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end of the marine market, and the company has made a new, solid commitment and, said Craig Wendlandt, manager of the

Engineered Drives Business Unit, "we're in it to stay."

Since the restructuring of the company into business units, all products have been reviewed and the decision was made to con- tinue to support marine orders for the exist- ing MR and MRH line of previously designed drives.

Circle 120 on Reader Service Card

MC Shipping Seeks To Expand

MC Shipping Inc. is reportedly evaluating acquisition projects in the container and gas shipping sectors. The company also expects to add significantly to its current fleet of 20 vessels in the near future. MC

Shipping operates its fleet in the liquefied petroleum gas and container and multipur- pose sectors. The company expects the liq- uefied petroleum gas market to show renewed strength during the second half of 1999 or earlier.

Noble Drilling Announces

Semisubmersible Purchase

Noble Drilling purchased the Shelf 6, a

Friede & Goldman 9500 Enhanced

Pacesetter design semisubmersible, built in 1986. The unit is currently located outside

Wakkanai Harbor, Japan. This unit is cur- rently rated to operate in 600 ft. of water.

Plans call for the Shelf 6 to undergo refur- bishment and upgrade for work in deeper water depths upon Noble securing a long- term drilling contract.

Panama Canal To Begin Ship

Safety Inspection

The Panama Canal Commission (PCC) was to launch an inspection program Aug. 17 that would affect ships traversing the

Panama Canal. PCC inspectors will check safety equipment, machinery, fittings, fire- fighting systems, and other related aspects of vessels chosen for inspection. The select- ed ships will be required to meet interna- tionally accepted standards, unless modi- fied by the ship's Classification Societies.

Vessels selected will not be advised of an inspection until after their arrival at the canal. The inspection program should investigate two or three ships a day in both

Balboa and Cristobal ports once the pro- gram is in full operation.

China State Shipbuilding Output

Up 28.6%

Output of China's State Shipbuilding

Corp. reportedly jumped a year-on-year 28.6 percent to hit $313.3 million in the first half of this year. The company was reported to have finished building 46 ships in the first six months. However, hit by the

Asian financial crisis, the company had signed only 820,000 tons in shipping con- tracts, worth $1.2 billion in the first half, down one third from the year-ago period.

OMI Orders Tankers

OMI Corporation ordered two 156,000 dwt Suezmax crude oil tankers for delivery in January 1999 and May 2000. OMI said it had also ordered two 35,000 dwt product tankers for delivery in mid-1999 and taken options to order a further two Suezmax ves- sels.

The company gave no further details of the contracts. OMI said it currently has a fleet of 28 vessels, including two Suezmax newbuildings, one vessel held for sale and four chartered-in tankers.

SembCorp. To Make Cuts

Sembawang Corp. Ltd. (SembCorp.) reportedly will look to trim costs in non- core businesses. The company's marine and heavy industries unit performed well fol- lowing the merger of Jurong Shipyard Ltd. and

Sembawang shipping assets last year. Turnover rose to $270.7 million compared to $85 million previously.

It contributed a pre-tax profit of $22.7 million against $2.9 million a year ago. The engineering and con- struction group also fared well, accounting for $248 million in turnover and $6.7 million in pre-tax profits.

SembCorp.'s core competence are in marine and

Thordon Rolls-Out

Pollution-Free Open Bearings At SMM

A pioneer in the development of pol- lution free bearing designs, Thordon

Bearings will pre- sent both sealed and open, water lubricated pro- peller shaft bearing systems options at the SMM exhibi- tion in Germany.

The company's

Compac open water lubricated pro- peller shaft bearing system is designed to offer pollution- free simplicity, as well as long life in Thordon Compac Bearing System, blue water opera- tions. The system is featured on the Grand

Princess and Disney Magic.

Thor-Lube is designed as an environmentally friendly, sealed stern tube bearing system that eliminates pollution concerns related to stern tube oil.

The sealed system uses non-metallic Thordon

XL bearings and Thor Lube, a non-polluting water soluble lubricant.

Circle 124 on Reader Service Card prop-13 -NEWYORK- - FLORIDA - 26-15 123rd Street • Flushing, NY 11354 Website 3040 S W 10th Street' PomPano Beach- FL 33069

Tel. (718) 359-3393 • Fax (718) 358-9324 www.sspropeller.com Tel. (954) 979-5220 • Fax (954) 979-7161

MR/EN Marine Propulsion Supplement • September 1998 Circle 297 on Reader Service ^

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