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Going green over green costs; GL enters the dragon;

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G-type passes the test; LNG bunker tank unveiled;
MaK introduces dual fuel engine

1B FPSB/FlNli
Opportunity knocks for the FPSO operator

22 Rigs i Jack-ups
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30 Singapore
Infrastucture development in the Lion City
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34 Noise i Vibration
Ship noise is a magnet for molluscs and results in increased
fuel costs

3& Caver story: Fire-fighting systems

With C0 2 falling under increasing scrutiny, should it be
banned?

39 Medium-speed engines
Tier III postponement is creating uncertainty in the
propulsion market

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ShippingWorld ft Shipbuilder July/August 2013

Shipping World
•SH1pbu1lder
Volume 213 No 4293
ISSN No 0037-3931
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ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
fa ll the new and amended maritime rules and requirements that will enter
into force over the next few years were published as one volume of prose,
not only would it make light reading of Proust's In Search of Lost Time, but
it could prove to be a very expensive read indeed, costing the global shipping
industry US$50bn, surpassing the US$1 l.5M paid in 2010 for John James
Patrik Wheater
Audubon's Birds of America.
- Editor
That's the figure Masamichi Morooka, the chairman of the International
Chamber of Shipping, says the industry will have to fork out each year in capi-
tal and operational expenditure in order to comply with the glut of 'green' rules
being introduced over the next twelve years. Certainly the installation of emis-
sions reducing measures and ballast water treatment equipment, for example,
will be costly; but Morooka's statement has to be put into perspective.
For a start, there is no such thing as cheap fuel anymore and operational
costs are going to increase whether the industry operates a 'green' ship or one
as black as night. What's more, if we assume a global fleet of 50 000 vessels
is affected by the rules, then the US$50bn a year spent on compliance works
out at a much more digestible US$1M per ship which operators will be able
to pass on to charterers. Then, of course, we have to take into account the
cost differential between scrapping older tonnage in place of more sophisti-
cated, cleaner newbuilds and retrofitting more efficient technology to exist-
ing ships, which can be complex, especially if it involves the installation of
scrubbers, engine modifications or switching from diesel to gas .
Although they have yet to embrace the buy-one-get-one-free concept,
shipyards are offering much lower prices now for newbuilds. And with
new ships and engine designs optimised for energy-efficiency across a wider
speed spectrum, then the differential between capital cost and operational
cost may be more favourable than the retrofit option, even for tonnage
built in the late 1990s or early 2000s. The average age of the world's cargo-
carrying fleet is nineteen - still relatively youthful - but why wait until the
sell-by-date when it could be more cost-effective to renew the fleet now.
This would also address the current supply/demand imbalance and help
kick-start market recovery.
Whether the shipowner likes it or not, the so-called 'eco-ship' is here to
stay; its ubiquity, however, is heavily dependent on whether the energy-efficiency
claims of original equipment manufacturers and ship designers can be independ-
ently verified and reported. Now that would be an interesting read!
Linked Im.
Have your say
Readers are encouraged to join over 2600 members of the Shipping
World & Shipbuilder networking group on Linked In:
www.linkedin.com/ groups/Shipping-World-Shipbuilder-24103 59
"---
'SAFEE~GE
TIONCOVER BY ~~,Y.~It~~u~®
July/August 2013 3
 s a sort ofrepresentative image of 21st century
A maritime endeavour, the endlessly repeated
picture of the Costa Concordia lying on its
bilges on the pretty island of Giglio takes some
beating. This is what you might describe as a
'mainstream' image, but to those of us in the know
there are plenty of equally evocative pictures of
the consequences of bad navigation to be found all
around the world . 'How on earth did he do that?'
- is the professional's reaction to seeing a contain-
ership which tried to go through a Mediterranean
island, or a bulker high and dry on the coast, while
people with dogs walked around it. We all have
our theories.
At a symposium at IMO just recently, DNV's
Tor Svensen showed a graph which perhaps ought
to give us cause to worry. It showed, quite clearly,
that while there have been spectacular reductions
in the amount of oil we spill, the past 30 years
have seen virtually no improvements in the inci-
dence of navigational accidents. At a time when
clever equipment manufacturers have been stuff-
ing our wheelhouses with all manner of navi-
gational devices, there has been no reduction in
the number of groundings and collisions. For an
industry under some public scrutiny, even, it might
be suggested, 'on probation' after the Costa fiasco,
this might give you pause for thought.
What happened 30 years ago? Was this when
the technology started to outpace the training? It was
suggested that it might be a function of far busier
seas with a lot more traffic, but I'm not sure that this
is an adequate explanation, because in many parts of
the world, fewer, far bigger ships have replaced lots
of smaller vessels. And we have separation zones,
routeing, all sorts of clever stuff to keep ships apart,
and off the beach. What's going on?
Might it be that while earlier navigational
advances such as the gyro-compass or radar (once
we learned how to work it) really did represent a
step-change in navigational safety, an awful lot of
what has come along in more recent years is only
bells and whistles. 'But that's unfair, how can you
suggest that GPS, which provides confidence of
one's position regardless of visibility or celestial
assistance, is not a huge advance?' I hear you cry.
Well, GPS really found its way to sea 30 years
ago, so might there be some clue with this techno-
logical advance, which made navigation arguably
more precise? Might the arrival of GPS have been
the first stage in a process which made redundant
the traditional skills of the navigator and in some
respects, reduced his role from one of active par-
ticipation to being a mere monitor of electronic
devices? This might be sheer heresy to some, but
satnav and computer assisted chartwork, which
4 July/August 2013
eventually gave rise to ECDIS and integrated
bridge systems, arguably removed pride, interest
and enthusiasm in both navigation and pilotage,
replacing it with boredom and a certain detach-
'How on
earth did he do
ment. There, I've said it.
that?' - is the
Does the electronic navigator get the same
thrill as I did when the loom of a lighthouse, professional's
exactly where it ought to be on the bow, prefaced a reaction to
landfall after a long oceanic passage? Is there any seeing a
real buzz after a watch in heavy traffic, without
predictive collision avoidance devices and an elec- containership
tronic chart to guide? which tried to
Maybe I am being a Luddite and you are never go through a
going to stop progress, but it could be that there is
a great deal of unjustified confidence engendered Mediterranean
by all this gear. There is no doubt that its pres- island
ence encourages people who can exercise control
to require navigators to diminish their traditional
prudence, whether it is charterers bawling down
the VHF instructing the master that they cannot
tolerate the ship being late, or people being per-
suaded to take short cuts they never would have
attempted, in a less precise age.
I think that we should have worried about the
way that so much of this new equipment, man-
dated by the regulators, has been pushed down
navigators' throats by equipment manufacturers,
who have been far too active at IMO. They knew
what their equipment could deliver, but perhaps
with exception of pilots, there were no 'current'
navigators able to question their claims as the
regulations were being framed and to ask 'do we
really need this stuff? '
We have also had a background of ever more
intensive ship operation, people increasingly hired
for their cheapness rather than their skills and,
although owners will protest, endemic underman-
ning, allied to fatigue and stress. Why should we
be even remotely surprised that people run into
islands, shoals and each other?
So what can we do? We could start by a mora-
torium on fancy new equipment, until we have
allowed the education and training to catch up
with the technology. We could also, with the aid
of those 'current' seafarers, take a long hard look
at the direction this equipment is taking· us , and
excise any programs or systems that remove or
reduce the decision-making processes from the
navigator. In a word it would be 're-skilling'
somebody that has seen navigation 'dumbed Michael Grey has been
down' over this 30 year period, and restoring him a mariner with a British
as an active participant, rather than an observer, Master's Certifi cate and is
trying to stay awake and in touch, slumped in his a maritime journalist and
chair. It won't be an easy or short process, but columnist of more than
it could just work and stop the flatlining of that 40 years' experience
worrying graph. SW&S
ShippingWorld 8Shipbuilder
 I
read recently that the role of the ship's super-
intendent is changing and it made me think
back to my own days in that job. Actually, I
became aware of 'supers' at a very young age
because my step-grandfather was a chief engi-
neer and when I was very small he took me to
his ship in drydock in South Shields where I
met the owners' superintendent, a very severe
looking man in a trilby hat. During my own
days at sea, and more especially as a chief
engineer myself, I was conscious of the 'super'
both as a critic and as a source of help. Supers
spent lots of time in drydock situations and
their expertise was invaluable. Much of what
they did was a mystery and then I became one
myself, and the mystery deepened!
I worked in Glasgow for a ship manager,
perhaps the best known of the third party ship
management companies, the one who set the
standards in those days; and
I found myself travelling the
world with little experience, dis-
tant support, primitive commu- To my mind the
nications and only an American answer is not to
Express card to rely on. I made
mistakes which afterwards
apply
made me cringe, but I learned but rather to
quickly. increase the skill
So what is driving the need base at sea
for change now? Apparently,
and I quote from a recent Spin-
naker bulletin: 'More and more
shipping companies are employing fleet tech-
nical officers or technical support assistants to
work alongside superintendents, taking away
much of the administrative, regulatory and
less specialist aspects of the superintendent
role.' The role would become a bit diluted,
but if it is better carried out and ships are run
more efficiently it can only be a good thing,
surely.
It was always difficult to keep track of
the paper flowing from the ships for which I
had responsibility, and these days the paper
volume must be immense. It may have been
easier working for an owner with a settled
fleet , but those of us working for third party
ship managers never knew which ships
might be coming in or out of the fleet, and
we never knew where we'd be flying off to
next or to which ship. I mentioned primitive
communications earlier, only telex and long
distance calls, but the modern speed of com-
munications is a double edged sword, where
6 July/August 2013
every action requires an immediate, often
knee-jerk, reaction and a failure to do so
spawns even more messages and demands.
Anything that eases that burden must be an
improvement.
In the same Spinnaker article, I read
that easing the administrative role will allow
supers to manage more ships, thus address-
ing the perceived skill shortage. This may
be true, but to my mind the answer is not to
apply massage but rather to increase the skill
base at sea! Without a healthy pool of good
superintendents, the number of experienced
people available to move on to other areas of
the marine industry such as shipping company
executives, marine surveyors, classification
society box-tickers, shiprepair managers and
other related fields, will decline also. Then too
the article raises the question of whether or
not supers really need to have
been at sea. I guess the argu-
ments around this topic are
well known and the propo-
nents of appointing business
graduates without seagoing
massage experience will say that cor-
rectly managing seagoing per-
sonnel and efficiently manag-
ing ships today is too difficult
and too important to be left to
untrained engineers and mari-
ners; all of which makes sense,
provided these business graduates are willing,
when things go wrong, to defer to some plebe-
ian ex-seafarer with technical expertise. And
they will probably go increasingly wrong on
modern ships where the shortage of skilled
people is a real issue.
When I came ashore as a superintendent
it was a bit of an accident, wrong place right
time you might say; but the powers that be
thought I had something that would make me
a suitable candidate for managing people and John Lillie has been a
technical situations and I never went back to marine surveyor for more
sea, so perhaps they were right. But it was a than 30 years and from
steep learning curve, and I am not sure that in 2001 to 2007 was the
this present world of endlessly growing rules managing director of The
Salvage Association. A
and regulations, with unreliable and often dis-
chartered engineer, he is
illusioned colleagues at sea operating dodgy
a Fellow of the Institute
machinery, I would have been able to cope. So of Marine Engineering
perhaps a completely different role is needed Science and Technology,
and appointing someone who doesn't know a and is a director of the
flogging-spanner from a hatch-cleat may be the International Institute of
way forward. SW&S Marine Surveying.
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
Mare ar en ruli swill ll last straw, warns Maraaka
mpending environmental legislation will
cost the shipping industry more than
US$500bn and will be ' the straw that
breaks the shipowner's back', warns Masa-
michi Morooka, the chairman of the Inter-
national Chamber of Shipping.
Speaking to delegates at the opening
of the Nor-Shipping event in Oslo, he
said the sum equates to about US$50bn
of additional capital and operating costs
in every single year for a 10 year period
between 2015 and 2025.
'As many companies struggle to sur-
vive during the difficult years ahead, we
must persuade governments to avoid plac-
ing yet more straws that risk breaking
the shipowner's back - and the straws to
which I refer are the impending costs of
environmental legislation. '
He said that much of these costs will
result from the switch to low sulphur dis-
tillate fuel, assuming that a 0.5 % global
sulphur cap comes into effect in 2020,
in addition to the 0.1 % sulphur require-
ments that are expected to be enforced
in Emission Control Areas in North West
Europe and North America from 2015.
However, the costs of installing new bal-
last water treatment equipment will also
be significant, as will the potential contri-
anker industry association lnterta-nko is
taking steps to improve the economic
sustainability of the owners it represents by
developing a voluntary best practice code
for commercial tanker operation. One of the
main issues dogging tanker owners is late
payment by oil companies and traders, with
freight payments increasingly slipping to
five to ten days after contractual agreement
(cargo delivery), and with demurrage paid
to the owner typically six to twelve months -
after the voyage has been completed. Dur-
ing a voyage, tanker owners have to pay fuel
costs, port and canal costs, security costs
hipping companies in Brazil com-
plaining about the severe shortage of
shiprepair facilities in the South American
country are about to receive some very
good news indeed.
For the rumours that surfaced some
weeks ago that 'someone' was building a
new floating dock 'somewhere in Brazil,
Argentina or Uruguay' for use 'probably in
Guanabara Bay' has been proved true, and
a new company Dock Shore Navega~ao e
Servi~os Ltda - which is linked to the Nit-
8 July/August 2013
Potential cost to global shipping of new
120
environm~ntal regulations, 2015-2025
NB All ~tim::i tcs, while only indicative.
are a!wconservative
1_00_
S100blllion
_ _ __ _ __, UNFCCC Green Climate
Fund
80
40
20
:HOO billion
0.1 % Sulphur Fuel in Em is~ion Control Areas
2013 2015
bution that shipping might have to make
to the UNFCCC Green Climate Fund.
'The imminent switch to vastly more
expensive, low sulphur distillate fuel is
a very serious concern which is com-
pounded by worries about the adequacy
of supply and the dangers of modal shift,'
Morooka said. • remained positive and optimistic: 'We are
He explained that the key message that
res was c'ommunicating to regulators was
the need for greater focus to be given to
the economic sustainability of shipping,
as well as basic daily operating costs, leav-
ing them as lntertanko estimates with nearly
US$5M negative cashflow on a notional VLCC
voyage from Asia to Europe_
lntertanko's managing director, Katharina
Stanzel, commented: 'A lot of oil companies are
not even aware that they are causing problems
for tanker owners. We are in favour of introduc-
ing a prompt payment code and improving the
relationships between oil industry stakehold-
ers.' Malcolm Willingale, a project manager for
lntertanko, added: 'VLCC rates especially are
barely covering operating costs. Breakeven is
the new profit in tanker shipping.'
shore Offshore Support services facility
in Niteroi - has stepped forward to claim
responsibility for the 'good news'.
The floating dock was actually
launched in July of last year from the Rio
Nave shipyard in Guanabara Bay - there
is even a YouTube video to prove it - but
it has remained anchored close to the Rio
Nave facility with only a minimal amount
of out-fitting carried out so far.
Shipping World & Shipbuilder sources
who are close to Rio Nave say that Dock
Environmental
legislation
.-11 cost the
/ d OObn, try
warns
Morooka
backed up by evidence of years of continu-
ous improvement of shipping's environ-
S350bitl1on
o. S%Gtoba1Sulphur
mental performance. 'Many of the expen-
1nFu~Cap
sive environmental regulations that are
about to enter into force were conceived
in a different world, at a time when ship-
ping markets were booming and finance
for retrofitting had not dried up,' he told
Nor-Shipping delegates.
res stresses that the protection of the
environment must always remain a prior-
ity for the industry, but the prevailing eco-
2020 2025
nomic situation requires that a degree of
pragmatism is applied to enforcement as a
plethora of new environmental regulations
is implemented. 'Unless this is understood,
there is a danger of creating real barriers to
investment in our industry as we hopefully
move closer to recovery,' said Morooka.
More generally, asked to look ahead for
the next two to five years, Morooka said he
shipowners after all!' But he predicted it
was probably unlikely that, for most sectors
and trades, much will have fundamentally
changed before 2015 or 2016. S •
Another challenge for tanker own-
ers is what they see as the misuse of Oil
Companies International Marine Forum's
Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE)
, for commercial purposes instead of safety
purposes, with inspections inconsistent in
focus and standard, and with charterers not
making enough use of inspection reports
that have been lodged with SIRE. 'To ease
inconsistency, a SIRE inspection should
be to a global standard,' said Stanzel. 'We
are also investigating whether making the
inspecting company anonymous would be
a workable solution.'
S_hore is looking at options as to where it
will operate the floating dock, with the
possibility that it will lease it out to the
Sao Miguel shipyard facility operated by
the Bravante shipping group if it doesn't
berth it at Ni tshore.
The floating dock has been named
Dockshore 1 and it is Hull Number 35 from
the Rio Nave yard (RN 35) and once in use
it will help bring down prices at the Enavi
shiprepair facility where quotes are often
more than double the international rate.
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder

