Page 6: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 1996)

MARITIME

REPORTER & ENGINEERING NEWS

IP EDITOR'S NOTE

Editorial & Executive Offices 118 E. 25th St., NY, NY 10010

Tel: (212) 477-6700; Fax: (212) 254-6271; e-mail: [email protected]

PUBLISHERS

Charles P. O'Malley

John E. O'Malley

John C. O'Malley

Vice President

Gregory R. Trauthwein

EDITORIAL

Editorial Director

Gregory R. Trauthwein

Senior Editor/MarineLink Webmaster

Dan Maniotis

Associate Editor

Bridget A. Murphy

Assistant Editor

Nina D. Miller

Editorial Intern

Anthony Besada

Editorial Consultant

James R. McCaul, president, IMA Associates

International Editors

Alan Thorpe, Graeme MacLennan

Carol Fulford, Andy Smith

MARKETING

Marketing Manager

Lois A. Stiglmeier

PRODUCTION

Production Manager

Patricia Kennedy

Asst. Production Manager

Jean Wanamaker

CIRCULATION

Circulation Manager

Dale L. Barnett

ADVERTISING SALES

Regional Sales Manager

Lucia Annunziata

Regional Sales Manager

Christopher Goldsholl

Regional Sales Manager

Jean M. Vertucci

Advertising Sales Information

Telephone: +212-477-6700

INTERIMTIOIUL SALES OFFICE

Charles E. Keil, Vice President, International Operations 980 N. Federal Highway, Ste. 206-19, Boca Raton, FL 33432

Telephone: +407-368-1021; Fax: +407-368-1161 jA s much as the recent AISE exhibition was f I touted as the "coming out party" for U.S. shipbuilders and ship equipment suppliers mJm^ JL.— marking a re-emergence into the com- mercial shipbuilding scene — the real party is about to begin in Hamburg, Germany, at the end of this month.

The U.S. is, of course, the official partner country for the SMM '96 exhibition, which is highly regarded as a premiere international maritime event. While the honor associated with this status is considerable, it will be fasci- nating to note the reception U.S. shipbuilders and equip- ment suppliers receive, particularly in light of the role the

U.S. government has played in prolonging — and many say killing — the OECD initiative on shipbuilding sub- sidies. Politics aside, customers and competitors who wan- der into the U.S. Pavilion will find a quality group of companies ready and willing to do whatever it takes to capture commercial shipbuilding business.

This same statement can be universally applied, how- ever, to most any nation's maritime industry. The compe- tition bar continues to rise without an end in sight.

Equipment manufacturers and shipbuilders are being pressed to produce more for less, and the companies that will prosper will be those that continue to find the means to produce.

Gregory R. Trauthwein

Editorial Director e-mail: trauthwein @marinelink. com fax: (212) 254-6271

PS. Take a moment from your busy day to visit

MR/EN's online service — MarineLink — at http://www.marinelink.com. MarineLink offers daily maritime news, a "keyword" searchable database and full text versions of each o/MR/ENs 1996 editions.

EC Clears BP, Mobil Joint Venture

Gulf Coast

MR. JAMES N. McCUNTOCK

Simpson Corporate Pork, Indigo House, Suite A 206 South Tyler Street, Covington, La. 70433

Telephone: (504) 893-5099; Fax: (504) 893-5024

Scandinavia

MR. STEPHAN R. G. 0RN

AB Stephon R.G. Orn, Box 184, S-27100 Ystad, Sweden

Telephone:+46 411-18400; Fax: +46 411 10531

United Kingdom

MR. MICHAEL J. DAMSELL

Euromedia Ltd., P.O. Box 122, Hayward's Heath

West Sussex RH16 1YF, England

Telephone: +441 444 417360; Fax: +441 444 417360

The European Commission (EC) has approved the formation of a joint venture between BP and Mobil which combines their European activities in the refining and marketing of fuels and lubricants. BP and Mobil will combine their fuels and lubricants businesses throughout Europe by means of partner- ships (or their local equivalents) in each national jurisdiction. The equity stakes in the partnerships will be different for fuels and lubricants. For fuels,

BP will hold 70 percent and Mobil will hold 30 per- cent, while for lubricants Mobil will hold 51 per- cent and BP 49 percent. The fuels business as a whole will be oper- ated by BP, while the lubricants business will be operated by Mobil.

Italy/Switzerland

Ediconsuh Intemazionale

Piano Fontane Morose, 3-16123 Genova, Italy

Telephone: +39 10 583684, Fax: 39 10 566578

France

MR. DANIEL S0LNICA

Ediconsult Internazionale,, 25 rue Saulnier 75009 PARIS

Telephone: +33 1 4246 957; Fax: +33 1 4246 8508

BENELUX

Hans and Paula Tocg

Maritime Media NL, Boekweltakker 43 2743 DL Netherlands

Telephone: +31 182 640655; Fax: +31 182 649150

Maritime Reporter Online • http://www.marinelink.com

Both operators will be under the control of a jointly controlled supervisory committee.

The geographic scope of the joint venture will be

Western and Eastern Europe (including Western

Russia), plus Cyprus and Turkey. The joint venture excludes the companies' international trading, avia- tion and marine activities as well as their operations in exploration and production, gas marketing and chemicals.

The joint venture will operate on a large number of product markets downstream from the refining of crude oil. This includes the manufacture and sales of base oils, process oils and slack wax; the retail sales of fuels (petrol, diesel and LPG); the non-retail sales of fuels (diesel, fuel oil, LPG, gas oil), bitumen and automotive as well as industrial lubricants.

The joint venture will have an overall market share for retail motor fuels in Europe of about 10 percent, which is expected to put it in third place behind Exxon and Shell.

For lubricants, the joint venture will reportedly represent approximately 18 percent of the total mar- ket in Europe.

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News

With that said, it's interest- ing to note that this edition has evolved into a "Country Focus" edition, as three prominent KHMrV maritime nations — Germany, X' fl

Norway and Finland — are W&W featured.

All have a strong maritime tradition, and each has also progressively changed and sharpened its focus in lieu of prevailing business trends. The result: every country has become fiercely competitive in one or more niche markets.