Contest aims to find a Marine Mastermind

Aimed at start-up companies and entrepreneurs, the purpose of the Wärtsilä Marine Mastermind innovation contest is to find new and unique digital services for the marine industry.

It’s being launched in conjunction with Slush. Organized by a community of entrepreneurs, investors, students and music festival organizers, this non-profit event will be held in Helsinki, Finland, November 11-12 as a focal point for startups and tech talent to meet with top-tier international investors, executives and media. In 2014, it brought together over 14.000 attendees and more than 3,500 companies, with more than 750 investors coming to Helsinki to meet startups in nearly 3,800 pre-booked meetings.

Wärtsilä’s contest is open to existing companies as well as to aspiring entrepreneurs. The winner will get to further develop the idea together with Wärtsilä’s experts and Shift Actions, which specializes in agile concept and product development.

Wärtsilä is holding the contest to build closer relationships with international start-up companies and entrepreneurs and discover interesting digital business opportunities together. The aim is to develop a new value adding digital service or solution in collaboration with start-ups to support the growth of Wärtsilä’s customers’ business. The winner also gets a chance to become part of the highly international marine business.

“We are living in the age of disruptive innovations. This applies also to our business. Start-ups are playing a vital role in this,” says Pierpaolo Barbone, President of Wärtsilä Services.

“The marine industry provides an enormous amount of possibilities for new product and service innovations. Already today Wärtsilä’s innovations increase the predictability of maintenance requirements, optimise the use of vessels’ equipment and even enable the utilization of virtual reality in remote support. The innovations we are looking for in the contest can for instance bring efficiency gains, better usability, improve transparency of operations to the customer or enhance safety. Only the imagination is the limit,” comments Tero Hottinen, General Manager, Business Innovation at Wärtsilä Services.

The contest kicks off today, with information now available HERE.

Wärtsilä begin accepting submissions for the contest after a presentation at the Slush Clean Solutions event in Helsinki November 12.
Submissions can be sent to Wärtsilä by 31 December 2015. The winner of the contest will be chosen by an international jury established by Wärtsilä.

The best ideas will be showcased to the jury in February. The winner will be announced in March 2016.

What’s in it for the winner? A 30-day agile “Lean Innovation Lab” product or service development sprint supported by business coaching specialist Shift Actions that will focus on the challenges of innovation, development of the concept for commercialization, its prototyping as well as the business plan and its implementation plan. The goal is to then use the concrete idea together with Wärtsilä.

Submissions can be sent to Wärtsilä by December 3, 2015. The winner of the contest will be chosen by an international jury. The best ideas will be showcased to the jury in February.

The winner will be announced in March 2016.

Transocean, Shell and DSME to delay two drillship deliveries

OCTOBER 26, 2015 — In yet another indication of the slowdown in global offshore drilling activity, Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN) today reported a mutual agreement with customer Shell EP Wells

BV to class Yamal project LNG carriers

The 172,000 cu m LNG ships will be capable of operating in second year ice up to 2.5 m thick.

Yamal LNG has awarded Sovcomflot, MOL, Teekay and Dynagas one, three, six and five vessels respectively. They will be built to dual Bureau Veritas/Russian Register class.

Philippe Donche-Gay, Executive Vice President and head of BV’s Marine and Offshore Division says, “We have made extensive investments in research into ice loads and navigation in ice, working with major Russian institutions and Asian shipyards. This effort, coupled with our world-leading expertise in large LNG carriers gives us a strong technical base to class these highly sophisticated vessels.”

The 300 m vessels each have four GTT NO 96 membrane type LNG cargo tanks.

The tull form is designed with a moderate ice bow forward and a heavy ice-breaking profile aft. The ships are dual-acting, navigating in light ice or open sea bow first, then navigating astern to break heavy ice. The astern ice breaking mode is assisted by the unique podded propulsion system which consists of three pods delivering around 45 MW of power.

Separate engine rooms housing the diesel generator power plants will be encased in a double hull to give protection from the ice and a high level of redundancy.

