Second Contract for Fabricating, Assembling, Testing Innovative Mobile Scrap-Metal Loading Machine:

CALABASAS, Calif., Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- National Technical Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of engineering, testing and supply chain management services, announced today that it has been awarded a contract to fabricate and deliver a second Mobile FASTek Scrap-Metal Loading Machine for Advanced Steel Recovery (ASR),  a scrap metal recycling company based in Fontana, CA. The second machine, which will be completed by April, will provide the same revolutionary loading functionality as the first prototype unit, along with several performance upgrades NTS will engineer and implement based on experience from extensive real-world trials. The combined engineering, fabrication and testing contract is valued at nearly $1 million.

The FASTek Mobile Loading Machine is a self-contained, 55-foot long, 93,000 pound, self-leveling machine with an integrated scale system that reduces the time it takes to load and ship as much as 58,000 pounds of scrap from approximately three hours down to about 15 minutes.  Unlike the so-called fixed machines that reside only in a single location, this mobile machine has the unique ability to be transported as needed to demolition sites or smaller scrap recycling yards that are not capable of supporting the scrap volume required for a fixed machine.  Like the first machine, this second unit will also integrate the same custom data reporting systems accessible via any web-enabled device (computer, smart phone, etc.), allowing the customer to view real-time load information.

NTS Chief Executive Officer William McGinnis noted that the work on the new mobile machine is an outgrowth of successful earlier projects with ASR that included designing similar fixed machines for scrap metal processing.

"The fact that we will be fabricating, assembling and testing this mobile machine is another excellent demonstration of the breadth of our capabilities," McGinnis said. "Winning repeat business from a satisfied customer like ASR is also a strong indication that there is growing demand for our new services and that NTS has proven its ability to deliver."

ASR has been an NTS customer since 2004 and continues to rely on NTS' proven ability to provide a variety of technological solutions and manufacturing services. The FASTek mobile machine was originally designed by NTS as an adjunct to the successful FASTek fixed machines that service scrap yards throughout the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.  This second mobile machine will join the fleet of 19 fixed machines and one mobile machine already deployed by ASR. NTS will deliver its 20th fixed machine to ASR in February of 2012. The FASTek machines provide a unique capability to dramatically increase scrap-metal throughput by taking advantage of favorable shipping rates for return of normally-empty containers to overseas locations.

"This second mobile machine builds on the long and successful relationship between ASR and NTS," said Dave Brown, General Manager of the NTS Engineering Services Group. "It provides our customer with an increased ability to service scrap recycling locations that would not normally enjoy the benefit of such a process, and it capitalizes on the unique and efficient fabrication capabilities of NTS' Engineering Services Group."

Fabrication of the FASTek mobile machine will take approximately five months, and delivery of the machine will coincide with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries 2012 Annual Convention and Exposition, to be held in Las Vegas in April. As with previous FASTek machines, the second mobile machine will be fabricated, assembled and tested at NTS' Engineering Services headquarters in Albuquerque, NM.

(A photo of the FASTek Mobile Loading Machine is available upon request.) 

About ASR

Advanced Steel Recovery is a forward-looking scrap metal recycling company headquartered in Southern California. Advanced Steel Recovery invented and patented FASTek, the world's first machine designed to fully automate the containerization of scrap metal. In 2010, the Journal of Commerce ranked Advanced Steel Recovery as America's 33rd largest exporter of container cargo, among the top two for containerized, ferrous scrap.

Through its implementation of FASTek, Advanced Steel Recovery has created a global network of scrap suppliers, steel mills and container shipping lines, providing scrap suppliers a turnkey export solution.

About National Technical Systems

National Technical Systems, Inc. (NTS) is a leading provider of testing and engineering services to the aerospace, defense, telecommunications, automotive and high technology markets. Through a world-wide network of resources, NTS provides full product life-cycle support, offering world class design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management. For additional information about NTS, visit the Company's website at www.nts.com or call 800-270-2516.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for services and products, development of markets for the Company's services and products and other risks identified in the Company's SEC filings.  Actual results, events and performance may differ materially and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.  The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding National Technical Systems' business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.

Source: National Technical Systems Inc. 31 January 2012

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-technical-systems-awarded-contract-from-advanced-steel-recovery-138384194.html

Dutch shamed on unregulated shipbreaking:

Holland: The Netherlands is among the top 5 EU countries when it comes to the unregulated dumping of old ships to be scrapped on beaches in South East Asia, say campaigners.

Twelve old ships whose last owners were Dutch companies ended up in India last year, according to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform - a coalition of international human rights and environmental organisations. The group campaigns for the sustainable scrapping of end-of-life ships and has released a list of the ‘top ten’ EU member states where companies are guilty of selling old ships to be broken on the beaches of South East Asia, notably in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Shipbreaking Platform claims that international regulations for the safe disposal of the toxic waste left by this process - including asbestos, oil and heavy metals - are rarely complied with in these countries; wages are low, the work is often hazardous, and local environmental damage is considerable, according to the group.

Shipbreaking Platform is pushing for improved compliance with the international regulations, adding that the sustainable scrapping of ships takes place in many parts of the world, including China.

Source: Recycling International. 30 January 2012

http://www.recyclinginternational.com/recycling-news/6029/ferrous-metals/holland/dutch-shamed-unregulated-shipbreaking

Swansea Drydocks: First Ship!

