SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

stena drilling orders
a billion-dollar vessel
ssg-göteborg. Stena Drilling has ordered
a fourth drillship from Samsung Heavy
Industries in South Korea. According to
the shipyard, the price is USD 942 million
dollar, more than 50 per cent above the
price for the previous ordered vessels and
indicating a final at-berth price tag of USD
1–1.1 billion.
The fourth vessel will be delivered in
December 2011. According to SSG sources,
no firm charter has been secured yet,
but the vessel will be built for extreme conditions
north of Canada and Russia with
Arctic ice class for safe operation in temperatures
down to – 40 C. Stena Drilling’s
investments in new drillships are now close
to USD 3 billion.
The first vessel, the Stena DrillMAX, was
delivered in November when it entered a
4+1 year charter with Repsol. Number two,
the Stena Carron, will be delivered this
summer and has a charter with Chevron
for 3+5 years. Number three is expected
next summer and has a charter secured
with American Hess for five years.
The newly ordered drillship.
Stena Drilling is part of the Stena AB
group, which reported a SEK 3.9 billion
profit for 2007, the best year ever for the
group’s tankers, offshore activities and
ferry services, according to CEO Dan Sten
Olsson.
Ahtela inaugurates new ro-ro link
ssg-åbo. The Estonian company Navirail
OÜ, which was founded in 2007 by investors
from Finland, Estonia and the USA,
will shortly start a liner service between
Helsinki and Muuga with the Finnishflagged
ro-ro vessel Ahtela. The 1,590 lane
metres ship has been taken on time charter
by Navirail from Hollming Ltd for five
years. The Ahtela will do two round trips a
day between Helsinki Sompasaari harbour
and Muuga.
The Ahtela has been rebuilt during the
winter to adapt her for the new traffic. A
shelter has been built on the fore part of
weather deck to protect the cargo from icy
spray during winter. The cargo lift has also
been replaced by a ramp for faster handling
of trucks and trailers.
In the beginning of May the Ahtela was
towed from Riga to Turku Repair Yard at
Naantali for repairs of a bearing before
entering service. The Ahtela was built in
Norway 1991 and is of the same type as
Birka Cargo’s vessels of the Birka Transporter-class.
She was lengthened in 1998 and
IllUSTrATIoN: PETEr MIlD
KrZYSZTof brZoZA
The Ahtela approaching Naantali on 2 May
2008 under tow by Alfons Håkans’ tug Porin
Karhu.
has for many years been on time charter to
Finnlines. Navirail is planning to interlink
North and Central European distribution
centers by sea and rail, concentrating on
trailer and container shipments.
The company has the intention to buy
special railway wagons with exchangeable
wheels to cope with the different rail gauges
in Eastern and Western Europe as well
as ordering a new railway ferry for service
between Finland and a port in the Baltic
States.
NEWS REVIEW
TorM cashes in on bulk carrier
D/S Torm has sold one of its six Panamax
bulk carriers to a so far unknown
buyer for USD 70 million.
That leaves Torm with a considerable
profit estimated at around USD 45 million.
The vessel in question is the Torm
Marlene, which is a standard gearless
Panamax bulk carrier from Tsuneshi
Zosen in Numakura. The vessel was
delivered in 1997.
seven soMali piraTes senTenced
Seven pirates captured by security forces
from the semi-autonomous region
Puntland in Somalia have been sentenced.
The pirates hijacked an United Arab
Emirates-flagged vessel bound for
Somalia with a cargo of food and cars.
Five days after the arrest, a judge sentenced
the seven to life in prison.
rolls-royce designs polar ship
Rolls-Royce has been given the task of
designing a new polar research vessel
by the Norwegian Institute of Marine
Research. The vessel will be designed to
operate in up to one metre thick ice in
Arctic and Antarctic waters.
It will be equipped for fish-monitoring,
meteorological studies, seafloor
sampling and mapping. It can be operative
in four years at the earliest and
will replace the ice-strenghtened Lance
and Jan Mayen. The price tag is estimated
at NOK 500 million.
herning shipping orders More
Herning Shipping A/S has signed up
for more tankers from Nantong Mengde
shipyard, China. The Danish company
enlarged its portfolio of new ships
with a pair of tankers. The ships will be
another pair of tankers of 8,000 DWT.
The units will be delivered in 2010 for
a price of USD 20 million each.
eidesvik secures charTer deal
Eidesvik Offshore ASA has secured
a long-term contract with ES Special
Services, Inc., USA, for a large subsea
construction vessel. The vessel will be
delivered from Ulstein Verft in December,
2008.
The contract is for eight years with
optional extensions, and the contract
value for the firm period of more than
NOK 1 billion.
SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 16, 2008 5