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ABB announces turbocharger essay contest winners

On November 16, 1905 Swiss engineer Alfred Büchi patented the world’s first turbocharger for BBC, the precursor company of today’s ABB. Today, turbochargers are deployed across the globe in ships, locomotives, freight vehicles, heavy construction equipment and agricultural machinery, and in generating sets and power stations. More than 200,000 ABB turbochargers are in daily use to raise power output, lower emissions, cut fuel consumption and, ultimately, save money.

The competition, which was judged by three engineers from ABB Turbocharging Baden, required entrants to write a 750-1,250 word essay on the development of turbocharger technology and the key drivers for further technological progress in the future. Participants were also asked the challenging question: “How much would a pair of sneakers made in the U.S. and shipped to Switzerland cost if shipped without a turbocharged container vessel?”

ABB has named Charles Stuart from Ballycastle in Northern Ireland as the overall winner of the competition’s $2,500 first prize essay. His entry on “How 110 Years of Turbocharging Changed the World’ brought to life the critical impact turbocharging has had on engine development in general, and on shipping efficiency and costs in particular. Charles is a 24-year-old Ph.D. student researching compressor aerodynamics and 1-D design tools at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Second prize, worth $1,500, has been awarded to Anton Ronquist, also 24 years old, a mechatronics Masters student at Linköping University.Petr Kohout, a 24-year old mechanical engineering Masters student at Czech Technical University in Prague specializing in combustion engines, won the third prize, worth $1,000.

ABB has also awarded ten consolation prizes to runners-up in the contest.

Volkmar Haueisen, ABB’s Head of Research and Development, commented: “We are delighted that our essay competition attracted so many participants in this important year in ABB’s turbocharger timeline. The quality of their entries has been very high. Our wholehearted congratulations go to Charles whose entry was, in our opinion, outstanding. What Alfred Büchi invented more than a century ago has developed into a truly transformational technology which has played a vital part in raising engine efficiency for more than one hundred years. Millions of tonnes of fuel and harmful emissions have been saved. Charles’ entry reflects these remarkable achievements.”

Entrants to the competition may have wrestled with answering the question on sneakers, but they had no shortage of material to include from over 100 years of continuously evolving turbocharger technology.
Some of the key milestones include:

  • 1920 – first turbocharged airplane reaches 33,000 feet
  • 1925 – first marine turbochargers introduced to the market
  • 1954 – first compact units launched for use in freight trucks
  • 1973 – turbochargers became standard on all diesel vehicles as a result of the oil crisis
  • 2010 – Power2 launched, a two-stage turbocharging system raising efficiency by another 10%
  • 2015 – MSC Oscar, one of the world’s largest containerships, achieves a 75% increase in energy efficiency and a 62% reduction in fuel consumption and emissions through its ABB turbocharger installations

“This has been a fantastic record of continuous development in a technology with no downside. Turbochargers only improve performance,” Mr. Haueisen said. “Our research team is now fully focused on the science relating to the next stage of technological development. We are proud to be the pioneers of this outstanding technology.”

Download the winning essay HERE

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Big Data: Connecting and merging the dots

 

Yet, the requirements and demands put upon naval architects and shipyards can sometimes feel worlds away from the day-to-day operation of vessels. The challenge of crews having different priorities and needs from their shore-based counterparts has also been well documented. So what can be done to draw these different groups together?

Years of experience in providing both ship design software to yards and onboard performance monitoring solutions that report in real-time to shore based offices, gives NAPA an interesting umbrella perspective. We have seen how sometimes the day-to-day demands on each of these industry segments, and regulations they are working to, can pull them each in different directions. But we can also see that, on the whole, their end goal is fundamentally the same – safe, efficient and productive vessels that serve both their owner and the wider supply chain.

Increasing visibility and understanding between each of these vital functions and helping each to understand their own contribution to the whole, and how it impacts and relates to work in other sectors, will be increasingly vital as the industry evolves technologically and comes under greater environmental scrutiny. With the advent of big data, better tools to analyze it and improved systems to share it, this is quickly becoming more feasible.

