A huge gas turbine engine

A huge gas turbine engine 

A huge gas turbine engine of a ship being lifted for repairs

Global Shipbuilding reports mild recovery: Clarksons

New Delhi : The global shipbuilding industry has seen a mild recovery as orders for new vessels rebounded to more than 3 million deadweight tonnes last month,and Chinese shipyards were still leading the industry,according to the latest statistics released by Clarksons Plc,the world's leading provider of shipping services .
A total of 79 new vessels,totaling 3.2 million deadweight tonnes,were ordered in shipyards across the world in September.
The volume was 7.7% up from the same period last year and 9.6% up from August,the data showed. China still leads the world shipbuilding industry in new orders.
Chinese yards received orders for 34 new vessels,totaling 1.92 million deadweight tonnes,accounting for 60% of the world's total new-order volume and an 81% increase from the same period last year.

Import duty on white sugar may be hiked

New Delhi : In order to check flooding of the domestic market, the Government is considering doubling the import duty on white sugar to 20 per cent from the existing 10 per cent, while the 10 per cent duty on raw sugar import may be scrapped, the Minister of State for Food, Prof. K. V. Thomas, said.
"We have received different proposals. One is to increase duty on white sugar imports to 20 per cent and another to scrap duty on raw sugar imports. We will discuss the issue with the Agriculture and Commerce Ministries and take it to the Cabinet in about 15 days," the Minister said.
"Duty free imports will create havoc and our industry will be totally crushed. If imports are allowed when there is surplus sugar, prices will crash to below Rs 3,000 a quintal," said Mr S. L. Gupta, Secretary, UP Sugar Mills Association

L&T shipbuilding arm to raise 2,500 crore to replace loans raised for Tamil Nadu unit

MUMBAI: Larsen & Toubro's shipbuilding arm plans to raise 2,500 crore through bonds to replace existing loans raised for its unit at Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu, sources in the know of the matter .
L&T, which has an established shipbuilding facility at Hazira in Gujarat, has set up an ambitious shipyard-cum-port at Kattupalli at a total cost of 4,700 crore, which has been financed through 80% debt and 20% equity. The refinance may help the company reduce the interest rate by 150-200 basis points, analysts said. L&T Shipbuilding will raise the funds in two tranches of 1,200 crore and 1,300 crore, respectively.
It will raise 1,200 crore through 5-year bonds, which would have a call option after the third and fourth years at 8.95%.

Maersk Line wins Lloyds List Environment award for the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent

The Lloyd’s List Middle East and Indian Subcontinent Awards 2012 was held at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai. The delegation from Maersk Line was thrilled to be named the winner of the Environment Award.
Copenhagen : Maersk Line wins Lloyds List Environment Award for the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent.
The Lloyd’s List Middle East and Indian Subcontinent Awards 2012 was held at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai. The delegation from Maersk Line was thrilled to be named the winner of the Environment Award.
The award was given for Maersk Line’s Sustainability Progress Report 2011, aka “Route 2”, and the innovative website that accompanied it.
The jury’s explanation for choosing Maersk Line was as follows:
“Maersk Line introduced a new level of transparency on its sustainability initiatives to ensure that customers have a real choice on the environment. The effort did indeed set a new level of transparency that could help the industry follow suit. Openly criticizing the shipping industry for lacking disclosure on environmental performance, they offer a high degree of data granularity, allowing customers to see the effect of CO2 emissions and efforts to reduce them will have across their supply chains.”
Earlier this year, Maersk Line launched its sustainability  progress  report “Route 2” (http://maersklineroute2.com/) with a message to the industry: New and higher standards are needed. Maersk is charting a more sustainable course by focusing on raising the bar for the industry, delivering less CO2 per shipment and ensuring best CO2  data  in the industry.
Timothy Paul, Maersk Line’s Sustainability Manager in the West Central Asia Liner Operations Cluster (WCA LOC), accepted the award on stage on behalf of Maersk Line, saying: “This is great recognition for Maersk’s environmental efforts and acknowledges our Centre colleagues’ superb efforts in developing a high calibre sustainability  progress  report ‘Route 2’!”
Rob Brummer, head of the WCALOC, was equally delighted, saying: “This award puts us in the right spot to further develop sustainability in the WCALOC region.”  

Wind Turbine Installation Vessel Pacific Orca Arrives in Denmark

Vessel Pacific Orca

The self-elevating and self-propelled vessels were designed for Swire Blue Ocean, Denmark, for installation of offshore wind turbines and support in the offshore oil & gas sector.

The first of the two vessels was delivered from Samsung Geoje Shipyard in October 2012, and the second is expected to follow in the winter of 2013.

The vessels are equipped with six 105 m long truss-type legs and a high-speed rack-and-pinion jacking system, which enables them to jack to a safe height of 17 m above the water on 60 m water depth.

The legs can, however, be lengthened by 20 m, in which case the vessels can jack to 22 m on 75 m water depth, where they can survive even the most severe storm conditions.

The 1200 t leg-mounted crane is capable of installing 500 t heavy nacelles on top of turbine towers 120 m above the sea, and the 4300 m2 cargo deck has space for up to twelve 3.6 MW turbines.

The relatively fine hull lines in the bow gives the vessels a good speed even in higher waves, and with 4 stern thrusters, 2 bow thrusters, 2 drop-down thrusters and a DP-2 dynamic positioning system the vessels have state of the art maneuverability.

The accommodation holds 111 crew single cabins with private bathrooms as well as all necessary crew facilities and offices, and a helideck is fitted forward above the accommodation block.

