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MDC Update September 08

Mon, 29 Sep 2008

New members move in

Sir Michael Bibby Sees His Project Team Take Up Residence At The Marine Design Centre

The Marine Design Centre was delighted to host a visit from Sir Michael Bibby, (seen above left with MDC Director David Hewitt), following an agreement that Bibby Offshore Ltd would base a project team within MDC design facilities for an initial 12-month period.

Initially, a team of 12 will be based at the Centre, with the potential for that to rise to 50 over a five year period. The team are working on offshore contracts for BP and Talisman and are networked into the Aberdeen Head Office through IT links.

Bibby Offshore now join software specialists AVEVA with a specialist team in the design facility.
Bibby Offshore Ltd was formed in Aberdeen in 2003 to consolidate all offshore activities of Bibby Line Group. Since then it has quickly established a reputation in the oil & gas industry, specifically focussing on Subsea Construction/IRM and Offshore Operational and Maintenance Support. This new facility in Newcastle enables the company to attract skilled engineering personnel living in the Tyneside area who do not wish to make the weekly commute to Scotland.

For Subsea projects the company calls upon extensive marine and technical experience to ensure the efficient delivery of project management and engineering, diving operations, construction services, and inspection, repair and maintenance.

Within the merchant marine and offshore oil field arena, crews have a long track record in the successful operation of new build and converted vessels in the MOPU, FPSO and FSU sectors.

Sir Michael Bibby said: “There is the potential for tremendous growth for our business within the oil and gas, and renewable energy industries. We are committed to expanding our expertise within these sectors and believe that the facilities available from the Marine Design Centre could make it a strategically important engineering hub for the business. We are very impressed with the facility and the fact that the Martine Design Centre is itself playing a major role in helping companies within the North East marine design community to grow and develop, means that it understands exactly where Bibby is coming from and what we are looking to achieve.”

The state-of-the-art design facility is a key asset of the Marine Design Centre comprising secure office space in an IT-rich environment with substantial communications facilities available on a ‘hire-by-the-day’ basis.

At the core of the facility is a design office with fully networked high specification workstations supported by a full suite of peripheral devices including printers, plotters and scanners. Companies can also take advantage of a fully equipped conference facility and meeting rooms.

David Hewitt, Director of the Marine Design Centre, said: “We are delighted to welcome Sir Michael and the Bibby Offshore team on board. Given that we launched little over a year ago occupancy of the design facility is now around 50% and we are very pleased to accommodate such high profile companies.”

The Bibby Offshore team will be headed by Paul Grant, who said: “We are delighted to take residency within the Centre as it provides the perfect environment for the team to produce top quality results. The facilities themselves are first class and the location is ideal. The fact that we have had a very warm welcome by all at the Centre has given us the perfect start.”

Our photo shows Sir Michael, centre, with Paul Grant, 2nd left, and some of the first arrivals from the Bibby team.

Next Event

Commodore David Preston, Director, Afloat Support

Thursday 2nd October 2008; Marine Design Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne

Part of Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the Afloat Support Directorate was formed in April 2008 from the merger of the Military Afloat Reach & Sustainability (MARS) IPT and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Support (RFAS) IPT.

The Directorate will deliver the planned new fleet tankers and support vessels that will provide the Royal Navy at sea with fuel, stores and ammunition.

The Afloat Support Directorate also provides engineering support to the RFA vessels currently in service and is responsible for upkeep, update, safety management and spares support for vessels of the RFA flotilla, as well as being the design authority for these ships.

The activities of Afloat Support are also expected to provide new opportunities for the MoD, the Royal Navy and industry, centred on:

  • Single point of contact  
  • Strategic oversight of links between procurement & support  
  • Increased emphasis on through-life management 
  • Wider skills base 
  • A team empowered to deliver 

Commodore David Preston, Director of Afloat Support, pictured, will outline the structure of the Directorate, the programmes it will be running and the opportunities that will arise.

