Wednesday, June 6,
2000
Millennium
is late
Chantiers de L'Atlantique, the French shipyard building Celebrity
Cruises' Millennium, informed Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. today
that it could not complete work on the new ship in time for Millennium's
June 17 maiden voyage. As a result, the company is canceling
one cruise and is re-accommodating those guests on other sailings.
Millennium's second cruise will take place, as originally scheduled,
on July 1, following a naming ceremony at an earlier date.
Celebrity Cruises President Richard E.
Sasso said: "We built a cushion into our schedule and, up
until today, we were assured this cushion would be sufficient."
Sasso explained that the primary cause
of the delay is the completion of some staterooms. He is confident
that this work can be accomplished in time for Millennium to
enter service on July 1.
Due to delay-delivery penalties to be paid
by the yard, the financial impact on Royal Caribbean is expected
to be about $.01 per share.
Hvide
Marine unit christens new U.S.-built
landing craft type freight vessel
 Hvide Marine Inc. and its subsidiary Sun State Marine
Services, Inc., recently christened the first in a series of
landing craft type cargo ships at Sun State's shipyard
facility in Green Cove Springs, Fla.
Constructed entirely on-site by Sun State
Marine Services, Inc., the
190-foot vessel is specially designed for conducting trade with
Bahamian and Caribbean markets that have minimal or unimproved
facilities.
"The landing craft has a reinforced
hull that allows use of unimproved landing sites such as beaches
or boat ramps by actually grounding the forward part of the vessel,"
notes Robert J. Coppedge, VP of Sun State Marine Services, Inc.
"This 'ability-with-stability' gives the operator tremendous
flexibility in accessing a wider diversity of service areas."
Christened the M/V Caribbean Express ,
the vessel was built for G & G Marine, Inc., a Dania Beach-based
ocean freight carrier located adjacent to Port Everglades in
Southeast Florida.
Steven Ganoe, president and CEO of G &
G Marine, said: "We're proud of the fact that we've added
a new U.S.-built vessel to our freight service, but this particular
ship design is also extremely practical with a ramped bow for
roll-on/roll-off cargo
and more than 6,100 square feet of open cargo deck."
G & G Marine, Inc. services fifteen
ports in the northern Caribbean and Bahamas.
In addition to new vessel construction,
Sun State Marine Services also offers ship repair services with
a 1,000-ton marine railway and three dry docks that can handle
vessels up to 300 and 600 tons. By combining drydock resources,
the facility has the ability to handle vessels as large as 300
feet and 960 tons.
In a separate operation, Sun State operates
nine push tugs and seventeen oil barges in the Jones Act market,
making it one of the largest oil barging companies in the southeast
United States.
Specifications of Caribbean Express
Design/Engineering
Entech and Associates, Houma, Louisiana
Vessel Type Landing craft type freight vessel
Tonnage 700 deadweight tons
Length 190 feet
Beam 38 feet
Draft 7 feet at mean load displacement.
Engines
Two 720 horsepower Caterpillar 3412 DITA main diesel engines
Propulsion Twin Disc MG5202 reduction / reverse gears
Max. Speed 12 knots
Maneuvering/Docking Wesmar bow thruster, 200 horsepower
Ship's Power Two John Deere generator sets rated at 60
kW each.
Special Features Ramped bow 6,152 square feet of open
cargo deck
Kedging stern anchor & spud
BP
Marine and Unitor form alliance
Two leading international marine
suppliers are to join forces in a move that , they say, could
shortly allow a ship's master to order all a vessel's marine
supply requirements, from lubricants and gases to safety and
environmental services, via a single source.
U.K.-based BP Marine and Unitor ASA of
Norway said they have agreed to form a marketing alliance that
will offer their combined range of products to ship
operators on a global basis. As a next step, they will add new
partners that will make the alliance a "one-stop-shop"
for marine supplies anywhere in the world.
"New members will be actively encouraged
to participate, in order to bring even greater benefits to our
customers," said Unitor's president, Frode Berg. "In
principle, all product and service transactions to a ship could
ultimately be co-ordinated in a single operation, resulting in
better service for customers and cost savings for everyone."
Called "The Marine Alliance,"
the initiative will be rolled out to the 18,000 vessels currently
supplied by BP Marine and Unitor during the remainder of 2000.
Deliveries are being co-ordinated through Unitor's existing global
logistics system which covers over 80 countries around the world.
The IT systems of BP Marine and Unitor
will be integrated to provide a technical platform for seamless
transactions, from order to payment, and deliver synergies
with e-business developments such as e4marine.com.
The alliance also intends to offer tailored
service 'packages' that meet the distinctive technical and commercial
requirements of different shipowners, with a flexibility that
reflects the rapidly changing nature of the marine market.
"The Marine Alliance will provide
a distinctively different offer for the marine market,"
says BP Marine's chief operating officer, Steve Wright. "Our
approach is not only to provide improved efficiency and savings
but also to work with our customers to enhance their own business
performance."
Singapore
repairer moves into conversions
 Singapore Technologies Marine (a subsidiary of Singapore
Technologies Engineering Ltd) has secured two major conversion
contracts. The first is from a Dutch dredging company, Hollandsche
Aanneming Maatschappij B.V. (Ham B.V.) to lengthen and modify
the trailing suction hopper dredge, Ham 310. This project
will involve lengthening of the dredge by 30 meters involving
some 1,300 tons of steel as well as modification of the jet piping
system, dredge pipings, dredge pump motors and self emptying
channels.
ST Marine's successful bid for this project
represents a significant feat for the yard as this will be the
first dredger jumboisation project in the shiprepair industry
in Singapore. Despite the stiff competition which ST Marine faced
from several local big yards in the bidding process, ST Marine
has emerged as a prominent forerunner in a market which the yard
views as possessing great potential as the massive reclamation
project at Jurong Island is underway.
The second contract has been awarded by another Dutch dredging
company, Van Oord ACZ B.V. It covers conversion work on the construction
/ side stone dumping vessel, Jan Steen.Itwill involve the insertion
of one new deck level below the bridge to increase the accommodations
as well as the installation of a new aft construction deck, a
new A-frame and a knuckle boom crane. The Dynamic Positioning
system will also be upgraded from DP class 1 to DP class 2 with
two new thrusters and a new diesel generator.
In recent months, ST Marine has successively
completed several major conversion projects for a whole host
of world-renowned, international customers. These projects include
the jumboization of a livestock carrier, Bison Express
for Vroon B.V. and similiarly for Western Tug & Barge's general
ore and fuel oil carrier, Western Star. The yard is currently
in the process of completing the lengthening of a second vessel,
Western Flyer, for Western Tug & Barge. All these
projects, including the most recent for Ham B.V. and Van Oord
ACZ B.V. total over S$20m - a significant achievement for ST
Marine, a medium-sized yard, in the shiprepair industry in Singapore.
"ST Marine has successfully moved
into higher value-added commercial repairs and conversion. Although
our yard's physical capacity may be much smaller than our major
competitors here, we are able to differentiate our products and
services and re-position ourselves in the highly competitive
market. This is made possible by leveraging on the company's
expertise in the design and construction
of highly-sophisticated naval and commercial vessels and its
commitment to deliver to customers high quality products and
services", said Mr M.S. Tan, President (Commercial Business
Group).
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