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MARITIME REPORTER & ENGINEERING NEWS IP EDITOR'S NOTE Editorial & Executive Offices 118 E. 25th St., NY, NY 10010 Tel: (212) 477-6700; Fax: (212) 254-6271; e-mail: shipedit@ix.netcom.com PUBLISHERS Charles P. O'Malley John E. O'Malley John C. O'Malley Vice President Gregory R. Trauthwein EDITORIAL Editorial Director Gregory R. Trauthwein Senior Editor/MarineLink Webmaster Dan Maniotis Associate Editor Bridget A. Murphy Assistant Editor Nina D. Miller Editorial Intern Anthony Besada Editorial Consultant James R. McCaul, president, IMA Associates International Editors Alan Thorpe, Graeme MacLennan Carol Fulford, Andy Smith MARKETING Marketing Manager Lois A. Stiglmeier PRODUCTION Production Manager Patricia Kennedy Asst. Production Manager Jean Wanamaker CIRCULATION Circulation Manager Dale L. Barnett ADVERTISING SALES Regional Sales Manager Lucia Annunziata Regional Sales Manager Christopher Goldsholl Regional Sales Manager Jean M. Vertucci Advertising Sales Information Telephone: +212-477-6700 INTERIMTIOIUL SALES OFFICE Charles E. Keil, Vice President, International Operations 980 N. Federal Highway, Ste. 206-19, Boca Raton, FL 33432 Telephone: +407-368-1021; Fax: +407-368-1161 jA s much as the recent AISE exhibition was f I touted as the "coming out party" for U.S. shipbuilders and ship equipment suppliers mJm^ JL.— marking a re-emergence into the com- mercial shipbuilding scene — the real party is about to begin in Hamburg, Germany, at the end of this month. The U.S. is, of course, the official partner country for the SMM '96 exhibition, which is highly regarded as a premiere international maritime event. While the honor associated with this status is considerable, it will be fasci- nating to note the reception U.S. shipbuilders and equip- ment suppliers receive, particularly in light of the role the U.S. government has played in prolonging — and many say killing — the OECD initiative on shipbuilding sub- sidies. Politics aside, customers and competitors who wan- der into the U.S. Pavilion will find a quality group of companies ready and willing to do whatever it takes to capture commercial shipbuilding business. This same statement can be universally applied, how- ever, to most any nation's maritime industry. The compe- tition bar continues to rise without an end in sight. Equipment manufacturers and shipbuilders are being pressed to produce more for less, and the companies that will prosper will be those that continue to find the means to produce. Gregory R. Trauthwein Editorial Director e-mail: trauthwein @marinelink. com fax: (212) 254-6271 PS. Take a moment from your busy day to visit MR/EN's online service — MarineLink — at http://www.marinelink.com. MarineLink offers daily maritime news, a "keyword" searchable database and full text versions of each o/MR/ENs 1996 editions. EC Clears BP, Mobil Joint Venture Gulf Coast MR. JAMES N. McCUNTOCK Simpson Corporate Pork, Indigo House, Suite A 206 South Tyler Street, Covington, La. 70433 Telephone: (504) 893-5099; Fax: (504) 893-5024 Scandinavia MR. STEPHAN R. G. 0RN AB Stephon R.G. Orn, Box 184, S-27100 Ystad, Sweden Telephone:+46 411-18400; Fax: +46 411 10531 United Kingdom MR. MICHAEL J. DAMSELL Euromedia Ltd., P.O. Box 122, Hayward's Heath West Sussex RH16 1YF, England Telephone: +441 444 417360; Fax: +441 444 417360 The European Commission (EC) has approved the formation of a joint venture between BP and Mobil which combines their European activities in the refining and marketing of fuels and lubricants. BP and Mobil will combine their fuels and lubricants businesses throughout Europe by means of partner- ships (or their local equivalents) in each national jurisdiction. The equity stakes in the partnerships will be different for fuels and lubricants. For fuels, BP will hold 70 percent and Mobil will hold 30 per- cent, while for lubricants Mobil will hold 51 per- cent and BP 49 percent. The fuels business as a whole will be oper- ated by BP, while the lubricants business will be operated by Mobil. Italy/Switzerland Ediconsuh Intemazionale Piano Fontane Morose, 3-16123 Genova, Italy Telephone: +39 10 583684, Fax: 39 10 566578 France MR. DANIEL S0LNICA Ediconsult Internazionale,, 25 rue Saulnier 75009 PARIS Telephone: +33 1 4246 957; Fax: +33 1 4246 8508 BENELUX Hans and Paula Tocg Maritime Media NL, Boekweltakker 43 2743 DL Netherlands Telephone: +31 182 640655; Fax: +31 182 649150 Maritime Reporter Online • http://www.marinelink.com Both operators will be under the control of a jointly controlled supervisory committee. The geographic scope of the joint venture will be Western and Eastern Europe (including Western Russia), plus Cyprus and Turkey. The joint venture excludes the companies' international trading, avia- tion and marine activities as well as their operations in exploration and production, gas marketing and chemicals. The joint venture will operate on a large number of product markets downstream from the refining of crude oil. This includes the manufacture and sales of base oils, process oils and slack wax; the retail sales of fuels (petrol, diesel and LPG); the non-retail sales of fuels (diesel, fuel oil, LPG, gas oil), bitumen and automotive as well as industrial lubricants. The joint venture will have an overall market share for retail motor fuels in Europe of about 10 percent, which is expected to put it in third place behind Exxon and Shell. For lubricants, the joint venture will reportedly represent approximately 18 percent of the total mar- ket in Europe. Maritime Reporter/Engineering News With that said, it's interest- ing to note that this edition has evolved into a "Country Focus" edition, as three prominent KHMrV maritime nations — Germany, X' fl Norway and Finland — are W&W featured. All have a strong maritime tradition, and each has also progressively changed and sharpened its focus in lieu of prevailing business trends. The result: every country has become fiercely competitive in one or more niche markets.
