Shipgaz No 4 by Henrik Bergqvist

Price EUR 7 No 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; June 5, 2009 www.shipgaz.com

Anchor handling on the North Sea:

Waiting for a weather window Officer labour market untouched

Grimaldi â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an A ragged beauty Italian conqueror An ST Army Tug with the

Despite alarming headlines on lay-offs and lay-ups, ship officers in the Nordic countries keep their employments, according to a Shipgaz survey. page 50

Despite the strong traditions of the family, Dr Emanuele Grimaldi has never taken his position in the Group for granted. page 20

paint falling off in flakes caught the eye of Bengt Fredriksson. Now he is determined to make her better than new. page 78

THEY CALL US EXPERTS. GUESS wHY?

Adress: P O Box 370, SE-401 25 Göteborg, Sweden Phone: +46-31-62 95 70 Fax: +46-31-80 27 50 E-mail: info@shipgaz.com Internet: www.shipgaz.com ISSN 2000-169X Editor-in-Chief/Publisher Rolf P Nilsson +46-31-62 95 80, rolf@shipgaz.com

Marketing Director Lars Adrians +46-31-62 95 71 , lars@shipgaz.com

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Pierre Adolfsson, Göteborg, Sweden pierre@shipgaz.com Dag Bakka Bergen, Norway dag@shipgaz.com Fredrik Davidsson, Göteborg, Sweden fredrik@shipgaz.com

Bent Mikkelsen Ringkøbing, Denmark bent@shipgaz.com Pär-Henrik Sjöström Turku, Finland par-henrik@shipgaz.com Madli Vitismann Tallinn, Estonia madli@shipgaz.com ART DIRECTOR:

Olle Paulsson, olle@shipgaz.com PRINTED AT:

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Magnus Hägg, Göteborg, Sweden magnus@shipgaz.com

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A subscription to Shipgaz gives you eight issues per year and a weekly newsletter by e-mail for only EUR 80 per year (plus shipping). For further subscription details, visit www.shipgaz.com/subscribe or Phone: +46 770 457 114 E-mail: kundtjanst@titeldata.se Web: www.prenservice.se NEXT ISSUE

No 5 is published on September 4.

Price EUR 7 No 4 – June 5, 2009 www.shipgaz.com

Anchor handling on the North Sea:

Waiting for a weather window

Officer labour market untouched Despite alarming headlines on lay-offs and lay-ups, ship officers in the Nordic countries keep their employments, according to a Shipgaz survey. page 50

Grimaldi – an A ragged Italian conqueror An ST Army Tugbeauty with the

Despite the strong traditions of the family, Dr Emanuele Grimaldi has never taken his position in the Group for granted. page 20

paint falling off in flakes caught the eye of Bengt Fredriksson. Now he is determined to make her better than new. page 78

WAT E R P R O O F

FR O G DYK AB, LeR GO DsGAtAn 1 , 4 1 7 0 7 Gö teBOR G, sweD en. 2 4 ti m/ h seR vi ce 03 1 3 0 3 3 3 0 0 , FAx 03 1 3 0 3 33 99. www.f ro g.se

4 SHIPGAZ NO 4 2009

Intro FEATURE

Reality check WELCOME While working with this issue, we decided to check the reality behind our own headlines and made a short survey among shipping companies and organisations in the Nordic countries. Despite frequent reports of cut backs, many of which we give you in our newsletters, some groups on the labour market seem to be safe where they are: The Shipgaz survey indicates that ship officers keep their jobs, in both the sense that the employers keep their employees and the other way around.

»We decided to check the reality behind our own headlines«

Shipgaz signed on the AHTS Sea Lion, deployed on the North Sea, where long hours of waiting stretch between the often narrow windows in time when the weather allows safe working conditions. The other feature of this issue tells the story of a truly dedicated engineer who has set his mind on doing a complete makeover on a US Army ST (Small Tug) built in 1944. The paint is literally falling off all over the ship and someone stole the wooden steering wheel, but the hull is sound and the original Atlas Imperial diesel engine started when it was tested. The owner Bengt Fredriksson won’t have any trouble filling his days. In the Retro section, you can read the story of the US Army STs’ role in the Allied landing in Normandy in 1944.

Summer is approaching at a nice and steady pace. When the next issue of Shipgaz reaches you, summer will have passed right by. So until September, enjoy a rich Shipgaz No 4. ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Anna Lundberg anna.lundberg@shipgaz.com

PORTRAIT Axel Nielsen of Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling celebrates his 97th birthday this year, which makes him the oldest active person in Danish shipping. PAGE 54

REPORT The Stena E-MAXair concept may become the most energy efficient and environmentally sustainable tanker ever built. PAGE 90

REPORT The Bergen shipping community is now the biggest in Scandinavia. Internationally, Bergen is of quite some consequence in its niches. PAGE 70

NO 4 2009 SHIPGAZ 5

Intro Work on the anchor handling tug supply ship Sea Lion is a lot about waiting for the right weather. When a weather window opens, the action begins. PAGE 28

»Thank the crisis for easing the pressure on the recruitment situation« EDITORIAL PAGE 7

In this issue 18

To work we must rest

20 Grimaldi – an Italian conqueror 28 Waiting for a weather window 48 Coastal shipping behind large part of acid rain 50 No crisis for ship officers 54 The old hand of Danish shipping 58 Safety training to end in Turku 60 Latest attraction on the Baltic 68 A convention at last 70 Bergen: Looking out at sea 76 No luck in Lithuanian court for Yalta crew 78 A dear hobby 90 Floating on air 103 Successful sisterhood of 61 110 The tugs that enabled the landing

Regular sections 7

Editorial

Review

Market Review

Spotlight

20 Portrait 60 Newcomer UPDATE The decision to close down the safety training at Airisto Center for better utilisation of the resources has met some scepticism. PAGE 58

NEWCOMER Strong expectations of growth on the Tallinn–Mariehamn–Stockholm route follows in the wake of Tallink’s newbuilding, the Baltic Queen. PAGE 60

98 Fleet Review 94 Technical Review 103 Retro

Looking for a challenge

Chief Officer, DFDS Tor line

NO 4 2009 SHIPGAZ 7

Editor-In-Chief Rolf P Nilsson rolf@shipgaz.com

Editorial

Pause for breath before the upturn »Thanks to vessels lying idle or in lay-up, increased scrapping and cancellations of newbuilding orders, demand for crews has decreased«

ne can argue that the financial crisis and the world economic turmoil in one aspect actually is the best that could happen for international shipping. Until the slump, shipowners and managers had to constantly find new and creative ways – some good and others not so good – to man their vessels. To fill the ranks, junior officers were rushed through promotions to senior officer positions. Officers were working longer hours and were not relieved when they were supposed to. Officer poaching became a norm with employers outbidding each other to attract experienced officers.

For those unfortunate seafarers that have been made redundant it is obviously a tragedy, but for shipping as an industry it was probably necessary, as it was heading toward an unsustainable situation with a shortage of skilled seafarers and an increasing fatigue problem that could jeopardise maritime safety, risk peoples’ lives and the marine environment and the service quality. The decreased demand for maritime transport has eased the pressure on a recruitment situation that could have become disastrous if the world merchant fleet had kept growing in the same pace as during boom times. Thanks to vessels lying idle or in lay-up, increased scrapping and cancellations of newbuilding orders, demand for crews has decreased. This does not mean that the problem has gone away. The current recession should just be seen as a pause for breath and a chance for the shipping community to find solutions and to address the problem in a sustainable fashion. A short survey presented in this issue of Shipgaz indicates that there is a long-term view on crewing matters within the Nordic shipowning industry. Despite the economic downturn, companies tend to retain at least their officers. Another positive sign for the future is that Nordic maritime schools report high numbers of applicants to officer educations. A tricky planning problem is that it takes some three years from the launch of a newbuild-

ing project until a vessel is delivered, but it takes at least a decade for a youngster to be educated, trained and to receive the proper experience to shoulder the responsibilities of a senior officer. This is well known by shipowners who are in this business long-term and with the main ambition to carry trade between nations and continents. It is less known (in some cases you could ask yourself if at all) by actors ordering ships with a focus on the quarterly report and with the sole ambition in good times to benefit from high rates and ship values to maximise profits and share dividends. The last category is to a large extent responsible for today’s situation in which we face a newbuilding tsunami that despite cancellations and delays to date still measures almost 9,000 vessels or half an existing world fleet measured in deadweight. A report by Drewry Shipping Consultants last year estimated the shortfall of officers to 34,000 then, and predicted this to rise to almost 84,000 by 2012.

Where it will land in reality remains to be seen, but all indicators point to a severe shortage situation if nothing is done to improve recruitment, increase training facilities and, not least, to retain experienced officers. The latter require improved working conditions including stable and attractive relief systems. Also society must contribute. Criminalisation of seafarers and bad treatment in ports are in no way helpful to keep existing seafarers at sea or to attract new entrants to seafaring careers. After a historically long and high shipping boom, many shipowners have entered the downturn with healthy finances. Those who can and are in maritime transports for the long run, will use some of this to retain their seafarers for as long as possible. These companies know that they will be needed when the upturn comes.

Rolf P Nilsson, Editor-in-Chief

Forward, Midship & Astern CAPACITY ADJUSTMENTS Scrapping is on the rise with growing activity at the scrap yards. At the same time, data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry show that cancellations of newbuildings are on the rise. This is good news for the shipping industry otherwise facing a disastrous over-capacity situation.

PIRATES TO RETIRE? Media reports of a group or groups of Somali pirates having decided to leave the piracy business could be good news – or just rumours. Irrespective of which, piracy is likely to continue to be a threat to the world’s seafarers as long as anarchy prevails in the state of Somalia.

BALTIC PORTS LAGGING BEHIND The cruise industry wants to stop discharge of sewage and wastewater in the Baltic Sea. The problem is that many cruise ports, while enjoying the revenues brought by the cruise ships from port dues and passenger spendings, are still dragging their feet when it comes to establishing reception facilities.

8 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Review Photo: klara magnusson

Photo: wrist group

labour Wärtsilä is adjusting its Ship Power business to reflect the current market situation by reducing the number of jobs by 400 to 450 persons, of which approximately 80 are in Finland. During the first four months of the year, Ship Power’s order intake fell 86 per cent to EUR 135 million compared to the corresponding period a year earlier. Wärtsilä expects annual savings of approximately EUR 30 million when the effect of the measures initiated will take full effect by the end of 2010.

373

The A P Møller-Mærsk Group reports a net loss of USD 373 million for the first quarter of 2009 compared to a net profit of USD 1,050 million in the same period in 2008.

Photo: Johan Bernodt/Swedish Maritime administration

Photo: wärtsilä

Wärtsilä cuts back

The Swedish Shipowners’ Association has together with Ports of Sweden and the Swedish Maritime Administration signed an agreement to promote cold ironing.

EU report sceptical towards cold ironing environment To connect ships to the land based electric grid – cold ironing – demands large investments, it is technically complicated and it gives only limited environmental benefits in the form of greenhouse gasses reduction. This is stated in a preliminary report ordered by the EU Commission. Even if landbased electricity means reduction of emissions from the vessels engines, the electricity must be produced elsewhere. “This is all correct but it does not consider the large positive environmental and health effects cold ironing brings in the form of reduced emissions of particles and reduced noise in the ports”, says Carl Carlsson at the Swedish Shipowners’ Association, which together with Ports of Sweden and the Swedish Maritime Administration has signed an

agreement to promote cold ironing and to ask the Swedish government to remove tax for land based electricity to ships. According to professor Erik Fridell at consultant company IVL, emissions in a scenario where 20 per cent of the bunker used by vessels alongside in Sweden was replaced by electricity from land, it would reduce emissions with 76 tons of SOx, 830 tons of NOx, 8.4 tons of particles and 42,000 tons of CO2 annually if “green” electricity was used. Benefits for the society would be large since if the taxes were to be eleviated in the same scenario, tax income would be reduced by SEK 17 million while society’s costs caused by SOx, NOx would be reduced by SEK 75 million and another 6 to 60 million SEK caused by CO2.

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 9

Review

The editor of the Review section is Pierre Adolfsson, contact him at pierre@shipgaz.com

Photo: pierre adolfsson

Photo: swedish armed forces

Photo review

1. Wrist Group has made its fourth acquisition in six months by acquiring the Spanish ship chandler Huqui-7 (HQ7). 2. Is it raining? The cook on the cruise ship Funchal checks the skies in Frihamnen, Göteborg. 3. The Swedish Marine inaugurated its mission in the Gulf of Aden on June 15. Ten days later it captured seven pirates. 4. Dfds Tor Line will lengthen three roros in the summer at Motorenwerke in Bremerhaven. The first vessel will be the Tor Ficaria, its capacity will increase by 1,000 lane metres.

Photo: wikipedia commons

Photo: bent mikkelsen

UN doubts dry bulk index

Termination of Danish icebreaker service? infrastructure Danske Havne, the association of Danish ports, has recommended that the state-owned icebreaker service be terminated as soon as possible. “It is an old-fashioned service that has become increasingly outdated as the icebreakers get older and older. We recommend that the use of icebreakers in the future be paid individually and on request by each ship if needed”, says Tom Elmer Christensen, Director of Danish Ports.

“Today, most ships have such powerful engines that special icebreakers are not usually needed”. “There is one hot issue, the funds of DKK 130 million which has been accumulated since the last ice campaign in Danish wa-

ters. This money has been paid by the users in Danish ports since 1996, which was the latest year with icebreakers working. I guess that could be an issue for discussion”, says Tom Elmer Christensen. The fleet of Danish state-owned icebreakers consists of three units: the Thor bjørn, built in 1980, the Isbjørn, built in 1966 and the Danbjørn, built in 1965. The two older units have worked in Danish waters during seven ice seasons since their delivery in 1965/1966. In the winter of 2006 the Danbjørn was chartered to Sweden. The icebreakers are stationed at the naval base in Frederikshavn. The navy is responsible for crewing the ships during season.

trade For a long time, the Baltic Exchange freight market index Baltic Dry Index, BDI, has been seen by many as one of the best indicators of where the world economy is heading, by showing how the demand for raw materials is developing. This has now been questioned by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In its recent newsletter, UNCTAD says that BDI was an excellent indicator during the period 1985–2002, but that may not be the case today as it not only reflects transport demand, but increasingly also the supply of transport capacity. This increases the fluctuations in the index. According to UNCTAD, BDI appears to be “increasingly influenced by market players who are not themselves providers or users of shipping capacity”. The UN agency points to the Future Freight Agreement (FFA) market. This was half the actual physical trade in 2005. In 2008, it had grown to ten per cent more than the volume of physical trade.

10 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Review Photo: bent mikkelsen

Photo: ngo platform on shipbreaking

The NGO Platform on Shipbreaking on behalf of over 100 organizations criticises the convention.

Scrapping convention adopted by IMO law An IMO diplomatic conference has adopted the International Convention on Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. The convention has been heavily criticised by several lobby organisations for not regulating ship recycling far enough by, for instance, not including a ban on beaching of vessels for scrapping.

The convention will come into force 24 months after at least 15 nations with a combined fleet of more than 40 per cent of the world merchant fleet and with a combined maximum ship recycling volume of at least three per cent have ratified it. Historically, it has taken around five years before an IMO convention has come into force after final ratification. IMO has lowered its target to three years. According to observers, this convention could come into force some time during between 2013 and 2016.

Vote now shipgaz poll A Maersk Alabama officer thinks that the highest officers on board a ship in piracy waters should be armed and get arms training. Should they be armed?

53% Yes. 43% I don’t know. 4% No. Please visit our website at www.shipgaz.com, and take part in our web polls.

Fredericia Shipyard moves to Lindø business In a pro-active manoeuvre, Fredericia Skibsværft A/S has clarified the uncertain future for the business. The shipyard owner, Thomas Andersen, has signed a contract for the lease of 100,000 square metres of the premises of Odense Steel Shipyard in Odense. He will move the shipyard from Fredericia to Odense and invest nearly DKK 345 million in a new repair facility with larger docks than it was possible to have in Fredericia. He will also move the company with the highest number of employees in Fredericia to another town.

“We won – they lost”, said Thomas Andersen to his staff at the meeting when the decision to move the shipyard was announced. “I need your support to make this happen and I hope that together we can continue to serve our customers in the future”, said Thomas Andersen. The land in Odense is owned by Odense Steel Shipyard and is next to Odense Havne Terminal, owned by Port of Odense, which has clear rules for not having housing estates in port areas. This indicates that there will be no problems with housing developers in the foreseeable future. When Fredericia Shipyard has moved to Odense/Lindø in two steps, starting at the beginning of 2011 and finally in 2012, the shipyard will change its name to Fayard (its current web address). The yard will also have enlarged its facilities using the two original graving docks

that were built in 1959. The two docks are capable of accommodating ships of up to 280 metres in length and with a beam of up to 42 metres. The area in Odense does not have the same water depths as in Fredericia, only seven metres. “No problem”, says Thomas Andersen. “The shipyard managed to sail the Emma Mærsk from this quay to the sea and therefore it can be done the opposite way as well.” In addition, a third graving dock capable of accommodating ships up to 140 metres will be built. “The larger docks will give us a good increase in size, which is almost in step with most of our customers’ increasingly large tonnage”, says Thomas Andersen. Fayard will build complete new facilities for workshops, staff and administration. The current facilities for staff and administration in Fredericia were built in 2000. The old building will be sold. The contract with Odense Steel Shipyard comes in handy as the shipyard earlier this year decided to downsize the shipbuilding facilities under its own colours and instead try establishing an industrial park for other companies. Fredericia Shipyard and Odense Steel Shipyard have done a lot of business with each other over the years. The yard in Odense has only done three repair jobs in the 50 years it has been active in its current location. In 2006, Fredericia Shipyard hired one of the graving docks to carry out the repairs of the largest floating dock in the Fredericia facilities.

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12 Shipgaz no 4 2009

Review Photo: uS naVY

Photo: haPag-lloYd cruiSeS

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is a member of ECC and arranges cruises in the Baltic Sea.

Cruise ships to ﬁght pollution environment The European Cruise Council, that organises all major cruise operators with vessels in European waters, has decided to reduce discharge of sewage and wastewater in the Baltic Sea. The about 60 large cruise vessels that operates in the Baltic Sea each year is estimated to discharge some 113 tons of nitrogen and 38 tons of phosphorus that contributes to eutrophication.

A visit, board, search, and seizure team from the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) patrols the Gulf of Aden near a suspected pirate vessel.

