well as over 25,000 cattle and 130,000 sheep.

Proud to provide customers with local produce during sailings, Serco NorthLink

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Profile: NorthLink

Ferries

FUCHS

FUCHS is the world’s largest independent lubricant company and supplies innovative lubricating products, bespoke support packages and is a supplier dedicated to offering excellence in customer support.

FUCHS provides a complete service to the marine and offshore sectors, understanding the need for specialist lubricants in this challenging environment.

FUCHS manufactures lubricants that are approved by leading OEM’s and has a comprehensive portfolio of products for a wide range of marine and offshore applications including engine oils, gear oils, hydraulic oils, greases as well as specialist lubricants all supported by global technical and R&D teams.

Ferries retains close working relationships with food and drink suppliers to ensure high quality food is available in the bars, cafes and restaurants on each of its vessels.

Indeed, in line with the launch of its new bar, café and restaurant in 2013, the company launched a brand new menu for its restaurant, The Feast, complete with a number of eating and drinking options on board. Food for all passengers can be ordered from this new single ship’s menu, which has been likened to the kind of ‘gastro-pub’ fare on offer in contemporary chain restaurants.

Options available to passengers include an all you can eat breakfast for £9.95, a continental breakfast for £6.95, breakfast light bite alternatives such as bacon softie or cereal and milk are also available. On-board families can also save money as two children (under 16) eat breakfast for free with every adult breakfast purchased. Customers can also take advantage to pre-order dinner and breakfast or three-course dinner, with a small supplement for those choosing the rib eye steak for each offer. To take advantage of the breakfast and dinner meal deal customers must book in advance. For those seeking to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, Serco NorthLink Ferries has ensured there is no need to rush off the ship in the morning, with passengers that aren’t driving able to stay onboard until 9:30 am.

The majority of the food is locally sourced from businesses in the area, with fresh Shetland salmon and a premium Orkney burger available from the lunch or dinner menu. Daily specials are produced using the expertise of the team of chefs who select only the best local ingredients available.

Starters available on the menu include soup

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Iitac

of the day, made from fresh local produce with a crusty roll, Orkney haggis pakoras with yoghurt chilli dip and a locally sourced deepfried cheese with island chutney. Main courses include locally caught fillet of haddock in an island beer batter with lemon for those craving delicious fish and chips, Dark Island beef and vegetable pie topped with puff pastry, and Orkney pork and leek sausage casserole

Working with its IT partner, IITAC, Serco Northlink has been able to take advantage of the latest advances in technology to increase its customers experience and safety. The focus being to make the process as simple, efficient and enjoyable for the customer from initial enquiry to arrival at their destination. The on-board customer Wi-Fi allows customers to keep in contact throughout their journey, whilst the extensive use of CCTV makes for a safer passage. IITAC has also successfully project managed the recent upgrade to the on-board shop and restaurant point-of-sale tills and the implementation of enhanced ticketing printers.

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Profile: NorthLink

Orkney Harbours

Northlink Ferries provide crucial lifeline services to Orkney from Aberdeen and Shetland for the conveyance of freight, livestock, passengers and vehicles. The company is the primary stakeholder of the Harbours account for freight and passenger services for both the terminals in Kirkwall and Stromness.

Around 180,000 passengers arrive and leave Orkney by Northlink Ferries to Scrabster on the North coast of Scotland, Aberdeen and Lerwick, and in addition around 45,000 cars and 15,000 commercial vehicles arrive by Northlink proving that the service offered is vital to Orkney’s economy.

with potato mash. For those seeking high quality meat from the grill, not only is there the aforementioned premium Orkney gold steak, but also the Viking burger, an Orkney burger complete with fries, tomato relish and salad garnish; customers can add bacon or cheese to top off this superb dish. Baked jacket potatoes with a range of locally sourced fillings are also available.

For children, Serco NorthLink Ferries serves a range of meals in a NorthLink Ferry boat with new potatoes or fries, juice and fruit or ice cream as part of its Kids Ferry Special.

Meanwhile, all bars serve a number of Orkney and Shetland Beers, such as Red Macgregor, Northern Light and White Wife in addition to the wide range of island draught beers, continental lagers, teas, coffees, wines and spirits that are also available.

Ferries

Following these improvements, the company was delighted to announce that all NorthLink Ferries passenger ferries have achieved for a second year running, the coveted ‘Taste our Best’ award. Each ship was inspected by the awarding body Visit Scotland for the use of local food and drink, the highest levels of vessel hygiene and the demonstration of excellent customer service.

In addition to improving the food menu and layout of bars, restaurants and cafes, several other changes have been carried out, including a £1 million makeover on all three passenger vessels the MV Hjatland MV Hrossey and MV Hamnavoe. Beginning in 2013, this segment of the improvement programme included a new sleeping pod concept – a global first for ferry operators.

The seats recline back to allow passengers to lie and sleep without intruding on the space of the person behind. The fee charged includes a pack with a blanket, pillow and eye mask as well as a token for a free shower in the facilities next door exclusively for those purchasing a sleeping pod. This is a means of

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Dales Marine Services The Dry Dock Specialists

Dales Marine Services has provided its unrivalled expertise in Dry Dock and Ship Repair to NorthLink Ferries for many years. Applying the industry’s best in mechanical engineering, most advance technologies and management capabilities, Dales is renowned for ensuring its clients vessels time at sea is optimised. With six Dry Docks in key ports around Scotland, Dales is a specialist in the fabrication of heavy and large structures, fully integrated fabrication solutions, steelwork, maintenance and ship repair throughout the UK and internationally.

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offering passengers a comfortable alternative to a cabin.

Another refurbishment is the creation of the Magnus’ Lounge, which is open to passengers with premium and executive cabin tickets or anyone who wishes to upgrade to this premium service. Inside the lounge are free newspapers, magazines, snacks and drinks, including tea and coffee. Passengers with Magnus’ Lounge entry arriving in Lerwick or Aberdeen also can enjoy a complimentary Continental breakfast. The ideal place for peace and quiet to work or unwind, the lounge

also offers customers the choice to enjoy a table dinner service.

Further enhancements to passenger comfort and improved experience includes the introduction of an upgraded and customer-focused online booking system that has added features and increased userfriendliness. Customers are now able to book a number of services which were previously unavailable online, including meals, cots and kennels. The new system also recognises concessionary rates for senior citizens (aged 60 years and over), those in full-time UK

Profile: NorthLink

education and disabled passengers. Once a booking is made, customers are then able to view forthcoming journey details and make amendments to bookings.

Other changes carried out involve the rebranding of both freighters and the three passenger vessels, which are now adorned with new livery – a striking logo of a Viking. Added to the vessels with the aim of exciting potential tourists about the history and culture for the Northern Isles, the huge Viking image is designed to make an impact so people choose the Northern Isles

and NorthLink Ferries for their next holiday.

As Serco NorthLink continues to strive for a stress-free journey for customers, from the moment they make a reservation to when they step off the ship, it is certain that new and existing customers will appreciate and enjoy the efforts made so far. Now more than two thirds through its six-year contract, Serco NorthLink Ferries will continue to listen to the needs of freight customers, including the critical livestock and seafood sectors to ensure their produce makes it way to the mainland and beyond.

Ferries

NorthLink Ferries www.northlinkferries.co.uk • Serco commence operating the service in 2012 • Upgraded passenger services within the first year of operation including improved catering, seating and onboard entertainment • Focused on supporting the Northern Isles and North East of Scotland by showcasing local produce onboard • 100 per cent of the Hotel Services Food and Drink procurement has, since July 2012, moved to businesses based within 50 miles of the NorthLink operating ports • Customer Service research now shows a 99 per cent satisfaction rating

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Profile: MAATS

Tech Limited

Strong

expertise

E

stablished in 1989 with a focus on specialist subsea vessel design and shipyard supervision, marine engineering company MAATS Tech has developed over the last 25 years to become a major player in the offshore engineering industry. Specialising in turnkey, ship-based carousel systems, the company acts as main contractor for the design, build and installation of both on-deck and under deck carousels as well as any associated loading and unloading equipment. With its extensive experience in carousel systems, having supplied approximately 50 carousels to around 30 different vessels over the years, the company has become the trusted supplier to many of the major offshore contractors; this includes Subsea 7, Technip, Aker, J Ray McDermott and SBM. In addition to these close working relationships with major blue chip organisations, the company has also developed strong relationships with world renowned shipyards such as IHC in the

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Netherlands, Vard and Kleven in Norway and DSME and HHI in South Korea.

An expert in ship-based carousel systems, the company has earned world leader status in the supply of carousels that are installed below deck. Using this experience, the company made the strategic decision to change direction for pipe lay vessel requirements to cable lay vessels following a shift of emphasis to the new cable lay business in support of cabling to offshore platforms and wind farms in the shipbuilding sector.

Since previously being featured in Shipping & Marine magazine in March 2015, the company has continued its focus on working through its healthy order book while also taking on major new projects, as Managing Director at MAATS Tech John Holt comments: “MAATS have completed carousel systems on vessels with Subsea 7, two in The Netherlands and one in South Korea, and carousel systems for Sapura

K. V. Rollers

K. V. Rollers Ltd have worked hard to foster a close, synergistic, working relationship with Maats Tech Ltd throughout the preceding four years.

K. V. Rollers Ltd are extremely proud to be the Maats Tech’s Ltd preferred supplier of rollers and tensioner pads and it has been our pleasure to assist in the on-going development and manufacture of both new and established world leading products.

K. V. Rollers Ltd have made dramatic progress in production methodology, product quality and consistency through deployment of significant monetary investment into technologically advanced moulding and engineering facilities.

Whatever the future holds, K. V. Rollers Ltd will continue to exceed every customer expectation.

in The Netherlands. The majority of these vessels will be working in Brazilian waters with some already in operation. Work has also started on the equipment for the ABB cable lay vessel Victoria which is being built at the Kleven shipyard in Norway. MAATS’ contract is with Kleven.”

Indeed, in October 2015 MAATS Tech announced it was to deliver cable lay equipment for the new state-of-the-art ABB Cable Lay vessel, which is to be built at

Kleven shipyard in Norway and is due for delivery in 2017. Since then, MAATS Tech has been working closely with ABB, Kleven and ship designers Salt Ship to develop a fit for purpose, highly specialised vessel; MAATS Tech’s scope of work for this project is to deliver and integrate cable lay mission equipment through engineering and delivering a 7000 tonne on deck carousel with loading arm, a 4500 tonne underdeck carousel with spooling arm, two 45 tonne tensioners, three three tonne tensioners and on deck product pathways together with the lay spread control system.

In addition to this new project, the company has also begun delivering equipment for its contract with Spanish shipyard LaNaval, which is building a new multi-purpose vessel for the marine construction company DEME. Known as Living Stone, the cutting edge vessel will be capable of performing cable, umbilical and rock installation, trenching, offshore transport and installation works and, upon its completion, it will be the most advanced subsea cable laying vessel in the world.

The vessel will feature two cable carousels

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Profile: MAATS

Tech Limited

from MAATS Tech, as John comments: “MAATS Tech is currently preparing to deliver the fabricated carousel equipment to the LaNaval yard for installation, which is due to commence in October. The vessel will not only be used for cable laying, but also as a rock dumper; it is also equipped accordingly with deck mounted coffer dams and over boarding grabs.”

As demand continues to grow in the DC cable lay business, the company has expanded into the cable lay/cable handling business with relative ease thanks to its transferable equipment that can be used in both flex pipe operations and large DC cable products. However, in preparation of future contracts in areas such as the North Sea and Baltic, John says the company is keen to continue extending its product line: “MAATS Tech has designed and is currently building a new concept four jaw tensioner aimed specifically at the cable market. The unit has jaws arranged in a cross of St Andrew rather than the usual arrangement of St George, which allows easy access from above for transfer of repeaters or joints, while the frame design allows passage of a second cable to

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enable twin cable lay when laying DC cable.

The tensioner is 45 tonnes in capacity with possible 60 tonne capacity if used in the flex pipe market; two of these units will be going on the ABB Vessel mentioned earlier.”

While the changing market remains extremely challenging for many companies operating within it, John believes the cyclical oil and gas market will recover but may be slower than in previous years. “The recipe is different and companies will and are having to adapt to these changes; this can be seen with the acquisition, mergers and joint venture agreements that are happening between organisations in order to weather the current storm. It will be these companies that will emerge in a stronger position going forward and MAATS Tech intends to be one of these companies,” he concludes.

MAATS Tech Limited www.maats.co.uk • Marine engineering consultancy for specialist ship design • Successfully expanded into bespoke equipment for cable laying vessels • Two major contracts in progress

Profile: Strainstall

Measuring

success

W

ith half a century of experience in load monitoring and systems providing, Strainstall is a world leader in developing solutions that enhance the safety and performance of customers’ assets. The company develops and applies innovative technology, including load, strain and stress measuring techniques, within a wide range of sectors including marine, offshore, civil engineering, rail and aerospace. Strainstall specialises in the design and manufacture of standard and bespoke load cells, strain gauges and integrated systems that are proven to perform year on year in hostile and hazardous environments.

It has been able to have such a successful

50 years due to the importance it places on having the right personnel, which managing director Simon Everett discussed: “We typically work with the customer to understand exactly what they are trying to achieve, and then build a system that is designed to meet that. We are able to do this, due to the team we have from different disciplines - they have expertise that includes mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, and systems engineers. All of whom are able to provide support for customers in order to build these specific systems.”

The company has a concentration on research and development, as Strainstall wants to ensure that it is a leader within the industry and not just in terms of quality but also in terms of new developments and

technology. The progress it has already made in this area has led to several significant products, which Simon elaborated upon: “It is very important that we are continuously developing the next generation of technology and keep pushing forward the forefront of what is being made for the industry. This means we are always responding to the changing needs of those that work within this sector, and an example of this was that we made a product called SmartLoad.

This is a complete suite of load monitoring products – load links, load shackles, running line monitors, all available off the shelf, which is far in advance of any other load monitoring products that are available in the market.

SmartLoad is about providing a much more

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Profile: Strainstall

user-friendly experience and having logging capability within the products, so that the customer has the data as well as the simple weighing instrument. SmartLoad offers customers a flexible product that is suitable for the requirements of the industry these days – you have multiple load cells, you can log all the data, and present that in a report for clients.

Smart Load technology enables the customer to do all of that very quickly, very easily, and very efficiently.”

Another area where Strainstall has a depth of experience is container weighing, as Simon highlights: “We developed a container weighing system over the previous three years that has been very successful. The product has been used to help a number of terminals around the world, and provide efficient container weighing solutions to meet the new SOLAS regulations that came into force on the 1st July this year. It retrofits onto container handling equipment to provide a fully automatic weighing system that is highly accurate, and hundreds of these have already been installed and are operating today around the globe.”

There are countless products and areas where Strainstall is a market leader, however one key focus for the company is its ability to provide solutions for hazardous areas. It has been providing hazardous area products and expertise for many years and has recently focused on developing a suite of wireless products for use in hazardous areas. The

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company will have a new range of hazardous area wireless goods for zone one coming out very soon, meaning Strainstall will offer a suite of products, displays, and handsets, which will operate wirelessly within the zone one environment. The new range will be based on the SmartLoad technology so will bring all the benefits of SmartLoad to hazardous area users. It has been able to do this due to the extensive experience, expertise, and understanding that the company has when making hazardous area products.

All of these products and all of Strainstall’s experience are applied to a wide range of industries, from the oil and gas sector to renewables, and it has an extensive understanding of the marine environment.

As such, it has been able to ply its oil and gas experience into the rapidly expanding renewable sector. As a result of the growth of renewables it has meant there have been a number of opportunities for the company’s products and services to be needed, and Simon highlighted one major undertaking that Strainstall has been involved in: “The Hywind project – the world’s first floating wind turbine project is of course an exciting opportunity.

We were selected to provide a unique load monitoring product we developed called Strain Rings – it is an extremely accurate product that is also robust and ideal for the offshore environment. The product is being integrated with chain stoppers and will provide all the mooring load data for the project.”

The fact that Strainstall was chosen to be involved in what is a groundbreaking global first, vindicates the experience, reputation, and capability, which the company has within maritime industries.

Strainstall remains incredibly active, it has just celebrated its 50-year anniversary, and it has brought out a number of leading products over the past few years, while also working for a range of customers from many sectors.

There is surely no better sign for a business

than to be in demand, producing innovative and industry improving products, and assisting in global firsts for a developing sector. With its expertise and services required and trusted by so many, the future looks bright for Strainstall.

Strainstall www.strainstall.com • 50 year anniversary • Market leading products • Assisted in a world first

Underhill Group Established in 1974 the Underhill Group has always striven to maintain its core values of providing excellent quality and service to our customers. This coupled with our commitment to and the loyalty from our staff and clients, has set the foundations for us to have developed organically into an organisation capable of satisfying the needs of all our customers wide ranging requirements from Design through to Installation. Remaining a family owned and run business ensures our core values are uppermost in our planning for the future and the service we continue to deliver.

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Profile:

Fiskerstrand

Ship

shape S

ince its establishment more than 100 years ago in 1909, the Sula Municipality based Fiskerstrand has focused on developing the experience and expertise of its 140 strong workforce as well as consistent expansion and upgrades; this ensures the company can meet new challenges and remain a leader in innovative equipment and good working conditions. Aware that this attitude is vital for ensuring the company maintains its competitive edge and safeguarding efficiency, this ethos also enables the firm to attract the highest calibre of personnel, who are ready to devise solutions using some of the most specialised processes.