Swansea Drydocks (SDL) has just completed its first docking and repair contract on the Terra Marique, a towed sea-going barge owned by Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd. Built in 2004 by Damen Shipyards in the Netherlands, the barge’s unique design, which combines state-of-the-art technology with traditional marine and heavy transport engineering, maximises the utilisation of UK and European ports, rivers and inland waterways.

The vessel, which has a length of 80m and a breadth of 16.5m, required routine dry docking combined with servicing and repairs.

The dry docking work ranged from blasting and painting of the hull through to maintenance operations on the vessel’s thrusters and stern ramp. Routine steelwork repairs were also carried out, along with the removal, overhaul and replacement of the vessel’s alternators. SDL also assisted with the servicing the safety equipment.

On 26 January, the freshly painted and serviced Terra Marique left the dry dock facility in top condition.

Source: Swanseadry Docks. 26 January 2012

http://www.swanseadrydocks.com/news-details.asp?Auto_ID=7

Ex-crewmembers watch online as ship prepped in Vallejo for its sad, final voyage:

The reopening of the Mare Island shipyard has resulted in a local byproduct beyond industry: Nostalgia and tearful good-byes.

Shipyard operator Allied Defense Recycling began leasing two of the island's dry docks early last year. Since then, the company has been besieged not only by job seekers and curious onlookers, but also former crew members of the ill-fated ships.

Allied Defense safety officer Suzanne Castleman met her first group of ship veterans this month. She took five former Mispillion crewmen and family members on a final ship tour.

Or, to be accurate, they took her on a tour.

"They (served) their service and they served it well," Castleman said of the 66-year-old ship's former crewmen. "It's (moving) to see them so emotional about the ship. ... It's very different to hear the stories when you're standing on the ship with them."

USS Mispillion (Source: http://www.ussmispillion.com/)

Allied completed exterior scrubbing of the Mispillion this week, before it was to be towed to Texas for dismantling.

USS Mispillion

The company competitively bids to dismantle federally owned "mothball" ships moored in Suisun Bay, but also takes on the more quick-moving hull work.

Between the 2 types of work, the shipyard has seen its share of ships and associated visitors, said General Manager Gary Whitney. A naval veteran himself, Whitney recalled interacting with crews of the Mispillion, which served as oiler and supply ship to a destroyer on which he served.

The ship's emblem, depicting a sailor hat-wearing octopus aboard a ship gripping various items, reads "If we got it, you can have it."

Employees from a drawer-making factory across the street from the dry docks, Western Dovetail, learned that shipyard onlookers are not all arriving in person.

On Jan. 19, Western Dovetail's long ongoing Web feed of the shipyard, refreshed on the company's website www.drawer.com once every minute, temporarily vanished after an Internet outage.

Company president Max Hunter initially launched the video as a documentary of the shipyard's first dismantling, but noticed that the ongoing footage continued to draw visitors to the company website.

Dana Nunes, in charge of Western Dovetail's customer service and sales, said she received an email from former Mispillion "ship's boy" Chris Munson, asking Western Dovetail to reinstate the webcam, at least until the Mispillion work was complete.

"Many of us have enjoyed, and looked longingly from afar, at the 'Mighty Miss' as she is cleaned," wrote Munson, whose father, Henry Munson, was ship's commander from 1952 to 1953.

"As these are the last days we can see her, your web cam has brought great unity and comfort to Mispillion's crew. We hoped to capture her departure live from your webcam ... at least for these, Mispillion's last days with us."

Efforts by Navy veteran Vern Bouwman to help preserve the Mispillion as a museum ship proved unsuccessful in November, when ship caretaker U.S. Maritime Administration sold the ship to ship recycler Esco Marine for $1.8 million. Bouwman said the vessel is the last World War II-type oiler in existence. Bouwman runs a website, www.navy.

memorieshop.com devoted to U.S. Navy oiler ships, with a page for the Mispillion. Also, more information is available at www.mispillion.com.

Source: times herald online. By Jessica A. York (jyork@timesheraldonline.com). 28 January 2012

http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_19841734

Problems & Solutions of Shipbreaking:

PROBLEMS:

Each year, approximately 800 ocean ships reach the end of their service life and are broken down to recover steel. Yet only a fraction is handled in a safe, sustainable manner. More than 80% of all end-of-life ships are simply run ashore on tidal beaches in developing countries such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, where unscrupulous shipbreaking companies exploit minimal enforcement of environmental and safety rules to maximize profits.

On the beaches of South Asia, poor and unskilled migrant workers are deployed by the thousands to break down the ships manually. The ships are full of toxics such as asbestos, lead, PCBs and heavy metals and little care is given to worker safety or protection of the environment. The toxic wastes sicken the workers and ravage coastal ecosystems, and because the muddy sand and shifting grounds of tidal beaches cannot support heavy lifting equipment or safety gear, accidents injure or kill hundreds of workers each year.

The statistics are alarming. The European Commission estimates that 40.000 to 1.3 million tonnes toxics (including 3.000 tonnes of asbestos) on board end-of-life vessels are exported each year to South Asia from the EU alone. In Bangladesh, children under 15 years of age count for 20% of the workforce. There and elsewhere, the total death toll runs into the thousands. Also, miles of protected mangrove trees, essential to ecosystem health and protection from monsoons, are being cut to make way for ships. This and the accompanying poisons from shipbreaking have killed or devastated dozens of aquatic species, destroying also the livelihoods of surrounding fishing communities.