Media piracy reports target of criticism

accordinG to eec, the cruise vessels only contributes with a small fraction of the total discharges, about 0.006 per cent of nitrogen and 0.045 per cent of phosphorus, but says in a statement that the cruise industry are committed to play their part in protecting the sensitive sea. A condition is that there are adequate reception facilities in the cruise ports, and today only a few ports can receive the sewage and waste water. ECC also demands that reception is based on the “no special fee” system with costs included in the port fees. Photo: helena hedStrÖM

piracy The EU Navfor Somalia – Operation Atalanta criticises international media reports claiming that piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin are being coordinated by “well-placed advisers” in London. “The articles also alleged that these advisers were able to provide such a coordination service given their access to a ‘European Military intelligence Report’. Such allegations have no substance and there is no such report. As you would expect, intelligence and information security is treated extremely seriously and there are a number of measures in place to ensure that information which may be of use to pirates, or those who support their acts, is not available”, the EU Navfor Somalia states at its Security Centre web site.

imb, the international Chamber of Shipping, Intertanko and Bimco has also raised criticism to media reports claiming that

Correction

In the previous issue of Shipgaz, the photographer of four of the pictures in the feature on Svalbard was presented incorrectly. Helena Hedström, able seaman on the M/S Stockholm, is the photographer behind the feature’s first photo of a polar bear, of the bird with the fish in the beak, of the whale and of the tourists with cameras in a small boat. We regret the mistake.

pirates off the Somali coast target vessels in advance, by making use of a network of international contacts. the orGanisations dismiss the information as spurious. “Such unfounded speculation is mischievous and unhelpful. It unjustly detracts from the good work done so far by the international naval forces and other agencies and diverts attention from the important task of providing a practical response to the difficult challenges in the region”, IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan says in a comment. According to IMB, pirates target vessels that are easy to board and in their vicinity. The bureau points out that vessels attacked so far have included a range of vessel types from fishing boats and coastal dhows to bulkers and tankers.

»I have been stressed and overworked, lost weight and am not sleeping well at night, so therefore it was time to change my life« Søren Thorup Sørensen on why he resigns as the A P Møller-Mærsk Chief Financial Officer.

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 13

Review Photo: henring shipping

Photo: european parliament

New head for Danish owners The European Parliament.

Stiff terms for environment offenders at sea law More effective measures to combat pollution at sea through stricter legal penalties will be implemented following the adoption by the European Parliament of a directive which provides for criminal sanctions for polluters. According to the directive, ship-source discharges of polluting substances shall be regarded as criminal offences if they are committed with intent, recklessly or with serious negligence and result in serious deterioration of the quality of the water. Less serious cases of illicit ship-source discharges of polluting substances that do not cause a deterioration of the quality of water need not be considered as criminal offences. Such discharges shall be referred to as “minor cases”. But repeated minor discharg-

es made with intent, recklessly, or due to serious negligence must be considered criminal offences and punished with effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties. The aim of the MEPs is to deter the responsible parties in sea transport who would rather pollute because paying an administrative fine costs less than obeying the law. The directive cannot determine the type or exact level of penalties, this being a matter for the Member States. The draft directive was brought forward following a 2005 ruling of the Court of Justice which stated that the European Community does have the power to ask its Member States to apply criminal law penalties in the transport industry.

Same make makes sense

business The Danish Shipowners’ Association (Danmarks Rederiforening) elected a new chairman at its annual general meeting yesterday. The new chairman is Lars Vang Christensen, CEO of Herning Shipping. He replaces Torben Janholt from J. Lauritzen, who continues as a member of the board. In addition, Carsten Mortensen, CEO of D/S Norden, was elected as deputy chairman. Two members of the board resigned. They were Knud Pontoppidan, a board member for 16 years, who was replaced by the shipowner Søren Skou from A P Møller-Mærsk and the former CEO of Torm, Klaus Kjærulff, who was replaced by the present CEO of Torm, Mikael Skov.

95 %

Orders placed at Chinese yards fell 95 per cent during the first four months of 2009, according to Bloomberg, quoting the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information. Orders from January to April dropped to 990,000 dwt.

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14 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Review Photo: maersk line

Photo: european commission

Russian protectionism policy The maritime department of the Russian Transport Ministry wants to replace the Norwegian barge UR-91 with a Russian barge for the transportation of two drilling rig modules to the Prirazlomnayas oil field. The department has urged shipowners to consider possibilities. The Ministry also wants to replace the vessel Transshelf, which is engaged in the transportation of nuclear submarines from a shipyard in Archangelsk with a Russian-flagged vessel.

During the Far East Shipbuilding Conference, the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that it is unacceptable to order vessels and drill rigs from foreign shipyards when it is possible to build them in Russia. According to Putin, Russian owners have ordered ice-classed tankers in South Korea, although it would have been cheaper to build them in Russia. Vladimir Putin had demanded that Russian shipyards are given priority and suggests that orders should be co-ordinated by the Transport Ministry.

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Maersk Line abandons Göteborg business Maersk Line merged several of its business areas and set up a regional office for the whole of Northern Europe with the head office in Göteborg – now, the company has changed its mind and will move the head office for the region to Copenhagen. The present four regions will be scaled back to two. ”This is a part of our ongoing work on developing Maersk Line. For our employees, the decision means that they will have a greater say and participate more. This will also benefit our customers”, says Tomas Dyrbye, Regional Manager for Maersk Line Northern Europe.

As a result of the decision, the personnel in Göteborg will be reduced from 170 to 160 persons. This means that in the last 15–17 months, the company has laid off 110 people in Göteborg. During this period of time, Maersk Line

has now laid off around 4,000 employees at a global level. The office for Northern Europe will be merged with the office for Central Europe. The new large region will consist of the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Russia, Finland, the Baltic States, Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, the Benelux countries and France. The region will be headed by Michael Deleuran, who has most recently been responsible for Maersk Network & Products. Tomas Dyrbye will take up the post of MD of Maersk’s subsidiary Safmarine Container Line BV with head office in Antwerp in Belgium. The office for southern Europe, with head office in Genoa, covers the remaining parts of Europe plus Mediterranean Africa and parts of the Middle East.

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16 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Market Review

Light at the end of the tunnel Analysis Where is world trading heading? Signs are sprawling but with positive indicators pointing at a not too distant future. The US Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) shot upwards by one per cent in April, with seven indicators pointing to north, including stock prices, interest rate spread, consumer expectations, claims for unemployment insurance, average weekly manufacturing hours, supplier deliveries, and new orders for consumer goods and materials.

»Actions in one country may immediately have consequences for another on the other side of the world« strongest development in one and a half year. The financial crisis in the US continues however as the Treasury and Federal Reserve expects US Banks to find another USD 75 billion somewhere. Some observers say that by hanging on

This was the first time in seven months that arrows pointed upwards, and the

to the positive signs, USA might step down from the awareness needed to face some of the fundamental problems that must be addressed before the world’s still most important economy can develop sustaintiable. In China, the US 585 billion-stimulus package seems to have made the wheels start turning again. The decline in exports has stalled and the fall in export value has decreased substantially in March compared to February. National investments is also said to have increased substantially. Rising oil prices is also a significant indicator of an improved world economy. Chinese oil demand has been a major factor

The spot market for supply vessels stabilizes Offshore The oil price is keeping up reasonably well, but the North Sea market appears to be slowing under an increasing fleet and more competition. With prospects for lower rates charterers appears ready to utilize the market rather than declare options on term charters, Hagland Offshore observes in its report for April. Since the beginning of April the spot market for supply vessels in the North Sea has stabilized around GBP 10,000–12,000 for large anchorhandlers and 6,000–8,000 for platform vessels. By the latest count there are 30 anchor

handlers and 47 platform vessels operating in the North Sea spot market. The reason is so far not so much less activity as an oversupply of vessels. Outside the North Sea, business is keeping well up in Brazil, West Africa and Asia with term charters and new requirements. The newbuilding market has been characterized by cancellations and reshuffling of contracts as owners have had to find new yards for fitting out steel hulls. STX Norway Offshore is to build three icebreaking tugs for JSC Circle Marine Invest for

GBP 1,000 200

150

100

some term charters and extensions Charterer

Vessel

Type

Operation

Gaz de France

Siem Danis

psv

1 well support Ensco 101

Centrica

Supply Express

psv

1 well support Energy Enhancer

StatoilHydro

Dina Supplier

psv

7 months firm + 5 mo opt + d/d 14

Allseas

Troms Castor

psv

70 days pipehaul, beg May

Allseas

Toisa Independent

psv

70 days pipehaul, beg May

StatoilHydro

Olympic promoter

psv

7 months firm + 5 mo opt

Saipem

Thorax

aht

120 days firm + d/d 30, beg May

Apache

Acadian Sea

psv

1 year firm

AGR

Sea Tiger

ahts

1 well + opt, support Ocean Guardian

Some worldwide term fixtures 50

Week

20 25 30 35 40 45 50 1 5

10 15

Charterer

Vessel

Type

Operation

IEOC

Drive Mahone

ahts

26 months support Scarabeo 4, Egypt

Noble Energy

Maersk Trimmer

ahts

support Atwood Hunter, Mediterranean

Total

Havila Neptune

ahts

4 months firm + 4x1 mo opt, Libya

Noble Energy

Highland Endurance

ahts

3 months, beg April, Mediterranean

Total

Sea Bear

ahts

1+1 well support Wilforce, Libya

Source: Shipgaz Bergen, MAY 2009

Source: Shipgaz Bergen, may 8, 2009

Offshore earnings

operation in the Caspian Sea. The vessels will be built by STX Tulcea for delivery in 2010/11. The ownership deadlock in Rem Offshore ASA has now been resolved as Solstad Offshore, holding 48.7 per cent, is to take over 8 vessels and a newbuilding contract. The secondhand transactions have been reported lately. Sical Torino, as VS470 platform vessels built in 2006 has been sold by its owner Sical Logistics, to TMM of Mexico at USD 27 million. An older platform vessel, Highland Spirit from 1986 has been sold by Gulf Offshore to Seamar Shipping at USD 5.5 million. Dag Bakka jr

no 4 2009 Shipgaz 17

Market Review during the last years. According to Gibson, the refinery output rose by six per cent in April on a y-o-y basis. The Chinese customs claim that imports reached 3.93 million barrels per day, and this is the second highest monthly import volume ever noted. At the same time, International Energy Agency is lowering its expectations for global demand by another 200,000 barrels per day to 83.2 million barrels a year.

tectionist actions that might have shortsighted gains locally will at the end just be contra-productive.

Demand for dry bulkers upwards

eDiTOr-in-Chief

Rolf P Nilsson rolf@shipgaz.com Source: WeBerSeaS

TAnker newBUilDing DeliVeries TYPE

is The PessimisT or the optimist right? The answer is that no one knows for sure. This is a new crisis in a world that never has been so intraconnected as today. Actions in one country may immediately have consequences for another on the other side of the world.This can be good or bad. Cooperation and common actions will have impact. Pro-

2009

2010

2011

ULCC/VLCC

Suezmax

Aframax

Panamax

179

186

104

0–35k dwt

225

166

T/C earnings are increasing shOrTseA & Dry Definitively there is positive momentum in the market with increased volume of cargo in all areas this week. Still rates are far below break-even 1,500 for most ships, but the reduced levels amount of idle time spent between cargoes combined with shorter ballast legs have 1,200 contributed to push T/C earnings higher this week. Th 900e scrap and steel markets in particular are showing clear signs of recovery with brisk activity both ex Baltic, ARAG and 600 Spain. 1,000 mt parcels of steels from Lower Baltic to Oslofjord has been covered region EUR 15–16 p/mt recently while 1000mt of 300 steel coils from 2 ports Span Med to Portugal obtained EUR 24.00 p/mt this week. In the 0 larger sizes 10,000 mt of steels from Poland 25 30 35 40 45 to Morocco was covered at EUR mid 20’s.

USD/ton 1,500

1,200

900

ACCOrDing TO mCQUilling Services, there are about 50 large tankers engaged in storage operations and another 70+ Suezmax or VLCC tanker newbuildings expected before the end of this year. We have seen daily earnings well below what is needed to cover expenses. At the time of writing, the market for tankers has also been disturbed by holidays in primarily the US and in London for Aframaxes. The result has been an almost quarterly reduction of daily earnings according to the Clarkson Aframax daily earnings estimate to below USD 17,000 per day.

In the agri product markets volume is up with rates sliding sideways. Brokers have been talking EUR 12 p/mt for 3,000 mt parcels of Soya meal from ARAG to WC Ireland without causing too much excitement among Mgo iFo 180 owners while 2,000 mt of meal 60’ from ARAG to Tallinn was fixed at EUR 10.50 p/mt this week. in The meDiTerrAneAn things are also slowly starting to move in the smaller sizes especially, but operators of larger units of 3,000 dwt + are still rather desperately looking for any sort of employment. A modern 3,500 tonner was this week fixed for a 1,500 mt parcel of pallets from SC Spain to Morocco at EUR 20,000 lump sum basis 5 total days Week load/disch. 50 1 5 10 15 20 geir jersTAD Source: norBroKer aS, MaY 8, 2009

Source: BunKerWorLD/norBroKer aS, MaY 22, 2009

mgO rOTTerDAm Cif PriCes

eArnings esTimATes

Past 12 months. EUR/day 6,000

5,000

4,000

weT & Dry Times are tough for large tanker owners, but with some ease recently. At the time of writing, the Clarkson VLCC average earning estimate has risen by 55 per cent to 16,318 per day, but with still all to much tonnage available to expect a sustainable improvement. Increased oil price will however ease the pressure for OPEC countries to decrease production, and this will benefit owners especially in front of the summer season. On the other hand in a longer perspective, there is a lot of new tonnage entering the market, newbuildings and existing vessels that have been hired for storage purposes.

DemAnD fOr Dry BUlk continue to rise, with the Clarkson average earnings estimate now well above USD 30,000 per day. According to Clarkson, this is however a time of uncertainty, with no one knowing if timprovement for owners will last. The Baltic Dry Index is continuing its rise towards and above the 3,000 points level and this has really triggered the second hand buyers. According to shipbrokers Webbers, there is a surge for panamaxes, supramaxes and handies built in the 90ies. Major players are the Chinese for its domestic services and, of course, the Greeks, and historically this indicates that today the market is on a rebound. rOlf P nilssOn BAlTiC Dry BUlk inDiCes

2,000 300 1,000 0

Week 25

50 1

6,000

5,000

Week 25

50 1

July ’08

End ’08

Mid May ’09

Clean Tanker index

1442

839

478

Dirty Tanker Index

1924

1252

473

Baltic Dry Index

3217

784

2544

1,250 DWT

1,750 DWT

3,500 DWT

6,500 DWT

2,500 DWT

Source: BaLTic eXchange

3,000 600

18 SHIPGAZ NO 4 2009

By Eddie Janson, eddie@shipgaz.com

Spotlight: Safety

To work we must rest twice about which company you are working for. On the other hand, I have heard this comment several times from people working in companies where I know that the shipowner wants to follow the rules. It is an old belief among many seafarers that they are making the shipowner a favour by bending the rules. By doing this, you can create problems for both yourself and your shipowner. If the vessel is involved in an accident, one of the first things that will be checked by investigators is the Record of rest.

Safety: Eddie Janson Captain Eddie Janson of MariTrain AB, instructor and consultant in maritime safety, points the spotlight at safety related matters in each issue.

ost of us have probably got stuck at an airport somewhere in the world, waiting for a flight that is delayed due to the airline crew not having had their hours of rest. We do not complain about this. On the contrary, we are quite happy that they will not fly with a crew that might fall asleep. But have you ever heard of a ship that is delayed due to rest hour regulations? The reason that we have rest hour regulations is very simple. A seafarer who does not get enough rest will become tired. A tired seafarer is an unsafe seafarer. A large number of collisions and groundings are caused by fatigue. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate states that 13 per cent of all groundings with Norwegian flagged vessels 2002–2007 were caused by the person on watch falling asleep.

During my courses, the subject ‘hours of rest’ is almost always cause for long discussions. I usually ask the students, of whom all are active seafarers, “How many of you have cheated with the rest hours records?” Almost all give the same answer: “Of course we have”.

When I ask why they break the rules, there are many different answers, but the two most common ones I list here. 1: “It is not possible to do the job without breaking the rules.”

»Most of the time it is possible to comply with the rules by better work planning« ILO C 180, either by itself or as included in the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, has been ratified by 25 countries. Examples of countries that have ratified it are Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Bahamas, Liberia, Panama, and the United Kingdom.

There are two regulatory bodies

Most of the time it is possible to comply with the rules by better work planning. If you for example know that you will have an arrival at 23.00, do not have the ABs to do any overtime work after dinner. If an engineer has an alarm at 04.00 in the morning, he shall not be back in the engine room at 08.00. If that is not possible there is not enough people on board, but if you submit monthly reports to the company that show that work is done within the rest hour limits, how should your company know that you need more people? 2: “The shipowner does not like rest hour records that do not comply with the regulations.” If this is the case, you should think

that have rules for minimum hours of rest: IMO and ILO. IMO has regulated the rest hours in STCW95. ILO have regulated them in C180 and in ILO Maritime Labour Convention 2006. The ILO Maritime Labour Convention is a convention where all previous conventions from ILO regarding maritime work are consolidated into one convention. The ILO Maritime Labour Convention 2006 includes ILO C180. The rules differ somewhat. Since the ILO conventions are the strictest, and because they are ratified by the biggest shipping nations in the world, this is the one to follow. The ILO C180 states that minimum hours of rest shall not be less than ten hours in any 24-hour period and 77 hours in any seven-day period. Hours of rest may be divided into no more than two periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in length, and the interval between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours.

PHOTO: PÄR-HENRIK SJÖSTRÖM

It may look like an easy task to calculate the hours, but I have seen many misunderstandings, made by seafarers as well as Port State and vetting inspectors. It is always the ‘worst’ case that counts. All periods shall be counted from the time of beginning of a work period. The same applies for the sevenday period. Most of you have a computer program that will do the calculations for you and give a warning if a seafarer does not get enough rest. But be careful with these programs; check if they are programmed to comply with STCW or ILO. Make sure you are following the rest hour regulations. There are good reasons for their existence.

2009-05-06

10.02

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Foto: Dan Ljungsvik

StenaBulk_DC_Shipgaz.pdf

Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 21

By Pär-Henrik Sjöström par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Emanuele Grimaldi

The Portrait

Grimaldi – an Italian conqueror Despite the strong traditions of the Grimaldi-family, Dr Grimaldi has never taken his position in the Group for granted. The times are difficult in shipping, but the Naples-based Grimaldi Group is doing extremely well. The only exception is Finnlines, which is now facing a strong cure under the firm Italian leadership. Dr Emanuele Grimaldi has personally taken the wheel for a transition time to set Finnlines on the right course again. In shipping circles the name Grimaldi is associated with admiration and respect. This multinational logistics group has been in the shipping business for more than 60 years, and today it is focusing on the maritime transport of cars, rolling cargo and containers as well as on carrying passengers.

Despite the huge extent of its activities, the Grimaldi Group is a genuine family business, today led by the brothers Emanuele and Gianluca Grimaldi. Their father Guido Grimaldi, now aged 92, is still the chairman of the Group. The Finance Director of the Group is Diego Pacella, who is also related to the family, as he is married to Emanuele’s and Gianluca’s sister. The family members are complemented by an international man-

agement team, based at the headquarters in Naples and at the subsidiaries in more than 20 countries around the world. Dr Emanuele Grimaldi is the Managing Director of Atlantica di Navigazione, which is one of the Group’s most important companies, focusing on ro-ro and car shipments. Under the leadership of Dr Emanuele Grimaldi, the company has for example initiated and developed the EuroMed Network concept, a ‘maritime conveyor-belt’ for shipments of any type of vehicles between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. The fleet operated by the Grimaldi Group consists of some 120 large combined ro-ro and car carriers, 87 of which are owned.

