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and competitive labor costs.

RINA — Contributor To

High-Speed Technology

Buoyed by the Italian shipbuild- ing industry's sustained success in both cruise ship construction and high-speed ferry production, classi- fication society Registro Italiano

Navale (RINA) has emerged as a

Orlando —

Resurgent Force In Livorno

Lost year's profit at Cantiere Navale Orlando, fol- lowing the breakeven result in 1996, vindicated the decision of a management-led employees' coopera- tive to buy the Livorno yard from Fincantieri in 1995.

The stream of orders for petrochemical tankers since privatization has moreover provided a solid business platform for an investment program set to reach a major new stage later this summer with the reactivation and renovation of a slipway from which a vessel was last launched three decades ago.

The completion of the scheme to bring the

Morosini slipway back into operation, offering a working length of 873-ft. (266-m), will enable the yard to set its sights on vessels nominally of up to 50,000-dwt and panamax beam. Construction has previously been concentrated on the 459 x 69-ft. (140 x 21 -m) berth in the harbor's inner dock, which has been optimized by the new proprietors for small- er classes of stainless steel tanker.

Contracts in hand ensure production continuity through 1998 and 1999, and the realization of the

Morosini development will allow the Orlando yard to activate a domestic project for oil/chemical tankers of 36,000-dwt and 45,0Q0-cu.-m. Served by a newly-purchased gantry crane of 360-ton capacity, the slip will also provide the yard with the means of engaging in other value-added sectors of the new- build business, including the cruiseship market.

Recently accorded ISO 9002 certification, CNO's newbuild productivity advance under private owner- ship has been impressive, rising rapidly from one vessel per annum under Fincantieri control to around 2.2 ships per year, and set now to reach an early tar- get of four vessels per year. The transition from the public domain has also been attended by a near-25 percent reduction in the workforce.

The 1998 delivery program was opened by the commissioning of the 9,550-dwt Giovanni Fagioli, a sophisticated, double-hulled chemical and oil tanker embodying 22 integral cargo tanks fabricated using

Avesta 2205 stainless steel, plus two deck tanks encased with the same material. Contractual owner

Finaval has assigned her to the Novamar pool, to which tonnage is also ascribed by another indepen- dent Italian operator, Marnavi.

An additional 9,550-tons, plus two fully-stainless tankers of 10,000-dwt, all ordered by the Novamar partners, are scheduled to complete the 1998 output from Livorno.

Ship repair provides an income stream contribut- ing to around 30 percent of the company's income, and employing a major asset in the shape of a 300,000-dwt capacity graving dock plus other facili- ties. key contributor to technological development in disparate sectors of the passenger vessel market.

As a mirror of the Italian mar- itime industries' longstanding involvement in fast waterborne transportation, RINA's presence in the high-speed field dates from its classification of the first hydrofoils in the 1950s.

Over the ensuing 40 years, the society entered more than 70 hydrofoils into its books along with about 40 other light, fast ferries.

Further to the adoption of the

HSC Code, RINA has strengthened its position in the market with around 30 subject vessels in class or under construction, including 13 newbuildings at domestic yards.

The most recent fleet entrant,

Tirrenia's 475-ft. (145-m) monohull

Aries, represents a new milestone in the development of the high- speed mode, and also in the design, build and classification of fast ships to new international rules.

Bon

FINCANTIERI IS

BUILDING FOR THE SEA

Advanced design and production technologies, and a more than two centuries' long tradition behind: Fincantieri is the heir to the Italian oldest and most illustrious companies in the field, and has thus been able of consolidating and continuously updating a unique wealth of experience through the construction of more than 7,000 vessels. Fincantieri, which is today the largest shipbuilding group in the Mediterranean and one of the largest in Europe, is capable of giving innovative and customer-tailored answers to all the needs of those who work for the sea: Merchant vessels of all types, shipconversions, floating offshore units, naval vessels and submarines, large and medium size diesel engines.

MORE THAN 7000 SHIPS OVER TWO CENTURIES

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