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Global wind outlook ‘falls 5GW’

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Consultancy Make has downgraded by 5GW near-term expectations for global wind power capacity additions because of market disruptions caused by “auction dynamics”.

In its 'Q3 Global Wind Power Market Outlook', Make projects nearly 670GW of new capacity coming online between 2018 and 2027.

“The broad transition globally to auction mechanisms continues to impact quarterly adjustments to the outlook as changes in auction guidelines and scope as well as auction award announcements determine market size, particularly in the near-term,” the consultancy said.

Auction impacts in Brazil, Germany and India are highlighted by Make as the main drivers for the change in the overall outlook.

For example, the consultancy said low volume was procured in Brazil's A-6 auction, while in India concern over transmission availability has resulted in the government planning to re-tender at lower capacity than originally planned.

However, Make said that global firm turbine order intake increased 56% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2018. The increase is down to demand in the offshore sector.

In the first half of the year, the order intake is over 27GW, which the consultancy said is the highest volume over the last five years.

Source:seawanderer

Fluor, IBM develop predictive analytics

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 Fluor Corp. and IBM have developed artificial intelligence-based systems to predict, monitor, and measure the status of engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction (EPC) of megaprojects from inception to completion.

Fluor’s engineering, fabrication, construction and deep supply chain expertise, coupled with artificial intelligence and analytic technologies from IBM Watson, forms the foundation for big data analytics and diagnostic systems that help predict critical project outcomes and provide early insights into the health of projects.

Fluor has introduced the EPC Project Health Diagnostics (EPHDsm) and the Market Dynamics/Spend Analytics (MD/SAsm) systems. Developed with IBM Research and IBM Services, these tools help to identify dependencies and provide actionable insights by fusing thousands of data points across the entire life cycle of capital projects. 

The company selected IBM Research and IBM Services to assist in the development of these advanced systems as part of its global data-centric transformation strategy. Fluor can now leverage a wealth of experience from across its entire historical data store and global workforce to quickly understand markets and monitor project factors impacting cost and schedule to drive improved certainty and cost efficiency across the entire project scope.

Arvind Krishna, senior vice president and director of IBM Research, said: “Harnessing the power of data to make meaningful insights will alter how megaprojects around the world are designed, built, and maintained.”

“Together with IBM, Fluor is embracing artificial intelligence as an engine for transformation in data-driven industries that are ripe for innovation including energy and chemicals, and mining and metals construction projects.”

The EPHD and MD/SA systems are designed to transform complex data into actionable business insights using domain-driven semantic models to guide artificial intelligence-based predictive and diagnostics modeling. A unique feature of the systems is the blending of data with domain expertise to learn models that are operationally insightful. An advanced cognitive user interface provides seamless access to the data, reports and results of the analysis, using EPC domain-sensitive natural language conversational interface. The underlying domain understanding is used to guide project diagnostics and provide natural language summaries based on the reports, with data visualization techniques to ease its quick consumption and understanding.

These tools assess the status of a project by:

• Predicting issues such as rising costs or schedule delays based on historical trends and patterns

• Gaining earlier insights from many sets of complex factors across project execution

• Identifying the root causes of issues and the potential impacts of changes as input to the decision-making process including estimate analysis, forecast evaluation, project risk assessment and critical path analysis.

The company plans to further develop and expand EPHD and MD/SA using analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities from IBM Watson and integrate them into its processes.

Leslie Lindgren, Fluor’s vice president of Information Management, said: “Besides the work Fluor was already doing on predictive maintenance and construction sequencing, five years ago we began investing in predictive analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities to further evaluate performance and determine critical project outcomes as a part of our data-centric journey.”

“We will be using these innovations on select large and megaprojects to quickly discover trends, patterns and meaning in our structured and unstructured data that deliver competitive advantage through the digital transformation of data into critical information with significant benefits to our clients, other stakeholders and our company.”

Source:seawanderer

OGIC allocate support for digital development

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The Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) is providing support to three new projects investigating use of digitalization to improve efficiency and costs.

Three companies are collaborating Robert Gordon University’s (RGU) School of Computing Science and Digital Media on digital transformation of the oilfield.

DNV GL is developing an interactive program to extract and processing information from images of piping and instrumentation diagrams and other engineering drawings. The aim is to speed up the compilation of data for use in various applications.