lil enters the dragon
ermanischer Lloyd, the Hamburg-based
classification society, has developed a
novel 3736TEU containership design, spe-
cifically to meet the requirements of liner
companies operating intra-Asian trade.
Dubbed the C-Dragon, the 21 l.9m
long x 3 7 .3m wide vessel design has been
developed as a viable alternative to older,
less efficient tonnage working the short-
haul Asian market, projected to be the
fastest growing sector over the next sev-
eral years.
'Intra-Asian container traffic is set
to surge and vessels in this trade typi-
cally sail beneath their design speed and
make frequent port calls - thirteen on
a typical north south trading route,' Dr
Pierre C Sames, senior vice president, GL
Research and Rule Development, said
during the concept's unveiling at Nor-
Shipping last month.
'The C-Dragon concept has been
designed to reflect this, while also filling
the strong need for more energy efficient
ships amid rising fuel prices and new IMO
regulations. GL aims to create concepts
that will inspire and challenge the mari-
time industry.'
C-Dragon has a very high ratio of on-
deck to total container capacity and fewer
bays, compared to reference vessels stud-
ied for the design. Sames said this particu-
MAIN DIMENSIONS <LBP = 2 11.9 m, B = 37.3 m, D = 19.9 m, •Td = 11 m, CAPACITIES< 3, 736 TE U, of w hich 2,364 TEU on de ck and
1, 372 TEU in hold, DWT = 43, i 50 t , 2,920 TEU at 14 t , ENGINES< MAN G60M E-C9 wi t h 15, 100 kW, four gensets of 1.750 kW each
·· tfock c11m111etes seismic retrofit
ibraltarian shiprepairer Gibdock has com-
pleted the refit of the seismic vessel WG
Cook for WesternGeco, one of six twelve-
streamer 3D seisrnic ships delivered to the
owner in 2010.
The 19-day project was
completed on time in prepa-
ration for WG Cook's deploy-
ment offshore Canada for a
seismic survey.
Gibdock allocated its larg-
est drydock to the project,
allowing a variety of yard equip-
ment to be deployed simul-
taneously. The dock's heavy
lifting capabili~as also a fac-
tor, with one ofits three cranes
being occupied continuously
by a Sm exhaust extension and
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
Jar vessel layout is instrumental in reduc-
ing port stay duration because the greater
number of containers on deck reduces the
need to remove hatch covers, while fewer
bays result in fewer crane movements.
'C-Dragon's faster port turnaround
allows speed reductions in transit and
therefore related fuel cost savings, without
compromising any cargo transport capac-
ity, in comparison to competing vessels,' he
explained. 'The effect is more pronounced
for vessels on short routes with many port
calls. ' For C-Dtagon, average transit speed
is reduced by 5kn to 15kn.
To lower steaming speeds and fuel
costs, C-Dra'gon's hull form has been opti-
mised by FutureShip, GL's consulting sub-
sidiary. This optimisation and a reduced
design speed is claimed to deliver an EEDI
value lower than the IMO refe:rence line
for 2025, and fuel consumption 30%
lower than that of the slow-steaming 4250
Panamax existing reference vessel.
GL said the wide beam hull adopted
enables lower speeds and in most operat-
ing conditions eliminates the need for bal-
last water. 'With zero ballast water usage, .
C-Dragon offers best-in-class deadweight
tonnage utilisation and outstanding cargo
intake. For each TEU at 14t, it only needs
14.Sdwt, almost 4t less than a typical
4250TEU Panamax design.' SW&S
main mast modifications. Docking repairs also
included the replacement of the ship's thruster
z-drives, box cooler removal, sea chest modifi-
cation, hull blasting and painting.
Particularly demanding
was upgrade and modification
of WG Cook's hydraulic pipes
on two decks, and modifica-
tion of hydraulic lines after
equipment relocation .The WG
Cook project included work
on hydraulics, so skills avail-
able in this trade were a par-
ticular focus, with close co-
ordination between the ship's
owner, the yard and the yard's
subcontractors. >Mas
WG cook at Gibdock
~
yundai Merchant Marine has optimised its
8600TEU containership HYUQdai Brave for
energy-efficient operation in what is being cited as
Korea's first 'green renovation'.
In collaboration with project partners Det
Norske veritas and Daewoo Ship Engineering
Company, a subsidiary of Daewoo Shipbuilding
and Marine Engineering, the conversion work
included the removal and replacement of the
vessel's original bulbous bow with a more fuel
efficient 'dolphin-shaped' bow. HMM also low-
ered the new protrusion by 1.5m compared to
the previous bow profile, and reduced its over-
all girth.
Hyundai Brave's original bow was config-
ured to achieve a high-speed standard of 27kn,
but the converted vessel is designed to run at
the lower speed of 18kn.
Through the conversion, it is antici-
pated that fuel savings of 3% can be
achieved, resulting in a cost saving of about
US$600 000.
HMM will now convert another three
8600TEU vessels and consider green renova-
tions for other vessels.
HHI mega-cantainership
built ta lil class
he five 18 400TEU containerships
THyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) will
build for China Shipping Container Lines
(CSCL) will be built to Germanischer
Lloyd class.
CSCL expects the combined efforts of
HHI and GL will result in the most state-
of-the-art ships of their type, delivering
high energy efficiency and environmental
performance.
According to HHI, fuel consumption
will be cut by 20-30% per unit and thereby
lower its unit cost considerably.
Each of these 400 x 58.6m mega-
containerships will also benefit from GL's
class notation RSCS (Route Specific Con-
tainer Stowage). This was recently intro-
duced to provide an more efficient usage
of cargo capacity with more flexibility and
more laden containers onboard on specific
routes without compromising on safety.
GL's EP-D (Environmental Passport
. Design) notion will also be implemented
to prepare the vessels for upcoming regu-
lations at an early stage.
Erik van der Noordaa, CEO of GL
Group said: 'The agreement marks a his-
toric milestone for GL. We feel honoured
to be part of this exciting project and will
make sure it becomes a success.' SW&S
July/August 2013 9
 bui ssu:~ e sia
ranspetro has announced the resumption
of the contracts for twelve vessels that
were suspended with the Atlantico Sul Ship-
yard (EAS) following delays on the delivery of
a tanker.
In a statement, Transpetro, the shipping
and logistics arm of Petrobras, stated: 'The
shipyard has met all of our requirements in
order to continue building the vessels, which
are part of our fleet modernisation and
expansion programme (Promef) '
In May 2012, Transpetro suspended the
contracts of sixteen ships out of a total of twenty
in contracts valued at US$3.282bn overall, and
at the time the south Korean shipbuilder Sam-
sung left the consortium that owned EAS: which
Ham/Jurg-Sud looks at Brazil tar new/Juild /Jaxships
lianca Navegacao - the Brazilian arm of follow, with the second one to be delivered
AGerman shipping group Hamburg Sud - later this year. Each unit will cost Alianca
has promised to build four containerships in
Brazil if they can find slots in Brazilian ship-
yards, but if not they will build abroad again.
The announcement was made recently
by Julian Thomas, the CEO for Alianca and
Hamburg Sud in Brazil and the East Coast
of South America trades, at the christen-
ing ceremony for the Sebastiao Caboto,
the first in a series of four 3795TEU con-
tainer vessels (all with 500 reefer slots) , at
the port of Santos. She is being integrated
into Alianca's cabotage service from the
south of Brazil to Manaus.
The 52 065dwt Sebastiao Caboto -
named after the Venetian explorer who
gave his name to cabotage - was built at
the yard owned by Shanghai Shipyard Co
in China and there are three sisterships to
NV and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
have joined forces to develop a research
vessel dedicated to understanding the
impact of plastic jetsam and flotsam on the
marine environment and how best to rid it
from our oceans.
It is estimated that by 2020, 230Mt of plas-
tic debris will be bobbing about- mainly in the
still waters of the oceans - all of which will
take between ten and 500 years to degrade.
But by initiating an action plan and developing
a design concept for a specialised research
vessel, DNV and WWF hope to demonstrate a
practical way forward to reduce the problem
and to build global support for action.
On the face of it, removing the seas of
garbage would appear a relatively easy task.
But in fact, skimming the surface layer of the
to July/August 2013
includes Carmargo Correa and Queiroz Galvao.
In November last year, Transpetro
authorised the resumption of four of the six-
teen ships.
The Pernambucan yard now has a new
technical partner in the guise of Japanese
outfit IHI Marine United, who will provide the
designs for the twelve vessels for which the
agreements have been revived.
Long delays of more than a year and
substandard workmanship - due to what
was widely understood to be inexperienced
welders - on the first tanker built at EAS, the
Joao Candido, meant that Transpetro, and its
political masters, lost faith in EAS.
With an oblique reference to the earlier
in the region of US$ l l 3M.
Thomas said that to meet demand
even bigger vessels would be needed by
2017 and the current ageing fleet must be
replaced by then. For that to happen, he
added, construction would need to begin in
2015. The Alianca executive said he would
like Alianca to build in Brazil with loans
from the Merchant Marine Fund (FMM),
and that talks were ongoing with Brazil-
ian yards to try and find a slot, however,
he believes that the priority among yards
in the South American country today is for
offshore support vessels and tankers for the
booming Brazilian offshore market.
Thomas added that if that was not pos-
sible to find a suitable yard then the Ham-
burg Sud subsidiary would instead build
five large ocean gyres, where most debris
accumulates, would take about 80 years
using 1000 ships.
'Plastic pollution in the ocean is every-
one's problem,' says Bj0rn Haugland, DNV's
chief technology and sustainability officer.
'All the solutions are not clearly visible at
present. Innovation is needed.'
The concept vessel design DNV and WWF
have come up with, provisionally dubbed the
Spindrift, is for an 85m vessel capable of sup-
porting 38 researchers for 90 days at sea . With
a suite of flexible research platforms, scien-
tists would be able to better understand the
problem and test out solutions for collecting
the debris.The vessel has systems for efficient
monitoring of the ocean both from the air and
in the water column, and is designed to flex-
glitches Sergio Machado, t( president of
Transpetro, said that the Brazilian shipbuilding
industry is 'gaining traction' and 'overcoming
the learning curve at an accelerated rate'.
He added: 'In fewer than eighteen months,
zumbi dos Pa/mares is already the fifth vessel
delivered. Promef is on track, making a critical
contribution to the consolidation of the Brazil-
ian shipbuilding industry, a strategic sector for
the country, with great capacity to generate
jobs and economic development.
'Brazil now has the third-largest order
portfolio in the world, and, therefore, it
already has sufficient scale to gradually
increase its level of productivity and to be
internationally competitive.' ~I
abroad and import the vessels, despite
heavy import duties: often adding 50% to
the overall cost of the vessel.
He told the Brazilian media: 'We
would very much like to build here and
create jobs for Brazil. If not we will build
them abroad. We believe very strongly in
the future growth of cabotage in Brazil.'
Cabotage today represents 13% of
the Brazilian transport matrix but that
percentage was 50% back in the 1950s.
The market has been growing steadily
at more than 10% per year for several
years now and is believed to be currently
worth around 550 OOOTEU per annum.
The Brazilian government is keen to
encourage more cabotage and get pollut-
ing trucks off the roads and is encour-
aging the FMM to prov.ide soft loans to
boost this policy. 11'/&S
ibly handle different collection technology.
The vessel is intended to help answer
questions like: at what depths in the water
column should clean-up efforts be targeted?
What size fractions should be targeted? How
can the bycatch of living marine resources be
minimised?
'More accurate estimates of the amount of
debris are also important if regulatory measures
involving both producers and consumers of
plastic are to be implemented in the future,' says
Mr Haugland. 'DNV encourages governmental,
industry and NGO initiatives to curtail the grow-
ing volume of plastic entering the ocean, but
that's not enough. Global pollution control initia-
tives that cross national borders and oceans are
needed. Spindrift offers us an excellent platform
for cooperation and innovation.'
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder

