Page 46: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 1995)

yard recently delivered the Nan Hai Kai Tuo to

Philips Petroleum for use off the mainland Chi- nese coast, and is currently working on the

Cossack Pioneer, ex-Chevron London, for use off the Australian coast.

In Europe, the main player in this market has recently been Astilleros Espanoles SA (AESA), which completed the conversion of the conven- tional crude-carrying VLCC Good News for

Bluewater Terminals, and is now working on a second vessel — the 99,800-dwt tanker Uisge

Gorm, ex-Dirch Maersk — which is being con- verted, under a $30 million contract, into an

FPSO for Bluewater Terminals.

This market sector is likely to remain buoyant for a number of years for the many specialized yards willing to bid for such a vast project.

Amoco Hamilton and Shell are among a number of companies with long-term plans for such con- versions, and Australia's Ampolex (Orient) Inc., which has headquarters in Perth and a regional office in Shen Zhen district near Hong Kong, is currently looking at possible shipbuilding/ship repairing companies to carry out a lengthy turn- key project for the design through conversion to hook-up of an FPSO for mainland China.

Another conversion sector from the tanker market is that of conventional tankers to special- ized offshore shuttle tankers, especially those many such vessels required for the North Sea.

Hamburg's Blohm + Voss (B+V) recently com- pleted such a conversion involving Ugland'sSterca

Savonita, ex-Savonita. Norwegian owner

Knudsen OAS, Haugesund recently had two of its fleet of tankers converted to specialized shuttle tankers with the Submerged Turret Loading (STL) system: the Dicto Knudsen was con- verted at AESA and the Tove Knudsen con- verted at the owner's own shipyard,

Haugesund Mekaniske Verksted.

Meanwhile, another such project involves the 91,000-dwt tankerFutura, which is owned by Finland's Neste. She is to have a new $13.65 million STL bow loading arrangement fitted at Kvaerner Masa-Yards, Finland. The conversion work will be completed by the end of this year. Kvaerner Masa-Yards had al- ready won a contract from Neste Shipping the previous year (1994) — a $17 million contract to convert the 16,420-dwt tanker Lunni for

Arctic trading. The 1976-built vessel arrived in Helsinki at the end of last year and is expected to enter the former Valmet yard in

Helsinki at the end of the year and leave in spring 1995. The same work was completed on her sistership, Uikku, earlier this year.

When the recently-introduced OPA 90 regu- lations governing double-hulled tankers came into force this year, many believed that it would result in a number of conversion projects involving existing tankers. U.S.'s Avondale

Industries is the first to be awarded such a contract involving Jones Act tankers by Ameri- can shipowner, American Heavy Lift Ship- ping (AHL). The $160 million contract in- volves the forebody conversions, stern modifi- cations and some house arrangements to the 34,723-dwt King and Knight and the 30,806- dwt Solar and Spray. The U.S. Maritime

Administration (MarAd) has approved a $139.4 million loan-guarantee under its Title

XI program. llfgglgl

INTERTANKO:

A View on Profits, Safety & OPA 90

Have no doubts, tanker safety and , 9 the long-term fi- nancial stability of the ^^^Hm^S^. M tanker market are top ^^^RH^OLifl concerns of Intertanko.

The organization has built a considerable repu- tation for meeting prob- lems head-on to advance ^^^^^Kfl the cumulative agenda ^^^BpPj^ V of its members.

Intertanko, which is the independent tanker Kristian R. Fuglesang owner's association dedi- cated to representing its members to governments, has been and remains a vocal opponent of OPA 90.

The organization recognizes that the legislation was introduced for the best of motives, but

Intertanko believes that as OPA 90 now stands, the measure could fail in some of its major objectives.

Kristian R. Fuglesang, assistant director of

Intertanko, recently spoke with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News to discuss the short- and long- term effects of OPA 90, as well as other related issues. 48 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News