HANSA 05-2017

Nor-Shipping
and getting access to expertise and suppliers
in this segment.
At the end of 2016, Vard’s order book
comprised twelve offshore vessels, two LPG
carriers, one fishing vessel and six exploration
cruise ships. A Letter of Intent for a seventh
cruiser was signed in early 2017 when
Vard also secured contracts for two ferries,
two fishing trawlers and one live fish transportation
vessel. And there still are opportunities
in the oil and gas market: For Dubai-based
Topaz Energy and Marine and
Kazakhstan’s Kazmortransflot Vard will
build 20 Module Carriers (MCV) for the
Caspian Sea to serve remote onshore oil
fields in Kazakhstan. »This is an important
order, but it is a niche opportunity and not
necessarily a new market segment,« Dilling
explains. 17 vessels will be for Topaz, while
three will be for Kazmortransflot.
Ulstein, besides wind farm service
and cruise ships, has turned to the Ro-
Pax market. Currently, Ulstein’s orderbook
includes an offshore-design yacht for
an undisclosed owner, due Q1 2018, and
a 3,500 dwt DP2 Construction Support
Vessel (CSV) for the Netherlands-based
Acta Marine, primarily aimed at the offshore
wind market, scheduled for delivery
in Q2 2018. A plug-in hybrid RoPax ferry
for operator Color Line at 4,000 dwt will be
delivered in Q2 2019. In Q2 2017 the refurbishing
of an exploration cruiser for Adventurers
Partner will be finished.
Havyard’s order backlog at the end of
2016 included a Live Fish Carrier, a workboat
and three diesel-electric ferries for
Fjord 1. »All segments of the group need
new order intake to fill capacities in 2017,«
the shipyard says in its Q4 2016 report.
Kleven has the two cruise ferries for
Hurtigruten in its orderbook (plus options
for two more), scheduled for 2018 and 2019.
The announcement of the Rolls-Royce-designed
hybrid ice-class vessels has already
raised eyebrows. Kleven will also deliver
two ferries (2018), a Live Fish Carrier, a
trawler and a fish harvesting vessel.
panding our expertise and knowledge.« Ulstein
is confident to replace the offshore losses
if the company can manage to keep costs
down and to deliver cost effective solutions.
Vard started its strategy review two years
ago, when it became visible that the market
would stay down, and analysed its assets
and capabilities. »We saw what was coming,
but of course it did require changes in the
organization«, says Dilling. Vard operates
nine shipbuilding facilities worldwide, five
in Norway, two in Romania, one in Brazil
and one in Vietnam. As a consequence of
the dramatic downturn in production volumes,
the company had to let go close to
2,000 workers in their hull production facilities
in Romania. »Now we are expanding
again and hire and train people for our new
shipbuilding segments,« says Dilling.
No bright future for offshore
Ulstein is building a large
plug-in hybrid ferry for Color Line
Even if the offshore oil & gas market picks
up again und pulls the service shipping
sector up along, that will not immediately
change things for the ship builders, maybe
not even in the medium term. The order
and delivery boom of the recent past
has left the market with a huge supply of
now unemployed but new and state-of-theart
ships. Hundreds of offshore service vessels
are laid up worldwide, ports and berths
along the Norwegian coast are crowded
with 100–200 laid up platform suplliers.
An upswing in the oil and gas market
would certainly over time bring work
for these existing ships, but large numbers
of new orders are not to be expected anytime
soon.
Wind power is another interesting market
that can even use some of the offshore
designs with some changes like adding
walk-to-work gangways etc. »The market is
still small and young,« notes Dilling. »But
we are monitoring it carefully for opportunities.«
Other business areas might open up in
segments like subsea mining, cable laying
or offshore construction, oceanographic
research, but as many shipyards previously
focused on offshore are pushing into
the same markets, competition is tough. At
least the pressure might be a strong driver
for further innovation.
M
Source: Ulstein
Strategy under review
The shipyards did also restructure their
production to react to the downturn and to
meet new demands. Kleven has automated
and robotized its production process and has
moved a larger part of the hull production
back to Norway in recent years. »We have to
adjust to whatever market is available, but
it is challenging replacing the offshore market,«
Ellen Kvalsund says. »There is a wide
range of know-how needed that is specific
to the vessel type in question, so we are ex-
Kleven has two cruise ferries for Hurtigruten in its orderbook
Source: Kleven
HANSA International Maritime Journal – 154. Jahrgang – 2017 – Nr. 5 45