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DP World: Dark Clouds are Gathering Over Djibouti

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As part of its on-going dispute with the Government of Djibouti, DP World has now released a video arguing its case and saying “dark clouds are gathering over Djibouti.”

The video recounts DP World's history in the African nation, highlighting the benefits it has brought including a new container terminal which has supported significant economic growth for the nation – 14.5 percent each year since 2011, supporting 10 percent of annual government spending.

On September 9, the President of Djibouti enacted a decree which transferred the shareholding of Port de Djibouti SA (PDSA) in Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT) to the Government of Djibouti. PDSA is 23.5 percent owned by China Merchants Port Holdings Company of Hong Kong. The government said that the decision aimed to protect the fundamental interests of the nation of Djibouti and the legitimate interests of its partners in the face of what it called “severe irregularities.”

DP World said the transfer appears to have been made in an attempt to flout an injunction of the English High Court which restrains PDSA from using its shareholding to take control of DCT. This is the latest step in the Government of Djibouti’s five-year campaign to take the 2006 Concession Agreement away from DCT, through which DP World operated, and part owns the DCT. 

On August 31, the High Court of England & Wales issued an injunction against PDSA, as shareholder in DCT, ordering that it:

•      Shall not act as if the joint venture agreement with DP World has been terminated
•      Shall not appoint new directors or remove DP World’s nominated directors without its consent
•      Shall not cause the DCT joint venture company to act on the “Reserved Matters” without DP World’s consent.
•      Shall not instruct or cause DCT to give instructions to Standard Chartered Bank in London to transfer funds to Djibouti.

The 2006 Concession Agreement, which is governed by English law, provides that disputes relating to the agreement are to be resolved through binding arbitration in the London Court of International Arbitration. Such arbitration proceedings are ongoing. DP World says that, to date, the Government has not made any offer to compensate it.

“Investors across the world think twice before investing in Djibouti,” says DP World.

Source:maritime-executive

DNV GL: New Guidelines for Autonomous Ships

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With the first commercial autonomous and remotely operated vessels due to launch in the next several years, DNV GL has released a new class guideline to help build a safety culture around these new technologies.

“A new set of sensor, connectivity, analysis and control functions in maritime technologies is laying the foundation for remote and autonomous operations in shipping,” said Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO of DNV GL – Maritime. “Increased automation, whether in the form of decision support, remote operation or autonomy, has the potential to improve the safety, efficiency and environmental performance of shipping. To reach this potential, the industry needs a robust set of standards that enables new systems to reach the market and ensure that these technologies are safely implemented.”

DNV GL said its guideline covers new operational concepts that do not fit within existing regulations, and technologies that control functions that would normally be performed by humans. In terms of new operational concepts, the guideline helps those who would like to implement new concepts with a process toward obtaining approval under the alternative design requirements by the flag state. For novel technologies, suppliers can use the guideline to obtain an approval in principle.

The guideline covers navigation, vessel engineering, remote control centers and communications, with particular emphasis given to cyber-security and software testing – two key areas that emerge from the reliance of autonomous and remote concepts on software and communications systems. Both the concept qualification process and the technology qualification process include cyber security aspects in the risk analysis. Not only the systems themselves, but the associated infrastructure and network components, servers, operator stations and other endpoints should all take cyber security into account, incorporating multiple layers of defense where possible. In terms of software, quality assurance of software-based systems is essential, and well established development process and a multifaceted end-product testing strategy should be used to ensure safe operation.

“This is a first step in the process to fully realize these technologies,” Ørbeck-Nilssen said. “But we continue to develop experience from several projects currently underway. In some areas, such as navigation systems and engineering functions we can already offer technical guidance based on our current class rules and as we progress new guides and rules will follow.”

Source:marinelink

Saudi Aramco awards contract for construction of drilling islands

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BIP aims to produce an additional 250,000 barrels per day of Arabian Light crude oil from the Berri Oil Field to reach 500,000 barrels per day to maintain Saudi Aramco’s maximum capacity by early 2023.