For the full agenda please click here.

To reserve a place please contact us on 0191 255 1710 or email info@marinedesigncentre.com . Places cost £15 (+ VAT) for Marine Design Centre members and £50 (+ VAT) for non-members, and are limited to 2 per company. Space is limited so act quickly to reserve your place!

Afloat Support is the first of 3 Defence Equipment & Support events to come.

Forthcoming guest speakers include Mr Tony Graham, Director, Capital Ships and Mr Adrian Cudmore, Chief Engineer of the Naval Design Partnership.

Capital Ships responsibilities include CVF, through-life support for the In Service Carriers, Landing Platform Dock class, Landing Platform Helicopter class and the Type 42 class destroyers, as well as future procurement programmes. The Naval Design Partnership is the 'rainbow team' of design companies which will be tasked with the design of complex naval ships such as the Future Surface Combatant.

Watch this space for dates & agendas for these 2 events!

Training

Across the Irish Sea

We were delighted to hold another successful AVEVA course at the Marine Design Centre and would like to thank those who travelled from far and wide to attend.

This excellent course was well attended and covered a number of modules useful to equipment engineers and designers as well as instrument and electrical, architectural, piping, layout and structural engineers. The course consisted of basic functions, AVEVA Plant Design set-up, Equipment Design, Piping Design, Clash Detection, Reports and Isometric Production.

Among those who attended were 2 delegates from Harland & Wolff, Belfast.

Fred Black, Harland & Wolff’s Engineering Manager, said: “AVEVA is a top class company and I was particularly keen that H&W attended. Our delegates learned a lot and felt that the time had been very well spent. Their visit to Newcastle was also very interesting as I was keen to understand how the Marine Design Centre is moving forward, given that it is a unique concept for the sector – I have to say that I am impressed.” 

If you'd like to see us running a particular AVEVA course, please let us know.

And more...

Bringing AutoCAD Training To Newcastle

We are pleased to announce two further training courses for engineers and designers at the Marine Design Centre, in conjunction with our Regional Partner, NTC MicroCAD, an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre who also specialise in the supply of Autodesk software and support services. For more information about NTC MicroCAD, please click here.

AutoCAD is a CAD software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting, with its native file format, DWG, being the de facto standard for CAD data interoperability. AutoCAD is used throughout the design world, and these two courses are run for both new users and those already more experienced in the use of AutoCAD.

The 2 three-day courses will be running as follows. For more information please click the course you are interested in.

AutoCAD - Essentials, 12-14 November 2008.

AutoCAD – Creating & Presenting 3D Models, 18-20 November 2008

Space is limited, so early booking is recommended.

Places on each course cost £815 (+VAT) for MDC members and £885 (+ VAT) for non-members, and funding support may be available. For further details please contact us on 0191 255 1710 or email info@marinedesigncentre.com  

  

Double Dutch

Two members of the Marine Design Centre are taking part in a Trade Mission to Holland in October.

Director, David Hewitt and Business Development Manager, Simon Ellis are part of a strong contingent from the North East who will be exploring new business opportunities in the Netherlands.

Simon Ellis, said: “We are to meet with leading players in the oil and gas and shipbuilding sectors. It is a great opportunity for us to identify, on behalf of our members, potential new business and areas where they may be able to collaborate with Dutch companies. To this end, we would be pleased to hear from members who have a special interest in Holland and who would like to know more about our itinerary.”

The event has been organised by NOF Energy in conjunction with UKTI.

New member...

We Seal The Deal With CSD

On the basis that CSD Sealing Systems specialises in fire safe, gas and watertight sealing systems, wishing it a ‘very warm’ welcome to the Marine Design Centre could be seen as inappropriate.

The company is, of course, a great addition to our growing membership and we look forward to introducing its representatives to other members.

Based in Blyth, CSD is involved in the Oil & Gas, Naval, Marine, Petrochemical, General Construction and Utility sectors. With close links to CSD International / Beele Engineering in the Netherlands, a company with over 35 years’ experience of development and production in this field, its clients are assured first-class products and services, whatever their industry.