With these core values in place, the company has grown a reputation for specialising in new buildings and the repair of passenger ships and ferries while

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it operates as part of one of the most progressive maritime clusters in the world.

Refusing to shy away from challenging projects, the company instead merges long-term expertise with state-of-the-art technology to devise optimum solutions for its customers.

When last featured in Shipping & Marine in October 2015, the family-owned company was in demand and enjoying a healthy order book of challenging projects. This included working on two new LNG ferries for Boreal Transport Nord AS, following a contract win in 2014. In operation from 1st January 2016, the two ferries now operate between Oksfjord to Hasvik, and Oksjfjord to Bergsfjord to South Tverrfjord in Finmark County. Ordered by Finmark County Councils, the ferry services are operated

by Boreal Transport Nord. The gas ferry

solution was chosen by the county council as Norway, and particularly Finmark, is a major gas producer.

Having worked together on the construction of four previous ferries that were completed in 2013, Fiskerstrand and Boreal Transport Nord have enjoyed repeat success with these two new vessels and are working together once again following Fiskerstrand’s win of a contract to build a new open deck battery hybrid ferry in June 2016. As a company that thrives on challenges, Fiskerstrand has enjoyed finding solutions to difficulties such as the fabrication of an LNG fuel tank that is small enough to fit the moulded vessel hull yet big enough to deliver the required capacity. “This open deck battery hybrid ferry is already underway; it is an interesting project as the vessels are smaller than traditional ferries and use LNG power. For part of this project we are working with our old co-operation partner, who is now working on the steel

hull; so far the project is progressing nicely,” comments Einar Kjerstad, Sales Director at Fiskerstrand.

“We are also working with Toghatten Trafikkselskap AS on the building of a new hybrid ferry; it is the first newbuild ferry to be built as a battery hybrid in Norway. This is a good project for us to work on as there have already been a number of requests for hybrid or battery hybrid ferries and we anticipate there will be more to come,” he adds.

Designed by Multi Maritime, the batteryready ferry will run between Tjotta and Forvik in Northern Norway and will be able to run on biodiesel but has an option for installing a battery. The ferry will be 70 metres long, 14 metres wide, have a 2000 kW gen-set and the capacity to carry 60 cars. The technological low emission vessel will reduce CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by biodiesel operation, while fuel consumption will be reduced by 20 per cent. Furthermore, there

Refusing to shy away from challenging projects, the company instead merges long-term expertise with state-of-the-art technology to devise optimum solutions for its customers

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Profile:

Fiskerstrand

will be a massive 85 per cent less NOx and further CO2 reduction through using shore power, should network access and capacity permit this.

In addition to continuing its positive relationship with Boreal Transport Nord and working on a groundbreaking project with Toghatten Trafikkelskap, the company has also been busy competing for new contracts and is currently working on the

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completion of two live fish carriers in a contract that is worth more than 700 million NOK. Because technology in the fishing industry is developing at such a rapid rate, the company has to keep redesigning the vessels to ensure the most modern equipment is installed.

Looking to the future, Einar sees a wealth of opportunities for Fiskerstrand as returning and new customers seek

out environmentally friendly tonnage from respected industry leaders in this field.

“We need to focus our experience and strengths during the downturn in the oil and gas market so we are prepared for when it recovers. Our strategy will certainly prove beneficial over the next five years, as there is a current focus in the market on environmental technologies and environmental regulations. This means there will be a lot of newbuilding projects or repairing projects coming up over the next five years in line with the Norwegian Government’s Road Administration’s requirement for zero-emission technology in certain areas. If new technology and new fuel types prove solid competition for the oil and gas industry, then downturns within the oil industry won’t be so damaging for ship building firms,” he concludes.

Fiskerstrand www.fiskerstrand.no • Specialise in designing, building and repairing passenger ships and ferries • Two new contracts • Renowned for technological expertise

Profile: Royal

Bodewes

Leading the way in

B

LNG

odewes Group B.V., also operating under the name Royal Bodewes, is a leading, modern shipyard group situated along the Winschoterdiep in Hoogezand, the Netherlands. Comprising of seven divisions that offer shipbuilding, purchasing and management services (among others) Royal Bodewes has a long history in building sea-going vessels starting with traditional shallow draught sailing barges, in Dutch known as ‘tjalks.’

Founded in 1812, Royal Bodewes continuously evolved and improved, ensuring its approach to shipbuilding was modern and that its vessels were meeting the needs of its customers. After well over 180 years of innovation, the company was still expanding, and so at the end of the 1990’s, Bodewes Shipyards started its first co-operation, by building hulls with a Romanian shipyard. Expansion has led to further collaboration with shipyards in the Ukraine and Poland.

In fact, such has been the demand for Royal Bodewes’ services that the company is also establishing an outfitting shop in Germany. The first vessel arrived in May and was due to be completed at the end of August, with its sister vessel arriving shortly thereafter. This new location is especially beneficial as there is an absence of beam restrictions, meaning that ships wider than 16m can be fitted out there.

What unites all of the vessels created

by Royal Bodewes is a dedication to stay ahead of the competition and meet the demands of the future. New technologies and innovation will play a vital role in the immediate and long-term future of shipping, and the organisation is committed to design ships in accordance with these principles.

A prime example of this approach is the Bodewes Eco Trader, with its unique bow form, and also one of its latest designs, the EcoCoaster cargo ship. The EcoCoaster is an extremely energy efficient dry cargo

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Anglo Belgian Corporation (ABC) Anglo Belgian Corporation (ABC) with headquarters in Belgium has over a century of engine-building expertise. ABC designs and manufactures medium speed, four stroke, diesel engines for marine applications in the power range between 600 and 5200 kW. Continued innovations have made Anglo Belgian Corporation one of the important manufacturers of MDO, HFO and dual fuel medium speed engines.

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carrier, designed to cause considerably less environmental impact than conventional dry cargo vessels. The new vessels will meet all the maritime environmental regulations coming into force in next few years, and in many cases will even exceed them. The hull and machinery of the new buildings are optimised to the speed of 10.5 knots in open water conditions. The power required for Ice Class 1A is achieved by a diesel electric driven booster unit. The aim is to almost halve the fuel consumption compared to conventional dry cargo vessels of similar type and size, and therefore also cut emissions remarkably. The vessels will be equipped with a dual fuel system, with main engine ABC 8DZC being suitable for biofuel and MGO. The delivery of the first EcoCoaster vessel NB 742 is due at the end of August 2016 and the second NB 743 will follow three months later.

These vessels clearly demonstrate not only Royal Bodewes’ ability to identify trends that are important to the shipping market and create solutions, but also its green credentials – improving the environmental side of shipping operations are of vital

Profile: Royal

Bodewes

Royal Bodewes www.royalbodewes.com

• New location opened in Germany • Works in partnership with other yards • Constructing the Coralius vessel

importance to the business. As a part of this, and working in cooperation with several subcontractors, it is now developing LNG propulsion plants in its designs. LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) as a marine fuel offers benefits both in terms of reduced emissions (nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide and particulate matter) and operating costs since LNG prices are very low.

However, even with LNG’s lower price and with an ever-stronger push from emission requirements, there are practical, infrastructurerelated, and regulatory uncertainties that require consideration. As with any alternative fuel, there is the question about how quickly the infrastructure can adapt to accommodate the new technologies, and also there are only very few LNG systems are available causing the applications of LNG to stagnate. A new LNG system needs to be engineered for each vessel, making the use of LNG as an alternative fuel very expensive.

In addition to this project Royal Bodewes is also constructing Hull NB 803, the Coralius, which was nominated for the Next Generation Ship Award at Nor-Shipping 2015 and will be first LNG carrier to be built in Europe. This 5800 m3 vessel will feature a dual-fuel engine, thrusters that facilitate enhanced close-quarters manoeuvring and ice class notation (1A), which will allow it to trade in the Baltic region during winter. In combination with the hull design of low block coefficient, the emissions will be significantly lower than that of traditional vessels as the ship will run on LNG derived from the cargo. The building of Coralius is part of the EU project Pilot LNG, which aims to establish an LNG bunkering infrastructure. Coralius is scheduled for delivery by the Royal Bodewes shipyard at the beginning of of 2017 and will be owned by Sirius Veder Gas AB, a joint venture between Sirius Rederi and Anthony Veder.

A highly impressive and important vessel, the Coralius represents the qualities that have made Royal Bodewes a successful yard that has supplied hundreds of vessels for various purposes. Innovative, forward thinking and highly advanced, both Coralius and Royal Bodewes are sailing towards a bright future.

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Profile: Optimarin

AS

1000-BK installation

Racing

ahead

O

ptimarin has built a reputation based on taking pole position in the ballast water treatment (BWT) industry.

The Stavanger, Norway-based firm has focused exclusively on the development of simple, flexible and reliable ballast water treatment (BWT) systems since 1994. In 2000 the team installed the world’s very first BWT solution on a commercial vessel - aboard the cruise ship Regal Princess - and has since gone on to sell around 450 of its Optimarin Ballast Systems (OBS) to international owners, operators and shipyards. It has always led from the front and, with ratification of the IMO’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) convention on the horizon, is now perfectly positioned to serve the market with a solution that is completely compliant, proven and trusted across the world.

Optimarin was last profiled in Shipping & Marine magazine in September 2015, at which point CEO Tore Anderson discussed the continued development of the OBS. The system employs filtration as pre-treatment and

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high doses of UV irradiation for inactivation of marine organisms, viruses and bacteria, without affecting the normal operation of the ship. OBS is a ballast solution that uses no chemicals, leaves no residual products that are harmful to the ocean or environment, and, with no moving parts, is simple to operate and maintain.

While OBS has achieved success from its introduction, its development has not stood still. Optimarin has continually developed the system to meet the changing requirements of the IMO. The criteria detailed under the 2004 implementation of the Ballast Water Management (BWM) convention led to a slight redesign to ensure total compliance, with an improved version receiving type approval from DNV, on behalf of The Norwegian Maritime Directorate, in 2009. Indeed, while the underlying principle of OBS remained the same, the amended design also assured approval from a range of classification organisations, such as Lloyd’s, Germanischer Lloyd, Bureau Veritas, MLIT Japan, American Bureau of Shipping and AMS/USCG.

The delay in the ratification of the BWM convention - which needs to be ratified by 30 States, representing 35 per cent of world merchant shipping tonnage – has been problematic for the BWT industry, as Andersen himself candidly admits.

“2015 was a difficult year as the ratification process dragged on and there was an element of ‘wait and see’, with shipowners reluctant to invest money. This led to a slight slump in the market. However, with ratification finally imminent – we’re currently at 34.82 per cent of global tonnage – owners and operators will have to act and invest right away to ensure compliant operations. It’s been a tough market, but it’s definitely beginning to change now.”

The introduction of the IMO BWM convention coincides with the revised US Coast Guard (USCG) regulations on ballast water management that entered into force on 1 January 2016. US legislation requires ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) to be type approved by the USCG. Currently no BWTS has such type approval, however during November 2015 Optimarin become the first UV system supplier to meet the most stringent USCG marine water requirements, with brackish water tests being passed in May 2016. The Norwegian company is now poised for full USCG approval in the second half of 2016.

Andersen comments: “This is a great endorsement of our system’s SKID 334 Filtrex

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Profile: Optimarin

AS

effectiveness and the expertise of our team.

We’ve been developing our system since founding the company and we believe, and testing shows, we have a market leading solution for vessels in our segment. USCG approval is crucial, so we’re happy to be so far down the line in achieving it.

“Without a USCG approved system ships won’t be able to discharge ballast water in US waters. For ship owners with global fleets and route networks, not having such a system

would impact massively on their operational footprint and overall fleet flexibility. It really is a must.”

He continues: “There were rumours in the market that UV and filtration technology could not meet USCG requirements, which are the industry’s most exacting. USCG judges the life forms transported in ballast water as either living or dead and UV systems tend to ‘inactivate’ them, making them incapable of reproduction, rather than eliminating them.

But not the OBS. The power of the 35kw UV lamps ensure the system has the power to instantly kill invasive organisms, and that’s exactly what USCG wants to see.

“This ‘power to comply’ has been a major driver for new business for us this year.”

Indeed, throughout 2016 the company has continued to progress strongly, winning several noteworthy contracts. Early in the year Optimarin secured an order for 10 EX-approved systems from Atlantis Tankers Group and a further contract for nine units from China’s Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group.

What Andersen describes as a ‘potentially huge’ fleet agreement with Carisbrooke followed in March, encompassing up to 46 retrofitted systems. Further orders have since materialised from Saga Shipholding, Fishermen’s Finest and Solvang ASA, amongst others.

“We were leaders in the development of BWT systems in the 90s and we’re just as committed to retaining that leadership now, and well into the future,” concludes Andersen.

“We pride ourselves on meeting individual requirements with uniform excellence – delivering the solutions owners, operators and yards need to ensure predictability, flexibility and compliance of operation, all over the world.

“Together with our global engineering partners Goltens and Zeppelin we offer unmatched experience in retrofitting, with over 70 units installed on existing vessels, alongside expertise drawn from more than 200 newbuild installations. We’ll continue building on that going forwards, ensuring that when shipowners do take the important step of sourcing BWT systems we’re in pole position to help them comply with regulations and safeguard the environment.”

Optimarin AS www.optimarin.com • Pioneers in the environmentally friendly

purification of ballast water • UV system technology meets USCG marine water requirements • New contracts for 2016

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Profile: Anytec

More than just

seaworthy F

or more than 30 years Anytec has strived to build the world’s best aluminum boats. The same guiding principles have accompanied it throughout: an absolutely uncompromising attitude with regard to materials and construction. This motivates it to further develop what is already the best product on the market. This year, Anytec returns stronger, faster and better equipped to meet the challenges of the sea than ever before.

However, one thing will never change: its unique hull design.

Beginning its operations in the 1960s, Anytec made the strategic decision to become a renowned builder of the best quality aluminium boats for private use during the mid 1990s. During these formative years, the company focused on constructing ships that could perform well throughout all seasons of the year and even the most demanding of customer requirements.

Indeed, by providing the best materials, components and construction skills over the last 20 years, Anytec has grown into a global leader of aluminium vessel construction. By the 1970s the dockyard Öregrundsvarvet acquired more and more contracts for building both passenger boats as well as working boats in aluminium. Over time the dockyard grew to become one of the leading

Swedish companies for welding and boat build in aluminium. Anytec eventually faced a demand that outstripped what the current facility could cope with so in 2004 the company invested in a new larger base of operations.

After several busy years Anytec once again needed to expand and over a decade later has now completed its 2014 plans to increase the capacity of the business, which was required due to the success of the products. Head of sales and marketing David Stenlund provided some details: “We have expanded our facilities in Riga with a

new building of 1500 metres squared, we did this to make production more sufficient.”

This will help to protect the company’s future, ensuring that it is always producing its ships in the most efficient and effective ways. The improvements made are a byproduct of the continued high sales that Anytec achieves, it is also a clear indication of commitment the company has to reinvest its success, which was something David discussed: “We invest continuously in production and the latest investment is a new milling cutting machine, new bending machine, turn milling machine, that was installed during the summer.” The machinery will mean that Anytec can further improve on the production that it currently has, and persist in providing innovative, modern, and high quality boats.

Anytec has a catalogue of expert designed boats, built with the latest technology to the very highest standard with customers in mind. The ambition of the company is not to simply build a boat that works - which other companies can achieve - instead it is to go further and to build something that is designed to combat every situation a boat can face at sea. This approach must be effective as the company is currently the world’s leading aluminium boat producer.

David gave a few reasons why its customers choose Anytec: “We believe our strengths

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No matter whether you are an experienced boater looking for a replacement pump or a manufacturer specifying pumps for your marine application, you can rest assured as the SPX FLOW Johnson Pump Marine Brand is found represented in every major industrial country of the world today, in more than sixty nations altogether.

The SPX FLOW Johnson Pump brand is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of pumps for marine use. The well-known, many red coloured, products for pleasure and commercial crafts are sold all over the world through a network of authorized distributors and affiliated retailers.

With near fifty years of marine pump experience, the brand is trusted by the leading global manufacturers of marine engines and recreational crafts to provide products and solutions for all their pumping needs.

delivering on the high expectations from customers. “We will continue to focus on strategic steps in our digital presence to execute several updates and improvements to our online platforms. It is important for us to deliver great service and to share up-to-date facts and product information – all in real time. We are looking forward to continuing the successful development and refinement of Johnson Pump brand marine products, both online and offline.”

Research & Development

Robust aluminium boats and characteristic pumps

Over 45 years of R&D work, experience and partnership with major marine engine manufacturers has brought the Johnson Pump marine brand to a market leading position in cooling pumps worldwide.

Michael Strålman, Global Director Marine for SPX FLOW, Inc. Industrial Pumps says he is proud to work in well-equipped facilities with skilled and dedicated staff at Johnson Pump marine: “The marine industry in general is moving in the right direction and at Johnson Pump marine we are proud to say that we have performed in line with our high expectations. We have a strong material expertise and, with our well-equipped facilities and dedication to delivering the best solutions for our customers, we are positive and optimistic for the future. The R&D activities for the Johnson Pump marine brand cover a wide range of marine pump applications. The manufacturing site in Örebro, centrally located in Sweden, is equipped with the latest technology to allow focus on research and development of new design projects.”

