Daily Archives: October 3, 2012
Cargill, UNIPEC UK to Charter Only Eco-Friendly Ships
Cargill, one of the world’s leading international transporters, and UNIPEC UK Company Ltd, trader of crude oil and oil products, announced today that they will only charter the more efficient vessels operating in the shipping market. This commitment is the first of its kind in the industry to reduce the existing fleet carbon emissions.
The announcement, from Cargill, Huntsman Corporation and UNIPEC UK who combined charter over 350 million tonnes of commodities annually, signifies a milestone for the vessel fuel efficiency ratings system, the Existing Vessel Design Index (EVDI), created by ship vetting specialist RightShip and published on ShippingEfficiency.org – an initiative launched by the Carbon War Room and RightShip to increase information flows around international shipping’s energy efficiency, as an GHG Emissions Rating (A-G rating) benchmarking system. The efficiency ratings system – containing efficiency information on over 60,000 vessels including container ships, tankers, bulk carriers, cargo ships – enables charterers to instantly see a ship’s theoretical greenhouse gas emissions and relative energy efficiency as determined by RightShip’s EVDI rated from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient), compared to ships of similar size and type.
“Cargill has introduced a senior management override on the use of the least energy efficiency vessels. By choosing the more efficient vessel available to us, we are making a strong statement to the market,” commented Jonathan Stoneley, Environment and Compliance Manager, Cargill Ocean Transportation. “We hope this action will demonstrate to ship owners that they can and should do more in terms of efficiency, and that the market will reward them and will also show other charterers the decision support tools available if they want to operate more efficiently. We will work together with customers, as best appropriate, to help them meet their environmental objectives linked to transportation and this rating system.”
Stoneley continued: “Cargill is committed to minimizing our environmental impact throughout our global operations. We do this by developing management systems and policies to ensure best practice environmental compliance and continually improving performance on criteria relevant to our business and operations. We partner with governments, non-governmental organisations, communities, employees and customers to leverage market-based solutions to reduce the environmental footprints of the supply chains in which we participate.”
Peter Boyd, COO of Carbon War Room commented: “This deal represents the first major capital shift on behalf of the charterers towards making greater efficiency a factor in their vessel chartering decisions. Cargill, Huntsman Corporation and UNIPEC UK should be congratulated for being the first to make this commitment. We’d encourage other charterers within the market, to look towards the simple and understandable ways to quantify, measure and track efficiency represented by the efficiency rating system and the A-G benchmark. Those that lead the curve on presenting more eco-efficient vessels will benefit from the choices charterers are making and the charterers themselves will see lowered operating costs through fuel efficiency – a win-win-win decision for the owner, the charterer and the environment.”
Warwick Norman, Chief Executive Officer, RightShip, added: “Cargill, Huntsman Corporation and UNIPEC UK have strong commitments to maximise efficiency on environmental grounds, and we are proud to provide them with the decision support tool they need to implement their environmental leadership position. With the common decision making framework first movers will have significant market advantage over competitors who are using traditional methods to evaluate efficiency.”
“Without this level of information it’s very difficult for charterers to make informed decisions on vessels based on their efficiency – for example, newer ships aren’t always more efficient than older ships. We’ve developed the Existing Vessel Design Index, or EVDI™, to estimate the amount of CO”
World Maritime News – Cargill, UNIPEC UK to Charter Only Eco-Friendly Ships.
- Cargill, UNIPEC UK to Charter Only Eco-Friendly Ships (worldmaritimenews.com)
- Cargill, Huntsman to Stop Using Fuel-Inefficent Vessels – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
- Breaking: Shipping Industry Takes Massive Step Towards Energy Efficiency (triplepundit.com)
- Commodity Giants Get on Board with Branson’s Carbon War Room, Efficient Ships Only Please (gcaptain.com)
- Cargill Plans 18% Speed Cut for Ships on Record Fuel Cost – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
Helix ROV Support Vessel Ready for North Sea
Helix Energy Solutions Group’s newbuild charter ROV support vessel, Grand Canyon, recently completed sea trials and is ready to begin operations in the North Sea. During the sea trials the vessel’s propulsion system, dynamic positioning system and all her cranes were tested.
The vessel recently completed its outfitting in Norway after the initial hull construction was completed in Turkey. Grand Canyon is capable of launching five ROVs at once and will be operated by Helix ESG’s robotics subsidiary, Canyon Offshore.
The vessel will be the new home for another recently completed asset, the T1200 trenching unit. Used primarily to bury large diameter power cables leading from offshore windfarms, the T1200 is also capable of working on oil and gas projects to bury production pipelines.
The Grand Canyon was designed to provide a high capacity, stable working platform for lay, burial and general offshore construction work while still retaining a shallow draft, which is crucial when operating close to the coastline, and common in the renewable energy sector.Grand Canyon’s DP3 capability allows her to operate in any sector, providing offshore support in a wide variety of roles.
The vessel’s deck structure is specifically designed to accept trenching and flexible pipe or cable lay systems for safe and efficient mobilizations. A key focus throughout the design and build of Grand Canyon was to optimize the vessel and equipment design to facilitate efficient mobilizations.
Helix ROV Support Vessel Ready for North Sea | Offshore Energy Today.
