VIDEO: Ports of Auckland buys world first electric tug

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August 5, 2019

Ports of Auckland has signed a contract with Dutch company Damen Shipyards to buy the world's first full-size, fully electric port tug.

The new tug, a Damen RSD-E Tug 2513 to be delivered in 2021, will have a 70 tonne bollard pull, the same as the port's strongest diesel tug Hauraki, also built by Damen.

Tony Gibson, CEO of Ports of Auckland, says:

"In 2016 we set ourselves the goal of being zero emission by 2040. We set this goal because we recognise that urgent action is needed on climate change, and we wanted to be part of the solution. However, setting that goal created a tough challenge. We have a lot of heavy equipment, like tugs, and in 2016 there were no zero emission options."

Allan D'Souza, Ports of Auckland's General Manager Marine, Engineering and General Wharf Operations, says:

"When we first looked into buying an electric tug in 2016, there was nothing on the market," "We talked to several manufacturers about building a battery powered tug. They told us we were dreaming. Hybrid tugs were possible, they said, but not battery. No way."

Mr Gibson adds:

"Luckily for us, Allan doesn't give up. He and Marine Technical Superintendent Rob Willighagen kept talking to manufacturers, kept suggesting ways to solve problems, and they found a partner willing to take on the challenge: Damen Shipyards."

The life of the tug is around 25 years. This new e-tug will be able to do three to four shipping moves on a full charge, or around three to four hours work (one shipping move takes an hour on average). A fast charge will take about two hours. The purchase price of this tug is significant, at roughly double that of a diesel tug.

CyberLogitec published an infographic illustrating OPUS Terminal M

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August 5, 2019

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OPUS Terminal M is an advanced terminal operating system for multipurpose terminals.

Designed to meet the growing needs of terminals, OPUS Terminal M has the capability to handle all types of cargo vessels, including container, bulk, RORO, barge, and rail and truck transport. Accessible within a single instance, users are able to enjoy 2D and 3D virtual terminal yard views while managing all aspects for terminal operations in real-time.

OPUS Terminal M is fully customizable and is easily deployed either on-premise or cloud-based. Its JAVA and HTML5 architecture enables the solution to be accessible from all common browsers and mobile devices.

About CyberLogitec

CyberLogitec empowers the global supply chain with innovative technologies that addresses operational challenges, improve visibility, and meet industry demands. For more than two decades, CyberLogitec has worked with shipping lines, terminals and logistics providers to optimize their business operations and processes though modern, integrated platforms.

Saipem to establish a spool-base in the US Gulf of Mexico

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August 5, 2019

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Saipem will establish a spool-base on Greenwood Island, Pascagoula, Mississippi. A spool-base is a facility which allows long lengths of pipe to be welded together before reeling them onto a pipelay vessel. The Saipem spool-base will be a highly specialized site designed to provide support for vessels performing pipelay activities for offshore oil and gas development projects.

With a particular focus on the Gulf of Mexico, the new spool-base will support the Saipem Constellation, the latest addition to the Saipem fleet, suitable for the installation of rigid and flexible pipes in ultra deep waters as well as for heavy lifts of up to 3,000 tons.

Under a Long Term Agreement, the Saipem spool-base is in a dedicated area within the facilities of ST Engineering Halter Marine & Offshore, Inc.

The spool-base will be equipped with advanced welding machines, non-destructive testing (NDT) facilities, and field joint coating systems (FJC). It will also be structured to deal with complex projects such as pipe-in-pipe and HDPE liners.

Leveraging the unique ability of the Saipem Constellation to lift fully loaded reels on-board, the stalking (joining of pipes into long strings) and spooling (the winding of stalks onto reels) process at the new spool-base can be decoupled from vessel loading operations, thus optimizing vessel and installation schedules.

President and CEO of Saipem America Inc., Giorgio Martelli, said:

“The spool-base supports Saipem’s growth in the deep water field development sector as well as consolidating the importance of our activities in the Gulf of Mexico area, with a locally-based approach and resident assets”.