Mr. Strålman says that with the changing landscape of digital presence and real-time demand, they are excited and determined to continue

The Swedish brands Anytec and Johnson Pump marine in a collaboration Johnson Pump’s solutions has been the choice for Anytec for many years and boat models. Edmund Krastins, General Manager for Anytec, explains their choice for pumping solutions: “Anytec boats are manufacturing premium class aluminium boats and we are always looking for the best functional equipment’s for our boats. Our clients must feel safe and well secured during all time they spend on water. Therefore, for our pumping solutions we have chosen SPX FLOW Johnson Pump marine products, since they guarantee long life and good quality on their products. Also, they are a stable and strong supplier, which is important for us as a boat builder.”

Johnson Pump marine products installed in the premium aluminum boats are for waste water handling as well as bilge pumping, both electric and manual. Edmund explains when launching their latest model: “In our next flagship model, we have of course equipped it with Johnson Pump’s marine pumping solutions.”

SPX FLOW Johnson Pump marine products installed in Anytec boats Viking Power 16 - Waste Water Pump • With double check valves for improved pumping action • Heavy duty DC motors • Self priming up to a height of 3 m • Can run dry • Ball-bearing supported transmission for long service life • Universal mounting

Common Markets • Marine Pleasure Boats • Smaller Commercial Vessels • Coast Guard • Navy Boats • Mobile Homes Common Applications • Waste Water Handling • Bilge pumping

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Ultima Bilge - Bilge Pump

• Sleek, reliable and compact unit with integrated switch ready to install and run for years of unerring service.

• Equiped with easy-to-install Dura-Port discharge ports to eliminate stress cracking caused by over-tightened hose clamps. The pumps are delivered including both a straight and a 90° smooth elbow Dura-Port and a removable check valve.

Common Markets • OEM boat builders in Marine Industry • Aftermarket & Wholesale Marine Outfitters Common Applications • Bilge for Boats & Yachts • General pumping of Water & Saltwater

Viking Compact Manual Bilge Pump • Hand-powered bilge pump • Membrane (diaphragm) pump • Inlet and outlet ports can be swiveled 360˚

Common Markets • OEM boat builders in Marine Industry • Aftermarket & Wholesale Marine Outfitters Common Applications • Bilge for Boats & Yachts • General pumping of Water & Saltwater

Profile: ANYTEC

are: High performance hulls – only welded parts, no screws, our boats are handmade, built in jigs – the brand is also well-known, with a good reputation. I also think that the way in which we design the boats, they have a stylish presentation that is attractive and makes us different from our competition.”

The boats themselves are worth highlighting, as the company makes the finest in the sector, and David provided an insight of recent improvements that have been made: “We have had a focus on giving a face lift to all the SPD models, plus the development of the appearance on the 747CAB and 868CAB. Also on our biggest models – the 747, 750, 860 and 868 – we have launched new chair stands of the highest quality, and added Ohlins racing performance, which are now standard on our biggest models.”

David went on to outline some other models that have seen improvements: “The 868CAB hull has been redesigned for better driving performance, and on the 750SPD we have added bow thrusters from 2016. On the 747CAB we have improved sound isolation by using better sound absorber material.”

These developments will make the boats more effective, in addition to making sailing it a more pleasurable experience.

The investments in new facilities and machines are not the only investment that Anytec embarked on, there has also been the development of new products, something that David was keen to highlight: “We are launching a completely new model this autumn called the 1221, it will be our flagship model in our range, it will be equipped with four engines - Mercury Verado R400 – and will also include the joystick system. This boat will only be built on order, and we have already had some orders made for it, though

it will not be launched until the end of August and it will be in Stockholm.”

Anytec has changed a great deal from the company that began in the 1960s, but it has held true to the values and ambitions that were already in place then, a commitment to innovation and becoming the best at what it does. It has paired continued success and

sales with further innovation and investment.

Anytec has become the world leader at aluminium boat building, and if it continues in this way then it will hold its position at the top for many more years to come.

Anytec www.anytec.eu • New facilities • Improved models • Completely new designs

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Profile: Brødrene

Making

waves

B

rødrene has a history that stretches back to just after the Second World War, and a reputation that goes back with it, but in more recent years the company has focused on developing lightweight fast ferries based upon the use of carbon fibre.

This change of approach has underpinned the direction the company has taken in recent years, and has lead to a significant amount of success. Brødrene looks set on further improvements and expansions, as it continually brings out new products and the latest one called ‘Seasight’ is an exciting achievement. There are also plans for the company to add to its already strong export market through ventures in China.

The business has changed and evolved a great deal over the past seven decades, and managing director Tor Øyvin Aa provided an overview of Brødrene: “The company has been active since 1947, and it is a family owned company – over this period we have produced more than 270 vessels.

These mostly entail fast ferries - about 200

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of them, and at least 50 of these were built by us after 2001 and were made out of carbon fibre. This actually means we were the first company to start building carbon fibre vessels for commercial use. Of course as time has gone on we have built different sizes, and designs, which have gradually become bigger, and the biggest were two 50-metre carbon structures for Palmer Johnson Yachts. Today, our main activity is to build fast ferries, which range from around 30 to 40 knots, and accommodating 200 to 400 passengers, and the vessels are built with carbon fibre, which are for the Norwegian as well as foreign markets. We employ approximately 150 people, and we have a turnover of around 250 million to 300 million Norwegian Kroner.”

The overwhelming strength of Brødrene is that it has become a specialist in using carbon fibre to build its vessels, and Tor said: “There are several advantages of using carbon fibre, first of all it gives a weight reduction on the structure of approximately 40 per cent when compared with using

aluminium. Which means that that the total vessel weight is around 20 per cent lighter, and there are of course many advantages of this. It means that you can reduce the weight of the structure, along with the engine size, and makes it easier to reach the speed you are looking for. Another outcome of all of these factors is that it results in a reduction in fuel consumption, and this helps to lower the CO2 use, as well as the wash size, all of which helps to create a more environmentally friendly product that has a lower total footprint.”

Brødrene is also always using its focus on carbon fibre to help create new improved vessels, and one of the latest exciting developments is the ‘Seasight’ that has been designed for its passengers to be able to take in the picturesque views of the Norwegian fjords. The success of this new design even resulted in it winning the Ship of the Year award 2016, and to illustrate some of the reasons behind this Tor mentioned: “An aspect that has created interest in it is the design – it is universal, you can

board on the first deck and go to the top of the vessel without having climbed any stairs - this of course is a huge benefit for access to wheelchairs for example. It also provides a front view for each passenger for more than 300 metres, they can stay at any spot around the vessel and still reach an open view, whether this be standing or sitting. With very large windows it ensures that passengers gain an extensive view of the nature and sights they are passing.

We use the advantage of carbon fibre to reduce the weight so much that we can use battery power in the operation of the vessel for portions of its travel. The use of battery power is significant as it means that the ship can operate with very low noise – almost none at all, and a very low wash. All of these reasons are why the ‘Seasight’ has already been a success.”

The use of carbon fibre by Brødrene has helped to secure its position as the biggest fast ferry builder in the world over the course of the past five years. This achievement can be attributed to the company’s innovative work with this material, and the continued work it has done to build a reputation of lightweight, energy efficient, and intelligently designed ferries. This has lead to increasing interest from abroad, and was something that Tor discussed: “One of the biggest operators in China – Chu Kong Shipping - found our vessel very interesting for their operations, and they are going to renew their fleet. At first they placed an order for

two vessels from us, and have since then bought some shares in the company. Due to the huge market potential in China we have plans to start performing our outfitting in the country in 2019, while still producing our structures in Norway.”

It is largely due to Brødrene’s innovative work it has done with carbon fibre that has resulted in the increased trust and demand that customers have for it now. Through its strong research, development, and design, it has managed to create both attractive and well designed vessels that are also cost

effective and more environmentally friendly.

The company has achieved a great deal throughout its history, but particularly in the past decade, and with plans to continue investing and improving, the future looks bright for Brødrene.

Brødrene Aa AS www.braa.no • Specialise in carbon fibre • New vessel ‘Seasight’ • Interest from abroad

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Profile: VT

Group

Major

milestone

T

hrough innovative and reliable services VT Group delivers optimal support at bunkering and transport with highly educated staff and impeccable equipment. Thanks to its high standards, dedicated services and competitive prices has VT built long-term relationships with all major petrochemical companies in the industry. It aims to be the partner of choice by bringing added value through innovative solutions and a pragmatic approach. The VT fleet consists of over 20 ships, ranging in size from 220 tons to almost 14,000 tonnes. The Vorstenbosch is the fleet’s largest ship and still the biggest inland tanker in the world.

Almost a century has passed since VT began, and the company has plans to celebrate and mark the occasion, as business development manager Hugo Sassen elaborated: “We had a new book made about the company – it’s called ‘VT in Full Steam’ – and this book will contain the entire history from 1916 onwards, and it will also be in Dutch for staff and English for customers.

We have also organised a large festivity for our present personnel and those that have retired, plus all attendees are going to receive a copy of the book. This will also be mirrored by another event that is arranged for the

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customers of the company. In total then, the celebrations will span two days.”

Throughout the company’s long history it has been grounded in an understanding of the need to innovate and improve. This trait of VT is no less true today, and there are a number of recent developments, whether that be docklock magnetic mooring system, its fleet renewal by scale enlargement, or as Hugo discussed, its Mass Flow Meter System: “We are trying to convince the port authorities and industry to change to Mass Flow Metering. The best example is that Singapore is implementing are doing this, from the 1st of January 2017, and we are in the process of convincing the Dutch authorities to do the same.”

Hugo discussed another area that VT is moving forward with: “What we are looking to do is to buy a ballast water treatment system from Damen Shipyard. Damen have the first ballast water treatment system that is certified, ready to enter the market, and we will install this onto one of our ships. And we would like to convince the port authorities so that we can provide ballast water bunkering in the port of Rotterdam and the port of Amsterdam. This would mean we can clean the ballast water of the ships that require that service when they enter the ports.”

VT is also working closely on new projects in a number of locations, and in regards to one of these Hugo said: “We have set up a joint venture between Ahlmark Lines and Erik Thun AB. The purpose of this project is to set up a barge transportation service in Sweden and the Baltic’s, because at the moment there is legislation that prevents the use of inland waterways for barge transportation.

Therefore, looking at this water rich area, there is huge potential. In part because you can also now sail on a large amount of Sweden’s waterways, which allows you to deliver a lot of products to potential customers in the region and decrease road transportation.”

VT is looking to continually modernise and

improve its fleet for the future challenges and regulations that face the industry: “We are in a focus group to develop all of the new build fleet to be ECA compliant and they will not necessarily be LNG dual fuel propelled, and instead we are exploring ways to find new and interesting business cases for diesel and electric hybrid, shifting our scope a little bit from LNG to electric, because barge transportation is not possible in 2020 with these restrictions from the

European commission unless we prepare for it,” Hugo said.

The future of VT looks to be one where it will help bring about changes in the industry. Hugo highlighted some of the areas the company would be looking at in the near future: “We are setting up in Sweden, while maintaining a strong business in Rotterdam, and continuously doing the work we are known for.

As part of this it will mean keeping our position in minerals and chemicals, the latter is stable,

and the former is competitive. Lubricants are another area we are seeing an increase, but our focus will remain our wider mineral portfolio. This will also mean going on to new building so that we can ensure we are fully prepared to meet the latest ECA compliance – such as installing our barges with either dual fuel or hybrid engines. Furthermore, we will be maintaining our strong customer base in Rotterdam, while also focusing on international business development, as we see a lot of promise abroad.”

The industry is always changing, and with this comes new opportunities and requirements, and VT is a leading figure in the industry that can adapt and thrive with these changes. It believes in innovation and utilising new technology, as well as working closely with partners on new projects. It may be celebrating 100 years soon, but for all these reasons and more there is no reason to doubt there will be 100 more.

VT Group www.vtgroup.nl • 100 year anniversary • Mass Flow Metre installations • Joint venture in Sweden

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Profile: NORLED

Taking

responsibility F

ounded in 2012 through the demerger of Tide Sjø out of Tide ASA, Norled AS continues to operate as a fully owned subsidiary of the DSD-group, which incorporates Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap AS, Norled, Nor Lines and DSD Shipping AS. Prior to 2012, Stavangerske AS was merged with Tide Sjø AS on January 1st 2008 with the company retaining the Tide brand. Previously Stavangerske had won several tenders in association with HSD throughout Norway through their 50/50 joint venture Norferger.

Norled today represents one of Norway’s largest ferry and express boat operators.

Its fleet of 80 vessels offers a vital transport service that covers the entire Norwegian west coast and continues to invest in improving the service that the company is able to deliver. True to its vision of ensuring great travel experiences through innovative solutions and proud employees, in 2009 while operating as Tide Sjø, Norled began

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sailing high-speed ferries and boats along the inner fjord of Oslo, including routes between Nesodden and Aker Brygge and in 2011 began activity in North Troms. With approximately 1400 employees, Norled has a turnover NOK two billion annually, generated from its administrative offices in Bergen and Stavanger, as well as regional offices in Ålesund and Oslo.

As one of Norway’s largest transportation companies, Norled maintains a fleet of 50 car and passenger ferries as well as 30 large express boats that operate along the coast and fjords of Norway. During May 2015 the company took delivery of the world’s first battery powered car and passenger ferry, the MF Ampere – ZeroCat. The fully electrically powered vessel, the ferry operates on a route across Sognefjord between Lavik and Oppedal, travelling six kilometres in around 20 minutes across the fjord 34 times a day. The vessel was built by Fjellstrand and is 80 metres long, 20 metres wide and made exclusively of light-weight

aluminium, which means that the craft is only half as heavy as conventional ferry designs despite its ten tonne batteries. MF Ampere is driven by two electric motors that each has an output of 450 kilowatts.

Siemens provided and installed a complete electric propulsion system and erected charging stations with lithium-ion batteries, which are charged via hydropower.

Three batteries in total power the ferry, with one lithium-ion battery installed on board the ferry itself while a further battery installed at each pier to act as a buffer. These 260-kWh units supply electricity to the ferry while it is at anchor and the batteries then slowly recoup energy from the grid until the ship returns to drop off further passengers and recharge. When the ship is not active the onboard battery is also recharged directly from the grid.

MF Ampere will use approximately two million kWh per year in comparison to a traditional ferry, which typically burns in excess of one million litres of diesel each year emitting some 570 tonnes of carbon and around 15 metric tonnes of nitrogen oxides. The Siemens electric propulsion system, BlueDrive PlusC, includes a battery

and steering system, thruster control for the vessel’s propellers, an energy management system and an integrated alarm system.

Furthermore, integrated automation systems both control and monitor the system’s associated machinery and auxiliary systems on board the ferry and are connected to the vessel’s subsystems via Profibus. Norled has been delighted with the tremendous operating results of MF Ampere, which has reduced emissions by 100 per cent and has also exceeded the original projections for fuel savings set by Siemens by as much as ten per cent.

The company’s modern fleet of ferries allows Norled to carry as many as 18 million passengers across tourist routes on the major fjords as well as coastal express.

Its ferries operate, from Vest-Agder in the south to Trondheim in the north, and no matter how long or short the journey, its aim is to always provide its passengers with an enjoyable experience. Reflecting that strong customer focus and desire to offer all amenities and comforts the business has equipped its fleet with the latest, modern facilities. In just a few short years and in partnership with some of the

Survitec

Survitec is a market leader on marine survival technology. Through its Norwegian branch, previously known as Brude Safety, Survitec has provided evacuation systems to the majority of Norwegian passenger ferries. One of the focus areas for Survitec Norway is to develop evacuation systems and through-life service arrangements based on close dialogue and cooperation with key customers.

Survitec Norway appreciates its long relation with Norled as a major Norwegian ferry operator. This relationship has provided important feedback in the company’s development of highly reliable evacuation systems with minimised sources of error, and efficient service arrangements.

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Profile: NORLED

best technology communities in the world, Norled has helped to develop completely new solutions that are capable of radically reducing emissions across the ferry industry.

Over the coming years it is the ambition of the company to gradually further reduce emissions from the Norwegian ferry fleet as new types of vessel are phased in. The introduction of the MF Ampere for example, reflects the its dedication to employing battery-powered ferries for short journeys,

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while longer voyages will increasing rely on gas as a replacement for diesel.

Tender requirements for ferry operations within Norway require all new vessels to be environmentally friendly and produce minimal emissions. As one of the major ferry operators in Norway, Norled is the largest operator in terms of express boat operation and keen to remain at the forefront of further developments. The company is the first operator in the world with a totally emission-

free battery technology in deployment on ferries and an innovator in the use of gas ferries with diesel engines on board. During the coming months and years Norled will be focusing on promoting its new battery powered vessel and on replacing its older vessels with newer, more environmentally friendly ships. However, the company also understands that it is not possible to replace all of its ferries at the same time and therefore Norled is also currently testing solutions that can reduce emissions from its older diesel ferries without the need of major investments. With this commitment to the environment and responsible operation, Norled is able to implement greater capability and creative surplus in the private sector to the benefit of society.

