(i) The State Department issued a white paper:

China has built more than 290 LNG-powered ships

On December 22, the Information Office of the State Council issued a white paper on "Sustainable Development of Transportation in China". The white paper pointed out that China's transportation equipment technology has made major breakthroughs, aiming at the world's scientific and technological frontiers to develop "the country's most important weapon", the level of independent research and development of key transportation equipment and technology has increased significantly. Offshore machinery special ships, large-scale automated specialized container equipment manufacturing technology leading the world, 300 meters saturation diving innovative breakthroughs; ocean-going vessels, offshore machinery and other leading the world. According to the white paper, China is comprehensively promoting energy conservation, emission reduction and low-carbon development, the country's liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered ships built more than 290; port shore power facilities built more than 5,800 sets, covering more than 7,200 berths, the main ports along the river and coastal container terminals to fully complete the "oil to electricity".

(ii) Joint Venture between Imabari Shipbuilding and JMU, Japan

Through antitrust investigations

Japan's Imabari Shipbuilding and Japan Marine Union (JMU) have received approval from all antitrust authorities to move forward with plans to establish a joint venture. The joint venture is scheduled to be established on January 1, 2021, under the trade name "Nippon Shipbuilding" and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with Imabari Shipbuilding holding a 51% stake and JMU holding a 49% stake.

(C) South Korean Shipbuilders Launch Order-Snatching Frenzy at Year-End

Entered in December, South Korea's three major shipbuilding enterprises received 27 orders totaling nearly 3 billion U.S. dollars, set off a "wave of flow" to receive a single wave, formally blowing the end of the year to grab a single sprint rallying cry - the goal is to the annual volume of orders for new ships again more than China. With the rich experience accumulated in the field of ship design and construction and strong technical capabilities, coupled with the "price war", South Korean shipbuilding enterprises in the second half of this year after the course of force, has gradually reversed the decadence since the beginning of this year to receive orders.

(iv) Norwegian Shipbuilding Enterprise Cooperation (NSEC) launched

LPG and CO2 Transportation Tank Concepts

Norwegian maritime solutions provider Hoglund Ship Solutions has partnered with German engineering firm HB Hunte to jointly develop a tank concept for the transportation of LPG and CO2, building on existing technology.Høglund and HB Hunte's transportation solution uses a double-lobed tank with a capacity of 8,000 m3, utilizing their previously proven tank designs in the LNG, LPG and other sectors with proven Cargo Handling System (CHS) and tank designs. This new system more than doubles the current capacity of ships to transport cargoes of liquefied carbon dioxide and represents a significant step forward in the development of marine transportation solutions for the expanding carbon capture and storage (CCS) market.

(v) EU funding for the development of ammonia-powered ships

Horizon 2020, the European Union's research and innovation program, has awarded a grant to the ShipFC project to develop an ammonia-powered fuel cell for marine applications. The project, run by a consortium of 14 European companies and organizations, will install the ammonia fuel cell system on Eidesvik's offshore support vessel Viking Energy by the end of 2023. The retrofitted 2MW ammonia fuel cell will allow the vessel to run on clean fuel for more than 3,000 hours, demonstrating the possibility of long-range, zero-emission sailing at high power levels on large vessels. The project is still in the first phase of upgrading the ammonia fuel cell power from the current 100 kilowatts to 2 megawatts.

(vi) Punctuality of the container ship market

Down to historic lows

Shippingworld.com has learned that transportation reliability for container liner owners has continued to decline in recent days, and leading maritime consulting firm Sea-Intelligence says shippers should not expect improvement anytime soon. The latest data shows that the on-time performance of container liner companies fell to 50.1 percent in November, a year-on-year decline of 29.81 TP3T, which is the lowest level since Sea-Intelligence began measuring reliability in 2011. The rise in freight rates has been on a slowing trend, with the Shanghai Container Freight Index (SCFI) showing that containerized freight rates from China to the rest of the world soared for the 10th consecutive week, with European routes once again topping the charts, according to ShippingWorld.com tracking. The index measures spot prices for containerized freight from Shanghai to a number of destinations around the world.

(vii) DNV GL publishes first edition of

Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) White Paper

Non-destructive Testing (NDT) is a means of testing for surface and internal qualities that cannot be inspected without damaging the working condition of the workpiece or raw material. With the popularization and promotion of digital radiographic equipment, many traditional NDT results have been able to be captured more easily and quickly. As a result, automated film evaluation capabilities are a key issue for industry today. This white paper details the current state of the art of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and the future trends towards digitalization and automation. In addition, this whitepaper proposes an AI-based automated evaluation solution for NDT in the marine industry, and discusses how this solution can be combined to improve the efficiency and accuracy of NDT.

(viii) BV, 3DMF, POSH

Joint venture to promote additive manufacturing

Bureau Veritas (BV), 3D Metal Forge (3DMF) and PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH) have recently entered into a joint venture in Singapore to advance the Additive Manufacturing Research Program (JIP). The project is also one of 11 projects funded by the Maritime Authority of Singapore's Maritime Innovative Technology Awards. MAS has previously worked with the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC) and the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) to conduct a market feasibility study on additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) for frequently replaced marine components. This project identified four parts for additive manufacturing following a joint survey on board POSH's vessels. These parts will be produced by 3DMF and BV will be responsible for compliance and safety checks of the parts. The final product, certified by BV, will be installed on board the vessel for a three- to six-month trial period, with the 21,000 hp AHTS "POSH Teal" serving as the test vessel.