Norse Management Orders Two Bulk Carriers from China

Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding

UK’s marine and investment management company Norse Management placed an order for a pair of 82,000 dwt dry bulk carriers with Chinese shipyard Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, SeatradeAsia reports.

The vessels’ price is $28m each and they should be delivered in the second half of 2014.

Under the contract there is an option for three more vessels with the same specifications. The option exercise is expected by the end of this year.

Queen Elizabeth's

HMS Queen Elizabeth's brass and steel propellers

Key International Marine Environment Protection Convention Celebrates 40 Years Of Progress

The use of the world’s oceans as a dumping ground for harmful wastes has been systematically regulated and reduced under the terms of an international convention that, this year, celebrates 40 years since it was first adopted.

The “Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972″, usually referred to as the “London Convention”, was one of the first global conventions designed to protect the marine environment from human activities. It has been in force since 1975.

IMO

The contracting Parties to the 1972 London Convention (and its 1996 Protocol) will meet at the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), from 29 October to 2 November 2012. During this meeting they will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, which took place on 13 November 1972.

The objective of the London Convention is to promote the effective control of all sources of marine pollution and to take all practicable steps to prevent pollution of the sea by dumping of wastes and other matter. Currently, 87 States are Parties to it.

In 1996, the “London Protocol” was agreed, to further modernize the Convention and, eventually, to replace it. Under the Protocol, all dumping is prohibited, except for possibly acceptable wastes on the so-called “reverse list”. This includes dredged material, sewage sludge, fish wastes, inert, inorganic geological material (e.g. mining wastes), organic material of natural origin, and carbon dioxide streams from carbon dioxide capture processes for sequestration. The London Protocol entered into force on 24 March 2006 and currently has 42 States Parties.

The 40 years since the London Convention was adopted have left a strong legacy of tangible successes from which both the marine environment and mankind have benefited. The unregulated dumping and incineration activities that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s have been halted.

Amendments that were adopted in 1993 and entered into force a year later brought in a total ban on the dumping into the sea of low-level radioactive wastes.  In addition, within two years of their adoption, by 31 December 1995, they phased out the dumping of industrial wastes and banned the incineration at sea of industrial waste and sewage sludge.

Parties to the Convention agreed to control dumping by implementing regulatory programmes to assess the need for, and the potential impact of, dumping. They eliminated dumping of certain types of waste and, gradually, made this regime more restrictive by promoting sound waste management and pollution prevention. Prohibitions are in force for dumping of industrial and radioactive wastes, as well as for incineration at sea of industrial waste and sewage sludge. And as mentioned earlier, under the Protocol all dumping is now prohibited, except for the so called “reverse list”.

A comprehensive series of guidelines on dumping have been developed under the auspices of the Convention and Protocol, notably:

• Generic guidelines and comprehensive specific guidelines for all wastes on the reverse list

• Guidance on implementation of the London Protocol at the national level
• Guidelines for the sampling and analysis of dredged material intended for disposal at sea (to assist Parties with limited capacity or resources, advice on the application of low-technology techniques for assessing dredged material has also been developed)
• Guidelines for the application of the ‘de minimis’ concept, to assist in making judgements on whether materials for dumping could be exempt from radiological controls or whether a specific radiological assessment is needed
• Guidance for the development of Action Lists and Action Levels for Dredged Material, to assist regulators and policy makers in relation to dredged material proposed for disposal at sea.

In addition, formal advice has been developed concerning the management of spoilt cargoes aboard vessels; best management practices for removal of anti-fouling coatings from ships and the placement of artificial reefs, and a technical co-operation and assistance programme has been established to assist with capacity building for waste assessment and management, and in developing national regulations to comply with, and implement, the London Protocol.

Contracting Parties to the LP have recently taken ground-breaking steps to mitigate the impacts of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by amending the LP to regulate carbon capture and sequestration in sub-sea geological formations.  In 2006, the LP Contracting Parties adopted amendments to Annex I of the Protocol to regulate carbon capture and sequestration in sub-seabed geological formations. In 2009, the LP was further amended to address the issue of export of waste for dumping purposes.

Since 2007, the Contracting Parties have taken steps to develop a global, transparent and effective control and regulatory mechanism for ocean fertilization and other activities that fall within the scope of the LC and LP and that may cause harm to the environment, including marine geo-engineering activities. In 2010, an assessment framework for scientific research involving ocean fertilization was adopted.

A Risk Assessment and Management Framework was developed to ensure compatibility with Annex 2 to the LP, identify relevant gaps in knowledge, and reach a view on the implications of this storage activity for the marine environment.

All in all, the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol have developed a wealth of experience regarding marine pollution prevention issues, interpretation of the Convention and Protocol, licensing, compliance and field monitoring activities.

When they meet at IMO from 29 October to 2 November 2012, the agenda will include, among other items:

• Further development of regulatory controls on ocean fertilization and other similar activities and the guidelines for CO2 sequestration to include transboundary issues

• A review of compliance issues under the London Protocol

• A review of the status report and planning for technical co-operation activities

• A review of the joint MEPC-LC/LP guidance on management of spoilt cargoes

• A discussion on matters related to the management of radioactive waste

• The finalization of the publication “The London Protocol: What it is and how to implement it”, and

• A review of the Joint Long-term Programme for the period 2013 to 2015.

Forty years after its adoption, the London Convention and its Protocol are still providing a relevant and important framework within which the international community is tackling key issues surrounding the protection of the marine environment.