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Russian customers keep Arctech Helsinki busy

 

The icebreaking supply vessels are being built for Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipping company.

Last week’s keel laying saw the 221 first block of the first ship placed in the building dock as the starting point of the hull assembly.

The vessel will be capable of breaking through ice as thick as 1.5 meters and will be outfitted for emergency evacuation, rescue and fire fighting operations, oil spill response and platform support activities.

Once delivered, the vessel will serve in the Sakhalin-2 region energy production sites by transporting supplies and people between land bases and production platforms and protecting the production platforms from the impact of ice in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (SEIC) operates the oil and gas field.

“Arctech has successfully built many similar kind of vessels for use in the rough weather conditions of the Sakhalin area. The series of vessels currently being built and designed at Arctech will further secure the energy production in the area,” says Esko Mustamäki, Managing Director of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard.

Measuring 100 m x 21.7 m, the vessel will be delivered to the client in the summer of 2016.

It vessel will be equipped with advanced Nordic environmental technology, such as a catalytic converter exhaust system and solutions for limiting underwater noise levels.

As well as increasing capacity for oil spill response, as well as emergency evacuation, in the the Sakhalin area, the vessel will be able to safely transport deck cargo, loose cargo, and liquid cargo in the integrated tanks below deck, and to carry production platform crew members as passengers regardless of weather and ice conditions.

The vessel has accommodations for 70 people – 28 crew members and 42 specialized staff members.

Baltic Icebreaker

The Baltic icebreaker Murmansk was delivered to Russia’s Vyborg Shipyard JSC, which will deliver it to customerRosmorport by year’s end.

The 119.8 m x 27.5 Murmansk is the second in a series of three vessels that the Russian Ministry of Transport ordered in 2012 from Vyborg Shipyard.

The basic design of the vessel and purchasing of major components was handled by Vyborg Shipyard. Arctech was responsible for the construction, outfitting and testing of the powerful vessel.

The main tasks of the vessel are icebreaking and assisting of heavy-tonnage vessels in ice, towing of vessels and other floating structures year-round in ice and open water.

The vessel will also be used for fire fighting on floating objects and other facilities, assisting vessels in distress in ice and open water and also for cargo transportation. The vessel is able to operate in temperatures as cold as -40°С and the maximum icebreaking capability is 1.5 m.

Murmansk 700

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Feeder ship operator to fit PureSOX scrubbers

Buss Shipping operates 20 feeder ships and has a strong chartering business. To meet the requirements of today’s charter market, the company is focusing on the sustainable modernization of its existing fleet.

As a key step in this process, hybrid Alfa Laval PureSOx systems will be retrofitted on board the vessels Condor and Corsar. Both 1,025 TEU feeder ships operate exclusively in Emission Control Areas (ECAs).

Since they operate in the low-alkalinity waters between Rotterdam and St. Petersburg, as well as ports like Hamburg with zero-discharge requirements, a scrubber with closed-loop mode was a necessity.

“The hybrid PureSOx systems on the Condor and Corsar will provide emission compliance with maximum flexibility and fuel economy,” says Torben Kölln, Managing Director, Buss Shipping. “This will uphold the competitiveness of our offer to charter customers.” Custom engineering for the ideal solution

The Condor and Corsar will each receive a hybrid PureSOx system with multiple inlets, connecting the main engine and two auxiliary engines to one U-design scrubber. In contrast to earlier systems with multiple inlets, the inlets will now lead into a single scrubber jet section – an advance in construction that will make the scrubber even more compact.

“The PureSOx solution was well engineered and allowed a sophisticated integration of the scrubber system into our container feeder ships,” says Christoph Meier, Project Manager, Buss Shipping. “The custom construction let us avoid major modifications inside the vessel, which together with the pre-outfitting gave us a short installation time. All those factors contributed to a competitive price.”

For the engineering of the PureSOx systems, Buss Shipping GmbH & Co. KG cooperated with SDC Ship Design & Consult GmbH.

Detailed engineering was handled by the shipyard German Dry Docks GmbH & Co. KG, which will install the systems following deliveries by Alfa Laval in January and February 2016.

