Scandinavian Shipping Gazette
May 19, 2006

Clouds on the shipping horizon
It is summer and the sun is shining bright over Scandinavia and its shipping communities. Each one is prepared for the future, with a large fleet of modern ships. Orders have been placed for the ships of the future, which means deliveries in 2010 and 2011, so in that direction things are looking bright. But the horizon is not cloudless.
Recruitment is the weak spot.

TMSA – a new industry standard
The Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) is a voluntary association of oil companies having an interest in the shipment and terminalling of crude oil and oil products. They are representing the cargo owners and their aim is to promote a safe and environmentally responsible operation of oil tankers and terminals.

Right fairway may reduce
coastal pollution
There was relief among the coastal inhabitants of Estonia when storms of the 2005/2006 autumn and winter season finally ended and it was clear that no major flooding or other extreme event was under way. The relief, alas, was premature: two major oil pollution accidents soiled dozens of kilometres of the northern coast.

Hull no. 203 at Odense Steel Shipyard is a large one. Over 400 metres in length makes it the largest container ship in the world. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

Here comes the big one
The international shipping community will certainly be taken by surprise in July, when A. P. Møller-Mærsk’s liner division Maersk Line presents its world record-breaking containership.

Offshore: good times ahead
The offshore industry is looking at a very prosperous future within the next five years. A number of driving forces at the market are pointing in the right direction for rig owners, supply ship owners, for oil exploration companies, and even for national states with underground offshore oil reserves. All of these will benefit from the historically high oil price and the new lease of life for operators worldwide.
Photo: Stena Drilling

A MAX vessel for extreme drilling
Stena Drilling’s orders of two Drill-MAX vessels, to be built by Samsung Heavy Industries, are based on a confident belief in a growing demand for oil exploration in harsh environments. Each vessel is in itself the single largest investment ever made by Stena and by far the most expensive vessels built in South Korea.

Turning an old ferry
into a modern offshore construction vessel
These are the ingredients of a rather unique cocktail: a sad-looking, laid-up ferry, a Croatian shipyard, an innovative marine consultant and a large sum of money. The cocktail, which will be shown sometime at the beginning of next year, is a unique large offshore construction vessel ready to enter the offshore market.

Arctic offshore –
an unprecedented challenge
Exploration for oil and gas offshore in the Arctic region in Europe and subsequent production and transport, pose huge technological, environmental and possibly also political challenges. So far only Russia and Norway have seriously explored the resources in the region, but they encounter similar problems to those facing both Canada and the United States.

FPSOs for deep
and ultra deep water
Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels or units have been around for nearly 30 years. The technology was first used on the Castellon field in 1977. However, another 15 years passed until the technology was generally accepted in the industry.

Finstaship combines
icebreaking and offshore
After more than ten years of operations with combined icebreakers and offshore vessels both in the North Sea and other waters, the next step for Finstaship will be to conquer the Arctic. In the beginning of the 1990’s a new generation of Finnish icebreakers was designed.

Maersk Group: Seven new
drilling rigs on order
The Danish giant A P Møller-Maersk has also taken the lead in offshore. By ordering four new jack-up rigs and three semi-submersible rigs from Singapore, the subsidiary Maersk Contractors is the single company in the world with the highest number of new rigs under construction.

Offshore: towards new frontiers
Triggered by the looming shortage of energy worldwide, the quest for oil and gas resources under the seabed has entered a new phase. The oil companies have scaled up their exploration programmes, new fields are being developed for construction and drilling contractors and service suppliers are gearing up to meet the expected demand.

Ulstein sets a new record
with the UT 755
The Norwegian shipbuilder and designer Ulstein, which now is part of the Rolls-Royce Group, has recently signed a record-breaking contract with the Norwegian shipowner Mykklebusthaug Shipping for building a supply ship of the type UT 755. This was the 100th contract for a UT 755. That makes the UT 755 the largest type (in numbers) of supply vessels in the world.

Maersk Contractors signs
for an FPSO unit
Maersk Contractors, the offshore division of the A. P. Møller-Maersk Group, has signed a contract for a Floating Production Storage Offloading unit (FPSO) for the Australian waters. The new unit will be built on the relatively new VLCC tanker Ellen Maersk, which will be purchased from A. P. Møller-Maersk A/S.

Deepwater operation will grow
in the coming years
Deepwater operation will continue the rising trend that started five years ago and constitute a further growing part of offshore in the coming years. Especially Brazil, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico will be areas of renewed interest for the supply ship operators. They have created themselves a market between the larger construction vessels and the more ordinary supply ships. A lucrative market, to say the least.

Also in this issue: News review, Market reports, SES Onboard, Finance and Insurance, Technical News, IT & Communications, Fleet News, Market Reports and more.

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