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Thursday, February 24, 2000 U.K. detains
tanker after RINA pulls certificates RINA's get tough attitude comes after it has faced sharp criticism in relation to the Erika incident. RINA's image also took another blow a few days ago when the secretariat of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (the Paris MOU) selected a RINA-classed ship as its "rust bucket of the month" The ALBORANI's defects, according to the U.K. MCA , include:
After visiting the ship Captain Anam confirmed that RINA's decision to withdraw the certification was well-founded. In addition, he has noted that the pilot ladder is unsafe. After an expanded inspection of the vessel, Captain Anam detained the ship on the following grounds:
Captain Anam said after the inspection
that he was concerned by the state of the vessel and its seriously
sub standard safety equipment and that he had had no choice but
to detain the vessel. FGH
expects loss for quarter and for year On January 12, Friede Goldman Halter announced
that it anticipated reporting a loss for its fourth quarter as
a result of sluggish market conditions, merger related costs
and the impact of a contract dispute with The company says it believes, based upon current estimates, that all of the earnings impact of unprofitable contracts as well as merger-related expenses have been provided for in the quarter. Any costs in excess of the contract prices related to its Petrodrill contracts will be reflected in the purchase accounting treatment of the acquisition by Friede Goldman of Halter Marine Group,Inc. Accordingly, "costs in excess of the original contract price will have the impact of increasing goodwill, which will be amortized over a 25 year period." Friede Goldman Halter anticipates "significantly improved" financial results for the current year. Sale of the yacht division is described as part of "a continuing effort to divest [the company] of its non-strategic assets." Chairman and CEO J.L. Holloway said the division is "a non-core asset that offers very little synergy with our other businesses, and is dilutive to management's efforts to manage the company." The company plans to release its earnings
on March 15th, and will conduct a conference call at 10 am on
March 16th to discuss the quarterly and year-end results. Financing
for first Offshore Shuttle Though Marine Shuttle has not disclosed the selected Italian yard, one that would appear to be well placed to compete is the Belleli Offshore International yard in Taranto, which is operated by a joint venture that includes Friede Goldman Halre (with a 35% stake) and ABB Oil and Gas. Marine Shuttle is seeking to become a leading
player in the market for decommissioning, installing, and transporting
offshore oil and gas structures. There are now more than 6,500
offshore oil and gas installations worldwide located on the continental
shelf of approximately 53 countries. Marine Shuttle believes
that over the next 30 years, most of these structures will have
to be decommissioned at an estimated cost of $20 billion to $40
billion. The company has designed a new generation of vessel,
the "Offshore Shuttle", which it believes will be capable
of lifting and carrying most of the largest installations without
extensive cutting or dismantling. Michigan
bill would require sterilization of ballast water ITIC
warning on the perils of e-mail The latest issue of ITIC's Claims Review reports the case of a charterer who had invited tenders for a long-term charter. A ship broker sent his principal's bid via an industry message system to the charterers' mailbox in the U.S. using an address code for the charterer. Unfortunately, the American system interpreted the code as a mailing list and the bid was circulated to a number of other owners. The principal did not secure the bid, claiming it was undercut as a result of its inadvertent publication. In another case, a ship broker in Scandinavia
was instructed by his principal to confirm re-delivery of a ship
to its owners. He sent the notice of re-delivery to the owner's
broker in the Far East by e-mail and requested confirmation of
receipt. The owner's broker received the message but when he
viewed it, it was blank and he had no idea what the message concerned.
The system confirmed receipt to the Scandinavian broker who assumed
the re-delivery notice had been received and accepted. The owners
refused As part of its loss prevention services,
ITIC has launched a survey in its latest Claims Review, addressing
the use of electronic communications. Looking at the type of
information sent via e-mail, frequency of use and problems encountered,
the survey is designed to gauge the extent to which e-mail is
currently used as a communication tool. Total construction time for the rig was 36 months and total cost at delivery is approximately $340 million. The fifth generation semii is described
by Smedvig "as one of the most advanced drilling rigs ever
built. " It is one of a new generation of drilling units
fdesigned for a broader range of use, decreased dependence on
frequent supplies, higher capacity and drilling efficiency, improved
safety and working environment as well as emphasis on reducing
discharge of materials into the environment. West Venture is
equipped with dual derrick and dynamic positioning system as
well as a fully automated drill floor. Smedvig developed the
design in cooperation with Norsk Hydro. Ship
dismantlling and recycling joint venture (SDR) Following a recent decision by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) to uphold the U.S. Navy's selection of Ship Dismantlement and Recycling Joint Venture (SDR) for this work, a project office has been established in San Francisco at what was formerly the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard to facilitate the dismantllingand disposal process. The $3.7 million contract is one of four competitive contracts awarded by the Navy to bidders under a pilot program to develop and test environmentally sound and cost effective methods for disposing of excess naval ships.Disposal of the ex-USS Lockwood is expected to be completed within approximately six months. On completion of the pilot program, SDR expects to submit bids to scrap additional ships under the contract. At present, the United States has an inactive fleet of over 200 Navy, Coast Guard, and Maritime Administration ships located at various Inactive Ships Maintenance Facilities around the country. SDR is a joint venture between Earth Tech,
Inc., and Ship Remediation and Recycling, Inc., a subsidiary
of VSE Corporation (Nasdaq: VSEC - news). Additional subcontractors
participating in the SDR pilot program include Astoria Metal
Corporation, Energetics Incorporated, John J. McMullen Associates,
Inc., and Strategic Procurement Services, Inc. Aker Marine Contractors contributes to the execution with extensive experience from large marine operations in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Canada. Aker Maritime is also participating in the detailed engineering for the Bayu-Undan development, and considers Australia to be a market of high priority, with several interesting projects expected to be started during the next couple of years. The Bayu-Undan development is currently one of the largest oil and gas developments in this region. Each of the two platforms has an integrated deck solution, measuring approximately 65 by 55 metres. The deck for the drilling/process/ production platform weighs approximately 12,500 tonnes and the topsides for the compression/utilities/ living quarter platform approximately 10,000 tonnes. The transport and installation will be
performed with a new Heavy Lift Vessel operated by Offshore
Heavy Transport Management (OHTM), as a sub-contractor. OHTM
and Aker Marine Contractors have established an alliance for
this type of special services to the offshore market. The transport
will be from the topsides fabrication sites to the field. When
arriving at the field site, the topsides will be floated over
and subsequently
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