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News I EU Ministers Fail To Agree On Shipbuilding Aid Join and seal pipes in less than 15 minutes With a NORMACONNECT® coupling and a torque wrench, anyone can connect high- pressure pipes in minutes — and they'll stay sealed. Rugged NORMACONNECT® couplings are 70% lighter than welded flange joints and take up 40% less space. They also: • reduce noise and dampen vibration • save time previously spent on welding and x-rays • compensate for misalignment, angular deflection and variances in pipe O.D. • eliminate the pipe grooving and end treatment necessary with other couplings • feature a patented double-lip seal • are available in all IPS nominal O.D.'s, from 3/4" to 48" (26.9mm to 1220mm) • are rated at 16 bar to IPS 8.0" (219.1mm) by all major marine approval bodies. For metal-to-metal, metal-to-plastic and plastic-to- plastic joints, you'll save time and money with NORMACONNECT® Pipe Couplings. They're used on everything from ocean-going passenger ships (e.g., the first ones built in the U.S. in 40 years) to semi-submersible oil rigs. For more information, contact NORMA Products or our marine distribution partner, W&O Supply. wbi i Supply W&O Supply Engineered Products Division Phone: (334) 438-2810 Fax: (334) 438-2817 e-mail: epdivision@wosupply.com NORMA®. A WORLD OF INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS. NORMA PRODUCTS (U.S.), INC. Phone: (800) 406-6762 Fax: (248) 668-9523 Website: www.norma.de e-mail: npus@normatech.com Circle 242 on Reader Service Card or visit www.maritimereporterinfo.com This year's European Council meeting of European industry ministers, which occurred on December 5 focused on shipbuilding and the Commission that was presented to the Industry Council in May 2001 on the situation of world shipbuilding. Once again, the conclusions pointed to anti- competitive practices by South Korean ship- yards such as: debt forgiveness, debt moratoria. advantageous refund credits, fresh credits and guarantees, allowing them to offer ships at below-cost prices. Efforts to address these unfair practices through bi-lateral talks with South Korean authorities failed, and the Commission adopted a two-pronged strategy to improve the situation: a request for dispute settlement at the World Trade Organization and a Temporary Defensive Mechanism for the EU shipbuilding industry. The Commission has insisted that both ele- ments of the proposed strategy would have to be implemented in combination. In the Council, however, there has been unan- imous support for the first element but not for the second. Indeed, on the issue of EU ship- building aids, the Member States have been divided into two blocks: the Scandinavian coun- tries, the U.K. and the Netherlands, who contin- ued to be firmly against the granting of any aid, and the Southern countries (Greece, Spain and Italy) and Germany, who were in favor, with France, being rather indecisive, in the middle. The Temporary Defensive Mechanism would allow aid to those market segments in which the Commission investigation found that EU indus- try has been considerably harmed by unfair Korean trade practices, namely container ships and product and chemical tankers. The Commission has emphasized, however, that the new mechanism must not result in dis- tortion of competition within the European Union. The main problem remains, however, that the Council as a whole feels it is now up to the Commission to launch a complaint against South Korea at the WTO without waiting for new aid regimes to be implemented in Europe. So far, the Commission has declined to separate the two. M/V Industrial Challenger Welcomed To U.S.-Flag Fleet U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta and Maritime Administrator Bill Schu- bert announced that Industrial Maritime Carri- ers will transfer a Challenger Class heavy-lift vessel from the Bahamian flag to the U.S. flag. The 8.000 dwt vessel has two 200 mt electro- hydraulic cranes, a service speed of 16 knots and is ideally suited for project and heavy lift cargo. M/V Industrial Challenger is the latest ship to benefit from an agreement between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MarAd) that significantly reduces the time required to reflag certain vessels into the U.S. registry. M/V Industrial Challenger will maintain the same name under the U.S. flag and will enroll in the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) program sponsored by the MarAd and approved by the Department of Defense as its principal sealift readiness program. CP Ships Secures Financing CP Ships is in the process of closing a secured five-year revolving credit facility, $250 million of which is being underwritten by Citibank N.A. Expected to be $350 million in total, closing of the underwritten portion of the facility is expect- ed by the end of the year. The facility, which has been placed with banks with extensive experience of lending to the ship- ping industry, will be used primarily to finance CP Ships' previously announced $800 million ship investment program. The investment program, which continues as planned with deliveries of 10 new ships expect- ed from mid-2002 to mid-2003, will replace chartered ships with more economic ships specifically designed to match the requirements of CP Ships' regional trades. CP Ships also has in place a secured $175 mil- lion revolving credit facility, which became effective on August 2, 2001. The new facility replaces a planned $255 mil- lion private placement announced on September 21 by CP Ships' former parent, Canadian Pacif- ic Limited. RCRA Violation Settled For $11.2 Million Joint Press Releases were issued by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the Environmental Protection Agency stat- ing that hazardous waste charges under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) have been settled with ExxonMobil Corporation. ExxonMobil has agreed to pay $11.2 million, to perform cleanup at the facility, and to comply with applicable hazardous waste laws and regulations. The defendant operated a barge cleaning and vacuum- Why wait for a welde 20 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News