»The good people all speak the same language, no matter if they are in Finland, Sweden, Italy or Greece« Dr Emanuele Grimaldi was born in 1956. He has a Degree in Economics and Commerce from the University of Naples and a General Certificate of Education from the Military School of Nunziatella in Naples. He is Managing Director of Atlantica di Navigazione and temporary President and CEO of Finnlines.

When asked if there are any differences between the Scandinavian and the Italian way of running a company, Dr Emanuele Grimaldi emphasizes that success is not about geographical location, cultural differ-

ences or the form of ownership. “Generally speaking family and privately owned companies include more skill than state-owned companies. However, there are of course successful governmental companies, too, even if they are quite rare, and likewise there are also unsuccessful private companies. There is no standard recipe, but normally the most successful company is the one that is able to buy the other ones.”

Dr Grimaldi thinks that there is no standard solution for a good business. “My impression is that everywhere in the world there are professionals knowing their business, as well as incapable people. The good people all speak the same language, no matter if they are in Finland, Sweden, Italy or Greece.” In spite of the strong traditions of the Grimaldi-family, Dr Grimaldi has never taken his position in the Group for granted. “My father always said that if we are not better than the managers, we will not be given the responsibility to lead the company. This is also what we are teaching our children.”

22 Shipgaz No 4 2009

The Portrait Emanuele Grimaldi Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

The idea of leadership based upon competence is the cornerstone of all activities in the family-owned Group. “No doubt I have learnt a lot from my father and from our family tradition, but first of all I consider myself a manager. Apart from the heritage and the legacy, I have studied and worked hard for this position. I have been successful in achieving certain things because I am a good manager, not because I am a Grimaldi”, Dr Grimaldi points out.

For the time being Dr Emanuele Grimaldi has also temporarily taken over as the President and CEO for the subsidiary Finnlines Plc. This spring he has mostly spent in Finland, restructuring the organisation of Finnlines as a consequence of the poor economical performance. “The Grimaldi Group is among the most profitable shipping companies in the world. Despite the difficult times, the results of the Grimaldipart of the business were excellent for the first months of the year.” “In 2008 we generated the best re-

»I have been successful in achieving certain things because I am a good manager, not because I am a Grimaldi« The utilisation of the capacity of Finnlines’ ships is expected to improve from 50 per cent during last winter to the more acceptable 70 per cent as from June.

sult in the history of the company and during the first months of this year we have been doing even better than during the previous years. Because things are in such a good shape I have been able to spend so much time in Finland”, Dr Grimaldi explains. “I have been addressing the most urgent problems we have here in Finland now. The next stage, which has already been initiated, is to arrange meetings between the managers of the different departments on a group level.”

There have for example been many separate departments for procurement within Finnlines, but now the organisation is streamlined to reduce costs. Dr Grimaldi says that the goal is to achieve a certain economy of scale on the corporate group level. “All this leads to big savings as it

is a completely different thing to buy for a fleet of a hundred ships than for twenty ships. This is of course very interesting for Finnlines and should create added value.” The extent of Finnlines’ difficulties became public when Finnlines in March 2009 announced that the President and CEO of that time had resigned. Due to Finnlines’ difficulties, the company will most likely be integrated into the Grimaldi Group faster and perhaps also to a greater extent than was originally planned. However, Dr Grimaldi stresses that Finnlines will remain a Finnish company, with headquarters in Helsinki.

“The companies that we have bought are good ones, but of course some of them have had some problems, which we have addressed. In this particular case Finnlines’ employees have lots of skills, and there are some very good professional people in the management.” “But it is not a secret that some serious mistakes were made at the

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 23

Emanuele Grimaldi

The Portrait Photo: Fredrik Davidsson

»It is not a secret that some serious mistakes were made at the end of last year and the beginning of this year« end of last year and the beginning of this year. The top management did not understand and could not foresee which type of crisis we were going into, although most of it could be anticipated. They simply could not read the future.” According to Dr Grimaldi, this has not been the case with the other Grimaldi-companies. “We have done our homework very well and this is why we are trading successfully today.” It is typical for the companies in the Grimaldi Group to utilize their fleets in an extremely efficient way and move vessels to where they are needed the most.

“As Finnlines was caught by surprise, it entered the crisis heavily over-tonnaged. This is the main reason for the results not being good. I myself had to take over the responsibility for leading the company and started a restructuring plan.” On a difficult market, when it is not possible to sell off vessels, one of the few remaining possibilities for Finnlines was to move some of them to the Mediterranean. A couple of the time-chartered ships, for instance Birka Cargo’s ro-ro vessels Birka Ex-

The port of Wallhamn in Sweden has an important role in the liner network, providing transshipment opportunity between the Baltic and the Mediterranean.

porter and Birka Transporter, have been chartered further to third parties and are now trading between Marseille and Tunis. The Grimaldi Lines took the Finlandia on time charter and is also negotiating with Finnlines about chartering the Finnmill. Furthermore, the Group has bought the Finnhansa. “This operation has generated cash for Finnlines, but if the Finnhansa

is needed in Finnlines’ traffic again, Finnlines has the call option to buy her back for the same price whenever they want. This was quite a generous deal from the Grimaldi, trying to assist Finnlines because the situation is not very good.”

Dr Grimaldi has been personally involved in optimising the performance of the fleet by changing vessels

Link between the Baltic and the Mediterranean When the Grimaldi Group acquired Finnlines, the vision of Dr Emanuele Grimaldi was to establish an interconnection to enable cargo shipments between the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean on the Group’s own vessels.

In Scandinavia, the Grimaldiowned port of Wallhamn on the West Coast of Sweden plays a key role in this concept. In April 2009 Wallhamn was included in

Finnlines’ Scandinavian liner service, in addition to the ports of Halmstad and Aarhus. Wallhamn is also the Scandinavian end point in Grimaldi’s EuroMed Network, a liner service connecting the Mediterranean with Europe. Another interconnection node has been established at the same on the European Continent in the port of Antwerp. In the Antwerp Euroterminal Finnlines’ liner services are

connected with Grimaldi’s liner network to South America and West Africa.

“Today it is possible to book cargo from Helsinki to virtually any port in the Mediterranean through Wallhamn and of course also in the other direction”, Dr Grimaldi explains. Finnlines’ TransRussia Express service between Germany and Russia has recently been extended to include a call in the

port of Helsinki. Thus St Petersburg is also directly connected to the EuroMed Network. “The cargo capacity of the Finnlines-vessels on the Scandinavian service has been utilized only to 50 per cent. If we can add new traffic in both directions between Finland and Russia and the Mediterranean, we will be able to improve Finnlines’ result. The EuroMed Network will of course also benefit from this.”

24 Shipgaz No 4 2009

The Portrait Emanuele Grimaldi

on the trades and also by developing the services. He thinks that the change of vessels has been a necessary move and that it will be extremely important for the future performance of the company. “I have moved two Star-class vessels to the service between Helsinki and Travemünde, where all five of them are now employed. This is an important move, because we are giving superior service to freight and passengers, and the vessels were not at all suitable for the other trades where they were operating. I think that we will be most pleased with the results of this change very soon.”

Dr Grimaldi admits that he is an optimist by nature and that he is convinced that he will succeed in restructuring Finnlines in a remark-

Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

»I have met a lot of professional people knowing their jobs. I have a lot of respect for them«

Leadership “I think I am quite a progressive leader. I believe that the employees should be happy and satisfied and also proud of the company they are part of.”

ably short time. There are also certain parts of Finnlines, which Dr Grimaldi thinks perform very well. As one example he mentions FinnLink, which operates a ro-pax service between Naantali in Finland and Kapellskär in Sweden. “I visited Naantali recently, and delivered an award to Mr Christer Backman, the President of FinnLink. He is very successful and he has done his work with great passion. I think that

this is just one example of a very successful, well-managed operation.”

Dr Grimaldi stresses that there are indeed many good managers in Finnlines, but that the company perhaps needed a leader with a thorough knowledge of shipping. He says that he has received a lot of positive response from the Finnlines’ employees because of his leadership. Even though there is still a tough

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No 4 2009 Shipgaz 25

Emanuele Grimaldi

The Portrait Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

Grimaldi Lines is negotiating with Finnlines about chartering the Finnmill. cure ahead, there is also a strong will within the company to bring it back on the right course.

Above all, Dr Grimaldi is impressed with the high quality crews of Finnlines. During his stay in Finland he has visited most of the ships, talking to the officers and the crew. “The crews are very professional and I have met a lot of professional people knowing their jobs. I have a lot of respect for them.”

Although the climate is a little bit cold for his taste, Dr Grimaldi has been enjoying his stay in Finland. “I have not had much time off here in Finland as I have been working more or less seven days a week. At home in Italy I spend a lot of time on the island of Capri, where I own a nice house. During the summer I spend at least my weekends there. I have a small boat and I like to cruise with it through the islands.” Dr Grimaldi also has a passion

gdynia Finnlines has added a call in the port of Gdynia to some of the sailings between Helsinki and Travemünde, enabling passenger traffic to that destination.

for horse riding and especially show jumping. He has been show jumping with the Italian team in international competitions. Another passion of Dr Grimaldi is art, and he has a private collection. His particular area of interest is Italian painters from the 15th to the 17th centuries. “At that time Naples was among the largest cities of Europe. The city was flourishing and a lot of painters lived there, some of them also connected to the kingdom of Spain.”

More than 600 years of shipping tradition Although the Grimaldi Group has been active in shipping for more than 60 years, the shipping traditions of the Grimaldi family date much further back in time. The first records of involvement in shipping in the Kingdom of Naples date back to 1348. In the second half of the 19th century, at the dawn of the age of modern shipping, the family played a key role. “The grandfather of my father Guido Grimaldi was

Gioacchino Lauro. He was the first owner of a steamship in Italy”, Dr Emanuele Grimaldi informs.

Gioacchino Lauro’s son Achille became a well-known shipowner; there was a time when he was one of the biggest shipowners in the world with a fleet of some 100 ships. Dr Emanuele Grimaldi’s grandmother was Achille Lauro’s sister. His grandfather was a lawyer

and not involved in shipping. The foundation of the Grimaldi Group was marked by the purchase of a Liberty vessel by the brothers Guido, Luigi, Mario, Aldo and Ugo Grimaldi in 1947. “My father and his brothers decided to establish a shipping company of their own. They had learnt a lot about shipping from their uncle Achille Lauro. After World War II, the Marshall Plan enabled them to buy the vessel.” The company expanded and

the Grimaldis operated tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, ro-ro vessels and even cruise liners. The market of reference was mainly Italy and the Mediterranean although the vessels traded world-wide.

“With the globalisation and the growth we had to specialize mainly in ro-ro and ro-pax ships and car carriers. About ten years ago my father and his brothers split their company into

26 Shipgaz No 4 2009

The Portrait Emanuele Grimaldi Photo: Grimaldi Group

»One of the most important was buying Atlantic Container Lines in 2001«

The ro-ro vessel Euroferry Sicilia (ex Finnhansa), is now trading between Italy, Sicily and Malta.

the Naples-based Grimaldi Group and Grimaldi Genova. The first mentioned company was led by my father, my brother and me, and became specialized in ro-ro, ro-pax and car carriers.” After the splitting up of the company, the Grimaldi Group has made several acquisitions of shipping companies.

“One of the most important was buying Atlantic Container Lines in 2001. They were operating quite similar multi-purpose vessels as we were. As they were operating on the North Atlantic, we thought that it would be a very good complement to our traffic to the Mediterranean, adv Africa The shipping Gazette West and South America.

In fact it has been a very good operated under the name Malta combination and most successMotorways of the Seas.” ful, too”, Dr Grimaldi says. “This is a sort of continua“We participated in the bid for tion as we took over the ships the national company Sea Malta, and also some of the employees which was to cease its activities. of Sea Malta. We have a contract We had long discussions with the with the government of Malta government of Malta, and the on public service obligations so company could not continue to we also operate as a ‘national operate under its old name, and carrier’. There are indeed some 24-01-2008 13:56 Pagina 1other carriers, too, but I think since November 2005 we have

we are the main carrier in the traffic to and from Malta.” Since the end of 2006, the Grimaldi Group has owned the majority share of Finnlines. “We recently acquired the Greek ro-pax operator Minoan Lines, which is a very good company. We are most pleased with the acquisition”, Dr Grimaldi says.

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Waiting for a

weather window

The North Sea is infamous for its bad weather. To work safely on an open deck, a window in time with good enough weather is vital. The crew of the Sea Lion spend much time waiting for that window to open. When it does, the activity is intense. Will they ﬁnish their work in time for Wednesday’s crew change? TEXT & PHOTO: FREDRIK DAVIDSSON

It is late at night in the Hardangerfjord, just south of the island Stord on the Norwegian west coast. The brand new 17,500 brake horsepower anchor handler Sea Lion and its crew are working with the almost 30 years old, Swedish-built floatel Safe Caledonia. ounter link number is 10–81–67–4, Lars Heitne, master of the Sea Lion, says over the radio to the Safe Caledonia, which has requested to know all the numbers on the equipment used in a certain setup of its anchors and mooring gear, which tonight is handled by the AHTS Sea Lion and its crew. “Sea Lion, how many kenter links do you have on board?” There is some confusion among the crew and captain on board the Sea Lion as to what the Caledonian bridge has asked for, but they agree on what the request was and how the task at hand is best carried out. The Sea Lion crew works hard on the shackles with sledgehammers, hooks and iron-bar levers for over an hour just to find out that one of the requested shackles does not fit. About that time a new order is received from the Safe Caledonia. “Cancel that 5-chainlink, just deliver the pendant.” “OK, copy that.” Problem solved, but the operation takes the better part of the night from the start at around nine o’clock in the evening. “It is hard work out there, and now the sea is completely calm, imagine what it is like when the sea is rough.”

When all cables between the AHTS and the rig are connected everything is prepared to pull the anchor off the Sea Lion’s deck. “Caledonia deck, Sea Lion. I have constant tension so I am ready, about 40 tons.” “Sea Lion, Caledonia deck, OK go ahead.” “Sea Lion, Caledonian bridge. Negative on that. We are in DP and it might upset the system, so we want minimum tension.” “OK, minimum tension”, says Lars Heitne and tells 1st officer Eirin Stenmark to slacken the cable on the winch. “Sea Lion, Caledonian deck, we have 35 tons here now” “Yes, Sea lion is showing 5 tons so we are easing up a bit”, says Lars Heitne over the radio. The hour is late and when an alarm starts its annoying peep for the 10th time the last hour Lars Heitne is getting tired of it.

Captain Lars Heitne has called 2nd engineer Jan Amundsen to the bridge to talk about the reaction time in the controls.

The anchors are prepared on the Sea lion and returned ready to use to the Safe Caledonia. Out on deck the ABs and Bosun are doing the actual anchor handling.

Otto Johann Brekke is standing by to receive one of the three new anchors picked up at the yard in Ølensvåg before heading out on the North Sea.

»Now she is just lying there, it is just us holding her. This can go on for days, we just have to make sure she does not run up on land« “Shut up”, he says as he pushes the button to silence the alarm and he calls for 2nd engineer Jan Amundsen to come to the bridge as he is also not satisfied with the reaction of one of the stern thrusters. It takes a second or two to react after the captain has moved his controls. “Is this something that has started now or has it been like this for a while?” says Jan Amundsen. “No, it has not been like this”, says Lars Heitne. “Well, then we must take a look at it but I don’t think we can do much now.” “Yes, take a look at it, but not now when we are handling their anchors.” “No, tomorrow.”

It is late Tuesday evening and the Sea Lion is on its second day towing and working with the Safe Caledonia since they arrived in the Hardangerfjord on Monday. Lars Heitne got the call confirming the job late Friday evening and they left Aberdeen on Sunday. “I think we will be here in the fjord until Thursday.” The second anchor is not shifted until the midnight to six-watch is an hour and a half into their watch. During the night the weather has been shifting from only a slight overcast to showers of rain and snow, the temperature is almost 10 degrees and there is not too much wind. The night turns into a slow Wednesday morning and Lars Heitne is back on watch, nothing much is going on. “Now she is just lying there, it is just us holding her. This can go on for days, we just have to make sure she does not run up on land. As the more than 30 years old Safe Caledonia has been at the yard for quite extensive repair works and maintenance, there are a lot of systems that needs to be tested and approved before the platform is ready to be towed back out into the North Sea, having all its anchors placed and before the platform can start the last stage of the operation and under its own power move the last few metres before the gangway over to the Elgin production platform can be put in place. “They are working on their thrusters now, maybe they have some problems. I think we will be in the fjord until Friday.”

As on most offshore vessels on the North Sea, the crew on the Sea Lion work four weeks on board and spend four weeks at home. In other parts of the world where travelling time quickly eats up shore leave, it is more common for Europeans with five weeks on and off. “Four weeks is a very short time at home, but a long time on board. At the same time you are just getting to know the vessel after four weeks”, says Lars Heitne, who has been working in the offshore business for ten or eleven years.

»Tonight we are going out in the storm. First we are going back in to get three more anchors that we are to stow on our deck on the way out. We are leaving at three o’clock tonight« phin accident, are demanding proof of experience, for example how many rig handlings you have done in the last twelve months. We all have to keep track of things like that in a personal log book.”

The slow morning turns into afternoon before things are starting to happen again, as the Sea Lion is asked to release the Safe Caledonia and go back to the yard in Ølensvåg and fetch another three anchors to be used in the operation. “Tonight we are going out in the storm. First we are going back in to get three more anchors that we are to stow on deck. We are leaving at three o’clock tonight”, says Lars Heitne. The crew is anxious to continue the job as no one on board the Sea Lion can tell when the operation is finished. There has been talk of bad weather approaching. The crew change on Wednesday next week is not so far away as it might seem and nobody wants the crew change to be postponed even for a day, double payment for the extra day or not. “There is a lot of back and forth, do this and then they change their minds, there was a lot of that last night. When we had switched all three anchors and prepared to leave to get the three new ones already last night, they changed their minds and we had to rearrange everything to go and tow the platform again”, says Able Seaman Otto Johann Brekke. The three anchors are lifted on board and Otto Johann Brekke, Svein Erling Rangøy together with bosun Eiler Larsen use the small winches on deck to pull the anchors to the starboard side of the open deck. The twelve-ton anchors are not secured but as we are about to experience, they will not slide on the wood covered deck even in a storm.

Three o’clock in the morning the Sea Lion starts In rain and darkness small problems on heavy equipment requires extra muscle power.

“Before that I did what everybody from Vestlandet does, I worked in fishing, on very large industrial fishing vessels all over the world. In fishing, that is where you learn a lot about the sea and being a seaman.” A fishing vessel and an AHTS is somewhat similar, with huge winches and open decks where people are working with heavy equipment. The man or woman on the bridge must be well aware of the dangers and must now how to handle the boat and all its gear. “You could never put an officer from a cruise vessel on this bridge, even if he had all the right certificates and he could manage all the navigation and such, there are so many special systems here with the DP system and the different winches. This is hard work even if it looks very simple. Even somebody who had all the necessary certificates would not get a job as the oil companies, especially after the Bourbon Dol-

to move the Safe Caledonia out of the fjord, towards the position where the actual anchor handling part of the operation will start. Nine o’clock Thursday morning the helicopter arrives to the Safe Caledonia to pick up the pilot who has been on board on the way out of the fjord. The wind and waves pick up as the vessels come out on the open sea. By dinner time the Sea Lion is rolling quite a bit and seasickness plasters are showing behind more than one ear. “I think we must fill up the stabilizer tanks to stop the rolling a bit”, says Lars Heitne as he strides through the dayroom with his feet as far apart as possible to keep his balance.

