Products & services

Oceania Cruises’ Sirena to feature exclusive custom-designed mattresses from Italy

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 21 January 2016 21 January 2016

Ultra Tranquility Bed features new coil spring structure and silver-threaded fabric, providing luxurious comfort for a restful night’s sleep. Already recognised for unparalleled style, comfort and elegant home-away-from-home appeal, the staterooms and suites on Sirena -- the newest addition to the Oceania Cruises fleet of intimate and luxurious ships -- will exclusively feature custom-designed, expertly-crafted Italian mattresses when the ship launches in April 2016.

The new Ultra Tranquility Bed features superior air suspension capabilities and a new spring structure with 3,000 coil springs – four times as many coils as the average American mattress. These micro-springs are individually pocketed and joined by connecting thermally-fused points, guaranteeing not only maximum comfort but zero noise on movement. The ingenious design allows the springs to work independently, enabling the body to ease into any sleeping position, and provide a restful night’s sleep by alleviating all pressure points.

Featuring the latest advancements in mattress design, the new mattresses are quilted with a silver threaded fabric and a layer of specially-designed thermo fibres, making the mattresses anti-static and providing a fresh and cool sleeping environment at all times.

The Ultra Tranquility Bed is available in all categories of stateroom and suite accommodations. The mattress is the first of its kind to be introduced to the cruise industry, and exemplifies the extraordinary level of comfort available in all the accommodations on the 684-guest Sirena.

“Our suites and staterooms are designed to provide guests with all the comforts they enjoy while at home,” said Jason Montague, president and chief operating officer for Oceania Cruises. “The cornerstone of a luxurious room is the bed. Our current mattresses are already recognized as industry-leading and this new Ultra Tranquility Bed far surpasses that lofty standard in comfort to provide our guests with the ultimate sleeping experience.”

While initially available only on Sirena, the new mattresses will be added to the remainder of the Oceania Cruises fleet -- Regatta, Insignia, Nautica, Marina and Riviera – during upcoming dry docks.

Sirena is scheduled to enter service 27thApril, 2016 with a 14-night cruise from Barcelona to Venice. Sirena will sail its inaugural season in the Mediterranean with itineraries that feature a mix of classic destinations and exotic new ports of call.

Among its elegant offerings are two exquisite restaurants, all-new Tuscan Steak and beloved Red Ginger, along with Jacques Bistro, a new gourmet lunch experience at the Grand Dining Room featuring signature dishes from legendary chef Jacques Pépin. Sirena will also feature more recent additions to the Oceania Cruises fleet such as Baristas and the cook-to-order grill at Terrace Café.

Wärtsilä to upgrade The World

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 20 January 2016 20 January 2016

The World, the largest, private, residential ship on the seas, will be retrofitted with a Wärtsilä Advanced Wastewater treatment system and a Wärtsilä Nacos Platinum system for navigation and external communication purposes. The Wärtsilä Advanced Wastewater solution will replace an existing system and keep the vessel in full compliance with the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) requirements concerning the prevention of pollution from ships. The ship is owned by its residents and is managed by ROW Management Ltd based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. The contract with Wärtsilä was signed in November. The equipment is scheduled for delivery in April, 2016.

Wärtsilä Hamworthy Membrane BioReactor (MBR) solutions are designed to facilitate the management and treatment of both 'grey' and 'black' wastewater, and to monitor discharges to the sea. The Wärtsilä system treats black and grey water so that the effluent can meet the most stringent marine discharge standards across the globe, including the latest nutrients removal requirements in the Baltic Sea.

The navigation retrofit to The World will replace an earlier system. The new installation will ensure that the vessel has the latest and most technically advanced system available. The Wärtsilä Nacos Platinum system's unique combination of integrated voyage planning, monitoring, and track control significantly reduces the workload for ship navigators, while improving navigational safety. The system to be supplied as part of this order includes the unique integration of an ice radar. The World is powered by Wärtsilä main and auxiliary engines, namely two 12-cylinder and three 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 engines.

"We at Wärtsilä are committed to assisting marine industry operators to reduce their environmental impact and to increase their operational efficiency. These goals are being met with this contract. The MBR system being supplied for this very special vessel will enable it to comply with the very stringent regulations relating to wastewater discharge. Being a retrofit project, we had to design the system to fit the existing space. This created something of a design challenge, but our experience and know-how allowed us to meet the customer's needs and provide an optimal solution. Similarly, the navigational system represents the very latest technology," says Juha Kytölä, Vice President, Environmental Solutions, Wärtsilä.

The World is a 196.35 metre (644 feet) long vessel that features a concept combining a private yacht and a luxury vacation home. The ship comprises 165 individual 'homes' that are owned by the residents, who together own the ship. It sails the globe and caters to the highest standards of convenience and lifestyle. The onboard systems, including that for wastewater treatment, are required to be of the highest possible quality.

APATEQ provides scrubber water treatment technology for Scandlines ferries

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 21 December 2015 21 December 2015

APATEQ announced today the receipt of a major order from the Danish shipping company Scandlines. The order refers to APATEQ’s newly developed compact scrubber water treatment system “MarinePaq”, using proprietary process technologies for high-efficiency primary treatment, followed by ultrafiltration and rounded up by heavy metal extraction processes. The MarinePaq will treat wastewater arising from closed-loop scrubbers that are installed on Scandlines’ ferries. The treatment will take place at a centralized facility at the harbour of Gedser (DK), producing an effluent with a quality compliant for direct discharge into the harbour basin.

