Lloyds List
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- ASRY's Nils Kristian Berge Talks Strategy and Investment Maritime Reporter, Jan 2014 #24
Last last year Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (ASRY) appointed Nils Kristian Berge acting Chief Executive to succeed Chris Potter. As ASRY is a driving force in the key Middle East ship repair and offshore markets, Maritime Reporter spent some time with Berge for his insights on the ship repair market in general, as well as ASRY specific initiatives for the coming year.
You replace Chris Potter, who obviously had a long and notable career. What are the top challenges and advantages going forward?
Chris did a great job over his six years as CE of guiding the company to the next level. He was at the helm while ASRY went through a major shift from being ship-centric to being a multi-service yard with a series of diversifications, most importantly the creation of ASRY Offshore Services. He also oversaw a major facilities expansion, and two other diversifications – ASRY Energy and ASRY Consultancy. As I take the company forward, I have a strong foundation that gives ASRY a robust launch pad for its next phase. The challenge going forward is going to be to unify all these new developments into a single cohesive proposition that simultaneously maximizes all their potential, yet also uses our resources in the most efficient way.
Specifically, where and how is ASRY investing today that is intended to pay dividend in 2014?
2014 will see the introduction of a series of new developments aimed to maintain our position as the go-to yard in the Arabian Gulf for safety and operational excellence. First, the company is going to undergo a corporate restructuring that will reorganize divisions, departments and responsibilities so as to streamline efficiency and improve cost-effectiveness. This will be rolled out in Q1 of 2014. Second, the company will adopt a new system of accountability which allows us to set targets and measure performance, through Key Performance Indicators. These improvements will feed into a cycle of continuous improvement for ASRY. We’ve ended 2013 with some very encouraging developments: the Shipyard of the Year award from Lloyds List, our 4,000th ship repair, the 50th rig repair, our third straight year of revenue growth, and more.
By market or region, where do you see opportunity in 2014 and beyond?
Saudi Arabia is definitely on our growth path. Up until now our Saudi-based rig work has mostly been modest repairs, for example steelwork, leg repairs, pipework repairs, sandblasting and painting. However, we have now opened a Representative office in the Kingdom, so as to quickly and efficiently respond to immediate repair requirements in Saudi, with major rig repairs still being carried out in our Bahrain facility. The ability to respond with more efficiency is just one of the advantages of having a branch in Saudi Arabia, another advantage being the greater variety of jobs the yard will be exposed to. For example, ASRY has been contracted to install fiber optic cables for a client in Saudi on its offshore rigs, which was an interesting departure from regular repair jobs. ASRY will start with minor repairs and services in Saudi Arabia with all the larger repairs being covered by its Bahrain facility.
By product, where do you see opportunities for ASRY in the next few years.
New projects from Saudi Arabia will likely include land rig work, with that being a growth area for the Kingdom, and we are also looking at small sized new build projects in the region. We have already constructed a fleet of workboats and will be targeted this market more aggressively in 2014. The Floating Power Plants market will continued to be focused on, as we have built two barges for an ASRY-Centrax joint venture product, and are in late stage talks for new contracts. Naturally the new regulations for BWTS and Emissions will gradually become more prevalent in our portfolio, and I expect a significant increase in retrofits of fuel treatment systems in the not too distant future.
When you look at the changing shape of repair in the Gulf region, how do you see ASRY’s position in what is becoming a crowded marketplace?
ASRY has three unique qualities that separate it from regional yards. First it has the greatest depth of experience in the region having been operational since 1977. Second our variety of facilities from drydock to floating docks, to slipways, to over 4 km of alongside berth space gives our customers flexibility and choice. We can service any kind of vessel, but more importantly we can service many different types simultaneously. Third, ASRY is very lucky to be located in Bahrain, not just for its prime geographical location, but because of the country’s business-friendly policies. Customers are constantly pleased by the speed at which we can import both spare parts and labour to get jobs done ahead of schedule. When days and hours are vital to cost-reduction for our clients, other Middle East countries can get expensive, but Bahrain has the most advanced setup for ensuring quick turnarounds. ASRY has also built up a portfolio of in-house specialist contractors capable of servicing all aspects of the repairs, which is unique in the Middle East, and creates a One stop shop” effect for customers using the yard.
Can you discuss your outlook for the care and maintenance of U.S. Navy ships (and for that matter, U.S. cargo ships) operating in your region?