Together the two vessels and cable between them are close to 800 metres long, a challenge for the man at the helm. Even though there is about 75 to 100 tons of

tension in the towing cable it is not tight between the tug and the platform, but instead it bends down beneath the surface in a soft bow. “If we were to have the cable straight as a line between us, it would snap. The bow under the water acts as a shock absorber. Right now we have 600 metres of cable between us but we will vary the length every now and then to avoid wearing the cable at the same spot all the time. The worse the weather conditions are, the more cable we will put out between us because of that shock absorbing effect.

During the two days of towing to the site 160 miles out in the North Sea a certain calm settles on the Sea Lion as not too much happens out on deck and the steady progress at around five knots somehow seems to be a bit calming. Late Friday evening the Safe Caledonia requests a six hour stop to do the final testing of its DP system. The tests must have gone well since another stop is requested at around lunch on Saturday and one of the three anchors that the Sea Lion picked up a few days earlier in Ølensvåg are now lifted on board the Safe Caledonia and the actual positioning of the platform begins. The anchor handling operation is ready to start. This operation will take days, the Safe Caledonia will end up just three metres from the Elgin production platform. The Sea Lion is joined in the operation by two more AHTS vessels, the Maersk Tackler and the Maersk Tracer.

Only the single anchor lifted up to the Safe Caledonia is handled by the Sea Lion before it is back to stand by, followed by reconnection of the tow wire.

The weather forecast is too bad with reports of 8 to 10 metre waves and wind of up to 30 knots and the operation is postponed. The word is that work will start again on Monday. In the operating instructions, where the whole operation is described, a 48-hour weather window with a significant wave height of 3 to 4 metres and maximum winds of 25 to 30 knots is stated as limiting criteria for the operation. Higher waves or stronger winds than that and the operation will be stopped.

In the meantime the dinner tables are laid with napkins and the cook Ellen Heum is thinking about adding red wine glasses to the table setting, even though no wine is ever served. “I like to have the wine glasses on Saturdays and a little nicer set table but now I do not know if it is a little too early to set out the wine glasses as the wind and waves are picking up all the time.” “So we are back to towing the platform again, it is just a safety precaution”, says a disappointed Lars Heitne and continues. “We have had 24 hours of good weather, think of all the work we could have done.” Throughout the vessel Wednesday’s crew change comes up every now and then, are they going to make it on time? “We have double pay if we are not relieved on time, but it is still no good since time at home gets so short. Especially this shore leave when I am taking a familiarisation course on the DP-system we have here on board. I already have my certificate but before I have only worked with Kongsberg systems and here we have Rolls-Royce”, says Eirin Stenmark.

The towing wire bends beneath the surface and acts like a shock absorber.

Safe Caledonia The hull was launched in 1982 by the Kockums yard in Malmö, Sweden, and completed by Götaverken Arendal in Göteborg, Sweden, as the Safe Holmia. The semi-submersible accommodation platform has 599 berths. The 20,930-dwt platform is 87 metres long and 70 metres wide. It is owned and operated by Prosafe.

Dag Martin Lynghaug pulls the wire from one of the deck winches and puts it over the fairlead to change the direction the wire is pulling.

â&#x20AC;&#x2C6; ABs Frode Bolstad and Dag Martin Lynghaug work the shackles connecting the chain link from the anchor to the wire pendant. â&#x20AC;&#x2C6; A small problem, the towing wire is tangled and it takes time to untangle since other wires and winches must be used.

The twelve-ton anchor fresh out of the water and the ABs and Bosun work quickly. When their part of the job is over they can spend some time in the dirty mess before the next anchor is pulled up on deck.

»It looks like a Playstation with all the buttons and joysticks on the bridge«

Saturday afternoon in the dirty mess on main deck, where the ABs hang out when there is no particular work to be done at the moment and for coffee breaks, talk centres around a news piece on TV last night about a Norwegian bulk carrier being flagged out. The Norwegian seamen had to leave the vessel for the last time to be replaced by Filipino seamen. The shipowner had to say straight to the camera that he thinks a thousand dollar a month is a good salary. Everyone who saw him say this could see that he was lying. “How are they going to man all the vessels on order? They will need Norwegian seamen. What might happen on some types of vessels, is that they get Filipino or Russian crew but keep Norwegian team leaders and officers”, says bosun Eiler Larsen who obviously does not fear he will lose his job. “Ah, finally it is time for three o’clock coffee”, says Otto Johann Brekke as he refills the cup he just finished and lights another cigarette.

Later in the evening captain Heitne shares his thoughts on the manning issue and what it takes to work in the offshore business. “I do not think they can put Filipinos or Indians on the offshore vessels in the North Sea, it takes too much experience to handle the job out here. There are some vessels with Indian crew in Aberdeen but they do not seem to get many jobs, they spend most of their time alongside.” The evening is slow as no work is going on, except for holding the platform in position. It is only eight thirty and there is still three and a half hours before Lars Heitne can stretch out in his cabin.

Lars Heitne knows his way around all the joysticks and buttons on the aft bridge.

“It looks like a Playstation with all the buttons and joysticks on the bridge, but there is a little bit more to keep in mind here than on the Playstation. With three men down on deck, there are cranes and wires and the sea to keep in mind too. There is a lot of responsibility because it is always the men down on deck that get to take the punch, we are a little safer up here on the bridge.” “If you are inexperienced and do not understand what torque you have on the aft, with the wire pulling at a certain angle and distance from the centre line, perhaps you retract the towing pin and there is a disaster.” The Bourbon Dolphin disaster, where the scenario was very similar to what the captain just described and eight seamen lost their lives, is just a few years back and still fresh in mind. Nine o’clock and the captain is back to thinking about his bunk. “Ahh, soon free watch”, Lars Heitne says with a smile knowing there are still hours to go and he asks Eirin Stenmark to fill the stabilizer tanks. Now at sea he wants her to use the smaller ones because that will make the free water surface smaller. “The platform called us up an hour ago and asked us to switch to DP because it was rolling too much for them. Using DP will mean more rolling for us.” “If we did not have to be on DP we would not be rolling so badly, we could have turned into the wind”, says Lars Heitne.

Sunday is slow, no particular work can be done. The sun is shining but winds reach 54 knots and maximum wave height reaches 9 metres with a swell of up to seven or eight metres.

When the wind is too strong and the waves too high for any anchor handling, Frode Bolstad and the rest of the Sea Lionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deck crew are on cleaning duty, inside and outside.

The Safe Caledonia close to its final position just metres away from the Elgin production platform, only the last anchor to be handled by the Sea Lion and its crew.

Ready to start the final step of the operation. One of the Maersk AHTS vessels receives its equipment from the platform and the Sea Lion is standing by.

»Caledonia Bridge, Sea Lion, it just so happ ens we are right on top of a pipeline, could you move us 500 metres back wards?«

A few hours after dinner Chief Officer Kristian Bjerkan’s voice calls out over the PA system and is heard throughout the boat. “All men to the bridge.” The whole crew assembles on the bridge for an Safety Management System (SMS) meeting. Captain Heitne starts with a few words on the bad weather and what he thinks is going to happen. “We will be here until late Monday evening before any thing happens, we should all be well rested by then.” By the looks on everybody’s faces the crew now realizes that not going home on time on Wednesday is becoming more and more of a possibility.

Chief officer Kristian Bjerkan goes through incident reports from the vessel, nothing serious has happened but the crewmembers are serious and listen very carefully. “From the office, nothing much, somebody burned his finger. I will put the reports down in the dayroom for everyone to read.” The subject moves on to more hands-on issues, like how to handle the equipment on board. “Take care of the equipment and use what used to be called good seamanship, if you see something that needs maintenance, greasing or what ever, do it. And why are we not using headsets during anchor hand ling? We have headsets and holsters for the radios down on deck for everyone to use, why are we not using them instead of having the radios in a pocket or just throwing them around? They are quite expensive, those radios. Take care of them, they are just a few months old but they look ten years old already”, says Kristian Bjerkan and continues:

The radio is where Lars Heitne gets all the orders from the Safe Caledonia.

“Check for things that are not as they should be on a vessel that just left the yard. The ship is new, so we can get them replaced.” Eirin Stenmark also wants to add an observation she has made. “Just a reminder, when we have used the deck cranes, do not leave the hook dangling so that it can hit the life rafts, I have seen this happen.”

During the night the movement of the Sea Lion calms down as the wind and the swell settle more and more by the hour. There are many different orders heard over the radio between the platform and the three AHTS vessels. The Sea lion has been towing the Safe Caledonia the last few hours. With the platform about two nautical miles from the final position and the Elgin platform in a straight line behind, Lars Heitne stops and switches to DP to hold the position. He calls the Safe Caledonia and reports his move. The reply comes back after a few seconds. “Caledonia Bridge, Sea Lion could you repeat that?” “We are on DP, DYNAMIC POSITIONING, DP” Lars Heitne says a bit overly dramatic and turns to Eirin and Bosun who both look a bit surprised. “That is what they asked for!”, the Sea Lion master says with a smile even though he is obviously a bit annoyed now about all the changed instructions and the long wait, but this is what the AHTS work is all about. The Sea Lion is there to perform a service. “The only thing we have any say over is the safety, if the weather is good enough to work in or not, otherwise it is our job to do what the platform asks us to do.” A new request from the Safe Caledonia. “Caledonia Bridge, Sea Lion, it just so happens we

are right on top of a pipeline, could you move us 500 metres backwards?” The looks on the faces on the Sea Lion bridge are looks of disbelief. A manoeuvre like that would mean to turn 180 degrees and start puling the Safe Caledonia towards the Elgin since it is impossible to push the Safe Caledonia backwards. Lars Heitne picks up the radio. “Sea Lion, Caledonia bridge” “Caledonia bridge, go ahead” “Yes … that would more or less mean a 180 degree manoeuvre, but we can drift slowly towards the Elgin while we can hold you up against the wind.” “Well, actually we can take us there on or own power”, the master on Safe Caledonia replies as he has by now realized how impossible his request was. The Safe Caledonia decides to move slowly into position at a speed of 0.2 metres per second and asks the Sea Lion to follow. The vessels are still connected by the towing wire. The DP system is set to move the vessel in 100-metre steps and the wire is winched in a few hundred metres so as not to dip it into the sea bed about 80 metres below. When Chief Officer Kristian Bjerkan and 1st officer Johan Lundström comes to the bridge to take the watch, Lars Heitne explains what is going on and instructs Johan Lundström how to set the next 100-metre step into action before the DP system starts to slow the vessel down to stop at the present mark.

Johan Lundström is the only Swede on the Sea Lion second shift but likes his Norwegian shipmates and working on a Norwegian offshore vessel. “I have been working in Norway for two years now,

and I like it. I have been working on all sorts of vessels before, passenger vessels and cargo vessels. I felt it was time to try something new. There is always something going on here, we do anchor handling, we bring containers or fuel, it is something different than just going from point A to point B.” With so many new offshore vessels coming in the near future, and thereby even more job opportunities, Johan Lundström cannot see any reason to leave Norwegian offshore. Especially not when the good flight connections between Aberdeen and Copenhagen, close to his home in Helsingborg, makes trips to and from work easy. Then there is the matter of salary. “It is much better in Norway, about double up, and the pension and benefits are the same as in Sweden.” It is back to stand by, the work that was supposed to start during the afternoon seems to be delayed yet again. Nothing happens, both the Sea Lion and the Safe Caledonia are on DP. The tow wire hangs off the stern.

Evening comes and the Maersk vessels begin to move. The Maersk Tracer is next to the Safe Caledonia. Anchors and mooring equipment is lowered down from the platform. It looks like things are going to happen tonight, but there is still quite a bit of swell. At half past nine the Caledonian bridge asks the Maersk Tracer’s master if he thinks the weather conditions are good enough to proceed. The answer is positive, as the swell is calming down all the time. The Safe Caledonia asks the Maersk Tracer a series of standard questions, whether they are happy with the plan, are sure they have all the equipment they need on board, if they are sure they have stabil-

1st officer Eirin Stenmark plots the positions on the paper charts.

Sea Lion Built in 2008 at Havyard Leirvik in Norway for Deep Sea Supply. Two MaK 6,000 kW –equals 17,500 BHP – main engines give the vessel a bollard pull over 200 tons and a top speed of 18 knots. The service speed is 12 knots. Two CP propellers, two tunnel thrusters and one azimuth thruster coupled with a Rolls-Royce DP-system gives manoeuvrability. OSM offshore and ship management manage the vessel.

»I have just had it con firmed from shore that we can release you as soon as you have delivered the last equipment you got on board back to us« and then run down there to see what is going on. She shouts for Lars Heitne downstairs. He tells her to silence the alarm.Frode Bolstad comes back up, there is nothing to worry about.

Nothing much happened during the night watch. The anchor on deck was set to go already at two o’clock in the morning but it is still there at seven. But as the Tuesday morning watch starts, so does the work. First anchor and buoy goes in and after a few hours the second one is picked up from the platform and now a bit of a problem shows up. This anchor could not be prepared in advance since it was over at the platform and now the kenter shackle is to be removed. But no matter how much the ABs hit the pin with their sledges the shackle will not open, so they have to leave it on and add another shackle to connect the anchor to the pendant. Unfortunately they assemble the shackle the wrong way and to take it apart and reassemble it they must use the winches and more of their own muscle power with hammers and crowbars. It takes time and it is clearly both tiresome and frustrating. A quarter past two in the afternoon the last anchor goes over the roller into the water. The Sea Lion tows it 1500 metres away from the Safe Caledonia and lets it settle on the bottom 132 metres below.

1st officer Johan Lundström concentrating on manoeuvring the winches together with Chief officer Kristian Bjerkan.

ity enough for the operation and finally whether the master and his crew are happy with their emergency release procedures? The answer to each question is that the Maersk Tracer is happy with everything and ready to go ahead. “Finally some action”, says Lars Heitne as he calls the Bosun and starts to line out tonight’s work.

The Maersk Tackler is on site too and has to ans wer the same questions as the Maersk Tracer had to and which the Sea Lion already answered. In the middle of everything, when Lars Heitne just went down to his cabin to get something, a fire alarm starts sounding. It is from the workshop on main deck. Eirin Stenmark is alone on the bridge. The Safe Caledonia calls on the radio. Eirin Stenmark must ask them to hold. She is a bit worked up by the situation as she asks Frode Bolstad to first call the work shop

An anxious wait takes over throughout the vessel. Are we going home or will they find more work for the Sea Lion? At a quarter past four it is over. “Sea Lion, Caledonia bridge.” “Caledonia bridge, Sea Lion”, Lars Heitne, who is early on the bridge, answers. “I have just had it confirmed from shore that we can release you as soon as you have delivered the last equipment you got on board back to us.” Half past four that last piece of equipment takes the crane ride over to the platform. There is no cheer on the bridge but definitely a sense of relief as everybody who has come to the bridge starts talking about what time tomorrow their flight home is. “I have already emptied the ballast tanks, we are not going to lose any time”, says Lars Heitne as he switches over the controls from the aft bridge to the forward bridge and walks over there to shut off the tunnel thrusters and retract the azimuth thruster. “Can you check if the azimuth is up, I have a green light that it is up but we usually double check it”, Lars Heitne calls down to the engine room where first engineer Kenn Ludvigsen does his first turn on the Sea Lion. “I will go and check”, Kenn Ludvigsen calls back. “11.5 knots, 12 knots. I have done over 18 knots with the Sea Lion”, Lars Heitne says as he picks up the speed towards Aberdeen.

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48 Shipgaz No 4 2009

By Fredrik Davidsson, fredrik@shipgaz.com

Report Acid rain

July average contribution (per cent) from all ships plus ports to surface ozone (upper left). Yearly average contribution from all ships plus ports to tropospheric ozone column (upper right), wet deposition nitrate (lower left) and wet deposition sulphur (lower right).

Coastal shipping behind large part of acid rain

Up to 40 per cent of acid rain in Scandinavia comes from ship emissions, according to a recent study from the University of Oslo. Stig Dalsøren and his colleagues at the University of Oslo studied movements of 32,000 merchant ships in 2004 to establish operational models for no less than 15 ship types in 7 size categories, from tug boats and trawlers to tankers, bulkers, cruise vessels and container vessels. The emissions from each type of vessel was estimated for both their time cruising at sea and in port.

Using a Chemical Transport Model the scientists calculated the environmental impacts of the emissions from ships all over the globe.

Hardly surprising, the impact from tankers is highest in the Persian Gulf and the Mexican Gulf and from bulkers in the Pacific. More surprising is that in Scandinavia and northwestern Europe – both regions with major impact from ship emissions – neither bulkers nor tankers or container vessels are the major contributors. “For Scandinavia and northwest-

»Ships participating in more coastal operations are likely to be the main contributors in this region«

ern Europe, where the impact on acidification and ozone from ships is very evident, the contribution from the three major ship types is moderate. Other ships participating in more coastal operations are likely to be the main contributors in this region”, the Norwegian scientists write.

“When isolating the three large ship types we do not get very much contribution to emissions from ships, but when we do our modelling with all ship types we can see a large effect. This indicates that it is smaller vessels that contributes”, says Stig Dalsøren.

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 49

Acid rain

According to the calculations, ship emissions’ contribution to acidification through wet deposition, acid rain, related to nitrate is 11 per cent and relating to sulphur 4.5 per cent globally. In northwestern North America and in Scandinavia the contribution is much higher. Shipping’s share of nitrate wet depositions is in the span between 25 and 50 per cent and of the sulphur acid rain the share is between 15 and 50 per cent. The figures are not very precise as they vary during seasons and with distance. “In Scandinavia the contribution is 20, 30 or 40 per cent. The nitrate and sulphur compounds are relatively short-lived, they last typically for five or six days in the atmosphere, and therefore the contribution is reduced quickly with the distance from the ocean”, says Stig Dalsøren. The highest contribution to the acid rain from shipping is found on the northwestern coast of North America but the problem in Scandinavia is obviously significant. “In Scandinavia acidification is a real problem and we have been able to show that ships contribute substantially. If we talk about acid deposition at large, shipping contributes by something like 20 or 30 per cent, if we consider both nitrate and sulphur.”

Apart from deciding on the levels of ship emissions, the purpose of the study was to gather and present data for policy makers to base their decisions and regulations on. Stig Dalsøren seems pleased with what he and his colleagues have come up with. “It is important to get the results and make estimations of the contributions to atmospheric emissions

Report

bunkers, and reported significantly higher estimates based on fleet modelling. This study does not find any evidence for such high estimates. We provide evidence here to suggest that the input data to fleet modelling have to be based on activity and movement data, and not on limited data from engine manufactures for large ships.”

The Norwegian scientists look not Stig Dalsøren at the University of Oslo.

