Friday, Monday, March 27, 2000   Another entry in marine e-commerce race The other day it was Inmarsat, today it's Stolt Nielsen. The marine market e-commerce race is underway. Building on a proven electronic marine procurement system developed by Stolt-Nielsen S.A over the past five years,.PrimeSupplier Ltd., today launched what it declares is "the world's first Internet-based total marine procurement system to make all products and services needed for marine operations available virtually anytime, anyplace, at the lowest cost." The system is said to enable ship operators to electronically select, purchase and arrange delivery for all the ship operators' needs for fuel, consumables, spare parts and other services. PrimeSupplier employs a proprietary supplier and price database to intelligently manage the procurement process, including transportation. PrimeSupplier Ltd. is the second independent business-to-business e-commerce enterprise established by Stolt-Nielsen S.A. in 2000. PrimeSupplier's principal offering, SeaSupplier, currently serves 135 ships for seven ship operators. Last year the system processed more than 40,000 transactions with a value of $150 million. It will include a multi-channel logistics system specially designed to address the complex transportation and logistics challenges faced by ship operators in managing their inventories and supply chains. SeaSupplier is claimed to enable ship operators to obtain the lowest delivered costs by capitalizing on consortium contract purchasing, competitive spot quoting and consolidated freight management. The highly automated system is designed to reduce total transaction costs for suppliers and purchasers alike. Jacob B. Stolt-Nielsen, CEO of PrimeSupplier Ltd., commented: "We know very well the need to lower ship operating costs without reducing standards. Intelligent material management is an important part of cost control. Through SeaSupplier, we have achieved substantial savings for ship operators. By automating and optimizing the purchasing and delivery process, SeaSupplier enables suppliers to preserve their margins while lowering the delivered cost." European Commission finds Warnow Werft stuck to its capacity limitation in 1999. Kvaerner Group can allow itself a slight sigh of relief. The European Commission has decided that Kvaerner Warnow Werft GmbH , Warnemünde, (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Germany, has respected its capacity limitation in 1999. Therefore, no repayment of aid is necessary with regard to 1999, when the annual capacity limitation was 91 000 cgt. Capacity limitations were imposed on the yard by the Commission as a condition of approving a substantial amount of restructuring aid, DM 1,247 million, when the yard was privatized in 1992. Compliance with the limitations is monitored by the Commission. A formal investigation into alleged breaches of the limits in1998 and 1999 was opened in November 1998. In July 1999 the Commission decided that KWW had to reimburse DM 83 million for exceeding of its capacity limitation in 1998. This February, the Commission decided that KWW had to pay back DM 12.6 million for exceeding the capacity limitation in 1997. Kvaerner Warnow Werft GmbH, is the biggest undertaking in Rostock Warnemünde employing around 1.200 workers. The former Eastern German shipyard was privatised in 1992 and was totally restructured with help of State aid approved by the Commission during 1993-1995. The aid was approved in accordance with EEC Directives 90/684/EEC and 92/68/EEC on shipbuilding, which require the "genuine and irreversible reduction of the shipbuilding capacity in Eastern Germany." The maximum overall capacity for former GDR shipyards was accordingly set at 327,000 cgt. Germany allocated this capacity between the Eastern German yards and KWW was allocated 91 000 cgt for 1999. The capacity limitation is set for 10 years, that is until end 2005. In approving aid for KWW, the Commission stated clearly that if the capacity limitation is not respected, a corresponding amount of aid will be recovered.   News Index  Marine Log Home page

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