ons0tank and Jahre Holding joint venture,
Jahre Marine, has contracted Chinese
yard, Avie Dingheng, to construct its first
newbuild, a 6200m 3 LNG carrier for bunker-
ing and small scale distribution. The order
was placed on the basis of a secured time-
charter contract.
The vessel's cargo tanks are of non-
pressu rised IMO A type, which were
developed by Jahre affiliate, Torgy LNG.
Rolls-Royce MarJne designed the vessel,
with LNG from the aft cargo tank feeding
the engine. Jahre Marine received a grant
from the Norwegian NOx fund for the LNG
propulsion, as well as support from Inno-
vation Norway for the development and
ana lysis process.
f,
panish ferry operator Balearia is set to
convert ·th ree of its diesel-engined high-
speed ferries to run on LNG-burning Bergen
gas engines, supplied by Rolls-Royce
Canc11rdia /Jlamf! remRias with
he Italian Marine Casualties Investiga-
tive Body (MIT) has finally published its
much-delayed report into the Costa Con-
cordia disaster, with the root cause of the
accident laid firmly at the door of Captain
Schettino and his navigation officers. The
cruiseship's collision with rocks off the Ital-
ian island of Giglio on 13 January 2012
caused 32 deaths and 157 injuries. This
resulted in a 53m hull breach, flooding five
watertight compartments, which the report
describes as a 'unique event that was well
beyond the survivability of the ship accord-
ing to her keel laying date [2005] '.
The report states that the master had
planned to pass the island at an 'unsafe '
distance, and that the danger was consid-
ered too late to prevent the accident. The
ship also used 'inappropriate cartography'
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
Cammell laird completes 62.lM terry
K yard Cammell Laird has updated
Uand lengthened the MV Hoy Head
car ferry for Orkney Islands Council
in a £2. 7M project. Cammell Laird
managing director Linton Roberts
said the work on the MV Hoy Head
has increased the car capacity on the
vessel from fourteen to 24 cars or for
up to three 16.Sm HGVs and seven
cars. This means the vessel now has
the highest load volume in the Ork-
ney Ferries fleet which adds consid-
erable extra capacity for the Orkney
Islands of Hoy and Flotta, the communities
served by the Hoy Head.
Mr Roberts said that the project also
upgraded the propulsion and control sys-
tems and improved the manoeuvrability
and carbon footprint of the vessel. The pas-
senger accommodation was also upgraded.
'The change in fuels will allow us to
have high-speed, more competitive ves-
sels available and, at the same time, be
more respectful towards the environ-
to navigate and the abandon ship order
was not preceded by an effective general
emergency alarm, according to MIT.
'The master had an arbitrary attitude
in reviewing the initial navigation plan,' the
report claims. 'The bridge team were passive
and nobody seemed to warn of the loom-
ing danger. Furthermore, the lack of direct
orders from the bridge to the crew hindered
the management of the evacuation.'
Although the cruiseship met all con-
temporary SOLAS regulations at the time
of construction, MIT believes that the 1
July 2010 updates, the 'safe return to port'
rules, which specify further segregation
and redundancy of vital propulsion, steer-
ing and navigation equipment, could have
improved the ship's survivability. MIT rec-
ommends that further measures which have
The contract completion marks a busy
period for Cammell Laird in the ferry
market. The company is also well under-
way with a multi-million pound contract
to build two new vehicle and passenger
vessels for Scottish based ferry operator
Western Ferries. ~·
ment, g ive n that this fuel reduc es co 2
emissions by 25%,' said Ado lfo Utor,
Balearia's CEO.
The conversion of the HSC Ramon Liu/I,
HSC Jaume II and HSC Jaume Ill will mark
Rolls-Royce's first LNG project in Spain,
which joins a growing list of countries
where operators are keen to investigate
means of reducing emissions and operat-
ing costs.
Rolls-Royce will work with Balearia on
developing efficient propulsion systems
for the vessels which are a mix of catama-
ran and mono-hull design, with water jet
propulsion Spanish company Cotenaval
will lead the naval architecture aspects of
the conversions.
already been implemented in more recent
builds could also have improved the situa-
tion, including installing a flooding detection
system, as mandated from 1 July 2010, and
the use of electronic chart display informa-
tion systems (ECDIS) , now applicable to all
passenger ships (those constructed before 1
July 2011 have until the first survey after 1
July 2012 to comply). An additional aid will
also be using an onboard stability computer
or shore-based support, mandated for pas-
senger ships built on or after 1 January 2014.
However, MIT emphasises that its recom-
mendations may not prevent a ship from sink-
ing when more than two watertight compart-
ments are flooded. The main way any future
incidents can be averted is by mitigating the
human factor through education, training
and technology, according to MIT.
July/August 2013 11
Ii-type passes type approval
M AN Diesel & Turbo's latest G-type
engine has passed its type approval
test at HHI-EMD, the engine and
machinery division of Hyundai Heavy
Industries. The ultra-long-stroke
G60ME-C9 engine went through its
paces under the watchful eye of many
interested observers, including repre-
sentatives from the major classifica-
tion societies.
Christian 0 Rasmussen, head of clas-
sification business, MAN Diesel & Turbo,
praised the collaboration between his com-
pany and HHI-EMD and said: 'Our 600mm
bore engines have enjoyed much market
success because of their reliability. The new
G-type continues this legacy, as confirmed
by the successful TAT here in Korea .'
'The G60 engine represents the culmi-
nation of many years' development work.
In these uncertain times for the shipping
industry, MAN Diesel & Turbo sees signifi-
cant opportunities arising for G60 as fuel
Viirtsilii 3 BF paw1ers up
nginebuilder wartsila has introduced a
more powerful version of its popular Wart-
si la 34DF product
The wartsila 34DF engine has proven to
be a highly efficient and reliable solution for
a wide range of vessel applications, paving
the way for the use of LNG as fue l in tugs,
ferries, ro-ros, ropaxes and workboats. How-
ever, wartsila claims the new, upgraded ver-
sion increases efficiency in both liquid and
gas operating modes and offers a power
WTS and Nll unveil new lNli bunker tank concept
new liquefied natural gas tank concept
Adesigned for use as a shipboard bunker
tank, or for small LNG carriers and LNG
bunker barges has received DNV type
approval.
The NLI LNG tank, developed in a
collaborative project with Wilhelmsen
Technical Solutions (WTS) is a patent-
pending prismatic, atmospheric and self-
supporting LNG steel tank with state-of-
the-art cryogenic insulation. It has been
designed to meet IMO-B standards.
The two companies have worked on
the development of a fuel tank since 200B
in response to growing inter-
est from shipown-
ers looking to use
LNG as a marine
fuel.
12 July/August 2013
prices continue to rise,' Rasmussen added.
MAN Diesel & Turbo reports hav-
ing close to 200 G-type engines on order,
increase up to SOOkW per cyl inder.
According to the Finn ish company, this
increased output means that the engine
now covers a power range from 2.9MW to
SMW. In addition to the increase in power,
fue l economy is also enhanced, especial ly
when operating in liquid fuel mode. Th is,
together with the high load ing capabil ity and
the proven reliabi lity of the engine, is seen
as giving the new version a strong competi-
tive advantage.
The first stage of the LNG Fuel Tank
development project was co-financed
by the Norwegian Research Council's
MAROFF programme, and Wilhelmsen
Marine Consultants, Liquiline, DNV and
Marintek participated as partners in the
development.
NLI and WTS will further develop the
tank and begin promoting the design to
the wider marine industry and small scale
LNG distribution sector. Sl'IHS
spread over a broad spectrum of appli-
cations and a number of 'different licen-
sees - with HHI-EMD leading the field
- and states that it has the fastest mar-
ket acceptance any engine series in the
MAN B&W portfolio has ever received.
The engine is due to power a tanker
owned by Istanbul-based Densa Tank-
ers, the international ship management
and chartering company specialising in oil
and chemical tankers. The vessel will be
managed by Thome, the Singapore-based
provider of global, integrated ship man-
agement services.
In a separate development, another
newly delivered tanker, Transpetro's
Zumbi dos Pa/mares, also features MAN
Diesel engines. The 274m Suezmax is
powered by a 6S70ME-C-type prime
mover and three 7L23/30H auxiliaries.
Estaleiro Atlantico Sul constructed the
vessel as part of the Brazilian government's
PROMEF shipbuilding programme. SWBS
'The wartsi la 34DF engine has been
a popular choice of sh ipowners, opera-
tors, and yards for a long time already, and
this next generation version wil l certain ly
enhance its popularity,' says Giulio Tirelli,
director, wartsila Ship Power, fou r-stroke
portfolio and appl ications.
In addition to its IMO Tier 11 1 compliance,
in gas mode, the engine is able to operate
efficiently and economical ly on (<O 1% low
sulphur fuels). • b
innish shipping company Bore will install
ClassNK-NAPA GREEN ship efficiency
software aboard the 13 625dwt ro-ro ves-
sel MIV Bore Song. This follows sea trials
last year aboard sister ship M!V Bore Sea
which proved that NAPA operational soft-
ware had led to a 5.8% reduction in fuel
consumption.
The ClassNK-NAPA GREEN software sys-
tem is a joint development between class
society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK), and
software producer NAPA. This program for
vessel efficiency, launched in 2012, builds
upon the shared expertise of both organisa-
tions to reduce fuel spend and greenhouse
gas emissions whilst also providing compli-
ance with ship energy efficiency manage-
ment plan (SEEMP) legislation.
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
 ew dual-fuel MaK engine unveiled
1
aterpillar has unveiled a new dual-fuel
MaK engine that shares the same foot-
print and system interfaces as its popular
M32C design.
Driven by upcoming fuel sulphur and
NOx regulations in Emissions Control
Areas, the M34DF is claimed to provide
full flexibility for vessels operating in regu-
lated and/or lesser regulated areas with-
.. out major changes to the engine room or
exhaust gas system, supporting the ease
and simplicity of engine installation and
certification.
With a power rating of SOOkW per
cylinder at 720 and 750rev/min in die-
sel and gas modes, the MaK M34DF has
been designed for unlimited operation on
LNG, marine diesel oil and heavy fuel oil,
although the manufacturer says it will reach
industry-leading efficiency in gas mode.
'The M34DF was designed to provide
operators with industry-leading thermal
efficiency for lowest total cost of opera-
tion,' says Detlef Kirste, MaK product
definition manager.
BB iii' !lllB!JMllPfe,r
BB will provide the electrical power and
propulsion systems for a deepwater pipe
laying vessel being delivered to McDermott
subsidiary Hydro Marine Services in 2015.
The Derrick Lay vessel 2000 will be con-
structed in Singapore by Keppel Singmarine.
The US$12M order for ABB comprises
medium voltage switchboards, genera-
tors, diesel generator monitoring sys-
tems, transformers, frequency converters,
motors and remote diagnostic system.
Developed by Keppel's ship design arm,
DLV2000 will allow pipel ines to be installed
at depths of up to 1o OOOft. It is also capa-
ble of achieving efficient pipe lay rates
for long trunk lines, operating in severe
weather conditions, and providing signifi-
cant thrust output and power distribution.
Service speed is expected to be 12kn with
a top speed of 14kn. on completion, the
vessel will be able to accommodate up to
400 personnel.
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
'The engine offers optimised load
response and load stability in addition
to numerous support features, such as
remote monitoring and engine system
diagnostics, helping engine operators with
their daily service and maintenance work.
Our target was to keep the typical MaK
marine engine a ttri bu tes like reliability,
safety and efficiency while striving for an
engine design that is easy to service and
maintain.'
With a bore of 340mm and stroke
of 460mm, the engine was designed to
be the preferred choice for gas electrical
and mechanical propulsion applications
notably in the offshore and cargo seg-
ments. The engine design features new
real-time combustion monitoring, flex-
ible camshaft technology functionality as
well as a lower valve train and several
innovative monitoring and component
solutions to ensure maximum safety dur-
ing operation.
Caterpillar expects to roll out the first
engines to customers in October 2014. SW&S
Elsewhere ABB has signed a five year
service agreement with China LNG Ship-
ping International (CLSICO) to provide main-
tenance services to all ABB equipment
onboard the fleet of six LNG vessels. The con-
tract commenced on 1 January.
'One of our key priorities is to maximise
fleet availability whilst keeping our costs as
predictable as possible,' said Sandy Farquhar,
fleet manager for CLSICO. ABB will provide
annual site survey and on-call services to the
six vessels, as well as drydock service every
2.5 years. The scope of the agreement covers
preventive maintenance on onboard, power
generation plant and mechanical and electri-
cal systems.
'ABB's modular service agreement con-
cept allowed us to tailor make the service
package that best suits CLSICO's fleet man-
agement model. With a thorough five year
maintenance plan, CLSICO will be able to
achieve ambitious cost saving targets,' said
Heikki Soljama, head of marine
and cranes business at ABB. 'Addi-
tionally, the framework ensures
effective communication and
transparency between CLSICO
management and ABB, which in
turn~ strengthens the co-oper-
ation between both parties and
streamlines key processes.' s1.:=
Min Rong: one of the six
CLSICO vessels covered by
the ABB service agreement
aledonian Maritime Assets is the first owner
o opt for Voith's new propulsion control
system, with an installation on newbuild ferry,
Hal/aig. The system will manage two 16R5
Voith Schneider propellers, enabling faster
and more precise actuation and control. Com-
munication is via standard bus systems
The control system records all data, as
well as faults, and an assistance feature can
lower the fuel consumption of the propellers
Monitoring can be done from the bridge as
well as the machine or propeller room. Voith
designed all the bridge components in-house
in cooperation with Stuttgart university, tak-
ing into account ergonomic characteristics.
The double-ender will enter service
between the Hebredean islands of Raasay and
Skye this summer, transporting a maximum of
150 passengers and 23 cars per crossing. re
Samsung orders
tanker scrullllers
S outh Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries
has contracted Clean Marine to provide
exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers)
to a pair of 120 OOOdwt shuttle tankers
being built for AET. The scrubbers
will clean sulphur oxides (SOx) and
particulate matter emissions from
two main engines, five auxiliary
engines and three boilers onboard
each vessel. The system's integrated
fan and gas recirculation technology
allows each unit to serve ten com-
bustion sources simultaneously.
The two DP2-type tankers
will be under long-term contract
with Statoil following delivery at
the end of 2014 and the beginning of
2015, respectively, and will serve oilfields
in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
The vessels will be adapted to operation in
adverse weather, with high powered thrust-
ers and engines. Installation of the scrub-
bers is scheduled to take place during this
year and next. SW&S
July/August 2013 13
Credit Ken Wright
 s a bastion of large-scale shipbuild- Through the recent contract for a gives further dimension to NASSCO 's

A ing and shiprepair on the US West

Coast, writes David Tinsley, the
General Dynamics NASSCO yard at San
new generation of Jones Act product
carriers, and following the success in
attracting TOTE's container vessel build
commitments in the field of LNG-fuelled
merchant ships, hitherto expressed in the
current TOTE newbuild and design retro-
Diego continues to play to its strengths programme, continuity in merchant ship fit contracts.
in the US Navy and 'Jones Act' commer- production has been ensured for three APT's SO OOOdwt tankers will be
cial vessel markets, recently attracting years ahead at the San Diego yard. The designed by Daewoo Ship Engineering
further bespoke projects. While acqui- latest assignment renews the link forged Center (DSEC), a subsidiary of Daewoo
sitions of two companies on the eastern with American Petroleum Tankers (APT) Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering,
seaboard have created a diversified yard through the building of five State-class thereby extending the successful tech-
network, the San Diego complex ranks 48 400dwt, product/chemical tankers, nical cooperation between the US yard
; as the only full-service major shipyard on which were completed in 2009-2010. and the South Korean group. The series
the West Coast. The new order, placed by an APT affiliate, will be branded the ECO-class by vir-
Located in the historic neighbourhood calls for the delivery of four SO OOOdwt tue of improved fuel efficiency achieved
,, of Barrio Logan, the yard has designed,
constructed and delivered eleven commer-
product carriers of 330 000 barrel-capac-
ity between the fourth quarter of 201 S
through judicious hydrodynamic design
and adoption of the latest two-stroke
cial ships to three 'Jones Act' customers and the latter part of 2016. marine engineering technology in con-
over the past 10 years, more than any other The deal includes options on four junction with an array of environmental
US builder. Since 2006, its naval output has additional ships and has extra technologi- protection features.
included the fourteen-ship series of T-AKE cal significance for the fact that the vessels 'By continuing to bring the most eco-
dry cargo/ammunition ships and the first will be fitted and engineered to be LNG nomical and environmentally sound tech-
of a new generation of amphibious support conversion-ready. The project thereby nology to Jones Act operators, these ECO
vessels, and the Californian yard is one of
the few local facilities capable of providing
repair and maintenance to the SO-plus US
Navy ships home-ported in San Diego.
Purchased by General Dynamics in
1998 as National Steel & Shipbuilding
Co, the shipyard traces its beginnings to
the city's industrial heart and working
waterfront on San Diego Bay. The new
owning group quickly implemented an
upgrade of the facilities, and investments
made over the last decade or so have
topped US$300M. One single project, an
environmentally-friendly plant for blasting
and painting, accounted for US$4SM of
expenditure.
General Dynamics NASSCO is one TOTE awarded the shipbuilder a contract for two LNG-fuelled containerships,
of three shipyard companies encom- plus options
passed by the Marine Systems group of
industrial powerhouse General Dynam- --··
ics Corporation, headquartered in Falls
Church, Virginia. The two other Marine
Systems members are focused on naval
construction, whereby Bath Iron Works
produces surface combatants for the US
Navy and Electric Boat is the country's
submarine specialist.
NASSCO's strategy to establish an
East Coast presence gained first form
with the 2011 takeover of Metro Machine
Corp, a leading repair contractor to the
US Navy surface vessel fleet in Norfolk,
Virginia . At the time of the transaction,
General Dynamics NASSCO's president
Fred Harris said: 'The addition of Metro
Machine enhances our ability to compete
in the growing naval shiprepair market.'
Less than a year later, the company
concluded a further strategic acquisition,
by purchasing the shiprepair and coatings
division of Earl Industries, controlling
yards in Norfolk and Jacksonville that pro-
vide support to the US Navy fleet, includ- NASSCO has completed the first of the us Na\'Y'S Mobile Lan.Jing Platform
ing nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. (MLP) newbuilds, and has two others under construction

