Page 18: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1995)

EUROPEAN UPDATE

European mdustry -ifli Mice

With the domination of the shipbuilding market by Japan and South Korea, European builders have been forced to adjust to maintain its prominence on the international market. Individually, there is no question that things are no longer as they once were. In a situation where Japan accounts for 46 percent and South Korea 22 percent of the new orders for merchant vessels over 100 gt, no other single country reaches double figures. Col- lectively, however, the 12 European Union (EU) countries alone claim 11.5 percent, and with prospects for 1995 looking good for "greater Eu- rope" constituents such as Poland, Romania and

Croatia — there is no doubt that Europe as a whole is still a major force in shipbuilding.

Indeed, according to the merchant shipbuild- ing returns for the last quarter of 1994 published by Lloyd's Register, of the top 14 shipbuilding countries in the league table behind the big two, all but China and Brazil were European. Den- mark, although a small country with high wage rates, is a remarkably significant player in the market with 1.2 million gt either on order or under construction.

Finland boasts only a slightly lower figure, which includes four 135,000-cu.-m. LNG ships at

Kvaerner Masa, the first of which has just been launched, destined for Abu Dhabi, and the cruise vessels Imagination and Inspiration being built at Kvaerner's Helsinki yard. Carnival Cruise

Lines has ordered an additional two sisterships for delivery in 1998.

Germany maintained its number one Euro- pean status at the beginning of the year with 1.9 million tons either in build or on order. The completion by Meyer Werft of P&O's much her- alded Oriana leaves the yard with three 70,000- gt sister liners to build for Celebrity Cruises. The first, Century, is due to be delivered in November and will operate out of Port Everglades, Fla.

However, all European yards have prepared for stiffening competition from new competitors, as the orderbooks at the Polish yards of Gdansk,

Szczecin and Gdynia look exceedingly healthy.

The latter celebrated its 500th newbuilding with a 96,000-dwt double-hulled tanker (the second of two), but Szczecin has 10 containerships, three product tankers and four bulk carriers to build with options for more in each series. The Roma- nian yard of Constantza has a series of bulk carriers to build, guaranteeing work until 1997, and a recent delivery included a 170,000-dwt vessel to Safmarine with four similar ships to follow for Exmar of Belgium.

Against the general trend, Spanish and French yards have registered significant improvements in their orderbook situations (41.2 percent and 22.1 percent, respectively), in both cases ap- proaching the levels of activity achieved five years ago. The SNACH concern at Le Havre,

France, has recently improved these figures even •urther by securing a contract to build three 57,000-dwt, diesel-electric chemical tankers for itolt Parcel Tankers. Chantiers de l'Atlantique /ill deliver the 862-ft. (262.7-m) Legend of the 0 by Carol Fulford & Andy Smith, contributing editors

Seas to Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), and concentrate building efforts on sistership

Splendour of the Seas. Legend will not only be one of the most innovative liners afloat in terms of comfort and sophistication for its 2,000 pas- sengers, but at 24 knots, will be one of the fastest.

Astilleros Espanoles has improved the Spanish outlook by beating South Korean yards to the order for an 80,000-dwt shuttle tanker for Texaco, and the company also hopes to benefit from a co- operation agreement with Japanese giant

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI).

The luxury cruise sector has kept the various

Italian Fincantieri yards busy. Ryndam, the third of four sisters for Holland America, was delivered at the end of '94, and Veendam should shortly follow. Carnival, which will take deliv- ery of Sun Princess at the end of the year, has now placed orders with Fincantieri for a second 100,000-gt vessel, sister to the liner already under construction there. Delivery of these 2,600-passenger ships is scheduled for the end of 1996 and 1998. A third vessel, to carry 1,300 passengers and recently ordered by Holland

America, should dovetail nicely with the other deliveries, with a 1997 completion date.

The diesel-electric propulsion concept is be- coming increasingly well established in the thriv- ing cruise ship sector, with the Kvaerner-built ships for Carnival opting for systems by the

Finnish company ABB Marine, and the RCCL ships incorporating systems by Cegelec, an Anglo-

French concern. Oriana andCentury from Meyer

Werft have retained more conventional diesel mechanical arrangements, with each vessel hav- ing two father and son pairs of nine- and six- cylinder MAN B&W medium-speed diesels to provide flexible operation.

Unfortunately, not all the news is good.

Sweden's once substantial shipbuilding industry is now virtually nonexistent, and with the clo- sure of Swan Hunter, just Harland & Wolff is left to fly the British Flag in the large vessel sector.

The answer for many European countries has been specialization in smaller hi-tech vessels, as seen in The Netherlands. This country's overall total tonnage on order or in build is just 0.6 percent of the world total — below the U.K. (1.04 percent) and Turkey (0.83 percent). However, this represents a high number of vessels, at 128.

This compares with just 34 in the U.K. and 41 in

Turkey.

Dutch trade has improved recently with the delivery of Pearl River, reportedly the world's largest trailing suction hopper dredger. Built by

IHC Holland, the vessel is reported to be 40 percent larger than any predecessor at 472 ft. (144 m) and 16,072 gt. The same yard has received an order to build a similar but larger vessel measuring 499 ft. (152 m) and the Merwede

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News