• News

Hyundai Heavy Industries unveils smart ship system

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, unveiled what it says is the world’s first remote monitoring and controlling smart ship system on March 25. The IT-based smart system has been developed

  • News

Navy takes out Libyan Coast Guard vessels

Libyan Coast Guard vessels have been “firing indiscriminately at merchant vessels” according to U.S. Africa Command. U.S. Navy aircraft and the destroyer USS Barry dealt with the problem. A report filed from

  • News

Pirates hijack AMPTC tanker

The 105,846 dwt Arab Maritime Petroleum Transport Company tanker Zirku was hijacked by Somali pirates today. EU Navfor says the ship was pirated at approximately 0900 GMT, approximately 250 nautical miles southeast

  • News

Noble exercises option for two more jack-ups

Noble Corporation (NYSE:NE)  has exercised two of its four options with Sembcorp Marine’s subsidiary Jurong Shipyard for the construction of additional high-specification heavy duty, harsh environment JU3000N jackup drilling rigs.  This order

  • News

ST Marine delivers first seismic vessel

Singapore shipbuilder ST Marine has successfully delivered its first seismic survey vessel. Built for Swire Pacific Offshore Operations (Pte) Ltd.), the 68.0 m by 17.4 m Pacific Finder is a 4-streamer vessel.

Podcast: W&O’s Michael Hume

For the U.S. marine market, the recovery has been slowed by the government-imposed drilling moratorium in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon incident. With the moratorium lifted and the government reluctantly issuing new deepwater drilling permits under stricter safety guidlines, the outlook for 2011 is much brighter. Tidewater has ordered two Platform Supply Vessels and Eastern Shipbuilding is near dotting the “I’s and crossing the T’s” for a $250 million contract for five Platform Supply Vessels for export to Brazil. Additionally, VT Halter Marine has signed a contract to build a Roll-on/Roll-Off ship for Pasha.

On the military side, the U.S. Navy is moving ahead with plans for its Littoral Combat Ship and Joint High Speed Vessel programs.radio200

To put it in perspective, we spoke with Michael Hume, Chief Operating Officer of W&O, which is the largest supplier of engineered products, pipe, valves and fittings to the marine industry in the U.S., supporting new construction and ship maintenance projects for commercial shipping and the U.S. government. We talked to Hume about how W&O weathered the downturn in shipbuilding, the emergence of the North American Emissions Control Area, and just what exactly he sees for the near-term shipbuilding picture in the U.S.

You can listen to the podcast BELOW:

{mp3}hume_new2{/mp3}

Detyens awarded $7.3 million MSC contract

Detyens Shipyards, Inc., North Charleston, S.C., is being awarded a $7,325,687 firm-fixed-price contract for a 55-calendar-day regular overhaul of Military Sealift Command dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Lewis and Clark. This regular overhaul