Following the successful revision in 2001 of the industry’s most well-known and widely used bareboat charter party, BARECON, work will shortly begin on revising BIMCO’s other bareboat charter form, BARGEHIRE 94.

This form has enjoyed tremendous success in the offshore sector and is generally felt to meet the needs of the industry. However, it has been noted that the insurance provisions of the form could benefit from being written more clearly. With this in mind it has been agreed that a restricted or “mini” revision of BARGEHIRE will be carried out. The revision will focus only on those elements of the form felt likely to benefit from a revision. The project team responsible for the drafting will ensure that the provisions of the form that users are happy with remain untouched so as not to disturb the general widespread use of the formwork on this project will begin in the early autumn and should be completed in the spring of 2008.

source: BIMCO

Tags : bareboat, BARGEHIRE, BIMCO

The Indonesian naval ship that ran around near Queensland’s Fraser Island a week ago will be towed to Brisbane later this evening.

The Australian Navy says a tug boat is en route to Inskip Point to tow the Arung Samudera south where it will be berthed at Bulimba.

They say the Indonesian Government’s negotiations with possible repair contractors are continuing, but the ship will not be fixed in time for it to participate in APEC activities in Sydney.

Commander Forbes Peters says good conditions are predicted for a smooth salvage operation.

“The ship is expected to be completely afloat on the high tide we have this evening,” he said.

“The Indonesians have planned to conduct the salvage tonight because it’s full moon, high tide and a very gentle breeze.”

Commander Peters says they expect a high-tide pull off at around 7:00pm AEST this evening.

source: ABC News

Tags : salvage, schooner, Rainbow Beach, KRI Arung Samudera, towage

Following the news that Fairmount Heavy Transport’s heavy lift vessel Fairmount Fjord, currently under conversion at Malta Shipyard, has been hit by a series of delays, and the consequent termination of a transportation contract for the jack-up rig ENSCO 100 from West Africa to Rotterdam, ENSCO has awarded the towage contract for the rig to Fairmount Marine BV.

Fairmount Alpine, one of the Fairmount’s 200 tonne bollard pull ocean-going has been despatched from her location in Cape Town for rendez-vous with the rig in Port Gentil area.

As soon as final preparations to the rig have been completed, the convoy will set sail for Rotterdam to arrive around early October.

source: Offshore Shipping Online

Tags : towage, Fairmount, ENSCO

© International Marine Consultancy

Yesterday we witnessed the finish of the Tall Ships race in Flushing, an impressive sight. The race was part of a year round event commemorating the 400th anniversary of admiral Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter.

Our host, Multraship, had arranged for a small boat to bring its clients as close as possible to the ships which resulted in some nice pictures.

© International Marine Consultancy

More pictures of the day can be found here.

© Reuters

Indonesian sailors scrambled from a stricken navy sailing ship when it ran aground in heavy seas on the Queensland coast on its way to Sydney for the APEC summit.

Cold and wet, the 18 sailors were taken in by locals and the Australian navy ahead of efforts on Friday to salvage the vessel.

The sailors were forced to jump from the 35-metre, three-masted sail training ship KRI Arung Samudera after it was swept ashore on Rainbow Beach, near Gympie in south-east Queensland, early on Thursday morning.

The New Zealand-built schooner had been due in Brisbane on Friday from Cairns.

It was planning to join six other tall ships in Sydney on September 2 to mark the start of Sydney’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The Australian Navy says it’s likely an Indonesian ship which has run aground in south-east Queensland after encountering “the perfect storm” can be salvaged tomorrow.

source: The Age

Tags : salvage, schooner, Rainbow Beach, KRI Arung Samudera

All pictures © DM Parody

A ship damaged in a collision off Gibraltar was expected to split in two and sink, sending its cargo of 27,000 tons of scrap metal to the bottom of the sea, officials from the British colony said Wednesday.

The Fotiy Krylov has been pulling at the New Flame throughout most of yesterday after the fuel extraction operations were halted due to the stability of the vessel.

Officials had hoped that the current operations would see the vessel breaking up, with the main fuel storage areas remaining intact and avoiding an oil spillage.

“The ship is going to break in two in a matter of hours or days,” Gibraltar’s Port Affairs minister John Holiday told Spain’s Cadena SER radio. He said Gibraltar had “the adequate logistics in place” to cope with whatever happened.

Holiday said the cargo would sink, but a Gibraltar government statement said the part of the ship containing some 500 tons of fuel was expected to remain afloat and would be towed to safety.

The Panamanian-flagged cargo ship, the New Flame has been partly submerged since it ran into a Danish tanker carrying 37,000 tons of unleaded gasoline on Aug. 12. The oil tanker was able to continue to the Spanish port of Algeciras.

Gibraltar, whose sovereignty is disputed by Madrid, lies at the southern tip of Spain.

source: International Herald Tribune

Tags : salvage, New Flame, Tsavliris, Fotiy Krylov

© International Marine Consultancy

Med Offshore recently ordered an AHTS 6615 of the Damen Offshore series. This is the second time Med Offshore orders an anchor handling tug supply vessel from Damen, following the AHTS 6114, Med Otto, which was delivered to Med Offshore in September 2006.

Med Offshore the Italian shipping company owned by the Garolla Family operates a fleet of supply boats and anchor handlers while the Holding company Sarda Bunkers operates a fleet of tankers for the transportation of bunkers and oil products. The newly ordered vessel will form part of the fleet renewal program which started with the acquisition of the AHTS 6114, Med Otto. The vessel will be mainly deployed in the Mediterranean. However, she is designed and equipped for world wide services. The AHTS 6615 is one of the latest designs from the Damen Offshore Series. The Offshore Series include both AHTS and PSV type of vessels covering a bollard pull range from 80 to 160 ton (AHTS) and a deadweight range varying from 2000 to 4500 ton (PSV).

The propulsion configuration consists of 2 MaK 8M32C engines of 4000 kW each, driving Rolls-Royce controllable pitch propellers in Damen Optima nozzles. Each gearbox will have a 1200 kW shaft alternator. The vessel is equipped with a Rolls-Royce Brattvaag waterfall winch, having a pull of 250 ton. The vessels will be classed by Bureau Veritas and will comply with the requirements of the Italian flag, and among other regulations, with the latest amendments to the IMO resolution A673(16), “Guidelines for the Transport and Handling of Limited amounts of Hazardous and Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk on Offshore Support Vessels” The notation includes FiFi-1 and DP-2. Ample tank capacity is available for fuel oil, potable water, ballast & drill water, dry bulk, liquid mud, brine and recovered oil. Accommodation is provided for 29 persons divided over single, double and quadruple cabins. Construction of the vessel will take place at Damen Shipyards Galati in and the delivery of the vessel is scheduled for 2009.

source: Damen

Tags : Med Offshore, Damen, AHTS

India’s Great Offshore Ltd is believed to be taking over Norwegian offshore company PetroJack AS in a 500 mln usd deal, the Economic Times reported.

The deal is likely to be closed within a couple of weeks, it added.

However, it said Great Offshore managing director Vijay Sheth refused to comment, as did senior officials at India-based Aban Offshore, which owns a considerable stake in PetroJack through Sinvest ASA of Norway, which was bought by Aban in 2006.

source: ABC Money

Tags : Great Offshore, PetroJack, jack-up