Haha, sure I have an idea Turbinia. Yep schools in different countries differ a lot and politics are once again involved…

There should be caution too though, MODU and FPSOs are, like Dredgers (my last ship) a totally different world from Merchant shipping. These were in the earlier days a different world, where you started as an A/B and headed your way up with a whole bunch of experience. Papers were not really there.
Nowadays IMO is obliging ALL shipping officers to have such papers and hence, like on the dredger, officers from Merchant schools enter those areas too. Of course the older crews don’t like it as they see all the young officers jumping over their heads because they have papers (and of course no experience like the older ones). So it’s pretty obvious that those are two very different worlds at sea (so they are partially in a fight when they meet, pff, did I hate that last crew and obviously vice versa :d ). FPSO, like dredgers are also working ships and there is little navigation there and much more maintence and heavy work, while merchant officers are of course mainly trained for navigation and cargo work (and you have to take that education to get the papers). Big companies of course succeed in messing with that system and via govt they can give their own papers… A big joke indeed.

I guess you misunderstood me. The only one being scrapped at the moment is ex Admiral Ushakov.
Admiral Lazarev is still in her base and might possibly be reactivated when money becomes available and if Nakhimov’s upgrade is succesful.
What I meant is that the above picture is just a could-be upgrade, not necessarily the real upgrade (and IMHO probably not). But part of it, the S-300FM and maybe Kinzhal upgrade might be included for Nakhimov. I just doubt the Ghibka (with the Igla missile),AK-630M with Laska fire control part of the above shown package from the drawing.

Talking about that, just got this one in the newsletter today:

Carriers scramble to man growing fleets
They are seeking some 10,000 officers in the next three years to operate vessels
AS shipping companies around the world expand their fleets, qualified sea officers are in high demand. Rising global
consumption of everything from oil to iron ore and televisions means shipyard order books are full and ship operators
are scrambling to hire crews for thousands of bulk carriers and container ships due to enter service in the next few
years. That means finding more than 10,000 qualified officers and up to 60,000 regular crew members over the next
three years to man these vessels.
‘This is a significant challenge moving forward,’ said Bjorn Moller, tanker operator Teekay Shipping’s chief executive.
To meet it, the company provides a ‘career path, good pay and benefits’, he said. Nassau, Bahamas-registered Teekay
runs a fleet of about 150 tankers that carry more than 10 per cent of global ocean-going oil and refined products. The
company has 21 tankers on order – worth US$3 billion – for delivery from this year to 2009.
Some 4,700 oil tankers, bulk carriers and container ships are on shipyard order books worldwide, according to
estimates by Omar Nokta, a maritime analyst at Dahlman Rose in New York. ‘Around half the new vessels will replace
existing ships,’ he said. ‘The rest will be new and require crews. Some shipping companies are not ready for this
challenge.’
The average ship has a crew of 25 to 30. A typical merchant ship has four qualified deck officers and a chief engineer,
according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.
In their search for crews, reputable shipping companies like Teekay and New York-based Overseas Shipholding Group,
which ships oil and petroleum, have teamed up with maritime academies. But the companies also complain of
poaching by desperate rivals caught short without trained officers.
In addition to increased demand for oil, its byproducts and other raw materials, the shift of the US manufacturing base
to developing nations such as China and India requires many finished goods to travel much farther to reach US
consumers. Most of these products must move at least some distance by ship.
‘It is a good time to be in maritime transportation,’ said Kevin Kennedy, chief financial officer at Hong Kong-based
container ship operator Seaspan Corp which has a fleet of 16 container ships, with 21 on order for delivery in the next
three years.
Mr Kennedy said Seaspan is increasingly looking to India’s maritime academies for officers and to the Philippines and
China for crews. ‘India has fine maritime academies for officers,’ he said, adding that ‘our experiences of crews hired in
the Philippines have all been positive’.
Crews from these developing countries are willing to work long hours for less money than European or American
crews. Mr Nokta said US officer salaries can exceed US$150,000, and deck hands make US$20,000 to US$60,000 a
year. Internationally, officers earn US$75,000 to US$150,000 and crew wages range from US$10,000 to US$40,000,
he estimates.