President and CEO of ST Engineering Halter Marine & Offshore, Lim Nian Hua, added:

“We are pleased to be working with Saipem America on this exciting development within our facility in Pascagoula. Saipem’s spool-base operations complement our regular activities of drill rig upgrades and ship repairs. This collaboration will leverage the capabilities of both parties to provide high standards of support to our customers operating in the Gulf of Mexico”.

Annie-1 spuds in the offshore Otway Basin

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August 5, 2019

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Cooper Energy as Operator of VIC/P44 (50% interest holder), announces the Diamond Offshore Ocean Monarch drill rig has spudded the Annie-1 gas exploration well at 1:00 pm AEST.

Mitsui E&P Australia (“Mitsui”) holds a 50% interest in VIC/P44 joint venture. Annie-1 is located approximately 9 km offshore Victoria in a water depth of 58 metres. The prospect is located between the Henry (15 km west) and Minerva (11 km east) producing gas fields (refer Figure 1).

Annie-1 will be the first gas exploration well drilled offshore in the Otway Basin in seven years. The well is the first in a two-well exploration program by the joint venture to identify new sources of gas supply for south-east Australia.

Cooper Energy and Mitsui currently supply gas from the offshore Casino, Henry and Netherby fields (Casino-Henry Joint Venture). The joint venture expects to develop any commercial gas discoveries through utilisation of its existing offshore infrastructure and process gas at the Minerva Gas Plant (which the joint venture parties have contracted to acquire).

Annie-1 is to be drilled to a depth of approximately 2,330 metres (Figure 2). The primary target of the well is the Waarre C Formation, which is producing at the offset Minerva and Casino gas fields. The Waarre A Formation, from which Casino, Henry and Netherby fields produce, is a secondary target. The Annie structure has been mapped as a faulted ‘3-way’ dip closure, with a well-defined seismic amplitude anomaly and seismic inversion gas indications. Cooper Energy announced a Best Estimate (P50) Prospective Resource of 70.5 Bcf (Cooper Energy share 50%) to the ASX on 8 November, 20181.

The estimated quantities of petroleum that may be potentially recovered by the application of future development project(s) relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration, appraisal and evaluation is required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons.

The well is scheduled to take approximately 35 days to complete, with the success work program including drilling, logging and plugging and abandonment. The Ocean Monarch will move to drill Elanora1 in VIC/L24 immediately after the Annie-1 work program. Elanora-1 will test the largest, undrilled structure in the joint venture’s acreage and if successful will extend the proven gas fairway south of the existing producing fields.

Cooper Energy expects to report next on Annie-1 when well results are available following evaluation of well data. This is expected to occur before the rig is released to transit to the Elanora-1 location.

Last 3 ship-to-shore cranes arrive at Vado Gateway Terminal

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August 5, 2019

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The Vado Gateway terminal is on schedule to open on 12 December 2019. Thanks to its 700 m deep-sea berth, ideal for latest ULCS vessels, and to the automated gate and stacking area, Vado Gateway will be the newest logistic gateway in Italy as well as in Central European market.

The Vado Port System is made up of two well integrated terminals: APM Terminals' existing Reefer Terminal and its new semi-automated terminal called Vado Gateway.

In 2019 the two integrated terminals will offer the first semi-automated port and fully-automated gate and stacking yard in Italy. The Vado Ligure Port Complex will be one of the most competitive terminals in Europe, combining innovation, automation, intermodal connectivity and the ability to offer fully integrated and complex services such as cold storage, project cargo, Ro-Ro and intermodal transport.

A new off-dock rail facility for both port terminals (4 lanes, 450m length)will provide rapid access to central and northern Europe such as Switzerland, Germany and France, as well as regions in Northern Italy, such as Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. The facility has the capacity for 14 trains per day.

On completion the integrated Vado Ligure Port complex will be accessible via 14 reversible gate lanes. Maximum efficiency and short truck-turn-times of around 30 minutes will be achieved using a truck appointment system which is fully integrated with Terminal Operating System. As trucks arrive at the port, the license plate of the vehicle and the container number will be registered using optical character recognition (OCR). If all previously submitted documentation is complete, the truck will automatically be granted access to operating areas.