“The work between Buss Shipping, Alfa Laval, the shipyard and the engineering consultant has been smooth and productive,” says Mark Aarbodem, Project Manager at Alfa Laval. “Alfa Laval’s scrubber design and project management experience, together with the strong cooperation from the rest of the team, will ensure a reliable outcome for Buss Shipping.”

“All parties have worked together to arrive at a compliant solution that will benefit our charter operations,” says Mr. Kölln. “Rather than paying for expensive fuel, our container vessels will be able to serve charter customers at a competitive price – while still retaining our margins.”

alfa laval puresox hybrid u system 2

Wartsila waterjets selected for Mols-Linien superferry

The shipyard has previously specified Wärtsilä waterjets for a number of fast ferry projects. This latest order was placed in November.

The scope of supply includes four Wärtsilä LJX 1500 SRI waterjets and a Wärtsilä Lipstronic control system. The equipment is scheduled for delivery to the shipyard in September, 2016.

“The strong relationship between Wärtsilä and the Incat yard continues, and this latest order confirms the good cooperation that the two companies enjoy. It also underlines Wärtsilä’s commitment to the Australian market. We are pleased to once again be supplying Wärtsilä waterjets, which provide reliable and efficient propulsion for fast ferry applications,” says Hans Laheij, Sales Director, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.

“Incat, and our client Mols Linien, have continued to be satisfied with the performance of the Wärtsilä waterjets on KatExpress 1 and KatExpress 2 so it was a logical decision to select the Wärtsilä LJX 1500 SRI jets for KatExpress 3,” says Robert Clifford, Incat Chairman.

Set for delivery in March 2017, KatExpress 3 is a 109 m long wave piercing catamaran capable of carrying around 1,000 passengers and with capacity for 411 cars or a mix of trucks, vans and cars. .

GAO calls for hold on FY 2016 LCS funding

The GAO report, an unclassified version of a report published in July, was released as news surfaced that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, in a Dec. 14 memo to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, had told the Navy to reduce the planned LCS/FF shipyard procurement from 52 to 40 and to downselect to one variant by FY 2019 (see earlier story).

The GAO reiterates a number of arguments made by critics of the program. It says that the lethality and survivability of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) remain l largely unproven, six years after delivery of the lead ships.

According to GAO, LCS was designed with reduced requirements as compared to other surface combatants, and the Navy has since lowered several survivability and lethality requirements and removed several design features—making the ship both less survivable in its expected threat environments and less lethal than initially planned. The Navy is compensating for this by redefining how it plans to operate the ships.

In 2014, the Navy conducted its first operational test of an early increment of the surface warfare mission package on a Freedom variant LCS, demonstrating that LCS could meet an interim lethality requirement. The Navy declared LCS operationally effective. However, says the GAO, the Navy’s test report stated that the ship did not meet some key requirements.

Further, the Department of Defense’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation has stated that there is insufficient data to provide statistical confidence that LCS can meet its lethality requirements in future testing or operations, and further testing is needed to demonstrate both variants can meet requirements in varied threat environments.

The Navy also has not yet demonstrated that LCS will achieve its survivability requirements, and does not plan to complete survivability assessments until 2018—after more than 24 ships are either in the fleet or under construction, says GAO.

The Navy has identified unknowns related to the use of aluminum and the hull of the Independence variant, and plans to conduct testing in these areas in 2015 and 2016. However, the Navy does not plan to fully determine how the Independence variant will react to an underwater explosion.This variant also sustained some damage in a trial in rough sea conditions, but the Navy is still assessing the cause and severity of the damage and GAO has not been provided with a copy of the test results.Results from air defense and cyber security testing also indicate concerns, but specific details are classified.

Read the GAO report HERE

Shell Rotterdam charters LNG fueled inland barges

DECEMBER 18, 2015 — Shell Trading Rotterdam BV (Shell) has signed a time-charter agreement with Plouvier Transport NV and Intertrans Tankschiffahrt AG for 15 new inland dual-fuel barges, which will predominantly run

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Detained bulker allowed to depart Duluth

DECEMBER 18, 2015 — The owner and operator of the motor vessel Cornelia and the U.S. Coast Guard reached an agreement Tuesday that will allow the 24,516 dwt, 2001-built bulk carrier to