Yards face increasing regulatory pressures that require internal validation as well as increased communication and data sharing with class societies. Tools and data interfaces are rapidly developing to make this a streamlined part of the vessel design process and deliver an easy shift from design terminals to construction plans for yards. But, by far the most interesting progress that data can help deliver is designing for real-world vessel performance. Until recently, yards designed vessels to meet the required sea-trial performance parameters – and sea-trial data confirming whether or not that aim was achieved was the only performance information they were provided with.

However, sea trial conditions rarely reflect those faced during real-world vessel transits and expected performance often doesn’t match with real experiences. Until now, that real world information never got back to the yard. The sea trial data was all they had to go on, so they were never able to identify these anomalies and correct them to deliver high-performance vessels for real conditions.

Performance monitoring tools have been in use for many years to collect this data for ship owners and operators. With an added layer of analysis it is now turned it into usable information for both shore-based offices and vessel crews to manage vessels in real time. More advanced performance monitoring and optimization tools like ClassNK-NAPA GREEN provide further big data analytics, combining weather, speed positioning and route data with measured vessel data to enable a true view of efficiency. It presents users with actionable information about each vessel and the fleet as a whole.

Our question was: Why could access to this data not be extended to the yard that designed and built the vessel? This is one of the things we have been trialling as we enhance and continue to build on the success of ClassNK-NAPA GREEN. With agreement from all parties, designers are being given access to efficiency data from the ships that are now in operation. This joined up approach to data sharing will help to drive the entire industry towards common goals.

That is just one example of how big data can change the way we work and how greater transparency could open up pathways for improvement across the industry. But big data—in fact any data—is only relevant when it responds to a businesses specific needs. This business intelligence can be anything a business needs to know to improve or develop its operations, but ultimately you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Stena Line’s Energy Saving Program (ESP) has excellently demonstrated this ongoing management. Since 2005, it has been adjusting vessel operations as well as testing other efficiency solutions using data analytics to evaluate fuel-saving effectiveness and ROI. In that time Stena has adopted changes ranging from bulbous-bow removal to energy-conserving window films. With ClassNK-NAPA GREEN installed on 24 vessels for day-to-day performance optimization, the ESP has resulted in $17 million in savings to date.

Equally, even with measurement in place, sometimes it can be difficult to know what to manage if you don’t ask the right questions. That’s where ongoing storage for historical big data analysis can be incredibly beneficial. For example, one major cruise line had been collecting data with onboard performance management and optimization systems since 2006 but it was only fairly recently that they wanted to ascertain the cost-benefit relationship of waiting for late passengers.

After analysis on the waiting time and period of increased speed to the next destination held in the existing data it was discovered that the current policies were costing tens of millions of dollars every year. This resulted in a policy change across the cruise line’s business.

Sometimes it’s a combination of the two that results in the greatest benefit. Real-time measurement of current performance when compared against data benchmarks of normal vessel operation allows easy identification of underperforming systems. For example, after minutes reviewing the real-time analytics for a container vessel, Class NK-NAPA Green identified that the hull needed cleaning. Once actioned, this cleaning reduced the vessel’s monthly fuel expenditure by $60,000.

The common element to each of these examples and ways of working is big data and a willingness to share that data to reach a common goal. Whether it’s to give yards the knowledge they need to design for real-world efficiency or simply to manage vessel maintenance, effective implementation of the right questions and powerful tools that can help you answer them can have a real impact. Applied wisely, transparently and collectively, big data can better connect us and support us all in delivering a more productive, efficient and safer future for shipping.

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Crowley establishes two new business units

Now standalone business segments, they were previously embedded in other company business units.

Leading the new business units are industry veterans Mike Golonka, vice president, government services, and Wendy MacDonald, vice president, global ship management.

The Government Services provides bundled vessel management solutions for the United States Maritime Administration, Military Sealift Command, and other agencies; custodial services for vessels seized by U.S. Government agencies; naval architecture and marine engineering services; project management and salvage and dive operations; and many other services. The team combines the technical and professional capabilities of the company’s owned and managed fleets, under the direction of a team of tenured professionals, many of whom are mariners, to bring together best-in-class operations, engineering and contracting personnel.