A cemetery for ships and men

Causes of death at the shipbreaking yards in South Asia include explosions, fire, suffocation and accidents caused by extremely heavy steel beams and plates which fall and crush workers under their weight. Also, the constant exposure to toxic materials and fumes is the source of many diseases, including cancer. Asbestos dust, lead, organotins, such as the extremely toxic organic tin compound tributyltin (TBT) used in anti-fouling paints, polychlorinated organic compounds (PCBs), by-products of combustion such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and dioxins and furans, and other harmful substances are found both on the yards and in the workers’ sleeping quarters located close by.

Some cancer types and asbestos related diseases will only occur 15 to 20 years later, making many more casualties among former shipbreaking workers as well. The average life span of a South Asian shipbreaking worker is alarmingly low: 40 years old.

Exploitation and economic dumping

Workers’ wages in South Asia are less than 2 Euros per day. The workers barely have enough money to eat, let alone send to their families. Sometimes they are not paid at all. No contracts are signed on the shipbreaking yards, against the workers’ will. If there is an accident, the yard owners often refuse to recognize the injured person as a worker from their yard and do not pay compensation, nor any medical fees. To further disempower the workers, trade unions are forbidden at the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh.

The considerable profits made in the shipbreaking industry are not being used to improve working conditions or to protect the coastal environment and local communities from pollution. Ship owners currently exploit workers and weak enforcement of environmental regulations in developing countries to get rid of their end-of-life vessels in the cheapest way. By selling their ships to South Asian yards ship owners are prioritizing high scrap prices at the detriment of human lives and the environment.

Breaking the law when breaking ships

The shipping industry is in most cases not being held accountable for the human rights abuses and pollution caused by shipbreaking practices in South Asia today. It is extremely easy for a ship owner to circumvent existing laws that aim to protect developing countries from the dumping of toxic wastes. The shipbreaking and shipping industry have systematically opposed the litigation initiated by Platform member BELA in Bangladesh and advocacy work by the Platform at the European and international level aiming at policy developments that will improve implementation of existing laws such as the United Nations’ Basel Convention.

In 2009 the International Maritime Organization adopted the Hong Kong Convention on Ship Recycling. This convention does little to deal with the issues at stake. Amongst the many weaknesses of the Hong Kong Convention is the lack of putting the responsibility for proper ship dismantling on the polluter – in this case the ship owner – and the acceptance of the beaching method. To this date no countries have ratified the Hong Kong Convention.

SOLUTIONS:

Prompt and sustained action, both in the marketplace and in the courts, is required. The need is especially urgent because the global phase-out of single hulled oil tankers and current backlog of old vessels still in operation mean that the number of retired ships sold for breaking is about to spike. The shipping industry and policy makers must urgently ensure the following:

Off The Beach !

Ships should be dismantled in contained areas where safe use of heavy lifting gear and emergency access for fire fighting equipment and ambulances can be ensured.

Workers Rights

Existing international labour rights should be respected. Workers should have the right to assemble, to bargain collectively for better conditions and have access to occupational health clinics.

Stop Dumping of Toxic Ships

Enforcement of existing laws on exports of toxic ships must be improved. Loopholes the shipping industry is currently exploiting must be closed and responsibility for implementing the law must be borne by countries with jurisdiction over the beneficial owners of ships.

The polluter pays

A ship dismantling fund fed by the shipping industry must be created in order to internalize costs currently borne by the environment and the health of impoverished communities in developing countries.

Eco Ship Design and Recycling

Ship owners should, together with shipbuilders and classification societies, commit to the building of clean ships to avoid future disposal problems and Green Ship Recycling Yards should be identified and rewarded.

Corporate Responsibility

The shipping industry should take immediate measures such as replacing hazardous materials with clean alternatives during maintenance and survey stops and gas-freeing their ship-for-scrap before export to developing countries to ensure the safe and environmentally sound dismantling of their vessels.

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/problems-and-solutions/

Demolition activity needs to increase significantly this year as well:

The oversupply of vessels in most shipping sectors is so intense that it’s become clear to ship owners that unless they scrap as many of their older ships as possible, freight rates are expected to remain at break-even lows or even worse. This has become particularly evident in the dry bulk shipping market, where the industry’s benchmark, the Baltic Dry Index has dropped yesterday to just 753 points, down 3.95% on the day and more than 60% since late last year.

Meanwhile, in the demolition market, as Golden Destiny mentions in its latest weekly report, “Bangladesh scrapping ban has been finally lifted, but the government has imposed a new 5% tax on purchasing vessels for scrap that is going to influence scrap buyers appetite on stronger purchases. The Bangladesh Shipbreaking Association is pushing for a reduction in the rate, down to 0.5% that could lead scrap prices to fall by as much as $25/ldt. Scrap prices for dry and wet cargo are close to $500/ldt, but the current freight market environment offers a strong incentive for shipowners to move with overaged vessel disposals and ease the pain of oversupply. India offers the best levels with Bangladesh to follow, $460-$470/ldt for dry and $480-$490/ldt for wet cargo.

The week ended with 17 vessels reported to have been headed to the scrap yards of total deadweight 1,009,630 tons. In terms of the reported number of transactions, the demolition activity has been marked with a 23% week-on-week decline, due to 30% lower volume of demolition transactions in the bulk carrier segment, whereas there has been a 28% increase regarding the total deadweight sent for scrap. In terms of scrap rates, the highest scrap rate has been achieved this week in the tanker segment by India for M/T “BOW PROSPER” with 12,200/ldt at $525/ldt. India has attracted 41% of the total demolition activity with China to follow by winning 5 disposals. At a similar week in 2011, demolition activity was up by 18% from the current levels, in terms of the reported number of transactions, 20 vessels had been reported for scrap of total deadweight 669,529 tons with bulk carriers and tankers grasping 60% of the total number of vessels sent for disposal. India and Pakistan had been offering $465-$475/ldt for dry and $500-$505/ldt for wet cargo, while Bangladesh market had been inactive from the demolition scene” concluded Golden Destiny.