Phase one of the project was completed with support from The Data Lab, while OGIC is providing the main support for phase two, under which DNV GL and RGU plan to build on the methods and algorithms already developed.

ComplyAnts is working on an automated system to manage the compliance process. RGU will employ AI to develop a system to manage the end-to-end compliance process, with a view to deliver a fully functional prototype within 12 months.

Finally, software specialist IDS is developing a data-driven tool to predict task durations, associated risk and NPT.

This is phase two of the project – phase one, supported by The Data Lab, involved the creation of a natural language processing library that classifies engineering terms within a daily report, and then maps them to allow benchmarking and data analysis.

According to OGIC, this should reduce the amount of time engineers spend on working with offset data.

Source:seawanderer

Samsung Heavy in talks to resolve Nigeria

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The Nigerian arm of Samsung Heavy Industries is in talks to resolve a court action launched by an industrial zone in the west African country where the company has been building a floating oil platform for Total, Samsung Heavy said on Friday.

“We are in discussions to iron out any misunderstanding or issues raised between the parties,” a Samsung spokesperson said in a statement sent to Reuters on Friday.

“We are yet to come to the resolution or conclusion but we hope to resolve amicably for our further businesses together.”

The LADOL sustainable industrial free zone refused to renew Samsung’s sublease to use a shipyard and filed a court action last week, accusing the company of breaching the terms of their agreement.

LADOL’s allegations included that Samsung breached the conditions of service for Nigerian workers, and violated both customs and immigration procedures.

Responding to Samsung’s statement, LADOL said it also hoped for an amicable resolution to the dispute, but added: “Failure to maintain the conditions and requirements for operating in the Free Zone will not be tolerated.”

Samsung Heavy Industries, one of the world’s largest shipbuilders, says that through its joint venture with LADOL it has invested $300 million to help build a floating oil platform for Total’s Egina oil field.

Total describes the field as one of its most ambitious ultra-deep offshore projects. The project is expected to produce an estimated 200,000 barrels of oil per day, representing about 10 percent of Nigeria’s total capacity.

Source:seawanderer

La Spezia Port in partnership

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La Spezia Port in partnership with Contship Italia Group visited New York to showcase their joint private and public investment totaling US$ 381 million. The Port Authority Secretary General told an invited audience “we are committed together with our concessionaries to expand the port and grow the export market share to New York and the USA”. Contship Italia Group achieved a “9% year-on-year volume growth from 2016 to 2017 for volumes La Spezia Container Terminal and New York”.

Today, at the Italian Trade Agency the Secretary General of the Port Authority, Francesco Di Sarcina, and Contship Italia’s Group Marketing and Communication Director, Daniele Testi, in the presence of the General Consul of Italy in New York, Minister Francesco Genuardi and the ICE Director in New York and USA ICR network coordinator, Mr. Maurizio Forte, showcased the potential of the La Spezia port call to support its rail connectivity and export growth potential to the USA.

The Port Authority and Contship Italia Group team, including Peter Hill, Group Business Development Director, Nicolò Marrali, Hannibal S.p.A. Sales Manager and Monica Fiorini, Marketing and Promotion Director of the Port Authority, highlighted to an audience of international operators such as carriers, freight forwarders and importers on the strategic role that ports and intermodal corridors can play within the logistics supply-chain, for increasing the competitiveness of ‘Made in Italy’ products and allowing faster access to markets in Southern Europe. These new gateway corridors can help improve the risk-management within the international supply-chain, offering a viable alternative to the traditional Northern European routes.

“The New York stop was added to the roadmap as it is ranks as the first port in terms of exchange volume with La Spezia, servicing the main production areas of North East and Central Italy served by a network of high-frequency intermodal connections (Milano, Padova, Reggio Emilia, Verona, etc.). Between 2016 and 2017, volumes exchanged between La Spezia and New York have grown by 9% and this trend is continuing for the first eight months of 2018 where import/export volumes reached 43,000 TEUs” – explained Daniele Testi.

