Last week, a team of divers from the Antwerp fire department rescued a drowning person from Scheldt River. In fact, this all transpired outside our office window (we all thought it was a training exercise).
The victim claimed to be a mermaid and refused to be rescued. The dive team actually had to pursue the woman before they could pull her into a rescue boat. The woman was brought to the hospital where doctors determined light hypothermia.
The fire department again emphasized the dangers of swimming on the River with its strong and perilous currents.
As part of its Horizon 2010 strategy plan, in which the lion’s share of investment is in offshore oil and gas marine services, BOURBON has announced the intention of Grupo Boluda Corporacion Maritima to purchase the harbour towage activity of Les Abeilles.
The acquisition plan is an opportunity for Les Abeilles to grow and expand its harbour towage operations. The size and international presence of harbour towage operators have become decisive factors for success in a market in which many cases of consolidation have been observed in recent months.
The acquisition plan would therefore be totally relevant in view of the companies’ complementary geographical fields of operation, added to the reputation of the buyer, who has clearly demonstrated his intention to invest and become a major player in harbour towage.
The sale of stock in the companies concerned would not have any impact on employees who would retain their status, seniority and benefits.
It should be emphasized that the plan concerns harbour towage only, and does not include protection of the French coastline by vessels chartered by the French navy and carried out by Les Abeilles International which will still be part of BOURBON.
The project is currently under instruction and consultation by the staff representative bodies of the companies concerned.
Frontline Ltd said its separately-listed heavy lift operations, Sealift Ltd, has made two strategic acquisitions aimed at further developing its offshore installation operations.
Sealift said it has agreed to acquire sister engineering and design firms ‘Offshore Kinematics Inc’ and ‘Ocean Dynamics LLC’, paying 15.7 mln usd in cash and 6.9 mln new shares.
Of the new shares, Sealift said 3.2 mln will be held in escrow and released in annual installments over a three-year period.
The deals, Sealift said, have been conducted through its wholly-owned company, the Dockwise Group.
Looking ahead, Sealift said it expects ‘revenue synergies and growth potential’ from these acquisitions, which will position it as a ‘leading integrated transport and installation service provider’ for the oil and gas industry.
Offshore Kinematics specialises in the engineering and design of floatover installation systems, while Ocean Dynamics focuses primarily on marine installation and structures.
Sealift said it expects the acquisitions to be completed by 30 July.
After reading a post on Tims Times I remembered having seen a similar picture in the newspaper recently. It featured a state of the art submarine, combining lightweight materials and stealthy design (seen pictured below).
Just kidding, in fact the giant rubber duck pictured bove is a creation of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman and is part of a contemporary art exhibition in the French port of St Nazaire.
Fast Facts:
Location: river the Loire, France
Dimensions: 26 x 20 x 32 meters
Materials: inflatable, rubber coated PVC, pontoon and generator
On June 15, President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan proposed a $6-billion project to build a canal connecting the Caspian and Black Seas at the 17th Foreign Investors’ Council Meeting in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. If built, the nearly 700km Eurasia Canal would be four times longer than the Suez Canal and eight times longer than the Panama Canal. President Nazarbayev believes the canal would make Kazakhstan a maritime power and benefit many other Central Asian nations as well.
Currently, vessels traveling from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea must travel north to the Russian Volga River, then west into the Volga-Don Canal, then southeast to the Don River, and finally onto the Azov Sea that opens into the Black Sea. The proposed Eurasia Canal would be a direct passage, 1,000km shorter than the existing route, and be able to handle three times the traffic capacity of the Volga-Don Canal (40 million tons/year versus 13 million tons/year). Additionally, on the current route a vessel needs to pass through a dozen locks, but only half that amount has been proposed for the Eurasia Canal.
However, Russian officials have proposed their own plan to improve travel between the two seas: expanding the Volga-Don Canal. Nevertheless, the proposed expansion plan would only increase its traffic-handling capacity to 16.5 million tons per year, which is a far cry from the Eurasia Canal’s proposed 40 million tons per year. Furthermore, Russia currently keeps very heavy restrictions on vessels from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan wanting to traverse the Volga-Don route. The Eurasia Canal would give all three nations ready access to the open sea, allowing each of them to greatly augment their freighter volume.
If President Nazarbayev is successful in finding investors for his proposed plan, he estimates that it will take no more than 5 years to complete, though some speculate that it could take as long as 10. Kazakhstan’s Academy of Sciences is currently analyzing possible routes for the proposed canal and will make recommendations by the end of the year. Though the Eurasia Canal would greatly benefit the surrounding countries economically, some worry that directly connecting two seas with different ecological systems could have dire environmental effects.
