Page 54: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1998)

Harrington Retires As Head

Of Ship Finance

Rex Harrington is to retire as head of the Royal Bank of

Scotland's ship finance unit in

November. He will be succeeded as director of shipping by

Lambros Varnavides, who has helped establish the bank's

Shipping Business Center which has become the largest provider of corporate and private financial services to the Greek shipping industry.

Ship Repair Shake-Out To

Continue

The global shiprepair industry faces further consolidation as rev- enues fall due to competition and the prospect of weaker demand, a study from Drewry Shipping

Consultants Ltd. predicts.

Shiprepair revenues are likely to fall by 1.5 percent between 1998 and 2003 placing increased pres- sure on repair yards to cut costs through mergers. Singapore's big four market-leading shiprepair yards have already merged into two, with lthe merger between

Keppel Shipyard and Hitachi

Zosen Singapore Corp. following last year's takeover of Jurong

Shipyard by Sembawang Shipyard

Ltd. Extreme competition be- tween yards is set to persist. ^^ Avondale

Shipyards Division including its assets and liabilities, into three new publicly listed com1 panies and at the same time to dis- solve Metra corporation.

Metra's current three industrial divisions would form three new groups in the demerger: Wartsila

NSD and Metra Finance would form a diesel and gas engine com- pany; Sanitec would form a bath- room products company; and

Imatra Steel, together with Metra

Group's holding in Assa Abloy,

Metra Real Estate and Metra's other investments, would form a new investment company. The new diesel and gas engine group will comprise Wartsila NSD and

Metra Finance.

Wartsila NSD is a global engi- neering company offering its cus- tomers complete solutions for power generation and marine propulsion. The core activities are design, manufacturing, licensing, sales and service of Wartsila and

Sulzer engines with output per unit ranging from 500 to 66,000 kW. In 1997 Wartsila NSD had net sales totaling FIM 11.3 billion and 7,300 employees. Metra cur- rently owns 87.8 percent of the

Wartsila NSD Group, with the remaining 12.2 percent held by

Fincantieri. Metra Finance, a wholly owned Metra subsidiary, acts as the group's internal bank.

Circle 61 on Reader Service Card

Circle 188 on Reader Service Card

SARS Secures Ben Line

Agencies Representation

Shipping Agency

Representation Services (SARS), the ship agency arm of the London

Maritime Partnership (LMP), has been appointed the U.K. represen- tative of Ben Line Agencies of the

Far East. 56 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News

Avondale Industries, Inc. Shipyards Division

Repair Services

Repair Services that are available at

Avondale Include: • Shafting, Propellers and Rudders • Rubber Lining and Fiberglassing • Offshore Vessels • Structural Replacement/Repairs • Machinery Overhaul and Repairs • Pollution Control Devices • Inert Gas Installations • Ship Conversions and Jumboizing • Thruster Installations • Electronics Upgrading • Quarters Modification • Voyage Repairs; Barge Repairs • Re-Powering • Gas Freeing; Re-Coating

Drydocks Available Are: • One 82,300 MT Dock - can lift ships up to 379M long and 61.9M wide • One 20,000 MT Panamax Dock - can lift ships up to 235M long and 32.2M wide

Heavy Lift Services: • A 200-ton Gantry Crane • A 628-ton Floating Crane Barge

Fully-Staffed Engineering Department

AVONDALE INDUSTRIES, INC.

SHIPYARDS DIVISION

POST OFFICE BOX 50280

NEW ORLEANS, LA. 70150-0280 •

PHONE: (504) 436-5274

FAX: (504) 436-5280

Metro Plans Demerger Into

Three Listed Companies

Metra Corp. has begun prepara- tions to divide itself into three sep- arate groups, whose Finnish par- ent companies will be quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The plan is to divide the Metra Group by splitting the parent company,

Avondale's 20,000 MT Drydock

Avondale's 82,300 MT Drydock