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Rapp Hydema Finds Success in Russia Rapp Hydema U.S. recently supplied another third-wire winch - the SOW-300 - that marks the seventh this year for the popular model. For U.S. vessel opera- tors, the winch has been long known; more recently, however, Russian Far East firms-working through Seattle management companies-have also dis- covered the merits of the sturdy, user- friendly design. The first such Russian Far East customer was the F/V Tosno (Vladivostok) in 1997, but activity has moved north since then. So both Kamchatka and Sakhalin firms have recently added their names to the list of customers, including for the latter Gidrostroi, working through Polar Bear Seafoods (Seattle, WA). Circle 62 on Reader Service Card Lankhorst Ropes Delivers Stength A benchmark which is increasingly being used to measure the performance of ropes in the maritime industry is TCLL (Thousand Cycle Load Limit) value. TCLL expresses the maximum percentage of the nominal breaking strength at which a rope can be cycle loaded 1,000 times as tested under strict laboratory conditions. Simplified, TCLL expresses the rope's resistance against tension-tension fatigue. The higher the TCLL value expressed as a percentage, the higher the resistance against cycle loads. The TCLL value originates from OCIMF (Oil Companies International Marine Forum) guidelines for SPM mooring hawsers. The OCIMF only issues the guidelines. In order for them to be certified, an independent inspector from a recognized classifica- tion society must witness and verify the test. Lankhorst Ropes Euroflex rope recorded a certified 80% value while Tipto Eight was observed to achieve 71%. Circle 26 on Reader Service Card Pullmaster Pullmaster recently unveiled the M75 Equal Speed / H75 Rapid Reverse, a high performance, high efficiency plan- etary winch design, with a spring applied hydraulically released static/dynamic brake, exceptionally smooth lowering control and an oil bath enclosed, designed to provide long, trouble-free service. Circle 61 on Reader Service Card A Stolt Offshore Settles Patent Dispute Stolt Offshore S.A. announced that its long running U.K. litigation with a com- petitor regarding a European patent cov- ering technology related to the laying of flexible pipes has been settled out of court. The settlement involves a cash payment by Stolt Offshore in respect of past patent infringements and the grant- ing of a license under the disputed patent covering the North Sea area. The settle- ment will not have a material impact on the company's results for 2004. Tom Ehret, CEO of Stolt Offshore, said, "The satisfactory resolution of the this patent infringement action marks significant progress in our settlement of long out- standing disputes." Smedvig Secures $167m Contract Smedvig has been awarded a letter of intent by A/S Norske Shell for the assignment of the deepwater drillship West Navigator on the Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea. The assign- ment includes drilling of eight deepwa- ter wells in approximately 900 m of water, with options for four additional wells. The contract value for the firm part of the contract is estimated to $167 million. NME to Distribute Dolphin Fenders Norwegian Maritime Equipment AS (NME) has been appointed exclusive distributor of Dolphin pneumatic and port fenders in most European countries, as well as in Brazil, Canada and USA. Circle 4 on Reader Service Card Becker U.K. Moves Office Becker Marine Systems U.K. relocat- ed from their original office in Fleets Corner to Wallisdown, Poole. The new address is: Becker Marine Systems. Discovery Court Business Centre, 551- 553 Wallisdown Road, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5AG. England; Tel: +44 (0) 1202 853170; Fax: +44 (0) 1202 853171; Info- uk @becker-marine-.systems. www.becker-marine-systems.com. Radio Holland Opens Malaysia Office Radio Holland Group opened a new office in Malaysia on February 26, 2004, the 49th branch office of the Radio Holland Group, and the company's response to the increasing marine activ- ities in Malaysia and specifically in the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, which had another record-breaking year in 2003 with an annual throughput of almost 3.5 million TEU. The address is: Radio Holland Malaysia Sdn Bhd. (Pusat Latihan Kebakaran), Jalan Pukal , Johor Port, 81750 Pasir Gudang. Competition for $628M FPSO Heats Up Jurong Shipyard Ltd's (JSL) Brazilian subsidiary, Maua Jurong has emerged as the frontrunner for a $628m contact to construct a Floating Production Storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for Brazilian oil giant Petrobras. It is expected that the work will be divided between the Brazilian yard and Singapore. JSL, along with Sembawang Shipyard, are both part of Singapore's SembCorp Group. Jurong's $628m bid was the lowest of four bids submitted for the project to convert the272,631 dwt, 1979-built Petrobras VLCC Barao del Maua into a 180,000 bpd FPSO to work in the state-owned oil giant's Roncado field, part of the Campos Basin. Bids from rival consortia includ- ing Fels Setal/Technip, Andrade Gutierrez and Queiroz Galvao/ Dragados, were all substantially higher. Euronav, Partners Buy World's Largest Tankers Euronav, the tanker subsidiary of the CMB group, together with partners have reached an agreement for the acquisition of four double hull 'V plus' ships (also known as Ultra Large Crude Carriers) of 442,500 dwt. The vessels are: Hellespont Alhambra, Hellespont Tara, Hellespont Fairfax and Hellespont Metropolis. The ships will be delivered in the course of the months of May and June 2004 and will be renamed: TI Asia, TI Europe, TI America and TI Africa. Chinese Yard Logs Strong Month As high freight rates continue, Shanghai's Huarun Dadong Dockyard (HRDD) is undergoing a busy period with a total of 12 vessels being repaired in January and 13 vessels in February. This is a 10 percent increase of production value in the first two months compared with 2003, and a 25 percent increase during February. There are also bookings as far ahead as May this year, a very unusual situation for this yard. A total of 90 percent of the vessels repaired in February are from Asia countries and regions, such as Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Included in the figures for February are three vessels from Japan - First Marine's 48,913 dwt bulk carrier Crystal Lily, Nippon Kaiun's 68,621 dwt bulk carrier Sunny Ocean, and Osaka Rosex Shipping's 47,348 dwt container carrier Newport Bridge, three vessels from Taiwan's TMT - the 75,594 dwt bulk carri- er Capaz Duckling, the 41,639 dwt wood chip carrier Prince of Ocean, and the 70,681 dwt tanker King Duckling, and two vessels from Hong Kong's Glory Shipping - the 45,222 dwt bulk carrier Lucky Marine, and the 41,061 dwt bulk carrier Top Glory. Other ship repaired during February include IMC Shipping's 29,135 dwt bulk carrier Maritime Friendship, Totis Marine's 40,846 dwt bulk carrier Kallisto, and, from the domestic market, Shanghai Pu Yuan Shipping's 25,887 dwt bulk carrier Yun Ling. May 2004 55
