Page 98: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 1998)

SHIP REPAIR & CONVERSION

A farewell to ON of Ik iiduslry's nost well howi fadliHes by Alan Thorpe, international editor

Belfast's

Harland & Wolff (H&W) Ship

Repair & Marine

Services has announced that it is to withdraw from the general shiprepair market. The official rea- sons are, according to a spokesman for H&W, "as a result of the cur- rent strength of sterling against other international currencies, and the over capacity in the basic shiprepair sector. In the immediate future, the company will pursue major higher added value repair, refurbishment and conversion con- tracts, with the focus on the off- shore market and in the cruise sec- tor. "This re-focusing of the company will result in greater fluctuations in the workforce required to under- take shiprepair contracts and for this reason the company is creat- ing a greater element of personnel flexibility within the entire H&W organization."

H&W's Shiprepair Division has built a fairly good reputation in the higher end of the repair and con- version markets with contracts such as the Arcadia refit and the re-build of the Sea Empress. A turnover of $33.9 million during 1997 gave a profit of $2.42 million, although this did include some $9.7 million for the Arcadia refit and some of the $48.5 million for the Sea Empress rebuild. It must also be remembered that the off- shore drilling rig, Bideford

Dolphin refurbishment project and the Glas Dowr FPSO conversion project were both won by the

Shipbuilding Division.

One of the most interesting aspects of this announcement is that H&W will withdraw from the ferry refit market, which includes

Stena Line's HSS vessels. At 131.2 ft. (40 m) beam, H&W has the only facility in the U.K. to drydock such vessels.

It is believed that the current workforce employed in the shiprepair business will be re- employed in the shipbuilding divi- sion and then transferred back to shiprepair when a large contract is underway.

In spite of continued strong com- petition from Polish, Latvian,

Estonian and Russian shiprepair yards, Klaipeda-based Western

Shiprepair Yard has managed to achieve even greater results than in 1997. Total turnover during the first five months of this year, com- pared with the same period in 1997, increased by more than 20 percent. The yard has made a few considerable investments so far this year, including the acquisition of new steel cutting machines, modifications to workshops, and personnel training.

General cargo vessels continue to dominate the yard's orderbook during this year, with a total of 60

Port Weller Dry Docks was awarded a contract valued at approximately $600,000 to repair the

M.V. Aptmariner. The Liberian-registered vessel grounded in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in late June.

Approximately 30 tons of steel will be required to repair the ship, which sustained damage to the bow and forward-most tank. The M.V.

Aptmar/ner is owned by Hong Kong-based China

Ocean Shipping Company, and registered in

Monrovia, Liberia. The vessel measures 619 ft. (188 m) long and 76 ft. (23.1 m) wide. 80

Petrobras 37 at Singapore's Jurong Shipyard undergoing FPSO conversion.

Maritime Reporter/Engineerine No»- ships being repaired. Among the ships handled at the yard, there were two large fishing vessels, the

Atlantic Horizon and Atlantic

Challenger, owned by Ervik

Marine Services, Norway, and

Atlantic Horizon A/S. These ships were converted to seismic research vessels, with the work including large quantities of stripping and steel mounting and renewal work.

The yard has managed to keep the rate of 12-14 tons of steel mounting and renewal per day. In total 650 tons of steel was mounted onboard Atlantic Horizon and 760 tons onboard Atlantic Challenger.

The yard also installed thrusters, main engine and tailshaft, and blasted/painted. Future work at the yard includes lengthening of

Erikson's 6,620-grt Finnish RoRo vessel Finnoak. The job entails the installation of a 450-ton steel sec- tion. In addition, a new accommo- dation area was to be built and installed. The contract was expect- ed to be completed last month.

In early June, Sweden's

Oresundsvarvet was awarded a

Skr65 million conversion contract to convert the 1,000 dwt Russian supply vessel Svetlomor-1 to a seis- mic exploratory surveying vessel.

The contract involves lengthening the vessel by 49.2 ft. (15m), which- will give the vessel a length overall of 249 ft. (76 m) after the conver- sion has been completed. Also included in the contract is the building of a new deck aft and con- struction of a hanger over the whole aft deck section. In the hanger, the winches and rail sys- tem for handling the seismic equip- ment will be housed. Owned by

Nopec International ASA, an affili- ate of the Norwegian Norex Group, the vessel is scheduled to arrive at the yard during this summer and be re-delivered this month.

The marine seismic surveying may be carried out throughout the world on vessels ranging in size from 65 to 394 ft. (20 to 120 m). In simple terms, a seismic survey ves- sel acquires its data by means of an acoustic source generating pres- sure waves in the sea through to the seabed and the rock layers below. The returns from the acoustic source are measured by a long submerged cable packed with sensitive hydrophones and elec-