Some 80 per cent of OSG’s vessels are entirely manned by Philippine crews; like Teekay, OSG provides career planning
to foster company loyalty, said shipping operations director Captain Robert Johnson. OSG works closely with Philippine
maritime academies. Captain Johnson said OSG also looks carefully at new crew members for officer potential. OSG is
also looking to the future to man liquified natural gas (LNG) tankers. This market has significant global potential as the
gas is becoming popular in the US and Europe, where local production is declining. LNG is supercooled to -163 deg C,
a temperature that reduces its volume. But the gas is also volatile, requiring experienced tanker personnel.
‘Shipping a product like this that can be dangerous means there will be a premium on quality officers,’ Mr Nokta said.
That poses a problem when competitors lure away qualified staff that reputable shippers spend years training, Captain
Johnson said. ‘We go to a lot of trouble developing crews, and the biggest problem we have is poaching,’ he said.
‘Some companies don’t want to spend time and money on training and dangle a big salary at qualified employees
instead,’ he added.

STCW my ass, I have to fight hard to get my own, but if you see (or hear over the VHF at sea) some of the other crews you really start asking yourself why they have that same paper as you have. Companies however do know how to select on their own although all too often money is their only concern. In some countries it’s forbidden for companies to train their own personnel, I live in such a country and I think it’s a pitty… It would really attract more people if companies could sponsor the education of their people and give them a contract of a certain amount of years (like the armed forces often do).

Maersk to Order 25 Vessels from China
AP Moeller-Maersk AS will order 25 vessels from Chinese shipbuilders including Qingdao Qianjin Shipbuilding Co within
the following 12 months, AFX International Focus reported.
Citing a media officer from Maersk’s China office, the newspaper said that the the world’s largest shipping company
signed two agreements last week to buy four 1,800 TEU container ships from Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd and
four 80 DWT tugs from Qingdao Qianjin.
Since 1996 Maersk has bought 75 various vessels from China worth around three bln usd, becoming the country’s
largest overseas ship buyer.

“We only have over 300 ships, let’s buy some more!!!” 😉

Shipyard Builds Container Vessel in 54 Days
According to reports, Shanghai Shipyard & Chengxi Shipyard Company Ltd built a 3,500 TEU container vessel in only
54 days, breaking China’s record of 60 days for a mid-sized container vessel. The team has already signed orders till
the end of 2009. The state-owned Shanghai Shipyard & Chengxi Shipyard Co. updated their traditional shipbuilding
skills when they moved to Chongmong Island from Lujiazui area in Pudong. The original technique took more than 140
days to build a 3,500 TEU container vessel

The container war was on for a while, but now it really bursted open I guess:

Emma Maersk buoys firm’s hopes
The Emma Maersk, the largest container ship ever built, set sail on its maiden voyage last Thursday, carrying the
hopes of AP Moeller-Maersk A/S for a boost in profit and an increase in market share.
Maersk, as the company is commonly known, plans a fleet of the ships, which stand 12 storeys high and can carry at
least 11,000 containers, 15 per cent more than the next largest vessel. The Emma Maersk will initially travel from
Aarhus, Denmark, to Gothenburg in Sweden, Maersk Line chief operating officer Vagn Lehd Moeller said in an
interview.
“The main benefit is that they can reduce the cost per container and it should allow them to grow faster than the
market,” said Steven Brooker, an analyst in Copenhagen at Enskilda Securities with a “buy ” recommendation on the
stock. “Maersk should be able to get utilisation rates around 95 per cent.” Maersk, the world’s largest shipping
company, is struggling with higher fuel costs and a decline in freight rates after five years of inc reases.
Maersk Line, the company’s container division, lost US$633 million (US$1 = RM3.65) in the first half. Its market share
probably fell to about 14.5 per cent this year from 17.3 per cent last year, estimates Brooke r.
The capacity of the Emma Maersk is 57 per cent higher than the company ’s current largest fleet of vessels, which
can handle 7,000 boxes.
Maersk plans to order 14 of the vessels, according to Clarkson plc of London, the world’s biggest shipbroker. The next
largest container ship after the Emma Maersk is a vessel operated by China Shipping Group Co that can handle 9,600
boxes.
Shipowners have spent US$207 billion in the past three years on new vessels, matching the total of the preceding
decade and helping to drag fees lower, according to Clarkson. Denmark’s biggest company is putting the ship in
service after six months in which it has failed to grow its volumes as fast as competitors, which include Neptune Orient
Lines Ltd, because of difficulties integrating Royal P&O Nedlloyd NV.
The purchase of P&O Nedlloyd in May 2005 for US$3 billion has helped drive up costs per box, the company said on
August 29, without giving further details. Maersk’s market share may grow to as much as 19 per cent next year,
Brooker estimates.
With an anchor weighing the equivalent of five African elephants, the Emma Maersk left Aarhus . It will call at two
ports in Europe, one in Algeria and a terminal at the Suez Canal before heading to Singapore and six further ports in
Asia, according to Maersk Line’s website.
The fact that Maersk is already the biggest container-shipping company allows it to add capacity in a market where the
prices are falling, according to Chris Combe, an analyst at Bear Stearns Cos.
“If anyone has the scale to go down this path now, Maersk does,” said Combe, who is based in London and has an
“underperfor m” rating on Maersk shares. “Maersk want to stay on top of the pile and are taking a long-term view.”
Lehd Moeller declined to say how much the ship cost to build. The ship is named after the late wife of Maersk Mc-
Kinney Moeller, the 93-year old billionaire who controls Maersk and whose father founded the company.

CMA CGM in Huge Order
CMA CGM of France has reacted swiftly to the launch three weeks ago by Maersk Line of its self-confessed largest
containership in the world with a massive order for eight 11,400-teu units at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).
In a statement to the Korea Stock Exchange on Friday HHI said the order, valued at $1.2bn, is the largest single order
it has received. Delivery of the vessels is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2009 and continue until June the
following year.

The order follows hard on the heels of an order in late August by the French company for four 6,500-teu units at
South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries. The ships, which cost a combined total of $401m, are slated for delivery by
September 2009. Earlier this year CMA CGM signed for six 4,300-teu ships at Hanjin’s new Subic Bay yard in the
Philippines, for delivery in 2008 and 2009. Shares in HHI are currently trading at KRW 118,000 ($123.48) a piece, a
rise of 1.29%.

On the downside of this, everyone is nicely building ships, but there are no crews anymore:

Crew shortage worsens
The shortage of skilled seafarers is getting worse, while concern remains over quality, a leading group of shipping
employers has warned. The warning the situation is serious came as the London-based International Maritime
Employers Committee (Imec) announced its membership has now passed the 100 mark and claims to employ 14% of
the world’s seafarers.
“We are very worried,” Ian Sherwood, Imec vice chairman said. “We are seriously concerned about the number of
officers trained and about their quality”
Last year the latest update to the Bimco-ISF manpower survey estimated the shortage of officers at a “modest”
10,000, based on supply of 46,600, with the shortage forecast to rise to 27,000 by 2015, based on a rise in demand to
499,000 but supply only increasing to 472,000.
Imec claims its members, who include oil companies BP, Shell, Exxon and Chevron, as well as owners like Torm and
Norden of Denmark and Novoship and Sovcomflot of Russia, employ around 150,000 seafarers on 5,870 ships
including 47,852 Filipinos, 20,245 Indians and 16,304 Russians.
Only 3,256 seafarers (2%) on Imec members’ ships come from China, seen in the past as capable of filling gaps in
supply. Instead East and central Europe including Poland and Russia have filled the gap, with the region supplying
47,275 seafarers or 34%, compared with 54,852 (40%) from the top region of southeast Asia.
To help meet the supply shortfall Imec is now sponsoring 30 cadets in addition to members’ individual cadet training.
Last year members paid through a $10 levy per man per month $1.5m into a training fund which supplies hardware
such as simulators to training colleges. Since the International Maritime Training Trust (IMTT) began in 1998 it has
received $10m and paid out $6m including $789,457 last year, with grants going mainly to the Philippines, Poland and
Sri Lanka.
It is now focusing more on improving the quality of training through schemes such as a “cadet enhancement”
programme aimed at backfilling gaps in trainees’ education and improving the skills of lecturers. Imec members are
training on average 1.4 cadets per ship but one constraint on that number increasing is the lack of space on many
ships.
Bob Goodall of IMTT said his own company, Dorchester Maritime, the Isle of Man-based shipmanager, is “struggling”
to find space on ships that were “chock-a-block” and that safety regulation such as lifeboat capacities also limit the
number of cadets onboard.
The number of cabins available for cadets had also been reduced by shipowners until recently but newbuildings now
include four or six while they have to factor in the fact seafarers including cadets no longer share their cabins.

Russians need them, these two vessels are real warships. The new corvette 20380 is a coast guard, why they hate so much the surface major vessels? Who will protect the “Boreis” and the pr 855 new SSNs? What about the naval version of S-400? Is possible for modernized “Admiral Nakhimov” to carry S-400?. Admiral Masorin must understand that the corvettes 20380 have no value. The 20380 are so valuable as Perrys FFS are for USN. The only need for Russian navy is to have “Russian version” of “ticoderoga” with land attack capability. NO corvettes, NO light frigates, NO patrol boats, NO fishing boats!!
Has the russian navy any serious surface future project? DDG or CG?

Nope, Russia doesn’t need old ’80s vintage cruisers and destroyers. Lobov, now Ukraina, has been offered to Russia before, they have turned that offer down. They don’t need ships like this.

Borei and Yasen are built to take care of their own business, they changed doctrine after the collapse of USSR. They have now taken the US submarine doctrine, which means the subs have to take care of their own. You don’t see US ships escort SSN or SSBNs as that would give away the latter’s position. The SSNs do escor the carriers of course.

Russia isn’t in the position nor need to bully the world with groups of large ships to attack everyone like US is. They don’t have the money to do so either. For now their primary threats are covered by what they have, there is no need for anything big.

The new frigates and corvettes suffice to keep away most navies and threats.
It is possible that Nakhimov gets the Granat cruise missile, but I doubt that. Granit-2, the upgraded version of the current anti-ship missile has been talked about too, S-400 is possible, but nothing has been mentioned on that, nor about any navalised version of this system.

The new frigate is as secret as any other warship, some navies think it’s important to keep something hidden, some don’t even care. It’s not because some forum visitors are so impatient to see it that the Navy should actually show it…

The splash after the crash was just the pilot hitting the water with his escape chair, I think the parachute just doesn’t open when it doesn’t have a sufficient height, hence the chair just falls back. Or it was the canopy that flew away.

