Page 58: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2001)

ICCL Cruise Line Adopts New Mandatory Safety Standards

Members of the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) have unanimously adopted mandatory safety standards that exceed existing U.S. and international standards for their cruise ships. The adopted safety standards represent the beginning of a process that will address all of the standards that were originally proposed in February 2001 by the ICCL

Board of Directors. This marks the first time an association of international passenger ves- sel operators has adopted mandatory industry safety standards.

These new standards have an implemented deadline of July 1, 2001. The standard includes the existence of a personal flotation device (PFD) for each infant carried onboard every ICCL member cruise ship. This PFD is designed to provide increased safety and comfort for chil- dren not large enough to fit into a child lifejacket. Also required are adult lifejackets onboard each ship in excess of the number required by U.S. and international regulations. In addition, an obstruction-free, suitable helicopter pick-up area is required in the case of patient evacu- ation to a shore-side hospital. The announcement of mandatory standards has drawn favor- able comments from regulatory agencies and individuals, including Admiral James M. Loy,

Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Stratos Appoints Two EVPs

Stratos appointed Richard P. Halka as executive vice president and CFO, and David J. Oake as executive vice president of Corporate Development.

Halka was vice president, acting CFO and European Finance Director with

Euronet Worldwide, a company in the arena of electronic financial transac- tions. Oake was vice president of corpo- rate development of Aliant Inc., Stratos' main shareholder, and has been a direc- tor of Stratos since 1998. He will be responsible for Stratos' corporate and business development strategy, includ- ing all merger and acquisition activity.

Leon Joins Crowley

Mario Leon joins Crowley Logistics transportation management as director of Business Development. The new transportation management center in

Miami, Fla. is designed to help cus- tomers achieve cost reductions and ser- vice efficiencies by taking an integrated approach to all segments of domestic and international transportation. Leon has more than 25 years of experience in the transportation industry, specializing in the Latin American, Caribbean and

South Florida markets. During his career he worked in a number of executive management positions for companies including Carotrans International and

Equipsa, Inc.

OOCL Announces New North

American Headquarters

Effective April 2, 2001, OOCL's North

America headquarters will relocate from

Pleasanton to San Ramon, Calif. While all e-mail addresses will remain the same, the company's new address is as follows: OOCL (USA) Inc., 2633

Camino Ramon, Suite 400, PO. Box 5100, San Ramon, CA 94583, Phone: (925) 358-OOCL (6625); Fax: (925) 358-6600

Iridium Satellite Launches

Global SatCom Services

Iridium Satellite kicked off the com- mercial launch of its global satellite communications services at a press con- ference on March 28. The company plans to launch data services, including dial-up access and direct Internet con- nectivity, in June 2001, followed by short burst messaging services, which are expected to be available later in the year. Estimated retail costs for the Satel- lite Series 9500 are less than SI,000 and airtime rates are expected not to exceed more than $1.50 per minute, with no additional long-distance, roaming, or zoning charges. Former Iridium cus- tomers that own phones can contact a service provider to upgrade them for data-readiness, quality voice enhance- ments and immediate voice service.

Sembcorp Marine Acquires A 50% Stake In PPL Shipyard

SembCorp Marine has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with PPL

Holdings Pte Ltd to acquire a 50 percent equity stake comprising 10 million shares of SI.00 each in PPL Shipyard

Pte Ltd (PPLS).

The purchase consideration, which was reached after taking into considera- tion the net asset value of PPLS, would be fully paid using SembCorp Marine's internal funds. PPLS, whose business is primarily in oil rig and vessel construc- tion as well as steel fabrication, has recently secured a contract for the con- struction of two jack-up drilling rigs, each having a value of $125 million, from Sante Fe International Corporation with a construction period of 24 months for each rig.

General Thermodynamics

Establishes New Location

General Thermodynamics Corp., Ply- mouth, Mass. has opened a new sales office located at P.O. Box 642, Hampton

Falls, N.H., tel: (877) 731-9800. The company, which has manufactured and distributed the BMEP Engine Cylinder for more than 30 years, will continue to maintain its primary manufacturing facility in Plymouth, Mass.

Leica Geosystems

Preps For Expansion

Continued internal growth and recent acquisitions have taken Leica Geosys- tems into new areas. The company is now advancing into its 3-D data acquisi- tion and visualization markets with six market-oriented divisions. The new cor- porate structure replaces the existing product-based and regionally oriented matrix organization. The corporate offi- cers at the Heerbrugg headquarters in

Switzerland will consist of CEO Hans

Hess; Christian Leu. CFO; Eric Poll,

Corporate Human Resources officer;

Martin Nix, Corporate Business Devel- opment officer; and a chief information officer, who has yet to be named. This corporate management team will be complimented by the six presidents of the new business divisions: Clement

Woon, Surveying and Engineering; Bob

Morris, GIS and Mapping; Walter Mit- telholzer. Industrial Measuring Sys- tems; Linus Zoller, Special Products;

Erwin Frei, New Businesses; and the interim appointment of Josef Strasser

Consumer Products.

Rasmussen Joins Transas

Transas Marine Limited's Worldwide

Headquarters in the U.K. has appointed

Sven Egelund Rasmussen as director of Sales, Transas Brand Products. Previ- ously as the managing director of S. P.

Radio A/S in Denmark, Rasmussen was responsible for driving sales through brand awareness, as well as negotiation of successful OEM partnerships.

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