DIAMOND launches STACK-VIEW™ service

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August 4, 2019

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Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. has announced the launch of its Stack-View service, a first-of-its-kind solution that applies 24/7 real-time monitoring, data visualization, and advanced analytics to identify trends and detect anomalies in BOP performance across its rig fleet.

The leading indicators derived from the Company's Stack-View service enables predictive maintenance and subsea downtime prevention, increasing drilling productivity and lowering the total cost of the well.

The real-time data gathered and analyzed by the underlying technology in Stack-View is continuously overlaid or "stacked" with historical data, then data visualization, trending, and advanced analytics is applied to predict when BOP components will fail or when maintenance is required. This shift to predictive maintenance from time-based maintenance mitigates stack pulls and maintenance-induced issues, with the ability to reduce non-productive time by up to 50% depending on the water depth and well complexity.

President and CEO of Diamond Offshore, Marc Edwards, said:

"Subsea equipment repairs and maintenance continues to be a major contributor to a rig's non-productive time, resulting in great expense to both drillers and operators. We continue to look for ways to improve operational efficiencies and reduce operators' total cost of ownership to make the economics of offshore drilling more competitive. With our Stack-View service, we will be able to monitor and analyze the health of each BOP across our fleet in real-time to make more data-driven decisions that create further cost-savings and performance improvement."

Developed in partnership with Deepwater Subsea, LLC, the customized Stack-View platform and dashboards will be accessible from any mobile device or computer and any location by early 2020, allowing for greater transparency on BOP performance with customers.

The Stack-View platform is fully configurable and has the future capability to integrate with Diamond Offshore'sSim-Stack service and its BOP failure reporting database — both of which provide lagging indicators of BOP health and status. Combined, these systems will provide a holistic view of a BOP's health as well as past and future performance, allowing the Company to transition to conditioned-based maintenance to further reduce costs while increasing subsea equipment reliability. Additionally, the combined solutions will support operators in meeting BSEE's requirements for 21-day BOP pressure testing frequency, which is a substantial benefit directly impacting the operational efficiency of a drilling campaign.

New VR Title from Videotel helps protect cargo

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August 4, 2019

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Leading maritime training provider Videotel, has launched a new virtual reality (VR) training title to help ship operators avoid potential claims running into millions of pounds due to cargo damage caused by insufficiently washed tanks.

Ensuring cargo tanks are properly cleaned to receive their next cargo is a complex operation and is a vital part of safe operation onboard, especially with regards to chemical tankers.

The effectiveness of tank cleaning is assessed by a wall-wash inspection which involves the application of a solvent to selected areas of the cargo tank bulkheads. The solvent is then analysed for key quality parameters. If this sample test is not performed properly then this could have the direct result of a vessel being de-berthed and/or additional and unnecessary tank cleaning taking placed with all the associated additional costs and time.

Videotel’s VR training module called ‘Wall Wash Test – Protecting Your Cargo’ has been produced in association with the company’s VR content partners OMS, a professional maritime software development company.

Videotel’s Managing Director, Raal Harris, said:

“By immersing the learner in the virtual reality environment, it is possible to give them a deeper understanding of the processes and procedures required to undertake a wall wash test effectively by giving the user a 360° visualisation with haptic motion controllers, providing an unrivalled simulation of the real-world task that a competent seafarer must perform. Chemicals are volatile and the carriage of a previous load can hugely impact the next one if the correct processes around tank cleaning are not followed. Using our VR training title means learning and assessment can reach higher levels of accuracy than otherwise could be attained as users learn by doing.”

Poseidon launches cyber protection solution

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August 4, 2019

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Poseidon Navigation Services has announced that its cyber protection software ChallengerShield is ready for launch in cooperation with IMO 2021 cyber risk management on board ships.

Poseidon's solution to Cyber Security on the Bridge for file transfers on navigational equipment has been under development and company is ready to go into the market with this new and exciting product.

IMO has given shipowners and managers until 2021 to incorporate cyber risk management into ship safety, giving the industry another factor to manage. Owners risk having ships detained if they have not included cyber security in the ISM Code safety management on ships by 1 January 2021, that is why Poseidon has developed ChallengerShield as a solution to the Ship Owner.