Shipbuilders Struggle Over Steel
Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Shipbuilders and Japanese steelmakers are struggling to hammer out the differences on steel plate prices as the sellers insist on a 17 percent raise to $680 per metric ton. Korean shipbuilders including Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. are demanding a price cut from the current $580 to $480 per metric ton for the six months from October. “The talks (on price settlement) could go on until early October,” said an official from the Korea Shipbuilders’ Association. “Steel plate supply is falling short of the soaring demand for ships.” Steelmakers are pushing to lift prices in the face of rising material costs. Prices of iron ore, the key material for steel, continued to climb 17 percent this year, after jumping 71.5 percent in 2005 as a result of oligopoly trading by global iron ore miners and burgeoning demand from China. As for shipbuilders, sufficient procurement of steel plates is a must to satisfy orders in time. Steel plates account for up to 20 percent of total shipbuilding costs. Korean shipbuilders’ price settlement with Japanese steelmakers, usually followed by similar deals with POSCO and smaller domestic companies, hit the peak of $680 per ton a year ago for orders received during the six months to March this year. Nearly 30 percent of the steel plates used by the world’s three largest shipyards depend on imports from Japan. Hyundai Heavy, Samsung Heavy and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. estimate Japanese imports of 1 million tons, 500,000 tons and 150,000 tons, respectively, this year. Another 10 percent comes from China. Hyundai Steel Co. targets to reach an annual production capacity of 2 million tons by 2009. The national production volume is forecast to grow from the current 6 million tons to 10.6 million tons by 2009. Hyundai Heavy said it buys roughly 55 percent of its steel plates from domestic shipbuilders such as POSCO and Dongkuk. (Source: http://www.koreaherald.co.kr)

Makes you wonder why the Koreans don’t make their own steel… First you need a ship to import the iron ore to Japan, then you need a ship to transport the plates to Korea and all that to just build another ship to transport the iron ore to Japan 😉 guess the cirlce keeps itself running this way. (I’m kidding, the tankers etc. have to get built too of course), but still I guess it would be smarter of Korea to start making its own steel!

And China:

Demand for Ships in China to reach 31m DWT
Wednesday, September 06, 2006

According a new report on China’s shipbuilding industry from Research and Markets, from 2006 to 2010, the total demand for ships in China will reach 31 million dead weight tons (DWT), and the annual demand will be 6.2 million DWT on average. The report, dubbed China Shipbuilding Industry Report, 2005–2006, notes that China’s ship completions rank third over the past 10 consecutive years, and the shipbuilding capacity has increased from 3.462 million DWT in 2002 to 12 million DWT in 2005.
The boom of China’s shipbuilding industry is closely linked with the development of marine industry, says the report. Although the global marine market declined in 2005, new opportunities emerged. As the world’s shipbuilding center gradually shifts to China, and with favorable industrial policies issued by the government, China could develop into the largest shipbuilding country over the course of the next 10 years, according to the report.

(Source: Reed Business Information)

China Builds Shipyards to Drive Industry
Tuesday, September 05, 2006

CHINA will build three shipyards at Bohai Bay, the mouths of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River over the next five years, according to the national shipbuilding authority.
The country will enhance management in the shipbuilding industry from this year to 2010 by speeding up the construction of three major shipyards, and by enhancing the development of new ship types, establishing modern shipbuilding models and developing the building technology for ship accessories, according to China’s medium and long-term shipping development plans.

It is time for China to further develop its shipbuilding industry, said an official from the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense. China’s shipbuilding industry is now at a critical stage where it can become even stronger, the official added.

However, China still needs to face a series of challenges, such as fierce competition, industry uncertainties, weak innovation abilities and less-developed accessory building technologies, the official said.

With the abundance of human resources, a long coastline and a strong demand from the domestic market, China is now the third largest shipbuilder in the world. Its proportion in the world’s shipbuilding industry has surged from six percent in 2000 to 20 percent last year.

(Source: www1.shanghaidaily.com)

Korean Shipyards Face Challenge
Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Korean shipbuilders’ earnings are forecast to improve through 2008 and beyond as the tight supply and demand balance allows them to pass on rising costs, said investment bank Lehman Brothers in a report. Lehman’s expects earnings at the shipyards to report a 64 percent growth over the 2006-2008 period as revived interest in container ship investment amid continued demand for tankers and gas carriers is increasingly making global shipbuilding a seller’s market. “At the same time, Korean shipyards are more keen on managing risk and costs by hedging their foreign exchange exposure and procuring lower-cost steel plates from China,” the report said. It also noted that Korean shipyards’ flexible vessel design capabilities are the key differentiating factor that positions them ahead of their Japanese and Chinese counterparts. Lehman’s top picks were Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. among shipbuilders, and Samyoung M-Tek among vessel parts suppliers. Yet, it might not be all smooth sailing for Korea’s shipyards after 2008 with Brazil, Russia, India and China rushing to build large shipyards to meet the growing demand for vessels to transport oil and raw materials, according to maritime information portal site Marine-net.

