Damen Marine Components will supply eight 5,050-millimeter propeller nozzles for four ultra-long distance towing and anchor handling vessel newbuilds. They are the largest nozzles that DMC will have manufactured with its spinning machine technique to date. The order was placed by Caterpillar Propulsion of Gothenburg.

Caterpillar will provide the complete main propulsion units and has commissioned Damen Marine Components, a member of the Damen Shipyards Group, to design, engineer and produce the nozzle and head box sets.

The four sister vessels are under construction in Japan for ALP Maritimes Services, a recently acquired Teekay Offshore Partners subsidiary. The 300+ tonne bollard pull, 24,400 BHP ocean towing and anchor handling vessels will have two propulsion units each in a CPP stern-drive and rudder configuration.

“We’ll manufacture the nozzles with the spinning machine in our plant in Jiang Yin, China”, DMC director Steef Staal said about the novel manufacturing technique that includes one single weld only. DMC’s Optima nozzles have a 5,050 millimeter inside diameter to accommodate a 5,000-millimeter CP propeller. They will outsize any nozzle manufactured with DMC’s first spinning machine in the plant in Gdansk, Poland.

“The nozzles are designed with a relatively narrow head box and strut connection, but stiff enough to secure the frequency profile,” Staal said. “We do not just blindly copy the propeller manufacturers’ specs. This is why the prominent OEM’s are our main clients.”

*NEWS SOURCE

US$5 billion project to contribute US$1.9 billion to state

Tesla Motors has selected Nevada as the site for its mammoth lithium-ion battery plant undefined known as the Gigafactory undefined quashing the hopes of California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.

The stakes were high. The US$5 billion project is expected to employ up to 6,500 workers when complete and have a $1.9-billion “total fiscal impact” over 20 years, lawmakers said at a press conference in Carson City, Nev.

“Tesla will build the world’s largest and most advanced battery factory in Nevada which means nearly one hundred billion dollars in economic impact to the Silver State over the next twenty years,” Nevada’s Governor Brian Sandoval said in a statement.

While California scrambled to pass legislation that would make the state a more attractive option to the carmaker, Tesla broke ground on a site outside of Reno, Nev. called Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.

Unlike with Texas and Arizona, Nevada allows direct sales of automobiles from a manufacturer, eliminating the middleman or car dealerships. Further, Nevada has the country’s only active lithium mine and the best prospective reserves of new supply, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. And without the environmental restrictions of neighboring state California, Nevada came up as the winner.

Tesla will produce batteries in conjunction with Japan’s Panasonic. The first batteries are expected to be ready in three years, coinciding with the launch of Tesla’s Model 3, a $40,000 electric car. Tesla’s main assembly plant is located in Fremont, Calif., about 235 miles from the planned Gigafactory.

Nevada will provide about US$400 million in tax incentives, including up to a 100 percent tax abatement for the next 20 years for all sales tax, and up to a 100 percent tax abatement for the next 10 years for all real property tax, personal property tax and modified business tax.

*NEWS SOURCE

A Ruslan International An-124 freighter has delivered a large replacement ball mill head from Australia to a mining company in Antofagasta, Chile. The existing mill head had become badly eroded and cracked, causing mining operations to slow dramatically. “Over many years we have demonstrated our expertise in providing fast transportation solutions for customers facing a loss of production when key pieces of equipment become damaged or fail altogether,” Paul Bingley, Commercial Executive at Ruslan International, said in a statement.

In this case, it took just 11 days to deliver the replacement piece once the contract was signed. Ten of those days were required to obtain the necessary flight applications and prepare the shipment.

Transport and logistics firm DSV Australia, the Air Charter team at DSV Projects in Denmark and the outsize cargo specialists at Ruslan International coordinated to expedite the shipment. The new mill head was manufactured in Perth. It measured 4.6 meters in diameter and weighed 19 tons. Due to its size, an An-124-100 was chartered for the flight.

*NEW SOURCE

Original news was published on 3 September, 2014

Van der Vlist coordinated the shipment of a large piece for a drilling rig from the Netherlands to China.

The access bridge weighed about 90 tons and measured 35.5 meters long, 7 meters wide and 9 meters high. Transport by road was ruled out undefined the cargo was simply too big. Instead, Van der Vlist arranged for a barge to carry the cargo to the Port of Antwerp for transhipment to the far east, the Dutch logistics firm said in a statement.

However, a direct route along the waterway from Rotterdam was still not possible because the load was too wide. Instead, an alternate route was chosen along wider waterways. Van der Vlist hired two mobile cranes to load the barge.

Upon its arrival at Antwerp, the access bridge was lifted from the barge by the ship’s two cranes for the voyage to Shanghai. Extra smaller pieces from the bridge were shipped in containers from Rotterdam to join the bridge.

*NEW SOURCE

Original news was publsihed on 3 September, 2014

Tuscor Lloyds has handled the shipment of a 137-ton recovery boiler from Spain to Mexico.

The cargo consisted of five breakbulk pieces and two 40-foot open top containers. The pieces were collected in Madrid and Toledo, GPLN said in a statement on behalf of its Barcelona-based member. The cargo was transported by road to the Port of Bilbao, a distance of about 414 kilometers.

Upon arrival at the Port of Bilbao, the cargo was taken to the quay for loading onto a multipurpose vessel. The heaviest pieces, weighing over 46 tons, were lifted onto the ship using a heavy-lift crane and secured with heavy-duty ratchet straps, steel chains and wooden-steel wedges.