The ships will be built to Russian Register Arc7 standard, equivalent to an intermediate level between Polar Class 3 and Polar Class 4 of Bureau Veritas rules, for year-round operation in second-year ice with old ice inclusions with ice thickness of 2.5 m.

The vessels will be highly winterized with Bureau Veritas winterization notation COLD (-45,-52) which means that the hull is prepared for operation in -45 Celsius ambient temperature and the equipment should be able to work at -52 Celsius.

Safety of the vessels and care for the environment will be enhanced by a forward and aft ice belt to add strength to the hull in key areas and a very detailed fatigue life analysis to ensure the structure can with withstand the expected extreme stresses for the life of the vessel. Bureau Veritas’ IceSTAR tool is being used to assess the hull ice loads.

USCG issues bulletin on BWM compliance

It also  announces a change to the terms of extended compliance dates the Coast Guard will issue to vessels.

Following is taken from the bulletin:

In all cases, a vessel’s “first scheduled drydocking” date for the purposes of compliance with the BWM implementation schedule is the date the vessel enters a drydock. For example, if a vessel enters drydock on or before December 31, 2015 and does not leave drydock until after January 1, 2016, the drydock is not considered the “first scheduled drydocking after January 1, 2016” for purposes of compliance;

An underwater inspection in lieu of drydocking (UWILD) is not considered the “first scheduled drydocking”; instead:

Extended Compliance Date

A vessel that discharges ballast water in waters of the U.S. after its original compliance date must comply with the requirements under 33 CFR 151.1512 or 151.2035 for approved BWM methods. However, the master, owner, operator, agent, or person in charge of a vessel may apply to the Coast Guard for an extended compliance date if they can document that, despite all efforts, compliance with the requirement under 33 CFR 151.1510 or 151.2025 is not possible.

The Coast Guard is revising the terms of extended compliance dates, and will issue a revised CG-OES Policy Letter 13-01. A vessel’s extended compliance date will now be the “next scheduled drydocking” after the vessel’s original compliance date. Existing extension letters will not be re-issued, but this change in terms will be made when a vessel applies for a supplemental extension. Information on applying for an extended compliance date is available at http://homeport.uscg.mil/ballastwater in the “Regulations and Policy Documents” sub-folder.

Access the bulletin HERE

German owner to convert containership to LNG fueling

Funding was provided through the federal program Mobility and Fuel Strategy which promotes the maritime use of LNG as an environmentally friendly fuel.

“For many years our shipping company has been committed to ‘Green Shipping’ – through the development and implementation of more efficient alternative propulsion systems,” said Gerd Wessels, Managing Owner of Wessels Reederei GmbH. “With the conversion to LNG we and our partners are showcasing our technical expertise and demonstrating practical environmental solutions for the merchant marine industry.”

Wessels Reederei has been investigating the conversion for the past two years, in collaboration with the main engine manufacturer, MAN Diesel & Turbo, and gas specialist TGE Marine Gas Engineering GmbH.

Delivered in 2011 by China’s Jiangdong Shipyard, Wes Amelie is a modern 1,000 TEU containership that operates in the North Sea and Baltic.

Wes Amelie has 23 sister ships, 16 of them structurally identical, and in selecting the vessel for conversion, special attention was paid to the scalability of the engineering services as well as the development costs, significantly reducing the costs for follow-up projects. continent.

One reason for the providing of funding for the conversion by BMVI is that it contributes to resolving the “chicken and the egg” problem of LNG fuel availability vs. demand by being a a demand-generating flagship project.

Wessels Reederei says that “due to the long delivery time for LNG tanks,” the conversion will begin in fourth quarter 2016, with full operational usage of LNG as fuel planned for early December 2016.

Swiftships gets $10.9 million Iraq award

 

This effort encompasses one year of labor and the associated travel, basic life support services, and force protection services to operate and support the facility.  

Work will be performed at Umm Qasr Naval Base, Iraq, and is expected to be completed October 2016.  

Foreign military sales funding in the amount of $10,976,701 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  

The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

PSV to be converted to wind farm service vessel

The vessel, the Vestland Cygnus, will be given a 134 person accommodations module, a 100 t/40 m offshore crane and a new walkway system for boarding of wind turbines. Additionally 1.2 m sponsons will be added on either side of the vessel.

