Page 68: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 1997)

Nor-Shipping '97 News

For more information on the companies mentioned in this story, please circle the appropriate number on the Reader

Service Card in this issue.

Company RSC#

IAQS 5

MacGregor 6

Newport News Shipbuilding 7

Odim A.S 8

Saab Marine Electronics 9

Telia Mobile 10

United Software Distributors 11 (Baltimore, Md.); Motion Smith (Singapore); Navicharts AS (Oslo);

Safe Navigation Inc. (Long Beach,

Calif.) Sea Information Systems (Aberdeen, Scotland.)

USD believes it is on the cutting edge of marine technology, as it contends that over the next few

Puget Sound Rope years, paper charts will disappear and will be replaced by electronic charts, displayed by ECDIS sys- tems which are usually based on an Intel chip, the heart of a stan- dard PC. USD said the Microplot system is designed to accept both raster and vector charts, and is compatible with the chart formats of ARCS, Livechart and NOAA.

Another consortium of companies was introduced to help shipowners come into compliance with the

International Safety Management (ISM) Code, which is to take effect in July 1998. It is estimated that more than 6,500 companies and 19,000 vessels around the world are not currently in compliance with the new regulation, and inter- national authorities continue to warn shipowners that there will be consequences for those vessels and owners who chose to delay the 1012 Second Street,

Anacortes,WA 98221-1956

TEL: 360-293-8488 FAX: 360-293-8480 process. The new association,

International Association of

Quality Surveyors (IAQS), seeks to help hundreds of shipown- ers from having their vessels banned from leading ports. IAQS is a group including

ECM/Hudson, MARCARE and

Murray Fenton and Associates.

The ISM Code stipulates that all oil and chemical tankers, gas carri- ers, bulk cargo ships and passen- ger ships must adhere to the regu- lation by July 1, 1998. All owners of cargo ships over 500 grt are required to comply with the Code by July 1, 2002. "Our aim is to combine the resources to provide worldwide consultancy and smooth the path for shipowners seeking accreditation for the ISM Code," said John Noble, Murray Fenton's managing director. "To date, only a small percentage of the world's tonnage is certified."

In noting the seemingly uniform resistance to the ISM code,

ECM/Hudson's Per Christensen said that, in general, the shipping industry is very conservative and resists change, as many companies feel that its qualities and systems are sufficient. However, the over- whelming message from the IAQS group is "you can't avoid ISM."

Seeking to garner more business from the booming offshore market,

Odim AS announced its new off- shore mooring and offloading con- cept at Nor-Shipping.

The new concept is designed for installation onboard FPSO and

FSU units, and is designed to transfer crude oil from production ships to shuttle tankers. Two peo- ple can reportedly handle the sys- tem in a simple, safe manner. All components are installed on the vessel's poop deck, and equipment includes: hose reel in frame/cat- walk, pre-rigged with hydraulic powerpack and cable drum; control cabin for mooring/offloading; winch with messenger line to offloading hose, hoisting power and braking power of one ton; 600- ton hawser winch, with a hoisting power of five tons; a hydraulic pow- erpack for hawser winch, messen- ger line winch and service crane; battery charger; junction box and hydraulic valve blocks; and oil heater.

Telia Mobile announced the introduction of a new e-mail ser- vices in MARITEX, with gateways to users of cc:mail, internet mail and X.400 mail. The move is designed to improve the communi- cations capabilities between ship and shore, extend- ing the scope of

MARITEX ser- vices in line with increased flexibili- ty demands.

MARITEX is a computerized, global network for maritime text com- munications owned and operat- ed by Telia Mobile.

Saab Marine

Electronics now offers its popular

TankRadar for liquefied gas carri- ers. The unit not only measures level, but also tank pressure, vapor and liquid temperature, as well as trim and list. The new radar gauge is a further refinement of the Saab TankRadar G3 system.

The new system has no moving parts, is intrinsically safe and has only its stainless steel cone anten- na in the tank vapor. The still pipe directs the microwaves so that the gauge can measure reliably, even when liquefied gas is boiling.

United Arab Shipping

Company (USAC) has selected

MacGregor Securing Division's

CV-20 dual function twistlock for its ten new containerships. USAC — the shipowner consortium backed by six Arabian Gulf States — has contracted MacGregor's

Securing Division to supply all fixed and loose container fittings (loose fittings including 10 percent spare) including the new CV-20 dual function twistlock for its lat- est series of ten 24-knot container- ships. The vessels are to be built by a trio of Japanese yards, includ- ing Kawasaki Heavy Industries (the lead yard), which will build four of the 3,800-TEU vessels, and

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsui Engineering and

Shipbuilding which will each build three ships.

The new dual-function, semi- automatic twistlock type CV- 20/DUAL/2 has a symmetrical design which means it can be inserted either way up.

MacGregor also announced that its innovative tween deck covers are to be featured on a trio of 7,500-dwt multipurpose vessels designed to carry cargoes including steel coils, containers and dry bulk. The weatherdeck hatches are served by MacGregor folding panel-pair cover sets, while the tween decks, in the No. 2 and 3 holds are arranged fairly low (well below the mid-height of the hold).

We make rope as if your life depended on it ti,, SPECTRA Performance Materials A SPECTRA 1BER

Spectra is a registered trademark of AlliedSignal Inc. PugetSound Rope specializes in manufacturing high performance braided ropes for the most demanding applications — mooring lines, towing hawsers, emergency tow lines, vessel assist lines, face wires and wing wires — to name a few.

PSR's strongest rope, Plasma® 12 Strand, is manufactured with 100% Spectra® fiber that has been enhanced by our patented re-crystallization process. It is 50% stronger than conventional

Spectra fiber rope, yet retains all of the outstanding properties of the Spectra fiber including light weight, toughness, and near zero stretch.

When your life and livelihood is on the line,

PSR holds true. Call your distributor today, or contact us for more information.

Saab TankRadar is now available for liq- uefied gas carriers. 68 Circle 292 on Reader Service Card Maritime Reporter/Engineering News