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?6Maritime Reporter & Engineering News Founder: John J. O?Malley 1905 - 1980 Charles P. O?Malley 1928 - 2000 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News (ISSN # 0025-3448) is published monthly by Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.118 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010. Mailed at Periodicals Postage Rates at New York, NY 10199 and additional mailing offices. Postmaster send notification (Form 3579) regarding undeliverable maga- zines to Maritime Reporter/Engineering News, 118 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010. Publishers are not responsible for the safekeeping or return of editorial material. ©2011 Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. 118 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 477-6700; fax: (212) 254-6271ISSN-0025-3448USPS-016-750No. 6Vol. 74 MemberBusiness Publications Audit of Circulation, Inc.www.marinelink.com MARITIMEREPORTER ANDENGINEERINGNEWS All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers.EDITORIALWhat a long strange trip it?s been!? In amassing and assessing the bounty of data for this, our2012 Annual Yearbook, I think those Grateful Dead lyrics ? and the graphic and correspon- ding numbers on page 66 regarding ?New Ship Orders? ? are my hands-down favorite and the most apt description for what many of you experience every day. In casual conversation and business presentation alike, I often classify the maritime market with two words: cyclicaland conservative. And while I know this to be an apt description in broad overview, it is of course an over simplification of a broad global, dynamic industry that is made up of many moving parts. Looking back to the financial crash and burn of 2008, I don?t know that many of you envisioned that a full four years later the world would remain mired in a financial funk; a funk which itself has had highs and lows. But here we are in mid-2012, with many of the major sectors of the industry (ie. containership, bulker, tanker) stuck not in neu- tral, but rather with the appearance of dropping the transmission altogether, lurching forward and falling back. There is no more solid proof of this than in Greg Knowler?s Containership report, ?Containership Conun- drum,? starting on page 58. Knowler, who lives in Hong Kong with a ringside seat to the continership industry, realistically needed to file only 25 words to sum up this sector when he wrote: ?In 2009, the container shipping industry lost $16 billion. In 2010, itmade a profit of $20 billion, and last year it lost $8 billion.? While that tells the tale in short, I encourage you to read his full report, complete we insights from the world?s leading and largest containershipping concerns on their vision of the market going forward. Whereas the big shipping sector collectively is down, it will eventually rebound, and today there are bargains to be had for qual- ity shipowners that are in it for the long haul. While there is plentiful bad news, as you know in this market, when one door is closed, another opens. To find an excellent growth opportunity, you need to look no further than the cover of this edition, an offshore oil rig, a photo submitted by Jan Berghuis of the Netherlands which was selected as the Overall Winner in the 2nd An-nual Don Sutherland Photo Contest. The offshore energy industry is certainly no stranger to strong cyclical pulls, but today it is universally on the curve heading up, as the push to discover and recover oil and gas in in- creasingly scarce resources in deeper, more remote and hostile waters rises. We are honored this month to pres- ent to you a unique insight on Tidewater Inc., the world?s largest supplier of Offshore Service Vessels and one of the industry?s strongest and longest players in this sector. Tidewater?s ubiquitous CEO Dean Taylor officially retired this month, turning over the reigns of the company to incoming CEO Jeff Platt , who is no stranger tothe industry or the company, having been groomed for the post and serving 15 years alongside Taylor, most re- cently serving as Tidewater?s COO. Susan Buchanan?s story on this dynamic duo and the company that they have navigated through times good and bad starts on page 32. For the perspicacious readers of this publication, you may have wondered about the curious looking ?app? logo found atop this editorial. This, as you may have surmised, is our company?s latest offering toward fulfilling the informational needs of an ever growing and mobile subscription base, our ? Maritime Global News? servicefor the iPhone and iPad (downloadable for free from the Apple App Store). I have been serving this market for nearly 20 years, and when I started we published only Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ; there was no internet, there was no Email (the latter two, when I mention to my oldest, now 15, is met with a simultaneoushead-shake and eye-roll that insinuates I?m roughly as old as dirt!) . Print remains a solid staple, and in fact our family of print publications continues to grow and now includes four print titles covering every corner of the martitime, offshore and subsea world. At the same time, we have been aggressive and progressive in using all means electronic to develop and deliver the information you demand, when you need it, where you want it. In the last year, across our six websites and numerous ENews services, we recorded a significant statistical increase in the number of subscribers accessing our information with the Apple product line. With that we offer to you our first app, marking the latest step in our own nearly 75-year journey, which is certainly ?long,? sometimes ?strange,? but always a pleasure to cover and present to this ever-changing industry. MR June12 # 1 (1-8):MR Template 6/13/2012 11:43 AM Page 6