Norledw www.norled.no • Ferry service operator • 18 million passengers per year • New battery-powered vessel

Profile: Griffon

Hoverwork

12000TD Solent Flyer

Perfecting its YASA installed

G

craft

riffon Hoverwork’s history of working in the hovercraft industry extends back over four decades. The craft are all designed in-house referencing their history and including the original British Hovercraft Corporation knowledgebase. The development of Griffon Hoverwork under the ownership of Bland Group has allowed investment in lean manufacturing techniques, product development and after-sales service.

Its market extends to 41 countries with over 180 craft brought into service. Griffon has achieved global leadership of the design and manufacture of hovercraft and has therefore now evolved its mission to include a drive to re-use the technology it has developed to provide customers with products and services that will enhance the sustainability of both air cushion and conventional marine vessels.

Working with customers informed Griffon Hoverwork that improved efficiency was pivotal in the development of new passenger carrying and logistic designs. Its newest design, the 12000TD is a groundbreaking new model that combines experience and new technology from Griffon Hoverwork; bringing together a variety of improvements. The first stage of the design was to work with its sister company, Hovertravel, to analyse passenger throughput demand and to improve the passenger experience. The result is a new model of hovercraft that is optimised for the Hovertravel route between Southsea and Ryde, Isle of Wight.

Griffon Hoverwork’s managing director Adrian Went gives some more details about this new launch. It is the first high speed craft code passenger vessel (hovercraft or conventional) to be designed, built and used

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Bow Thruster on the 12000TD

Olsen Actuation

Today’s most technically advanced hovercraft, the Griffon 12000TD, is benefiting from innovative technology supplied by Olsen Actuation.

Olsen Actuation has developed a fully electric rudder system that reduces the installation weight by almost 500 kg compared to similar hydraulic solutions. It also provides the pilot with invaluable real-time functional information and diagnostics, complemented by comprehensive data logging.

The Griffon 12000TD rudder system features high-reliability Exlar stainless-steel GSX40 roller screw linear actuators with servo drive control systems and advanced motion software to optimise rudder control. Olsen Actuation also supplied the boarding ramps, clamshell hatch actuators (with manual override feature); thrust prop pitch control and marine rated power and signal cables.

Other pioneering fully electric marine solutions developed and installed by Olsen include a nine-axis ROV Moonpool door and locking pin control system plus Exlar actuators for Subsea 7 Kestrel, ATEX fire door control for the Indian Navy and a new range of submarine-rated subsea linear actuators.

Tap into Olsen Actuation’s extensive marine experience - bring the company your application challenges and it will deliver world-class solutions!

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in the UK for over a decade: “The 12000TD hovercraft, which will be put in to service between Southsea and the Isle of Wight, is a completely new design, breaking with our tradition of extending what came before. It took years of experience of having worked in the hovercraft market to accomplish this vessel. For one, we did analysis to gauge the passenger numbers so that it could be optimised to meet their needs, and we combined this with a design for significantly improved fuel and crew efficiency.”

The 12000TD also features new technology that Griffon has pioneered. Mixed aerodynamic flow fans are used to minimise power taken from thrust for lift and compact permanent magnet generators, motors and an in-house developed power electronics control system is used for the bow thrusters.

Development of the latter was a result of work on a new small hovercraft using diesel electric drive, the 995ED, where the electric solution allowed distribution of machinery around the centre of gravity to obviate the need for ballast. It also features a lightweight bonded aluminum structure as an alternative to a welded structure, improving strength, weight, fabrication time and dimensional tolerance. The electric drive system has been re-configured and is being successfully marketed as a hybrid or electric drive system for conventional vessels in the range 60 to 300kW. This system can provide a very economic and flexible in-harbour low speed drive and hotel power solutions with or without battery storage. It can be fitted to a standalone small diesel engine or fitted as an ancillary drive from

Profile: Griffon

Hoverwork

12000TD Solent Flyer

the main engine, as well as to hybrid-ready gearboxes. Fuel and maintenance savings are significant as well as the installation’s green credentials. These remarkable achievements are a testament to the company’s investment in technology and demonstrate how it is leading the way in this industry.

It is clear that there is a focus by Griffon on providing the best product for what a client needs, as well as ensuring cost effective and efficient craft, which is compliant with Flag and International (high speed craft) regulations, something that predecessor craft have not been able to achieve. Adrian notes: “The 12000TD is entirely compliant with all of the

995ED Power module

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Profile: Griffon

Hoverwork

latest requirements for passenger disabled access, something that fewer passenger vehicles than you might expect actually meet, as many came in before the new standard was set. The deep windows maximise visibility to improve the passenger experience, as well as providing an ergonomically designed cabin for the captain – these were priorities for this vessel.

“A better view during the crossing has enhanced the appeal of the service for tourists who make up a large proportion

of the passenger activity. The noise signature of the craft has also received attention, we have managed a decrease of 12 decibels, a significant drop. This was achieved by increasing the radius of the propellers.

Increasing blade chord in order to reduce tip speed – the source of much of the signature.”

The achievements made by Griffon with the new craft 12000TD have been a useful way of raising the company’s standing and reputation in the market, as Adrian explains: “We see Hovertravel as being the shop window for our services in the passenger market and to show what we can do.”

Though this newest craft is for the passenger market there are a variety of other applications for hovercrafts that extend across multiple sectors. Griffon’s products are used for survey work, civil engineering support, mobile medical clinics, search and rescue, and logistics, with a major part of sales being for international security requirements. The main benefits of a hovercraft from Griffon is it has the ability to travel at high speed over a wide variety of surfaces, with the high reliability and low maintenance running costs of modern diesel engines. The hovercraft has a simple and robust construction with a high degree of maneuverability, and its designs allow for a wide variety of fit out configurations. Whether it be military, paramilitary, industrial, commercial, or for transport and commuting purposes, the hovercraft offers versatility and reliability for a wide range of environments than other vehicles cannot access including marshland, tidal areas, shallow water, ice and riverine rapids.

Griffon has made developments that will have a wide reaching impact across the industry and the many sectors it provides for.

It has proven once again to have a talented research and development team in the business, which has paid dividends with the improvements made in bonded structures and the light-weight electric drive system, with both likely to underpin all future designs.

Furthermore, with growing opportunities that span sectors ranging from military to tourism, and with interest from markets across the globe increasing, it is a business that looks in a great position to take advantage of all the opportunities that present themselves going forward.

Griffon Hoverwork www.griffonhoverwork.com • New hovercraft models • New technology • New international opportunities

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Profile: jo

tankers

A new

horizon W

ith four generations of shipping and three generations of chemical tankers, Jo Tankers is a company with a proud history, dedicated employees and high performance.

Throughout its past it has offered high quality transportation, and been able to meet the stringent customer requirements.

Despite its size, it has been able to be in the forefront delivering results.

But the future always brings challenges, and sometimes that requires a new direction as Nils-Petter Sivertsen, CEO, explained: “The business environment requires economy of scale, global capacities and increased service flexibility. In each of these areas Jo Tankers has reached the limit of our capabilities. The move from regional partner to global player would require a partner who shared our values and long term thinking.”

In a transaction announced as recently as July 18th (and still subject to competition authority approval, with a decision expected before the end of September 2016) an agreement has been signed with Stolt Nielsen to purchase Jo Tankers AS. “We are proud that a quality company like Stolt wanted to purchase our business,” added Nils-Petter. Stolt emerged as the best buyer after an open international process, and will

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Scanjet

Scanjet focuses on packages for Intelligent Tank Management (ITAMA) has lately been well received among the chemical tanker operators where Scanjet’s equipment is integrated into one system covering: • Level Gauging in cargo and ballast tanks as well as draft • Pressure measurement in tanks and lines • Temperature measurement in HFO tanks and cargo tanks • High Level Overfill alarms (HLOA) for cargo tanks • Tank Cleaning solution enabling quick turn around when changing cargoes • P/V Valves that safeguard the tanks against over & under pressure as well as passage of flames in case of fire onboard JO Tankers has chosen Scanjet as the suppler for the above NB to its ongoing new buildings at NTS in China.

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acquire the Jo Tankers organisation as well as the chemical tanker ships.

As reported on the Stolt-Nielsen website, the transaction comprises 13 chemical tankers and a 50 per cent share in a joint venture with eight chemical tanker newbuildings.

The total purchase price is approximately $575 million, including the proportional share of the newbuildings in the joint venture. Funding for the transaction has

been secured through some of Stolt-Nielsen Limited’s main banks with a combination of bridge financing, secured term loans and available corporate funds.

Commenting on the transaction, Mr. Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen, Chief Executive Officer of Stolt-Nielsen Limited, said: “The transaction covers the tonnage replacement needs of our current chemical tanker fleet for the next several years. While giving us some operational savings, it adds new trade routes

Profile: jo

to our service offering, thus expanding our presence on key trade lanes and enabling us to better serve the needs of our global customer base. With the expanded fleet we will be better positioned to serve our customers with the quality, reliability and flexibility they require from their logistical provider. Because Stolt Tankers and Jo Tankers share similar approaches to ship management and trading, we will be able to quickly, cost effectively and synergistically

integrate these ships into our worldwide operations.�

The 13 chemical tankers consist of eight all stainless steel ships, ranging from 19,000 dwt to 38,000 dwt, and five ships with a combination of stainless steel and coated tanks, all of approximately 37,000 dwt. Six of the 13 ships have been on time charter to Stolt Tankers for the last five years. The newbuildings included in the transaction consist of eight all stainless steel eco-friendly

tankers

Garrets

Garrets provide a better standard of living at sea. Being the leading provision and stores management partner, we serve more than 1600 vessels around the world with high focus on quality based on an agreed daily rate. We guide each vessel via healthy menu planning, offer cookbooks for every crew nationality, perform on-board galley audits and provide training programs for chefs.

With our global purchasing power, we support substantial logistic cost savings for our customers handling their spare parts in co-operation with our global logistics partners.

Garrets - your partner at sea.

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Profile: JO

TANKERS

ships of 33,000 dwt on order from New Times Shipbuilding in China, the first of which was delivered in early July 2016.

The seven remaining newbuildings are to be delivered in the second half of 2016 and in 2017.

It is no surprise that a company such as

Jo Tankers would make an appealing partner, as its rich heritage in shipping and its reputation for the safe transport of high value chemicals and liquids set it apart from the competition. Historically the organisation prided itself on a clear set of values, cleverly using the acronym S.H.I.P in order to make them memorable. They stood for: Safety and Environmental Care. These were top priorities, and could not be compromised on. Jo Tankers remained firmly committed to achieving ‘zero incidents and zero spills’ in its operations through use of risk analysis procedures and continuous improvement processes.

Human Resources: People were considered its most important assets. As stated on the website: ‘We value our colleagues and we believe they are the best in the business.

We are committed to recruiting and training the highest quality personnel, because we believe that only the best people can deliver the best result.’

Integrity – this is required and demanded in all business dealings, with the aim to conduct all negotiations and operations with honesty and professionalism. All Jo Tankers employees were expected to follow a published Code of Conduct, and to act within the law at all times.

Profitability – this is always important and Jo Tankers strived to work cost effectively, and to deliver long term value to stakeholders and customers.

These are business values that can be appreciated in almost any industry, and must have contributed to making Jo Tankers an attractive proposition to Stolt-Nielsen.

As the company now evolves into a new chapter of its life, its management and staff can always be proud of its achievements.

These included some pioneering innovations such as the introduction of the first tanker with stainless cargo tanks back in 1960 and by introducing the first large double hull chemical parcel tanker in 1993. Jo Tankers always worked towards creating better and more advanced ships and systems for further improvements in quality, safety and efficiency of its operations, and that solid foundation can only benefit its new owners in the future.

Jo Tankers www.jotankers.com

• Organisation and chemical tankers business recently acquired by Stolt-Nielsen • Established a reputation for innovation and excellence • Transaction brings multiple benefits to Stolt-Nielsen

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Profile: Luka

Koper/Port of Koper

Positive

pulse

A

relatively young port that was established in 1957, Port of Koper lies on 280 hectares of land and utilises 12 specialised terminals in the Obalno-Kraska (CoastalKarst) region; though small in size, this area of Slovenia is among the most developed in terms of economic conditions. Leaving an impact on the development of the ObalnoKraska region is Luka Koper, a public limited company that operates as the operator/ authority of the port and thus provides the region with a positive and dynamic economic pulse. “Luka Koper, port and logistic system, d.d., is a public limited company that develops and manages the Port of Koper, the only Slovenian seaport of high strategic interest. We operate all 12 specialised terminals in the port and handle all types

of cargo, such as containers, cars and Ro-Ro, various general cargo products, dry bulk, liquid bulk and passengers. Our main advantage is our organisation; Luka Koper is acting both as a terminal operator and as port authority and because we are managing operations on all 12 terminals in the port area, this brings us many synergic effects. The result of this is a higher level of flexibility and reliability when it comes to port services,� begins Mr Dragomir Matic, President of Luka Koper.

Because it is multi-purpose, Port of Koper offers services to a broad spectrum of cargo groups, however, its core business comes from handling, storage and offering of complete logistics and transport services, either directly or through its partners.

Recognised as the largest container port in the North Adriatic, the port handles an

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Our vision is clear, we would like to become a leading port operator and global logistics solutions provider for the countries of central and Eastern Europe annual cargo of 20 million tonnes.

Not only benefiting from the diversity of its operations, Port of Koper is also the Northern most Adriatic port, which provides the shortest and cheapest inland transport route between Koper and all of the key central and Eastern European markets. “The Port of Koper has a strategic geographic position in the North Adriatic region and therefore important opportunities for servicing its central European markets,” explains Dragomir. “It represents the shortest link from the Far East via Suez to Europe, with a distance that is approximately 2000 nautical miles shorter when compared to other North European ports; this consequently enables a shorter transit time of around five days. The advantage of this is the optimisation of the whole supply chain, making it more efficient and lean, with substantial cost and time savings for the customer.”

Previously featured in Shipping & Marine magazine in October 2011, the Port of Koper has undergone a series of investments over the last five years; this includes completing the dredging of the port basin along the container terminal quayside, which now reaches a sea depth of 15 metres. “This investment means we are now able to berth larger and fully loaded vessels,” says Dragomir.

“Additionally, we have increased the container terminal stacking areas for both full and empty containers and added five new terminal railway sidings, each of which is 750 metres in length.

Furthermore, new handling equipment has been ordered or already purchased and, in the last few months, we have increased our finished vehicles storage capacity and improved our conventional cargo handling facilities. By the final quarter of 2016, we shall also complete the construction of three new tanks for jet fuel storage.”

No stranger to investment, Luka Koper began an important investment cycle worth 300 million euros in 2015, which is due for completion by 2020.

“We are aware of the market potential of

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Profile: Luka

the port and must adapt to our customers increasingly demanding requirements.

Around 235 million euros will be allocated into the container terminal alone; we have also ordered new super post panamax shore-to-ship gantry cranes, which will be able to handle containers on vessels of up to 20,000 TEUs capacity; the expected delivery of these cranes is the final quarter of 2017,” says Dragomir.

On top of this, Luka Koper aims to invest in finished vehicle handling facilities, new parking areas and additional railway tracks on the car terminals and a new dedicated berth for car-carriers. “In the next two years, we also plan to construct a multi-purpose warehouse on Pier II, which will be used for storing general cargoes and dry bulk cargoes. A new entrance to the port should also be constructed to alleviate the traffic at the existing gates,” adds Dragomir.

By continuously investing in port infrastructure and equipment the company has been able to increase the overall capacities of the port year-on-year; a trend it hopes to continue in the future, as Dragomir comments: “The total throughput of the port

Koper/Port of Koper

in 2015 was 20.7 million tonnes, including 790,000 TEU and 607,000 car units; these numbers make the Port of Koper the largest container terminal in the Adriatic and one of the largest car terminals in the Mediterranean. For containers, we plan to increase the current annual capacity of 950,00 TEU to 1.3 million TEU by 2020.”

With a busy period of investment ahead, the Port of Koper is certain to go from strength to strength over the coming years as it continues to listen to and respond to the evolving demands of its diverse

customer base. “Our vision is clear, we would like to become a leading port operator and global logistics solutions provider for the countries of central and Eastern Europe,” concludes Dragomir.

Luka Koper/Port of Koper www.luka-kp.si

• Slovenia’s only multi-purpose sea port • Luka Koper works as operator/port authority • Due to begin significant expansion and investment programme

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Profile: hEPWORTH

A clear

vision D

Multi purpose plugins

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ating as far back as the 19th century Hepworth International has a rich history, and has been under the management of the Eddy family since the early 20th century, therefore longevity is something that the company does not lack. It has a record of diversification, having started out as a manufacturer for carpet chemicals, and then progressing to be the global leader in the design and production of windscreen wiping systems. It has gone on to offer these services to both the marine and rail industries, which is something it continues to this day, and has gone on to expand the business into new markets.

In June 2015, Hepworth announced the acquisition of Monitor Marine International, a privately owned company established 30 years ago to develop and manufacture a wide range of high quality, precision-engineered stainless steel marine deckware and interior fittings for super yacht and quality volume boat builders. This acquisition is a sign of the direction and ambition of the company, and demonstrates how the business is continuing its historic tradition of looking to the future and investing in it. CEO Jonathan Eddy went into

greater detail about this: “We have moved production from Monitor Marine’s side and brought it to our factories, which has meant most of the actual manufacturing is in-house.