The Global Ship Management group – which includes international partnership Crowley Accord and Seattle-based subsidiary Maritime Management Services, Inc. (MMS) – provides technical services and crew management as well as a broad range of back-office services to a variety of conventional vessel types such as tankers, container and general cargo, and Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro/Ro) vessels; along with specialized vessels such as deep-water pipe-layers, geotechnical and seismic research vessels; and offshore construction support vessels. With offices in the U.S., Mumbai, Goa, Hong Kong and Amsterdam, Crowley’s global ship management group, including Crowley Accord, manages over 60 vessels in the U.S. domestic and international markets. The company has developed longstanding working relationships with vendors, suppliers and major foreign and domestic labor organizations, allowing them to provide professional management services, with an emphasis on Crowley’s No. 1 core value, safety. The policies and procedures reflected in every aspect of Crowley’s management system are based on recognized ISO and ISM standards to ensure regulatory compliance.

“Establishing these two new business groups will help Crowley focus its services for its distinct customer bases,” said Crowley’s Todd Busch, senior vice president and general manager, technical services. “Crowley offers both industries extensive experience, a reputation for working safely and honestly, and relationships that matter. Customers can expect all of that to continue, with the added benefit of more targeted and improved customer service.”

Leading the Government Services group is Mike Golonka, who previously served as vice president, ship management. He will continue reporting to Mr. Busch, and remain based in the company’s headquarters in Jacksonville, FL. He and his team will develop and synchronize government services offerings across the Crowley portfolio and will further align the group with government contracting requirements, including time keeping, cost accounting and compliance with Federal Acquisition Requirement (FAR) clauses.

“Mike did a great job building the ship management business and establishing Crowley as a serious competitor for government contracts,” said Mr. Busch. “He has shown the commitment to the business and represents the company as a respected professional. This is represented in the recent award of the TAGOS / TAGM and ROCON contracts from Military Sealift Command, both very important contracts from the U.S. Government.”

Mr. Golonka, who graduated from Calhoon MEBA Engineering School and holds an unlimited chief engineer license, joined Crowley in 1987 and has served as senior port engineer, manager of ship operations, director of engineering and director of contract operations prior to his appointment to general manager in 2009. In that role, he coordinated all sales, marketing and operations activities for Crowley’s ship management group and its growing number of customers and vessels served. In 2011, he was awarded the company’s highest honor, the Thomas Crowley trophy, given to employees who have aligned themselves closely with Crowley’s values and displayed outstanding performance along with dedication, leadership, initiative and productivity. .

Ms. MacDonald, now leading the Global Ship Management group, is the former vice president of procurement. She remains based in Jacksonville and also reports to Mr. Busch. She is responsible for all sales, marketing, engineering and operations activities for Crowley’s commercial ship management group and its growing number of customers and vessels. She will also oversee the activities for Marine Management Services and Crowley-Accord Ship Management, based in India.

“Wendy’s operational experience, organizational skills and management will be a great benefit to the ship management group,” Mr. Busch said. “She has done an excellent job building teams, and partnering with our vendors. Wendy has supported the business for several years, so she understands much of the business needs and the customer expectations. In her 20-plus years with the company, she has shown a drive and passion for the maritime industry, which has led to her successes.”

Ms.MacDonald, who has a California Maritime Academy bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on marine transportation and intermodalism, joined Crowley in 1992 as a management trainee and has held various positions of increasing responsibility within the company’s container shipping organization, including manager of freight services for the Puerto Rico/Caribbean services group, manager of pricing for the Latin America services group, director of inland operations and most recently vice president of procurement.

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TOTE pushes back Orca Class LNG conversions

NOVEMBER 9, 2015— The tragic October 1 loss of the El Faro means that TOTE Maritime is having to delay the planned conversion of the first of two “built for Alaska” 839

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Box giant NOL confirms that it is in acquisition talks

Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL) issued a statement on November 7 confirming that it is in “preliminary discussions with CMA CGM SA and A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S with respect to a potential acquisition of NOL.”

