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Monday, June 26,
2000
First gas turbine
powered cruise ships starts maiden voyage
Celebrity Cruises Millennium cruise ship began its maiden voyage
today powered by two GE LM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbines.
The Millennium is the world's first cruise ship to use a
COmbined Gas turbine and steam turbine integrated Electric drive
System
(COGES) configuration.
The 1,950-guest, 91,000-ton Millennium
is the largest ship ever built in France and is the first of
four state-of-the- art, Millennium-class ships Celebrity will
bring into service in the next two years.
Delivery from Chantiers de l'Atlantique
was delayed, forcing Celebrity to defer the ship's maiden voyage
from the originally planned June 17. Nonetheless, the ship's
design and completion within 27 months is impressive given the
size, complexity and level of innovation in the ship.
."Celebrity Cruises is incredibly
enthusiastic about moving into the new millennium with a state-of-the-art
cruise ship that blends the beauty and grandeur of turn-of-the-century
luxury liners with the amenities and breakthrough technological
advances that our guests demand," said James Lomonosoff,
Celebrity's senior vice president of marketing. He added that
the Millennium will benefit from dramatically reduced exhaust
emissions, as well as less engine noise and vibration.
In a COGES configuration is a very efficient
use of energy: Energy that
otherwise would be lost in the exhaust from the gas turbines
is captured
to produce steam from boilers for the steam turbines. The gas
turbine-based system powers the electric motors of the Alstom
Kamewa Mermaid podded drives that move the ship through the
water. The COGES configuration also provides for all on-board
power requirements such as ventilation systems, power to light
cabins, etc.
The engineering, gas turbine packaging
and system integration for
COGES was handled by S&S Energy Products, a GE Power Systems
business
and a GE Marine Engines Marine Systems Supplier. Three additional
Millennium-class cruise ships being built for Celebrity Cruises,
as well
as four Vantage-class ships being built for sister cruise brand,
Royal
Caribbean International, will use LM2500+ gas turbine-generator
sets for
main propulsion and onboard power.
The first start-up of the gas turbines
on the Millennium ship took
place in January 2000; sea trials were completed in April with
the COGES
system "performing flawlessly," according to GE.
Lunde
leaving Intertanko
INTERTANKO today announced that managing director Dagfinn Lunde
will leave the association on September 15 . He has decided to
resume his career within international banking.
INTERTANKO's Sr. Vice President & General Counsel, Mr. Svein
Ringbakken who
currently heads INTERTANKO's United States representation has
been chosen to
lead the organization until a new managing director has been
appointed.
A lawyer by training, Ringbakken has been
with INTERTANKO for nine years
and during this time has actively been involved in a wide range
of industry
issues. His current area of responsibility includes governmental
relations
with a particular emphasis on the United States, the association's
legal,
documentary and insurance activities. Within the above areas
he has also
represented INTERTANKO in the IMO, EU and the International Oil
Pollution
Compensation Fund. He has in addition to this had the primary
responsibility
for activities in the Americas region.
Hong
Kong register tops 9 million grt markI
Hong Kong Marine Department Director, Tsui Shung-yiu, says the
Hong Kong Shipping Register has reached a record high of 9.1
million grt. In 1996, the register reached 9.09 million grt,
but nose dived ito 5.3 million grt immediately after Hong Kong's
return to Chinese control.
"We have had a mountain
to climb since then," says Tsui Shung-yiu, "but I am
delighted to report that we are back on track and last month
(May) we broke the 9.107 million GRT mark."
"This puts us within reach of the
10 million GRT target set by the Financial Secretary in his 1999-2000
budget speech. I think we will arrive at this figure towards
the end of the year - almost one and a half years ahead of the
scheduled date in April 2002."
In April 1999, Hong Kong introduced a series
of measures to improve the quality of the register to make it
more user-friendly, cost-effective and efficient. These included
simplifying the fee structure; re-aligning regulatory and technical
requirements to international standards; introducing a Flag State
Quality Control (FSQC) system for Hong Kong ships; and streamlining
registration procedures.
The first time registration fee was cut
by 85% and the maximum payment was limitedto HK$15,000. Annual
fees were also reduced and now vary from HK$1,500 for 1,000 Net
Registered Tonnage (NRT) to a capped payment of HK$100,000 for
31,500 NRT and upwards which equates to a 45% reduction.
Bergesen
exercises option to order tankers
Bergesen has executed an option to order two more tankers of
296.000
dwt from Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Japan.The combined contract
price for the two tankers is approx. $140 million.
The vessels will be delivered in February
and June 2002, and will be
vessel no. 7 and no. 8 delivered by Hitachi to Bergesen. The
contract
for the first six vessels was entered into earlier this year,
and the
first two vessels have already been delivered. The delivery program
for the Hitachi-series is as follows:
Vessel no. 1 (Berge Ichiban) March 2000
Vessel no. 2 (Berge Tokyo) April 2000
Vessel no. 3 (Berge Fuji) July 2000
Vessel no. 4 (T.B.N.) January 2001
Vessel no. 5 (T.B.N.) March 2001
Vessel no. 6 (T.B.N.) May 2001
Vessel no. 7 (T.B.N.) February 2002
Vessel no. 8 (T.B.N.) June 2002
The Hitachi-series represents a strong
renewal of Bergesen's tanker
fleet. Last year and thus far this year, Bergesen has disposed
of
seven old tankers, five for scrapping. It has been decided
to convert another two old tankers to floating production vessels.
Fred Olsen gets another H-3 rig
Fred. Olsen Energy ASA has on behalf of a company nominated by
Bonheur ASA/Ganger Rolf ASA, entered into an agreement with company
owned by Transocean Sedco Forex for the purchase of the semisubmersible
drilling rig Transocean Discoverer. The 1977-built
Aker H-3 rigwas purchased for a price of USD 43,270,000.It will
be taken over "as soon as practically possible."
The drilling rig, which will be renamed
Bulford Dolphin, is now in lay-up in Invergordon, Scotland. The
rig will after delivery and classification work be marketed and
operated by Fred. Olsen Energy /Dolphin. Bulford Dolphin will
enter into a pooling arrangement with the two Fred. Olsen Energy-owned
rigs which are not on longer term contracts; Bredford Dolphin
(ex Bill Shoemaker) and Borgsten Dolphin. Fred. Olsen Energy
has a six month's option to buy the Bulford Dolphin from the
Bonheur/Ganger Rolf nominated company at a price equal to the
purchase price plus 1% per month.
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