»In Scandinavia acidification is a real problem and we have been able to show that ships contribute substantially« from ships. In general our results confirm what other studies have shown, but we have updated all the results from being calculated with the year 2000 as the base up to the year 2004. We have the latest figures available. Our study enhances the effects earlier studies have shown that ships have on acid deposition and emissions”, says Stig Dalsøren.

To make the calculations on emissions from ships the scientists must look at the fuel that was actually burned in the ships engines, and in that process they strongly believe in their own method. They question studies claiming that reported bunker sales are way too low. Their report state that: ”The total fuel consumption is estimated to about 217 Mt annually. Of this, approximately 5 per cent or 11 Mt is consumed in ports. Some studies have questioned the reported sale of marine

only at NOx and SOx emissions from ships but on volatile organic compounds, black carbon and organic carbon as well as more well known greenhouse gases like carbon oxide and carbon dioxide. Then there is the question of ozone, which is not as much talked about as it was some years ago. “For surface ozone the ship contribution is therefore high over the background Oceans. But it might also be of significance over western North America (contribution 15–25 per cent), western Europe (5–15 per cent) and parts of the other continents. Ozone perturbations in the upper troposphere are more important with regard to radiative forcing. A very simplified measure of the ship impact to ozone as a greenhouse gas is the contribution to the tropospheric column which we find to be up to 5–6 per cent”, the report states and Stig Dalsøren explains: ”Ozone has become more of an academic question lately. Large reductions in emissions have been made and levels have gone down but in certain locations close to the ocean, levels have not dropped as expected. Therefore the question is whether this can be caused by ship emissions or by far away emissions from for example Asia. They are very occupied with this question in North America.”

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50 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Report Labour market Photo: bent mikkelsen

No crisis for ship officers

A Shipgaz survey indicates that the labour market for Nordic ship officers is still healthy, despite the economic crisis.

Despite the fact that several Finnish and Åland shipping companies have been forced to lay up some of their tonnage, officers have not been laid off to any greater extent. “The shortage of seafarers was so

extensive before the downturn in the economy that most of the shipping companies have not dismissed any of their employees from the ships. The officers and crew from the laid up vessels have been transferred to other ships in the fleet instead”, confirms director Olof Widén at the Finnish Shipowners’ Association.

»We have not seen any dramatic changes in operation patterns« Photo: farstad offshore

For a number of years, the shortage of qualified seafarers has been a major topic in the maritime world. Today, with thousands of ships laying idle in lay-up, hot or cold, one would think that the situation has changed with a growing supply of unemployed seafarers. A survey conducted by Shipgaz indicates however that this is not the case today, at least not for ship officers in the Nordic countries. When talking with representatives for organisations and shipping companies, a picture emerges where the economic downturn has not had any major impact on the officer labour market, at least not yet.

Karl-Johan Bakken, CEO of Norwegian Farstad Offshore.

However, Director Widén thinks that the employees are not changing employers as much as before. “People stick to their jobs and are not willing to try new jobs as easily as before the crisis.” Neither is there any acute need for employing new officers to the Finnish and Åland fleet today. Still Director Widén thinks that it is of utmost importance that recruitment and

training of new seafarers continues as before at the maritime colleges. “We entered the crisis with a shortage of officers and crew. If the training would not continue in the same pace as before it would result in a disastrous situation when this crisis is over.”

Turning to Denmark, the situation seems to be similar. “We have not given notice to any of our officers as we have not yet planned to lay up any of our tankers. The last couple of months has been very tough with several ships laying idle for 30 days, but we intend to keep on sailing for as long as possible. Luckily it seems like the market is picking up a little bit”, says Torben Andersen of Uni-Tankers in Middlefart. Maersk Supply is one company that actually has a reverse employment problem. It continues to take delivery

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 51

Labour market

Report Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

Photo: farstad offshore

Farstad Offshore has an extensive recruitment and HR program. Photo: Pierre adolfsson

Photo: bent mikkelsen

For a number of years, the shortage of officers has been a major topic in the maritime world. of new vessels in the T-series from STX Norway, while not having sold any of the older units. To be able to man the newbuildings, selected seafarers from the older vessels are therefore joined together with new recruits to form crews.

The vessels laid-up by Maersk Line are mainly manned by non-Danish crews, and Danish officers have been practically unaffected. In general, Danish companies are holding on to their officers, as they expect increased activity later this year. According to Per Gravgaard Hansen, Union Secretary of Danish Maritime Officers, unemployment is around one per cent. “We do not see any notices to quit,

but recruitment has been halted for some time”, comments Gravgaard Hansen, who also says that one shipowner that had ordered a recruitment banner advertisement on the union’s web site for a year, now has had it withdrawn. No officer has however been made redundant in that company. “We can also note that the few job seekers among our members have to wait a bit longer before being hired, than just a year ago”, says Gravgaard Hansen. Also in the Norwegian offshore fleet, business seems to be as usual. “We have not seen any dramatic changes in operation patterns”, says Karl-Johan Bakken, CEO of Farstad Offshore in Ålesund.

The company operates a fleet of 50+ vessels and has an extensive recruitment and HR program and this is continuing according to plan. Norwegian engineers still enjoy a favourable labour market. “It has become easier to get hold of Norwegian engineers, but we have no indications of redundancies”, says Hilde Gunn Avløyp, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Union of Marine Engineers.

”We have only seen a marginal effect of the downturn, at least yet”, says Hans Sande, Director of the Norwegian Maritime Officers’ Association. “Norwegian maritime schools are experiencing a formidable explosion

52 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Report Labour market Photo: pierre adolfsson

»Norwegian maritime schools are experiencing a formidable explosion of new applicants« of new applicants to maritime officer educations, and those leaving the education after exams are entering a slower, but still dynamic labour market”, says Sande. Jørgen Vatne, Deputy Managing Director of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, confirms the current picture of a healthy job market for Norwegian officers. “The future is however somewhat uncertain”, says Vatne and warns that if the financial crisis deepens or drags out in time, this will also affect the employment situation for officers.

“We have not seen any changes in the demand for Swedish officers, at least not in any significant extent”, says Christer Lindwall, managing director of the Swedish Ship Officers’ Association. “Payouts from our unemployment benefit fund is at about the same low level as a last year and we can note that the surge for Swedish officers from foreign owners continues.” According to the Swedish Shipowners’ Employer Association, currently there are no significant notices of redundancies or ongoing cut-down negotiations. On the company level, although recruitment of new officers has been scaled down, it is still difficult to primarily find experienced engineers, but there has been one major change

Recruiting campaign In November 2008, the IMO launched, together with organisations as ILO, the campaign “Go to sea” to address the global shortage of seafarers, especially officers.

in recruitment patterns. During boom times, there was a high degree of mobility among officers; it was their market with many employment offers to choose between. It was a continuous challenge for sea personnel departments to retain seafarers and to replace officers that left their employments for new positions in other companies.

“Today, officers tend to hold on to their employments”, says Ann Hägglund of Finnlines Ship Management, a company with around 750 seafarers employed on Swedishflagged vessels, of which close to 400 in the engine and deck departments.

“Although the replacement need is smaller, it is tough to find experienced officers that are willing to leave their current employer.” Although the labour market in the Swedish merchant fleet is still stable, there is an uncertainty for the future, and by leaving for a new employment, you also lose the seniority you have gained in the company you serve. In the new company, you will start from the beginning, and if things get worse with redundancies to follow, by Swedish law the basis for redundancy negotiations is ‘last in, first out’.

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No 4 2009 Shipgaz 55

By Bent Mikkelsen, bent@shipgaz.com

Axel Nielsen

The Portrait

The old hand of Danish shipping Captain Axel Nielsen of Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling celebrates his 97th birthday this year, which makes him the oldest active person in Danish shipping. Shipgaz met Captain Nielsen at his office on the top floor of the company house in Fåborg. He founded Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling 49 years ago along with Poul Bresling and Captain Nielsen is still an active partner. Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling is still in business with five coasters, which were delivered within this century. The company has for 33 years been sailing under a contract lifting paper reels and wood pulp from the Lake Vänern in Sweden to Southern Spain, Morocco and The Canary Islands. The five ships are rather new, as they were delivered in 1999, 2000, 2006 and two in 2007. All ships carry the ‘sur name’ Bres and are painted in the distinctive red hull colour, which Captain Axel Nielsen had a part in when J. Lauritzen implemented the colour in their fleet in 1955/1956.

How are things in the business at the moment and do you continue to be part of it? “Well, things are a little slow and dull at the moment, as the financial

crisis has hit us as well as anybody else in the maritime sector. You see, we are working under a Contract of Affreightment, but when our costumers’ customers don’t buy raw materials or sell products, it then affects us directly. That gives us smaller quantities and thereby not so much income as expected. Also the homebound leg from the southern ports has proven to be much weaker than before September last year. In those days, our commercial department were able to obtain a rate of EUR 20 per ton cargo. Now we are lucky if we get EUR 10.” “I’m a part of the company as I own 50 per cent of it all, but since I turned 85 I don’t take part in the dayto-day business. I come in to the office once a week to be updated on the present situation on both technics and finances. You see the bunch of paper? I have to take them with me

»Things are a little slow and dull at the moment, as the financial crisis has hit us as well as anybody else«

Axel Nielsen founded Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling 49 years ago.

home to read about the last week’s realities.”

If you look back, did your visions come true? “Yes, I think so. If we take our own company it has been a struggle throughout the 49 years, with a lot of different circumstances on the market as well as fighting the technical challenges in that span of years.” “We have managed to earn money and to pay our employees and suppliers. Also we managed to gather capital in order to stay in business in times like the present ones. The company has a number of satisfied costumers, and what more can we really expect of it all?”

Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling still employs Danes only? “In principle yes, but the reality is that it’s becoming harder and harder to find ordinary seamen (OS) for our small ships. We may have to face the day, when we will have to hire Polish seafarers like most of our colleagues. We are not entirely Danish manned

56 Shipgaz no 4 2009

The Portrait Axel Nielsen Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

Axel Nielsen and Poul Bresling, the founders of Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling.

right now. In fact, we had to hire two Polish engineers for our ships a couple of years ago, and so far this has been a nice experience.” “They are hard working people with excellent knowledge of running an engine room on board a coaster. We have, however, made arrangements with the school of engineers in Frederikshavn to have a trainee on board our vessel for a six-month period with the clear intention of hiring them afterwards.”

JYTTE BRES In September 1960 Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling A/S took delivery of their ﬁrst coaster, the Jytte Bres, a singledecker of 475 dwt.

»My idea was to be less strict, but still firm and treat the youngsters with respect« Also your vision if we look back longer? “Certainly. The visions from the J. Lauritzen days and the education scheme on the Kogtved Søfartsskole,

I think for that time it was very good for the industry to do it the Lauritzenway. I think at that time, in the late 1930s, there was a tendency to run the crew hard on a ship, but my idea was to be less strict, but still firm and treat the youngsters with respect. I think that this philosophy paid off, so to speak.” “My first trip on a Lauritzen vessel was the steam reefer vessel Laura, which I signed on at Helsingør roads in 1937 for a ballast trip to Valparai-

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No 4 2009 Shipgaz 57

Axel Nielsen

The Portrait Photo: bent mikkelsen

»I often use my sister of 92 as a driver when I have to move from place to place« so, for loading apples in the lower holds and grapes on the tween deck. Then we took off for Buenos Aires for discharge of the grapes and loading of more apples for Canada. After discharge of the tween deck cargo of apples in Canada and still with the original Chilean apples in the lower holds, we took another load of apples from Canada bound for Copenhagen and Stockholm.”

The Sine Bres is a Bodewes standard Saimaa-max type ship and was built by Marine Projects in Gdansk Poland.

Did you continue on the reefer vessels? “No, as a young mate I had to circulate between ship types and my next assignment was on the steamer Maja trading from Finland with wood pulp to harbours in England and France. Quite a different kind of work and much shorter voyages than the ocean crossings on the reefer vessels.” “The Maja was a relatively modern and big steamer, which was kind of attractive for me as a young mate, instead of the really small and older steamers in the fleet. Somehow I managed to stay on board for nearly two years, as I had a very good professional relationship with the captain on board. We made a great team, but I eventually ended up on the very small steamer Niobe for a period.” “What I didn’t know at the time was that the captain sent an evaluation back home to the office about my skills and the way of handling the crew and so on. So when the task

of setting up J. Lauritzen’s Seaman’s School in Svendborg, I was called from my position as 1st Mate on board the ship in Hamburg. I wasn’t appointed captain, but was asked to do this particular task.”

How would you describe you life at sea? “It has been most exciting in general and I have a fantastic number of experiences in all parts of the world. From working with native Africans on the Cap Verde island during a situation, where two Lauritzen steamers took a cargo of barley from a stranded Greek steamer, to being invited to a prayer-meeting by a Finnish missionary girl during winter loading in Finland experiencing the warmth and joy from the singing in a mission house ashore. I naturally invited her on board my ship, but she refused and replied

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that she wasn’t a harbour girl. I have had so many interesting adventures and experiences it would take days to tell about them.”

And still new experiences? “No, not that much any more. I am beginning to get old. A couple of years ago I turned in my driving license as I felt that I was beginning to lose concentration during driving. So now I often use my sister of 92 as a driver when I have to move from place to place.” “ Also my hearing is not that good anymore. Until a few years ago I was also part of the interview group when we hired a new captain, but I have given that responsibility over to our technical manager Peter Sneistrup. He is the one who has to deal with them day-to-day, so it’s best that he hires them as well.”

58 Shipgaz No 4 2009

By Pär-Henrik Sjöström par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Update Safety training

Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Safety training to end in Turku

The decision to close down the safety training at Airisto Center aims at better utilisation of the resources, but it has met some scepticism too. Aboa Mare offers short courses as well as safety training at Airisto Center in Pargas (Parainen) near Turku. Airisto Center was established in 1995 and has since that been a part of the maritime school in Turku. Now the owners of Novia and Axxell have decided to close down Airisto Center after the end of this year.

“Unfortunately it was a necessary decision to close down the Airisto Center,” comments master mariner Per-Olof Karlsson, who is leading the maritime education at Aboa Mare. He says that there has been a long downward trend in the utilisation of Airisto Center. Large investments in new equipment would have been needed to maintain its competitive edge. This was not possible, taking in consideration the relatively poor utilisation of the unit. “Only a little bit of its total capacity is needed for our basic training at Aboa Mare. It was therefore not justifiable from an economic point of view

to continue with the activities of Airisto Center. Now we will instead be able to offer our students safety training at Maritime Safety Training Center Meriturva in Lohja or at the Maritime Safety Center in Mariehamn.” Master mariner Karlsson thinks that this is a good solution, as both plants have the resources to acquire the latest and most advanced training equipment. “For example today we have not been able to offer all our students FRB-training. By reducing our costs by closing down the Airisto Center resources will be freed for this.”

»Unfortunately it was necessary to close down the Airisto Center« Aboa Mare is the common name for the maritime education in Turku. Master mariners and marine engineers are trained at Novia University of Applied Sciences and watchkeeping officers and watchkeeping at the Axxell vocational institute.

Master mariner Guy Mickelsson, who is in charge of the safety training at Aboa Mare and the activities at Airisto Center, has a different point of view. “Our owners refer to the need of

new investments to maintain our competitiveness. However no-one has asked us which investments would be needed or if any investments are needed at all for the moment.” He thinks that competition is not only about the latest equipment. “I believe that we compete mainly with trust from our customers. In their opinion we have a vast competence.” Master mariner Mickelsson explains that the basic idea of the Center has been to offer safety training of high quality to a relatively affordable cost, mainly for the Finnish maritime cluster. He thinks that the activities have shown a decreasing trend due to the downturn in economy as well as lack of information about expectations and aim for the future among the owners. “My opinion is that at least for the moment the decision is not based upon an analysis of the total situation and it may therefore be questioned.”

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Elisabeth Grieg, President NSA

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Sylvia Brustad, Minister of Trade and Industry, Norway

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Erik Solheim

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60 Shipgaz No 4 2009

By Pär-Henrik Sjöström par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Newcomer Baltic Queen

Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Latest attraction on the Baltic

Strong e xpectations of growth on the Tallinn–Mariehamn–Stockholm route follows in the wake of Tallink’s newbuilding, the Baltic Queen. The delivery of the cruise ferry Baltic Queen marks the end of the huge newbuilding programme of the Estonian ferry operator Tallink. The fleet renewal programme was launched in August 2000 by the order of the cruise ferry Romantika. The contract was signed with the Finnish shipyard Aker Finnyards, which later changed name to Aker Yards and last year to STX Europe.

Ever since the Romantika was ordered, the pace of Tallink’s investments has been accelerating. During the following years Tallink ordered four more cruise ferries from the shipyard today named STX Europe, one ro-pax ferry from the same shipyard and one ro-pax ferry from the Italian builder Fincantieri. As if this was not enough, Tallink

also acquired the activities of Superfast Ferries in the Baltic Sea – including three fast ro-pax vessels – as well as the renowned ferry company Silja Line. After the first two vessels the Romantika (delive red in 2002) and the Victoria I (2004), a major update of the design took place. The following three vessels are some 20 metres longer, providing more space for bars and restaurants as well as passenger cabins. The Galaxy (2006), Baltic Princess (2008) and Baltic Queen (2009) have a length of 212 metres, while the breadth of 29 metres has remained unchanged for all of the five vessels.

»The Rauma shipyard has performed even better than the Helsinki shipyard with the former vessel«

Tallink Finland’s managing director Keijo Mehtonen is impressed.

Regarding colour schemes, the exteriors of the vessels differ quite a lot. The Romantika was painted white in a traditional way. The still white hull of the Victoria I was decorated with a large daisy in the bow part, underlining the environmental aspects as she was equipped with catalytic exhaust gas cleaning.

The most extreme exterior was presented with the Galaxy, which was decorated by the Estonian artist Navitrolla with wild animals on the hull and a blue sky with white clouds on the superstructure. The ribbon-like decorations on the Baltic Princess and the Baltic Queen are quite similar, even if they differ slightly in colour. The different styles in painting the vessels make them easily distinguishable despite the similar design.

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 61

Baltic Queen

Newcomer Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

The show lounge aft spans over two decks. The children’s playroom. The order of the last vessel in the series, then called Cruise 5, was released on April 11, 2007. Like the three first sisters, she was built at the Rauma Shipyard, while the Baltic Princess was built at the Helsinki shipyard. The naming and launching ceremony of the EUR 180 Million vessel took place on December 5, 2008. Her sponsor was the four year old Mea

Mehtonen, daughter of Tallink Silja Oy’s marketing manager Henry Meh tonen. STX Europe delivered the Baltic Queen on April 16, 2009 and she made her maiden voyage on her ordinary route from Tallinn to Stockholm via Mariehamn on April 24. The new vessel replaced the Romantika, which was transferred to the Stockholm– Riga service.

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When the Baltic Queen was shown to the press at the shipyard, Tallink Finland Oy’s managing director Keijo Mehtonen could not hide how impressed he was with the craftsmanship. The vessel vas delivered on time and completely finished.

“The Rauma shipyard has done an excellent job, and performed even better than the Helsinki shipyard

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62 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Newcomer Baltic Queen Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Photo: Martin Cederblad

with the former vessel. The employees at the Rauma shipyard have every reason to be very proud of this ship”, he said.