Something else we have done with this new part of the business is extend the range quite significantly, with additional items, to make it more attractive to our customers across the world.” Jonathan also explained what had motivated the purchase: “I could see over a number of years that Monitor Marine wasn’t really expanding, and I thought we could add a significant amount to it, through the company’s manufacturing, and world wide sales distribution – we export 80 per cent of what we make around the globe, from China, America, Singapore, South America, and many more.”

The purchase of Monitor Marine is not the only investment Hepworth has made to secure a increasingly profitable future, there have also been large investments in a new factory that will be added to the existing one, and an expansion of the fabrication division, as well as increasing the sales team. Jonathan built on this: “We are doing a lot of fabrication work now for the marine industry. From basic parts molded into the hulls, to all the polished

Spaceframe deckhousing

stainless steel, and the glossy dips you see on the outside. We have been expanding this side of the business quite a lot over the last couple of years, and we will continue to do so.” The improvements achieved with the new factory is something else Jonathan highlighted: “We invested three quarters of a million on a new much larger high speed plant, which will not replace the previous one but instead be in addition. It will provide greater output and value – it increases the size of material we can cut for our main industry, such as stainless steel and aluminum, and this was on top of the three new CNC machines we bought.”

This impressive amount of reinvestment in improving what the business can offer is no doubt a sign that Hepworth has built on the success of the last 150 years.

There are many notable contracts that Hepworth has worked on, in a wide variety of markets - the company provides for Navies, super yachts, cruise ships, and many other vessels. One example is in April 2016, of the HSSV for the Oman Royal Navy, which Hepworth fitted with a wiper system. Another is in May 2016, the company provided the world’s largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Sea, with wynn straight-line wipers. There

are countless illustrations of what Hepworth can do, but Jonathan singled out one recent accomplishment: “There had been one big issue, heavy ships windows have been getting bigger and bigger, and windscreen wipers had not been able to meet that. So we have developed, tested, and now put into production a wiper system that can go up to two metres in length, and made sure that it

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Profile: hEPWORTH

Pull-up cleats

Articulated awning

has the same reliability that all our products have.” The dependability of Hepworth products is crucial to the cost effectiveness of shipping, as windscreen wipers is a safety related item, and this was something Jonathan did outline: “There have been quite a few occasions where ships have come into a port, and the authorities have said until you get your windscreen wipers working we aren’t going to let you back out, and that is expensive, which is why we place such importance on our products consistency.”

Having had a year that saw Hepworth experience over five per cent growth, and around one and a half million pounds invested in plant equipment, as well as expansion of the sales office, the plan for the company in the next few years is right to be ambitious. This is something that Jonathan did sketch out: “Currently we have a turn over of £15 million, and are hoping to get £24 million next year, and then to £30 million the year after that. In order to achieve this we have invested in people, methods, and being able to get the quote and product to the customer as quickly as possible.” The improvements to production and delivery time was something Jonathan expanded on: “The turnaround time used to be between 10 to 12 weeks, but we have now got it down to a matter of days. We can take an order on the Monday, ship it out by the Wednesday, and have it arrive in China by the Friday – we do not turn down a delivery challenge unless it really is impossible.”

Hepworth is a name that has lasted for well over a century, and it shows no signs of dwindling in another century. In fact, it is quite the opposite, under the current leadership the company has backed a policy of innovation and expansion. It has a growing list of accomplishments such as the new larger windscreen wipers, and a market dominance that is only on the increase, Hepworth appears to be one company that won’t be wiped away.

Hepworth www.b-hepworth.com • Bigger design for bigger ships • Expanding the company • Improving the speed of the service

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Profile: Port

of Constantza

Constant

success C

onstantza has a rich history that can be traced back to the 6th century BC, and it has often been at the centre of a changing European environment due to its position that provides access into the Black Sea and to the Mediterranean. However, now it is time for the port, for Romania, and for the whole of Europe, to fully realise what this harbour can become. Its position is ideal for offering access to either sea it is located near, facilitating trade, and welcoming tourists to Romania and the rest of the region.

Constantza has already displayed over its history as being important, as a port does not remain in place after many millenniums without being very significant.

The port of Constantza has undergone a large amount of development in the past few years, which have aimed to utilise the advantageous geographical position

to solidify the port as one of the greatest hubs in Europe. The impressive amount of investment that has gone into the port from the EU and the Romanian State demonstrates how crucial Constantza is to the continent.

The improvements have taken the form of many projects; these have ranged from infrastructure improvements to developments made to the port itself. CEO Valeriu Ionescu gave an overview of some of these: “A road bridge has been built across the DanubeBlack Sea canal, which links the north and south ports of Constantza together, and it is the biggest structure of this type in Romania.

Another example is the development of the rail capacity in the area, which provides the optimum and unitary service for the present and future port operations. A third investment is Constantza’s north breakwater extension, this has increased

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Valeriu Ionescu

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ships’ safety through protecting fairways of the ships and reducing the destructive effects of waves over port precincts works.

Lastly, there has been the master plan of the port, it represents a strategic planning for the medium- and long-term until 2040 ensuring the continuous port development with efficient use and operation, orientated

towards the real requirements of the market, and within the context of competition with other ports.� There are further plans to embark on dredging projects and continued modernisation developments, these will ensure the port can meet the requirements of larger ships and maintain a safe harbour for all.

Profile: Port

The port facilitates the traffic of significant amounts of goods in the region, and during 2015 it registered over 56 million tonnes which was an increase on the previous year.

The prominence of Constantza in this market was something Valeriu explained: “The port has gained the hub position for grains in the Black sea basin - the spectacular evolution in this field is owed to the investment in new storage capacities. Thus within the total traffic of 2015, agribulk represented 34.8 per cent, crude oil 11.7 per cent, various commodities 12.2 per cent, oil products 9.2 per cent, and solid mineral fuels 5.7 per cent. During the first six months of 2016, an increase of nine per cent in the quantity of containerised cargo traffic, respectively eight per cent increase of the number of TEUs as compared with the same period of time in 2015.” While becoming the hub for the Black Sea might be rightfully significant, the Port is not stopping there, and has plans to become the main transit hub of Central and Eastern Europe for Central Asia.

The port has demonstrated its ability to entice ships, and puts on quite a show for those that visit, which Valeriu built upon: “Romanian and foreign tourists will be able to fully enjoy exceptional events, such as the 2016 Black Sea tall ship regatta that spans across September and October, it is an exciting and unique opportunity for people to come admire and visit the beautiful sail ships.” The port has entrenched its place as the number one destination of the Black Sea for large cruise ships, and Valeriu gave some examples of those that the port has interested: “The Royal Clipper, a luxurious sail ship has called at Constantza twice this year, and the port has received her like a star of the seas with brass band music and an attractive programme for the tourists aboard.

There is also the Silver Whisper cruise ship which has made two calls at the port, and

has confirmed for the 2018 cruise season.”

The prominence of Constantza in the industry is underlined by its representation at the 48th general assembly of the Medcruise association.

The port has an ideal location, perfect to attract both tourists and commercial traffic, and with such ambitious investment already happening and more planned, there is little more that could be done to improve the future prospects for Constantza. It seems to be solidifying its position as a hub for goods, and an ideal location for tourists to visit,

of Constantza

which is an impressive combination to achieve. The port has come a long way from the one the Greeks or Romans knew, or even the port it was at the turn of the 21st century, everything suggests that it will continue to evolve into an even more impressive maritime hub.

Port of Constantzawww.jotankwww.portofconstantza.com • Massive investments • Improved infrastructure • Attracting new cruise ships

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Profile: pd

ports

Freight

expectations P

D Ports is an award-winning ports and logistics business based in northeast England with locations throughout the UK. Employing around 1250 members of staff, the organisation owns and operates the ports of Teesport and Hartlepool as well as the short sea ports of Howden, Keadby and Medina Wharf on the Isle of Wight; it is also the largest stevedoring and warehousing company within the port of Immingham (Humber Estuary) and offers customer solutions at a number of other key locations such as Felixstowe, Scunthorpe, Billingham and the Thames.

Acquired in July 2015 to expand its Humber presence, Groveport, a privately owned inland port complex on the River Trent, is the most recent addition to PD Ports’ portfolio. Due to its handling of a mix of bulk cargoes throughout its 190 acre freehold site, Groveport has a dominant position in the UK’s market for imported steel long products.

With a long-established market position

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in key sectors and highly competent and experienced team of employees, Groveport was an excellent strategic addition to PD Port’s existing business portfolio and is certain to be a major asset for strengthening PD Ports’ Humber activities over the next few years. Today the Immingham terminal facility handles steels and associated products, forestry products, minerals, wind energy components and biomass; it also provides clients with the following services: bulk cargo, containers, warehousing, shipping and inspection services, chartering, jetty management, ships agency and freight forwarding. The terminal handles in excess of one million tonnes of cargo per annum and has project cargo and heavy lift specialists available.

With 40 million consumers located within a four hour drive of its location, Immingham terminal has ensured it is able to offer key facilities on a vast scale. As such, it has the largest general and project cargo stevedore in the port, 535,000 square feet of covered warehousing, is a London Metal

Exchange warehouse, boasts a board range of open storage compounds and provides on-site transshipment and cargo devanning services.

While Immingham, much like many of PD Port’s businesses, goes from strength to strength, Teesport remains the jewel in the crown of PD Ports’ operations – it is the second largest container port in the north of the UK, and handles 38 million tonnes of throughput per annum and around 5000 vessel calls each year. PD Ports is the statutory harbour authority at Teesport and is responsible for managing the river traffic for the ports of Tees and Hartlepool, ensuring safe navigation and maintaining the required channel depth.

Located less than a mile from the mouth of the River Tees, this deep-water facility has a natural marine opening, which provides lockfree access to the North Sea. Alongside this benefit, Teesport is well served by road and rail services, with direct access to the A66 Trans-Pennine East and West routes and A19/A1 M1 national motorway links for North

of covered warehousing and substantial open storage areas; more than three million square feet of portcentric warehousing in operation, private rail sidings capable of handling a comprehensive range of cargoes and extensive open storage compounds that are capable of handling vehicles such as cars, heavy good vehicles and machinery.

Services available at Teesport include bulk cargo, containers, shipping and inspection services, chartering, jetty management, freight forwarding, river management, contract logistics and project cargo.

Keen to maintain its competitive edge as an award-winning ports and logistics company, the company announced the completion of its £35 million redevelopment of Teesport’s number one quay. Declared open for business at Breakbulk Europe 2016, the 550m deep water quay means the company now owns and operates some of the deepest general cargo berths in the UK and is now capable of accommodating two fully laden 235 metre long panamax vessels

simultaneously in water 14.5 metres deep.

Following this investment, Teesport will be able to take bigger vessels, both for import and export, which will drive down freight costs for its customers. Due to the quay’s design, there is also capacity to further deepen the berth pockets in the future, should development be required.

As ships continue to get bigger and carry increasing amounts of cargo, PD Ports will continue to improve its facilities while also expanding on its portcentric concept to ensure continued growth in all sectors. Looking ahead, the company will also become more engaged in the energy sector, particularly wind and biomass, and seek out further opportunities to develop its successful and profitable business.

PD Ports www.pdports.co.uk

• Award-winning ports and logistics business • UK’s third largest seaport • Has invested £35 million in Number One Quay

and South. This is complemented by direct rail links via the East Coast Main Line and Trans-Pennine routes to all areas of the UK. Handling more than 5000 vessels per year and approximately 40 million tonnes of cargo, the Teesport estate covers some 779 acres and plays an integral role in the wider industrial area as steel, petrochemical, agribulks, manufacturing, high street commerce and engineering operations are all supported through this port. On top of this, the port supports a growing renewable energy sector, in both production and assembly facilities, all of which use its warehousing, logistics and superiors supply chain expertise.

Known for its versatility and adaptability, Teesport is able to offer a diverse range of facilities to customers that include two container terminals, each compromising of two berths, three general cargo berths that handle a variety of commodities including steel, dry cargo and project cargoes; three Ro-Ro berths, two within the main port and one river berth, over two million square feet

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Profile: Sea2Cradle

Ships reincarnated T

he vast ships that are built and set off to sail receive great uproar when they leave but what happens once they are no longer fit for purpose?

The structures are massive, built with useful and valuable materials, but many ships will have parts that can contain harmful materials, which need to be handled and removed with care, rather than left to further degrade and potentially cause a great deal of harm. This is essentially where Sea2Cradle applies its trade, it offers a service that will take apart and recycle ships that are no longer wanted or needed.

Sea2Cradle continues to hold a brilliant safety record - of zero accidents - considering the company has worked on over 114 vessels this is an impressive feat to have achieved and maintained. The company recycles old ships, which can mean working with hazardous materials that may have degraded within in an aging ship, and yet Sea2Cradle can boast not a single accident or incident. The company finds the appropriate yards to perform the recycling for

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each ship, taking a tailored approach rather than one size fits all, and this means that the correct infrastructure is always in place to deal with the right materials. It also manages to achieve this by having extensive training for staff that takes place within the classroom and on site so that its people understand the theory and practical sides of safety. The company’s record on this is so strong that it has training facilities on best practice and safety as well.

A vessel’s final journey can be a complicated process. Sea2Cradle has both the experience and the contacts to take care of everything between a ship’s last commercial port and the recycling yard. It works with a set procedures and checklists to ensure that every part of the process is handled with care. From pre-cleaning the ship and dismantling the vessel, to recycling materials and carefully disposing of waste, Sea2Cradle can supervise the entire ship recycling process. Based on an inventory of hazardous materials (IHM), it will relate a unique ship-recycling plan for every vessel,

which is fully compliant with the Hong Kong Ship Recycling Convention as well as the latest regulations.

New EU legislation means that only facilities on the European List will be approved ship recyclers for EU ships. Sea2Cradle has the experience and knowledge to help companies meet the standards needed to get onto the list. It can help those regionally, but also abroad, such as China or Turkey, to navigate the legislation, something that managing director Tom Peter Blankestijn continued: “We can guide and help them with what is needed, and make sure that it is all properly followed up on and not dumped somewhere or dealt with in an improper way.

They have to ensure that no materials will end up doing any harm to the environment and people – so if you want to be placed on that list they have to know that the facilities and people they are using are doing a proper job.”

Tom expanded on some other developments around the EU regulations: “There will also be new rules that will be enforced – which requires all ships calling in

and in order to achieve this legislation is being implemented – a trend that is unlikely to change. Therefore, the role played by Sea2Cradle is going to become increasingly crucial to shipping across the world. The company has benefited from changes in the energy sector – causing more ships to be surplus to requirement and requiring breaking down and recycling. As a result of the changes to EU regulations, and other

legislation, Sea2Cradle will no doubt follow through on ambitions to double its projects in the next four years. Sea2Cradle represents the modernisation of the shipping industry, combining a business side of the sector with the sustainability side, it presents a vision for how the 21st industry will be approached – efficiently and sustainably.

Sea2Cradle www.sea2cradle.com

• Upsurge in demand • New EU legislation • Still a zero accident record

EU ports to have an inventory of hazardous materials on board of those ships from 2020.

So that is not only in relation to vessels with an EU nations flag, but for all ships calling at these ports. That has a global reach, rather than it being regional legislation that only affects those in Europe, it will likely affect ship owners across the world.” In anticipation of the upcoming growth in demand for IHMs Sea2Cradle has recently been certified as Lloyd’s Register’s approved supplier of IHMs to take it to the next level.

Sea2Cradle has seen an increase in demand due to the current situation within the oil and gas sector, which had been predicted by Tom in the previous article with Shipping & Marine, and was something Tom expanded on once more: “The offshore industry is looking at phasing out some of its structures, so we see platforms, we see storage units, but also supply vessels, all being seriously looked at to be phased out.

So we have seen an increase in activity in that area, and I see it continuing in the future.”

Luckily, the service Sea2Cradle provides exists otherwise the downturn in the oil and gas sector could have had even longer lasting consequences, where old ships were poorly discarded - causing vast impacts on the environment and people.

The world of shipping is seeing a change in focus, there is a growing ambition to reduce the impact on the environment,

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Profile: Gibraltar

Port Authority

Harbouring

success

T

he Gibraltar Port Authority was established in 2005. Its strategy is to build on Gibraltar’s unique geographical position, and provide a vital link between all shipping stakeholders in order to deliver the best possible service to visiting ships, in a safe and efficient operating environment. As part of delivering this core function, it manages safety of navigation, as well as regulating the various activities that are carried out in its waters. Notable among these is the regulation of the bunkering industry, for which the Port attracts international recognition for best practice. The vision for

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the future builds on this success, and extends this level of partnership and transparency to all sectors of the industry at the port.

The Port has managed to develop a strong position after what proved to be a positive 2015. The Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) has seen increases across the board, which is something that Commodore Bob Sanguinetti outlined: “In the year 2015 we have seen growth in almost all sectors of port activity.

This comes against the backdrop of increased regional competition, and in the wake of a number of years that have seen a slight reduction in activity following the economic

crisis of the last decade. We have seen great activity ranging from the total tonnage that has come into Gibraltar, and the number of vessels that have used the port, both for bunkers and in general.” Continuing on from this Bob gave further details about some of the increases that have been seen: “The number of cruise ships is up by 13 per cent and the number of super yachts is up by over 50 per cent on the previous year - the growth across most sectors has been really pleasing.”

