The Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority has announced its intention to purchase two Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs) from Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS) of Covington, La., for conversion to freight ferries. The sister vessels — the 2009-built HOS Lode Star and 2008-built HOS Shooting Star — are 73-meter long 240 class OSVs.

They are being acquired to replace the Steamship Authority’s aging open deck freight ferries, the 1981-buillt M/V Gay Head and 1982-built M/V Katama. Those, too, started off life as sister offshore service vessels. In 1988, the Steamship Authority converted the Katama to ferry service, adding a rounded stern to fit loading ramps and a small passenger area. Ten years later, the Katama received an additional upgrade as a fifty-foot midsection was added along with more powerful EMD engines. Acquired a year after the Katama, the Gay Head also received a fifty-foot midsection upgrade, as well as a new engine upgrade in the mid 1990s.

Both are now showing their age.

Just last week the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette reported that the cost of overhauling the M/V Katama, originally estimated at $1.1 million, had ballooned by more than 40% after deteriorating structural steel was discovered during drydocking.

The Steamship Authority says that a recent study that it commissioned identified the two freight vessels as having an expected useful life of less than five years, while the two OSVs being acquired from HOS have an estimated remaining useful life of at least 25 years.

Initial cost estimates for the acquisition, conversion and re-activation of the two OSVs is approximately $30 million. The Steamship Authority will finance the acquisition through the sale of bond anticipation notes within its $100 million bonding limit.

“The purchase and conversion of available OSVs is the most efficient, rapid and cost-effective path to upgrade our fleet and best serve the vehicle and freight transport needs of island residents and visitors,” said Steamship Authority General Manager Robert B. Davis. “The similar design of the vessels also promotes economies of scale through interchangeability of vessels for service needs, inventory of spare parts and crew training. Additionally, purchasing these used vessels will put the authority in a better financial transition to plan for investigate the possible inclusion of alternative fuel technologies into its next newly constructed vessel.”

Following design and engineering work for conversion and reactivation, the first of the newly acquired vessels is expected to be operating on Steamship Authority routes to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket by summer 2023. The authority has an option to purchase up to two more vessels from Hornbeck by November 30, 2022, with delivery by December 31, 2022.

Source: https://www.marinelog.com/news/steamship-authority-buying-two-osvs-for-conversion-to-freight-ferries/

Newbuilding orders for LNG carriers, which had already been leading the industry in 2022, recorded another significant jump with an additional $2.6 billion in contracts reported by two of South Korea’s large shipbuilders. Orders in the sector are growing rapidly both as Qatar prepares for its massive expansion of production as well other emerging nations seek to fulfill the growing import demand for LNG from Europe, Japan, and China.

At mid-year, orders for large LNG carriers (exceeding 140,000 cbm) were the highest in 22 years according to Clarksons. The UK-based research company reported that orders were up by at least a quarter in 2022 with the global orderbook standing at 255 gas carriers, which represents a 40 increase in capacity. Orders in 2022, as of mid-year, had already surpassed 100 LNG carriers versus 86 orders in all of 2021.

In separate stock exchange filings, South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries reported additional orders of LNG carriers. It is in keeping with Korea’s leadership in the sector and the strategy of the country’s shipbuilding industry to focus on high-value ships. LNG carriers are among the most expensive vessels exceeding the cost of simpler containerships and tankers and are only surpassed by cruise ships due to the cost of outfitting the hotel portion of the ships. The price of the average large LNG carrier has risen to approximately $240 million, twice that of a tanker or containership.

DSME recorded the largest new order with a contract for 11 vessels believed to be the latest tied to QatarEnergy’s newbuilding program in conjunction with the major shipping companies. The shipyard said it received an order valued at approximately $1.5 billion with the ships due for delivery by February 2026.

Samsung reported two separate orders for a total of four additional LNG carriers with a combined value of approximately $850 million. All four of the vessels are due for delivery in 2025 with two linked to Qatar and the other two it is believed will be deployed to carry exports from Africa’s emerging LNG facilities. Countries including Senegal and Mozambique are developing export capacities while Egypt recently announced that it was also looking to expand its exports to earn badly needed foreign currency.

The South Korean shipbuilders so far in 2022 have received orders for more than 80 LNG carriers, which represents 75 percent of the global orders. Chinese shipbuilders have been working to get a foothold in the segment but remain a distant second to Korea’s three main yards which have consistently led the segment. The European Commission highlighted this when they declined to approve the merger of Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo earlier this year.

The continued demand for LNG carriers has also helped the major Korean shipyards to approach their yearly targets for new orders in the first eight months of the year. Daewoo reported with this latest order it is now at 92 percent of its target having booked nearly $8.2 billion in orders in 2022. The shipyard said at the end of August its backlog stood at 131 ships valued at nearly $29 billion. A total of 28 of the 36 vessels it has received orders for this year were LNG carriers.