Kadri Land, managing director of the Swedish subsidiary Tallink Silja AB, is also most pleased with the Baltic Queen. “The vessel has been very well received and we anticipate a growth by some 20 per cent in the number of passengers from the Swedish market. A brand new vessel is always interesting and attracts new travellers.” Off season the share of passengers

Kadri Land, managing director of Tallink Silja.

»We anticipate a growth by some 20 per cent in the number of passengers from the Swedish market«

mer. Kadri Land thinks that it was perfect timing to introduce the Baltic Queen now. The passenger volumes have grown and the downturn in the economy seems to favour ferry travelling. “During the last six months the number of Swedish passengers has increased by 18 per cent”, she says.

from the Swedish and the Estonian market is quite equal on the Stockholm–Tallinn route. During spring the share of Swedish passengers gradually increases, reaching its peak with some 70 per cent in the sum-

For Tallink’s traffic as a whole, Kadri Land definately thinks that the introduction of the Baltic Queen on the Swedish market was the right move. “Now the Romantika provides a

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No 4 2009 Shipgaz 63

Baltic Queen

Newcomer Photo: STX Europe/Jouni Saaristo

Princess, with the exception of some of the special restaurants. “Because they are sister vessels the solutions are basically the same and we have made variations mainly in colours. On the Baltic Queen we have a dragonfly theme in some of the carpets and in the main stairways. In the exterior we omitted the stars and kites of the Baltic Princess and used a different colour scheme for the remaining ribbons”, she explains.

The deck plan includes three cabin decks above and one below the public areas. Most of the restaurants,

bars and lounges are concentrated to the decks 6 and 7. The disco in the aft part of deck 10 makes an exception. The two decks high show lounge, occupying the aft part of the decks, is one of the highlights on board. In the forward part of deck 6 there is the cafeteria and dance bar and in the mid section the shopping centre. The buffet restaurant is situated in the fore part of deck 7, with the à la carte restaurants and the pub in the mid area. The vessel has 927 passenger cabins with a total of 2,500 beds. The maximum passenger capacity is 2,800. For the crew there are 130 cabins.



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real improvement on the Riga service. I am as pleased with this as with the new vessel on the Tallinn service.” The interiors of the Baltic Queen are designed by Aprocos Ky from Finland and Pille Lausmäe Sisearhitektuuri Büroo OÜ from Estonia. The main areas of the Estonian designer are the show lounge, conference area, disco and the sauna compartment. Aprocos Ky has designed the rest of the interiors and also the external decorations. The designer Pirjo Mattila of Aprocos Ky says that the inside of the Baltic Queen is quite similar to the Baltic

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64 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Newcomer Baltic Queen

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No 4 2009 Shipgaz 65

Baltic Queen

Newcomer

66 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Newcomer Baltic Queen Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

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The hoistable car deck on the port side of the casing. The cabin modules were manufactured by Piikiö Works Oy. The layout of the car deck includes two aft ramps and a bow ramp, a centre casing and a hoistable car deck on the port side of the casing. On main deck there is capacity for 1,160 metres of freight. The maximum capacity

of private cars is about 420 when the hoistable car deck is in use. TTS Ships Equipment AB is the supplier of the cargo handling gear.

In the engine room propulsion power is provided by four Wärtsilä 16V32 medium speed diesel engines.

Systems. Three Wärtsilä gensets, driven by Wärtsilä 6R32 medium speed engines, have been installed for generating electrical power. In addition to that the vessel has two shaft generators from Leroy Somer. The main and auxiliary diesel engines are equipped with catalysts supplied by H+H Umwelt und Industrietechnik GmbH. The integrated automation system was supplied by Kongsberg Maritime AS and the integrated bridge system by SAM Electronics GmbH.

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 67

Baltic Queen

Newcomer Photo: STX Europe / Jouni Saaristo

1. The Wärtsilä 16V32 main engines. 2. The bridge with the cockpit style layout, which has become standard on most ferries. 3. Passenger cabin. There are more than 900 cabins on the ship. 4. The buffet restaurant.

BALTIC QUEEN Type............................... Car and passenger ferry Built by.................. STX Europe, Rauma, Finland Newbuilding No............................................. 1365 Owner......................... AS Tallink Grupp, Estonia IMO No.....................................................9443255 Flag................................................................Estonia Class...................Bureau Veritas C + Hull, Ro-Ro Passenger Ship, Unrestricted navigation, +MACH, AUT UMS, SYS-NEQ-1, Ice 1A Super Length, o a...................................................212.1 m Breadth......................................................... 29.0 m Depth to main deck......................................9.7 m Draught...........................................................6.4 m DWT................................................................4,800 GT....................................................................48,915 NT................................................................. 30,860

Passenger capacity.....................................2,800 Passenger cabins/beds....................927/2,500 Crew cabins........................................................130 Trailer capacity........................................ 1,160 lm Car capacity......................................................420 Main engines........................4 x Wärtsilä 16V32 Output........................4 x 8,000 kW at 750 rpm Service speed................................................24 kn

Suppliers of equipment

(not mentioned in the text) Steel plates.........................................Rautaruukki Deck machinery..........................Rolls-Royce Oy Lifeboats, davits.....Davit International GmbH MES & life rafts............................................Viking Lifts...........................................Kone Elevators Oy

Shaft bearings.................Cedervall & Söner AB Separators..........................Alfa Laval Nordic Oy Boiler........................................Aalborg Industries Sprinkler............................................. Novenco AS Garbage handling.................... Uson Marine AB Stabilizing fins................................................ B+V HVAC & Ventilation..................Koja Oy Marine Switchboards................................................... ABB Loading computer......................Onboard-Napa Fire alarm . ..........Autronica Fire & Security AS Turn key deliveries: Reception & public areas................Merima Oy Main staircases, Saunas, Disco...............Oy Naval Interior Team Galleys....................................................Loipart Oy Insulation............................................. Renetor Oy

Photo: STX Europe/Jouni Saaristo

68 SHIPGAZ NO 4 2009

By Rolf P Nilsson, rolf@shipgaz.com

Spotlight: IMO

A convention at last Supporters of the convention also claims that this is the first international regulation of the life-ending of a vessel, and that it is the first step in the development of standards that will enhance safety for seafarers and workers on shipbreaking sites and reduce the environmental impact of ship recycling.

IMO: Rolf P Nilsson Rolf P Nilsson, Editor-in-Chief of Shipgaz, points the spotlight at IMO in each issue. Check this column to get the latest updates on what’s up in the IMO chambers.

hip recycling and emissions are two issues concerning shipping that has been, and is, highlighted in common media and debates, and it is not to the industry’s advantage. Now the IMO apparently hopes that it has, at least for the time being, dealt with the first one and has enough of concrete solutions to please the Copenhagen conference on climate change later this year. For the first time, international regulations on how to scrap old ships in a sound and safe way have seen the light of day after an IMO diplomatic conference in Hong Kong adopted the Convention on Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. The convention will come into force 24 months after enough nations have ratified it. Historically, it has taken around five years before an IMO convention has come into force after final ratification. IMO has lowered its target to three years. According to observers, this convention could come into force some time during between 2013 and 2016.

Operationally, this means that ships must carry a record detailing what dangerous substances there are on board. This record must be updated continuously to also cover alternations, upgrading etc. Existing vessels will have a fiveyear grace period. The convention also stipulates that a recycling plan including handling of dangerous stuff must be drawn up before break-up. It also puts pressure on the shipbreakers, as these must be authorised according to the convention. The convention has been heavily critisised by environmental lobby groups for being ‘watered down’, not least as it lacks a ban for beaching of a vessel as a scrapping method.

»The convention has been heavily critisised for being ‘watered down’« The Convention on Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships needs to be ratified by at least 15 nations with a combined fleet of more than 40 per cent of the world merchant fleet and with a combined maximum ship recycling capacity of at least three per cent.

About three per cent of the Green

On the other hand, such a ban would jeopardize jobs in terms of tens of thousands, as this is the most common method in an industry mainly based in third-world countries. PHOTO: LEIF HANSSON

House Gases produced comes from world shipping, and the world community wants to see this reduced. Facing the threat of regional regulations and solutions forced on the global shipping industry, discussions and work have been intense at the IMO. The search for practical, sustainable solutions has been on top of the agenda within the organisation, with the aim to be able to present concrete actions to reduce CO2 emissions from vessels. There are mainly two aspects dividing the shipping community, a technical one and a market based one. The proposal for a design index has mainly been critisised for its consequences for certain ship types and for only being aimed at newbuildings. There are two market based solutions discussed. One is the incorporation of maritime transport into an emission-trading scheme. The other is a proposal submitted by Denmark on a contribution on fuels consumed by ships engaged in international voyages. This seems to be a simple, straightforward solution. Shipowners will pay an additional sum when buying bunkers and this money will be sent to a fund that will invest in new technology or to offsetting emissions in the developing world.

The problem is that it is easy to call

Shipbreaking in Gujarat, India.

this a tax, and international taxation is a ”no-no” among most national fiscal authorities and politicians. There will certainly be a heated debate during the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee’s 59th session beginning on July 13. A way forward toward the Copenhagen UN summit in December is almost a must if the world’s shipping community is going to be able to regulate itself in the future.

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70 Shipgaz No 4 2009

By Dag Bakka jr, dag@shipgaz.com

Report Bergen

Photo: dag bakka jr

Bergen: Looking out at sea

Around 10,000 of its population work in the maritime industry and some 650 ships are operated from Scandinavia’s largest shipowning community. For a Bergen shipowner there is no greater joy than bringing his new ship into the inner port area, Vågen. Sigmund Stenersen did that in March when his new tanker, the Sten Frigg, was on her way from a Shanghai shipyard to load her first cargo at Statoil Mongstad. There was a drizzle in the air, of course, this being Bergen, but the 16,700 dwt vessel loomed large above Bryggen’s medieval wooden wharves.

The Sten Frigg is a tangible reminder of an industry that is literally distant and unseen to most people. Yet, in shipping international circles, Bergen is of some consequence, particularly in niches like chemical transport, forest products shipping,

cement transport, offshore, specific ships’ equipment, ship design, finance and insurance. Despite its blurred image, seafaring and shipping involve a lot of people in Bergen. It is estimated that some 10,000 out of a population of 220,000 are working in the maritime industry, ashore and at sea. In addition, some 8,500 foreigners are manning Bergen-owned ships. Total turnover is estimated to NOK 50–55 billion, of which 65 per cent is coming from the shipping compa-

»It was a battered shipping industry that emerged from the shipping crisis of the 1980s« Today, Bergen is Scandinavia’s largest shipowning community with 534 NIS registered vessels, totalling 5.5 million gt.

nies; the rest from services and suppliers. From the offices around the city more than 650 vessels are operated commercially, of which a third owned by external owners.

Bergen developed on the narrow strip of land between the sea and its seven surrounding mountains. Founded in 1170, it emerged as Norway’s main trading port on the North Sea coast. Three hundred years later the main trade in grain and fish fell into the hands of Hanseatic merchants. Bergen became the Hansa ‘office’, a trading outpost in the far north and a part in an extensive trading network, supplying dried fish to catholic Europe. And somehow Bergen is still

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 71

Bergen

Report Photo: dag bakka jr

»Today, the Kristian Gerhard Jebsen group stands as Norway’s largest shipping company« abiding by its maritime roots, even though shipping, shipbuilding and port activities are no longer so apparent and visible as they used to be. As elsewhere in Scandinavia, people like to take their Sunday walk along the harbour, and the fences put up to comply with the Schengen border and the terror hysteria are still making citizens angry.

The best venue for public events is the inner port, Vågen, be it the dragon boat festival or the Nordsteam veteran ship event, which draws more than 75,000 spectators over a weekend. And on a rainy morning, what could be better than taking the Beffen – the tiny ferry – across Vågen to the office? The Bergen merchants, the families of ‘old money’, were a cosmopolitan lot. Names like Jebsen, Mowinckel, Rieber, Mohn, Kropelien, Grieg, Martens, Friele, Trumpy and Wilson are reminders of immigrants of a different period; young aspiring men from Europe and Britain, who made their fortune as merchants in Bergen. This heritage, it is said, came to forge a particular entrepreneurial, Calvinist attitude – a no-nonsense, handson sort of management. Such a thing as ‘culture’ grows from within and takes generations to change. Bergen people today have not a clue that their city was the second largest

A view from the Sten Frigg bridge. The vessel was delivered in March.

after Copenhagen during the time of the Double-monarchy Denmark-Norway until 1814.

But they all know that it took a Bergen shipowner, Christian Michelsen, to head the government that eventually severed the union with Sweden 91 years later.

bsa Bergen Shipowners’ Association is Norway’s oldest shipping association, founded in 1889.

Despite its rich heritage, Bergen came to play second fiddle to Oslo as Norway’s second shipping centre for most of the 20th century. The city largely missed the tanker boom of 1930, which brought Oslo a major lead, but a new generation of shipping people like the brothers Kristian Gerhard and Atle Jebsen, Dan Odfjell,

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72 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Report Bergen Photo: dag bakka jr

»Offshore never attracted broad interest, but there are exceptions. Odfjell Drilling became a pioneer« Per Waaler and others explored new concepts of industrial shipping from the 1960s.

It was a battered shipping industry that emerged from the shipping crisis of the 1980s. Broadly speaking it was the industrial shipping operations that survived, long-term business in chemical, special bulk and forest products segments. Yet the human capital was there to revive the industry as new operations were formed in the 1990s. There were bulk operations like Seven Seas Carriers and Spar Shipping, products/chemical operators like Rederiet Stenersen, Champion Shipping and Bryggen Shipping, reefer operations like Green Reefers and Silver Seas, shortsea owners like Misje Bulk

Hurtigruten’s Nordlys about to turn into her terminal after another eleven-day round voyage to Kirkenes.

and Hav Shipping, while Viken Shipping emerged with a diverse portfolio of bulk carriers and small and large tankers.

Established owners like Odfjell, Westfal-Larsen, JO Tankers, Jebsens, Seatrans, Kristian Gerhard Jebsen, Grieg Shipping, Utkilen, Wilson,

Mowinckel and others made commercial progress within their business areas – mainly in chemical and special bulk shipping. Today, the Kristian Gerhard Jebsen group stands as Norway’s largest shipping company in terms of ships, being the largest cement shipping operation in the world, with the larg-

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No 4 2009 Shipgaz 73

Bergen

Report

Photo: The Grieg Group

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est fleet of combined carriers and controls the largest open-hatch operation, Gearbulk Ltd from London. Offshore never attracted broad interest, but there are exceptions. Odfjell Drilling became a pioneer in semi-submersible drilling rigs and has defied consolidation to remain a family-owned company with seven drilling rigs.

Early initiative in supply vessels came to nought, but players in the seismic and subsea segments have prospered, like Rieber Shipping, Forland, DOF Subsea and others. Where there used to be a good number of independent shipbrokers, often competing for the same orders, the scene is different today. Most of the brokers are today working closer to the owners, often in in-house chartering organizations as with Odfjell and Jo Tankers, or in connected broker firms like BTB to Utkilen, Nesttun Chartering to Champion Tankers and Network Chartering to Bryggen Shipping. Even Joachim Grieg & Co is today working mainly with Grieg Star Shipping. And there are newcomers, like SecCo Chartering, Sea Tank Chartering and Atlas Chemical Tankers.

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74 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Report Bergen Photo: dag bakka jr

The majority of the business comes from the international market. A community consists of people, and the strength of the Bergen maritime community is of course the critical mass of dedicated men and women.

Today there are more meeting places than there used to be. Traditionally it was the Bergen Shipowners’ Association, formed in 1899, that drew the owners and their confidential clerks, and the Bergen Shipmasters Society dating back to 1867. There is the Shipbrokers’ Association and a network group of superintendents within the Shipowners’ Association. On the networking side there is the local group of WISTA – Women in Shipping & Trade Association – and 300 members of YoungShip. The latter was started in 2004 by young people under the age of 35, an initiative that spread to Oslo, and other shipping towns.

The great international exposé of the local shipping community is the bi-annual Bergen Shipping Dinner that draws close on 900 guests, including many from Singapore, China,

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, with a population of 252,051 as of January 1, 2009. Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county.

Russia, USA, South America and Europe. This event is staged in early June, just after the Nor-Shipping exhibition, and places Bergen on the global shipping map. For a small city Bergen has an international outlook in several respects. Centuries of trade and ship-

ping made Hamburg, Newcastle and London places of importance; today it may be Houston, Singapore and Shanghai. From beneath their seven mountains the Bergen shipping community is looking out to sea, into the global shipping grounds.

some well-known bergen shipping names Company Bryggen Shipping Champion Tankers DOF Subsea Ellen Forland Gearbulk Green Reefers Grieg Star Shipping J Ludwig Mowinckel JO Tankers Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Kristian Jebsens Rederi Misje Rederi Odfjell Drilling Ofjell Tankers Rederiet Stenersen Rieber Shipping Sea-Cargo Seatrans Seven Seas Carriers Silver Sea Spar Shipping Utkilen Westfal-Larsen Shipping Viken Shipping Wilson

Formed 1988 1993 1979 1973 1968 1989 1962 1898 1977 1967 1929 1952 1973 1915 1964 1981 2001 1970 1989 2000 1994 1964 1905 1994 1942

Operations product tankers product tankers subsea seismic and subsea forest products and special bulk reefers openhatch vessels tankers, bulk carriers logistic provider for chemicals obo/tankers, cement carriers bulk carriers sideloaders, shortsea bulk oil drilling logistic provider for chemicals product tankers offshore, polar expedition North Sea liner services chemical tankers, newsprint bulk carriers reefers bulk carriers chemical tankers openhatch, chemical carriers product/crude tankers, bulk, LPG shortsea bulk operator

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76 Shipgaz No 4 2009

By Madli Vitismann, madli@shipgaz.com

Update Yalta cocaine case

Photo: Valerij Muzychenko

The Yalta, pictured off Panama before the fateful trip in 2003.

No luck in Lithuanian court for Yalta crew

In April 2009, eleven members of the Yalta crew received a Lithuanian court ruling that it would not consider their claim against the US. The crew had spent a whole year in US prison before being acquitted. The total number of people involved in the action, including family members, is 36. They do not have enough money to travel to the US and launch litigation proceedings there. Their claim for almost USD 14 million covers the seafarers’ wages, their personal items and money not returned to them upon their release and non-material damage.

Anatolij Zolotuchin was recruited as a second engineer for the Yalta in June 2003 via a crewing agency in Klaipeda and only spent two weeks in Panama, while some crew members had already been working aboard the vessel for six months. As far as he knew the ship was to sail from Panama to Buenos Aires for repairs. The vessel stopped for one night off the coast of Colombia – to take on board supplies needed for the repairs, he was told. The British Navy’s HMS Iron

»The client was a victim of the Eastern European and Colombian drug cartels and the American war on drugs«

captain of the Yalta, explained in an interview how one night the Ukrainian captain had received a threatening phone call demanding that he allow certain cargo to be loaded. The lawyer resumed: “The defence submitted that its client was a victim of the Eastern European and Colombian drug cartels and the American war on drugs.”

National Glory (ex Yalta) was built 1988 at Gdynia as the Polonia. It now flies the US flag (in 2003 the Panama flag). The vessel is of 13,864 dwt and 575 TEUs. It is deployed on a service between Texas and Pennsylvania.

