In this issue: Oskar Wehr: Experience, flexibility and efficiency; Freese Shipping: Passion for trade; VDR: Safety and environment
Date: 2010-08-31
Focus on Germany
Germany is an old shipping nation - Germans have been building ships, sailing to foreign ports and trading for centuries! Today the German fleet is ranked as the third largest in the world, with more than 3,500 ships equivalent to over 100 million dwt. The bulk segment has always been significant in this cluster but has grown even larger in the last shipping boom.
Oskar Wehr - serving customers with experience, flexibility and efficiency
The yacht Anne was a wreck. She lay four metres below the surface in the Port of Hamburg. Oskar Wehr purchased her, raised her and overhauled her. That was in 1945. What started off with the Anne has developed into an extremely modern fleet sailing the seas around the globe. Today the family business, Oskar Wehr KG, is run by the third generation.
Freese Shipping - and the passion for tramp
The company's business is global and diverse. With two new Lakesize bulk carriers, Freese has now entered another new field.
Neuenfelder Maschinenfabrik - smooth movements for big machines
This year, crane manufacturer Neuenfelder Maschinenfabrik (NMF) will break its own record. "We will produce more than 200 cranes, an increase of 40 per cent compared to 2009," says NMF managing director Karl-Heinz Heck. "Over the past few years, we have concentrated more on the heavy-lift sector. So we were in the comfortable situation of not having too many orders for container ships in our books."
Orts Maschinenfabrik - specialist for ship grabs
"Our sea-going vessel grabs have to stand rough conditions on sea and heavy burden while loading and unloading. They therefore need to be the most robust," says junior manager Sigvard Orts.
Focused on safety and environmental aspects
Captain Wolfgang Hintzsche is the German Shipowners' Association's (VDR's) expert on safety management, navigation and engineering as well as on technical environmental protection matters. We spoke to him about construction standards, ballast water tanks and the new definition of the term bulk carrier.
DNV's Survey Simulator: A ship in every classroom
The DNV Survey Simulator launched last spring has proven to be so effective that DNV has chosen to make the training based on the Survey Simulator available to shipowners seeking a high performance tool for inspection crew training.
Extended period between Dry Dockings
DNV has launched an Extended Dry Docking service, developed to enable ship owners to extend the periods between dry dockings. The service is in general limited to non-ESP ships, e.g. general cargo vessels and multi-purpose dry cargo vessels.
Loading of steel coils
"To determine how many steel coils to carry in one cargo hold, multiply the tank top area by the allowable tank top load." Is this the best assumption to deal with steel coil loading? This article intends to answer this question by explaining the special features of steel coil loads and how the hull structure responds accordingly.
SPS-overlay
Intelligent Engineering (IE) has developed and patented the Sandwich Plate System (SPS) in close collaboration with BASF AG. SPS is a structural laminate consisting of metal faceplates permanently bonded to a polyurethane elastomer core that can be used as an alternative to conventional stiffened steel plates or as SPS Overlay, where new steel top plates are structurally bonded to the existing stiffened steel plate structure.
Maritime Labour Convention
Are you ready for the new certification requirements regarding working and living conditions? Using time as your friend as major Flag States ratify the Maritime Labour Convention
DNV launches service: DNV Benchmark
The new DNV Benchmark service will reduce costs and increase the safety of operations for ship owners and managers through benchmarking the performance of their vessels. The performance of the ships that are over- or under-performing can then be evaluated in detail to find areas of improvement.
Softer markets - still very brisk ordering
Dry bulk freight rates have softened significantly in recent months. From the end of May to mid-July, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by as much as 58% before increasing by 40% in less than a month. On 11 August, the Baltic Dry Index stood 42% lower than at the end of May.