In a separate report, Clarkson Hellas said that the demolition market has remained very active, with many vessels being circulated and subsequently, a big list of sales to report. “However, to judge the market value of a certain ship is becoming increasingly difficult. As evidenced in the sales list, price levels seem like a ‘free for all’ with no actual pattern emerging, clearly highlighting that each vessels value is an individual case by case scenario. On paper, some units seem similar, yet for some reason, a price differential of anything upto USD 10/ldt can be witnessed.

Source: Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide.  27 January 2012

http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/News.aspx?ElementId=fc717a6c-df94-42af-bf4a-2eb69f503522

Salvagers face major challenges in recovering half-sunk cruise ship:

The Costa Concordia lies on its side outside the harbour of Giglio Island. It's the largest liner ever wrecked and salvage costs are estimated at $50 million.

Photograph by: Darrin Zammit Lupi, Reuters, Reuters

Options for Costa Concordia include scrapping, refloating or sinking

Twice the size of the Titanic and three times the length of a soccer pitch; the cruise ship Costa Concordia conjures up superlatives even as a wreck.

Fitted out with sumptuous spas, enormous ballrooms and a Formula One race car simulator for its 3,000 passengers, it cruised around the Mediterranean with the equivalent of a small town on board.

Now half-submerged off the coast of Tuscany like an office block that has keeled over, the Costa Concordia could cost the insurance industry up to $1 billion, making this the biggest-ever shipping loss for insurers.

And for the salvagers - maritime scavengers who are preparing to bid for the business of either making it shipshape again, or dismembering it for scrap, or even sending it to the bottom - the Costa Concordia poses one of the most daunting recovery tasks ever tackled.

At 290 metres long and 36 metres wide, the ship has a gross tonnage - describing the volume and size of the vessel - of 114,500 tonnes, and an estimated weight ranging from 25,000 to 45,000 tonnes.

But half-submerged and tipped on its side, it is now much heavier because it is full of water and wet furnishings, from soggy mattresses, carpets and clothes to waterlogged chairs and sofas. And it is perched perilously close to a sea cliff on rocks that in the worst-case scenario could crumble or collapse under the enormous weight.

All of which means that the owners of the crippled cruise ship will have to decide whether it makes more sense financially to refloat it or to chop it into pieces which can be sold for scrap, or simply sink it off the coast.

FUEL REMOVAL TAKES A MONTH

"This has not happened with other passenger ships," said Mike Lacey of the International Salvage Union, the sector's trade association. "There have been large bulk carriers or large tankers that were stranded but not a type such as this one."

Guesstimates for the cost of salvaging the ship are in the region of $50 million or more. On top of that cost, if the exterior can be rescued, the ship's owners will need to refit the Costa Concordia from scratch because its interiors are no longer usable.

When a big ship runs into trouble, one of the first things the salvagers do is remove the fuel, so that it does not leak and cause an environmental disaster, before they can even start work on moving the vessel.

The Costa Concordia carries 2,300 tonnes of diesel oil, stored in 17 tanks, some of which are the size of a house. The salvager typically cuts 2 or 3 holes in each tank, and makes a valve for each one, using a circular-shaped saw, said Hans van Rooij, a consultant at Dutch firm Global Marine Solutions, and a former director of SMIT Salvage.

One hole is used to remove the oil, another to let air or water in so that a vacuum does not form. A 3rd hole can be used to pass in steam and warm up the oil: submerged in the cold water, the oil thickens and has to be heated so it can be pumped out easily.

SMIT is preparing to remove the cruise ship's oil starting today, a pro-cess which will take about a month.

With 30 or so years of experience in the industry, Van Rooij has worked on several disasters, including the lifting of the Herald of Free Enterprise, the British car ferry that capsized in 1987 near the Belgian coast, killing 193 people.

The ferry capsized because its car ramp doors had not been closed properly. It lay in a similar position to that of the Costa Concordia now, and was salvaged using piles to pull it upright. SMIT - part of Dutch group Royal Boskalis Westminster, the world's largest dredger - has a 170-year history of piloting, towing, and salvaging ships.

Thanks partly to its history as a maritime power in the 17th century and its strategic position on the coast, the Netherlands boasts some of the world's leading companies in maritime services.

SMIT is one of the world's leading salvage firms, while Dutch heavy lifting firm Mammoet also has salvage operations.

Together, SMIT and Mammoet successfully lifted the Russian nuclear sub-marine Kursk from the bottom of the Barents Sea, where it sank in 2000 with 118 men to a depth of 108 metres.

Both companies are expected to bid for the salvaging operation of the Costa Concordia.

Even before the oil is pumped out, salvagers must have a clear idea of the underwater landscape. The big unknown in this case is whether the rocks where the Costa Concordia is precariously balanced are strong enough to take the additional burden or strain of equipment needed to right it.

Salvagers need to know whether the ship can be righted, and to do that, they need be able to set up pontoons or plat-forms, cables and gigantic anchors that are strong enough to support such a ship as it is pulled upright.

"The weight is a problem. You need external forces, which could be as much as 10,000 tonnes. Then you have the problem of anchoring these forces," Van Rooij said.