"Offshore Industry News

(i) CIMC Raffles

First batch of mass-produced smart grid boxes opened

December 22, Yantai sea ranch "100 box plan" the first batch of mass production of intelligent net box construction and "mirage - Yantai Bajiao Bay sea art city" project signing ceremony was held in the Yantai Development Zone. The "Hundred Boxes Program" will invest one hundred deep-water intelligent nets to build the largest, most highly-equipped and most comprehensively effective sea ranch in Asia in Yantai waters. Yantai Jinghai Marine Fisheries Co., Ltd. and Shandong Provincial Research Institute of Marine Resources and Environment, Yantai Engineering Vocational and Technical College, Yantai Institute of Marine Economy, Shandong Huifa Food Co., Ltd. jointly signed the "technical cooperation," "fishery service personnel" training, marine functional products R & D cooperation agreement" to improve The upstream and downstream industrial chain construction of the "Hundred Boxes Program".

(ii) Qidong COSCO Shipping Marine Industry

Bow section of FPSO of Project N999 is discharged from the dock

On December 21st, the bow section of Qidong COSCO Offshore & Marine N999 FPSO construction project was successfully docked, which is the most difficult and largest FPSO project undertaken by the company so far, classed by Bureau Veritas (BV), and is used for the construction of Mauritius/Senegal in the sea of Africa at a depth of about 120 meters, which consists of the hull, the living quarters and the modules, with 140 persons in the living quarters at the bow section, and 8 oil and gas treatment production modules on the main deck. The ship consists of hull, living quarters and modules, the living quarters in the bow section can accommodate 140 persons, and there are 8 oil and gas treatment and production modules in the upper part of the main deck, with a ship length of 270.00m, a beam of 54.00m and a depth of 31.00m.

(iii) China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and Shandong Marine Group (SMG)

Signing of strategic cooperation agreements

China Shipbuilding Group (CSG) and Shandong Ocean Group (SOG) signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Jinan, commencing a comprehensive and in-depth cooperation in the fields of shipbuilding business, inland port and waterway development, new energy development and utilization, modern sea ranch and cold chain logistics. Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Group, and Shandong Ocean Modern Fishery Co., Ltd. signed a contract for the construction of the second phase of the platform of "Cultivating the Sea No. 1". The "Cultivating Sea 1" is the first comprehensive, demonstrative and integrated intelligent large-scale modern eco-marine ranch complex platform in China, which integrates the functions of fishery breeding, intelligent fishery, leisure fishery, scientific and technological research and development, and popularization of science and education.

(iv) SMD and N-Sea Demo

New cable and pipeline survey technology

SMD has teamed up with Dutch subsea contractor N-Sea to demonstrate new technology that could transform subsea cable construction. The two companies trialed the new high-frequency electromagnetic cable and pipeline survey system " ARTEMIS Survey" in a field environment in the North Sea in November this year. The new survey system is capable of detecting broken or abandoned cables in real time and at depths deeper than current technology allows. This is a significant change in the detection performance of unpowered and abandoned cables, a capability that will revolutionize productivity and maintenance activities in the event of a cable failure.

Oil, Gas & New Energy Dynamics

(i) First in Hubei Province

Marine LNG refueling station begins construction

Recently, Huarong District, Ezhou City, Hubei Province, held a major project focused on the start of activities, China Gas Ezhou Port Fudi Fujiang marine LNG refueling station started construction. China Gas Ezhou Port Fudi Fujiang marine LNG refueling station project by China Gas investment of 200 million yuan, is one of the first 29 key port construction projects approved by the Hubei Provincial Government, but also the only key project in the energy industry, is the first in Hubei Province, the Yangtze River Basin, the third to start construction of the LNG refueling project on the water. The construction scale is two 5,000-ton LNG ship refueling berths, two LNG refueling barges, with a designed annual throughput capacity of 38,200 tons. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2021 and put into operation.

(ii) Bahamas Petroleum Corporation

Drilling of the first offshore oil well in the territory

Recently, Bahamas Petroleum Corporation (BPC) began drilling its first offshore oil well in the Bahamas, Perseverance #1, despite opposition from environmental groups and U.S. Congressmen. The well is being drilled by the British offshore drilling company Stena Drilling's drillship "Stena IceMAX" and is expected to take 45-60 days.

(iii) Wave Energy for Southern Europe (WESE) project

Completion of environmental monitoring activities

The Finnish company AW-Energy conducted a two-day monitoring campaign of the WaveRoller wave energy device in Peniche, along with acoustic monitoring to assess the noise emitted during the campaign. This noise monitoring was carried out with passive acoustic sensors deployed at specific locations and moored for extended periods of time, while salinity and water temperature profiles complemented the underwater noise measurements. This inspection also monitored seafloor integrity using an ROV, which collected video along five sample strips/areas in the vicinity of the WaveRoller in order to assess possible changes in the seafloor due to the presence of equipment and mooring cables. Analysis of the collected data will support the development of a wave energy device model that can be used to analyze the potential cumulative stresses and environmental impacts of future large-scale wave energy device deployments.

Morigi Mayflower ModelIt is an artisan boat model manufacturer dedicated to boat model making, with 32 years of boat model making history, and countless display boat models for major shipyards, and will treat the boat model business with the spirit of craftsmanship in the future. Please contact us by phone if you need any help!