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During 2002 the Working Group on Market and Forecast has attended meetings as
follows:
・4 and 5 April 2002, OECD Paris
・25 April, OECD Paris
・3 and 4 July 2002, AWES Bruxelles
・9 and 10 September, AWES,CSERC, KSA, SAJ Beijing
・12 and 13 November, AWES Bruxelles
AWES Interyard Cooperation Group On Shiprepair
Introduction
Mr Vito Busalacchi of the Fincantieri Palermo yard served his second year as Chairman of the Group, supported also for a second year by Mr Mannfred van der Wal of the Keppel Verolme yard. Mr Nick Granger of Shipbuilders and Shiprepairers Association continued to serve as Executive Secretary to the Group.
Group Operation
The Group held three meetings during the year.
Following the success of the experiment of holding a combined working and social meeting in Palermo in Spring 2001, a similar meeting was held in Barcelona in Spring 2002 at the invitation of the UNB yard. As with Palermo, the meeting in Barcelona was very well attended and the social programme greatly appreciated.
The second meeting of the year was held as part of the AWES General Assembly at Hasselet in Denmark. This meeting served as the Annual General Meeting for the Group, followed by a Standing Committee meeting.
The third meeting was, as with previous years, held in London on the day before the Shiprepair and Conversion conference and exhibition in late November 2002. The organisers of the conference and exhibition were clearly pleased with the involvement of the AWES Group in 2001, and asked for a similar involvement in 2002.
The Group Chairman was able to participate in a general review of the global market and a session of the conference on shiprepair and conversion contract terms.
Market situation
National market reports on repair and conversion can be found with the reports from the national associations.
Overall, the impression is that the market held up well during 2002, and improved somewhat as the year went by. This trend seems to be continuing into 2003. However, while volume is there, prices are still as tight as before because of the fierce international competition.
Industry Statistics
The Group place great emphasis on producing reliable and comprehensive statistics. The turnover table the Group has tried to produce over the last few years is again attached.
SHIPREPAIR AND CONVERSION TURNOVER (€ MILL.)
| |
2002 |
2001 |
2000 |
1999 |
1998 |
| CROATIA |
|
|
|
|
30.24 |
| DENMARK |
|
|
275 |
|
117.6 |
| FRANCE |
|
|
|
|
98.56 |
| GERMANY |
591 |
674 |
637 |
537 |
654 |
| GREECE |
59.2 |
|
|
85.12 |
101.92 |
| HOLLAND |
275 |
|
|
268.8 |
268.8 |
| ITALY |
220 |
|
218.4 |
250.88 |
250.88 |
| NORWAY |
|
|
|
|
89.6 |
| POLAND |
137 |
116 |
129 |
105 |
141.12 |
| PORTUGAL |
110 |
120 |
83 |
51 |
184 |
| ROMANIA |
|
|
|
47.04 |
|
| SPAIN |
285 |
|
277.76 |
143.36 |
271.04 |
| SWEDEN |
|
|
|
|
33.6 |
| UK |
407 |
367 |
336 |
414.4 |
448 |
| TOTALS |
1,902 |
1,956 |
1,277 |
2,084 |
2,689 |
|
Special topics
The Group Chairman was invited to make a keynote speech at the SMM exhibition dinner in Hamburg in September 2002, and took the opportunity to emphasize the importance, in both employment and strategic terms, of the repair and conversion sector in Europe. He focussed on the fact that the repair and conversion sector had allowed itself to be, politically at least, an invisible industry, and that the sector had decided this had continued long enough. No longer should an industry consisting of 400 yards, with over 40,000 employees, turning over some US$3bn pa, be allowed to be ignored.
As a further contribution to the exercise of raising the profile of the sector, the Group decided to submit to the European Commission a proposal for an Integrated Project for the repair and conversion sector to be run under the new EC research and development funding provision, known as Framework Programme 6. The Integrated Project was submitted to the Commission in June 2002, but was not selected by the Commission for further development. However, provision was made in the First Call for projects in FP6 for two conventional projects in areas of direct relevance to the repair and conversion sector. The Group has decided to develop two projects for submission in April 2003, one to concentrate on improving painting and coating in repair and conversion yards, the other on making improvements in yard processes to make the business more environmentally friendly.
Work began during 2002 on the project, approved under EC FP5, called INTERMAR, as a development of the work done in the SYRIOS project. INTERMAR moves on from the integration of IT systems within a repair yard to integrating the yard IT system with those of the suppliers and subcontractors clustered around it.
AWES Working Group On Substandard Ships
WGSS MEETINGS
The WGSS has met three times in the period:
・In Versailles on 21St November 2002
・In Brussels on 14th January 2003-06-11
・In Cannes on 12th June 2003 (to be reported separately)
The following paragraphs report on the WG activities, discussions and proposed structural changes.