Based on the Program, a new Gas Oil Separation Plant will be installed in Abu Ali Island, as well as additional gas processing facilities at the Khursaniyah Gas Plant (KGP) to process 40,000 barrels per day of hydrocarbon condensate. Related pipelines, water injection facilities, onshore drilling sites, drilling islands and offshore facilities are also included.

According to the contract, two drilling islands will be constructed near shore at the north and south sides of the King Fahad Industrial Port (KFIP) causeway in Jubail, to support the Berri field production capacity islands.

The two drill sites will have an approximate overall area of 616,553 square meters and 263,855 square meters respectively. They will have been completed by mid-2020

Source:safety4sea

Guardian Offshore together with Guardian Geomatics has partnered with Ocean Infinity

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Guardian Offshore together with Guardian Geomatics has partnered with Ocean Infinity, to deliver a fleet of autonomous surface and underwater vehicles to the Australasian and SE Asian region.

Ocean Infinity and Guardian partnership is aimed at the oil and gas, government and defence markets, based on experience working with commercial and government agencies, vessel operations, environmental, geophysics, hydrographic surveying, cloud-based processing and reporting.

Bringing a fleet of autonomous vehicles coupled to new-build motherships, the Ocean Infinity and Guardian partnership is said to set a new benchmark in capability and capacity to the region.

Guardian managing directors, Darren Kolln and Paul Kennedy, stated: “This partnership demonstrates the long term investment, commitment and industry leadership of Ocean Infinity and Guardian to meet strategic requirements of mapping and understanding the marine environment while significantly reducing the environmental footprint of surveying.”

Ocean Infinity CEO, Oliver Plunkett, said: “Today’s announcement marks another milestone in Ocean Infinity’s development. Collaborating with the Guardian team will ensure that we can meet the continuing strong demand for subsea technological solutions that deliver better results, faster and more economically.”

Scotrenewables wraps EMEC tests

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Scotrenewables has started work to remove its 2MW floating tidal device installed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) off Orkney.

The withdrawal of the SR2000 unit from service at EMEC follows a testing period during which it generated in excess of 3 gigawatt-hours in the past 12 months.

The Kirkwall company said it would concentrate its resources on the build and installation phase of its next-generation device, the SR2-2000, which is due to be completed next year.

The 2MW machine is scheduled to be installed at EMEC’s grid-connected Fall of Warness site in early 2020.

Scotrenewables chief executive Andrew Scott said: “The last 12 months have provided unrivalled validation of our engineering and, more importantly, our low cost, low risk solution for tidal stream energy.”

“Our priority now is to ensure we build on this success with the delivery of our next generation turbine, which is supported by EU Horizon 2020 funding under the FloTEC project.”

The company is discussions with a number of interested parties on the potential to re-deploy the SR2000 turbine at a non-UK site, he added.

Source:seawanderer

Triton books marine health check

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Waves Group has been appointed marine warranty surveyor for Innogy's 860MW Triton Knoll offshore wind farm off the east coast of England.

The company has started the work, which will last for the duration of construction into 2021.

Waves Group said: “Having completed the marine warranty surveyor contract on the Galloper offshore wind farm earlier in 2018, this contract reinforces the excellent working relationship between Waves Group and Innogy.”

“We are proud to be a part of this development as it further underlines our position as leaders within the marine and offshore consultancy industry.”

Innogy owns 59% of Triton Knoll and is managing construction on behalf of partners J-Power (25%) and Kansai Electric Power (16%).

The wind farm will feature 90 MHI Vestas V164-9.5MW turbines and is expected to be fully operational in 2022.

Source:seawanderer

ONE, OOCL and APL say shippers must pay additional costs of sulphur cap

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Major container lines Ocean Network Express (ONE), Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) and APL all say that the costs of complying with the 2020 low sulphur cap will have to be passed onto customers.

The IMO 0.5% global low sulphur cap that comes into force on 1 January 2020 will cost container lines an estimated $15bn at a time when freight rates barely cover costs. On Monday the world's largest container line Maersk announced a Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF) from the start of next year which it said would provide its customers with predictability of additional fuel costs.

Jeremy Nixon, ceo of ONE, told delegates at the Marine Money Asia conference that costs would “absolutely have to be passed on” noting that currently freight rates didn't cover costs.