We have a very good relationship with the U.S. Navy, and continue to assist with the fleet maintenance on a regular basis. We are also supporting the other Navy’s present in the region which has allowed ASRY to become well established in meeting Navy requirements. This has been an area of growth recently and we expect further positive development. Also, U.S.-Flagged merchant ships as well as U.S.-operated ships are regularly repaired at ASRY and this will continue to be an important market.(As published in the January 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - www.marinelink.com)
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- Maritime Operators Embrace Digital Transformation Maritime Reporter, Jul 2018 #28
, many are embracing digitalization as the most reliable way to lower operational costs and improve vessel efficiency.According to research conducted by Lloyds List Intelligence and Ovum, two-thirds of vessels use digitalization systems onboard. According to the executives surveyed, this is being driven by a
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- Insights: Registries Unwrapped Maritime Logistics Professional, Q2 2013 #10
on casualties can also be tied to particular flags. A recent effort to compare casualty statistics for various registries was presented in 2011 by Lloyds List Intelligence at a meeting of the International Maritime Statistics Forum (IMSF). The presentation, entitled “Marine Casualty Profiles,” looked at
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 41Nautel provides innovative, industry-leading solutions speci? cally designed for use in harsh maritime environments: • GMDSS/NAVTEX/NAVDAT coastal surveillance and transmission systems • Offshore NDB non-directional radio beacon systems for oil platform, support vessel & wind farm applications
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 13from gasoline to methanol, but compared to just buying an EV After some pondering, I think I can reduce it to this logi- today that is a pointless exercise. It would actually make more cal sequence: sense to buy a plug-in hybrid that is con? gured for methanol It is the carbon. We want zero carbon as
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April 2024 - Marine News page: 14Insights tion on a couple of issues, including engine room crew- For AWO, as an organization, what is its top ing on ATBs with automated systems. This is an issue priorities for the coming six to 12 months and that Congress thought that it addressed in the last Coast what’s being done to address them? Gua
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February 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 3915,000 TEU AMMONIA CONTAINERSHIP 000 TEU Containership the problematic area of adding carbon like you have with other alternative fu- “Safety has been at the els. When you start to add components center of the design, and into that, carbon is one of the most dif- it will continue to be so ? cult ones
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February 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 16THE PATH TO ZERO Methanol’s Superstorage Solution Technical inquiries to SRC Group ramped up after it received Approval in Principle (AIP) for a concept which ‘reinvented methanol fuel storage’ on board ships. Delivering the answers has seen technical talk converting into project discussions
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January 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 4Editorial bout 12 years ago I was invited to the home of then Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary A Roughead, for “a discussion on unmanned underwater systems.” When I ? rst received the invite, my ? rst thought was © Jason Adelaars MBARI 2023 www.marinetechnologynews.com “how did I get on this
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January 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 33WASALINE EQUIPMENT LIST AURORA BOTNIA MAIN PARTICULARS Main engines: 4 × Wärtsilä 8V31DF (4 × 4,400 kW) Ship Type: RoPax Ferry Fuel type: LNG, biogas, battery (Leclanche) Shipbuilder: Rauma Marine Constructions Total installed power: 17,6MW Material: Steel Bow thrusters: Wärtsilä FPP
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January 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 32CRUISE FEATURE uilt by Rauma Marine Constructions, in Rauma, control system and bow thruster motors. Finland, and launched in 2021, the 150-meter-long In addition to the engines, Wärtsilä also supplied its LNG- Aurora Botnia boasts a long list of onboard equip- Pac technology for LNG storage, supply
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January 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 26MEET THE CTO has grown to 90 people across several something that is scalable.” fuels, resulting in an overall reduction world regions, and this technical talent Next the CMB.TECH team targeted of 65% of traditional fuel consump- base is central to Campe completing the Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) used
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January 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 2NO.1 / VOL. 86 / JANUARY 2024 22 Roy Campe shows Maritime Reporter around the CMB.TECH workshop in Antwerp. Photo: Greg Trauthwein | Photo on the Cover: courtesy CMB.TECH 8 Big Ships and a Fuel Cell Future Departments With fuel cells having the potential to play a big role in decarbonizing the mari- 4