RE-FOCUSING AND RE-NAMING OF THE WGSS
After approval at the AWES SC in Nyborg in 2002, the WG was renamed WG Safe Ships for Clean seas, and its work scope expanded to cover all topics related to ships safety and marine environmental protection. A work program was also approved and is under development as follows:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE WG WORKING PROGRAM
A. Environment: TBT Ban. Since many yards appear to be unaware of the complete implications of the newly approved European regulations, the WG circulated to all associations a note of Guidelines for the Application of the TBT Ban in EU Shipyards.
B. Environment: Ship Recycling. The WG has made comments at the IMO with objections to some aspects of the Guidelines to Facilitate Ship Recycling from the Design and Construction Stage, with only relative success. European shipbuilders still have the task of preparing its own Guidelines and this item was put in the Work Program.
C. Environment: Air Emissions. The WG agreed this subject is of no immediate urgency. EMEC will be invited to take leadership in the matter and the WG will follow.
D. Safety: Quality Ships / Robust Ships. A proposal by Greece and Bahamas at the IMO requests the establishment of IMO structural standards for ships, now in the realm of classification societies. It also stresses the relationship between the robustness of newbuildings and the condition of ships in the last stages of their commercial lives. The WG indicated its concern regarding the latter ideas, since they minimise the role of maintenance through the ship's life. On the other hand, the harmonisation of structural standards via IMO is in line with earlier WG proposals.
The WG agreed that irrespective of the unquestionable merits of robust ships, no ship will last a lifetime without proper maintenance. Therefore, pressure must be put rather on class societies and flag states, who share the main responsibility for enforcement of regulations and ship maintenance requirements.
The WG prepared a verbal presentation for the MSC76 meeting at IMO, in December 2002, and subsequently a written contribution to the MSC77 meeting in June 2003.
E. Safety: Extended Guarantees. Owners' requests for extended guarantees up to 5 years may change the basic relationship with shipyard customers and sub-suppliers. The SC agreed to give priority to this item and asked the WG to prepare a report exploring implications for European yards in technical, economical and competitive terms. It was also agreed to set up a correspondence group to gather information on the issue, to be coordinated by Mr Assereto.
F. Safety: Enforcement of Existing Regulations. The WG agreed that the combination of FOC's and class societies is one of the root causes of lower marine safety standards. The WG would welcome the reduction or elimination of FOC's, and considers that meantime further pressure should be exercised on class societies. The WG agreed to review the EU Directive on classification societies in order to confirm its validity or eventually suggest improvements that would be discussed by the WG.
G. Safety: Extension of Stockholm Agreement to all ferries in EU. The WG considers very positively this development. The regulations are still in the conciliation process between EP and Commission. There are some 140 ferries over 100m in length and built before 1991 under EU-15 flags. Total about 1.6 million GT and 2 million CGT. These are the ships most likely to need replacement. There are another 70 ferries with some 0.7 million GT and 0.9 million CGT flagged in other Mediterranean countries.
CESS MEETING IN SEOUL ON 5TH SEPTEMBER 2002.
The Chairman and Mr Assereto attended the meeting of CESS (Committee for the Elimination of Substandard Ships) in Seoul. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Shipbuilders Association of Japan (SMJ), the Korea Shipbuilders Association (KSA) the American Shipbuilding Association (ASA) and the Chinese shipyards (CSIC and CSSC).
The following aspects were discussed:
・Reports of PSC inspections in Europe, Asia and USA: Each region presented a report of its area. The Committee agreed that progress is so far satisfactory. The evidence indicates that the worst ships are avoiding the PSC critical areas, and especially the USA.
・Losses of bulk-carriers: The European delegation presented a report indicating that B/C losses far exceed those of tankers and other ships. Therefore, some basic design flaws must exist. The Committee agreed that a revision of the 1966 Loadline Convention may be in order, to increase both basic freeboard, minimum bow height and to eliminate or reduce freeboard allowances granted to large bulkcarriers. Additionally, the adoption of double hulls and higher general hull strength was considered advisable.
・Ship recycling: Far East shipbuilders were informed of latest developments in Europe and at the IMO, as well of the positions of European shipyards, to be presented to the MIF the following month. In particular they were asked to cooperate in the redaction of Guidelines to Facilitate Ship Recycling from the Design and Construction Stage, as requested by the IMO and the EU. However, Far East Shipbuilders did not agree to consider this an immediate priority, or even an item in a joint work program.
・Quality of newbuildings: The European shipbuilders, aware of meetings between prominent shipowners' associations and shipbuilders of Japan and Korea, requested to be informed of matters discussed at such meetings and to be invited to participate in future ones.
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