The GPA has managed to achieve this growth by taking a multifaceted approach, and Bob shed some light on the kind of avenues

that have been explored: “We introduced a reinvigorated marketing campaign which focused on one-to-one engagement with ship owners and operators. We have also increased our attendance at conferences and exhibitions. Operationally, by working closely with the shipping agents, bunker suppliers and other port operators, we have become more efficient in the busy bay, improving turnaround times, and reducing ship-waiting times to a minimum. More widely, we are also considering plans to further increase land based storage of marine fuels, which would increase our capacity and our resilience.”

In June 2016, at an exhibition in Greece the Gibraltar Port Authority co-hosted a stand with bunker suppliers and other port operators.

This style of marketing is something it has pursued with great success, highlighting the extremely close working relationships across the Gibraltar port community. The GPA is also delighted to be hosting this year’s annual IBIA (International Bunker Industry Association) convention in Gibraltar in November 2016 - a clear indication of the port’s reputation and standing on the global stage. The convention will be an opportunity to engage with global shipping partners, which will help ensure that the port further grows its popularity and reputation, particularly as the premier bunker port in the Mediterranean and as a maritime centre of excellence. The importance of building these personal and professional connections is something Bob

We have seen great activity ranging from the total tonnage that has come into Gibraltar, and the number of vessels that have used the port, both for bunkers and in general

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Profile: Gibraltar

values extremely highly: “We value personal relationships, those that want to use Gibraltar can put a name to a face rather than just a business card. They can communicate with us directly or indirectly, but either way it better allows us to understand their needs and to then tailor our services for them. We want to work closely with the local port community and international shipping community to provide the best possible service.”

Continuing on from a very strong year, the GPA has many more plans, which include further expansion for on-land facilities that will increase storage capacity. The improvements to the port are something Bob highlighted: “We have improved the vessel management system, which has helped provide a more efficient working environment without having to compromise on safety of navigation which is and will always be a fundamental objective.

We are also relocating the port office to provide it with a great vantage point over the Strait of Gibraltar and the bay, to help oversee the busiest areas.” There is also a continued commitment to expanding the premium bunkering service provided at this port, which Bob gave an example of: “We are currently improving the infrastructure for bunkering alongside existing jetties for smaller vessels, cruise ships, and super yachts. We have also increased the occupancy of the eastern anchorage, by introducing a cheaper tariff to encourage vessels to stay for longer periods and carry out crew changes, light maintenance, surveys and provisioning. This has led to a pleasing increase in the number of ships taking advantage of this great facility.”

Gibraltar for centuries has been one of the most fought over places in Europe, due to

its strategic location at the entrance of the Mediterranean. The Gibraltar Port Authority has been able to use this lucrative position for economic purposes, appealing to private yacht owners, as well as to large shipping companies. The port knows its strengths and has made clear efforts to accentuate them, along with the provision of a variety of services to all types of vessel. Gibraltar Port Authority is carving out a well-respected position in what is a competitive industry. With all the improvements, and increase in popularity, combined with its advantageous geographical location, it seems perfectly positioned for further growth and success.

Gibraltar Port Authority www.gibraltarport.com

Port Authority

We are currently improving the infrastructure for bunkering alongside existing jetties for smaller vessels, cruise ships, and super yachts. We have also increased the occupancy of the eastern anchorage, by introducing a cheaper tariff to encourage vessels to stay for longer periods and carry out crew changes, light maintenance, surveys and provisioningal

• Increase in business • Improvements to the port • Involvement in international conferences

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Profile: europLan

engineering LTD

Grand

plans

E

uroplan Engineering Ltd is a leading project management company within the marine industry in Finland.

At its core, there is a focus on solving challenging turnkey deliveries in both domestic and foreign shipyards. Europlan’s business strategy is based on a turnkey supply concept that offers its customers complete solutions – that start from the planning stages right through to the design and material procurement, and then finally onto the installation and post-delivery support.

One of the company’s key strengths that it has forged a reputation for over the years is its strong understanding of the industry it works in. What it does is all based on a strong in-house expertise and cost-effective project management, as well as working with a wide range of co-operation partners, which allows it to find the very best solutions for every customer and every requirement.

There are a number of areas and sectors that Europlan provides its expertise for, all of which the company takes great pride in supporting. Europlan’s complete turnkey delivery includes all the necessary steps needed in the marine field, from design,

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project management, installation of ventilation, piping, cable trays and cables, insulation furniture, together with material procurement and post-delivery support. The company aims to begin involvement in the project at the earliest possible stage, and it is ready to work as close to the customer as possible in order to find the best solutions to all matters related to design, supply, and installation.

Europlan specialises in turnkey projects within cabin and public areas. For cabin projects, it has been involved in both passenger and crew cabin areas, and has also developed a strong experience through working with onsite build suites.

It also has public area projects that include numerous casinos, restaurants, bars, pantries, dining rooms and conference spaces. The work Europlan does in shipping also extends to refurbishments and conversions. The company has experience in international conversion and refurbishment projects for Luxury Cruise Liners dating back to 1999, and it includes hundreds of new or refurbished cabins and bathrooms, as well as thousands of square feet of public spaces with design and technical deliveries included.

Its skilful project management, as well as the flexible subcontracting network makes it possible for the company to carry out multiple projects at same time all over the world. The company is ready to start the work already at the architectural design phase – it also offers 3D rendering materials to support the refurbishment and conversion planning.

Material procurement and installation will then follow and everything ends with a high quality post-delivery support.

Europlan also offers its services to the offshore industry, both in design services and turnkey deliveries. In terms of design – its delivery can include complete project supervision, basic and advanced design and drawings, as well as material procurement or other tailor-made combinations. Europlan has a wide network of ship design companies, and its global network includes over 250 designers from various marine engineering fields. Within its turnkey delivery, Europlan can once again provide everything from start to finish, ensuring that all of its customers are provided with the peace of mind in knowing that the project is being handled by an experienced and talented group that will find the best outcome for each

Hermann’s has CNC machines for glass, stone, metal and wood, and in addition, a top-class surface treatment station and 3D design system for interior solutions.

Hermann’s strengths are modular and intelligent interior components and furniture as well as 3D planning and modern CNC manufacturing machines.

Europlan holds itself to the highest standard - it should therefore come as no surprise that the company provides some of the leading supply contracts for its industry.

Regardless of what sector its customers are in, be it shipbuilding, offshore, industry, or construction, Europlan is a reliable solutions provider, that will find its customers the best outcome for every project.

Within its turnkey

delivery, Europlan can once again provide everything from start to finish, ensuring that all of its customers are provided with the peace of mind in knowing that the project is being handled by an experienced and talented group that will find the best outcome for each and every project

Europlan Engineering Ltd www.europlan.fi • Vast experience • Modern equipment • Tailored solutions

and every project. The third area that Europlan plies its service is within industry - it can offer all of the same range of options, from design up to post-delivery support.

Europlan is able to do this as it already has over a decade of experience in designing high quality paper machine hoods for the paper industry, containers for the chemical industry, and making layouts and piping charts. It also delivers expertise for duct work, machine hall ventilation, fan rooms, heat receiver towers, service platforms, floor hatches, pulp dryers, air dryers and infra dyers. It does this with all the determination as it does any other industry or any other project, Europlan always ensures a project gets the best people working on it. The company offers the same high quality services to all of these areas, and takes great pride in being involved throughout an entire project – seeing it through to its successful completion.

The final area that Europlan provides for is the construction industry. These services are provided by its affiliate company Hermann’s Finland Ltd. This company is a production technology company that specialises in demanding interior solutions. In its workshop

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Profile: Sure

Wind Marine Ltd.

Crew transfer

vessels

S

ure Wind Marine Ltd. (SureWind) is a shipping company which was established in 2009 in the UK, in order to provide crew, technician and cargo transfers as well as other support services for the construction and maintenance of offshore wind parks. Since its formation, SureWind has continued to expand its presence within the offshore wind market and today represents an important partner to developers, operators, OEMs as well as EPCI and O+M providers within this increasingly buoyant sector. The company’s clients include industry leading companies such as Vattenfall, VBMS, RWE Innogy, MHI Vestas, WPD, Siemens to name a few. “SureWind has been active within the offshore market for seven years now, making us one of the first companies to provide specialist services for offshore wind.

As of 2016 we have ten on shore employees within the company and around 40 crew rotating on our ten classed approved crew transfer vessels (CTV). We initially began by providing services for

Damen Twin Axe 2610 - Sure Swift

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offshore wind farms around the UK, but have since expanded the business to include German, Danish, Dutch and Belgian sites with ca. 150,000 safe transfers up to now,” mentions Managing Director, Ektor Kalathas. “The company’s strong presence within the UK as well as in continental Europe, with operating offices in both regions, represents a significant advantage for the business. SureWind also has a strong and proven track record at a variety of offshore sites with different environmental conditions and with variable clients within the offshore wind industry,” he continues. “This proven company capabilities is supported by the fact that we are having several repeat customers, who continue to be entirely satisfied by the level of service that they receive including customer orientation, flexibility, safety and reliability.”

The SureWind fleet is comprised of three complementary CTV vessel designs that each delivers a unique service to the clients as well as one survey vessel.

20m P Class - Sure Partner

These designs are made up of the cost-efficient and highly manoeuvrable 20m Incat Crowther P Class vessels; the versatile ‘2610 Damen Twin Axe’ vessels capable for working in very rough weather conditions; and the robust and reliable ‘26m Nigel Gee StratCat’ vessels with controllable pitch propellers (CPP) and the capability to carry up to 24 technicians while remaining fuel efficient even at high speeds.

“Since the beginning of 2016 we have added two new 26-metre ‘StratCat’ vessels to the fleet. The main reasons that we opted for these vessels was that we wanted to increase the capacity of our Stratcat 26 - Sure Dynamic

fleet to transfer persons from 12 to 24. SureWind has been the first company in the market to have these vessels certified under the new issued code of the UK flag state and these vessels were also the first ones to receive the certificate of equivalence to work in the German sector carrying also 24 persons. Both flag states have been very helpful and co-operative in this approach opening the ground for cost reductions in this sector as less CTVs may be used for specific operations.

“The CPP system provides the vessel with an 18t bollard pull, as well as the high end Sea-sight fender at the vessel bow which allows technicians and equipment transfers during more extreme weather conditions,” Ektor reveals. “Furthermore, we aimed to foresee larger deck space areas on both the fore and aft decks of the vessels and to have larger fuel tanks for extended endurance offshore to increase client flexibility. Lastly with our own defined internal lay out, we aimed to provide even more comfortable accommodation environment for the passengers. These vessels have been successfully integrated into the fleet and have been involved with projects since the very first day that they were delivered.”

As the offshore wind market continues to develop, SureWind will work further to ensure that it remains able to meet the evolving needs of its clients while expanding its presence within the offshore market.

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Profile: Sure

Wind Marine Ltd.

Stratcat 26 - Sure Diamond

“The strategy for SureWind during the coming years is based on leveraging the strengths of its complementary vessels and focusing on matching the vessel types within the fleet with the client requirements of the various project conditions and operational capabilities.

“We are monitoring closely the design developments of CTVs to allow us to increase even more our capacity to manage transfers in even higher weather conditions.

We are also looking at CTV type vessels with increased accommodation capacity for passengers offshore. We are also looking at the future potential to create even longerterm partnerships, with clients to be able to support investments into further new vessels as the current day rates and project contract durations are relatively depressed, although we expect these to increase again in the future,” Ektor concludes.

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Profile: A&P

Falmouth

Expanding

horizons O

perating as part of the A&P Group’s business in the north east of England, A&P Falmouth specialises in ship repair, engineering services and fabrication.

Throughout the north east, the company is focused on delivering a safe, quality, and cost-effective and efficient service for all of its customers. The major strength of the business is derived from its personnel, both in terms of its workforce and external subcontractors that allow the A&P Group to meet its customers’ demands for a genuine seven-day-a-week service. With seven dry docks across three strategic locations in the UK at Falmouth, Tyne and Tees, A&P Group offers an extensive portfolio of services that can accommodate all ship repair requirements, ranging from emergency dockings to 25-year special surveys.

The company’s Falmouth port boasts one of the world’s largest natural deep-water harbours and represents the largest ship-

repair complex in the UK, with three large graving docks and extensive deepwater berthing that provides capacity for vessels of up to 100,000 tonnes. A&P Falmouth offers on site engineering, painting and fabrication workshops and works in collaboration with specialist contractors and OEMs, which are integrated to provide a complete range of marine and repair services to the company’s clients. In addition to its extensive workshop facilities that cover all disciplines, A&P Falmouth offers bunkering facilities, the ability to dock without gas-freeing, in-water surveys and propeller polishing. All work is carried out under rigorous compliance with an integrated safety, health, quality and environmental management system fully certified under ISO 9001, 14001 & OHSAS 18001.

While A&P Falmouth offers a comprehensive range of ship repair and engineering services, the port also plays an important role in transportation and trade.

It is wholly capable of trading vast amounts

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EAPL

EAPL works closely with its clients by integrating experienced supervisory staff with those of its customers, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the combined workforce. A great example is the relationship forged with A&P, where EAPL is the preferred supplier of skilled labour at the Falmouth yard. EAPL offers extensive repair services throughout Europe to the marine and industrial sector and also provides skilled coded welders, platers, fabricators, pipe fitters, electricians, mechanical engineers and riding gangs.

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of cargo as a busy port that handles more than 100,000 tonnes of product on an annual basis. The port’s cargo-handling operations are supported by a network of more than 30 local companies located within the docks estate area, which are ready and waiting to provide a comprehensive range of technical services. These include towage, ship’s agency, area port health, diving services, local surveyors and tank washing. In terms of its transportation services, Falmouth is viewed

as the gateway to Cornwall and is used by in excess of 40,000 cruise passengers annually.

Indeed, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines recently completed its first season of turnaround calls at A&P Falmouth as the Boudicca sailed for Liverpool during April 2016. Fred.

Olsen made its first turnaround call at A&P Falmouth in April 2016 and in a short time more than 1800 passengers had started their cruise voyages from Falmouth, with Fred. Olsen continuing to use the port for five cruise day calls during the summer season. Cruise operators will now make 24 scheduled day calls at A&P Falmouth this summer, allowing visitors to take advantage of a new and colourful cruise terminal space.

A&P Falmouth is also encouraging local businesses and traders to set up stalls within the terminal to create a market atmosphere and a real Cornish welcome, working alongside Falmouth’s cruise ambassadors, who will celebrate their 10th anniversary during summer 2016. “Fred. Olsen’s decision to use Falmouth shows the advantages we offer here, such as enabling cruise liners to travel further south in less time than from other UK ports and providing an alternative

Profile: A&P

Falmouth

boarding point for cruise lovers in the west,” says Drystan Jones, Port Operations Director for A&P Falmouth. “We’ve enjoyed a strong relationship with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines for some time and are delighted we can expect more day visits, particularly as they make such a valuable contribution to the Cornish economy. We’re really keen for local businesses to get involved and make this a community initiative.”

A&P Falmouth is proud to deliver a long-term commitment to quality, reliability and efficiency, which has enabled it to develop several long-term shiprepair partners, including P&O, Grimaldi, Condor, Gardline, Euroships, Stena UK and the Ministry of Defence, some of which have been in place for up to 15 years. The port is engaged in an ongoing multi-million pound Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract to complete the fitting out of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s new fleet of four tankers, which is scheduled for completion during February 2017. The contract has created ten new jobs in addition to six new apprenticeships and has also helped to secure a further 350 jobs on site. It has also provided a strong boost to the local economy in the wake of a challenging few years.

The port has also delivered high-quality customisation work on tide-class Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) tankers that ensures that the vessels boast state-of-the-art equipment such as communication systems, ballistic protection and upgrades that will allow the quick fitting of self-defence weapons. Once completed, the RFA will boast top-class tankers that will be able to deliver superior support to the Royal Navy as it takes on operations across the globe.

Entering into service in 2016, the tankers will maintain the Royal Navy’s ability to refuel at sea and will provide fuel to task groups and warships. As part of the contract A&P Falmouth will provide support to all four ships during service for a minimum of three years.

While A&P Falmouth continues to boast a strong order book thanks to its impressive reputation for delivering a premier standard of service, the company maintains a keen eye for finding new opportunities and projects. The port will seek to further increase its business in MoD projects and to develop its presence in the scrubber installation sector. By expanding its consumer base through new service solutions, A&P Falmouth will continue to drive strong growth and development to its shareholders and the local economy.

A&P Falmouth www.ag-group.co.uk • Specialises in ship repairs, engineering services and fabrication • Handles 100,000 tonnes of product annually • Further expanding into MoD and exhaust scrubber projects

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Profile: SCAMP

Worldwide Network

An expert

service W

ith 50 years of experience in delivering costeffective solutions that contribute to saving bunker fuels and optimising the operating performance of vessels, SCAMP has been the market leader in fuel conservation since 1971 by means of high technology underwater hull cleaning systems. Operating under the Gibunco Group of companies, SCAMP is a family-run business, which has grown from its roots to become a global player in the marine industry, providing services in underwater ship maintenance, ship agencies and is also active in the supply of fuels and lubes. The group is also effectively involved in land and property development ashore.