ShippingWorld DShipbuilder July/August 2013 15

tankers show our continued commitment
to be one of the most innovative shipyards
in America,' stated Fred Harris. 'I am
pleased to renew our partnership with APT
on this exciting new programme. Along
with TOTE, this is the second return cus-
tomer we have welcomed back to NASSCO
within the past six months, which speaks
to the high-quality workmanship of our
skilled workforce,' he added.
APT's chief executive officer Rob
Kurz said: 'We are proud to bring new
US-built tonnage into the market at
this exciting time, helping our country
achieve its longstanding strategic objec-
tive of energy independence.' Based at
Plymouth Meeting in Pennsylvania, APT
is majority owned by funds managed by
the Blackstone financial group.
In keeping with DSEC's ECO design
blueprint, each of the nascent tankers will
have a G-type MAN ME electronically-
controlled slow-speed main engine, dual
fuel-capable auxiliaries, and provision for
future installation of an LNG fuel gas sys-
tem. DSEC was NASSCO's design partner
for APT's State-class tankers, and is cur-
rently contributing to the project for two
LNG-fuelled boxships booked by TOTE
Shipholdings.
TOTE's decision to employ gas-
injected, dual-fuel two-stroke propulsion
machinery in the new class of 31 OOTEU
container carriers sets a precedent for
the industry worldwide. From a national
perspective, it puts both US shipping and
US shipbuilding in the vanguard of the
technology in application to liner ship-
-- . - --_.,........._=::.
ping tonnage. The two vessels are due for
delivery in the fourth quarter of 2015 and
the opening quarter of 2016, respectively,
and will be deployed between Florida and
Puerto Rico, replacing three older ships.
TOTE encompasses five companies,
including Alaskan trade specialist Totem
Ocean Trailer Express and US Caribbean
operator Sea Star Line. Both spheres will
be subject to the most stringent sulphur
emission rules under IMO Emission Con-
trol Area (ECA) edicts by the time TOTE's
new generation is ready for service. Oper-
ation on LNG fuel will meet and exceed
the daunting 0.1 % fuel sulphur content
cap, due to be implemented at the start of
2015, and is seen as a viable fuel strategy
for the long-term.
The ABS-classed ships will each incor-
porate Daewoo's patented LNG fuel-gas
delivery system and an MAN 8L70ME-GI
dual-fuel engine. NASSCO's contract with
TOTE carries options on up to three addi-
tional vessels. The project is seminal, as it
entails the first-ever containerships speci-
fied with a powering system intended for
primary use of LNG fuel.
The US shipping and logistics group
has also retained NASSCO to design
the conversion of the company's two
Orea-class diesel-electric trailerships to
enable operation on LNG. The versatile
ro-ro freight carriers Midnight Sun and
North Star, originally constructed by the
San Diego yard and delivered in 2003,
were purpose-built for the Alaska mar-
ket, and together ensure two sailings per
week in each direction on the Tacoma/
-·---
-~
Anchorage route. The conversion plan
prepared by NASSCO will allow TOTE
to have the adaptation work carried out
with minimal impact to the operator's
service schedule .
General Dynamics NASSCO's contri-
bution to the development of the naval
fleet has found new expression this year
through the handover of the USNS Mont-
ford Point, the lead ship of the Mobile
Landing Platform (MLP) class. The aux-
iliary will serve as a floating base for
amphibious operations, and as a transfer
point between large vessels and small
landing craft. Delivery of the second MLP,
the USNS John Glenn, is scheduled from
San Diego during the first quarter of 2014.
Construction of the third ship was set in
train early this year.
The yard's prolific output of naval
auxiliary replenishment vessels in recent
years is a particular mark of its capa-
bilities. Led by the 2006-commissioned
USNS Lewis and Clark, the T-AKE series
of dry cargo/ammunition ships was com-
pleted in October 2012 and the fourteenth
delivery under a programme in which the
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
Waf;p-class amphibious assault ship
uss Bonhomme Richard, affording
a measure of NASSCO's drydocking
capabilities
entire design and construction had been
entrusted to General Dynamics NASSCO.
The San Diego yard realised important
gains in efficiency by maximising the ben-
efits offered by serial production, to the
extent that considerable reductions in
man-hours and overall build time per ship
had been achieved even halfway through
the fourteen-vessel sequence.
Since 2002, NASSCO has been the
US Navy's prime contractor for the main-
tenance of several amphibious classes
of ship home-ported on the West Coast.
Long-term contracts have been awarded to
the company to provide maintenance and
repair services on LHA- and LHD- LSD
41-/LSD 49- and LPD 4-class vessels, and
similar work has also been assigned for
FFG 7-class ships in San Diego. The com-
pany's experience includes major struc-
tural and piping modifications, machinery
repairs and alterations, combat systems
and electronics upgrades, ship conversions
and emergency repairs. A recently com-
pleted project entailed the renovation and
modernisation of the LSD 45-class dock
landing ship USS Comstock.
July/August 2013 11
 o date, most of the oil and gas production
l
IF THI FPSO SICTOR in the Asia-Pacific region has taken place in
CAN HARN FROM shallow waters, but the development of field s
in deeper waters is expected to grow rapidly
THI MISTAKIS in the near future, outpacing the rest of the
OF THI PAST, THI world, with a growth rate of 20%. The develop-
ment, to result in the drilling of 6995 new wells
FUTURI COUlD Bl A in deeper Asian waters alone over the next five
MORI FAVOURABU years, is expected to spur a surge in orders for
floating oil (and, to a lesser degree, gas) produc-
UNI FOR OPIRATORS tion systems, as contractors look at cost-effective
means of exploiting the reserves, especially in
water depths of over SOOm, where other options
are limited and costly.
In fact, industry analyst Douglas-Westwood
forecasts that between 2013 and 2017, some
US$91 bn will be spent on floating production
systems - an increase of 100% over the preceding
fi ve-year period - and that FPSO (floating, produc-
tion, storage, offloading) units will represent by far
the largest segment of the market both in numbers
and forecast capital expenditure over the period .
These projections are supported by SBM
Offshore, the global leader in floating production
systems, who reports that the sector is 'primed for
a compound annual growth rate of between 6%
and 10%', resulting in about 60 FPSO projects
being awarded in the next three years, 20% of
which SBM itself intends to target. The
number of potential new FPSOs, how-
ever, could be as many as 154 units, with
only a few existing vessels having the req-
uisite processing plants for redeployment
because of the increasing complexity of
topsides. Forty-four FPSOs are currently
on order comprising eighteen newbuilds
and 26 conversions.
SBM Offshore's order intake was
bolstered in March with letters of intent
for the twenty-year charter and operation
of two FPSOs - FPSO Cidade de Marica
and FPSO Cidade de Saquarema - from
BM-S-11 subsidiary Tupi. The FPSOs will
be deployed at the Lula field in the pre-
salt province offshore Brazil. The FPSO
Cidade de Paraty, a new third-generation
unit capable of processing 120000bpd of
oil, associated gas treatment for
5 000 000Sm 3/d with compression and
carbon dioxide removal and a water
injection facility for 150 OOObpd, is now
on station at the Lu la field, fo llowing its
delivery last month from Keppel's Bras-
FELS facility. A letter of intent was signed
in June 2010 and addressed the local
content requirement for Brazilian FPSOs.
SBM Offshore is also playing a pivotal
role in Shell's Generic Floating LNG pro-
gramme - paving the way for the produc-
tion of liquefied natural gas offshore using
floating units . The first application of thi s
new concept will be in the Prelude gas
field off the northwest coast of Australia.
Shell laid the keel for the Prelude FLNG
unit in May at Samsung Heavy Industries'
Geoje shipyard in South Korea. And
when complete, it is expected to be the
largest offshore floating facility ever built
with a length of 488m, a 74m beam and
a deadweight of 600 OOOt. The vessel
will operate in water depths of 250m,
providing an annual production capacity
of 3.6Mt of LNG, l .3Mt condensate and
0.4Mt of LPG.
SBM's participation in the project
started at the end of 2008 when Shell
selected the company to handle the design
procurement and construction of the
turret mooring systems (TMS), adding
its expertise to the Technip Samsung
Consortium, which was selected to
manage the provision of facilities for up
to three FLNGs. The 93m-high turret
mooring system is under construction in
Dubai and will be transported to Geoje
in five parts. The turret will run vertically
through one end of the facility and will be
anchored to the seabed by four groups of
mooring lines. It will allow the facility to
rotate with the direction of the wind.
Meanwhile, Keppel Shipyard 's work
on the 6800t lchthys FPSO turret it is
building for SBM is scheduled to be
complete by 03 2014. The
turret forms part of tbe
Ichthys LNG project which is
expected to produce 8.4Mt of
LNG and 1.6Mt of LPG each
year. Gas from the field will
undergo primary processing
offshore before export via an
889km pipeline to onshore
facilities in Darwin. DSME
cut first steel for the FPSO's
hull in June.
Keppel's other projects
for SBM include the conver-
sion of the FPSO OSX-2 for
Brazil as well as modifica-
tion and upgrading of FPSO
N'Goma for Angola.
20 July/August 2013
As the market leader for the conversion
and upgrading of FPSOs, FSOs and FSRUs,
the Singapore-headquartered group has
completed more than 100 such projects.
Last year, the Keppel Shipyard completed
eight FPSO projects and so far this year has
delivered Balai Mutiara, an early produc-
tion vessel (EPV) to BC Petroleum for oper-
ations in the Balai Cluster Development,
and the FPSO Perisai Kamelia project for
EMAS Offshore, which will be deployed in
the Kamelia field, North Malay Basin.
In addition to the aforementioned
projects for SBM, other projects Keppel is
currently working on include the upgrad-
ing and refurbishment of Bumi Armada's
FPSO Armada Claire for operations in
Australia; the FPSO Lam Son conver-
sion project for PTSC Asia Pacific, which
will be deployed in the Cuu Long Basin;
and FSO Mayumba, a FSO conversion
project for Veslin Holding, which will be
deployed in Gabon.
Keppel's shipyard in Brazil, Bras-
FELS, meanwhile, has completed several
landmark projects for the country, includ-
ing the floating production units P-52,
P-51 and P-56 for Petrobras as well as
the modification and upgrading of two
drillships for Noble Corporation, Noble
Leo Segerius and Noble Roger Eason.
Presently, BrasFELS is undertaking four
FPSO projects, two for Petrobras and two
for MODEC and Toyo Offshore Produc-
tions Systems (MTOPS). In recent years,
BrasFELS has completed the following
FPSO projects: FPSO P-57 (2010), FPSO
Cidade de Sao Paulo (2012) and FPSO
Cidade de Paraty (2013).
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
Whilst the global FPSO market is
undoubtedly replete with opportunities,
field development offshore Australia and
throughout the Asia-Pacific is likely to
benefit regional players, such as BW Off-
shore (Singapore) and Bumi
Armada (Malaysia) . Indeed,
the latter is widely thought as
the likeliest candidate to capi-
talise on the regional market
and is currently in the running
for tenders in Madura (Indo-
nesia) and Belud (Malaysia) ,
amongst others.
The company, the first to
own and operate an FPSO in
Malaysia with the launch of
the Armada Perkasa in 1997,
is now the world's fifth largest
operator with a fleet of five
FPSOs. The Armada Perkasa
and Armada Perdana are
operating offshore Nigeria, the
ShippingWorld DShipbuilder
 Armada TGT 1 in Vietnam and the Armada
Sterling arrived in India at the end of 2012.
The Armada Claire, which is bound for
the Balnaves field in Australia, is currently
under upgrade and refurbishment work
at Keppel Shipyard, and the company has
recently signed a contract for the conver-
sion of the VLCC Osprey which will be
renamed Armada Ali and, when complete,
will operate Cluster 7 off the coast of India.
In the foreword to his company's
recently published 2012 Annual Report,
chief executive officer Hassan Basma
explains that throughout the course of
2012, only five FPSO contracts were
awarded from a projected twenty.
'Delays', he says, 'attributed to oil
companies' "wait and see" attitude given
the prevailing economic volatility and
heightened geopolitical tensions. On the
contractor side, high capital and opera-
tional expenditures have led to major cost
overruns and resulted in write-downs as
the industry moved towards recapitalisa-
tion and consolidation.'
Despite market potential, forecast to
yield sixteen new FPSO projects this year
alone, the sector still faces a number of
challenges, mainly relating to the com-
mercial aspects of FPSO operation, local
content requirements, and the ever-green
problem of finding competent and experi-
enced crew in a shrinking labour pool.
Certainly, FPSO operators had not
benefitted during the boom years to
l
the same extent as other industry seg-
ments, due in part to high inflation and
the influx, seemingly en masse, of new
entrants to the sector. There remains an
air of concern that inflation - forecast
to grow by 5% annually - could drive
up costs further and impede the rate of
return of an FPSO charter. BW Off-
shore, who along with SBM, Teekay and
MO DEC, control about 52% of the global
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
leased FPSO market, is certainly cautious.
'The nature of our challenges is essen-
tially commercial. To us, as a company that
operates the world's largest FPSO, we only
wish that our problems were technical; but
they are not. As far as our sector goes, the
period since the beginning of the boom
has been very poor,' says Thy! Kint, BW
Offshore's chief technical officer. 'There
is a future in the FPSO market but certain
things have to change.'
What, essentially, has to change is the
way in which vessels are contractually
chartered. In the past, an FPSO, which
would have cost about US$300M to build
in 2005 but twice that today, would be
leased on a long-term contract with a pur-
chase option. But these purchase options,
together with high inflation, resulted in
poor profitability for a number of operators.
'We gave purchase options to our
clients to buy assets which they can now
exercise at a fraction of what their actual
market value is . Purchase options do
not take into account asset inflation and
you end up selling your asset for almost
nothing. So we don't do this anymore,'
says Kint, speaking at Singapore's Asia
Offshore Technology Conference.
'FPSOs are extremely illiquid, which
means that if you want to dispose of them
or realise the value inherent in them, then
you will have a hard time. The net result is
that when we take a decision with an asset
that has a life of say fifteen years and the
client wants to lease it for five years, we are
being asked to gamble on the residual value.
It makes that particular part of our business
very difficult. This was compounded by the
asset inflation in the 2004-2008 timeframe
and such inflation is possible again. For us
where the va lue of our assets is important,
any increase in inflation will play havoc
with our business.'
Like other operators, BW Offshore
Mitsui and MBBEC ta
develop fPBB tar
lracema field
itsui, MOL, Marubeni and MODEC have
Magreed to participate in an ultra-deepwa-
ter FPSO project for the lracema Norte Area,
offshore Brazil.
The agreement will see the four Japa-
nese companies invest in a long-term char-
ter FPSO, operated by Tokyo-headquartered
MODEC, through Cernambi Sul MV26, a
Dutch company set up by MODEC
The vessel, to be called FPSO Cidade de
ITAGUAi MV26, following its conversion from a
VLCC, will be deployed in 2015 to the lracema
Norte area of the BM-S-11 block off the coast
of Brazil on a twenty year charter to Tupi.
The vessel will have processing capacity for
150 OOJ barrels of oil and 230Mcf of gas per day.
MODEC and Mitsui have already provided
three FPSOs for Brazil's pre-salt oil fields, and
this will be their fourth pre-salt related FPSO
chartering project. It is the third project of its
type for MOL and the second for Marubeni. SW&S
whose fleet consists of fourteen FPSOs and
one FSO, has struggled with the prescrip-
tive requirements of some charterers in
the past, which can conflict with vessel
performance requirements. 'We have
clients that specifically prescribe certain
equipment then give us a performance
requirement and the two sometimes do not
match. They want a cheap asset, say, with
only one compressor, one pump, but they
want 98% up-time .... While the market
began as a low-cost means of accessing
oil, the reality now is that there is no such
thing as a low-cost FPSO anymore.'
If the sector can learn from the mistakes
of the past the future could be favourable,
given the increased demand for FPSOs and,
to a lesser extent, FLNG units. Douglas
Westwood director Steve Robertson says:
'Overall, the outlook is considered positive
and the value of annual installations is
projected to grow from US$10.2bn in 20 l 3
to US$26.2bn in 20 l 7. Three main factors
will affect the supply of units in the FPS
sector: fmancing, local content and leasing.
The FPSO leasing sector remains weak with
85% utilisation at present compared to
89% at the time of the 2011 edition of the
report World Floating Production Market
Forecast 2013-2017. Contractors are report-
ing poor returns on existing projects and
write-downs on new projects due to cost
over-runs. Financing remains a challenge for
leasing contractors and smaller E&P compa-
nies as a result of the debt crisis in Europe.
At the same time local content requirements
are pushing up prices and extending lead
times, particularly in Brazil.' SW&S
July/August 2013 21
 INDICATORS ARE
POSITIVE fOR
CONTRACTORS,
SUPPLIERS,
BUILDERS AND
TECHNOLOGY
SPECIALISTS
LOOKING TO TAP
THE OffSHORE
SECTOR, WRITES
DAVID TINSUY
he global deepwater and ultra-deepwater
T
offshore market has been growing at a rapid
pace over the past ten years, spurred by tech-
nological advances, surging energy demand
and geopolitical factors . Since the drilling of
the first well below 3000m in 2003, there have been
numerous major discoveries in previously unex-
plored regions. The Brazilian pre-salt reservoirs are
a prime example of the considerable scale of new-
found ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon reservoirs.
Although deepwater operations currently
account for a relatively small proportion of total
world oil production, new discoveries in deep
waters have outweighed those onshore and in
shallow waters over recent years. The deepwater
market as a whole, and including Brazil, the Gulf
of Mexico, Angola, and West Africa, is emerg-
ing as a key contributor to conventional reserve
replacement, and is set to account for a rapidly
increasing share of global hydrocarbon output. In
February 2013 , Brazil's Petrobras announced that
oil production on company-operated fields in the
pre-salt areas of the Campos and Santos Basins
had reached the 300 OOObpd mark, just seven
years after oil was first discovered in the pre-salt
layer in 2006.
The strong growth witnessed in worldwide
offshore exploration and production is likely to
continue for the foreseeable future, with positive
indications for contractors, suppliers, builders
and technology specialists.
At the same time, deepwater and ultra-deep-
water projects pose greater challenges, in terms
22 July/August 2013
of capital intensity, technological complexity, risk
and timescales, necessitating new solutions and
testing the mettle of industry players.
Demand for harsh environment rigs is at an
extremely high level, fuelled by new developments
in the North Sea and North Atlantic, as well as by
discoveries in areas such as the Barents Sea and
other Arctic waters . One of the latest additions
to the orderbook is a Moss Maritime CS60E
design of harsh environment semi-submersible
drilling rig to be constructed by Hyundai Heavy
Industries (HHI) for Diamond Offshore Drill-
ing of Houston. Developed for water depths to
3048m, the dynamically positioned rig is expected
to be delivered after November 2015. Projected
capital cost, including spares, commissioning and
shipyard supervision is some US$755M.
Diamond has entered into a three-year drilling
contract with a BP subsidiary for initial operations
in the Great Australian Bight off the coast of South
Australia. Indicative of the revenue-generation
capacity of such equipment in today's buoyant
market, the starting rate is reported to be
US$585 000 per day, subject to upward adjustment.
The Moss CS60E design is also being
employed for another prestigious export order
attracted by the HHI group. Seadrill's West Mira
newbuild is described as a sixth-generation semi-
submersible, and as one of the world's most tech-
nically sophisticated platforms . Under build at
the Hyundai Samho yard in South Korea, the rig
will have a maximum drilling depth of 12 200m
beneath 3048m of water. It will be equipped for
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twelve-
point mooring
and to DNV's
DP3 dynamic posi-
tioning standard, the
highest notation in terms of
design engineering to withstand
specified instances of equipment
failure. The sophisticated safety
arrangements will include provision for
two six-ram blow-out preventers (BOPs).
West Mira has attracted a five-year
commitment from Husky Oil for use in
North Atlantic waters off Canada and
Greenland, endorsing the harsh environ-
ment capabilities and safety features
incorporated in the design. Operational
start-up is expected during the second
quarter of 2015, following shipyard
handover in the latter stages of 2014.
Seadrill has another rig of the CS60E
type, the West Rigel, booked with the
Jurong shipyard in Singapore for delivery
during the first quarter of 2015.
In March this year, Seadrill exercised
fixed price options on two high specifica-
tion jack-up drilling rigs at Dalian Ship-
building Industry Offshore in China. Due
seadrill's
CS60E
type, the
west Rigel
to be handed over in the third and fourth
quarters of 2015, the rigs will embody
the F&G JU2000E design, suited to drill
operations in water depths up to 122m
and for drill depths to 9 l 44m. The order
took Seadrill's newbuild programme at
Dalian to six jack-ups.
At the confinnation of the options,
Fredrik Halvorsen, CEO of Seadrill
Management said: 'The two jack-ups are
ordered in line with our customers' prefer-
ence for high-specification jack-up drilling
rigs and a strengthening jack-up drilling
market. We continue to see solid demand
for their asset class, with both day rates
and contract duration increasing.'
tract will extend Seadrill's
jack-up fleet to 28.
Reckoned to repre-
sent the market's most
advanced and versatile
type of jack-up rig, the
US$596M newbuild
recently awarded to
Sembcorp Marine's jurong
Shipyard by Noble Corporation is destined
for the UK sector of the North Sea. Sched-
uled for delivery in the opening quarter of
2016, the jack-up's design will be based
on the proven Gusto MSC CJ70 and as an
enhanced version of Statoil's 'Cat J'.
'We believe the fundamentals of
the high-specification jack-up market
will continue to be strong in the decade
ahead,' said Noble chairman David W
Williams. 'This unit is designed to meet
some of the industry's most stringent
operating requirements and supports
Noble's ongoing commitment to increas-
ing the technological and operational
capabilities of our fleet.'
The newbuild order was implemented
on the strength of an initial four-year drill-
ing contract from Statoil, as the operator
of the Mariner Area Development project
in the northern North Sea approximately
150km east of Shetland. The rig will be
suited to deployments in water depths of