“The industry must be serious about that and all customers when we talk to them I think understand that its just ensuring there is a common way of passing on that cost,” he said.

Michael Fitzgerald deputy cfo of Orient Overseas International Ltd (OOIL), parent of OOCL, agreed the cost had to passed on, and also wanted see transport cost passed on the ultimate end user – the consumer. “The result of that is passing on the transportation to the very end user – the person buying the pair of trainers or the t-shirt.”

He believes container lines have no option but to pass the cost onto shippers. “Ultimately it has to happen just because of the sheer scale of it shipping companies cannot fund it even if they wanted to,” he stated.

APL cfo Sege Corbel noted the new surcharge annoucement by Maersk and said: “There is no question it must be passed onto the customer, but it must be passed on in a way that is transparent. Today transparency is a bit difficult.”

One of the longstanding complaints of shippers is that surcharges by container lines do not accurately reflect the costs they are supposed to be for and are instead used by lines to increase the freight rate by other means.

Source:seawanderer

Maersk bidding farewell to MCC and Seago names in SeaLand rebranding

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AP Moller – Maersk regional container lines brands MCC Transport and Seago Line will be disappearing from the start of October as part of a reorganisation of its business announced on Wednesday.

The Asia regional line MCC Transport, European regional line Seago Line, and its Americas regional brand Sealand will all be renamed SeaLand – A Maersk Company from 1 October 2018.

“The simplified naming structure for these brands will help strengthen brand recognition and ensure clarity of choice for customers,” Maersk said.

The Singapore-headquartered MCC Transport brand has been in the market for over 20 years and counts itself as the 21st largest container line in the world in capacity terms. Seago Line is an independent company within Maersk founded in 2011.

The SeaLand brand was reactivated in 2014 for Maersk's America's regional business having laid dormant since 2006 after it was retired when Maersk Sealand acquired P&O Nedlloyd.

Source:seawanderer

GE Marine Gas Turbine and Digital Analytic

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GE offers a comprehensive suite of marine gas turbine, digital analytics and maintenance solutions for commercial ships, the company reported at the Gastech 2018 industry trade exhibition.

Lloyd’s Register (LR) recently granted GE Approval in Principle (AiP) as ‘Digital Twin READY’ for GE’s Predix Asset Performance Management. This innovative, first-in-class AiP allows GE to provide the hardware, maintenance, overhaul and machine health prognostics to marine customers worldwide for LNG carriers, container ships, ferries and naval ships.

Luis Benito, LR’s Innovation & Co-creation Director – Marine & Offshore said, “As the first classification society to operate in this space, we have worked collaboratively with other industry leaders to deliver our first pilot project – an approval in principle to the first level of Digital Compliance: ‘Digital Twin READY’ to GE Aviation. Defining the process for approving the output of a digital twin is the industry’s first step on a journey toward a truly digitalized classification service where we build trust in data to understand asset health over time.”

GE’s LM2500 aeroderivative gas turbine – a modified jet engine – was the asset used to pilot through LR’s digital compliance framework. “By using the LM2500 engine, we demonstrated to LR exactly how GE designs, builds, and operates the digital twin,” said GE’s Brien Bolsinger, Vice President, General Manager, Evendale, Ohio, USA.

“The digital twin provides a rich, constantly evolving picture of machine health and operations, capturing everything from components to functions and entire processes for the asset. Digital twin can be further expanded to the propulsion plant and other areas on the ship, giving both a ship- and fleet-level view for the owner,” Bolsinger added.

In addition, pilot projects are now underway with the United States to employ digital twins on military ships; other international navies are considering how to use digital twins to analyze the health of ship assets.

GE Propulsion Solutions

Each of GE’s six aeroderivative marine gas turbines are compact, lightweight and produce low emissions: LM500 (4.6 MW), LM2500 (25.1 MW), LM2500+ (30.2 MW), LM2500+G4 (35.3 MW), LM6000PC (46.1 MW) and LM6000 (52.7 MW). GE has been granted a variety of certifications from global classification societies for its diverse product portfolio that includes marine gas turbines, controls, software, auxiliaries and Customer Service Agreement capabilities.

