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Lloyd’s Register (LR) has won a contract to class the world’s largest heavy lift crane vessel (NSCV) for the Netherlands-based Heerema Group. The semi-submersible vessel will be constructed at the newly opened Sembcorp ‘Mega yard’ in Singapore.

The dual-fuel LNG and MGO vessel is due to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2018 and will be a key asset in the offshore market and a leading player in the installation and decommissioning of offshore facilities. It follows another significant Heerema project, the delivery of the LR-classed Aegir deepwater construction vessel (DCV) in 2013 (see article in the January 2014 Horizons).

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The recent catastrophe at the port of Tianjin in China resulted in the loss of at least 100 lives and many more people are still missing. It is far too early to speculate on the cause but the explosions left extensive physical damage as well as the appalling loss of life.

Accumulation risks – when a single event causes an exceptionally large group of related losses – such as this, are continuing to grow.

IUMI President, Dieter Berg says: “This extremely sad and regrettable incident demonstrates the persistent growth of accumulation of Continue reading “Tianjin explosion highlights growth of accumulation risks”

Many shipowners and operators are turning to bulbous bow retrofits to increase their vessels’ energy efficiency. DNV GL has developed a new tool as part of the ECO Retrofit service to support the industry in tailoring retrofit projects to the future needs of their fleet. While the service identifies new bow shapes based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations, the new tool explores the effect of alternative operational options. Overall, this approach can customers help save five to ten per cent on their annual fuel bill.

The biggest issue in many retrofit projects is the definition of the individual operational profile. In the past two years the ECO Retrofit service has already helped to upgrade some 200 vessels. Aside from analysing their fleet’s past performance, shipowners and operators Continue reading “DNV.GL ECO Retrofit service set to make bulbous bow optimizations future proof”

Crowley Maritime Corp. subsidiary, Jensen Maritime has announced the development of two new, liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker barge concepts that can be fully customised to meet a customer’s unique needs.

The first concept involves outfitting an existing barge with an above-deck LNG tank. The concept can be further modified to accommodate more than one type of product, if a customer has a need for multiple liquid transfers. Advantages of this design include a fast turnaround and a reduced need to invest in specialised assets if a customer has short-term LNG requirements.

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