Speculation that NOL, whose principle operating entity is APL, has been seeking a suitor has been rising since it announced a third quarter loss of $96 million, compared to a net loss of $23 million in third quarter 2014.

“NOL has a duty to assess all options to maximize shareholder value and improve its competitiveness,” said the November 7 statement. “From time to time, NOL enters into discussions on possible combinations involving NOL, while remaining focused on returning its core liner business to sustainable growth and profitability.”

It promised that “NOL will make an appropriate announcement in the event that there are any material developments” and advised shareholders investors to “exercise caution when dealing in shares in and other securities of NOL.”

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Falling freight rates hit Maersk Group profits

The Maersk Group delivered a profit of $778 million (compared with $1.5 billion in the third quarter of last year) negatively impacted by the lower oil price and lower average container freight rates, down 51% and 19% respectively compared to the same period last year. The return on invested capital (ROIC) was 7.6% (12.7%).

The underlying profit was $662 million ($1.3 billion) with lower profits in Maersk Line, Maersk Oil and APM Terminals and improved result for Maersk Drilling, while APM Shipping Services was on par with Q3 last year.
Group CEO Nils S. Andersen said the decline of nearly 50 percent  in underlying profit compared to last year was primarily due to container freight rates deteriorating to a historically low level, especially in the later part of Q3, and profits in Maersk Oil being impacted by the lower oil price.

“The expected underlying result of around $3.4 billion for 2015 reflects good performance in very challenging oil and container shipping markets, where the continuous actions taken in all our business units to reduce the cost base will enable us to maintain our ability to pursue the opportunities arising in our industries,” says Mr. Andersen.

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Aker Philly facing higher costs, delivery delays

The company, which is planning to change its name to Philly Shipyard, reported an order backlog of $1,043.2 million as of September 30, 2015, providing for shipbuilding activity with delivery dates through 2018.

In its third quarter report, the company says that it has recently completed a thorough analysis of its production schedule and budgets based on its experiences with the construction activities on the current product tanker program and the purchasing and engineering activities on the two containership’s on order by Matson project.

“As a result of this analysis,” it says, it has “prepared a revised forecast which includes higher costs of construction and later delivery dates for the vessels in AKPS’s backlog than previous forecasts. Corrective actions have been put in place to address some of these additional costs and schedule impacts.”

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Maersk Line to cut jobs, scale back shipbuilding plans

Those initiatives will see it reduce network capacity, shed “at least 4,000” jobs by the end of 2017 and cut back on the ambitious shipbuilding plans announced earlier. It will not exercise previously announced options for six 19,630 TEU vessels and two 3,600 TEU feeders and will postpone its decision on an optional eight 14,000 TEU vessels.

Maersk Line says that, in light of lower demand, these moves will still allow it to grow at least in line with the market to defend its market leading position.

Over the next two years, Maersk Line expects to lower the annual Sales, General & Administration (SG&A) cost run-rate by  $250 million with an impact of $150 million in 2016. SG&A savings will be derived from already initiated transformation projects and the standardization, automation and digitalization of processes.
 
“We are on a journey to transform Maersk Line. We will make the organization leaner and simpler. We want to improve our customer experience digitally and at the same time work as efficiently as possible,” says CEO Søren Skou.

Today, Maersk Line has 23,000 land based staff globally. Organizational transformation and on-going automation and digitalization will, it says, enable it to reduce the global organization by at least 4,000 positions by the end of 2017 with the aim of minimizing redundancies through managing natural attrition.

“We are fewer people today than a year ago. We will be fewer next year and the following year. These decisions are not taken lightly, but they are necessary steps to transform our industry,” says Mr. Skou.

As a response to the current market outlook, network capacity will be reduced in Q4 2015 and throughout 2016. As previously announced, the closure of four  services (ME5, AE9, AE3 and TA4) has already been initiated over the last two months and plans are in place to further cancel a total of 35 sailings in Q4.