Today SCAMP is the most prominent private enterprise in Gibraltar and also a leader in the international market respectively. Operating from over 280 locations across the globe in the world’s major shipping routes, the SCAMP Worldwide Co-Ordination Centre provides the complete solution to its customers’ underwater problems; services include hull cleaning, propeller polishing, inspections and surveys and underwater repairs.

For customers requiring hull cleaning services, the company’s expert divers use approved and patented hull surface cleaning machines that are globally recognised as the most effective way to regenerate performance and service speed in vessels. These advanced cleaning techniques and equipment ensure there is no damage to the most delicate of anti-fouling systems, including silicone and other soft-coated paints. As a company that takes environmental protection seriously, SCAMP is 100 per cent committed to protecting the marine environment and has developed a unique approach to hull cleaning that ensures minimal ecological impact.

This tried and tested hull cleaning machinery adheres to the hull via intense suction force that is created by its central impeller, which in turn also directs fouling through its impeller tunnel and thus destroys harmful invasive marine species. The debris is then converted into a fine inactive residue that is then safely

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returned to the sea; this way of cleaning the hull, particularly major submerged hull areas, limits the impact to the local marine environment while the company’s expert divers reduce cleaning times significantly. With these benefits, SCAMP’s hull cleaning service is notably more efficient and practical than a debris collecting system.

Scamp also has ROV equipment available, which can be deployed in particular port facilities as required.

Complementing hull cleaning is the company’s inspections and surveys service, where its expert divers and technicians perform photographic hull inspections and surveys that are backed by full CCTV and DVD footage. From these inspections, the company’s technical reports provide a detailed assessment on the hull’s general condition as well as the state of the paint coating, cathodic protection and any damage to steel surface and appendages.

Alongside hull cleaning and inspection and surveys, SCAMP also offers customers propeller polishing, which reduces propeller surface roughness to a Rubert’s comparator’s scale A, which ensures optimum thrust, diminishes drag and delivers propeller hydro-efficiency when done regularly.

SCAMP’s teams can also repair propeller damage and surface erosion, reducing stress on the propeller shaft and to customers vessels engines.

Also available to customers are underwater repairs, for which the company’s expert team utilises the most up-to-date technology and advanced techniques to meet any underwater engineering challenge. Following many successful projects in this field, the company

can provide customers with a full range of marine services, from ship agency to fuel conservation and underwater engineering.

The Co-Ordination Centres are available on a 24/7 basis providing effective and professional solutions to the marine industry in general.

Even at short notice, on receipt of a customers enquiry they get to work immediately and are flexible and adaptable to customer demands, the company can mobilise an expert team anywhere at short notice while also delivering a local service.

Having built solid foundations over the last 50 years, SCAMP’s long-term expertise, innovative equipment and enviable global network will ensure it remains at the forefront of ship fuel conservation and underwater services for many years to come.

today is a leader in the underwater welding of hull cracks, patching or replacing steel plate sections, securing cracks employing modern technologies and equipment and also carry out other processes such as replacing wasted zinc anodes; sealing stern gland and blanking sea water inlets that allow for internal repairs and cropping and balancing damaged propellers.

Another service available to customers is Gibunco Group services, which further diversifies the offering available to customers.

Within the group is Gibunco Ship Agency, which has been active in the ship agency sector for more than four decades; in this time it has emerged as the largest ship agency in the Strait of Gibraltar expanding into the nearby Ceuta and Algeciras ports and the ports of Las Palmas and Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The agency today handles more than 3000 vessels per year, not only making it the region’s largest agency, but also the number

one choice for ship operators across the globe. It also operates a Co-Ordination Centre from Gibraltar along similar lines as the Scamp Network, providing customer vessels agency support on a worldwide scale.

Scamp is wholly owned by the Gibunco Group and through its close group synergies

SCAMP Worldwide Network www.scampnetwork.com • Provide cost-effective solutions to the shipping industry • Focused on saving fuels and optimising performance • Provide underwater support from over 280 locations worldwide

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Profile: Finnlines

PLC

Finnlines ship departing the Vuosaari Harbour in Helsinki

Breaking records against all

odds

Finnsteve companies handle the group’s port operations

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I

n recent years there have been a great deal of challenges for those within the European ferry and freight industry, largely due to the 2008 crash, the sluggish growth in the EU area, the EU sanctions towards Russia and the

introduction of the new Sulphur Directive inside SECA area. However, some companies have managed to weather this and come out on the other side in a good position.

Finnlines PLC is one of those companies – it is a leading shipping operator of ro-ro and passenger services in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. After these tough times, it has defended and even improved its market position and has managed to deliver best results ever in the company history – this has been due to shrewd leadership, key efficiency measures, and major investments that have all worked towards ensuring the company’s success and longevity.

The company is a part of the Grimaldi Group, one of the world’s largest operators of ro-ro vessels, and the largest operator of the motorways in the sea in Europe for both passengers and freight. This affiliation enables Finnlines to offer liner services to and from any destination in the Mediterranean, West Africa as well as the Atlantic coast

MS Finnsun

DG-Diving Group DG-Diving Group is a modern diving company, based in Finland but serving customers throughout Europe. In its more than 30 years of operation the company has focused on demanding underwater maintenance, repair and inspection services. It carries out e.g. approved and certified underwater welding and in its hull & propeller cleaning services it uses proprietary, state-of-the-art eco-friendly cleaning equipment.

For over three decades its services have supported Finnlines in its efficient and successful ship management & operation. Impeccable quality and value are key drivers for DG-Diving Group. The company has always been committed to continuous development and improvement of its processes and equipment.

of both North and South America. The company’s sea transports are concentrated in the Baltic and the North Sea. However, Finnlines’ passenger-freight vessels also offer services from Finland to Germany and via the Åland Islands to Sweden, as well as from Sweden to Germany. In addition to sea transportation, the company provides port services in Helsinki and Turku, which are the most important seaports in Finland. With its extensive route network in the Baltic and North Sea, Finnlines forms an important and integral part of the Grimaldi Group, one of

Europe’s most powerful and well-organised shipping companies.

Finnlines is made up of three business parts – there are the shipping and sea transport services, passenger services, and port operations. In the shipping and sea transport services the company derives its strong position from excellent services and a product concept tailored to its customers’ needs. Finnlines’ high frequency of departures, cargo capacity and information services contribute to flexibility, reliability and predictability to customers’ transport plans. Then there is the passenger service, and with its nine ro-pax vessels, operating between six ports in three countries, Finnlines has established its position as an important provider of passenger services in the Baltic Sea. And finally there is the port operations aspect of the company – Finnsteve companies handle the group’s port operations, and these are focused on unitised cargo services required by regular liner traffic.

The port operations are based within two locations – Helsinki and Turku. Both ports offer world-class facilities and infrastructure, and provide for ro-ro services, container

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rofile: Finnlines

PLC

MS Finnlady

Ecospray Ecospray specialises in innovative technologies for air/gas cleaning and cooling in industry and marine applications such as DeSOx, DeNOx, Soot and Particle removal systems for all kind of commercial, leisure and navy ships. The ECO-EGC systems (OPEN LOOP and HYBRID) allow the ship-owners to fully comply with the regulated emission limits both in the air and in the water in all operating conditions. Finnlines choose to install the ECO-EGC systems to achieve superior emission performance thanks to the proprietary Catalytic Filter reactor (Soot and PAH removal) positioned upstream the ECO-Sox ULTRA, the most compact sea water scrubber in the market.

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services, container terminal and depot services as well as export terminal services.

Finnlines modern and varied tonnage capacity comprises many vessel types that guarantee on-schedule liner traffic around the year. All 22 vessels are ice-classified and specially designed for northern conditions. In total, the company has invested over one billion euros into new builds and high quality second hand vessels throughout the past ten years – having an up-to-date fleet is essential for a promising future. This together with a strategic decision to only operate fully

owned vessels clearly demonstrates the modern approach taken by Finnlines over a decade ago.

Finnlines has coupled investment with efficiency and cost saving measures. After 2008, the company went through an overhaul process in which every stone was turned over to find new ways to cut costs, gain volume and simplify corporate structures. After the plans of the CEO were implemented, the next step was consolidating the breakeven results and simplifying the Finnlines structure.

Every line, every vessel, every function and every cost item was analysed to see if there was room for lowering costs and improving efficiency. Certain vessels were also sold to cut overcapacity and changes in fleet and routes increased capacity utilisation. This was done at the same time as the company took on Finnlines’ fleet’s fuel consumption, which has since decreased by almost 35 per cent due to new approaches. Finnlines’ cost saving measures also included personnel, reducing the number from 2234 in 2009 to 1588 in 2015. The result of all of these efficiency improvements was that the company now has a higher cash-flow generation that enabled the reduction of

MS Finnbreeze

interest-bearing debt from the 2012’s EUR 879 million to EUR 533.7 million at the end of 2015.

The efficiency measures also provided a focus on environmental improvements and developments, to a large extent– in 2014, Finnlines launched a EUR 100 million Environmental Technology Investment Programme. The programme that extends to the end of 2016 has so far resulted in 33 scrubbers actively in use onboard 18 of its ships. Moreover, additional energy efficiency investments concentrating on both hull friction and propulsion upgrading have been executed on half of its fleet. In order to meet the standards dictated by the marine technology market, the CEO teamed up with the world’s three biggest scrubber manufacturers - diversifying the supply risk and shortening the lead-time for the delivery of equipment. Already in 2015 the results were clearly visible. The overall fuel consumption was further reduced by 8.4 per cent and the amount of less expensive HFO fuel consumed was more than two thirds of the overall consumption during the last quarter of that year. Without proper emission abatement technology installed onboard this would not have been possible. The impact on Finnlines’ environmental footprint is also impressive.

Compared to the previous year, the company was able to reduce its CO2 emissions by over 75,000 tons, SOx emissions with 91 per cent and NOx emissions with almost nine per cent. The amount the company has invested in its green plan is unprecedented for Finnlines and it is a clear statement that the company would remain competitive in the Baltic shipping market.

Finnlines is clearly in a strong position going forward. It has come back from a

tough period stronger than ever, with a leaner and more efficient business. It is also more apt to face the demands in the future for the shipping industry by being more environmentally friendly, streamlined, and with a young modern fleet. Finnlines has made great investments in its future – this display of forward thinking will no doubt pay dividends in the coming years.

All 22 vessels are ice-classified and specially designed for northern conditions

Finnlines PLC www.finnlines.com • Investing EUR 1bn in fleet renewal • Launching EUR 100m Environmental Technology Investment Programme • Cutting costs and optimising operations

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Profile: Nordic

Hamburg Group

Steady

success

S

erving as a dynamic, single point of contact partner for its customers in the maritime shipping industry, Nordic Hamburg Group has developed a strong position in the market thanks to its extensive experience, practical knowledge and superior network of partners; this includes charterers, world-renowned shipyards, investors and banks. Within the group are the business segments Nordic Hamburg Shipmanagement, Guoyo Nordic Shipping (GNS) and FastNet Chartering, which together ensure a full range of services associated with ship management are readily available to customers.

Nordic Hamburg Shipmanagement is comprised of a small, efficient team of highly competent, motivated and dedicated employees that all strive to ensure optimum reliability when it comes to delivering open and transparent services. Today the company’s fleet is comprised of more than 30 vessels, which are managed through its head office in Hamburg as well as its own fully owned and controlled branch offices in

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locations such as Odessa (Ukraine), Manila (the Philippines), Shanghai and Hong Kong (China). Meanwhile, GNS is a successful joint venture between Guoyu Group and Nordic Hamburg Group, which was established by merging the strengths of Guoyo Group, an established player in the steel trading, shipping and shipbuilding sectors, with Nordic Hamburg Group, an organisation

that offers a range of services, from project development, financing to the comprehensive operation of a fleet of state-of-the-art dry cargo and container vessels.

The third segment within the group is FastNet Chartering, which operates as a customer’s commercial management partner that safely navigates through complex and volatile markets. Boasting a global fast network, the company has superior access to global freight markets and thus provides owners with full-scale employment opportunities for their vessels; it is also capable of arranging first class period time charter contracts, time charter trips and voyage business with well-respected counterparts. The scope of activities also includes high quality post-fixture administration and daily operations such as extensive reporting, all of which ensures excellent results for each client’s vessels.

“By being able to offer all services in-house, including managing and monitoring technical, operational and commercial aspects of shipping, we are able to deliver a one-stop-

shop solution to our clients,” says Jacobus Varossieau, Operations Manager at Nordic Hamburg Group. “Our services start with crew and technical management and include everything that is required by a customer, all under one umbrella; this is a definite strength of Nordic Hamburg Group and has enabled us to remain competitive during a challenging period within the shipping industry. By providing a one-stop-shop and working with competitive budgets, we have been able to survive in this difficult market.”

Since its foundation by Dr Rowil Ponta and Richard Grube in 2006, the group’s business concept has remained the same: to develop high quality modern new buildings and provide high quality ship management services with full transparency. However, as trends have changed within the shipping market, so too has Nordic Hamburg’s activities, with green shipping, new technologies and the optimisation of vessel operations key driving forces for the company over recent years.

This philosophy merged with a keen eye for developments in the market has proven fruitful for Nordic Hamburg, with the company accumulating 20 new buildings for its own fleet under management as well as for other ship owners by the time Shipping & Marine magazine featured Nordic Hamburg in February 2013. Since then, the company has spent the last three years significantly increasing its fleet while also remaining

dedicated to continuous improvement in all areas of the business, as Jacobus comments: “We have had a huge development in our fleet from 2013 up until present day, with an increase of 20 vessels; these are under the umbrella of GNS Shipping, a joint venture we set up with Guoyo Group in 2011 and other partners.

“Over the last three years we have of course also been involved in a number of successful ship management and shipbuilding projects, however it is too soon to discuss many of the projects that we are involved in at the moment.”

One notable project for the company that is currently ongoing is its order for up to eight short sea 1400 TEU dual fuel containerships, which

has been set up with Finnish shipping firm Containerships. Currently in the process of being built by shipbuilder Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard, the contract include four definite vessel orders, with options for a further four containerships, that are due for delivery during 2018. Containerships will charter the ships on a long time basis, while GNS Shipping/Nordic Hamburg will operate as owner and technical manager.

While this project reaches completion, Nordic Hamburg Group will actively attempt to further expand its fleet over the next 12 months before changing its focus to consolidation, as Jacobus concludes: “Our strategy for the next three to five years will be to continue consolidation with some strategic expansion, however it will not be the huge level of expansion that we have undertaken over the last two-and-a-half-years, but will instead be at a more steady pace.”

Nordic Hamburg Group www.nordic-hamburg.de/en • One-stop-shop service provider • Added 15 vessels to fleet in 2013/2014 • Focused on consolidation and expansion

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Profile: C.

u. A. Heiderich GmbH

Modern technology, traditional A batch of sheave blocks

C.

u. A. Heiderich GmbH began in 1919, just after the First World War, and had humble beginnings; set up by two cousins, Carl and Albert Heiderich, which is where the business gets its name, the factory the company occupied in those early days measured only 30 metres squared.

Considering how far Heiderich has come since then, a great deal of credit must be attributed to the determination and effort of the family; strengths that the company carries to this day.

The history, values, and traditions that are the foundations of Heiderich were something managing director Harald Weissflog discusses: “We are nearly 100 years old, and the company was founded by my great grandfather – I am the fourth generation in charge. The company started out very small scale, but after a few years the company started to specialise in rollers, small pulleys, all of which are products we still produce to

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values

this day. The business continued to grow over the subsequent years, and then in the 1960s there was the very important step for us in which the company began the production of steel sheaves, and this is now one of the most important products that we produce together with bottom hook blocks for cranes, and many others.”

Heiderich currently has a wide selection of products, but these largely fall into two categories; there are the welded rope sheaves and hook blocks, which the company has made for over four decades; these are produced for the most diverse materials-handling technology requirements and the business takes great pride in providing products that are tailor-made for a client’s situation. The second main area of Heiderich is the provision of blocks and rope accessories for hardware retailers; this is an even more diverse section and ranges from rope pulleys to tackle blocks. Within these areas there is an extensive array of options,

all of which come with high quality and specification guaranteed.

Safety and reliability are a priority of the company, as the rope sheaves and blocks that it produces are often used for lifting high value goods. The quality of their products and Heiderich’s determination to provide the most reliable and highest standards is regularly certified by classification societies such as ABS, DNV-GL, LRS, RINA, and others. To ensure such high standards for its clients is the foundation of Heiderich’s reputation in the market because a breakdown of crucial components or even an unplanned standstill of heavy lifting equipment can have severe consequences in any aspect.

There has been one specific new major innovation that Heiderich has created which is anticipated to become a key feature in many cranes and lifting appliances: the wear safe system. “Every crane and other lifting appliance has to be checked on a regular basis by experts, such as Lloyds Register,

Wear safe system

ABS, and many others – they will check nearly everything, the only thing that until now could not be checked is the groove wear on a rope sheave. To estimate the extent of wear after some time of operation is very difficult: investigations in the past have shown that even if you have two cranes of the same type operating in the same environment that still doesn’t mean that the sheaves or components on these cranes will have the same wear,” Harald explains.