But salvagers say they do not know whether the rocks on this stretch of craggy coastline - the rocks which cost at least 16 lives when the ship turned to perform a salute to the island of Giglio and was brutally gored - are strong enough to support the ship as it is pulled off its side.

For example, salvagers typically need room to set 2 pontoons in place and to use both of those to slowly pull the ship upright.

To get a better understanding of the rocks, seismic experts and divers, as well as submarine equipment, may need to survey the rock bed where Costa Concordia is lying.

"You want to know the shape of the sea bed. What kind of soil is it - sand or rock? If you want to anchor some-thing, you need to know how strong it is," Van Rooij said.

ASSESSING POSITION

Salvagers need to know where the ship is damaged, how stable it is in the position where it is lying, how it was built and what was on board.

Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it ran aground - and a lot more besides.

The ship was a 13-deck pleasure pal-ace kitted out with vast restaurants, a 3-storey high theatre, and an enormous spa.

Elsewhere on board, passengers could jog along the top deck running track, splash around in the pools, play on the water slides and even indulge in the thrill of some fantasy motor racing thanks to an F1 simulator.

Public spaces were named after European cities - Berlin, Stockholm, Paris and others - and brightly decorated, while each deck was named after a European country with the Netherlands at the bottom and Austria at the top.

SHIP FULL OF EXTRA WEIGHT

The European Union served as the central motif for fashioning the Costa Concordia's interior, the ship's designer said.

"On this ship, the idea was for each public room to take a style that was evocative of every country in Europe, in the European Union," veteran Miami architect Joe Farcus told Reuters in an interview.

As one guest commented on a travel website: "the cabins were beautiful, but the decorations of the boat else-where [some restaurants, deck 9] were a little bit too much plingpling."

With all those fittings, bling-bling or otherwise, the ship is full of extra weight, making the task of salvaging trickier.

"There were more than 4,000 people on board, all carrying luggage and adding weight. If you want to salvage you need to take this into account," Van Rooij said.

He estimated the ship's weight at 45,000 tonnes, excluding luggage, food, and water.

"The accommodation will absorb a lot of water, which also adds weight. Every mattress soaks up water, the carpets do too."

For divers searching the wreck for the last remaining bodies this is difficult work, with chairs and tables, curtains and deck loungers all bobbing around within the dark confines of the ship.

RAISING OPTIONS CONSIDERED

"In the ship everything is floating - curtains, waste. The orientation is also different. Doors have fallen open, chairs are everywhere, it's chaos and everything is dark," Van Rooij said. "A diver has a light on his helmet but he has to work very carefully and make sure there is a route back, that nothing falls and blocks the path."

Pier Luigi Foschi, the head of the ship's owner Costa Cruises, said last week that removing the ship from its resting place would be "one of the most difficult things in the world."

Salvaging is difficult because of its size - this is the biggest liner ever wrecked - and its position on a cliff underwater. If the ship slides off, it could sink in 60 metres of water.

One expert said the ship could possibly be refloated using giant balloons.

"We're here to look at how it can be raised," a salvage expert from Titan Salvage said. "It could definitely be done, with balloons, cables. There are various techniques."

But others said that would be impossible because the vessel's interior is divided into hundreds of cabins, so there would not be enough room to inflate several very large balloons.

"If you have big spaces in a ship you could do it. But this is a cruise ship with many compartments, halls and cabins. It doesn't work," Van Rooij said.

It would also be difficult to find an anchor point to lift the ship because the sea bed slopes to a depth of 60 metres on one side, he said.

"1st, you have to see if the ship is strong enough to be pulled. 2ndly, you have to anchor the equipment with which you will pull, for instance poles in a sea bed," he said.

A cruise ship's hull is strongly built but most of the decks are made of lightweight steel or aluminum.

"The Costa Concordia has been damaged and is lying slanted in such a way that will be very difficult to refloat. A container ship is much more strongly built, unlike a cruise ship, of which the top is less strong," said Peter Tromp, manager at Dutch wreck removal company Euro Demolition.

PROCESS COULD TAKE 2 YEARS!!

It would also be difficult to prevent the ship from being dragged instead of turned when pulling it. The ship needs a pivotal point which is able to withstand strong force.

Van Rooij said that if one anchor can hold 200 to 300 tonnes, a 45,000-tonne ship would require at least 150 anchors for support, making it impractical to work around it.

The alternative, and one that Euro Demolition thinks is the more likely option, is a carve-up.

Euro Demolition is cutting up the 109-metre cargo ship TK Bremen which ran aground off the northwest-ern Brittany coast last month in heavy storms.

"We work with big shears to cut it into pieces. It is also possible to saw the ship," said Tromp of Euro Demolition.

To saw a ship into pieces, a big chain with sharp, hardened cutting edges is moved like a saw over the metal. But even this could prove difficult in the case of the Costa Concordia because the ship is close to the coast.

"Normally you saw between 2 floating pontoons but here there is only room for one because there is land on the other side," Tromp said.

While the ship's steel could be sold as scrap, all the interior fittings - the computers, chairs, carpets - are ruined and cannot be reused, so they will have to be removed and disposed of properly - and that will cost money.

Van Rooij said removing the ship and its contents would cost dozens of millions of euros but he could not give an estimate.

The salvaging of the Tricolor, a ship that was carrying nearly 3,000 cars when it sank in the English Channel in December 2002, cost $50 million, Van Rooij said, and was finished in the 2nd half of 2004.

But clearing the Costa Concordia from the site could take up to 2 years, depending on whether it was refloated or cut up.