Scrubber wastewater is typically highly contaminated with heavy metals, hydrocarbons and soot arising from the heavy bunker oil used. Current treatment technologies available on the market such as hydro-cyclones and centrifuges are often overstrained with scrubber water, especially in terms of eliminating the tiny lightweight soot particles that act as carriers for hydrocarbons. By means of APATEQ’s MarinePaq solution, even the smallest particles are reliably removed, providing an effluent that allows a direct discharge into open water. Sludge, arising from the treatment, is compacted by an integrated chamber filter press and safely disposed of in landfills.

“Scandlines as a shipping company has an environmental responsibility. We want to contribute to the preservation of the fragile marine ecosystem by cleaning our exhaust gases and by only discharging water of the highest quality back into the ocean”, states Fini Hansen, Scandlines Technical Superintendent. “APATEQ’s MarinePaq offers a unique solution to discharge the cleaned water even into the harbour basin.”

“We are grateful and proud of the trust Scandlines shows in our new technology and we look forward to the MarinePaq becoming state-of-the-art technology for scrubber water treatment in the future”, says APATEQ Chief Sales Officer Dirk Martin. “Our MarinePaq is the perfect solution for treating scrubber water either directly on-board, or as here, in a compact design at a centralized facility. We will build the MarinePaq for Scandlines in two 40’ containers stacked one on top of the other, ensuring a minimum footprint, an important factor for an installation at an existing harbour.”

“As APATEQ’s cooperation partner for Scandinavia, we are delighted to have facilitated this initial order”, says Björneman Water CEO Rolf Hollmén. “Our advisory team possesses decades of experience in the maritime sector and is strongly committed to reducing the negative impact of vessel emissions on our marine environment. To us, APATEQ’s MarinePaq significantly contributes to the realization of sustainable shipping in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea area.”

The plan is to deliver, to install and to commission the plant in Gedser (DK) in the spring of 2016.

New contract brings record growth to Evac

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 18 January 2016 18 January 2016

Evac Group has received its biggest cruise vessel contract in company history, fueling even further growth over last year’s 40% gain.

Although the company cannot yet disclose the name of the client, they confirm the order is for total waste management systems for four large cruise vessels with an option to outfit an additional six vessels. The initial four-vessel contract is valued at approximately 30 million euros.

In addition, Evac Group has secured many large navy, coast guard, and offshore orders during the last quarter, increasing the company’s backlog value with 50% compared to the last year.

The Evac product package for each of the four cruise vessels includes an Evac Cleansea wastewater treatment plant enabling vessels to operate without any limitations. The Evac Cleansea plants allow vessels to be operated in many Environmentally Sensitive Sea Areas (ESSAs) and Special Areas (SAs) defined nationally or internationally, where special discharge restrictions apply.

The contract also includes dry and wet waste treatment systems including an incinerator and recycling equipment covering glass plastic, paper, cardboard and aluminum waste, food waste vacuum systems, a bio sludge treatment unit, plus vacuum collecting systems including six vacuum units and approximately 3,000 vacuum toilets per vessel.

The first of the four vessels has a scheduled delivery in 2018 with the last vessel slotted for 2022.

Tomi Gardemeister, CEO of Evac, says Evac estimated turnover for 2015 was 98 million euros and strong growth is anticipated during coming years.

Harding awarded contract from major cruise line

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 16 December 2015 16 December 2015

Harding has been awarded contracts to deliver innovative lifeboats, tender vessels and davits to a major cruise line.

Out of the cruise segment since 2013, SOLAS leader Harding used the timeout to re-think their relationship to cruise owners and shipyards, and redesign their core products to meet the latest demands of the industry. The first deliveries will go to a leading cruise line, whose name had not been made public at the time of this release.

“To become the chosen supplier for this prestigious project, we had to show that we could come up with something new, both to the owner and to the shipyard,” says Harding CEO Styrk Bekkenes. “Getting contracts with world leaders is really a feather in our cap," he adds. Bekkenes emphasizes the critical nature of relationships between suppliers, yards, and owners: “Convincing the shipyard that we had products that would meet the cruise lines’ high standards was our first challenge. Winning the confidence of a benchmark shipyard confirmed that we were back on the right track in the cruise segment.”

The new Harding lifeboats are two stories unto themselves – a novel double-decker design that enables a record passenger capacity of 440. “Not only do the new boats carry more people, they are easier to load and unload, because each deck has two entrances,” states Cruise Sales Director Hallvard E. Skaare. The new design also shrinks the waterline, saving valuable space shipboard, while offering a roomier interior on board the lifeboat. “The comfort level is far above the present industry standard,” Skaare assures.

The new lifeboats look so good passengers might find themselves wishing they could take one for a spin. The good news is, with Harding’s equally attractive tender vessels – they can. “Cruise owners want passengers to be immersed in the cruise experience from the time they set foot on board, and transportation to and from shore is part of that total experience,” says Skaare.

With air conditioning, roomy and comfortable seats, and an ultramodern design, the new tenders will be an integral part of a new cruise concept.

Even the davits used to lower and retrieve lifeboats and tenders have undergone a transformation. “The davits Harding supplies to the offshore industry are completely enclosed. This is for safety and maintenance purposes offshore, but an enclosed davit, designed for cruise, meets an aesthetic need as well,” says Skaare.

So does all this innovation at once present risks? “We have been in the marine safety business since 1928. This is innovation based on proven engineering,” confirms Styrk Bekkenes.

In both scope and value, the new cruise contract represents the biggest to date for Harding Safety AS. ”We took the chance, and it paid off. This new contract gives us a renewed and important foothold in the cruise industry, at a time when the offshore market is suffering due to low oil prices,” says Bjørn Sturle Hillestad, Global Sales and Marketing Director in Harding Safety.

Harding will deliver a total of:

– 12 x 440 person lifeboats
– 24 x 230 person Lifeboat/Tender
– 36 x PD55 DM davits
– 6 x rescue boat stations
– The contract also includes options for further deliveries.