The Oshima Shipyard is one of the world's most productive yards. Aslo in this issue: MacGREGOR, TTS, Cargo Safety, Tsuji Heavy Industries, Fednav and Gearbulk.
All text and photographs: Magne A. Røe, except where otherwise stated.
Date: 04 February 2008
Since the beginning in 1973, Oshima Shipyard, located in the very southwest corner of Japan, has produced close to 500 bulk carriers. In 1989 the yard decided to concentrate on bulk carriers only. This has paid off in terms of efficient production and innovation.
Enköping is a small Swedish town 60 kilometres west of Stockholm where a company called Nordströms started delivering elevated cable transport systems for industrial purposes back in the 1880s. The systems were designed for long distance operations. This materials-handling background made the step into shipping and the handling of bulk materials natural. Nordströms is a well-known name of MacGREGOR Bulk (formerly BMH Marine), a division within the MacGREGOR Group, specialising in dry bulk handling solutions. This is now MacGREGOR Bulk, specialising in various types of selfunloaders. In 1947 they delivered the first totally enclosed selfloading/unloading cement carrier with highly automated cargo handling gear. Over the past 60 years, Nordströms systems have been installed into more than 90 cement carriers sized between 500 and 40,000 dwt. In addition, nine floating cement terminals have a Nordströms system installed.
The cold winter winds sweep through the streets of Åbo (Turku) in Finland, and it feels much colder than the minus 12°C that the thermometer reads. We take a taxi out to a pine-covered area called Kaarina where MacGREGOR is located. Bulk carrier specialist Torbjörn Dahl, Senior Naval Architect, Bulk Ships, Dry Cargo Division, has worked on the topic of hatch covers for the past 15 years.
Handling systems for the maritime industry constitute the product and service lines from TTS, based in Bergen, Norway. The company resources are focused on design and engineering in addition to assembly and testing of cargo handling systems – and for the bulk carrier industry this means mostly cranes and hatch covers.
The overall objective of the Classification Societies is to ensure the safe operation of the ship in all sea and weather conditions. As long as the seaworthiness of the ship is ensured, limited attention has been given to the cargo by class. However, DNV has introduced an additional service, the ‘Fitness for Cargo Programme’, an inspection and follow-up programme focusing on cargo safety.
Tsuji Heavy Industries has become the world’s largest manufacturer of hatch covers and has an impressive list of products for the maritime industry. The company also specialises in design and manufacture of marine cargo handling equipment. Tsuji manufactures its own designs, putting 50 years of experience in all products.
Umiak I is a 31,992 tonne icebreaking bulk carrier, the most powerful ever of its kind. The vessel moves 360,000 tonnes of nickel concentrates a year in 12 voyages from CVRD/Inco Ltd.’s Voisey’s Bay mine in the northern Labrador to its smelters in Sudbury, Ontario and Thompson, Manitoba, Canada.
Gearbulk provides transportation and logistics services for various industrial sectors and is a leading carrier of unitised forest products and non-ferrous metals. It operates the world’s largest fleet of open hatch gantry craned (OHGC) vessels, controlling approximately 35 per cent of the world’s OHGC vessel capacity. The fleet consists of some 70 vessels with a number of newbuildings on order.
At least, this was the heading of the dry bulk market section in Fearnley’s latest monthly market report. In the short term, this seems to be the case.