"The Tricolor took 2 seasons, including a winter. Here it will be milder but there is still a winter in the Mediterranean Sea."

If cutting the ship into pieces is too difficult, there is always a 3rd, but very unlikely, option: dumping the ship on the bottom of the sea.

"I don't think the Italian authorities will allow this," said Lacey of the International Salvage Union.

As it awaits it fate, the ship may turn out to be a tourist attraction.

Source: Reuters. By Gilbert Kreijger. 28 January 2012 

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Salvagers+face+major+challenges+recovering+half+sunk+cruise+ship/6066771/story.html

The plague of scrap-metal thefts currently affecting many countries might be seen as good news for ship owners:

The plague of scrap-metal thefts currently affecting many countries might be seen as good news for ship owners hoping to get the best price for their surplus tonnage.

The phenomenon of such thefts that have targeted copper used in telephone cables and rail signalling systems and even brass plaques in war memorials is not new, but the number appears to have risen in response to high demand and prices for virtually all metals.

Demand has remained high, despite the global economic weakness and uncertainty. World steel production, for example, increased last year by almost 7% to 1.5 billion tonnes and this, combined with the high cost of raw materials such as iron ore, has helped sustain prices paid by shipbreakers. This month they exceeded USD 500 per light displacement ton (LDT) in the key demolition areas in the Indian sub-Continent, offering owners an incentive to dispose of over-age and uneconomic tonnage.

While China continues to dominate global steel production with output in 2011 of 695 million tonnes or a 45% share, according to the World Steel Association (WSA), the European Union (EU) should not be ignored. Production by its 27 members last year was 177 million tonnes (a rise of almost 3% on 2010), implying, the WSA calculates, the use of over 3 billion tonnes of raw materials, the vast majority of it imported by sea. This, the WSA says, is equivalent to 2,400 voyages by Capesize vessels a year.

Assuming the Eurozone crisis can be contained and emerging economies, especially China, continue to experience “healthy” growth, the WSA is forecasting steel production will rise again this year. Steel producers will continue to pay high prices for iron ore and this in turn will sustain the incentive to use steel scrap, so helping keep the prices paid by shipbreakers at their current levels, while burnishing the steel industry’s image for recycling. It claims scrap accounts for half the raw materials used in production with annual demand at 500 million tonnes and that it is less energy-intensive. World trade in steel scrap is estimated at around 100 million tonnes a year and demand is forecast to rise substantially over the next 5 years.

With a similar picture of sustained recovery in demand for other metals, the incidence of scrap-metal thefts is likely to remain high but what none of the thieves has yet targeted is the tin drum beaten so hard by those who continue to condemn the process which ship owners use to dispose of uneconomic vessels. The monotonous drumbeat was heard this month when the NGO Shipbreaking Platform published its latest annual list of ships “dumped” by European companies in Asia.

The list, compiled from a number of sources reporting the sale and arrival at breakers’ yards, claims 210 ships controlled by EU-based companies were delivered to the sites at Gadani in Pakistan, Alang, Sachana and Mumbai in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh. Greece tops the list with 100 ships, followed by Norway (24), the UK (13), The Netherlands (12) and Germany (11). By flag Panama, unsurprisingly, heads the list with 55 ships, followed by Liberia (33), Bahamas and St. Kitts & Nevis (12 each), Comoros (11) and Marshall Islands and St. Vincent & Grenadines (7 each).

The NGO, whose membership includes campaigners for human rights and a ban on asbestos, notes that, with single-hull tankers facing the regulatory axe and the “current backlog of old vessels still in operation”, the number of ships being recycled is reaching an “all-time high”. Indeed, preliminary figures suggest last year may have seen the highest amount of tonnage sold for demolition.

It called on the European Commission (EC), which it says is due in March to release proposals, to take action by enforcing the directive on hazardous waste shipments against ships. This is despite the fact the EC has previously acknowledged the problems in doing so are virtually insurmountable and now seems to prefer to wait until the Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling, adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2009, comes into effect, although this may not be until perhaps 2015.

The drum-beaters also seem to ignore the “paradigm shift” in global policies on waste which see it as a potentially valuable resource and recognise that the existing regime under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal is outdated in its emphasis on “north-south” trade. The amount of electronic waste such as mobile ‘phones and laptop computers generated by developing countries, for example, is forecast by the Basel Secretariat to exceed that of members of the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD), i.e. developed countries, by 2018.

This attempt to modernise the Basel Convention comes as the long-running controversial question of whether ships are covered by the international treaty on hazardous waste appears to have been settled in favour of their inclusion in the IMO convention.

Yet the NGO persists in arguing ships, as far as the EU is concerned, should be treated as hazardous waste shipments and is calling for a European policy “that gives promise of effectively reversing the current trend where end-of-life ships constitute one of the largest streams of toxic waste dumped by European companies in developing countries”.

The ambiguous phrase “gives promise”, however, suggests that a note of realism has been added to an otherwise idealistic ambition. The NGO also gave its stamp of approval to a decision by Exxon Mobil late last year to recycle one of its tankers (built 1984) in purpose-built facilities in the US.

They may claim that, even if the outcome is the introduction of the IMO’s Hong Kong Convention on recycling, which they have denigrated in particular for failing to outlaw the beaching method used by shipbreakers, their sustained campaigning in highlighting the perceived environmental and safety issues has achieved at least partial success.

They may not be prepared to hang up or even recycle their tin drum just yet, but the drumbeat is beginning to sound a little more hollow each year.