Samsung is slightly behind having reached 82 of its order target for the year. Like its competitor, it has received 37 orders valued at more than $7 billion with 28 of them for LNG carriers.

The South Korean shipbuilding industry fell to second place in the total number of orders in August behind China for the first time since April 2022. While orders were off versus July, South Korea still received 41 percent of the new orders placed in August and overall for the year has received 43 percent of the orders. The strong orders in 2022 saw South Korea’s total backlog grow by 26 percent, more than twice the growth rate recorded by Chinese shipbuilders.
 

China ranks second highest in navy spending after the US and is quickly modernising its forces

China ranks second highest in navy spending after the US and is quickly modernising its forces

By- The Hindu

Companies in the renewables energy business have set out to determine whether a green ammonia floating production vessel can be deployed on certain offshore wind locations.

Norway-based H2Carrier AS, developer of the unique P2XFloater concept, said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Norwegian state-owned hydropower company Statkraft for the study.

H2Carrier recently received an approval in principle (AIP) from classification society DNV for the use of the P2XFloater for near-shore production. The purpose of this new study is to evaluate the use of the P2XFloater in a true offshore environment, where the P2XFloater would utilize renewable power to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia, which in turn can be shipped to the international markets.

The study will assess the challenges of operating electrolyzers and an ammonia production process offshore with variable load handling. H2Carrier will conduct the study together with the Norwegian engineering company KANFA, part of Technip Energies.

“Market demand for green ammonia is rapidly increasing due to the decarbonization of the industrial and maritime sectors. The P2XFloater concept provide a low-cost, fast-track and flexible solution to produce green ammonia on an industrial scale and at a competitive price,” said Mårten Lunde, CEO of H2Carrier AS.

“We are very pleased to cooperate with Statkraft and KANFA to assess the impact of operating our P2XFloater in a true offshore environment. While we so far have focused on near shore operations, we are convinced that the P2XFloater will play an important role in the commercialization of offshore wind resources,” Lunde added.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/green-ammonia-floaters-deployed-offshore-499255

Brazil marked the delivery and commissioning of its first locally built submarine by state-run defense company ICN (Itaguaí Construções Navais) with the aid of a technology transfer program from Naval Group based in France.

The Riachuelo, the first of four Scorpène submarines of the ProSub program being built for the Brazilian Navy at a cost of $9.9 billion, is being highlighted as a major milestone in Brazil’s defense capabilities after it was manufactured and assembled at the ICN shipyard. ProSub is one of the main strategic projects of the Brazilian armed forces and aims to increase the national defense structure and ensure the country’s maritime sovereignty. The country has over 4,000 miles of coastline.

Launched in December 2018, Riachuelo successfully completed her sea trials and has now been delivered and entered into service within the Brazilian Navy. The submarine was originally expected to be delivered in 2020. Humaitá, the second submarine of the series launched in December 2020, is expected to start her trials this month before delivery in 2023. The other two will be delivered by 2029.

The design is based on the French Scorpène class, although the Brazilian version is larger. They are approximately 232 feet in length, which makes them about 30 feet longer than the French vessels they are based upon. The Brazilian submarines reportedly have a top speed of 20 knots operating with a crew of approximately 35.

Riachuelo during her commissioning ceremony (Naval Group)

“The successful delivery of the Riachuelo, the first Scorpene submarine entirely built in Brazil is proof of the success of Naval Group’s transfer of technology. We are proud to be part of the ProSub program and remain fully committed to the deliver the three other units of the series,” said Pierre Éric Pommellet, Naval Group CEO.

The French design group, which specializes in submarines and surface naval warfare ships, has been a long-term partner of Brazil. In 2009, it entered into a strategic defense cooperation agreement with the Brazilian Navy for the ProSub program. Brazil decided to reinforce its submarine force with four new conventional submarines and the development of an indigenous nuclear-powered submarine.

Apart from working with ICN on the project which involves more than 1,700 Brazilians on technology transfer, Naval Group has also selected and qualified many local suppliers who have joined its supply chain for the ProSub contract and other business opportunities. Through a transfer of technology, Naval Group is working with Brazil to build and operate the four conventional Riachuelo-class submarines (Scorpène type) in the new shipyard and operational naval base built in Itaguaí for the purpose.

Scorpène is being presented as a modern, high-performance, and stealthy submarine designed for all types of missions including anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes, special operations, and intelligence gathering. Extremely fast and reportedly stealthy, it has a level of operating automation that allows a limited number of crew, which reduces its operating costs significantly. The 2,000-ton vessel has six weapon launching tubes, and 18 weapons including torpedoes and missiles.

Currently, the Brazilian Navy operates seven submarines, including five Tupi-class (modified German Type 209) submarines and two Scorpene-class submarines.
Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/brazil-s-first-locally-built-scorpene-attack-submarine-enters-service