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December 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 43into force in 1958, and only gave the IMO broad and, vague tion. But shipbuilders, oil companies, miners, chemical man- powers “to deal with” the regulation and practices “relating ufactures and others with huge ? nancial stakes in shipping, to technical matters of all kinds affecting shipping in inter-
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December 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 39EAGLE VELLORE EAGLE VELLORE AET delivered its newest vessel, the ? rst of three Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) powered by dual-fuel lique? ed natural gas Photo courtesy AET (LNG) engines, on long-term charter to Shell Tankers (Singapore) Private Limited. The Malaysian-? agged Eagle Vellore was
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December 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 38G REAT of BERLIN EXPRESS HIPS S 2023 Photo courtesy Hapag-LLoyd BERLIN EXPRESS SERI DAMAI Hapag-Lloyd welcomed Berlin Express into its ? eet, the MISC welcomed two of its latest new generation of Lique- ? rst ship of its new Hamburg Express class and the ? rst of a ? ed Natural Gas (LNG) carriers
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December 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 27UNDERWATER NOISE ABB’s DynaFin propulsor will be designd to allow for the use of optimized ABB trajectories to reduce propeller noise. There are many technologies available to reduce URN, some of which may also reduce fuel consumption. However, Spence says it’s not just a case of picking out a
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December 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 26UNDERWATER NOISE ICS ICS NCE IWSA Chris Dr. Jesse Gavin Waddington: Seyedvahid Spence: Allwright: If considered at Having wind Vakili It’s not just an early stage, onboard also estimates that a and by careful a case of enables range 10% reduction in consideration to be extended speed
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December 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 25UNDERWATER NOISE he main thing holding the shipping industry back from reducing its underwater radiated noise (URN) is not a lack of appropriate technology. It’s argued that many of the technologies being REDUCING implemented today to reduce fuel consumption T also reduce noise. So, the noise reduction
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December 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 10Back to the Drawing Board T e Worst Ship in History ... Exxon Valdez By Rik van Hemmen, President, Martin & Ottaway hile Greg Trauthwein never assigns me col- ? rst moment of conception. I can think of other more recent umn subjects, each time the Great Ships issue less well-known recent examples too
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November 2023 - Marine News page: 49R.B. WEEKS Eastern Shipbuilding Group Florida shipbuilder Eastern Ship- rier islands and nourishing beaches an electrical power, propulsion, and building Group (ESG) this Spring de- lost to erosion, aiding the U.S. Army dredge machinery package by Royal livered R.B. Weeks, a 8,550 cubic yard Corps of
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November 2023 - Marine News page: 37Feature Shipyards By Tom Ewing hen asked about the top issues facing if operating policies are murky. shipbuilders, executives at the Ship- As an example, Paxton and Zorensky cited a CBP ruling builders Council of America (SCA) linked to the installation of wind tower monopiles (steel W listed a number
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November 2023 - Marine News page: 25Column Nuclear lion by 2026. There are over 19 companies developing hydrogen or the proposed list of alternative fuels offered to designs worldwide, and Russia & China report SMR sys- meet IMO emission goals. tems in operation. The technology, no different than the Building a ? nancial model to address
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November 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 76T MARITIME REPORTER. A - HIS DIRECTORY SECTION IS AN EDITORIAL FEATURE PUBLISHED IN EVERY ISSUE FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF THE READERS OF QUICK REFERENCE BUYER’S READERS GUIDE IT INCLUDES THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF THE WORLD S LEADING MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS OF ALL
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November 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 71Tech Files Wärtsilä 31DF Engine ZF AT 90 Thruster Methanol Superstorage © Wärtsilä Corporation Image courtesy ZF Image courtesy LR/SRC Group the IMO, and is fairly easy to store and Wärtsilä 31DF Engine Hydrogen Fueled Ship AIP Wärtsilä introduced a new ultra-low handle, it takes twice as much to
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November 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 67TECH FEATURE: GEARS Image courtesy Reintjes Karl Senner Chris Senner Reintjes Hybrid System hybrids, fully electric vessels, energy storage systems, fuel cells, alternative fuels, and everything in between. Key areas of increased penetration in the market include de- livering Reintjes solutions to the
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November 2023 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 66TECH FEATURE: GEARS While the Karl Senner LLC reference list is long, a strong recent win was last- month’s delivery of a pair of Damen 3013 Multi Cats, built by Conrad Shipyard for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. Credit: Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Gearing Up for a Hybrid Future Karl Senner LLC is a ? xture