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Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström.
Growth continues in the Finnish maritime cluster
Technology is the leading word for the Finnish maritime cluster, which during the last years has grown further in importance. The shipbuilding industry and its network of suppliers are a characteristic feature for Finland.
The Esvagt Contender and the Esvagt Beta alongside in Esbjerg. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen.
Esvagt does it on their own
Esvagt A/S has reactivated their own private “shipyard” on a quayside in their home port of Esbjerg. Not for the first time, but rather the 25th time, to rebuild an existing ship that will be altered for a new assignment in order to fulfil the requirements of a customer.
The new board of directors of Nordic Tankers. From the left: Mogens Worre Sørensen, Mads Roikjer, Steen Bryde, Brian Petersen, Geir Jansen. Photo: Nordic Tankers.
Hostile takeover of Danish Nordic Tankers
Nordic Tankers, one of the youngest Danish listed companies, was raided on April 23, when the annual general assembly was held in Copenhagen. Financial tycoon Steen Bryde took over and put in his own board of directors and sent the old one off to the dark.
Jan Horck (second from the left) on a field study with some of the students from WMU. Photo: Rolf P Nilsson.
Cultural differences: strength or burden?
Average claims cost for groundings up by 148 per cent compared to 2000, collisions up by 123 per cent and engine claims up by 89 per cent. It is a dark picture that the Norwegian Hull Club paints and their voice is just one in a growing choir expressing deep concern over where maritime safety is heading when human error is becoming an increasingly important factor.
The Torm Moselle is one of the former OMI tankers. Here dressed up as a Torm tanker leaving the shipyard at El Ferrol, Spain, after repainting. Photo: Roberto Marin.
DENMARK:
Adding another record-breaking year
Maritime Denmark in general can look back at another year so good that it overrides the previous record year. The Danish shipping companies have had very good timing on ordering new ships to get their fair share of the boom in the shipping market right now. And it will continue for the coming years – if the market continues to rise steadily.
Erria: A one-stop-shop in global shipping
Erria A/S is the name of the umbrella that contains a number of Danish companies with relations to shipping. Some years ago they were gathered under the one umbrella, selling a number of services to a variety of customers.
When the Viking XPRS (left) called at Tallinn for the first time April 28, the Superstar (centre) had already been there in traffic for a week. The Nordlandia (right) keeps up the competition on the Tallinn–Helsinki run. Photo: Madli Vitismann.
ESTONIA:
Fleets are modernising
New ships will be built for several Estonian shipowners this year in spite of the fact that shipping aid has become maritime aid and that only EEK 1.8 million was actually paid out of the 30 million allocated to support shipping. Nevertheless, some shipowners are ordering new ships and selling older ones.
Photo: Tiit Mõtus.
Merging Tallink and Silja
Kadri Land, Director of Tallink Silja AB, often travels by sea because she now has homes both in Stockholm and Tallinn. She considers it an important way of retaining close and direct connections between the head office and the subsidiary company.
Launching of the Uzava, which was delivered to LASCO from the 3. Maj Shipyard in Croatia this year. Photo: LASCO.
LATVIA:
LASCO renewing
The Latvian Shipping Company (LASCO) is about to complete its fleet modernisation programme, and goes on to order more new ships. Unimars has placed a newbuilding order as well. Tallink intends to replace ships on a successful route.
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LJL and Limarko ships sail all over the world, while DFDS LISCO’s liner traffic shows the ships in their home port. The LISCO Optima calls at Klaipeda. Photo: Madli Vitismann.
LITHUANIA:
The three big ones keep to their own flag
Lithuanian shipping companies are not yet ordering new vessels, but modernising their fleets more modestly. They have been granted a tonnage tax, but not yet an exemption from the social tax. However, the vessels of all three larger companies remain under the Lithuanian flag.
Vytautas Lygnugaris, chairman of the Lithuanian Shipowners’ Association is very optimistic about the further development of the country’s fleet. Photo: Madli Vitismann.
Lithuania’s successful lobbying
Vytautas Lygnugaris, the Chairman of the Lithuanian Shipowners’ Association, does not complain that the state does not listen to shipowners. On the contrary, the state listens with interest. It makes Estonians jealous.
The newly built Finnlady. Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström.
FINLAND:
Growth at last
Last year the Finnish flagged merchant fleet grew both in number of vessels and tonnage. This may be a sign of breaking the negative trend although it is mainly the result of replacing some older vessels with larger ones.
Several newcomers under the Finnish flag
Finnlines’ new ro-pax vessel Finnlady, Godby Shipping’s newbuildings Misana and Misida as well as Langh Ship’s container vessels Aila and Linda had a clear impact on the statistics of the Finnish merchant fleet last year. But above all the two large Finnish flagged product carriers Stena Poseidon and Palva increased the Finnish-flagged tonnage in 2007.
The Rio de la Plata of Hamburg Süd. Photo: Hamburg Süd.
GERMANY:
Owners come to grips with manning problems
Prospects for a still buoyant and expansive German shipping industry remained good this spring after a record year and despite continuing problems like a chronic manpower shortage, rising bunkers and widely fluctuating currency exchange rates.
Expansion all round as Hapag-Lloyd clouds the issue
Uncertainty over the future of Germany’s most prominent shipping company, Hapag-Lloyd, and the hoped-for, if unlikely, possibility that it might just stay in German hands, overshadowed the sector as SSG went to press.
The Höegh Shanghai. Photo: Höegh Autoliners.
NORWAY:
A time for growth
Four years of strong, dynamic markets, restored profitability and ambition and, at last, a satisfactory shipping policy. What more could the Norwegian shipping industry possibly crave for?
On April 29, Sovcomflot took delivery of the Transsib Bridge. Last year, only two out of 16 new cargo vessels were registered in the RIRS, but the situation is now gradually changing. Photo: Alexandr Kalinin / seanews.ru.
RUSSIA:
Law on second register ineffective
The Russian International Register of Ships (RIRS) Act passed in late 2005 was supposed to facilitate the return of Russian vessels registered in offshore zones. Yet, this has still not begun on a large scale. The reason is as simple as it is traditional for Russia: the cumbersome bureaucratic apparatus that was to prepare the necessary legislation has been slow to start and most of the legal issues connected with the RIRS were only settled in November 2007.
Kremlin consolidating its tanker assets
December 2007 saw the completion of the merger between Russia’s two largest state-owned shipping companies: Modern Commercial Fleet (Sovcomflot) and Novorossiysk Shipping Company (Novoship).
The opening ceremony of the industry meeting days at the Maritime Academy in Kalmar attracted more than 60 companies eager to recruit new officers. Photo: Rolf P Nilsson.
SWEDEN:
Tonnage tax still the big issue
Owners appeared, slowly, to be coming to Swedish shipowners is obviously a patient breed. For years, the industry has waited for an answer from the government to their call for a tonnage tax scheme.
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