“Also different environment conditions are wear determining factors, for example if you operate cranes in a maritime environment you will have wet and salty conditions, whereas if you operate in a very dry area you may have sandstorms which would result in small hard particles getting in, so it is nearly impossible to estimate how fast the wear is and if a sheave is still safe to use. Through discussions with our customers we saw this as a critical gap in the surveillance of cranes and lifting installations - they would ask

what they could do to monitor this issue and wanted to ensure that they were in control of the wear, as it can be very dangerous and costly to have these unknown variables in their machinery,” he adds.

It was Heiderich that provided the solution in wear safe, and Harald continues to elaborate on the innovation: “During these conversations with our customers we had this idea of the wear safe system – which we have a patent on. The system is actually very simple, we bring a wear body into the surface of the groove, it is a red dot that we bring into the sheave, and this wear body demonstrates the depth of admissible wear. If for example calculations show that the admissible wear in the rim is 4 mm, then we bring this wear body to exactly that depth. The material of the wear body is not as hard as that of the rim around it and it wears together with the rim surface. This means that all you have to do is to look into the rim, and if the red dot can no longer be seen the sheave is worn out

and should be replaced soon. Clear, visible marks on the outer side of the rope sheave rim indicate the location of the wear body, making a visual inspection of the entire rim unnecessary. Simply clean the respective point on the groove: if the wear body is still visible, the rope sheave can continue to be used, if not, it has to be replaced. The result is that there is no need to evaluate oneself and it is not even necessary to measure anything, you don’t have to assess whether it is still okay or not okay, or how unsafe it might be, even untrained personnel can just have a look at this wear safe system and they will know.”

How was it that Heiderich were the company to see the issue and then were able to address it, was something Harald answered: “We believe that you can always make even well proven products better if you listen to the needs of your customers.

We have the extensive experience of the manufacture side of our products, but it

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Profile: C.

u. A. Heiderich GmbH

Range of rope sheaves

Ultrasonic testing of rope sheaves

Offshore sheaves

is the customer that is in the field using them, so we must utilise their experiences. After the feedback we began to work and the development of the wear safe system began. Another key factor in us being able to achieve this development was the fact that we have the right people, which is always essential to success; our company gains a great deal from the strength and experience of our people.” The wear safe system has only recently been introduced to the market and asked for the reaction Harald

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explained: “Many big crane companies are realising the potential of the wear safe system as a crucial safety add-on to their products, some of which are already in the process of changing their standards and applying the system. Every month more and more sheaves with the wear safe system are leaving our factory and we think that in the time ahead a major part, if not all of our products will carry the feature. Our customers are global players and operators and to explain the system and its advantages we approach the purchasing, design and engineering as well as the quality people there. We tell them what we can do to reduce the risk caused by unnoticed sheave wear in lifting operations and how simple and inexpensive our solution, the wear safe system, is.”

There can be no doubt of the strengths of Heiderich, if there were then it seems inconceivable that it would be nearing its

centenary, or that over that period it had managed to maintain some customers for over 70 years. This cannot be achieved if a company does not follow through on its promises to provide a customised, high quality, and reliable product. In everything that Heiderich designs and builds, but particularly in the wear safe system, there is a promising future, one that seems likely to see the system adopted by more and more crane manufacturers and users.

There are many important values and beliefs at the company, and Harald provides some of the most important: “We are a modern company but we know where we come from, we have a traditional approach and the first thing we think about is how we will make a good product and how we will tailor it to the customers needs.” Always looking to innovate, always looking to improve, always looking to please.

C. u. A. Heiderich GmbH www.cah-heiderich.de • New ‘wear safe’ system • Utilised customer feedback • Increasing demand

Profile: UN

RO-RO Isletmeleri AS

Investing in the

E

future

stablished by international transport organisations in 1994 with the goal of meeting demand for an alternative mode of transport to land routes, Turkey based UN RO-RO Isletmeleri AS has become one of the fastest growing freight ro-ro operators in the world. Not content with its successes over the last two decades, UN Ro-Ro completed a five-year 260 million euro investment in its 12 vessel fleet in 2014; a strategic development that has resulted in the company having extra capacity to meet a 60 per cent increase in truck transportations to Europe. This investment also means the company is fully prepared for Turkey’s foreign trade target of $1 trillion by 2023. Other notable developments for the organisation include a change in shareholders, with Kohlberg Kravis Robert’s (KKR) shares of the business being acquired in 2014 by two Turkish groups Actera Group and Esas Holding.

Indeed, 2014 was a milestone in UN-RO-RO’s 21year history, with the company implementing its longterm strategy of becoming an intermodal infrastructure provider. In line with its plans to strengthen lines with new train services and connections with European ports, the company acquired a 60 per cent share in the port of Trieste’s Samer Seaports terminal in Italy in December 2013. As the operators of this terminal, UN

RO-RO has decided to invest in trains that connect Trieste with several European destinations with the goal of loading all units that are discharged from its ships onto the trains in the future.

Since these major developments, UN RO-RO Isletmeleri has pressed on with its goal of transforming into an intermodal platform rather than a ro-ro operator; to do this the company has been focused on improving its position in the market and increasing its market share through expansion. By the final quarter of 2015, UN RO-RO Isletmeleri still had 65 per cent market share for truck cargo and the ro-ro market, with the other two ro-ro operators sharing the remainder of the market.

Discussing the company’s developments since it was previously featured in Shipping & Marine in November 2015, Sedat Gümüsoglu, ¸ ˘ CEO U.N. RO-RO Isletmeleri A.S. comments: “There were two general elections in 2015, so therefore exports in the total Turkish market were unstable to a certain extent; however, overall it was a very positive year for us. We grew significantly above the market growth and, in 2015, we increased Toulon services from two to three, with a 50 per cent capacity increase; this gained positive results. The final quarter of 2015 was also very good, with both imports and exports strong; this helped us achieve

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Profile: UN

growth of ten per cent in comparison to the previous year. Ultimately, 2015 was a year of achievements for us, with good financial performance and positive results from our investments; looking forward we are even more ambitious about 2016 and our goals.”

Not a company to rest on its laurels, UN RO-RO made the strategic decision to invest in the new terminal in Trieste, Italy, a port of significant importance for the Turkish economy and exports to the European Union.

“With its location as the northernmost port in the Mediterranean, a vast hinterland and its special status, Trieste Port is one of the most important ports in Italy,” confirms Sedat. In the first half of 2016 the company purchased the TFT terminal adjacent to port terminal operator Samer Seaports and expanded the parking area, a development that follows the company’s strategic purchasing of 60 per cent of Samer Seaports’ shares in 2013.

Back then, the terminal had a park space of 100,000 square metres for handling trailers, containers and project cargoes; the total area is now 150,000 square metres, with the integrated ro-ro terminal also boasting an indoor storage space of 90,000 square metres, including reefer warehouses.

“Some of the unused warehouses at the terminal will be demolished and arranged as

RO-RO Isletmeleri AS

open park space; we will also invest in rail gantry cranes and other equipment that is required for handling additional trains. With the rail terminal investment completed, we will be capable of handling up to six trains per day; this development is scheduled for the first half of 2017,” says Sedat. “We of course continue to invest in intermodal transportation; we work to increase the weekly number of Austria trains, shorten the transit time of the busy Salzburg and Wels trains and ensure that our intermodal rail connections work more efficiently.”

Alongside this major investment, UN RORO Isletmeleri has further strengthened its operations with the launch of its new Ambarli to Trieste line in May 2016. Established to enable 20,000 trucks and trailers to sail to Trieste without any bridge or highway traffic congestion, the service is highly competitive for cargoes originating from Çatalca, Halkalı, Çerkezköy and Çorlu. “This line has been operational for the last three months and has drawn great interest from our customers, which proves that investing in Ambarli Port was a good decision,” says Sedat. “Thanks to Ambarli Port, 20,000 heavy trucks no longer have to use Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and directly reach Italy, then Europe.

Istanbul’s European side didn’t have any

international ro-ro line until now; with this port in service. The reduced transportation costs will mean a total economic benefit of TL ten million; especially for transporters and exporters. Additionally heavy trucks will not go to from the European side to the Asian side, which will ensure savings of approximately TL six million.”

As UN RO-RO Isletmeleri continues to improve its leading position as the intermodal leader with transit lines connected to Turkey and Europe over the coming years, the company appears to be in a solid position in the market and anticipates a strong 15 per cent growth at the end of 2016.

Looking at the work ahead for UN RO-RO Isletmeleri, Sedat concludes: “We will focus on completing the investments in Trieste Port, which includes increasing the number and frequency of intermodal lines departing from Trieste. Additionally, we will continue with our investments on ships, IT and ERP over the next 12 months.”

UN RO-RO Isletmeleri AS www.unroro.com.tr/homepage/ • One of the fastest growing ro-ro operators in the world • Major investments in new terminal in Trieste, Italy • Added Ambarli to Trieste line in May 2016

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Profile: DIANA Yacht

Design BV

Classic

refinement F

or decades, DIANA Yacht Design in Holland has been renowned for delivering classic yachts with refined reliability, efficiency and safety to clients around the world. Founded back in 1971, the business now employs a team of highly focused naval architects and engineers specialised in everything from design, layout and construction to naval architecture and engineering, all bound together with an unyielding personal service and flexibility. As such, today over 50 vessels, many of which represent the finely

Pamela

Heliad II

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Wooden yacht hull

honed and classic signature DIANA style, have been delivered.

“We design yachts as if we are doing them for ourselves,” explains Creative Director, Hans-Maarten Bais. “We are open and honest, and maintain communication with our clients throughout the entire design process. Over the last years we have been able to transform the business into a fully-rounded and highly flexible office capable of delivering innovative and stylish solutions with a quality focused and personal approach.”

Indeed, since Shipping & Marine last spoke with Hans-Maarten back in July 2014, the company has been working flat out as more customers demand bigger vessels with more advanced and more complex designs.

Hans-Maarten notes that the design team has doubled to 15 people in the last two years with the delivery of a 61-metre yacht, several others ranging from 33-metres to 44-metres, the launch of brand new Moonen Bijoux and its biggest refit job to date. Above that there are four wooden ships under construction at the Tansu Yard in Istanbul.

(The picture, top right, shows a 38 metre wooden hull.) With such positive levels of

Legend, Class 1B ice-breaking vessel

activity, the company has been unable to focus much attention on the publicity, yet still the enquiries roll in. “We have five deliveries taking place in 2016 and have a number of concept and actual designs also ongoing for a range of applications and designs,� he continues. “We are finding that whilst clients are looking for bigger yachts, over the last decade there has been a rising trend for the more classic designs that we have always built our reputation on. Of course, we have been able to develop the design with modern twists as tastes and technological capability

YXT One

advances, such as larger windows and lighter interiors. The canoe stern design is a particular signature of ours and has started to re-emerge as a more demanded style in recent years. Pamela V, a 44-metre Hakvoort built yacht, for instance, was delivered not long ago with this style, as was the Heliad II at Lynx Yachts. Another 38-metre canoe stern yacht is currently under construction

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Profile: DIANA Yacht

Throughout its history, DIANA’s yachts have been defined by elegant design and modern innovation, and DIANA itself has maintained this with a growing portfolio of expertise and a steady demonstration of flexibility

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Design BV

at Hakvoort and we’ve had a couple more enquiries looking for the same thing, so this is providing lots of work at present.”

Amongst the most recent DIANA designed projects is the 77.4 metre explorer yacht recently delivered by ICON Yachts in Holland, the firms largest ever refit job.

Originally built by the IHC Holland shipyard in 1973 for Russian clients, Legend (ex-Giant) was bought in 2013 by a Dutch owner from Mexico. After a two-year design and build program Legend has been constructed as a classified Class 1B ice-breaking ship with luxury features such as a heli-pad, a three-man submarine, spa, cinema, swimming pool and gym. This has also involved the lengthening of its stern by 3.6 metres.

“We made a proposal to modify the design to make it more balanced and to give it a more characteristic yacht-like look,” Hans-Maarten explains. “She was delivered in June for sea trials before taking her first maiden voyage to Norway, and she will be heading to Antarctica this summer.

Interestingly, Legend fits into another big trend for yachts at the moment – the explorer vessel. People want to travel to more remote places like Antarctica and the North Pole, they want an explorer type vessel to take them there. Legend is the

biggest example of this, but we’ve currently got more enquiries for this kind of yacht.”

Throughout its history, DIANA’s yachts have been defined by elegant design and modern innovation, and DIANA itself has maintained this with a growing portfolio of expertise and a steady demonstration of flexibility. On multiple occasions the company has been recognised for this design expertise with various first place and finalist positions in highly regarded international award shows.

“The future for DIANA will adhere to these same values as we continue to develop and deliver quality solutions to our clients,” Hans-Maarten says. “We have lots of ongoing projects and enquiries to keep us busy, so overall it’s positive. There are of course challenges, particularly around finding people to help us grow through these busy times and working in a shipping industry where the market is still difficult.

Fortunately, we have strong relationships with shipyards and clients all over the world and we are confident about the future.”

DIANA Yacht Design BV www.dianayachtdesign.nl

• 77-metre Legend explorer yacht recently delivered • Design team doubled in last two years • A number of ongoing designs and enquiries

Profile: BMO

Offshore

Information and

insight

S

Vessel motion monitoring system

ince its foundation in 2011 by Gijs Hulscher, BMO Offshore has created a firm foothold in the offshore wind market with its innovative Vessel Black Box (VBB) technology. “The VBB is a vessel motion monitoring system that has its own dedicated online data management and reporting service,” explains Kirstin Timpte, Business Development Manager at BMO Offshore. “VBB is the tool that enables us to gather data and write an analysis on this and provide vessel profiling for the maritime sector. This ultimately gives a better grip on operations on how to reduce costs, increase and maintain revenues and enhance safety and efficiency during operations.”

With approximately 30 VBBs installed in the offshore wind industry across the North Sea since its first installation on a vessel of offshore services and vessel management firm Offshore Wind Services (now: Acta Marine WS) in September 2012, the entrepreneurial firm has become an established leader in the market.

Working on three levels, BMO Offshore collects and analyses data before reporting easy-to-interpret and actionable insights that enable organisations to continually improve operations on the strategic, tactical and operational decision making level. Part of the service is shown real-time on-board the vessel. In addition the client receives custom made reports on vessel performance.

“We recently provide vessel motion monitoring systems for the Greater Gabbard offshore windfarm, which is jointly owned by SSE and RWE with the aim of enhancing safety, monitoring asset integrity and increasing workability,” says Kirstin. “The companies felt an urgent need to gather more information on the developments taking place offshore, particularly in the summer time when they have a lot of vessels operating for them. We won the tender for this project and our vessel motion monitoring equipment is being installed on all of the vessels operating on the windfarm, which will deliver a performance report each month. We will also inform them on the docking against the offshore wind turbine and whether it was in the norm or if any impact limit was exceeded. Should it be

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Profile: BMO

Offshore

motion monitoring equipment on board a fleet. “A product that reduces cost and increases safety will be an even more crucial factor for our clients in the offshore and maintenance side of the offshore industry. It is during this phase that vessels will be going to windfarms on a daily basis, so we are in a good position for continued growth. However, our product is still not a requirement from some health and safety organisations, which is why we are focusing on speaking with a lot of institutions on the health and safety side such as RenewableUK as well as giving presentations to developers. By using our products in all windfarms everyone will be on the same page wherever they are; we speak at a lot of conferences to address these benefits,” Kirstin concludes. exceeded we will alert them. We also inform them if there is a drop in speed and offer suggestions as to how to save on fuel and train them a little in how the vessel master may influence their behavior.”

Crucial to clients in a world where time is money, BMO Offshore’s VBB helps ensure that time spent at windfarms is spent on wind turbine maintenance by analysing where time is lost through issues such as weather conditions, personnel suffering from sea-sickness or a lack of information.

By ensuring customers make the best use of their valuable time at sea by measuring motions, positions and speed fed with video images, BMO Offshore gives a clear overview of offshore logistics and the various aspects involved in a contract. This is particularly necessary in an environment where every wind project is different due to the distance of the windfarm to the harbour, the harbour itself and the windfarm itself.

Furthermore, BMO Offshore also focuses on the integral human element of each project and finds facts in issues such as whether a skipper made a judgment error or whether another cause was to blame.

Indeed, the human factor is a massive influence on crew comfort and a safe transfer.

Skippers can be empowered by a vessel display that gives a comprehensive overview of the vessel at all times. This is particularly important during the transfer of the vessel to the transition piece and during higher sea state limits. By showing if the movements of the vessel are within the safe, caution or extreme caution categories, the VBB display objectively reports and assists the skipper throughout the journey and enables them to recognise a hazardous situation.

“Other examples of influencing human behaviour are perhaps training your vessel

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master. It is all about influencing behaviour and creating awareness as to how they use the vessels when they go offshore,” says Kirstin.

While the offshore market is currently challenging for most, BMO Offshore can give more insight into operations. BMO is increasingly seeing the need for having vessel

BMO Offshore www.bmo-offshore.com • Delivers operational intelligence to the maritime industry • Collects and analyses data to offer insights for improvement • Develops innovative technology, including Vessel Black Box

Shipping &MARINE

The magazine for maritime management

www.shipping-and-marine.com

Editor: Libbie Hammond libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Sales director: Joe Woolsgrove jwoolsgrove@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

Schofield Publishing Schofield Publishing Limited Unit 10, Cringleford Business Centre, Intwood Road, Cringleford, Norwich, NR4 6AU, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1603 274130 Fax: +44 (0) 1603 274131