Page 27: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2002)

News build the vessel with 40,000 labor hours vs. a U.S. yard that required 50,000 labor hours. This kind of gap will be closed as U.S. yards spend more effort on improving their production practices and the associated planning. For example: I recently visited a yard where they traditional- ly spent 60 labor hours to fit a bow wrapper plate with come-alongs, wedges, and trimming excess from the plate. After learning about line-heating methods they were able to fit a similar plate within 12 labor hours. The plate was cut neat and treated with line heating to take a numerically predicted shape.

Successful shipyards will adopt some new technologies and processes.

Technologies will include line heating, statistical accu- racy control, 3-D product modeling, and product work breakdown structures. New processes will include a detailed build strategy, increased use of shipyard stan- dards and specific vendor equipment, better control of schedule and material flow, and zone-by-stage construc- tion.

At a recent meeting of the Passenger Vessel Association

Sen. Trent Lott, (R-Miss.), expressed his opinion that the

U.S. could be competitive in shipbuilding. We will do so if we continuously seek to improve our shipbuilding processes, benchmark ourselves against our international competitors and train our work forces to use the tools we have.

There you have my three trends. I think that they apply to all market sectors of the diverse and interesting marine industry. A common theme among them is communicat- ing information and asking questions. At a seminar on regulations a speaker said, "You're either a player or a victim." Let's all be players and work together.

Conoco Leads The Way For GOM

Shuttle Tankers

Seahorse Shuttling and Technology LLC, a whol- ly owned entity of Conoco, has completed the func- tional design of a new tanker for shuttling crude oil from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to shore. The 80,000-dwt double-hulled "GoMAX 550 shuttle tanker will be capable of transporting 550,000 bar- rels of crude oil. With a 40-foot draft, the new shut- tle tanker will be able to enter most ports in the U.S.

Gulf of Mexico.

The GoMAX 550 design is the result of a ship- building alliance between Conoco, Alabama Ship- yard of Mobile, Ala., and Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries of South Korea.

Designed by Samsung specifically for production at Alabama Shipyard, the new shuttle tankers would meet the Jones Act requirement that vessels operat- ing totally in U.S. waters must be constructed in the

U.S.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Minerals Management

Service (MMS) approved in principle the use of

FPSO's and shuttle tankers for crude oil production

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Daewoo Shipbuilding To Build,

Refit LNGs For Exmar

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. has won a $270 million order to build a liquefied natural gas carrier and refit three other LNG carriers for Exmar N.V. of Belgium for delivery by 2005.

The vessels are capable of carrying 4.83-million cu. ft. of liquefied natural gas each and will be chartered to Houston, Texas-based El Paso Global LNG for positioning in the Gulf of Mexico and along the U.S.

East Coast. It has also been confirmed that the trio of LNG carriers will be modified into EP Energy

Bridge Vessels, which can regasify and deliver a minimum of 400 million cu. ft. of natural gas/day.

An EP Energy Bridge ship connects to a pipeline infrastructure through an offshore buoy and turret system that has been used worldwide, including approximately 10 years of service in the harsh North

Sea. In order to achieve a continuous flow of natur- al gas, a typical EP Energy Bridge system will have two offloading buoys to ensure uninterrupted deliv- ery. In addition, the offshore systems will provide a cost-effective solution to serve seasonal or peaking loads, and small- to medium-size markets where natural gas delivery has been unavailable.

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