ShippingWorld BShipbuilder July/August 2013 23

up to 150m, with a maximum total drill
depth capacity of 10 OOOm and a suit-
ability for harsh environments. It will be
equipped to use either a surface or subsea
blowout preventer (BOP).
Clinching this prestigious contract
marks another milestone for Singapore's
prolific offshore builders and attests to
Jurong's capabilities as a producer of
more sophisticated, customised drilling
rigs. The company has an established
business relationship with Noble, for
whom it has six F&G JU3000M-class
jack-ups under construction and com-
pleted two ultra-deepwater semi-submers-
ibles in 2009 and 2010.
Offshore company SMOE, a wholly-
owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine,
has landed a contract worth about
US$900M from Det Norske Oljeselskap
for the engineering, procurement and
construction of the process, drilling and
quarter platform topsides for the Ivar
Aasen project in the Norwegian sector
of the North Sea. The platform will be
installed at a water depth of 112m on
the Norwegian Continental Shelf, 180km
west of Stavanger.
Integrated with a 70-man living
quarters and helideck, the 13 700t
topsides will include modules for process
operations, gas compression, separation,
water injection, flare boom, metering and
utilities. The build programme is due to
get under way in December 2013, for a
scheduled sail-away in March 2016. First
oil is expected during the fourth quarter
of 2016. SMOE has awarded the topsides
Jack-up protection
athelco has won a series of orders to sup-
C ply seawater pipework anti-fouling sys-
tems for jack-up rigs which are to be built by
Lamprell Energy, the UAE based provider of
diversified engineering services for the off-
shore oil and gas industry.
The anti-fouling equipment will be sup-
plied for four jack-up rigs which are being con-
structed at the Hamriyah yard for the National
Drilling Company (NDC) of Abu Dhabi.
The rigs which will be completely outfit-
ted and equipped by Lamprell are LeTourneau
designed, self-elevating mobile offshore drill-
ings platforms of the Super 116E (Enhanced)
Class Design.
on each of the NDC rigs, the Cathe-
lco system will protect the lines from three
pumps using anodes which are mounted
directly into 10in diameter pipes using pipe
upstands
It is the sixth time that Cathelco has
supplied this particular type of pipework
anti-fouling equipment to Lamprell for
24 July/August 2013
The world's first KFELS Super A Class
rig is a robust and cost-effective
drilling rig for harsh environments
detailed engineering and design to Wood
Group Mustang.
Mexico is among the world's ten
largest oil producers, with nearly 14bn
barrels in reserve as of 1 January 2013.
National oil corporation Pemex plans to
invest up to US$25.3bn in 2013, of which
US$20bn will be targeted at upstream
activities.
Singapore's Keppel FELS, a specialist
in the design, build and repair of mobile
offshore rigs, is engaged on a series
production run of ten KFELS B Class
jack-ups for the Mexican market. Follow-
ing the recent delivery of a second such
rig to oilfield services company Oro Negro
(Integradora de Servicios Oro Negro), two
KFELS B units are in hand for Pemex, four
are under construction and on order for
drilling company Grupo R and two have
been contracted by CP Latina.
Developed by the Keppel Group, the
KFELS B Class design is able to oper-
ate in water depths of up to 122m and
drill to depths of 9144m. The robust
rig incorporates Keppel's advanced and
fully-automated, high capacity rack and
pinion jacking system and self-positioning
fixation system.
It is Discovery Triumph, the KFELS
Super A Class rig delivered to Discovery
Offshore last month (June) that stands
out, however. The first of type, this ultra
high-specification jack-up, designed for
jack-up rig applications structed by the company.
The first occasion was in 2009 when a All of the orders have been secured by
system was installed on the Offshore Free- Nico International Dubai, Cathelco's well estab-
dom, the first 'newbuild' jack-up to be con- lished agent in the United Arab Emirates. SW&S
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
the harsh conditions of the UK sector of Laurus is the second of ten
the North Sea, features an enhanced leg KFELS B Class jack-up rigs
design based on Keppel's proven high to be delivered to Mexican
capacity rack and pinion jacking system. customers since 2012
This ensures that the rig is able to jack up
and stand firm in a secure and safe man-
ner, even in challenging environments.
Developed by Keppel FELS' R&D
arm, Offshore Technology Development
(OTO) , the KFELS Super A Class is an
enhancement of the successful and proven
KFELS A Class design, although the first
of type has been customised to operate in
water depths of 122m and drilling depths
of 10 666m.
With the strong demand for rigs capa-
ble of working in the North Sea, the KFELS
Super A Class is thought 'a value proposi-
tion rig' by Hercules Offshore, the rig
management arm of Discovery Offshore. It
provides higher variable load, better drilling
capabilities, better cantilever load perform-
ance and a larger deck space. It is equipped
with the state-of-the-art pinion overload
detection, rack phase difference detection,
and brake failure and overload protection
devices. In addition to having strong drilling
capabilities and cantilever load perform-
ance, the KFELS Super A Class has a 2Mlb
hook load drilling system and includes a
spacious deck and amenities to accommo-
date 150 men.
'Keppel-designed rigs have a strong
track record of being industry benchmarks
and we are confident that Discovery Tri-
umph will be just as successful and exceed
the expectations and requirements of all our
customers. As this North Sea-compliant rig
is able to operate efficiently in virtually all
parts of the world outside Norway and the
Arctic, we also see many opportunities for
it to be deployed in other parts of the world
to generate maximum utilisation,' said
Hercules' CEO, John T. Rynd.
Keppel FELS is currently building
another KFELS Super A Class jack-up rig
for Discovery Offshore as well as another
three for Ensco.
Keppel FELS' sister yard Keppel for operations in high temperature and pressure and high-temperature reservoirs,
AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas, mean- high pressure wells. with the requisite riser and BOP equip-
while, has this year completed a jack-up BP has reached an agreement with ment. BP will then determine how best to
rig based on the LeTourneau Super l 16E Maersk Drilling to develop conceptual proceed with construction .
design for Mexican contractor, Perfodora engineering designs for a new breed of It is anticipated that products of
Central, which has a second such unit on advanced technology offshore drilling rig the endeavour will include advanced
order with the US builder and due out in to unlock the next frontier of deepwater operating systems to aid the situational
the first quarter of 2014. oil and gas resources. The pact is part of awareness of rig crew and provide
Singapore-listed Falcon Energy BP's Project 20KTM, a multi-year initia- decision-making support, real-time
entered the offshore drilling market with tive to formulate next-generation systems BOP monitoring to continuously verify
an order for two jack-up rigs from China and tools for deepwater exploration and functionality, and significantly enhanced
in 2011, and the company has now imple- production that are beyond the reach of mechanical capabilities of the BOP, rig
mented a new investment stage through today's technology. structures and piping systems . BP esti-
subsidiary FTS Derricks by awarding the Led by a jointly staffed engineering mates that application of this technology
construction of a KFELS Super B Class team in Houston, with back-up office sup- across it global portfolio it could poten-
jack-up to Keppel FELS. Customised to port from Maersk Drilling's Copenhagen tially access an additional ten to twenty
Falcon Energy's requirements, the rig will headquarters, the collaboration is focused billion barrels (bbl) of resources over the
feature a high hook load capacity of 2Mlb on drill rigs capable of operating in high- next two decades. SW&S

ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder July/August 2013 25

 orwegian compatriots Yard Brevik and Rolls-
Royce Ship Design thought they were going
to be involved with a fairly standard plat-
form supply vessel (PSY) project when domestic
owner, Island Offshore, placed an order in June
2011. However, in September 2012, Island Off-
shore switched the direction of the Island Crown
build. 'We asked for the ship to be converted to
a subsea support and accommodation vessel - a
"Walk2Work" vessel - as we wanted to move into
a segment that pays better than platform supply,'
reported Island Offshore's managing director,
Havard Ulstein. 'The offshore market is all about
being special and not doing what everybody else
is. We take a lot of risk, but the reward can also
be greater.'
Aside for being outfitted for subsea construc-
tion and remotely operated vehicle (ROY) opera-
tion, Island Crown is additionally equipped to
transport all the liquid and bulk supplies needed
by rigs and platforms . It can undertake rigid inflat-
able boat (RIB) operations, plus survey, inspec-
tion, maintenance and recovery or supply work.
The mid-construction conversion of what
started out as a UT 776 CD design had several
ramifications. The 96.Sm vessel was originally due
for delivery in February this year, but the modi-
26 July/August 2013
fications pushed this back to May. The changes Island crown moored
included an Uptime gangway system fitted to the n Oslo pno to a
portside corner of the aft deck, adding a 26.lm summer season on the
spot arket
diameter helicopter platform and increasing the
accommodation capacity from 25 to 100 people.
The total cost of the build plus the conversion
ended up as around NOKO.Sbn.
Ulstein explained: 'In the offshore industry
there are a lot of older installations that need
maintenance but do not have much accommo-
dation aboard . When maintenance takes place,
it needs to be completed quickly, as the opera-
tion has to completely shut down. Therefore, it
involves many staff working intensive shifts that
need to stay nearby and Island Crown will act
as their hotel.' This is where the Uptime access
system will come into its own. Fixed onto an
Ulmatec telescopic tower, the gangway can land
on an oil platform in active heave compensation
mode, which enables it to lock onto the rig, creat-
ing access between the platform and the vessel.
The gangway is hydraulically positioned but free
to pivot, allowing for relative motion. Its length
can also be varied.
The telescope tower contains a staircase which
passengers enter via a gangway from the cargo
rail. They would then enter the transfer gangway
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
 Island Crown also had to comply
'C
=
cu
with the DNV special purpose ships
(SPS) and mobile offshore drilling unit
a: (MODU) codes following the conversion.
·-
-=
er.I
This meant that below deck the Wartsila
Senitec M series bilge system had to be
installed and the fire alarm system had to
be rebuilt to ensure a higher level of safety
for the rig workers onboard, who would
essentially be passengers.
To meet stricter damage stability regu-
lations for this type of vessel, additional
piping and redundancy had to be built
in and there were strict limits on stabil-
ity and angle of heel under various col-
lision or damage scenarios. 'If there is a
leak in one area of the ship, it should not
heel,' Garshol said. Rolls-Royce designer,
Sigmund Borgundvag, added: 'We had
to recalculate the stability due to the tel-
escopic gangway installation.'
Furthermore, the re-purposing resulted
in reflagging the vessel from Norway to
the Bahamas. 'The Norwegian Maritime
Directive has a different interpretation
of special purpose personnel,' explained
Island Offshore's Ulstein. 'According to
Norwegian regulations, these personnel
need to have their workplace onboard the
vessel, but the workplace for the employ-
ees on board Island Crown will be the plat-
form it is connected to; they will only eat
and sleep aboard the vessel. So we had to
find another flag.'
Built for high passenger comfort
with a class notation of COMF-V(3), the
design is said to have good seakeeping
performance. The accommodation block
is placed aft of the main superstructure,
with the crew areas including three
dayrooms, a canteen and a helicopter
28 1ly/A1go t 2013
debrief room. A hospital and services
are on the main deck, and the dayrooms
along with two-person cabins and meet-
ing rooms are situated on the two decks
above. The main galley supplies the
meals and there are also pantries in the
hotel section. Some of the vessel's cargo
capacity was removed to account for the
accommodation areas, particularly the
special products and methanol storage
compartments.
For security reasons the control room
has been moved to the main deck above
the engine room. A Rolls-Royce Aeon inte-
grated automation system includes a tank
sounding system, pump and valve control.
There is a power management system
aboard too.
The propulsion outfit consists of four
2190kW Rolls-Royce Bergen C26:33 gas-
fuelled engines, plus two Rolls-Royce
2200kW azipull steering gear units.
Emergency generator sets comprise one
Nogva Scania 405kW unit and one Cum-
mins HCM 380kW unit. Two Rolls-Royce
883kW TT2200 tunnel thrusters and
one Aquamaster TCNS 73/50-180 swing
up azimuth thruster complete the pack-
age and enable dynamic positioning. The
thrusters can retract for shallow water
operations. This arrangement provides resistance hull shape is also designed to be
the high level of redundancy required for efficient at high speed, however. Selective
DP2 operation, and the dynamic position- catalytic reduction (SCR) systems on each
ing system itself is provided by Marine engine reduce NOx emissions.
Technologies. Safety provision is in the form of two
Island Crown's top speed is 17kn, with 100-person Eide enclosed lifeboats, a Nor-
a service speed of between 12 and 14kn. safe Midget rescue boat and a Mare Safety
Rolls-Royce optimised the design to the GTC 700 rescue boat.
service speed to create the most efficient Yard Brevik's yard director, Lars-
hullform in normal operating conditions, Ivar Boe, commented: 'This is the first
minimising fuel consumption . The low SPS vessel Brevik has built. It has been
more work and more demanding than we
were expecting, but we have done a good
job and we are proud of the vessel.' The
Brevik yard has now built seventeen ves-
sels for Island Offshore, with six more
still on the orderbook. It has also built
49 Rolls-Royce designs in total. Rolls-
Royce's Garshol added: 'Every Rolls-
Royce designed vessel is customised in
some form. In many ways this vessel is
the example of how the maritime cluster
in Norway is so flexible. It's very impor-
tant for the development of the industry
that we have such relations.' Island Off-
shore has contracted 38 UT designs since
it was established in 1999.
Currently, Island Crown does not have
any long term contracts and has been put
to work on the international spot market
for the summer. 'We are hopeful that we
will get work soon - and as this was origi-
nally a PSV there is still plenty of cargo
capacity,' said Ulstein. 'But we know for
a fact that for 2014 and 2015 we are very
close to signing contracts.'
ShippingWorld BShipbuilder
at the top of the tower. If the system has
to match a very low platform height, the
tower telescopes down and the deck gang-
way then leads downwards to a mezzanine
deck and the foot of the staircase.
Island Crown can therefore link to
multiple types of platforms and rigs, with
a variety of heights above water level of
the platform entry port. To cater to these
variations and the relative motion between
the vessel and platform in a seaway, the
gangway can operate in up to 3m signifi-
cant wave height, and in positions from
12m to 27m above sea level. People and
goods totalling a maximum of 500kg can
be transported at any given time. Normally
the vessel will maintain a fixed distance
from the platform under dynamic posi-
tioning, at a heading that as far as possi-
ble minimises the energy required by the
thrusters to keep station .
Passengers and crew can be trans-
ported to and from land from th e ves-
sel by helicopter using the onboard
helideck. Like the original hull , the
helideck was initiall y constructed by
Yard's Brai la yard in Romania, before
being transported to Brevik in January.
Insta lling the helicopter platform mid-
ships, instead of the more standard fore
position improves its operating window
by 60 %, according to Rolls-Royce's vice
president of marketing for the offshore
segment, Yrjar Ga rshol. 'A fore helideck
is exposed to the waves, but in the cen-
tre of a vessel, sea movements are much
smaller,' he commented .
Due to long lead times, a couple of
components needed for subsea work had
not yet arrived when the vessel was deli v-
ered. A lOOt Cargotec knuckleboom crane
with 48m outreach will be delivered for
installation on the starboard side of the
vessel in November - in the intermediate
period a smaller crane will be fitted. An
ROV handling area was due to be installed
on the same side of the ship in June, on
the mezzanine deck just aft of the accom-
modation block.
Other deck equipment includes two
Rolls-Royce windlasses and capstans, plus
two Aukra Maritime deck cranes and four
ASFA 1-5/1 -4 type automatic sea fasten-
ing system units arranged in two groups .
Altogether the cargo deck area is 550m 2
and can carry up to 550t of cargo.

ISLAND CROWN PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS

Length, oa . .... . .. .. .96.Sm Deadweight at max. draught . 3100t Accommodation .. 100 people
Beam (moulded) .. . . . .. ... . 20m Speed at Sm draught ....... .16kn Main engines .. 4 x 2190kW@ 900rpm
Depth (moulded) 8.2m
Max. scantling draught midship 6m Cargo deck area .ssom 2 Classification . DNV
Gross tonnage . ...... 5796t Deck cargo .. 550t Flag .... .The Bahamas

ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder July/August 2013 27

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~ Ships Service
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There are now more eographically sheltered from the meteorologi-
G
than sooo maritime- cal events that can affect its near neighbours
related companies (apart from the acrid smoke that, at the time
operating in Singapore of writing, was billowing across the Strait
from the burning of forests in Sumatra, Indo-
nesia) and seemingly cushioned from the financial
crisis that has engulfed most other countries in the
world, Singapore continues to attract the global
shipping industry. And although there had been con-
jecture last year that increasing business costs and
a tightening of the rules governing foreign labour
would drive companies away, in reality more play-
ers are investing in Singapore to capitalise on the
region's offshore boom and the consumer needs of
China's ascending middle class, which is estimated
to number 300M people.
The country's maritime-friendly policies
remain a lure and there are now over 130 ship-
ping groups and more than 5000 maritime-related
companies taking advantage of the government's
Maritime Sector Incentive (MSI) and contributing
7% to the country's annual GDP.
Indeed, to sharpen Singapore's competitive
edge and provide greater fiscal certainty, the gov-
ernment, through the Maritime Ports Association
(MPA) recently extended the maximum award
tenure for international shipping companies
under the MSI tax scheme from 30 to 40 years,
revised its port dues structure and rates, and
implemented a 'green' ship initiative.
30 July/August 2013
The policy enhancements were, to a degree,
the result of pressure from the Singapore Ship-
owners' Association, whose president, Patrick
Phoon, had made it clear that revisions were
required if Singapore was to remain an attrac-
tive proposition to the global shipping industry.
In February, just prior to the 2013 Budget, at a
Luna New Year reception attended by Minister
of Transport Lui Tuck Yew, Phoon said how the
SSA hoped the government would 'lend a helping
hand' by offering further tax cuts and 'reduce the
cost of doing shipping business in Singapore'. He
also said that there should be an urgent review
of its foreign manpower policy, 'so we are able to
meet the current demands and future growth and
challenges' ahead.
His call didn't befall deaf ears and Singapore's
100 plus contingent of international shipowners
believe that the policy enhancements the govern-
ment has made will not only stimulate growth in
the shipping sector, but ancillary services such as
bunkering and ships supplies are likely to receive
a boost. Phoon said: 'I am pleased that the MPA
has taken note of our industry's feedback. Given
the challenges faced by the shipping community,
any cost-savings are certainly welcomed.'
With the changes, 83% of vessels calling at
Singapore are expected to pay lower port dues,
saving the industry S$11M a year. This is on top
of the S$11M a year savings from the 20% port
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
dues concession for containerships that
will be made permanent and the S$7M a
year from the waiver of Maritime Welfare
Fee introduced in October 2012.
Further financial incentives can be
achieved via Maritime Singapore's Green
Initiative, introduced in 2011 to encour-
age companies to adopt environmentally-
friendly shipping practices. There are
three programmes under the Green Initia-
tive umbrella: Green Ship, Green Port and
Green Technology, and these have also
been revamped as part of the govern-
ment's maritime policy review.
The Green Ship Programme, for
instance, has been expanded to recog-
nise Singapore-flagged ships that adopt
approved SOx scrubber technologies
which go beyond the International
Maritime Organisation's (IMO) emission
requirements. Those that do can get a
25% reduction on initial registration fees
(IRF) and a 20% rebate on annual ton-
nage tax. This is in addition to the current
50% reduction on IRF and 20% rebate
on tonnage tax for ships that exceed the
IMO's Energy Efficiency Design Index.
Singapore-flagged vessels that are built
to an energy-efficient design and have
an approved scrubber will benefit from
a 75% reduction of the IRF and a 50%
concession on the tonnage tax.
Under the Green Port Programme, the
port dues reduction for ocean-going ves-
sels that burn clean fuels or use approved
abatement technology throughout their
entire port stay will be increased from
15% to 25%. A new tier of port dues
reduction of 15% will be introduced for
ShippingWorld 8Shipbuilder
ocean-going vessels that burn clean fuels
or use approved abatement technology
only while at berth.
NEW ENTRANTS
Recent beneficiaries of Singapore's
favourable business environment include
Japanese shipowner Kambara Kisen; ship
operators Trafigura Maritime Logistics
and Castleton Commodities Shipping; law
firm Reed Smith; and coatings manufac-
turer International Paint, which shifted
its global marine coatings headquarters
to Singapore in a move that underscores
the country's significance as a global
hub for operations in the Asia-Pacific
region. Several players in the oil and gas
sector have also invested in the country.
For example, FMC Technologies, an oil
and gas equipment supplier, has started
operations at a new S$30M plant to meet
the growing need for subsea and surface
wellhead equipment. Weatherford Inter-
national , an oilfield services company, has
also launched a new multi-million dollar
facility to provide a strategic base for
the company's operations in the region.
Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL), too,
has opened a new base with enhanced
response capabilities for the maritime and
oil and gas industries. Located within a
dedicated oil and gas supply facility with
wharf access and in proximity to key
airports, the new base is well-placed to
mount an emergency response either by
air or sea. It is close to Seletar Airport
where OSRL's Hercules C-130 aircraft
is based permanently for wide-area,
high-volume aerial dispersant spraying
SSA president Patrick Phoon is
pleased that industry's feedback has
been taken onboard
operations in the event of a spill. The new
facility is also equipped with four capping
stacks - subsea well capping equipment
which can be mobilised in the event of a
subsea well control incident.
Companies that are already estab-
lished in the country, meanwhile, have
expanded. IMC shipping, which opened
an office in 1992 with a staff of 100,
has grown fourfold across all its busi-
ness divisions. Maersk has expanded its
initial agency set-up and now Singapore
is home to more than ten of the group's
business units. Norwegian shipowner
Odfjell, which opened a representative
office in 197 4, now boasts a stream of
business divisions based in Singapore.
Wallem Shipmanagement's operations
have increased and following the sign-
ing last year of joint venture agreement
July/August 2013 31
with Nanjing Tanker Corporation, the
company expects to be managing 25
tankers from its Singapore office by the
end of the year. Harris Pye, the UK-head-
quartered engineering services company
recently invested S$1.2M in new equip-
ment at the Jurong workshop it opened
in 2008. Even the publisher of this jour-
nal, the Institute of Marine Engineering,
Science & Technology, has expanded its
Singapore office to provide accreditation
services to the region's growing number
of professional and academic courses
and to help facilitate the industry's
human resource requirement.
LONDON TOWN
Shipping's move east is succinctly
summed up by Braemar Shipping
Services' executive director Denis
Petropoulos, who is credited with being
primarily responsible for the group's
growing businesses in Southeast Asia.
He tells Shipping World & Shipbuilder:
'There is an enormous amount of activ-
ity in Singapore and it reminds me of
London twenty-years ago when the City
was "alive" and people were doing a
lot of business. It is a staging post for
the whole of Southeast Asia, China and
Australasia; it is just very busy.'
He says though that any decision to
expand has to be business-led. 'We have
slightly more than 50% of our 290 brok-
ing staff based in UK, but Singapore now
has 40 broking staff and is our second
busiest office. Together with Australia,
India and China it wouldn't surprise me
if this time next year the numbers of our
non-UK employees in broking actually
outweighed UK ones. We have a number
of people who are relocating to Singa-
pore and finding it attractive to do so
mainly because that is where their clients
are increasingly based, generated by the
regional activity.'
It's not just Braemar's broking
business that has seen the benefits of
expansion. Braemar Technical Services,
the group's technical division, has seen
its fortunes soar after maximising the
new Braemar office in the Central Busi-
ness District, while the region 's booming
offshore sector has paid dividends for
Braemar Engineering, Braemar Adjust-
ing, the Salvage Association and Cory
Brothers, which have all seen their
activities grow significantly as a result of
the expansion.
RESEARCH HUB
While the broking, legal, banking, insur-
ance and engineering sectors are very
much at the forefront of the industry's
seismic shift, companies involved in mari-
time research and development activities,
32 July/August 2013
'Singapore it reminds me of London
twenty-years ago; it is just very
busy; says Denis Petropoulos
particularly classification societies, are
also finding the opportunities in Singa-
pore alluring. For instance, Germanischer
Lloyd's marine engineering and consul-
tancy subsidiary, FutureShip, recently
opened a research centre in Singapore to
push its energy-efficiency solutions across
Asia. Supported by the MPA under its
Maritime Cluster Fund (MCF), the ECO
Research Centre's first project will focus
on analytical ship performance evaluation
and management, although a number of
other projects will be launched over the
next five years. Lloyd's Register teamed
up with A''STAR's Institute of High Per-
formance Computing (IHPC) and opened
one of OSRL's capping stacks
a joint laboratory to develop solutions to
the challenges faced by the marine, energy
and offshore sectors. And the American
Bureau of Shipping (ABS) jumped into
bed with the MPA and the Singapore Uni-
versity of Technology and Design (SUTO)
to launch the ABS-MPA Maritime
Technology Professorship Programme,
which builds on SUTD's capabilities to
strengthen Singapore's maritime educa-
tion and R&D landscape.
The development forms part of
ABS 's strategy to strengthen its pres-
ence in Singapore as the classification
society's global R&D centre. In April,
ABS opened up a Global Performace
Centre to address the challenging
technology requirements of marine and
offshore operations and expanded its
research efforts with the creation of
the Singapore Innovation and Research
Center (SIRC). This will expand R&D
activity to include marine operations
and performance management.
'We are moving in step with Singa-
pore as it continues to expand its pres-
ence in global trade. These investments 1
represent a continuation of our long-term
commitment to Singapore, elevating its
significance as an integral part of ABS's
future, said ABS president and CEO
Christopher J. Wiernicki. Together SIRC
and the Global Performance Centre are
viewed as pivotal to the implementation
of ABS's Class of the Future strategy,
which 'represents a dynamic shift in how
the classification process works,' said
Wiernicki. 'Singapore will be an essential
part of our long-term plans.'
The MPA has been actively promoting
maritime R&D and innovation develop-
ment over the past decade and R&D initi-
atives such as these are aimed at strength-
ening the country's maritime capabilities.
Indeed, given Singapore's resource con-
straints, investment in maritime research
and development is very much viewed as
the key to maintaining Singapore's strong
position in the offshore sector in a region
where competition is intensifying. The
government has already invested S$1 SOM
in the Singapore Maritime Institute to
fund R&D in areas such as naval archi-
tecture and marine engineering, mari-
time services, and offshore and subsea
systems. And to support the test-bedding
of new maritime technologies, the MPA
is to top up its Maritime Innovation and
Technology (MINT) fund by S$SOM. The
MPA also intends to set aside a further
S$2M so that high-achieving graduates
from the National University of Singa-
pore, Nanyang Technical University, and
Singapore Management University can
be awarded fully-sponsored maritime-
focused internships. SWtS
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder

The new LNG Terminal
at Jurong (courtesy of SLNG)
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
RESPONDING TO CHANGING MARKET
DYNAMICS, INFRASTRUCTURE
DEVELOPMENT RAMPS UP
ast year, container throughput at Singapore's
l terminals crossed the 30MTEU barrier for
the first time, with vessels arriving amount-
ing to 2.25Mgt. Singapore also remained
the world's top bunkering port with 4.27Mt
in total bunker sales. However, vessel traffic
along the Singapore Strait is expected to increase
significantly over the course of the next few years
and to meet anticipated demand, especially from
the oil and gas sector, considerable infrastructure
development has and continues to take place at a
startling pace.
For instance, the development of the S$1. 7bn
LNG terminal on Jurong Island, which received
its first commercial cargo in May, just three years
since ground was broken, is a key development
that supports Singapore's energy diversification
strategy, and which is expected to contribute
significantly to the development of the country as
a regional gas hub. The terminal 's first two tanks
with regasification facilities have throughput
capacity estimated at 3.SMtpa, although this will
increase to 6Mtpa by the end of 2013 when the
third tank, additional jetties and regasification
facilities are completed . Plans have also been
announced for a fourth tank and associated regas-
ification facilities to be added to the terminal, to
raise its throughput capacity to 9Mtpa in order to
meet demand as the world moves away from its
reliance on oil to gas.
Similarly, to meet the forecast growth in
containerised shipments, substantial investments
are also being made in Singapore's container
terminal infrastructure. PSA Singapore has
already ploughed S$3.Sbn in to the Phase 3 and 4
development of its Pasir Panjang Terminal (PPT)
to serve the new breed of mega-large container
carriers (MLCC).
On track for operation in 2014, the new
terminals will be fully automated, featuring
proprietary intelligent planning and operation
systems, as well as unmanned and electric-drive
rail-mounted gantry cranes. PPT Phases 3 and 4
will have a total of fifteen new berths. And with
nearly 6000m of quay length in waters wi th an
l8m draught, it will be able to serve Maersk's
18 270TEU Triple-E class containerships.
When fully developed over the course of this
decade, the new terminals will boost Singapore's
total container handling capacity to SOMTEU per
year. Howeve1~ it is the longer term plan to consoli-
date Singapore's transhipment port operations in
one location, Tuas Port, that offers a much clearer
picture of where shipping markets are moving.
Tuas Port, the first phase development of which
is due to become operational in 10 years, will be
designed to have an annual container handling
capacity of up to 65MTEU compared with the
35MTEU capacity of the current PSA terminals.
Tuas, the industrial area to Singapore's west,
which already hosts a plethora of shipyards and
suppliers, will also be the home of Sembcorp
Marine's new shipyard, to officially open for
business this December. Developed at a cost
of S$750M to provide a 'one-stop-shop' for
shiprepair, conversion, rig building and offshore
engineering and construction, the completion of
phase one of this three-phase project represents
Sembcorp's first integrated shipyard facility.
When all phases are complete the complex
will sprawl 206ha and boost Sembcorp's total
dock capacity by 62 % to over 3Mdwt. Until then,
a 73 .3ha area will be given to four VLCC graving
docks with a total capacity of 1.SSMdwt, a quay
length of 3408m, numerous workshops, blast-
ing and painting chambers, warehouses, training
facilities , medical and HSE centres, offices and
dormitories.
Whilst the Sembcorp press office would not
respond to requests for an update on the project,
Goh Geok Ling, the company's chairman, said
during the ground-breaking ceremony in 2010
that it marks a 'defining moment' in the ship-
builder's history. 'With its innovative work-effi-
cient design, the state-of-the-art yard development
will further bolster our home-base capabilities to
deliver value-added, cost-competitive solutions
to our customer partners. The new yard will be
an invaluable asset which will be a key catalyst in
sharpening Sembcorp Marine's competitive edge
for long-term sustainable growth.' SW&S
PSA Singapore has ploughed S$3.Sbn into
the Phase 3 and 4 development of its
Pasir Panjang Terminal
July/August 2013 33
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he effect of noise on marine life has been
T
well documented, with a number of studies
concluding that a ship's signature can inter-
fere with the way in which whales, dolphins,
seals and other species comm unicate, imped-
ing their ability to source food, migrate and repro-
duce. But it has only recentl y come to light that
the low frequency rumble of a ship's machinery
plant is acting as a magnet to crabs, molluscs and
other bivalves, resulting in increased hull fouling
and, subsequently, fuel costs.
Hull fouling costs the ship operator dearly,
not only terms of hull coatings and drydockings
but also due to the increased drag on ships' hulls,
which results in higher fuel consumption. There
are also implications from a marine biosecurity
perspective as organisms found on ships' hulls
can perpetuate the transfer of alien aquatic spe-
cies; a problem more commonly associated with a
ship's ballasting operation.
Whilst it is common knowledge in the sci-
entific community that sound, which can travel
long distances through water, triggers more rapid
settlement in many coastal organisms - fish and
crab larvae, for instance, are attracted toward
the sound of waves breaking on coastal reefs and
noises produced by other reef-dwelling organisms
during feeding - the effect of shipborne noise has
not before been assessed.
However, Drs Serena Wilkens, Jenni Stanley
and Andrew Jeffs, scientists from the National
Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
(NIWA) and University of Auckland, have now
linked ship generator noise with increased biofoul-
34 July/August 2013
ing and found that the fouling of vessels by marine
RUNNING SHIPBOARD
creatures is greatly increased by the underwater
MACHINIRY IN PORT sounds generated by the vessels themselves .
Given the occurrence and quantity of fouling
RISUlTS IN INCRIASID on vessel hulls, and other industrial equipment
BIOFOUUNG AND, where underwater noise and vibration are likely
to be present, Wilkens et al deemed it feasible
UlTIMATHY, INCRIASID that the underwater sound generated from the
OPIRATIONAL COSTS mechanical vibrations of the engines, power trans-
mission units and generators - typically in the 100
to lOOOHz range - could be biologically important
for immature invertebrates to attach themselves
and settle to marine surfaces in order to mature.
The hypothesis was verified when the under-
water sound intensity and frequency from a range
of vessels, including NIWA's own research vessel
Tangaroa , a containership and a 125m long steel-
hulled passenger vessel, were recorded whil st
alongside at the Port of Wellington, New Zealand,
running their main generators.
The scientists put a hydrophone into the
water next to the ship's hull whist it was berthed
in port and recorded the sound intensity and
frequency from the shi p's generator. The genera-
tor noise was measured at 126dB with a broadly
consistent sound level between 100 and 1OOOHz.
The digital recordings, confirmed at 126dB and
lOOdB, were then played back over several hours
to pre-settlement stage mussel larvae (swimming
about looking to attach) in a controlled environ-
ment at the University of Auckland's Leigh Marine
Laboratory. Another group of larvae was kept in a
'silent' tank and not exposed to the noise.
Within 15h of the experiment, it was found
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
that the larvae introduced to the high
and low intensity vessel noise had begun
to settle. All surviving larvae in the high
intensity vessel noise treatment had
settled within 72h, compared to 96h for
those experiencing low intensity vessel
noise. The larvae getting the silent treat-
ment, however, did not begin to attach to
the test tank's surface until after 120h,
taking considerably longer for all the
larvae to settle.
According to the scientists, the
research shows that the settlement of
mussel larvae is expedited when exposed
to underwater noise, specifically the
generator noise from a steel-hulled vessel
while at berth, even when port stays were
relatively short - less than 24h - and can
'operate as a settlement cue over consider-
able distances'. It was also concluded that
a vessel's signature can operate in concert
with other settlement cues in mussel
larvae, which they say may explain the
occurrence of mussels fouling sea chests.
'We found that the mussel larvae
exposed to the high intensity vessel sound
settled and metamorphosed a lot quicker
than the ones in the silent treatment,
significantly quicker,' says Dr Wilkens, in
a recent press release about the research.
'The mussel larvae settled very quickly
- within a few hours. This is within the
timeframe that the larvae would be exposed
to the noise from a generator in a vessel
in port. The results from this research
indicated that underwater sound produced
by vessels may be an important factor in
promoting hull fouling by mussels.'
Despite their findings , published
in the 2011 paper Induction of Settle-
ment in Mussel Larvae by Vessel Noise,
Wilkens, Stanley and Jeffs acknowledge
further research is warranted to more
fully understand the role and effect of
ship-borne noise on marine life.
'If vessel sound is found to be an
important factor in promoting hull foul-
ing by mussels, then dampening or elimi-
nating sound production in vessels, such
as by switching to a shore-based electrical
supply whilst vessels are at berth, would
have the potential to reduce the exten-
sive range of problems that fouling and
translocation of mussels creates,' they say.
Their conclusions are sure to be of
significant interest to ship operators and
charterers, given the millions of dollars
they spend each year on hull coatings and
drydockings.
Most ship classification societies have
now incorporated noise and vibration
requirements into their arsenal of volun-
tary notations, although these are aimed
mainly at ensuring the comfort of pas-
sengers and crew. In January 2010, Det
Norske Veritas, however, became one of
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
the first societies to introduce a notation
aimed specifically to reduce the impact of
ship noise on the marine environment. Its
Silent notation provides shipowners with
'precise and rea listic criteria' to minimise
noise emissions into the water.
There are also moves to introduce
mandatory noise abatement rules at an
international level, which could compel
machinery manufacturers to guarantee
specific noise and vi bration frequencies
in a range that does not affect marine life,
however large or small.
The International Maritime Organisa-
tion has been considering the effect of ship
noise on marine life, particularly propeller
noise and cavitation, which the organisa-
tion's Marine Environment Protection
Committee (MEPC) has identified as being
the first area requiring attention. It is
likely that the MEPC will rubber stamp a
proposed set of mandatory guidelines at its
66th session, in 2014. These will include
various measures which can be considered
at the design stage to reduce the generated
noise. Ship designers, builders and opera-
tors will be encouraged to use them.
Earlier this yeai~ meanwhile, during the
91st session of the International Maritime
Organisation's Maritime Safety Committee,
a new SOLAS regu lation was adopted that
The low frequency rumble
of a ship's machinery plant
is acting as a magnet to
molluscs and other bivalves
The settlement of mussel larvae Is
expedited when exposed to
underwater noise
will require certain ships to be constructed
in a way that would reduce onboard noise,
in the interests of crew health. The regula-
tion requires a new Code on Noise Levels
Onboard Ships' to be followed.
The Code includes requirements for
measuring equipment specifications and
use; information about how measure-
ments are taken; limits on exposure
to noise; measures to be taken in high
noise areas; information about acoustic
insulation in accommodation spaces and
hearing protection options.
Organisations such as ISO, ANSI,
and the Acoustical Society of America are
developing standards for the measurement
of underwater noise from ships and other
sources of anthropogenic din; but the new
requirements, which will come into force on
1 July 2014, could present a technical chal-
lenge to designers, especially since, in terms
of propulsion, at least, there is a trade-off
between propulsive efficiency and noise and
vibration. And as Carnival Corporation's
vice president, technical development and
quality assurance, corporate shipbuilding,
Richard Vie, highlighted last month at the
2nd IMarEST Ship Noise and Vibration
Conference: 'What is an "acceptable" level
of noise and vibration, and how do you
design to it without exceeding it?' SWiS
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'Switching to a shore-based electrical
supply, would have the potential to
reduce the range of problems that
fouling creates: says Dr Wiikens
July/August 2013 35
 oices in the maritime industry are
V
expressing concern about the safety and
effectiveness of carbon dioxide (CO)
fire extinguishing plants aboard ships.
Several global flags have petitioned IMO
to look at the issue and a Norwegian marine
safety pressure group, the Skaggerak Founda-
tion, even started a campaign to ban the use of
C0 2 following a fire onboard the Hurtigruten
passenger ship, Nordlys, in 2011. In that case
the co2 system was not released as there were
still crew in the engineroom. The Foundation
believes that de lays in evacuating the affected
areas in order to dep loy co2 render this fire-
fighting method ineffective.
36 July/August 2013
Although manufacturer Wilhelmsen Techni-
cal Solutions does provide C0 2 as part of its
product portfolio, it acknowledges the potential
shortcomings of these systems . 'There is still
a big demand for co2 but it can take anything
up to 20 minutes to evacuate everybody in the
affected area, a delay which increases danger
and can cause a lot of damage,' said com-
mercial director for safety, George W Dicker.
'When C0 2 used to be considered the most
would co,. water suitable solution, engine room equipment was
mist or foam have mechanically and hydraulically driven, but now
been able to the majority is electrical. co2 corrodes electri -
extinguish this fire? cal equipment, so even if a fire in an engine
Cred it: USCG room is extinguished , the engine 's electrical
controls may no longer work.'
Wilhelmsen also raised the issue
of pirates using co2 on crew who
lock themselves in the engine room
during a hijack. 'The mechanical
release for the system is outside the
protective space, so pirates could
threaten the crew using this,' added
Oscar Sandell, safety sales and
commercial management director.
However, some in the industry
believe this would not be simple
to carry out. Tritec Marine, the
consultancy arm of Northern
Marine Management, is well versed
in safety systems, performing
many fire control plan and statu-
tory checks on ship designs each
year, particularly when a ship has
been converted. ' An audible alarm
sounds in the protected space as
soon as the co2release sequence
begins, so the crew would have a
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder

few seconds to get out,' commented naval
architecture manager, Roy Armstrong.
Accidental release of C0 2 has also been
linked with many deaths over the years.
Dicker said: 'There has been a lot more
..-/·· Total Solution Provider of Certified Fixed Fire Fighting Systems
Once again "Ship of the Year"
is protected by
. ~~~~-~~M-SAFE-®
~~ b.19.~~s.ure water mist system
-·.- .
'"•-- '""='~
-:-_-::___ ~fr@ftf-9anf.oss Semco
~·,-~s;:_,
ShippingWorld 8Shipbuilder
lnerting a fire could allow
professional fire-fighters to
extinguish it alongside credit: USCG
intensity at IMO to upgrade the regulation
structure to ensure the systems are fit for
purpose. However IMO does not seem to
be addressing cargo hold fires as the regula-
tions are still structured around CO 2 for
this area.'
In addition to safety issues, high
pressure co2cylinders take up a lot of
space onboard. Wi lhelmsen reported
that on one LNG vessel it serviced,
there were 620 cylinders. Nevertheless,
another manufacturer believes that it
has drastically reduced this problem.
Denmark-based Danfoss Semco offers
low pressure co2systems in its portfolio
of fire-fighting products. The footprint
is much smaller and Danfoss Semco
estimates that for a 35 000m 3 engine
room , a ship would require 556 cylinders
of high pressure C0 2, inhabiting 120m2,
whereas just one low pressure co2 tank
would be required, taking up only 40m 2
of space. Vice president and general
manager, Tom Lauritzen, said: 'The
operating costs are much lower too, as
to refill the system you only have to have
a lorry pull alongside to refill the tank in
around 8-12 hours, whereas a release of
high pressure co2would mean changing
A
www.danfoss-semco.com
out all the cylinders, which could ta ke as
much as two weeks, as it involves taking
all cylinders ashore for filling and poten-
tially pressure testing.'
Danfoss Semco is currently equipping
all of Maersk's new 18 OOOTEU Triple-Es
with low pressure co2 systems in their
cargo holds, the first containerships to
have such an installation. The firm is also
standardising the user interface of its low
pressure systems to make them easy to
use and facilitate maintenance.
Lauritzen recognises that there are
drawbacks to co2 use but believes that
it would be hard to find a substitute that
is well proven or as widely and cheaply
available. 'If there are many obstructions
or small areas in a protected space, noth-
ing will beat C0 2,' he commented.
With all of the C0 2 difficulties, the
trend for many owners is to adopt water
mist technology instead. This technology
is the largest and fastest growing part
of Danfoss Semco's business. Lau-
ritzen emphasised that if water mist is
deployed, unlike co2 systems, subse-
quently owners wouldn't have to take
their ship to shore. 'There is no risk of
secondary damage,' he said. 'The vapour
in our water mist systems expands about
1500 times to extinguish a fire within 20
seconds. But the downside is it's more
complex and expensive.' He considers
~o
~,~;~~~~~
July/August 2013 37
that Danfoss Semco mitigates this higher
cost by its long industry experience
and stability, plus using its own service
engineers in Europe and service partners
in Asia and the Americas. 'We have also
improved our on time delivery to 97%,'
he added.
It could be that Wilhelmsen Techni-
cal Solutions intends to phase out its C0 2
fire-fighting solutions given that it has also
moved into the water mist market with
the purchase last year of Novenco Fire
Fighting. 'The system has the lowest power
signature in the market for this type of
solution and it does not pollute,' Dicker
said. 'And it's not a one shot system - there
is no need to evacuate the space.'
Wilhelmsen also has a range of high
expansion foam which it is particularly
promoting to tanker owners due to the
large areas onboard. 'Replacing C0 2 sys-
tems with foam saves payload space and
yearly testing is much simpler,' according
to Dicker. 'One foam system we installed
on a tanker 22 years ago has never had to
be replaced.' Wilhelmsen reported that its
foam system extinguished one fire in less
than 4 minutes and the clean-up took less
than 10 minutes.
A further alternative proposed by
Wilhelmsen is not to extinguish a fire, but
to control it before docking at the next port
and waiting for professional fire-fighters
.J· Total Solution Provider of Certified Fixed Fire Fighting Systems
Danfoss Semco redefines fi re fig ht ing o n container
vessels by moving from high-pre ssure C02 to a much more
cost-effective and compact low-pressure C02 syste m
We are proud to supply
low-pressure C02 systems
for the Triple-E series.
38 July/August 2013
Retro Sunshine
ith cruiseship fires making headlines recently, including Carnival Triumph's engine room
W blaze in February, it was fortuitous that Carnival had already decided last December to
upgrade the fire detection systems of another of its ships. A refit of what was Carnival Destiny
but emerged as carnival Sunshine at Fincantieri's Trieste yard during April and May involved
replacing the obsolete Autronica BS100 fire detection system onboard with the most recent
model, the AutroSafe 4.
'Our Italian distributor, Safe Marine, started to change the system when the ship left
the USA to head to Italy,' said Autronica's regional sales manager, Jon Arne Simonsen. 'The
40-day job involved swapping out all the equipment on the bridge and installing our new line
of detectors in the cabins, where they measure both smoke and temperature values. This
would enable the crew to know exactly where a fire has started.
'Unlike the BS100, all sensors interface with the AutroSafe 4 system . That meant we did
not have to change out the thousands of detectors on Carnival Sunshine, which would have
been a long job. When carnival has the budget to do this, they can then switch the rest of the
detectors to the new type.'
This was the first AutroSafe 4 retrofit for Autronica, and it is now in the process of
another refit on two car carriers in the Bahamas and China, with another two to follow for
the same owner later this summer. In the cruiseship market, Autronica is to also fit AutroSafe
4 on board the newbuild TUI 294m vessel, plus the new Quantum of the Seas and Anthem
of the Seas for Royal Caribbean International, and is in discussion for the contract for this
owner's third oasis-class ship. SW&S
to board and deal with the blaze. 'There's Tritec's Armstrong concurred: 'This
an opportunity for the industry to look at boundary cooling technique may be used,
inerting,' Dicker suggested. 'For instance depending on the specific fire. Crew would
if nitrogen was fed into a cargo hold which have to identify the fire and close all the
was ablaze, it could stop the fire from inlets and the HVAC to let the fire bum itself
spreading. Owners we have talked to were out. If you're alongside with a fire you've got
keen to pursue the effort but said their a better chance of fighting it when there are
hands are cutTently tied by regu lations.' no ship motions to contend with.' SW&S
~o .
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I
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www.da nfoss-semco.com
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
Challenging European hegemony
yundai Heavy Industries has
H
HYUNDAI ROUS secured type-approval from
OUT ITS MOST nine classification societies
for its most powerful home-
POWE HfUL HOME- grown HiMSEN engine design
GROWN ENGINE,
................
to date. The vee-form H46/60V type
takes coverage by the HiMSEN line-
up to 26 OOOkW, as one of the most
DAVID TINSLEY potent prime movers in its class,
and represents a clear challenge to
established European wide-bore,
medium-speed models.
The initial 460mm-bore
medium-speed series will comprise
five models in configurations from twelve to
twenty cylinders, and will considerably expand
the market reach of the group's Engine & Machin-
ery Division (HHI-EMD) in diesel-mechanical
and diesel-electric marine propulsion as well as
stationary power generation applications.
The HiMSEN H46/60V offers 1300kW per
cylinder at a crankshaft speed of 600rev/min,
or 1200kW at 500/514rev/min, with a power
range from 13 740kW to 26 OOOkW. The Korean
engine has a slightly greater bore-to-stroke ratio
than the competing European designs from MAN
and Wiirtsilii, and has a higher output in its
600rev/min versions. It constitutes a response
to the demand for higher power concentrations
in conjunction with enhanced fuel efficiency and
environmental compatibility.
Delivery of the first vee engine to clients is
expected around June 2015. Through the incor-
poration of measures such as selective catalytic
reduction (SCR) or exhaust gas recirculation
(EGR), the new HiMSEN medium-speed will
meet future IMO Tier III NOx criteria.
In the drive to meet twin goals of high reli-
ability and performance, state-of-the-art technology
has been utilised together with extensive analysis
and evaluation, complemented by field experi-
ence. Features of the development project include
an emphasis on structural strength to minimise
thermal load and noise and vibration, highly-
HIMSEN
efficient turbocharging, advanced Miller timing,
H46/60V and optimised combustion chamber design, crown
ENGINE shape and nozzle specification. The adoption of
PRINCIPAL dual valve timing makes it possible to optimise
PARTICULARS combustion behaviour at full load and to minimise
NOx emissions during part-load operation.
Cylinder bore .460mm
The H46/60V applies modularised design
Piston stroke ..... 600mm
principles and a minimised component count, all
Cylinders
of which promise benefits in terms of long-term
. 12, 14, 16, 18, 20V
maintenance operations as well as contributing to
Engine speed . 600rpm
more efficient production.
Output 1,300kW/cyl
HHI-EMD is planning to begin development
Power .. 15,600-26,000kW
work on in-line models of the H46/60 during the
MEP @600rpm .. 28.1 bar
second half of 2013.
Pmax . 250bar
The rapidly growing HiMSEN medium-offer-
SFOC @100% 176g/kW/h
ing is also set to be joined by a 350mm-bore dual-
fuel engine, the H35DF. Based on the H32/40
ShippingWorld 8Shipbuilder
Hyundai is adding a potent new design
to its HiMSEN range in the shape of the
H46/60V medium-speed design
diesel introduced in 2007 and also employing
technology from the H35/40G gas engine devel-
opment, the H35DF will produce 480kW per
cylinder at 720rev/min, and will also be available
at a faster running speed of 750rpm.
The planned release in both six to nine-cylinder
in-line and twelve- to twenty-cylinder vee-form
layouts will cover unit power requirements, at
maximum continuous output, from 2880kW to
9600kW. When operating on natural gas, the engine
will satisfy the Tier III NOx edict, while being Tier
II-compliant in diesel mode. The DF engine uses
micro-pilot injection, with no more than 1% diesel
fuel, for ignition. Type approval tests have been
conducted on an eight-cylinder in-line model.
HHI-EMD plans a family of dual-fuel
engines . The strategy over the next few years
includes the preparation of a 260mm-bore type,
the H26DF, to be followed by a smaller design,
the 210mm-bore H21DF.
With the H46/60V and H35DF design series
affording shipyards and shipowners increased
choice in hotly-competitive segments of the
medium-speed engine business, and taking HiMSEN
into new spheres of the ship power, HHI's penetra-
tion of the engine market can be expected to grow.
In the meantime, the LNG-fuelled H35/40G
engine has added another string to the bow of the
Korean marque. The first of this type was com-
pleted at the Ulsan production complex last year
and shipped to the Middle East for a land-based
power generation installation. The company is
also keen to promote this especially eco-friendly
design in the commercial shipping market and
also for industrial vessels such as drillships .
Design development work for the gas engine was
carried out by HHI and the Ricardo Group.
The pace of advance of the HiMSEN brand has
been without precedent in the marine engineering
industry. Having previously concentrated on licence
manufacturing, HHI-EMD gained new impetus
and new dimension in 2001 with the roll-out of the
H25/33 type, the first HiMSEN model. SW&S
July/August 2013 39
 IMO'S PROSPECTIVE POSTPONEMENT
Of THE TIER Ill NOH EMISSION
REGUlATIONS HAS CREATED MUCH
UNCERTAINTY fOR OWNERS AND
ENGINE BUllDERS

There have now been en IMO announced that it had agreed mented MAN Diesel's senior manager for marine

W
500 orders for MAN's o proposed draft amendments to
48/60 medium speed MARPOL Annex VI regulation thirteen
engine o delay the implementation of Tier III
itrogen oxide (NOx) emission stand-
ards, there were murmurs of dismay in some
sections of the maritime industry. At the 65th
session of the Marine Environment Protection
Committee (MEPC) in May, the delegation from
Russia, supported by Poland, Greece, Malta,
Latvia and Estonia, pushed for Tier III regulations
within emission control areas to be deferred from
1 January 2016 to 1 January 2021.
However, the final decision will not be made
until MEPC 66 in March next year. This casts a
shadow over many owners and engine manufac-
turers' preparations and many orders for dual fuel
or gas engines (one of LNG's main selling points
is its 90% fewer NOx emissions than HFO) may
be postponed or even cancelled.
If the decision does eventually swing the way
of the Russians et al, this would also penalise
the pioneering early adopters sailing around
with expensive LNG propulsion plants or after-
treatment equipment for diesel engines, major
investments which could in retrospect have been
deferred until a maritime market recovery before
the new Tier III deadline of 2021. The US is likely
to go ahead with its own EPA NOx standards,
slated to align with the current Tier III deadline,
and it would also be applicable to all US flagged
vessels. Regional regulatory bodies such as the EU
may also subsequently look at developing their
own NOx emission rules. In short: an IMO delay
would distort the market.
Nevertheless, several engine manufacturers are
claiming it is business as usual for them. 'We are not
stopping our development, especially as there is a
chance that Tier III will still mature on time,' com-
and offshore, Kjeld Aabo. He pointed to exhaust gas
recirculation and selective catalytic reduction (SCR)
systems as being required for ships to meet Tier III
rules, with such systems already in service on MAN
low speed engines that comply with Tier III. MAN's
Michael Kruger, project manager for order develop-
ment in engines and marine systems, detailed: 'We
have invested a lot in our testbeds where we can
test SCR systems to match them to different engine
types. This also reduces an SCR's urea consump-
tion, which can be expensive for the owner. We are
continuing this development despite the discussions
on the IMO NOx emission regulations.'
In the medium speed segment MAN is defi-
nitely motoring ahead, clocking up the sooth sale
of its 48/60 engine earlier this year. This model
is one of several which is available with common
rail direct fuel injection technology, which Kruger
says can 'save a lot of fue l due to high efficiency
and is flexible enough to optimise the system
for the complete load profile'. As medium speed
engines are used on ships as diverse as offshore
support vessels, passenger ships and multi-
purpose freighters, it seems a versatile operating
window is a must for this type of equipment.
Reliability and availability are the main watch-
words for many owners when selecting propulsion
systems. Especially in the offshore segment owners
and operators are conservative, according to Kriiger.
'If oil and gas production stops they will lose a lot of
money, so it is not easy to convince them to use a new
system.' However this is one of the sectors targeted
for the 35/44 dual fuel medium speed four stroke
which MAN introduced last year, so the flexibility of
using well proven HFO, MDO and MGO alongside
LNG may tempt these owners. 'If you can prove your
service department is dependable, this also helps
to convince them,' added Kriiger. 'Our PrimeServ