Seller’s Market means that whatever you build, someone will buy it.
They do however mentiont that China does build its own steel plates… I guess Korea has forgotten something during its growing process, might cost them a lot in the future!

yeah I just read it.
the article also mentions that the yard has also repaired Ekaterininburg, Verkhoture and Tula before. Of Tula, we know she is upgraded with Sineva and brand new electronics, but do you have any idea whether Verkhoture and Ekaterininburg also underwent this upgrade? Or were those just regular repairs with Tula being the first to really get the upgrade?

Some bad news here though:

Delayed funding forces Russian destroyer into reserve
By Michael Thell, Jane’s Correspondent and James Murphy,
Reporter

JANE’S DEFENCE INDUSTRY – SEPTEMBER 01, 2006

THE Russian Federation Navy (RFN) is to place the Northern Fleet’s Project 1155 Udaloy-class destroyer Admiral Kharlamov into reserve in the face of delayed funding for a planned overhaul and upgrade programme.

As a result, the RFN has decided that it is no longer safe to operate the ship – one of the latest destroyers, commissioned in 1989 – in active service and mothballed it, although the navy is adamant it has not been retired.

The Udaloys have become one of the main workhorses of the Russian fleet and the navy has focused a great deal of attention on retaining them in active service, at the expense of other classes, particularly the Project 956 Sovremenny-class destroyers.

The revelation that one of the RFN’s most relied-upon vessels is facing a funding crisis comes amidst a flurry of pronouncements from politicians and officials about the increased levels of spending across the Russian armed forces.

Sergei Ivanov, Russian defence minister and deputy prime minister, has made frequent statements on procurement plans and overall defence expenditure for the coming years.

He said in May that RUB800 billion (USD29.6 billion) will be spent in 2007, after he addressed the Russian parliament about sweeping plans to modernise the armed forces, with at least 50 per cent set aside for maintenance, upgrade and modernisation of existing platforms.

Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said that the country’s modernisation drive was needed to “maintain the strategic balance of forces in the world” – a sentiment some analysts see as a sign of Russian unease over US power and a chilling in relations between the two.

Despite current trends in global politics, modernisation of Russia’s armed forces is long overdue. Defence officials are now recognising and acting on recommendations made in past years that a comprehensive programme of investment and a shift in spending priorities is crucial.

To this effect Ivanov has said there were plans to redistribute defence spending, putting greater emphasis on the development of new systems and technologies. He said spending would be split equally, with 50 per cent allocated for maintenance and 50 per cent for development.

Yet the apparent failure to fund the overhaul and upgrade the Admiral Kharlamov may be of concern to navy chiefs who have long argued for increased funding for the surface fleet.

According to the navy, the deadline for immediate repairs and replacement of Admiral Kharlamov’s main engines has passed and repairs – along with much needed modernisation – will not now take place until 2007-2008.

Admiral Kharlamov is outfitted with four Ukrainian-built gas turbines and in January this year, Russia broke with tradition and turned its back on Ukrainian systems, in favour of a new domestically produced powerpack design from NPO Saturn.

The setback follows on from statements made by Ivanov in July promising funding for a range of upgrade programmes for major vessels, including the eponymous Project 1143.5 Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier.

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Kuznetsov also had a fire, two men wounded (but only lightly so). The fire was extinguished pretty rapidly (or so they say).

Masorin also stated that they will need to build 8 or 9 Borei class SSBNs to replace the Delta III class and retain their strategic force(mainly in service with the Pacific Fleet, might this mean that they will place the first three now under construction in the Pacific Fleet?)