Marine Log - September 2008 - (Page 2)

September 2008 Vol. 113 No. 9 John R. Snyder Publisher & Editor ISSN 08970491 MARINELOG USPS 576-910 PRESIDENT Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr. amcginnis@sbpub.com jsnyder@sbpub.com editorial PUBLISHER & EDITOR John R. Snyder SENIOR EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Nicholas Blenkey nblenkey@sbpub.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Shirley Del Valle sdelvalle@sbpub.com nkitchen@msn.com wbeber@comcast.net psexton@sbpub-chicago.com wwilliams@sbpub.com pdesiere@sbpub.com Shipbuilders make their moves CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Nigel Kitchen CONTRIBUTING EDITOR William B. Ebersold MARKETING DIRECTOR Peter Sexton CREATIVE DIRECTOR Wendy Williams ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Phil Desiere T here’s a chess match underway among the heavyweights in the global shipbuilding market and it’s clear that Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries intends to remain the grand master. The world’s largest shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), is positioning itself to swallow a smaller rival, Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. The state-owned Korea Development Bank and a Korean government agency have put up for sale a combined controlling stake of 50.4% in Daewoo. HHI, along with the steel maker Posco, the GS Group and the Hanwha Group have all submitted bids for the stake. Reports suggest that the interest may be worth $8 billion. There would appear to be no better time for the Korean government to sell its interest in Daewoo. The world shipbuilding boom has made HHI flush with cash. It just reported record profits of 6.55 trillion won (about $6.02 billion) for the second quarter ending June 30, 2008. In the first half of this year HHI received $19.8 billion in orders, consisting of 94 ships, marine engines, offshore platforms, and other products, a 62% increase from this point last year. As of June 30, it had an order backlog of 380 ships valued at $42.5 billion. If HHI is successful in its bid, it would grab a huge chunk of the highvalue LNG carrier order book. For its part, HHI rival STX has secured control of Europe’s largest shipbuilding group, Aker Yards. As we report in this month’s Update, Aker Yards would be renamed STX Norway. The acquisition would make STX an instant major player in the high-value cruise ship market, which, up to this point, has been dominated by European builders. Only, Italy’s Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. would have a larger market share. And, as we also report this month in “Shipbuilding Shakeup,” Fincantieri has made an all-cash offer of $120 million for the Manitowoc Marine Group. Lockheed Martin will hold an undisclosed minority share in the group. The deal makes perfect sense for Fincantieri, which is a partner with Manitowoc in the Lockheed Martin-led team to build for the lucrative U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship program. It will invest more than $100 million in Manitowoc over the next several years. Funding for the capital investment could come from a privatization of Fincantieri next year. Meanwhile, Austal, part of the General Dynamics-led team competing for the LCS program, has reshuffled its management team. Bob Browning, has been promoted to Managing Director and CEO of Austal Limited. Browning got the boot upstairs from his position as president and CEO of Austal USA, Mobile, Ala. Browning will still be based in Mobile, underscoring the importance of the U.S. Navy market— including the LSC and Joint High Speed Vessel programs—to the Australia company’s future. jsnyder@sbpub.com ART PRODUCTION MANAGER Todd Blanchard tblanchard@sbpub.com DESIGNER Nicole Fredrickson PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Mary Conyers-Brown NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Roland Espinosa nfredrickson@sbpub.com mbrown@sbpub.com respinosa@sbpub.com INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER Donna Edwards dedwards@sbpub.com SALES REPRESENTATIVE -KOREA Young-Seoh Chinn SALES MANAGER Jeff Sutley CLASSIFIED SALES Diane Okon CONFERENCE DIRECTOR Jane Poterala CONFERENCE COORDINATOR Michelle M. Zolkos CONFERENCE ASSISTANT Latima Meynard jesmedia@unitel.co.kr jsutley@sbpub.com dokon@sbpub-chicago.com jpoterala@sbpub.com mzolkos@sbpub.com lmeynard@sbpub.com A SIMMONS-BOARDMAN PUBLICATION EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICES 345 Hudson Street New York, N.Y. 10014 TEL: (212) 620-7200 FAX: (212) 633-1165 website: www.marinelog.com e-mail: marinelog@sbpub.com CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS: Call toll free (800) 895-4389, Monday-Friday 9 am—5 pm EST. 2 MARINE LOG SEPTEMBER 2008 www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/register.html http://www.abb.com http://www.abb.com http://www.marinelog.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marine Log - September 2008

Marine Log - September 2008 Editorial Second Thoughts Update Contents Inside Washington Slick Cleanup The Women of WISTA Keeping Ships at Sea Connected Shipbuilding Shakeup Newsmakers Tech News Contracts Events Website Directory ML Buyer's Guide ML Marketplace Letters Marine Salvage

Marine Log - September 2008

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