However, the seafarers were not released immediately; they remained in prison awaiting the ruling of the immigration court. The day of release for the Yalta crew only came on June 21, 2004. The US seized the 3.5 tonnes of cocaine destined for the European market. The vessel became the property of American taxpayers and was sold to National Shipping of America in 2004. After upgrading and re-fitting work, the vessel now operates on a US cabotage container service.

Duke and several US Coast Guard vessels detained the Yalta on June 26, 2003, in the vicinity of Barbados. They discovered 3.5 tons of cocaine on board and took both the vessel and its crew into custody. They were transferred to the US. After a week they reached Tampa. All 17 seafarers were taken to prison with no consular assistance offered to them.

The seafarers risked 20 years’ imprisonment but after a nine months long investigation and trial, the crew was acquitted with the exception of the Colombian chief mate and the superintendent, the latter being a Lithuanian citizen living in Panama. Bjorn Brunvand, lawyer for the

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A dear hobby The tug Tolvan is one of the ST Army Tugs, built in the United States during World War II. Her new owner plans to restore her into her former glory, but the old lady is marked by time. TEXT & PHOTO: PÄR-HENRIK SJÖSTRÖM

After World War II, some of the tugs originally built for the US Army and designated Small Tugs were sold to European buyers. A number of these surplus tugs were bought to Finland. ix of the 327A-type and 18 of the 257A-type were bought by the Finnish government in summer 1946 as replacement for tugs handed over as war reparations to the Soviet Union. Bengt Sjöström, a Finnish ship historian, has done extensive research on the Small Tugs (STs) ending up in Finland after the war.

Bengt Sjöström writes in an article in the Laivamagazine that the crews arrived from Finland with the icebreaker Sisu. The 74-feet tugs (257A) were laid up in Schiedam and the 86-feet tugs (327A) in Antwerp. The convoy sailed for Finland on June 28, 1946, and arrived at Helsinki on July 9. The condition of some of the tugs was so poor that they had to be towed by their colleagues, but all vessels reached Finland safely, despite bad weather on the North Sea. The 86-feet tugs were named A1 to A6, while the 74feet tugs were named with just numbers, from 1 to 18.

Originally the intention was to sell the tugs to ports and shipping companies in Finland, but the high price and large draft did not make them particularly attractive on the market. Most of them were instead used for minesweeping in the Gulf of Finland, where some 60,000 mines had been laid during the war.

Two of the larger STs of the 86-feet type 327A, the A1 and the A5, side by side in the late 1940s. Like most of the STs bought by the Finnish government, they were employed in the huge minesweeping operation in the Gulf of Finland after the war. Photo from Bengt Sjöström’s collection.

The Tolvan in her new home port Turku in autumn 2008. The tug is of the 74-feet type, designated 257A. Unlike many of her sisters, her characteristic appearance has not been changed by radical modernisations.

The present ship owner Bengt Fredriksson will restore the classic tug to her former glory, even if he has no intention of making her a ďŹ&#x201A;oating museum.

»Although I used to work as a chief engineer, for the last four years on a pusher tug, I never had any intention of buying a tug of my own« However, the 257A-type tug number 12 never became a minesweeper. According to Bengt Sjöström’s detailed fleet list, she was sold to a sawmill in Pietarsaari and renamed Tolvan – Swedish for “the Twelve”. This name has followed the tug through the years under several different owners. The present owner BF-Cargo Oy Ab bought Tolvan last year. Shipowner Bengt Fredriksson says that the whole thing started from a spontaneous idea. “Although I used to work as a chief engineer, for the last four years on a pusher tug, I never had any intention of buying a tug of my own.” Bengt Fredriksson started his career at sea in 1966 and went to the technical school in Mariehamn in 1972, from which he graduated as an engineer in 1975. He sailed for many years in world-wide traffic, first as a motorman and after his graduation as an engineer, before he settled down in short sea traffic.

He has also gained experience as a shipowner. His cargo vessel the Victoria, a 480-dwt Dutch coaster from 1953, has for ten years been employed with mainly TTS_corp_ShipGaz_184x118 8:48 am shipments of sand from Nagu in the18/5/09 Turku archipelago

Page 1 The former home port of Tolvan was Kuopio in the lake district.

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»Instead of an old wreck I saw a beautiful small tug, just waiting for an extensive refit« to Turku. He used to work on board his own ship when he was off from his ordinary job as a chief engineer. Although an engineer, he also has a certificate to navigate a merchant vessel in coastal traffic. “I have a friend who used to work on the Victoria and he owns a small tug. He thought that I should have a tug too, and later I heard that the old tug Tolvan was laid up in Siilinjärvi near Kuopio. When I looked at pictures of Tolvan I asked myself who on earth would like to buy that old wreck?” However, Bengt Fredriksson became curious and travelled to Siilinjärvi to take a closer look at the tug. She had been idle for some ten years with virtually no maintenance. This had left its mark in the paint, but the hull was sound and generally the tug was in good condition. Even the original Atlas Imperial diesel engine started when it was tested.

Captain on the bridge. Bengt Fredriksson in front of the wheelhouse.

“Instead of an old wreck I saw a beautiful small tug, just waiting for an extensive refit. Also the owner’s indication of the price was in line with my own thoughts, so I became seriously interested”, Bengt Fredriksson recalls his first impression. Without too much hesitation he decided to buy the Tolvan. The tug was moved to the port of Kuopio, where preparations were made, before the voyage via the Saimaa Canal to her coming home port Turku could begin last summer.

This armature was hardly used for deck lighting off the beaches of Normandy, but in more peaceful times it has housed many light bulbs.

»They could hardly believe that the Tolvan was built in 1944« “It was not possible to take her to Turku under her own power, so she was towed by a former patrol boat of the Rv-class, also called ‘Rautaville’ or just ‘Ville’. More correctly she was pushed, as we made her fast on her port quarter” Bengt Fredriksson says. The journey went without mishaps, and the odd equipage draw a lot of attention at the Russian border in the Saimaa Canal. “The Russian border guards were quite impressed and first asked how old Ville was. When they heard that she was built in the 1950s they asked what about the other vessel. They could hardly believe that the Tolvan was built in 1944. They paid so much attention to the old ships that the border could be crossed without much of any formalities. There were also a lot of other curious spectators by the canal.”

Now the Tolvan is moored at a small shipyard in

After an extensive overhaul, the main engine will run for thousands of hours.

Turku. The work to restore her into her former glory has already begun. But the intention of Bengt Fredriksson is not to turn the Tolvan into a floating museum. He will restore her in the spirit of the 1940s but with the comfort of the 2000s. “First of all the hull will be sand blasted and painted. I do not want to make any changes in her external appearance and I have not yet finally decided the colour of the hull and the funnel. The superstructure will remain white.”

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The manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plate in the engine room casing reveals that the Tolvan was originally named ST-480. The Atlas Imperial main egnine (below) has a legendary status among enthusiasts.

»It is told that one of the former chief engineers used to date two different women and bring them to the ship. The lack of space was never an issue« complicated, but an experienced engineer could reverse the engine and make it run full astern in less than half a minute. Engine room automation was unknown in the 1940s and almost everything is done manually. Today it is not possible to start the engine, but Bengt Fred riksson thinks that the overhaul will be completed during the summer. He just cannot wait to hear the familiar sound of the Atlas Imperial. “The sound of this engine is more like music than noise”, he says in a way that only a true engineer can. To make it easier to operate he plans to install some hydraulics, making it possible to control the engine from the bridge. His intention is also to replace the auxiliary engine and renovate the whole electric system on board. The original 110 V DC-system is out of date and a modern 380/220 V AC generator will be installed.

The most extensive changes on board will take

The washstand in the captain’s cabin offered some additional comfort to the simple conditions of a war time tug in the 1940s.

On the inside, Bengt Fredriksson plans to do more extensive alterations. “My primary intention is to make her more comfortable to operate and upgrade the accommodation, but she will also be equipped for some towing duties if needed.”

The main engine is under restoration. According to Bengt Fredriksson it is a strongly built piece of work and it is still possible to get spare parts from some suppliers. “It has surely more than 50,000 running hours, which is no match for a high quality-built engine of this type. The first owner Wilh Schauman put a lot of time and money to keep her in good condition. There are still a few vessels in the world powered by this classic engine”, he says with pride and demonstrates how simple it is to operate the engine from the engine room. When the skipper orders a manoeuvre from the bridge a bell is ringing in the engine room, with a different sound depending on the order. There are for example different signals for ahead or astern and also for the speed required. The engineer adjusts the fuel pressure by hand. The engine is non-reversible, which is still quite common in many ships. That means that when the ship shall go astern the engine has to be stopped first and then started in the opposite direction. It sounds

place in the accommodation. The mess room will be enlarged, the cabins completely modernized. Two cabins in the aft part of the superstructure will be rebuilt into a sauna compartment. When I enter the former cabin of the chief engineer I notice that it is amazingly small. “It is told that one of the former chief engineers used to date two different women and bring them to the ship. The lack of space was never an issue”, Bengt Fredriksson tells me with a rogue’s grin on his face. It is well known that seamen exaggerate, but I bought his story completely. This many years later, I can still feel the drama in the air. Excluding the radar set the wheelhouse is virtually in its original condition. However the steering wheel is missing. “Last autumn we had unwanted visitors who among other tings took the steering wheel and two navigation lights. Fortunately I had a couple of lights in reserve and now I am trying to find a similar wheel. It is most annoying, as the steering wheel was in good condition and represented craftsmanship from an era long gone. Now I have emptied the vessel of everything of value for thieves.”

A couple of years ago Bengt Fredriksson quit his job on the pusher tug and has since then been working full time as a shipowner. Now the shipments of sand from Sandö to Turku have ceased and the Victoria has only occasional employments in the archipelago. He has therefore put her up for sale. He has no intention of buying another cargo vessel. “Restoring the Tolvan is like a hobby for me. Indeed it is a costly hobby, I have calculated that the renovation of the vessel will cost at least as much as I paid for her.” Footnote: Read more about ST tugs on page 110.

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90 Shipgaz No 4 2009

By Rolf P Nilsson rolf@shipgaz.com

Report Stena E-MAXair

3D graphics: peter MilD

The Stena E-MAXair features an innovative bulbous bow and a compressed air cavity.

Floating on air

With innovative hull design, use of compressed air and dual-fuel propulsion, Stena Bulk and Stena Teknik are on their way to introduce what could be the most energy efficient and environmentally sustainable tanker ever built. Stena’s well-known MAX concept has been introduced in several tanker segments, with the 2002-built, 10,000-dwt C-MAXes being the smallest and the 2001-built, 312,000dwt V-MAXes the largest. The fleet of 65,000-dwt P-MAX MR product carriers currently consists of six units, with a further two to be delivered later this year. The current series will be concluded in 2010 when the two last units are delivered. That the market has welcomed the MAX concept is proved by the fact that long-term time charters cover all P-MAXes, including the four not yet delivered. And there are new MAXes on the drawing table, one being the 209,000dwt B-MAX that is designed to carry Russian crude through the Baltic Sea. Although Stena Bulk claims to currently be waiting for the right moment to order a number of B-MAXes, it is highly likely that the next MAX

tanker to be ordered will be another one that takes environmental performance to a higher level. Stena’s inhouse ship design team is working intensely on the development of a new 15,000-dwt coastal IMO II chemical/products carrier called E-MAXair, primarily for trade in North European waters.

»A cautious estimation is that the reduced friction will mean about ten per cent in fuel savings« The MAX ﬂeet today consists of: 2 C-MAX tankers, 2 V-MAX tankers, 6 P-MAX tankers with a further 4 P-MAXes on order.

“Our scope is to design a vessel with a significantly less environmental impact than today’s conventional coastal tankers”, says Jacob Norrby, Naval Architect and project manager at Stena Teknik. “We have two major operational limitations; the vessel shall be able to carry 13,500 tons of cargo through Drogden in Öresund to bypass the

Danish Belts, and calls at some oil terminals restricts the beam to 23 metres.” The result is a design that incorporates MAX redundancy features such as two engine rooms and double propulsion and manoeuvring systems. The vessel is slightly longer than a conventional comparable carrier, but due to the operational limitations, the E-MAXair can however not be built with the extreme breadth that characterizes the rest of the MAX family. The hull design features several new details. The patented forebody is designed with a unique ‘hammer shark bulbous bow’ that will optimize the water flow to a bottom section with a compressed air cavity, which reduces the friction against the water. “A cautious estimation is that the reduced friction will mean about ten per cent in fuel savings”, says Jacob Norrby.

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 91

Stena E-MAXair

Report

The air cavity takes up about 25 per cent of the hull’s wet surface. “This is a very promising solution for vessels with a large flat bottom area like tankers, but today we do not see it as an effective design for vessels with other hull forms, such as ferries and ro-ros”, says Jacob Norrby. The aft section of the vessel has also been given a smarter design with an improved hydrodynamic profile that enables the vessel to be fitted with larger, slow-rotating propellers. Stena expects the new hull design to save around 4.5–5 tons of fuel oil per day, compared to a conventional tanker of similar size. Additional savings can be achieved by for instance hull washing once a year and by propeller polishing once every third month. On the other hand, the Stena design team is cur-

3D graphics: Peter Mild

When designing a new vessel with the scope to reduce fuel consumption, the first thought is that the hull should have a slender form. The design developed by Stena has however significantly larger fuel savings potential in broader vessels such as the B-MAX and a prospective new P-MAX series.

The 15,000-dwt tanker has a liquid capacity of 18,200 cubic metres.

rently somewhat sceptical to the promises from paint manufacturers that their new paint products will reduce fuel consumption. “We are monitoring the development closely, and we are conducting our own tests. So far, we have found no scientific evidence that supports the manufacturers’ statements”, says Jacob Norrby. “If we get more solid

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92 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Report Stena E-MAXair 3D graphics: Peter Mild

»The decisive factor is what amounts of wind energy there are on the routes a vessel is expected to trade on« be fitted with a dual-fuel engine, and with two deck-mounted LNG tanks. These will have capacity to keep the vessel running on LNG and MDO for 22 days. By burning LNG instead of bunker oil, a further two tons of bunker oil can be saved.

LNG also has other economical

A SkySails kite could add 6–9 per cent in fuel savings. to trade on”, Jacob Norrby explains. “Having a kite on a height of 200 metres is 5–10 times more efficient than a fixed deck solution, and theoretically it could generate 6–9page per cent SeaTradeMedia half 14/11/08 savings for the E-MAXair.” According to Stena, the kite is an

07:56

interesting solution, but the company has not taken any final decision yet whether or not to fit the vessels with the system, claiming that there Page are 1 still technical problems to solve. The choice of propulsion will also add to the savings. The E-MAXair will

and environmental advantages. It is a clean fuel that reduces the need of maintenance and air emissions are cut drastically. LNG emits 25 per cent less carbon dioxide, and in combination with the lesser fuel consumption, an E-MAXair vessel is estimated to emit 35–40 per cent less CO2 than a conventional tanker of similar size that is burning oil. LNG also emits 90 per cent less NOx, 99 per cent less particulate matter and no SOx at all.

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No 4 2009 Shipgaz 93

Stena E-MAXair

Through generators, the engines power two electrical motors connected to the shafts. An advantage is the flexibility to choose the propeller’s rpm instead of being limited to the engines’ rpm.

There is however still a question mark concerning costs. “We have received only limited information yet and lack firm offers. We know that they are more expensive than conventional diesel engines, but not how much”, says Jacob Norrby and there is according to him probably a historical aspect that has influenced the price gap. “The marine dual-fuel engine was initially developed for the large gas carriers. The engine manufacturers could probably raise their prices substantially and shipowners would still make huge savings by switching from very expensive steam turbines.” Dual fuel engines are still favourable as fuel logistics is a major challenge in the E-MAXair project. Today, availability is limited with few ship bunkering stations around Northern Europe. There are a handful gas powered ferries in Norway, but it is of

Report

Stena E-MAXair Class...........................DNV (or similar LR) +1A1, Tanker for Oil Products, ESP, Tanker for Chemicals (IMO II), NAUTICUS (Newbuilding), ICE 1A, LCS-DC, RP, NAUT-AW, ETC, CCO, E0, VCS-2, TMON, CLEAN DESIGN, BWM-T, BIS Length o a...................................................... 158 m Breadth, moulded..........................................23 m course easier to supply gas bunkers to vessels with regular calls in a limited number of fixed ports, than it is to secure supply to a tanker in irregular trade. Stena is looking into a number of possibilities. Using barges is one option; another is to place containerized LNG tanks in key terminals, which are supplied by smaller gas carriers.

Another feature that is rare on tankers of this size is that the EMAXair will probably be built with a separate pump room. This will house ballast water pumps and the ballast water treatment equipment. All in all, the new hull design, the compressed air and the gas power, topped by a kite, are estimated to re-

Draught, scantling.......................................8.2 m Deadweight, scantling...........................16,400 t Liquid.....................................................18,200 m3 Engine output...........................................5.7 MW Aux......................................................... 2 x 2.7 MW Speed, service.......................................... 13 knots Tanks.............................7 x 2 cargo + slop +drain duce fuel oil consumption by 7 tons per day compared to a conventional tanker of similar size, to 15 tons LNG per day. The shipbuilding market has gone soft, and that is not only sending newbuilding prices southward. Today, even South Korean shipyards are interested in specialized, custom made newbuilding projects. According to Ulf G. Ryder, CEO of Stena Bulk, there is a possibility that a first E-MAXair order is placed already this autumn. For the design team, the challenge continues however. There are loads of work to do, problems to solve and an ambitious testing programme to carry out before the first state-of-the-art EMAXair vessel will sail out on its first voyage.

94 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Technical Review Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

Photo: cybergraphy technology inc

New global tracking system

The system integrates both GSM/GPRS and Iridium dual radio system in one device. It has very low latency time and can send data from anywhere in the world in a few seconds. It also has a very low air time price, per Iridium message the price will be lower than a sms. The Iridium system supports 66 satellites, and can work in high density city,jungles and marines. It can receive signal in all directions when the vehicle is moving. It operates at 1.6G radio band frequency. G200R can be installed and tracking aircrafts. It supports live video and fuel level real time monitoring. It also supports third party software developer for their own server based applications. All protocol is the same G200X to save customers from software investment without modification. Accessories include camera, fuel level sensor, temperature sensor, vibrations sensor, G-sensor and small printer.

For more information:

Erik Laidvee, Tel: +372 631 92 05 tk@tk.ee, www.tk.ee

Keeping the air dry equipment For preventing water entering into the air conditioning system with the supply air, all the air intakes in the hull and superstructure of the Baltic Queen are equipped with demisters. They are supplied by Alupro Oy in Finland, a company specialized in manufacturing different kinds of aluminium louver systems. Although most of the company’s installations still are found ashore, the maritime sector has been growing fast during the last years. The shipyards in Finland have had a key role in this development, building large passenger ships and expanding their network of sub-suppliers.