“The La Spezia Port is the second gateway in Italy ranked by the number of handled containers, with a rail share in excess of 30%, three times the average of other Italian ports. It is the first port in Italy with a consistent private investment. We have announced an investment totaling US$ 381 million made up of both private and public equity, that will allow the port to expand its area by 25%. Given such investments and with the support of shippers and exporters in Italy we are confident that volumes between both the USA and Canada will benefit from the competitive services not only to Italy, but also to Southern and Central Europe. The next 24 months we will be busy, working with our concessionaries, to grow export volumes to the USA and New York in particular through La Spezia port” added Francesco Di Sarcina.

The new investment is divided in the following way: US$219 million (private equity) plus US$12 million (public equity) for new port infrastructure plus; US$12 million (private equity) and US$87 million (public equity) for new rail tracks, rail infrastructure and roads and finally US$52 million (public equity) covering planned port renewal and dredging activities.

Private and public sectors unite in the mission to promote an integrated intermodal port and transport system, leveraging the “La Spezia System”, made up of operators with the expertise in both the transport and customs sector, which allows the port and the container terminal to position itself among the top performers in international rankings.

The roadshow, which started September 10th also included a meeting with The New York-New Jersey Port Authority and Italy-USA focused trade operators and will continue for the Contship Italia team in Toronto, Canada.

Source:seawanderer

Final turbine touchdown at Merkur

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The final GE Haliade 160-6MW turbine has been installed at the 396MW Merkur offshore wind farm off the coast of Germany. Installation of the 66 units was completed using seafox 5.

The nacelles were produced in Saint-Nazaire (France) by GE Renewable Energy, the blades were made in Castellon (Spain) by LM Wind Power whilst the towers were manufactured in Germany and China. Further to the delivery of the turbines, GE Renewable Energy is also responsible for the servicing of the turbines for up to 10 years.

The turbines were mounted on monopile foundations which were fabricated by Steelwind, EEW and the Windar/Idesa joint venture. Installation was carried out by GeoSea using Innnovation. Pre-assembly and construction was executed from Eemshaven (Netherlands).

Merkur is a joint venture owned by funds managed and/or advised by Partners Group (50%), Infrared (25%), DEME (12.5%), and Coriolis (12.5%), which is a joint venture of GE and L’Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie (“ADEME”) acting in the name and on behalf of the French State.

The project is located about 35km north of the island of Borkum in the German North Sea. Once commissioned, the offshore wind farm is expected to generate enough green energy to supply approximately 500,000 households per year. It is also the largest German project to finish construction.

Source:seawanderer

Fuse lit on Baltic Eagle bomb hunt

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Fugro has started an unexploded ordnance survey at the site of Iberdrola's consented 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea.

Once any UXO has been cleared from the site, Fugro will carry out a geotechnical seabed investigation and borehole drilling.

The scope of the €10m contract also includes a programme of standard and advanced laboratory testing, Fugro said.

Fieldwork is scheduled to run until February next year, with the vessels Fugro Pioneer (pictured) and Fugro Scout on the job. Fugro will also deploy the Geobor-S piggy back drilling system.

Fugro project manager Erik Vogt said: “Our drilling set-up ensures that we deliver data of the highest quality to Iberdrola and obtain it in a safe manner.”

“Starting with the Fugro Pioneer we’ll clear the sites of any UXO risks efficiently and assure timely commencement of the geotechnical operations.”

The data generated during the campaign will be used to design the foundations for the wind turbines and offshore substation, which will be installed in water depths of up to 45 metres.

Baltic Eagle will cover an area of 35 square kilometres, some 30km off the coast of the German island of Rugen.

Iberdrola already operates the 350MW Wikinger wind farm in the Baltic Sea and won the capacity rights for the 476MW Baltic Eagle and 10MW Wikinger Sud projects in the second offshore wind power tender in Germany earlier this year.

Source:seawanderer

Module carrier designed for the shallow water

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Sunkar, the third and final multifunctional module carrier vessel (MCV) built by Vard for Kazmortransflot, has now been delivered.

It joins sister ships Barys and Berkut, which were delivered in in 2017.

The three vessels were built to Vard’s 9 28 design and their draft makes them well suited to operate in the shallow waters of the northern Caspian Sea. Each vessel measures 113 m long by 21 m wide, with a draft of 4 m and a carrying capacity of 5,000 tonnes.