The converted vessel will have SPS (special purpose ship) class notation.

The design for the conversion is being provided by Wärtsilä, which provided the original design for the vessel and also supplied a complete electric propulsion system based on the Wärtsilä Low Loss concept with four Wärtsilä 20 engines, as well as an integrated automation system.

Following completion of the rebuild project by the shipyard, the Vestland Cygnus will transport service personnel to and from wind farms. It will be operated by Vestland Offshore, a Norway based offshore service vessel operator.

cygnus01

 

 

The conversion is scheduled to be completed by June 2016.
“We have developed several concepts for wind farm service vessels, both for newbuilds and conversion projects, and our design is very suitable for this vessel’s new operational profile. We have also worked closely with the Fjellstrand yard for many years on numerous projects and the cooperation between our companies is excellent,” says Ove Wilhelmsen, Managing Director, Wärtsilä Ship Design, Norway.
“The new design will enable the transportation and accommodation of a high number of people. It is important that the vessel has very good stability, even in the most challenging sea and weather conditions, so that personnel can safely board rigs or wind mills. We are confident that the Wärtsilä design meets all our requirements,” says Hans Martin Gravdal, owner of Vestland Cygnus.

Fednav takes delivery of first BWTS equipped Laker

The ship, the 34,500 dwt ocean going laker Federal Biscay, is fitted with a ballast water treatment system (BWTS) — a first for ships transiting the Great Lakes, says Fednav, the largest international operator in the Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence Seaway System.

Fednav announced in April that it would equip all 12 ships in its Oshima shipyard newbuild program with BallastAce ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) (see earlier story).

Developed by JFE Engineering Corporation in Japan, the BallastAce system will be effective in both fresh and salt water. BallastAce operates through a combination of filtration and sodium hypochlorite (bleach) injection into the ship’s ballast system.

“This is a pivotal step in protecting the Great Lakes against invasive species and preserving biodiversity in the region,” said Paul Pathy, president and co-CEO of Fednav Limited. “Fednav is proud to be the first shipping company to deploy such systems, and we are pleased that the Federal Biscay is serving as a test ship for this technology.”

Fednav will start using BallastAce in the Great Lakes at the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 2016.

With the assistance of Fednav, the BallastAce system (which is already USCG AMS approved) will continue the necessary testing for full U.S .Coast Guard type approval for fresh, brackish, and salt water at the GSI facility in Superior, WI, and at MERC in Baltimore, MD. During the first six months of 2016, the system installed on the Federal Biscay will be be used for the shipboard testing element of the type approval requirements.

Fednav expects that the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention, to which Canada is a signatory, will most likely enter into force in 2016, the year the U.S. Coast Guard and EPA require the installation of systems on ships trading in US waters.

Maersk trims profit guidance, sees shares fall

 

The adjustment reflects the market challenges facing Maersk Line, the world’s largest containership operator. The Group is maintaining its result guidance for 2015 for all its other businesses.

The previous expectation, announced in group’s second quarter report, had looked for an underlying result contribution from Maersk Line above $ 2.2 billion. The Group now expects an underlying result from Maersk Line of around $1.6 billion.

The Group’s sensitivity guidance for the last six months of 2015 states that a general decline in the freight rate of $100 per FFE (Forty Foot Equivalent) will impact Maersk Line’s result negatively by around $ 0.5 billion, and that a volume reduction of 100,000 FFE will have a negative impact of around $ 0.1 billion.

“Maersk Line has over the years taken steps to ensure a cost effective and resilient operation, but the current deterioration in the container shipping market is impacting also our business,” says Group CEO Nils S. Andersen..

In the third quarter Maersk Line achieved an average freight rate of $2,163/FFE down from $2,679/FFE in the equivalent 2014 quarter) and carried 2,427,000 FFE (2,401,000 FFE in Q3 2014. These results were lower than expected.

As a result of the market circumstances, says the Group, “initiatives have been taken to adjust Maersk Line’s network accordingly.”

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