The company has worked on many projects providing help and advice from design to installation on high profile projects including the Type 45 Destroyers, the Astute Submarine, Heathrow Terminal 5, electricity substations, and LNG storage and pumping stations.

For many years it has been involved with most of the main North Sea operators including Shell, BP, Talisman, Mobil, Nexen and Marathon and their contractors Salamis, RBG, Consafe, AMEC, PSN and Wood Group.

Peter Litchfield, UK Naval Project Manager, said: “We like to build strong relationships with customers and are happy to assist in all aspects of cable transit and pipe penetration fire safety from design all the way through to installation and beyond. We offer full support and training on all of our products and are happy to discuss solutions to any issues that arise.

“Recently, we have been working closely with a number of these companies to pro-actively rectify any potential integrity issues identified in the HSE KP3 report. Our RISE system has been used extensively on over 2000 cable and pipe transits to ensure fire, gas and watertight safety is reinstated and to prevent further corrosion of pipes inside penetrations.



“We realise the importance of keeping to budgets and time-scales, and that is why we have developed systems which require few components and materials, helping to lower costs of both inventory and installation.”

Member news...

Broadband Connected Onboard Astute By Stauff

MDC member company Stauff Defence & Marine is pleased to announce a further development in its growing product portfolio onboard the Astute submarine.

Having reported in the May newsletter on Stauff clamps being extensively adopted onboard boat 3 onwards, the Astute design team approached the company to discuss a possible solution to another onboard problem.

Andrew Shaw of Stauff D&M, said:."There were problems with the broadband connection onboard Astute. The customer was unhappy with the look of the cable retention system being used and being both metal and too close to the hull, was expecting interference in the connection once the boat was eventually logged on."

Stauff set about providing the solution with its PPDA, MoD and Astute approved clamp material.

"By removing the metal parts of our solution and doubling the height of the bottom half of the clamp body, we have eliminated interference by removing both the metal content and moving the cable away from the hull itself."

Needless to say both Astute and its customer are fully satisfied with the latest Stauff innovation and orders have been secured for boat 3 onwards.

With the broadband clamp recommended for use on CVF also, Stauff expects to continue to play its part in keeping the UK naval fleet fully connected and online for many years to come.

Tender Treatment On Way

MDC is pleased to announce that it will shortly be launching TenderTap, an innovative solution to finding new business opportunities, in partnership with Newcastle software development specialist Nimis.

Nimis experts and information researchers harvest around 8,000 opportunities every week from across web sites, newspapers, databases and opportunity portals, which will then be filtered to provide marine & offshore sector opportunities through the MDC website.  

Access to this will be free to MDC members, who can use the facilities to:

  • Find out who buys their products/services
  • Locate new customers
  • Follow tenders across UK, Europe & US
  • Produce mailing lists
  • Identify & monitor competitors
  • Access sub-contract opportunities
  • Bid for opportunities

Information on how to access this service will be distributed in the next few weeks.

Event news...

Manning The Future

"it's not the ships, it's the men that sail in them" - Joseph Conrad, 1887
7 - 8 November 2008, The Hilton Newcastle Gateshead

For over one hundred years the human element has been recognised as the greatest single factor to safe and profitable ship operations and great attention has been paid to manning and training. Despite this awareness there is a manpower crisis across the maritime sector today, accidents continue to happen and the seafarer is the focus of attention for the regulators, security and enforcement authorities.

The rules of the game will change again when the Maritime Labour Convention comes into force in 2010. This important development is described as the fourth pillar of international maritime regulation, ranking with SOLAS, MARPOL and ISM.

The 2008 Mariner and Maritime Law seminar, the sixteenth in this highly acclaimed series, will focus on the future of manning and training for seagoing and shorebased staff.

This seminar is organised by the Nautical Institute North East branch. For more details click here.

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