“Demisters are especially important on board cruise liners and ferries, as the large number of passengers need an immense amount of air. In addition to that the standards set for air quality are extremely high”, Product Manager Jim Tackman of Alupro explains. According to him Alupro is one of the few enterprises whose demisters have been tested for quality by independent parties. “The tough tests have been performed by the Technical Research Centre of Finland and conform to the requirements of the EN13030:2001 standard.” Alupro has also developed screening louvers for hiding the demisters on the sides of ships. “These horizontal louvers are used for architectural reasons only”, Jim Tackman

Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

communication Cybergraphy Technology Inc now introduces the new product GlobalTrack G200R IRIDIUM GPS Tracking System. The Iridium System is a satellite-based, wireless communications network providing a robust suite of voice and data services to virtually any destination anywhere on earth. With 66 satellites forming a crosslinked grid above the earth, the Iridium system is the first low-earth orbiting system for telephone service. Only 780 km (450 miles) high, these satellites work different from those at a much higher orbit (26,000 km) in two major ways. First, they are close enough to receive the signals of a handheld device; and second, they act like cellular towers in the sky – where wireless signals can move overhead instead of through ground based cells.

Jim Tackman. stresses. “They simply screen the demisters, making the intakes in the sides of the ships blend better into the exterior.” The demister itself is a mechanical device, separating the water from the air before it enters the ship’s air conditioning systems. This is important, as sea-water in a short time would cause serious problems with corrosion in the air ducts. The demister consists of a series of vertical elements with a certain profile, situated close to each other. The elements are equipped with lamellas, removing the moisture from the flowing air. Depending on the requirements, the demisters are made of marine grade aluminium alloy or stainless steel. The separated water is collected on the surface of the louver, whereafter the water runs down along the surface and is drained. The delivery of Alupro Oy to the Baltic Queen comprised of 19 demister units.

For more information:

Jim Tackman, Tel: +358 20 742 1700 jim.tackman@alupro.fi, www.alupro.fi

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 95

Contact the editorial staff at info@shipgaz.com

Technical Review Photo: kvh

New compact member in the Inmarsat family Communication Recently, KVH Industries Inc introduced its compact and affordable new TracPhone FB150 maritime satellite communications system. At just 34 cm in diameter and 33 cm high, the TracPhone FB150 is the smallest in KVH’s complete line of Inmarsat FleetBroadband-compatible TracPhone systems. The fully stabilised TracPhone FB150 will offer IP data connections up to 150 Kbps and simultaneous voice and SMS service, all via Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband network, in a compact and affordable package for leisure and commercial vessels, fishing boats, and small government vessels.

“The new TracPhone FB150 is a great choice for owners of smaller vessels who want a high-quality, basic satellite communications system with hardware and airtime rates that fit their budget”, says Svend Lykke Larsen, managing director of KVH

Europe. “This system offers mariners Inmarsat’s dependable, global broadband voice and data coverage and long-term network dependability as well as KVH’s industryleading quality and support.” KVH Industries, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, KVH Europe A/S, are leading providers of in-motion satellite TV and communications systems, having designed, manufactured and sold more than 150,000 mobile satellite antennas for applications on vessels, vehicles, and aircraft. KVH’s mission is to connect mobile customers with the same digital television entertainment, communications and Internet services that they enjoy in their homes and offices.

For more information:

Jens Gegner Andreasen, Marketing Coordinator, KVH Europe A/S, Tel: +45 45 160 180 jga@kvh.dk, www.kvh.com

TISK to help general cargo terminals Software Transiidikeskuse AS, an Estonian transit group, has developed and patented a unique technological solution called TISK (Transit Info System Keeping). The new stevedoring information system is universal, enabling electronic control of the whole cargo movement cycle, from a ship’s arrival in port to receipt of payments for services rendered. TISK is especially well-suited to general cargo processing, for instance the Refetra terminal at Muuga harbour, which has 2,500 process charts. Chairman of the Board of Transiidikeskuse AS Erik Laidvee explains that the group has developed the system because it will save a lot of time, for example when processing cargo ranging from 15 kg boxes to 50-ton metal reels. Every new piece of information only needs to be entered once, and the system can be quickly adjusted to the specific needs of any stevedoring company, able to incorporate both new and existing software. A period of 3–6 months will be enough for the implementation of the integrated solution, which comes in Estonian, English and Russian, and which will soon be available in Chinese, too.

For more information:

Erik Laidvee, Tel: +372 631 92 05 tk@tk.ee www.tk.ee

230

In the first phase of the Middle East Gulf rail project a 230 km line linking Muscat to Sohar is being studied. According to Lloyd’s List, the French company Systra is carrying out preparatory work for the construction.

New book explores hull modeling systems ship design Today the geometry of most hull forms are almost invariably developed using one of the commercially avaliable hull modeling software packages. This new book, The Geometry of Ships, written by John S Letcher Jr, presents the theoretical basis for these hull modeling systems and the procedures for computing hull

geometric, buoyancy and other properties by mathematical methods utilizing such models. The book is available from the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) and emphasizes the nomenclature and fundamental underlying several different methods of hull geometrical modeling. The author, John S Letcher Jr, has written

over 30 publications on computer-aided design and analysis of boats, ships and marine structures.

96 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Technical Review Photo: fredrik davidsson

GAC launches workwear line products GAC Workwear, formed by GAC together with Kwintet Fristads, provides maritime workwear such as garments, footwear and other protective accessories. Christer Sjödoff, Group Vice President for GAC Solutions, believes that there is a demand for quality workwear in the maritime industry. “Customers looking for cost efficiency and safety when clothing their employees will appreciate the durability and quality of GAC Workwear”, he says. The majority of the products are safety assured and it is guaranteed that no hazardous to health are used in the manufacture of different parts of the garments.

For more information:

Esther Oon-Bybjerg, Tel: +65 6327 9612 esther.oon-bybjerg@gacworld.com

Hempel awarded awards Hempasil X3, a new fouling release coating from Hempel, has won the prestigious Seatrade Award for its contribution to protection of the marine and athmospheric environment within the shipping industry. Hempasil X3 is proven to reduce a vessel’s fuel consumption and associated CO2 emissions by four to eight per cent. Applied to every vessel in the world’s shipping fleet, the reduction in CO2 could be as much as 90 million tonnes a year. This is the second award won by Hempasil X3. In April this year, it won Ingeniørens Product Award 2009.

For more information:

Torben Rasmussen, Tel: +45 4527 3620 tr@hempel.com, www.hempel.com

info.nordic@spectec.net www.spectec.net

New set of offshore standards for mooring information In response to recent research and development work and the industry’s operational experiences with mooring systems, DNV has released a complete set of Offshore Standards covering systems design, materials, product quality, certification requirements and the fabrication process. Several recent mooring incidents have jolted operators of offshore installations into finding ways to ensure that mooring systems meet acceptable safety requirements. DNV’s new set of Offshore Standards helps industry players to demonstrate their commitment to safety.

The standards take into consideration the wealth of experience in mooring chains that has been gained by the industry over the past few years. Advances in materials and testing that have helped to improve product quality are included in the standards. “We worked particularly hard to ensure that a more appropriate regime is put in place when it comes to fabricating and

testing shackles and components in mooring systems. This will help the industry to overcome challenges involving brittle materials”, says Astrid Gaarde, head of DNV’s mooring section. The new standards are aligned with the DNV certification scheme for mooring systems which again is in compliance with current requirements set out by the International Association of Classification Societies. Moorings in various locations around the globe experience many different combinations of wind, wave and current effects. The specification of metocean conditions for mooring design has been improved to better cover this variety, and more examples have been provided for guidance to operators in international waters.

For more information:

Astri Gaarde, Tel: +47 959 48 900 astri.gaarde@dnv.com, www.dnv.com

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98 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Fleet review Photo: bent mikkelsen

Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

The Finnmaid in the Finnstar class.

New service to Poland

Novoship takes delivery of NS Arctic newbuilding The Russian shipping company Novorossiysk Shipping Company, Novoship, has taken delivery of the product tanker NS Arctic, 112.000 dwt, built at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. The vessel is 250 metres long and 44 metres wide and has a draft of 14.7 metres and ice class 1B. It has a power plant developing 14.280 kW, giving it a speed of 15 knots. The NS Arctic has DNV’s environmental classification Clear Notation. The next vessels in the series, the NS Antarctic, NS Asia and NS Africa, will be delivered this year.

Photo: bent mikkelsen

service Finnlines will start up a service between Helsinki and Gdynia with ro-pax vessels in the Finnstar class. Finnlines recently transferred two of these vessels from Nordö Link’s service between Malmö and Travemünde to Finnlines’ service between Helsinki and Travemünde, where all five vessels in this series now are employed. ”They were definitively on the wrong route before. We have reorganised Finnlines’ services for better utilisation of the capacity on the different routes. Generally speaking, I believe that it will improve from the extremely low 50 per cent last winter to a more acceptable 70 per cent from June”, says President and CEO Emanuele Grimaldi. Finnlines offers ten sailings a week between Helsinki and Travemünde and three of these will be operated via Gdynia from the beginning of June. The crossing time for the direct sailings is less than 27 hours; via Gdynia, the total sailing time is two nights and one day.

The Rhodos Cement is built in Hamburg.

KCL Baron has been towed from a lay up berth close to the cement factory in Aalborg to Frederikshavn.

Cement carriers sold for recycling recycling Three Norwegian controlled cement carriers have been sold for recycling in Denmark due to the global financial crisis. The crisis has led to fewer construction projects, therefore a large number of cement carriers have been laid up for several months. The Norwegian operator Torvald Klaveness has sold its cement carrier KCL Baron to Orla’s Produkt forretning in Frederikshavn. The ship has been towed from a lay up berth close to the cement factory in Aalborg to Frederikshavn. KCL Baron is built by Higaki Zosen in Imabari, Japan, in 1979 as Sumise Maru No. 8 for Japanese domestic trade.

In 1999 the ship was sold to Tordenskiold Group in Norway and became Cem Cover. When the Tordenskiold Group collapsed in 2004 the ship was taken over by a company controlled by Torvald Klaveness and given the name KCL Baron. The 4,400 dwt-carrier has been laid up at Aalborg since early March. The other Norwegian operator is the

Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Skipsrederi A/S. The company has sold the Madeira-flagged cement carrier Margo Cement to Smedegaarden in Esbjerg for recycling. The vessel arrived under own power to Esbjerg, after being laid-up in Aalborg since March. The vessel was built in Japan as Kiyotaki Maru and delivered in 1975. The vessel was sold to Europe in 1999 and shortly after it was renamed Cem Coaster. From 2005 and forward the vessel has been sailing as Margo Cement. Kristian Gerhard Jebsen has also sold Rhodos Cement, 4,151 dwt to Smedegaarden for recycling. Rhodos Cement arrived at Es bjerg under own power after being laid-up at Limassol, Cyprus, since October. Rhodos Cement is built by J. J. Sietas in Hamburg in 1972 as Milburn Carrier for New Zealand trading. It remained in New Zealand waters until 1988, when the vessel was sold to Arklow Shipping in Ireland and became Arklow Carrier. From 1996 the name was Cem River and it sailed for the Tordenskiold Group and from 2004 it operated as Rhodos Cement.

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 99

Fleet review

The editor of the Fleet review section is Pär-Henrik Sjöström, contact him at par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Photo: dfds

Photo: fredrik davidsson

Sale of DFDS ship failed

Älvtank finished with vessel upgrade upgrade Rederi AB Älvtank, Donsö, finally found time to dock their new 17,000 dwt product carrier Ramira and paint her in the company’s red colour. The vessel was taken over by Älvtank in February from the previous owner Turkish Dünya Shipping, closely affiliated with Broström, when the vessel had done eight journeys under the name Gan-Gesture.

“We signed the deal to buy the vessel the day before Christmas Eve”, says CEO Christian Nilsson. The Ramira has several sisters since Dünya had six vessels in the series built to begin with, and then declared two further options out of which the new Älvtank vessel is number one. The vessel will be employed in traffic on Europe with occasional trips to North America and West Africa. During the

docking at Cityvarvet the Ramira is not only painted outside and inside, but a number of other improvements are also fitted, like new flooring, sofas and kitchen equipment. “We have to upgrade her to the Donsö class”, says Christian Nilsson. A satellite communications system is also fitted and the stripping system is modified to make it more efficient, which will save time in port. Älvtank sold their vessel Nanny in October 2008, when prices where still reasonable, and needed a replacement. “When we inspected the vessel for the first time in November in Amsterdam where she had her first discharge, we immediately saw it was a good vessel, all the hardware and major components are from well known companies. This is a vessel we can keep for 15 or 20 years.”

Landskrona Stål AB

no sale DFDS Group announces that the sale of the cruise ferry Queen of Scandinavia has fallen through. The unofficial buyer who earlier signed a contract to buy the vessel for DKK 170 million, was unable to make the payment in time. DFDS prolonged the payment period, but the buyer was still unable to raise the money. This means that DFDS will still be owner of the Queen of Scandinavia when the charter as an accommodation vessel in Oskarshamn expires at the end of May. DFDS is now working on securing employment for the rest of the year for the vessel, which is supernumerary in the fleet. The vessel has been idle since September 2008, when the Bergen-Newcastle service was closed down. The Queen of Scandinavia was built in Turku in 1981 and was purchased by DFDS in 1990.

270

Cruise calls. The number of cruise vessel calls in the port of Helsinki is at the same level this summer as in 2008. The port will be visited by cruise vessels 270 times.

REPAIR SHIPYARD IN HELSINGBORG SWEDEN ”The shipyard in the heart of Oresund Strait”

~24 hrs service ~ Dry dock: Crane cap: Phone: Fax:

112 x 16 meters 40 and 5 tons +46 42 12 02 95 +46 42 18 09 16

E-Mail:

landskronastal@landskronastal.se

Helsingborgs Shipyard with a rich history in shipbuilding and repairs since 1876, is now run by Landskrona Stål AB. We can perform repairs both in our drydock, as well as on board ship.

www.landskronastal.se

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www.transtec-neva.com

No 4 2009 Shipgaz 101

Fleet review

ESL Shipping to sell the Kontula disposal The Finnish shipping company ESL Shipping Ltd, which is included in the Aspo Group, will dispose of the oldest ship in the fleet. Preparations are being made for selling the 29 years old 31,850 dwt geared bulk carrier Kontula for a price of USD 4.0 million. The transaction is expected to bring a sales gain of about EUR 3 million, to be recognized in the result for the second quarter. The Kontula was built by Wärtsilä Turku

Photo: dale crisp

Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

Skou vessel sold for recycling recycling The very last newbuilding to the Danish company Ove Skou has been sold for recycling in China. Ove Skou A/S was closed down in 1991, when the ship Ove Skou was sold as the very last one in the fleet. The 160 metres long vessel vessel was delivered from Aalborg Værft in 1982. The vessel, 14,575 dwt, was a modern multipurpose tweendecker fitted for container transport as well as liner trade with all kinds of cargo. From 2004 the ship was renamed Cape Moreton sailing in liner service from Far East to Australia for Australasia Line. From 2005 a Norwegian company owned the ship with continued timecharter to Australasia Line.

shipyard in 1980 and is ice strengthened to Finnish/Swedish ice class 1A. She has five holds with a total capacity of 42,505 cubic meters. The four cranes have a lifting capacity of 22 tons with grabs of 12,5 cubic metres, enabling a self discharge capacity of 1,200 tons of coal per hour. The ship is equipped with a Wärtsilä Sulzer 6RND 76 slow speed main engine with an output of 9,400 kW. It is direct coupled to a controllable pitch propeller.

Newbuilding contracts in the Nordic market Month

Owner

Nat

Dwt

Type

Shipyard

Delivery

Mar

Simon Møkster

97 m

errv

Ast Gondan

4.11

Value

Remarks fitting out, ex Flekkefjord-191

Apr

JSC Circle Marine

Rus

65 m

icebr

STX Norway, Tulcea 10

NOK 250 m

Aker Arctic

JSC Circle Marine

Rus

65 m

icebr

STX Norway, Tulcea 10

NOK 250 m

Aker Arctic

NOK 250 m

Aker Arctic

JSC Circle Marine

Rus

65 m

icebr

STX Norway, Tulcea 11

Boa Offshore

95 m

mpsv

Bergen Yards Fosen 11

VS495, hull Mingde China

Boa Offshore

95 m

mpsv

Bergen Yards Fosen 11

VS495, hull Mingde China

Boa Offshore

95 m

mpsv

Bergen Yards Fosen 12

VS495, hull Mingde China

95 m

Boa Offshore

mpsv

Bergen Yards Fosen 12

VS495, hull Mingde China

psv

Bergen Yards Fosen 12

MT6007, hull Mingde China

Secondhand transactions in the Nordic market Month Name

Dwt

Built

Type

From

March

37,348c

1980

lpg

BW Gas, Oslo

Havrim

Buyer

Remarks/New name

breaking

Sigas Marquis

1985

lpg

Camillo Eitzen & Co, Oslo

Turkey

Nordtimber

2,400

1972

dry cargo

Nordship, Gävle

Lupin Shipping

Lavinia

Nordcarrier

1,600

1977

dry cargo

Nordship, Gävle

Lupin Shipping

Laguna Lunden

Nordtrader

Lucia Bulker

1,637c

Price

USD 1.2 m

1,582

1977

dry cargo

Nordship, Gävle

Lupin Shipping

73,800

1999

bulk

Lauritzen Bulkers, Cph

undisclosed

USD 24 m

Royal Bulker

27,000

1996

bulk

Lauritzen Bulkers, Cph

USD 12.65 m

undisclosed

Bass Bulker

27,000

1996

bulk

Lauritzen Bulkers, Cph

USD 12.5 m

undisclosed

USD 95 m

Höegh Berlin

57,280*

2005 pctc

Höegh Autoliners, Oslo

Höegh Trinity

45,365*

1981

Höegh Autoliners, Oslo

Star Dover

43,082

1978

open-h

Grieg Shipping, Bergen

breaking China

Spar Two

36,227

1982

bulk

Spar Shipping, Bergen

China

pctc

USD 3.25 m

Marenave, Hamburg

breaking

Spar Eight

35,971

1982

bulk

Spar Shipping, Bergen

USD 3.25 m

China

Spar Ruby

28,259

1985

bulk

Spar Shipping, Bergen

USD 5.3 m

undisclosed



102 Shipgaz No 4 2009

Fleet review Month Name

Dwt

Built

Type

From

Price

Buyer

Jaco Spirit

9,600

1987

dry cargo

Th Jacobsen, Sarpsborg

USD 4.5 m

Far East

Rhodos Cement

4,074

1972

cement

K G Jebsen, Bergen

breaking Denmark

Margo Cement

1,990

1975

cement

K G Jebsen, Bergen

breaking Denmark

Nina

Dorset

2,700

1987

dry cargo

Merilaura, Åbo

Red AB Vidar, Åbo

23,572

1978

dry cargo

Uleholmen Shipping, Oslo

breaking Pakistan

Yangzhou resale

58,000

2009 bulk

Belships, Oslo

undisclosed incl TC

Yangzhou resale

58,000

2009 bulk

Belships, Oslo

undisclosed incl TC

Tsuneishi resale

58,000

Rem Balder

2,600

2009 bulk

Korea Line, Pusan

2007

Rem Offshore, Fosnavåg

ahrs

USD 32 m

Remarks/New name

Ugland Shipping, Grimstad Solstad Offshore, Skudeneshavn

Rem Commander

4,100

2006 psv

Rem Offshore, Fosnavåg