Mirabella V

To some gCaptain readers, the superyacht market may be an alien world, however, over the last ten years, this niche industry has exploded. With dedicated, professional teams in place globally, every aspect of their creation, management and running is professionally catered for. Indeed, many naval and merchant mariners have made the leap to the superyacht sector in these burgeoning years as demand grows for specialists in larger and larger vessels.

Whilst by no means the largest fleet on the seas (4,472 vessels over 30m with a further 404 currently in build at the time of writing*) and by no means the largest vessels (the largest, motoryacht Eclipse sits at 162.5m LOA*) they still remain awe-inspiring and stunning when seen in the flesh. Despite this volume, there are a number of iconic superyachts that stand apart from the rest of the fleet. At 72.5m, M5 (ex-Mirabella V) is officially the world’s largest sloop and resides in this pantheon of greats.

Only five years since her last refit at Compositeworks, M5 returns to port for a new substantial refit, this time at Pendennis Plus in the UK, days after the 62.2m motoryacht Virginian leaves the Falmouth facilities.

Mirabella V, image courtesy Pendennis Shipyard

The refit will see the removal of her 90m mast before she docks continuing with the redesign and extension of her stern by 3m, and the installation of a side-boarding platform, all steered by her original naval architect, Ron Holland. Another UK-based company, Green Marine, who will be supported by structural engineers High Modulus Europe Ltd, will undertake the structural fabrication of the composite stern.

The engineering work will see the replacement of M5’s main engines, generators, switchboards and sewage treatment plant, as well as the upgrade of the air conditioning system, electrics and entertainment system, all of which will be complemented by a 10-year DNB survey.

The main structural aspects of the refit, estimated to last 12months, will conclude with a full hull repaint with mast and rig overhaul.

Originally built in 2004 by VT Shipbuilding in the UK, M5’s refit marks a return to the British Isles and its artisan expertise for this super-sloop; indeed several British and Irish companies were shortlisted and commissioned for the refit.  Amongst them interior designers Redman Whiteley Dixon (RWD), hot on the heels of the delivery of their latest project, 96m motoryacht Vava II.

“We are very proud to have been selected to complete the refit of such an iconic sailing yacht,” said Managing Director of Pendennis Plus, Stephen Hills. “It is through projects such as this that the superyacht industry in the UK, including our yard in Falmouth, continues to enhance its world-class reputation for exceptional build quality, design, finish and engineering.”

“The team assembled for the works are testament to the quality of the workforce and facilities available in the UK,” continued the superyacht’s captain, Rocka Romke, before concluding: “Both Pendennis plus and RWD have established reputations as being among the best in their fields, with experience in both the large yacht and sailing yacht sectors. I believe the collaboration between these parties will elevate M5 to be one of the most impressive and original sailing yachts in the world, in both structure and style.”

M5 sits at 75.2m (246.7ft) Length Overall

60.96m (200ft) Length at the Waterline

14.81m (48.6ft) Beam

10.36m (34ft) Max Draft

3700 metre-squared Sail Area

90m (300ft) Air Draft

In collaboration and with thanks to SuperyachtNews.com

* Fleet and vessel specifications courtesy of SuperyachtIntelligence.com

Image: BAE Systems

Using a fleet of 132 remote controlled transporters, this huge section, weighing over 4,000 tonnes, was carefully maneuvered 100 meters across specially reinforced concrete. In a two hour move, the section was carefully lined up with the rest of the block, which will collectively form the aft section of the hull. Workers will now conduct the painstaking process of aligning the units and closing the five centimetre gap over the next week, in preparation for welding the block together.

Steven Carroll, Queen Elizabeth Class Project Director at BAE Systems, said: “Bringing together Lower Block 04 marks the beginning of an exciting stage in the block’s life. Once the link up is complete, the team will shift their focus back to the outfitting of the block, including installing 12,000 pipes and 100,000 kilometres of cables, ahead of her departure to Rosyth later this year.”

Housing the two main engine rooms, a medical area and accommodation, LB04 will weigh over 11,000 tonnes on completion, standing over 23 metres tall, 86 metres long and 40 metres wide. The block, which will be transported to Rosyth in the Autumn, will be the last hull section of HMS Queen Elizabeth to arrive and will join the other units and sections of the ship in dry dock where she is being assembled.

Image: BAE Systems

At Govan, work also continues on the mid section of the second ship, HMS Prince of Wales. Since the first steel was cut on this section in May last year, over 80 units of LB03 are currently in production. Meanwhile, workers at BAE Systems in Portsmouth are gearing up for the transit of Lower Block 05 and Lower Block 02 of HMS Queen Elizabeth to Rosyth at the end of April and May respectively.

The aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are being delivered by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a unique partnering relationship between BAE Systems, Thales UK, Babcock and the UK Ministry of Defence. BAE Systems has an overarching role in managing the QE Class programme, as well as playing a central role in the design and build of the ships.

The QE Class will be the centre piece of Britain’s military capability. Each 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier will provide the armed forces with a four acre military operating base which can be deployed worldwide. The vessels will be versatile enough to be used for operations ranging from supporting war efforts to providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

Transocean Honor, a Pacific Class 400 Jackup, image courtesy Sembcorp Marine

SINGAPORE -(Dow Jones)- Sembcorp Marine Ltd. (S51.SG) Thursday said it secured a US$218.5 million contract to construct a jack-up rig for Gulf Drilling International for its Qatar operations.

The new rig will be based of Sembcorp Marine‘s PPL Shipyard’s Pacific Class 400 series and is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2013.

“Equipped with technologically advanced drilling capabilities, the rig is specially customised for the intended project and has accommodation for 150 personnel with full hotel services,” Sembcorp Marine said in a statement.

-By Sam Holmes, Dow Jones Newswires

Vale Rio de Janeiro, image courtesy Vale S.A.

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)–China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings Ltd. (1101.HK)–China’s biggest non state-owned shipbuilder by order book–said Tuesday it expects to deliver this year the bulk of a dozen supersized vessels ordered by Brazilian miner Vale S.A. (VALE).

Rongsheng Chief Executive Chen Qiang said the company plans to deliver two supersized vessels–originally due for delivery last year–to Vale within the next two months and all but one of the remaining supervessels by the end of the year. The final ship will be delivered in 2013. The first was delivered in November.

The Valemax ships–a class also known as “very large ore carriers”, or VLOCs–have a capacity of 400,000 deadweight tons. The larger vessels can help reduce the Brazilian miner’s shipping costs to China.

Chen said the company received a total of US$1.8 billion in new orders in 2011 and expects to secure more than that this year.

-By Joanne Chiu, Dow Jones Newswires

RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)–South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries Co. (010140.SE), the world’s second-largest shipbuilder by sales, sold its 6% stake in troubled Brazilian shipyard Estaleiro Atlantico Sul, Brazilian business daily Valor Economico reported Friday.

Local construction firms Camargo Correa and Queiroz Galvao now each hold 50% of the shipbuilder, also known as EAS, according to the report.

Samsung‘s exit comes amid a series of problems at the shipyard that have caused extensive delays. EAS has a backorder of 22 vessels, 18 of which are behind schedule. Many of the vessels are key orders from state-run energy company Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), which needs the ships and drilling rigs to support development of recently discovered offshore oil fields.

EAS is one of several shipyards that are part of a renaissance in Brazil’s shipbuilding industry sparked by growing demand from the country’s oil and natural gas industry. Several new shipyards are under construction along Brazil’s Atlantic Ocean coast, while many yards that were closed during an industry downturn in the early 1980s are being revived. Brazil was among the world’s largest ship producing countries in the 1980s before a global downturn in the industry saw the local docks shuttered.

Earlier this month, Samsung said it was considering a request for help from EAS as the shipbuilder struggled with the delays, blamed on a strike and the ongoing euro-zone crisis. Samsung provided technical support to the shipyard in Pernambuco state.

-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires

Helix ESG's Q4000 Well Intervention Semi-submersible

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)–Sembcorp Marine Ltd. (S51.SG) on Tuesday said it has secured a US$385.5 million order to build a semisubmersible well intervention rig from Helix Energy Solutions Group (HLX).

The vessel is scheduled for delivery in January 2015 and will be able to perform top hole drilling, subsea construction, and decommissioning well intervention.

The contract isn’t expected to have any material impact on Sembcorp Marine’s earnings for the year ending Dec. 31.

-By Sam Holmes, Dow Jones Newswires

Medium Range Tanker, image courtesy Transpetrol

RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)–Brazilian oil field services company OSX Brasil S/A (OSXB3.BR), part of Brazilian businessman Eike Batista’s industrial empire, said Monday that it had received a $732 million order to build 11 medium-range tanker ships for Kingfish do Brasil Navegacao.

OSX will build the ship at its Acu port complex, which is under construction in northern Rio de Janeiro state, the company said. OSX’s Acu port complex is part of a rebirth for Brazil’s shipbuilding sector, with demand for ships and oil field equipment soaring due to development of recently discovered reserves off the country’s coast. Brazil was once one of the world’s largest shipbuilding countries before an economic downturn in the 1980s caused the sector to nearly shut down.