MSI launches new digital platform

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August 3, 2019

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Maritime Strategies International (MSI) has unveiled MSI HORIZON, a new digital platform which enables clients to access the consultancy’s proprietary macro and shipping market models and asset valuations data via a single interface.

The creation of an integrated data platform means MSI clients can quickly and easily run market simulations and see the results across multiple shipping sectors.

This includes creating their own forward outlook on valuations and earnings scenarios by adjusting inputs such as GDP growth and vessel supply and demand. This will indicate the impact on newbuilding and second-hand values, as well as on earnings and operating costs, as far forward as 2035.

MSI Managing Director Adam Kent said:

“The shipping markets have rarely faced such a combination of contradictory forces, from trade wars and political risk to regulatory-driven cost impacts and long term sustainability challenges. Having the full suite of modelling and valuation tools in one place enables our subscribers to model global market and sector impacts faster and more conveniently.”

As a leading provider of forecasting and business advisory services for shipping and offshore markets, MSI already produces unique forward assessments of asset values, earnings and operating costs.

The integration of MSI’s proprietary valuation tool Forward Marine eValuator (FMV) enables clients to stress test forecast assumptions for their fleets against the MSI Base Case and custom scenarios using a new product called Alternative Marine eValuator (AMV).

MSI Director of Product Development Will Fray adds:

“Over the years we have been asked by a range of our clients to model and forecast the impact of a black swan events on the shipping markets. MSI HORIZON empowers the user to investigate the repercussions of such events themselves, whether it be the shutting of the Suez Canal or the Chinese economy plunging into a recession environment.”

MSI HORIZON also provides access to MSI’s quarterly market reports, monthly Freight Forecasters, recent presentations and Foresight articles. MSI will maintain the existing Excel models in parallel with MSI HORIZON for at least six months.

At present, AMV is available for the global dry bulk, tanker and container fleet, with other shipping sectors to be added through 2019. The platform will be progressively expanded to include new services such as asset portfolio and listed company fleet valuations and credit risk analysis.

About MSI
Since its foundation in 1986, Maritime Strategies International (MSI) has established itself as one of the shipping industry's foremost independent research and consultancy firms. MSI's success is built on a strong focus on maritime economics and econometric modelling. Company provides a comprehensive range of advisory services, including forward valuations market forecasts, reports and commercial consultancy services for all shipping sectors. MSI asset price forecasts are used by ship finance providers holding 40% of all shipping bank debt and we provide analytical and methodological support to give the context and credence to our results.

Autohydro stability software upgraded to V6.9

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August 2, 2019

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Autoship Systems Corporation (ASC) has announced the release of Autohydro Pro 6.9 hydrostatics & stability software; the most advanced version of the program to date.

The upgraded Autohydro offers full compliance with new IMO resolution MSC.415(97) for anchor handling and towing operation on voluntary basis. The IMO requirement or amendment to the 2008 IS code will take effect on January 1st, 2020.

The current release continues to add important functionality and ease-of-use features to allow you to easily evaluate stability criteria. A true 'floating simulator', Autohydro reports the reaction of the model to various conditions such as a loading configuration, a damage situation, conditions involving outside forces, wind or high speed turning momentum or some combination of these.

New Features found in Autohydro 6.9 include:

Intermediate flooding and enhance connection points and reporting.
Max anchor tension calculations.
Method to show bottom damage cases in probablistic calculations.
Method to show min side damage cases in probalistic calculations.
Second generation stability criteria (level 2).
MaxVCG improvements for wind.
Dynamic limit definition.
Added special condition rules for damage stability in Modelmaker.
Control over sloughing angle of cargo.
Further righting arm assessment enhancements.

Autohydro can also be used to obtain hull form characteristics and capacities. Vessel attitude is displayed graphically and in text on the screen. Report information, text and graphs, can be shown on the screen, edited, printed, saved or exported to other Windows® applications.

About ASC
Autoship Systems Corporation is a marine software developer of load planning software, loading instrument software and integrated CAD/CAM programs.