Fincantieri-owned offshore and specialised vessel builder Vard was contracted for the vessels in July 2016. Kazmortransflot, which is the National Sea Carrier of the Republic of Kazakhstan, operates the three vessels through a consortium led by Blue Water Shipping.

The three MCV’s were ordered with the intention of carrying 75 pipe-rack modules from the port of Kuryk to the installation site in the north of the Caspian Sea, where a Tengizchevroil generation plant is being constructed. When completed, the plant will increase the production capacity of the Tengiz oilfield, which is estimated to contain between 750M and 1,100M tonnes of recoverable oil.

Barys, Berkut and Sunkar were all built at Vard’s Braila shipyard in Romania.

Speaking at the time of the contract award, Vard chief executive and executive director Roy Reite said: “We are pleased to welcome Kazmortransflot as a new customer to Vard and look forward to the cooperation in this exciting project. Our shipyard in Braila has unique experience in building vessels for Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea, and this new contract further underlines our long-term commitment to the region.”

Source:seawanderer

Ports join on initiative to global warming

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The Port of Rotterdam Authority announced the launch of the World Ports Climate Action Program. In this initiative, the port authorities of Hamburg, Barcelona, Antwerp, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Vancouver and Rotterdam will work together on a number of projects that address the issue of global warming.

The World Ports Climate Action Program focuses on the following specific actions:

  • Increase efficiency of supply chains using digital tools;
  • Advance common and ambitious (public) policy approaches aimed at reducing emissions within larger geographic areas;
  • Accelerate development of in-port renewable power-2-ship solutions and other zero emission solutions;
  • Accelerate the development of commercially viable sustainable low-carbon fuels for maritime transport and infrastructure for electrification of ship propulsion systems;
  • Accelerate efforts to fully decarbonize cargo-handling facilities in our ports.

The Port Authority organisations called the shipping industry and other ports as well to join the commitment to deliver on the Paris Agreement and work together on actions that can provide measurable results.

To increase the impact of the program, the port authority network asked governments and regulators to adopt global policies for CO2 pricing and provide funding support to relevant R&D and pilot projects.

The participants in the World Ports Climate Action Program will cooperate with stakeholders inside and outside the maritime sector. As a first action, the partners will establish a work plan. They will use the World Ports Sustainability Program to communicate progress of this Climate Action program.

Allard Castelein stated:"The Paris Agreement has set a clear target: we need to limit global warming to well below 2°C. It is vital in this context to reduce the emissions generated by maritime transport."

Source:seawanderer

ThyssenKrupp Reorganizes its Shipbuilding

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On Friday, German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp announced that it is reorganizing its Marine Systems unit by placing it directly under the management of the corporate group.

The move is not unexpected, given the challenges facing the firm's shipbuilding division, and it could be the prelude to a sale. Previous ThyssenKrupp CEO Heinrich Hiesinger attempted to sell Marine Systems' submarine division in 2014, and in June, the firm was said to be considering the sale of its surface-ship division. Financial analysts and hedge fund investors have suggested that the firm could improve its overall structure by selling ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) to a competitor, like Naval Group of France. 

Marine Systems' former parent division, ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, will continue its primary line of business. "We have now undertaken the necessary steps to enable Industrial Solutions to concentrate entirely on plant construction," said Guido Kerkhoff, ThyssenKrupp AG's new interim CEO. 

ThyssenKrupp has already announced an effort to cut about 2,000 jobs within all segments of the Industrial Solutions unit, which has lost money for the past two years.

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) suffered a major setback in March when German procurement agency BAAINBw eliminated it from the bidding for the Deutche Marine's $4 billion MKS 180-class frigate contract. The agency cited a high price quote from TKMS and quality issues with a previous class of TKMS-built ships, the F-125-class frigates. TKMS and its subcontractors experienced significant delays and cost overruns during the F-125 program, and the German government returned the lead vessel in the class due to quality problems – the first time that this has occurred in the history of Germany's navy.  

TKMS has since re-entered the bidding for the new MKS 180-class, this time as a partner in a bid submitted by a competitor, German Naval Yards. 

Separately, TKMS also faces allegations of bribery related to the sale of three diesel-electric submarines to Israel. Early this month, Israeli prosecutors ordered the arrest of four highly-placed public officials in connection with the corruption case, including David Sharan, former chief of staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Source:seawanderer

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