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 Thursday, June 15,
2000 Mosvold intends set up a limited partnership, in which it will own a minority share, to own the shipbuilding contract and the option. Mosvold and Samsung signed a similar agreement
in April this year . It became firm at the end of May. A Norwegian
limited partnership, 52.8% owned by Mosvold, was nominated as
the owner of the vessel (first vessel) and the option (first
option) The price of the first vessel is $72 million and of the
first option $74.1 million. The first option must be declared
within the second half of November 2000. $127.8
million contract for Southwest Marine Blast
off coatings ... on your PC
In its BETA form, Paintblaster is an extremely
simple program designed to simulate various degrees of coverage
by paint left on the surface during the cleaning process. The
program displays a clean but somewhat rough steel substrate at
an approximately "1 to 1" scale on the monitor screen.
You can "formulate" your paint in a separate window
(the paint chip) until you achieve the color desired. You then
"mix and apply" the paint to the steel surface. The
coating takes on some of the The ACTION. You can "BLAST" the
paint off. The effect is controlled by Future releases with more features are
planned. Meantime, you can download PaintBlaster BETA-1 from
http://www.waterjetting.org/beta.htm LNG come back U.S. imports of LNG were up 90% last year. The CMS Energy Corp port and regasification terminal at Lake Charles, La., handled 27 incoming LNG cargoes last year compared with 17 in 1998 and has already received or contracted for 35 cargoes so far this year. Cabot Corp. received 44 cargoes at its terminal near Boston last year, up from 18 in 1998, as shipments started from Trinidad and Tobago under a 20-year supply contract.. Import volumes through the terminal, which is running at 60-70% of capacity, are expected to grow 10%-20% this year. While Williams is planning to reopen Cove Point, El PasoEl Paso is scheduled to reactivate the terminal at Elba Island, near Savannah, Ga. LNG accounted for under 1 percent of total U.S. gas consumption last year, but some analysts believe it could reach 5 %-8% percent if the four plants were expanded. Williams anticipates filing in the near
future an application for authorization to provide LNG tanker
discharging service, to recommission Cove Point's marine facilities
and to construct new facilities including a new LNG storage
tank. Williams plans to connect the Cove Point facility to its
existing Transco pipeline.
Cruise lines are coming under increasing environmental scrutiny. The subject will be high on the agenda at this year's Marine Log Maritime Legislation, Regulation and Policy conference in Washington D.C. on September 19 & 20. Meantime, lines are keen to emphasize the steps that they are taking to demonstrate environmental good citizenship. Holland America, for example, has a comprehensive fleetwide program which emphasizes waste reduction and recycling, compliance with all international environmental guidelines and a decision to incorporate cleaner-burning propulsion technology into its new ships. The line currently meets or exceeds all provisions of the international regulations governing the environmental management of marine operations. Since announcing the placement of a firm order for what is now five additional 84,000-ton vessels with Italy's Fincantieri for delivery from 2002 - 2005, Holland America has confirmed the ships are being designed with a traditional diesel-electric power plant, as well as a gas-turbine unit to serve as a second power source. Gas-turbine technology reduces exhaust emissions and can be used together with the diesel-electric system when cruising in particularly sensitive areas such as Glacier Bay or the Baltic Sea. In addition, the ships will be outfitted with the Azipod propulsion system, which is estimated to reduce consumption -- and thereby emissions -- by as much as 40 tons of fuel per week. "Coupled with our comprehensive environmental programs, the new propulsion system will make our new ships among the cleanest operating in the industry," said Kirk Lanterman, chairman and CEO of Holland America Line. "Our commitment to environmental sensitivity and responsibility extends throughout the company." Lanterman pointsout that though the decision was taken to include the gas-turbine system on the new ships, other alternatives would be considered if they would reduce emissions. "Carnival Corporation and Holland America are collaborating with Wartsila NSD on 'project enviroengine,' a new technology that would create a smokeless diesel-electric system," he saiys. "If that technology proves to be viable, we would certainly consider using it in our newbuilds and possibly retrofitting our existing fleet." Holland America has a history of embracing new environmental technologies. A gray-water (water from showers and sinks) treatment plant currently is being tested aboard the Statendam. Although it is legal to discharge gray water under certain conditions, Holland America is seeking a treatment system that will render gray water virtually free of detergents and other substances before discharge. If the prototype proves successful, the line plans to install the unit on all of its ships. The entire Holland America fleet also is equipped with on-board storage facilities that can treat and hold solid waste for up to 14 days. A pioneer in on-board recycling, Holland America implemented a comprehensive recycling program in 1993. Currently glass, aluminum, white paper, wooden pallets, plastic buckets, cardboard, cooking oil and photographic silver are recycled. The line works with suppliers to reduce the amount of packaging materials coming onto the ships and specifies that in-cabin amenities be packaged in recyclable plastic. Each Holland America ship has a staff of five crew who are responsible for processing, storing, recycling and disposing of the approximately eight tons of garbage generated on board each ship every seven days. As an incentive, proceeds from recycled materials are added to the shipboard crew benefit fund. Even on Half Moon Cay, Holland America's private island in the Bahamas, great care was taken not to upset the natural ecology of the island. Only 2 percent of 2,400-acre Little San Salvador was developed to accommodate the line's shoreside facilities, and those facilities are designed to minimize environmental impacts on the island bird sanctuary. |
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