Marine Log - August 2008 - (Page 7) Update IN THE INLAND • COASTAL OFFSHORE • DEEPSEA BIG TROUBLE BIG EASY biz NOTES Bidders vie for Hapag-Lloyd The German tourism and shipping organization TUI Group has received at least four bids for its Hapag-Lloyd container shipping business, according to several reports. Among the bidders for Hapag-Lloyd is Neptune Orient Lines (NOL). A combination of NOL and Hapag-Lloyd would form the third largest container shipping company in the world. NOL had revenues of $8.2 billion in 2007. Its container shipping arm is APL, which has a fleet 0f 125 container vessels, with nine others under construction. TUI AG is looking to either trade, sell, merge or spin-off its Hapag-Lloyd container ship business and wants to receive non-binding bids by mid-August. Hapag-Lloyd deploys about 140 containerships and will be adding another 15 ships to its fleet by 2011. It is expected to draw bids in excess of 4 billion EURO ($6.2 billion). U.S. Coast Guard photo shows partially sunken ACL barge on the Mississippi River near the Crescent City Connection Bridge in downtown New Orleans T he Coast Guard has opened a formal investigation into one of the worst oil spills near downtown New Orleans in nearly a decade, after a tanker collided with a tank barge being pushed by a tug on the Mississippi River last month. While no spillage came from the 46,764dwt tanker M/V Tintomara, the tank barge owned by American Commercial Lines (ACL) had spilled an estimated 419,286 gallons of thick No. 6 fuel oil, according to the Coast Guard. As we went to press, oil was still leaking from the partially sunken barge. Industry officials were preparing a salvage plan to raise the barge. At the time of the accident, the Coast Guard says that there were no properly licensed pilots on the tugboat, Mel Oliver, owned by the D.R.D. Towing Company, LLC. The Coast Guard says the crewmember piloting the boat only held an apprentice mate’s license. Another D.R.D. Towing tug, the Ruby E, sank following an incident on July 13. That pilot only held an apprentice mate’s license, says the Coast Guard. Rear Adm. Joel R. Whitehead, Commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District, has launched a formal investigation into the incident. A public hearing is set for Aug. 12 in New Orleans. During the clean up, the river was shut to vessel traffic and as many as 65 vessels were waiting to discharge cargo at the Port of New Orleans. The New Orleans TimesPicayune quoted Port of New Orleans president and CEO Gary LaGrange as saying that the closure of the Mississippi would have an economic impact of $101 million per day to the port and as much as $275 million per day to the immediate affected area. New York equity firm takes major interest in Harvey Gulf International FOLLOWING IN THE wake of the Rigdon Marine acquisition by GulfMark Offshore, a New York private equity firm and two of the current owners of Harvey Gulf International Marine Inc. have entered into an agreement to acquire the Harvey, La.-based company for $500 million. Harvey Gulf operates offshore supply and multi-purpose dive www.marinelog.com Export order for Cleveland yard Great Lakes Shipyard, part of Great Lakes Towing, Cleveland, Ohio, has secured a contract to deliver a 74 ft, 2,800 hp “Handy-size” tug for Electrica S.A. San Paulo Sula, Honduras—the shipyard’s first export order. The tug, jointly designed with Seattle-based naval architects Jensen Maritime, is only the second built by the newly established yard. A third is also under construction. www.thegreatlakesgroup.com AUGUST 2008 MARINE LOG 7 $500m Deal support vessels. Under the terms of the deal, current owners, Shane J. Guidry and Shawn Guidry and management will retain 24% of their outstanding equity interest and New York-based Jordan Company, L.P. will own the remaining 76%. Shane J. Guidry will remain Chief Executive Officer of Harvey Gulf and all its affili- ates, positions he has held since 1997, and also become the Chairman of the Board and CEO of the entity acquiring Harvey Gulf, HGIM Corp. Robert L. Gwinn has been promoted to President and Chief Sales Officer. Shawn Guidry will become Executive Vice President & COO of Harvey Gulf. Guidry Brothers Towing will be merged into Harvey Gulf. Chris Paule will be Harvey Gulf’s CFO. http://www.thegreatlakesgroup.com http://www.marinelog.com
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