Teaming with some of the world’s leading shipyards, GE brings its popular COmbined Gas turbine and Electric and Steam (COGES) system onboard newbuilds and retrofits of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers and container ships and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)-fueled ferries. GE engines can burn diverse fuels including natural gas, LNG, LPG, Marine Gas Oil (MGO) and other bio-synthetic paraffinic kerosene blends. Other benefits include the ability to meet IMO Tier III/United States Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 requirements now; operation with no exhaust treatment and no methane slip; and reduced maintenance intervals.

A touchstone example of the dual fuel capabilities of GE gas turbines is on the world’s fastest commercial ship Francisco. The two LM2500 engines run on either MGO or LNG to propel this fast ferry to over 50 knots under normal operation on each leg of its Buenos Aires to Montevideo route. Since beginning service in 2013, Francisco has accumulated nearly 13,000 operating hours.
What follows are several projects underway that use GE marine gas turbines:

LNG Carrier: GE and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co. Ltd. (HZ) received an AiP from ABS for a jointly developed new 178,000 cubic-meter LNGC design to use GE’s COGES system for all power and propulsion. By using GE’s COGES system, savings are calculated at about US$20 million over the 20-year life of a ship. The gas turbines can operate either on the LNGC’s cargo of boil off gas or on MGO. With AiP in hand, customers can now procure this LNGC.

LNGC Retrofit: GE and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. Ltd. completed a feasibility study based on a 138,000-cubic meter LNGC powered by a steam turbine to be converted to a gas turbine-based propulsion system. The COGES power system is expected to improve the fuel efficiency of the ship by 30%. This allows ship owners to increase the charter rate and win back opportunities in a market dominated by dual-fuel diesel engines.

Power Supply Vessel: GE and HZ also teamed to obtain a separate AiP from ABS for their jointly developed design of a 100 MW LNG power supply vessel. Three modular GE COGES systems can be installed on the upper deck to export electricity to a land based electrical transmission system. Unlike traditional power barges, this ship features three LNG tanks for fuel supply so that additional fuel bunkering ships are no longer needed.

LPG Ferry: The world’s first LPG-fueled ferry design to use a GE COGES system successfully completed Hazard Identification (HAZID) meetings and received AiP from Bureau Veritas. The ship adopts LPG as the main fuel for lower fuel costs and no emission of sulfur oxides. GE’s COGES system will provide all ship power, including propulsion. The consortium of Youngsung Global, DINTEC, Korea LPG Industry Association, GE’s Marine Solutions and Far East Ship Design & Engineering Co. signed a multilateral memorandum of understanding to cooperate on this unique ferry design; a shipbuilding contract has been secured.

Source:seawanderer

New environmental regulations for green shipping

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The global shipping industry is under growing pressure to ensure its compliance with looming new environmental regulations, Kitack Lim, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), has warned.

Lim’s comments were made at the opening of the Hamburg SMM maritime trade fair, one of the world’s most important events of its kind for the shipping industry.

As of January 1, 2020, the IMO will mandate members to use fuels with a sulphur content of at most 0.5%, compared to a previous 3.5% limit, when travelling the high seas.

Alternatively, vessels can install so-called “scrubber” exhaust system cleaning technologies to reduce environmental pollution.

“The priority for the IMO and the industry is now to implement the new regulatory limits resolutely,” Lim said.

Esben Poulsson, the chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping, expressed confidence that the industry would ultimately succeed in becoming more environmentally sustainable. “We will make it, but we will have to work hard,” Poulsson said.

He noted that fuels in compliance with the new regulations were not yet universally available and that their exact pricing, a key cost factor for shipping firms, was still unknown.

Caterpillar product manager Frank Starke, representing one of the engineering firms showcasing their products at the fair, cautioned that the jury was still out on what new technologies would be best suited to help achieve the industry’s vision of “green shipping”.

Whereas motors could already be powered by hydrogen in principle, questions remained surrounding related security and logistics.

Further candidates for less polluting propulsion solutions were battery-powered vessels and liquefied natural gas.

Source:seawanderer

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