Source: Balkans.com (Sourced from BIMCO). 27 January 2012

http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=133866

Costa Concordia dilemma: salvage, cut, or sink?

Cruise Ship Costa Concordia

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Twice the size of the Titanic and three times the length of a soccer pitch, the cruise ship Costa Concordia conjures up superlatives even as a wreck.

Fitted out with sumptuous spas, enormous ballrooms and a Formula 1 race car simulator for its 3,000 passengers, it cruised around the Mediterranean with the equivalent of a small town on board.

Now half-submerged off the coast of Tuscany like an office block that has keeled over, the Costa Concordia could cost the insurance industry up to $1 billion, making this the biggest-ever shipping loss for insurers.

And for the salvagers - maritime scavengers who are preparing to bid for the business of either making it shipshape again, or dismembering it for scrap, or even sending it to the bottom - the Costa Concordia poses one of the most daunting recovery tasks ever tackled.

At 290 meters long and 36 meters wide, the ship has a gross tonnage - describing the volume and size of the vessel - of 114,500 tonnes, and an estimated actual weight ranging from 25,000 to 45,000 tonnes.

But half-submerged and tipped on its side, it is now much heavier because it is full of water and furnishings, from soggy mattresses, carpets and clothes to water-logged chairs and sofas. And it is perched perilously close to a sea cliff on rocks that in the worst-case scenario could crumble or collapse under the enormous weight.

All of which means that the owners of the crippled cruise ship will have to weigh up whether it makes more sense financially to refloat it or to chop it into pieces which can be sold for scrap, or simply sink it off the coast, given the technical difficulties involved.

"This has not happened with other passenger ships," said Mike Lacey of the International Salvage Union, the sector's trade association. "There have been large bulk carriers or large tankers that were stranded but not a type such as this one."

Guesstimates for the cost of salvaging the ship are in the region of $50 million or more. On top of that cost, if the exterior can be rescued, the ship's owners will need to refit the Costa Concordia from scratch because its interiors are no longer usable.

HOUSE-SIZED FUEL TANKS

When a big ship runs into trouble, one of the first things the salvagers do is remove the fuel, so that it does not leak and cause an environmental disaster, before they can even start work on moving the vessel.

The Costa Concordia carries 2,300 tonnes of diesel oil, stored in 17 tanks, some of which are the size of a house.

The salvager typically cuts two or three holes in each tank, and makes a valve for each one, using a circular-shaped saw, said Hans van Rooij, a consultant at Dutch firm Global Marine Solutions, and a former director of SMIT Salvage.

One hole is used to remove the oil, another to let air or water in so that a vacuum does not form. A third hole can be used to pass in steam and warm up the oil: submerged in the cold water, the oil thickens and has to be heated so it can be pumped out easily.

SMIT is currently preparing to remove the cruise ship's oil, a process which will take about a month.

With 30 or so years of experience in the industry, Van Rooij has worked on several disasters, including the lifting of the Herald of Free Enterprise, the British car ferry which capsized in 1987 near the Belgian coast, killing 193 people.

The ferry capsized because its doors had not been closed properly. It lay in a similar position to that of the Costa Concordia now, and was salvaged using piles to pull it upright.

SMIT - part of Dutch group Royal Boskalis Westminster, the world's largest dredger - has a 170-year history of piloting, towing, and salvaging ships.

Thanks partly to its history as a maritime power in the seventeenth century and its strategic position on the coast, the Netherlands boasts some of the world's leading companies in maritime services.

SMIT is one of the world's leading salvage firms, while Dutch heavy lifting firm Mammoet also has salvage operations.

Together, SMIT and Mammoet successfully lifted the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk from the bottom of the Barents Sea, where it sank with 118 men in 2000 to a depth of 108 meters.

Both companies are expected to bid for the salvaging operation of the Costa Concordia.

THE BIG UNKNOWN

Even before the oil is pumped out, salvagers must have a clear idea of the underwater landscape. The big unknown in this case is whether the rocks where the Costa Concordia is precariously balanced are strong enough to take the additional burden or strain of equipment needed to right it.

Salvagers need to know whether the ship can be righted, and to do that, they need be able to set up pontoons or platforms, cables and gigantic anchors which are strong enough to support such a ship as it is pulled upright again.

"The weight is a problem. You need external forces, which could be as much as 10,000 tonnes. Then you have the problem of anchoring these forces," Van Rooij said.

But salvagers say they do not know whether the rocks on this stretch of craggy coastline - the rocks which cost at least 16 lives when the ship turned to perform a salute to the island of Giglio and was brutally gored - are strong enough to support the ship as it is pulled off its side.

For example, salvagers typically need room to set two pontoons in place and to use both of those to slowly pull the ship upright.

To get a better understanding of the rocks, seismic experts and divers, as well as submarine equipment, may need to survey the rock bed where Costa Concordia is lying.

"You want to know the shape of the sea bed. What kind of soil is it - sand or rock? If you want to anchor something, you need to know how strong it is," Van Rooij said.

Salvagers need to know where the ship is damaged, how stable it is in the position where it is lying, how it was built and what was on board.

FRILLS & THRILLS

Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it ran aground - and a lot more besides.

The ship was a 13-deck pleasure palace kitted out with vast restaurants, a three-storey high theatre, and an enormous spa.

"The Samsara Spa itself is one of the great draws of the Costa Concordia," according to its publicity material.

"Asian-inspired and specializing in thalassotherapy - treatments that use seawater, marine mud, and other oceanic elements - it spans over 20,000 square feet. Tried-and-true therapies abound as well, from massages and facials to soaks and saunas."