40 J ly/Augost 2013 ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder

 Propulsion
Auxiliary gensets
division are fielding lots of questions about
dual fuel and LNG retrofits so owners are
calculating business cases right now.'
Currently on the slate for MAN is a
project to develop a new medium speed
engine for semi-submersibles. 'They have
specific demands due to modal regula-
tions and redundancy,' reported Kruger.
The new model is in the design phase and
should be available next year. The former
Pielstick arm of MAN in St Nazaire,
France, is working on the development.
From one former joint MTU venture
(MAN and MTU jointly purchased Pielstick
in 1988 before MAN bought its compatriot
out in 2006) to what will be a new MTU
partnership. Back in 2011 Rolls-Royce and
Daimler bought Tognum, MTU's owner.
Then in March this year Daimler and Rolls-
Royce formed 50/50 partnership called
Rolls-Royce Power Systems Holding, with
Tognum and Rolls-Royce brand Bergen
Engines fully owned by this. The formal
integration of Bergen Engines into Tognum
is scheduled to take place this summer,
however the two companies collaborate
already where and when possible. Tog-
TWO Rolls-Royce Bergen C26:33L6AG engines will be retrofitted to Bergen Viking
ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder
Boil off gas Reliquefaction plant
compressors (Ethane & LPG)
Cargo pumps
Cargo handling
system
num has a highly complementary portfo-
lio to Rolls-Royce and Bergen Engines.
The combination of Tognum's engines
with Rolls-Royce's ship design, range of
propulsion products as well as aftermarket
presence and capabilities will create an
enhanced offering for our marine custom-
ers, especially in the medium speed range
for smaller offshore vessels,' commented
Odd Magne Horgen, Rolls-Royce's engines
general sales manager.
In the meantime both companies do
not know how the developments of both
engine brands will progress, but Rolls-
Royce is focusing on its two medium
speed LNG offerings, the C26:33 and the
B35 :40 . In June it signed a contract to ret-
rofit two Bergen C26:33L6AG engines to
Bergen Tankers' Bergen Viking, replacing
the current diesels.
Kjell Olav Haugland, managing
director of Bergen Tankers said: 'For a
relatively small shipowner, this change
represents a significant investment.
However with some financial support
from the Norwegian government's NOx
funding programme, we are confident
wartsila is
providing all
propulsion
and auxiliary
equipment for
new Evergas
LNG carriers
that the solution offered by Rolls-Royce
will prove to be cost efficient for us .'
Horgen added: 'We have calculated the
payback period for LNG plants compared
to diesel is between 2 and 5 years and in
this instance it is a 2 year term.'
Elsewhere, Wiirtsila is also concen-
trating on its medium speed gas offerings .
' Low pressure gas technology is extremely
well proven and we have more than 7M
running hours,' said Giulio Tirelli, direc-
tor of portfolio and applications develop-
ments. Despite the uncertainty over the
NOx regulations, he believes owners'
main driver is SOx standards. 'Sulphur
has a direct impact on fuel cost because if
you reduce the amount of SOx in the fuel
it is more expensive. So this side is still
driving towards LNG.'
The Finnish company considers that
developing after-treatment systems along-
side engines is the only way to ensure good
functionality. 'With medium and low speed
engines there is a lot of integration in the
design process,' explained Tirelli. 'Plus the
onboard location of all the different equip-
ment needs to be taken into account.'
As the manufacturer is positioning
itself as a total systems supplier, an order
earlier this year for a complete package for
three Dragon 27500-type LNG carriers
plus options for Evergas is exactly the kind
of contract it is looking for. The scope
of supply comprises dual fuel engines,
propulsion machinery, Energopac rudder
and a cargo handling system, which are all
integrated with each other. The ships are
being built at the Sinopacific Offshore &
Engineering (SOE) shipyard in China.
To move further into the Chinese mar-
ket Wartsilii is constructing new produc-
tion facilities in Zhuhai City, Guangdong
Province as part of a 50/50 joint venture
with Yuchai Marine Power. The premises
will manufacture the Wiirtsilii 20, Wart-
silii 26 and Wartsilii 32 series of medium
speed engines. Production is planned to
startin2014 . SW&S
July/August 2013 41
i-
-=
cu
~I
Healing scriptures
ew brooms sweep clean, so they say, and the of KR's Green Ship Testing, Certification and Stand-
appointment of a new chief executive officer can ard Centre that could deliver an altogether new
DR CHON YDUNG-
often precede a period of uncertainty and insecu- string to KR's bow. KH, THE HRST
rity as the new incumbent evaluates an organisation's When it opens in two years, the centre will
structure, processes and people before the inevitable focus on the research and development of tech- NTERNAL
reshuffling of resources.
However, as the first-ever internal appointment
nologies designed to reduce greenhouse gases and
limit the impact that vessels , plant and machinery
APPOINTMENT TO
to chairman and CEO in the Korean Register of Ship- have on the marine environment. In time, the cen- CHAIRMAN IN
ping's 53-year history, Dr Chon Young-kee is pretty
much up to full speed with the classification society's
tre will be equipped to assess, test and verify the
energy efficiency claims made by manufacturers
THI KOREAN
machinations and is quick to allay concern that the of green ship technologies prior to installation on REGISTER'S
axe is about to fall.
Tm a people person,' he says , 'Employee wel-
new or existing tonnage.
'It is true to say that a ship delivered today from
HISTORY,
fare is high on my agenda.' Indeed, just two months a top quality yard will have a significantly less impact OUTLINES HIS
into the job, and he is already talking about intro-
ducing a 'healing' programme for those members
on the environment than a similar vessel delivered
just twelve months earlier. Technology continues to
STRATEGY fOR
of staff who have made 'personal sacrifices which move forward supported by a very active R&D sec- EXPANSION AND
served as a basis for exponential growth of the soci- tor and we are confident that we will see environ-
ety in both qualitative and quantitative manner' in mental improvements year-on-year. This will include DIVERSlflCATION
recent years.
'Healing' was a term coined by South Korea's
President Park Geun-hye, following her election
earlier this year, and quickly became a zeitgeist
across the country. KR's healing programme is
designed to give staff members more time to enjoy
their families and personal lives. So Wednesday is
designated family day whereby over-time is discour-
aged. Also one day per month is given to group
activities where staff can take an afternoon off to
participate in social activities such as the KR fishing
club, KR football club, etc.
Of course, there will be changes, but rather
than looking at streamlining the organisation in an
attempt to cushion it from the effects of today's slug-
gish shipping and shipbuilding markets, Chon will
continue to run with his predecessor's ambitious plan
to expand and internationalise. His ultimate aim is to
create a 'total engineering service provider', capable
of delivering 'excellent customer service and value
for money'.
'Diversification will help us achieve this and we
are actively branching out into related engineering
services,' says Chon, a naval architect who has been
with the organisation since 1981. 'We are not adopt-
ing austerity measures to survive these tough times
- we are seeking to diversify and grow to overcome
the current economic downturn.'
To this end, the Register has relocated its R&D
Centre to Seoul in order to attract the high skill-set
required and to help create synergies with existing
splinter companies, iKR (Innovation KR) and KRE
(KR Engineering). It is, however, the establishment

42 July/August 2013 ShippingWorld &Shipbuilder

new hull forms, engines, alternative fuels,
operating patterns, and more.'
Having headed KR's R&D Cen-
tre amongst other roles prior to being
appointed chairman, Chon, 60, is confi-
dent that these developments will help
drive forward a globally acceptable inter-
national standard for green ship technol-
ogy; something the industry is currently
devoid of. Indeed, he intends to ensure
the society makes an even greater contri-
bution to the international maritime com-
munity by being more active within the
International Maritime Organisation and
the International Association of Classifica-
tion Societies, of which KR has been a full
member since 1988.
One area in which KR's contribu-
tion is significant is in the development
of IACS Harmonised Common Struc-
tural Rules (IACS CSR-H). 'We are in
the process of developing our SeaTrust-
CSRH software for the harmonised rules.
IACS CSR-H should be ready towards the
end of this year, and submitted to IMO
for review. So whenever the rules are
ready we will have the SeaTrust-CSRH
software available. We are almost done;
it's 95% there.'
Whilst Chon's enthusiasm is infec-
tious, he does acknowledge the challenges
the industry faces. 'Short orderbooks are
affecting growth and low freight rates
#'~d,,,
11.·
, world we need to expand our surveyor net-
ShippingWorld 8Shipbuilder
mean that there is less money available
for investment,' he says, before adding
that, perversely, the banking crisis has had
a positive effect on vessel design, since
shipowners are now selecting solutions
optimised to save fuel. 'Less money is not,
in our experience, encouraging owners
or yards to cut costs and compromise on
safety but it is favouring the EcoShip con-
cept, which is a good thing.' Indeed, KR
has recently signed a MoU with Hyundai
Oceans Services (HDOS), the ship man-
agement arm of the conglomerate, to fur-
ther develop the EcoShip and find techni-
cal solutions to retrofitting energy-saving
equipment.
Yet despite the banking sector's reluc-
tance to support new projects, the world
fleet continues to grow - a boon for KR,
whose fleet now exceeds 62Mgt (about
2895 vessels).
'In 2000, we had 19Mgt and we have
tripled that over the last ten years, so we
are growing. At that time we were more
domestic in outlook, catering mainly to
Korean shipowners and shipbuilders,
but our recent fleet expansion is due to
the fact that we have become more glo-
bal in outlook, attracting more foreign
clients.'
Today, about 68% of the KR-classed
fleet is domestic tonnage, but it is the
intention to have a 50/50 split between
domestic and overseas clients. To achieve
this, Chon will expand KR's 62 site offices
to 100 by opening about five or six new
offices each year until 2020. 'Shipping is
very much an international business and in
order to provide our services around the
work,' he says. The society currently has
South America in its sights and will soon
open an office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It
also intends to hire an additional 100 staff
year-on-year until 2015.
To a large extent, KR's expansion is
driven by the wider shipping industry's
diversification into the offshore segment.
'Our clients, whether shipowners or ship-
builders, are certainly moving into off-
shore and not just focusing on merchant
ships anymore and we need to cater for
that market trend. Shipping is a vola-
tile market and if we rely too much on
one sector we will have economic stabil-
ity problems. Structural analysis is one
area in which we can excel, based on our
expertise in merchant ships. We are doing
partial projects in the offshore sector, not
turnkey, at the moment.'
'Basically, the larger Korean shipyards
have managed to diversify successfully but
the smaller yards are facing difficulty as a
The Korean Register of Shipping's
head office in Busan, south Korea
hon Young-kee graduated from Seoul
National University with a bachelor's
degree in naval architecture in 1976, after
which he embarked on a naval career, serv-
ing in the Republic of Korea Navy, oversee-
ing warship design and construction pro-
grammes.
In 1981, he left the Navy for a position
as drawing approval and research/field sur-
veyor with the Korean Register of Shipping,
during which time he obtained a master's
degree and Phd in hydrodynamics at Stevens
Institute of Technology, in the United States
of America.
Since joining KR, Dr Chon has held vari-
ous positions including KR country man-
ager, based in New Malden, United Kingdom
(1997-2001); head of international affairs
(2001-2004); head of research & develop-
ment (2004-2007); and executive vice-presi-
dent, technical division (2007-2013).
Chon Young-kee was elected chairman
and CEO of the Korean Register of Shipping
in March 2013 and is the first employee of
the organisation to have been promoted to
the post
lot of bulk carriers [once the domain of
the Korean yard] are now being built in
China. Take Samsung Heavy Industries,
over 50% of its revenue comes from the
offshore market.'
Other established yards have focused
on niche markets, such as Hyundai Mipo,
which has pretty much got the MR tanker
segment sewn up. Less established and
smaller yards are struggling, though and
many are expected to close unless they can
diversify back in to the shiprepair market,
something that Korea doesn't currently do.
However, Chon believes shiprepair will be
a tough nut to crack because of the higher
labour costs in Korea, which can see expe-
rienced welders command annual salaries
of US$80 000 .
While this in itself could impact
Korea's ability to remain the world's
number one shipbuilder, Korea has been
very good at focusing on value added
tonnage such as VLCCs and mega-con-
tainerships, like the Triple-E type ves-
sels for example. LNG is another area
in which Korea has established a sound
reputation and KR is currently working
with a consortium of Korean Shipyards
and KoGAS, the Korean gas company,
to further the development of the KC-1
LNG membrane containment system. The
home-grown containment system could
reduce Korean shipyards' reliance on the
GTT system for which they have to pay
substantial royalties. SWuS
July/August 2013 43
 THAT SINKING
FEELING
tive actually dozed off dur-
ing the event. Not a ringing
Crossword No. 2316 Compiled by E. c. w
project to design endorsement for his company.
Aa new series of Maybe he could blame jetlag?
Spanish submarines
has floundered after UP IN SMOKE
it was discovered ith shipping lanes and air
that miscalcula-
tions by engineers
W traffic disrupted by the
acrid smoke that continues to
at build yard Nav- billow across the Singapore
antia would mean Strait from Sumatra, Indone-
the vessels would be too sia, where illegal forest fires
heavy to float. Nearly a third burn to make way for palm
of the US$3bn budget has oil plantations, the Singapore
already been spent on the four Shipowners' Association has
advanced S-80 submarines. warned seafarers to be vigi-
At over 2000t, the ves- lant when navigating through
sels are as much as lOOt the smoky haze.
overweight, so the 'diet' fix However, its appeal to
would either be slimming the Indonesian Government
the design down, or elongat- 'to put an urgent stop to the
ing it from the current 71m. indiscriminate "slash and
Spain's defence ministry, the burn" method of land clear-
government arm responsible ing in Sumatra ' has not had
for overseeing the project, the desired effect. 'Singa -
has yet to say how much the pore should not be behavi ng Across Down
setback will cost in both time like a child and making all 7. HMS Invincible (1908) was the I. The ca ptain of a merchant vessel (6, 7)
prototype (6-7) 2. Device for discharge of fluid s in a fine
and money. But Navantia has this noise,' Agung Laksono,
8. A curved timber at the prow of a spray (8)
already estimated that its mis- the mi111ster coordinating ship (4) 3. On which Charles Darwin went as a
take will set the project back Indonesia 's response, told 9. Armed vessels of light drau ght (8) naturalist, 1831 -6 (6)
at least one or two years. Fur- reporters. 4. An instrum ent for turning nuts (6)
I 0. Fi sh o r the family Labridae (6)
thermore, the Spanish edition To make amends for the 5. Underground chamber for a guided
11. A large rope, sometimes of steel (6)
missile (4)
of European news site The minister's fau x pas, a group 13. Spenser's queene, born at Kilco lman
6. US equivalen t of th e Meterological
Local reported that each addi- of Indonesians could be Castle (6)
Office (7 ,6)
15. Euro pe's second largest river (6)
tional metre added would cost seen handing out respiratory 12. Hoisting of hauling mechanism using a
16. A devotee of the sil ver screen (8) roller (8)
over US$9M. masks - which are now in 18. A large curved Bronze Age 14. A character w ho gives a plays its
Electric Boat, a subsidi- short supply - to passers-by trumpet (4) tit le (6)
ary of US-based technology on Orchard Road. Even the 19. The conFlic t notable for the victory 15. Co-founder of the firm which built the
firm General Dynamics, has island state's iconic Mer- or Quiberon Bay in 1759 (5,5,3) Sydney Harbour Bridge (6)
already evaluated the project lion managed to get one, as 17. ' It's safer being .... than fi erce' said
Robert Browning (4)
and could be hired as a con- can be seen from this ' Pho-
sultant to save the design. toshopped ' picture that is
Let's hope it is fit (and not doing the rounds on the web .
last month's solution
fa t! ) for the job. Hopefully container traf-
fic will soon be able to navi- 3 5 9 8 1 Across:
3. Seaworthy
8. Ahoy
EARLY CLASS gate through the smog in
ever organise a press con- time to replenish stocks! SW&S
8 3 1 9. Garboard
10. Install

N ference before 9am is the 5 7

13. Aloft
14. Anagram
15. Die
lesson one major class society 16. Overall
learned at a recent industry 4 6 5 2 17. Rejig
22 . Condense
trade show. Aside from the
parade of grumpy journalists
8 5 4 3 23. Tour
24. Employers
trooping into the conference 2 9 8 7 Down:
l. Navigator
room and scowling at being 2. Goestosea
parted from their beds at such 9 7 4. Eagle
5. Wa rzone
an hour (of course nothing to 6. Room ; 7. Hard
do with attending any of the 1 9 2 11. Projector
12. Smugglers
many open bar events the 15. Pliancy
night before) , the chief execu-
5 2 7 4 9 18. Spears
19. Boom; 20. Idol

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy-
ing or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Copyright© 2013 IMarEST
The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology
Applications for the copyright owner's written permission to reproduce any part of
this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Information published in SW&S does not necessarily represent the views of the publisher.
Whilst effort is made to ensure that the information is accurate the publisher makes no Average Net
representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy completeness or cor- Circulation
rectness of such infomnation. It accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any loss damage 5830
or other liability arising from any use of this publication or the information which it contains. Jan - Dec 2012

44 July/August 2013 ShippingWorld BShipbuilder

 IMarEST 2013/14 Institute of
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Latest deepwater and offshore challenges

I~ST
'.21 - '.2'.2 AUGUST '.2013 HOUSTON, USA

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