- ROV Support Vessel Grand Canyon Completes Sea Trials (Norway) (worldmaritimenews.com)
- North Sea Rig Rates May Push Higher as Midwater Market Heats Up (gcaptain.com)
- UK: Helix Well Ops Charters Skandi Constructor from DOF Subsea (mb50.wordpress.com)
Triton Diving Services Buys LOD’s Diving Assets (USA)
Triton Diving Services, LLC, an affiliate company of Grey Mountain Partners (“Grey Mountain”), has acquired the diving assets of Louisiana Oilfield Divers (“LOD”), including the Premier Explorer, a 208-foot, 4-point vessel.
Mark Jeansonne, CEO of Triton Diving Services, said, “The LOD acquisition strengthens Triton’s position as the dominant shallow water (0-300’) commercial diving contractor operating in the Gulf of Mexico. The additional capacity provided by this acquisition will allow us to better serve our customers.”
Beth Lesniak, Vice President of Grey Mountain, said, “With a 20-ton lift capacity, accommodations for 40 crew and a fully functioning machine shop, the Premier Explorer vessel is an excellent addition to Triton’s growing dive service vessel fleet. We look forward to serving customers that have already utilized the Premier Explorer and enhancing our ability to respond to our customers’ current needs in the Gulf of Mexico and abroad.”
Triton Diving Services Buys LOD’s Diving Assets (USA)| Offshore Energy Today.
KBR Wins Tanzania LNG Contract
KBR announced that it was awarded a contract by Statoil Tanzania AS to perform pre-front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) studies for a prospective liquefied natural gas facility in Tanzania, East Africa.
The pre-FEED study is designed to help Statoil further assess the viability of developing an LNG facility to export natural gas from this East African region. The project is expected to be completed during 2013.
“We are excited to be selected by Statoil for this important project,” said Mitch Dauzat, president, Gas Monetization. “KBR looks forward to working together with Statoil to define their LNG concept for Tanzania.”
KBR has been working with Statoil for more than 30 years and has an outstanding record for successful project execution, predominantly for Statoil’s Gas Processing plants.
USA: Caterpillar to Produce More Gas Fueled Equipment and Engines
Caterpillar Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives, announced at the inaugural Natural Gas for High Horsepower Applications (HHP) Summit on Sept. 27 its intentions to go ‘all-in’ on natural gas and produce even more natural gas-fueled equipment and engines for a variety of applications.
Joel Feucht, Caterpillar’s director of gas engine strategy for the energy and power systems businesses, made the announcement during his keynote address at HHP Summit 2012, a first-ofits-kind event that examined the economic and environmental benefits of using the clean-burning, domestically abundant natural gas in fuel-hungry high horsepower applications.
“We have decided to go all-in on gas,” declared Feucht during his keynote address at HHP Summit on Sept. 27. “We are going to invest because we see a global market long term. Large engines are going gas. It’s not debatable; it’s our conclusion.”
Feucht’s remarks confirmed that Caterpillar will provide natural gas fuel as an option for engines across its many high horsepower lines for marine, rail, mining, earthmoving and drilling operations. The company recently announced its first expected liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered will likely include Cat 793, 795 and 797 mining trucks, and locomotives produced by Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), a unit of Caterpillar’s Progress Rail Services.
“There is huge economic incentive to move to natural gas,” Feucht stated noting that price of oil and gas are going to stay disconnected for the foreseeable future thereby creating an economic incentive to use natural gas in fuel-hungry high horsepower applications.
Current users of natural gas to power high horsepower equipment are realizing a cost savings of 30 to 50 percent. New technologies expanding access in North America have contributed to the low-cost of natural gas.
Caterpillar to Produce More Gas Fueled Equipment and Engines, USA LNG World News.
- Caterpillar: The largest chicken on the planet (fuelfix.com)
- Panelists: Natural gas can beat diesel as oil field fuel (mysanantonio.com)
- Making the case for natural gas over diesel (fuelfix.com)
- Natural gas-powered locomotive drives CN into eco-friendly(er) future (news.nationalpost.com)
- Westlake Securities Represents Applied Natural Gas Fuels, Inc. in Capital Raise for Expansion of Natural Gas Liquefaction Plant (prnewswire.com)
A Dangerous Sport: Obama Offers To Reimburse Companies If They Violate Federal Labor Law
A government of laws or of men?
Trying to ride two horses with one ass is something that is best left to movie stuntmen (or the very stupid) because, in the end, people get trampled.
However, that is precisely what Barack Obama’s administration is trying to do by telling encouraging defense contractors to violate federal law. Then, as if that weren’t enough, Obama’s Office of Management and Budget is offering to use taxpayer money to not only cover the legal costs (including attorney fees), but employee compensation as well, should the would-be labor law violators be sued.
Let’s back up for a moment, shall we?
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (The WARN Act) is a federal law. According to the Department of Labor, said federal labor law is to protect workers, their families, and communities…
Read more: A Dangerous Sport: Obama Offers To Reimburse Companies If They Violate Federal Labor Law | RedState.
- OMB: We’ll Reimburse Employers for WARN Act Fallout (commentarymagazine.com)
- More Obama misuse of the Executive Branch (betsyspage.blogspot.com)
- Senator Graham: Obama Move On Defense Layoff Notices ‘Patently Illegal’ (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)
- Republicans rip White House for putting tax dollars on line over possible defense layoffs (foxnews.com)
- Obama Begs Companies To Break Law And Promises Taxpayers Will Pay For Lawsuits (whitehouse12.com)
Continents of the World
Mb50's "Liquid Mud" Rant 