Elsewhere on board, passengers could jog along the top deck running track, splash around in the pools, play on the water slides and even indulge in the thrill of some fantasy motor racing thanks to a Formula 1 simulator.

Public spaces were named after European cities - Berlin, Stockholm, Paris and others - and brightly decorated, while each deck was named after a European country with the Netherlands at the bottom and Austria at the top.

The European Union served as the central motif for fashioning the Costa Concordia's interior, the ship's designer said.

"On this ship, the idea was for each public room to take a style that was evocative of every country in Europe, in the European Union," veteran Miami architect Joe Farcus told Reuters in an interview.

As one guest commented on a travel website: "the cabins were beautiful, but the decorations of the boat elsewhere (some restaurants, deck 9) were a little bit too much plingpling."

With all those fittings, blingbling or otherwise, the ship is full of extra weight, making the task of salvaging trickier.

"There were more than 4,000 people on board, all carrying luggage and adding weight. If you want to salvage you need to take this into account," Van Rooij said.

He estimated the ship's weight at 45,000 tonnes, excluding luggage, food, and water.

"The accommodation will absorb a lot of water, which also adds weight. Every mattress soaks up water, the carpets do too."

For divers searching the wreck for the last remaining bodies this is difficult work, with chairs and tables, curtains and deck loungers all bobbing around within the dark confines of the stricken ship.

"In the ship everything is floating - curtains, waste. The orientation is also different. Doors have fallen open, chairs are everywhere, it's chaos and everything is dark," Van Rooij said.

"A diver has a light on his helmet but he has to work very carefully and make sure there is a route back, that nothing falls and blocks the path."

BIG BALLOONS?

Pier Luigi Foschi, the head of the ship's owner Costa Cruises, said last week that removing the ship from its resting place would be "one of the most difficult things in the world."

Salvaging is difficult because of its size - this is the biggest liner ever wrecked - and its position on a cliff under water. If the ship slides off, it could sink 60 meters.

One expert that Reuters spoke to said the ship could possibly be refloated using giant balloons.

"We're here to look at how it can be raised," a salvage expert from Titan Salvage told Reuters, speaking anonymously.

"It could definitely be done, with balloons, cables. There are various techniques."

But others said that would be impossible because the vessel's interior is divided into hundreds of cabins, so there would not be enough room to inflate several very large balloons.

"If you have big spaces in a ship you could do it. But this is a cruise ship with many compartments, halls and cabins. It doesn't work," Van Rooij said.

It would also be difficult to find an anchor point to lift the ship because the sea bed slopes to a depth of 60 meters on one side, he said.

"First, you have to see if the ship is strong enough to be pulled. Secondly, you have to anchor the equipment with which you will pull, for instance poles in a sea bed," he said.

A cruise ship's hull is strongly built but most of the decks are made of lightweight steel or aluminum.

"The Costa Concordia has been damaged and is lying slanted in such a way that will be very difficult to refloat. A container ship is much more strongly built, unlike a cruise ship, of which the top is less strong," said Peter Tromp, manager at Dutch wreck removal company Euro Demolition.

It would also be difficult to prevent the ship from being dragged instead of turned when pulling it. The ship needs a pivotal point which is able to withstand strong force.

Van Rooij said that if one anchor can hold 200 to 300 tonnes, a 45,000-tonne ship would require at least 150 anchors for support, making it impractical to work around it.

CARVE-UP?

The alternative, and one that Euro Demolition thinks is the more likely option, is a carve-up.

Euro Demolition is currently cutting up the 109-metre cargo ship TK Bremen which ran aground off the northwestern Brittany coast last month in heavy storms.

"We work with big shears to cut it into pieces. It is also possible to saw the ship," said Tromp of Euro Demolition.

To saw a ship into pieces, a big chain with sharp, hardened cutting edges is moved like a saw over the metal. But even this could prove difficult in the case of the Costa Concordia because the ship is close to the coast.

"Normally you saw between two floating pontoons but here there is only room for one because there is land on the other side," Tromp said.

While the ship's steel could be sold as scrap, all the interior fittings - the computers, chairs, carpets - are ruined and cannot be reused, so they will have to be removed and disposed of properly - and that will cost money.

"A container ship is made entirely of steel but a cruise ship is a giant amusement park with televisions and other things. It's all in salt water and you have to throw it away. Dumping waste costs money," Tromp said.

Van Rooij said removing the ship and its contents would cost dozens of millions of euros but he could not give an estimate.

The salvaging of the Tricolor, a ship which was carrying nearly 3,000 cars when it sank in the English Channel in December 2002, cost $50 million, Van Rooij said, and was finished in the second half of 2004.

But clearing the Costa Concordia from the site could take up to two years, depending on whether it was refloated or cut up.

"The Tricolor took two seasons, including a winter. Here it will be milder but there is still a winter in the Mediterranean Sea. It can take up to two years," Van Rooij said, because in the winter, bad weather or rough seas can hamper work.

If cutting the ship into pieces is too difficult, there is always a third, but very unlikely, option: dumping the ship on the bottom of the sea.

"I don't think the Italian authorities will allow this," said Lacey of the International Salvage Union.

For now, as it awaits it fate, the ship may turn out to be a tourist attraction.

(Editing by Sara Webb and Giles Elgood)

Source: Reuters. By Gilbert Kreijger. 27 January 2012

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/us-italy-ship-salvage-idUKTRE80Q0Q220120127