The voyage to the Port of Altamira took 30 days. The cargo was unloaded onto low-loader trailers for the final leg of the transport to Monterrey, covering some 1,194 kilometers.

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 2 September, 2014

Suttons Group, the international chemical logistics and supply chain specialist, announced today that it has acquired Imperial Tankers, one of the largest bulk chemical transport companies in the UK from Hargreaves Services PLC. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1989, Imperial Tankers has a road tanker fleet of over 200 tractor units and 350 tanker semi-trailers and provides both fully managed logistics solutions and single ‘spot’ product movements to deliver a wide range of hazardous and non-hazardous chemicals and other highly sensitive products. John Sutton, Suttons Group CEO said: “This transaction is an ideal fit for Suttons and will enable us to continue to deliver high levels of safety and service, improve efficiency and add value through supply chain resilience and innovation. Our joint depot network will enhance our ability to provide an outstanding service to customers in key production regions around the country.

“Our combined fleet of over 700 road tankers gives us an even greater ability to support our customers through times of peak demand and react rapidly to changing customer requirements. By combining the various services offered by each company, we will be able to provide a truly exceptional customer experience that is focused on safety, service and innovation.”This is the third acquisition Suttons has made in the last 12 months. In October 2013 the company completed the purchase of Chinese transport company Hanchi Logistics, and in August 2014 Suttons acquired IS Logistics Group, a logistics and supply chain specialist based in Singapore. The acquisition of Imperial Tankers further reflects Suttons’ commitment to growth in the bulk logistics and supply chain sector.

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 28 August, 2014

Mexico’s transport and communications ministry SCT has awarded a construction package to a Mexican consortium for a new cargo railway line in Durango state.

The group consists of Nexumrail, Terracerías, Pavimentos y Caminos and Constructora Visión y Proyecto that won a tender among seven other consortiums, BN Americas said in a statement.

The consortium will build a new railway line between the Durango-Torreón line and the Durango-Felipe Pescador line, as well as all related works including drainage, highway and bridge connections.

The new line must be built within 122 days, starting Sept. 1.

SCT has also issued a tender for supervision of the construction.

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 28 August, 2014

Wind components will be exported to Peru

Siemens Energy has secured nearly US$65 million in financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank to manufacture wind turbine nacelles and blades for a project in Peru.

The wind turbines will be installed at the Marcona wind farm and the Tres Hermanas wind project in southern Peru for a combined generating capacity of 129 megawatts. The nacelles will be made at Siemens’ plant in Hutchinson, Kan., while the blades will be manufactured in Fort Madison, Iowa.

The financing represents Ex-Im Bank’s first renewable-energy transactions in Peru, the bank said in a statement.

“These transactions reflect our continued commitment to increasing U.S. renewable energy exports while supporting good-paying jobs here at home,” said Ex-Im Bank chairman and president Fred P. Hochberg.

In fiscal year 2013, Ex-Im Bank authorized US$257 million to support renewable energy exports, primarily to Central and Latin America. The news comes at a time when the future of the ExIm Bank is uncertain. Legislators will vote on its reauthorization at the end of September.

*NEW SOURCE

Original news was published on 29 August, 2014

THE world's biggest and second biggest shipping lines, Maersk and MSC, have sought permission from the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to form a vessel sharing agreement called the 2M. Copenhagen's Maersk Line and Geneva's Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), have submitted their 10-year agreement proposal to the Washington regulatory agency.

The FMC allowed the more ambitious P3 alliance, a union of the top three shipping lines that included CMA CGM, but this was rejected by Chinese regulatory authorities as having too much market share. Washington has 45 days to review the new proposal, though procedings can be suspended if the FMC wants additional information. The new arrangement is a standard vessel sharing agreement, unlike P3, which looked more like a merger to Chinese regulators despite protestations from the participants. In the 2M case, the European Commission and China’s Ministry of Transport will be notified, but do not have to give official clearance to a vessel sharing agreement, which like an airline code share, has independent and rival sales teams selling space of their own and on each other's conveyances.

The document submitted to the FMC covers ports in the northern Europe-Gibraltar range, plus the Med to the US Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts, along with ports in Mexico, Canada, Panama, the Bahamas and Asia to the US. 2M covers Asia-Europe routes but this is of no concern to the FMC. With US trades, 2M parties can discuss and agree on the size, number and types of vessels. They plan to operate 97 ships in US trades ranging from 4,000 to 13,000 TEU.

*NEWS SOURCE

DENMARK's Maersk Line has taken delivery of the Merete Maersk, the 11th 18,270-TEU ship that are being built at the Daewoo shipyard (DSME) in South Korea.

Ordered in 2011, the ship is joining the shipping line's Asia-Europe (AE-10) service, replacing the 15,550-TEU Edith Maersk, which is to operate Maersk's Far East to Europe loop (AE-2).

The Edith Maersk will replace the 8,400-TEU Maersk Saigon, the last of the smaller ships on the AE-2, which will henceforth be run with 11 vessels of 13,000-15,500 TEU, reported Alphaliner.

The Merete Maersk follows the Mayview Maersk, delivered in July. The 12th unit in the series, Mogens Maersk, is scheduled for delivery in mid-September, after which the AE-10 will deploy a full fleet of 18,270 TEU ships.

The last eight Triple E class ships are scheduled for delivery in September 2015.

*NEWS SOURCE