The oil field services company is branching out from its initial role to build vessels for sister company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes S/A (OGXP3.BR, OGXPY). OSX will build two production platforms, OSX-4 and OSX-5, known as FPSOs, or floating production, storage and offloading vessels.

OSX recently secured a contract to build a pipe-laying vessel for Sapura Seadrill.

Also, Sete Brasil, a drill-rig holding company, said last month that it was in talks with OSX to build two drilling rigs at the Acu shipworks. The rigs are part of the massive 21-vessel order from state energy company Petroleo Brasileiro S/A (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, that Sete Brasil won in February.

“Fourteen naval construction projects now compose the work plan for OSX’s team at our Acu naval construction unit,” said Luiz Eduardo Guimaraes Carneiro, OSX’s chief executive, in a statement.

Kingfish will lease the vessels to Petrobras, OSX said.

-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires

Ocean Rig drillships at Samsung Heavy Industries, Image courtesy Ocean Rig

RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- Shareholders of Brazilian drilling-rig holding company Sete Brasil approved a capital increase as the company prepares to line up financing to fulfill one of the world’s largest-ever orders for the vessels, Sete Brasil confirmed Friday.

Shareholders granted Sete Brasil’s request to increase the company’s capital to 7 billion Brazilian reais ($3.9 billion), the company said in an emailed statement. Sete Brasil was created with BRL1.9 billion in seed capital in 2010 by eight local pension funds, banks and state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras.

“The increase in equity is a guarantee to obtain financing,” Sete Brasil said. The increased funds will also give the company “greater ballast” as it invests $27 billion over the next eight years to build drilling rigs and possibly other vessels for Brazil’s oil and natural gas industries, Sete Brasil said.

In February, Sete Brasil won a tender to build 21 drilling rigs for Petrobras. The company had previously won an order to build seven drilling rigs. Construction of the drilling rigs is a key step in a series of large offshore equipment contracts Petrobras plans in order to develop the pre-salt oil fields. Petrobras needs a massive amount of drilling capacity to develop the fields, which are expected to nearly triple the company’s crude oil and natural gas production to 6 million barrels a day by 2020.

Sete Brasil Chief Executive Joao Carlos Ferraz also said in February that the company was in the process of raising about $6.5 billion from current and new investors for its investment plans, including letters of commitment from U.S. investment firm EIG Group and Brazil’s Lucce Drilling. EIG Group has pledged BRL500 million, with Lucce entering the holding company with a BRL300 million investment.

“Sete Brasil also has had conversations with other interested investors, but there are no signed agreements with prospective new shareholders,” Sete Brasil said.

Brazil’s National Development Bank, or BNDES, will also provide about $13.5 billion in financing for 80% of equipment and services purchased in Brazil under local content rules, Ferraz said at the time.

-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires

Image courtesy BAE Systems

GLASGOW –  DEFENDER, the fifth Type 45 destroyer built by BAE Systems, has today set sail from the company’s Scotstoun shipyard to embark on her second and final stage of sea trials off the west coast of Scotland, ahead of her handover to the Royal Navy later this year.

Paul Rafferty, Type 45 Programme Director at BAE Systems, said: “The huge momentum driving the Type 45 programme highlights the effective partnering between industry, the Royal Navy and the Ministry of Defence to deliver the Type 45 fleet.

Image courtesy Qatar Gas

The Korea Times and Yonhap news reports today that South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has cumulatively built over 100 million tons of ships over the shipyard’s 40 year history.

No other shipbuilding company in the world has ever built more.

According to the Korea Times,

Hyundai Heavy has delivered a total of 1,805 diverse types of ships, ranging from drilling vessels, LNG or LPG carriers and container ships to submarines and naval ships, to more than 280 ship owners in 49 different countries.

The ships include 510 container ships, 351 oil tankers, 343 bulk carriers and 124 product carriers.

Last month, HHI won orders for 4 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and 1 LNG floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) worth USD $1.1 billion.  The orders included two 162,000 cbm LNG carriers for Golar LNG of Norway and two same-class ships for an unnamed European shipowner.

According to a Dow Jones report in January, HHI’s 2012 annual order and sales targets are up 19.6% and 9.5%, respectively, from its results in 2011, when it booked $25.54 billion in orders and KRW25.2 trillion in sales.

Asian shipyards such as HHI are bracing for challenging times ahead however as current oil prices increase operating costs, a glut of containerships and tankers put heavy downward pressure on freight rates, and newbuild ship financing becomes increasingly more complex for shipowners.