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  • Balance of SINAVAL 2017

    On March 31th ended another edition of SINAVAL, a meeting that is considered one of the main references of the naval sector in Spain and Europe. This year, for the first time, it was part of the Maritime World Week program, along with the Marine Energy Week, Eurofishing and FuturePort fairs, which were held at the Bilbao Exhibition Center of the Basque Country.

    According to the organization, a total of 1,747 professionals attended to this event to learn about the latest technological advances and to look for new business opportunities in the “blue economy” or the industries of the sea. This industry currently moves 275 billion euros in the European Union. In addition, 100 speakers from 16 different countries took part in the round tables and seminars, being able to show their specialized vision on various aspects of maritime news.

    Among all these presentations, it is worth mentioning the one carried out by the Basque Maritime Forum, an organization that brings together associations, public institutions and companies from the Basque maritime sector. This presentation analysed the situation of the naval industry and its prospects in Spain and in the Basque Country. It was stated that for this year 2017 there is “a slight tendency of improvement”, having as the main challenge of “recovering levels of activity that consolidate the Industry and enable to regain their position and prestige in the international market “.

    Furthermore, this organization announced that in the first months of 2017, the Basque shipyards, which currently have a portfolio of 33% of the total national orders, have matched the contract figures formalized last year. Thus, the orders to the shipyards of the Basque Autonomous Community are 20 out of a total of 55 orders in the private sector in Spain, and where Zamakona Yards owns 10 projects out of the total accounted.

    In order to continue this trend and be sustainable over time, the Basque Maritime Forum has launched its new Strategic Plan 2017-2020 to “deal with competitiveness” in the new economic scenario, with the aim of strengthening internationalization, to foster the cooperation between enterprises, training and innovation.

    For Zamakona Yards, it is always a satisfaction to support and participate at SINAVAL, as it allows us to show our capabilities and be in direct contact with the public institutions, clients, providers and the naval industry form Spain and Europe.

    Sources of information (in Spanish): Diario Vasco and Bilbao Exhibition Center

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  • The world fishing fleet state according to the FAO

    The nutrition of the human has made fishing an essential practice and consequently has been the origin of the naval construction. This sector has been able to contribute in each moment f history solutions that have covered the needs of the fishing industry.

    In recent years, the fishing sector is facing big challenges due to a demand for greater profitability and performance, in addition to obey the different regulations regarding respect for the environment in all its aspects. To meet these challenges, the sector has reduced direct costs as the number of employees and has also been benefited by the price of fuel.

    As for the challenge of being more environmentally friendly, the gases such as CO2 and NOx have become a growing problem in a global perspective. To reduce these emissions, many governments plan to replicate land-based emissions taxes on emissions from ships in their fishing activities.

    While steps are being taken in the above mentioned, legislative changes are taking place regarding the specifications of fishing vessels, such as in the European Union, which foresees in the middle of the year 2017 to adopt a new regulation that grants to the Commission European competence to adapt the requirements for determining the continuous power of the engine to the technical developments and possible changes in the international ISO standards.

    World capture fisheries and aquaculture productionAccording to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in its latest biennial published report on the state of world fisheries and aquaculture (SOFIA), estimated that in 2014, there were 4.6 million fishing vessels, with Asia and Africa being the regions with the highest number of registrations, since they account for 90% of the total number of vessels worldwide.

    From a technical point of view, according to the same FAO report, 64% of registered vessels are engine-powered, an increase of 7% compared to the previous report for 2012. This report also states that in 2014, approximately 85 per cent of the world’s motorized fishing vessels were less than 12 meters long, and these small vessels dominated in all regions.

    In terms of capacity, and if we focus on Europe, the EuroStat Service estimates that in 2015 the European Union had a combined capacity of 1.6 million gross tons and a combined engine power of 6.4 million kilowatts. It is also noted that almost one-fifth (18.2%) of the EU-28 fishing fleet is registered in Greece. In terms of capacity, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom had the largest fishing fleets, accounting for 53.9% of gross tonnage and 55.6% of engine power in 2015.

    There are positive data in the sector, such as the profitability of the sector. The European fishing fleet continues to be profitable, with net profits of 770 million euros in 2014, more than 50% above last year’s profits, according to the latest annual report prepared by the European Commission which also foresees record profits in the year 2016.

    In the case of Spain, it recorded a net profit margin of 16.5%, the third highest percentage in the EU, only surpassed by Slovenia (35.7%) and the United Kingdom (18.3%). Ireland, Latvia, Estonia and Portugal also had a profit margin of more than 10% in 2014.

    The outlook for fish and fisherie products trade by 2025, according to FAO, is also positive. Trade will continue to be high, driven mainly by increased consumption of fishery products, trade liberalization policies, globalization of food systems, technological innovations in shipbuilding, product development conservation, packaging and transport.

    All these data suggest that in the medium and long term the fishing fleet will continue to grow or will need to introduce elements of innovation in the existing fleet. Therefore, the naval sector has the opportunity to continue growing and providing added value to this sector with solutions that are more respectful of the environment and that can be applied to the current fleet, as well as the building of new ships according to the new demands of the ship-owners and legislative requirements in all respects.

    In this sense, Zamakona Yards has implemented the latest concepts of design and construction, as well as the most advanced technology in engineering and naval architecture in all the constructions, repairs and refit for the fishing vessels.

    If you want to read the full report of the FAO, you can download it here

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  • Zamakona Yards Group performs the sea test of the VB Xerea tug vessel For Boluda Maritime Corporation

    On January 24,  Zamakona Yards  Group delivered the VB Xerea, the second tug for Boluda Towage and Salvage, after the first delivery and sea test of the VB Xaloc tug carried out at the end of September 2016.

    On this occasion, public representatives attended this event such as the Director General of the Spanish Merchant Marine, Rafael Rodríguez and José Luis García Lena, Deputy Director of the Spanish Merchant Marine. Boluda Towage and Salvage representatives also attended the event and were represented by the President Joaquín Lozano, Antonio Bordils, the CEO and José Luis Gonzalez, the General Manager for Spain; The Maritime Captain of Passages, Josu Bilbao, and ANARE, Ángel Mato, General Director also attended the tests. The delegation was received at the Zamakona Shipyards, in the port of Pasajes by its president, Pedro Garaigordobil.

    The “VB Xerea” was exposed to different tests, as the first tug delivered, of power, speed, manoeuvrability, performance and electronic systems, with a magnificent behaviour in all of them.

    This two vessels as the rest of this series of the ten tugboats that Boluda Towage and Salvage has commissioned Zamakona Shipyards, have been designed by the Canadian prestigious naval architecture study of Robert Allan with the aim of rendering towing service in port, sea and escort. In addition, this new generation of tugboats presents interesting innovations as the increase of its shot to fixed point up to 80 tons, mainly because the propellers are guaranteed the supply of the maximum power and without mechanical losses intermediate. The boats will be 31.57 meters long and 12.8 meters beam, with a draft of 6.5 meters and are estimated to reach a speed of 13.5 knots. Also, they incorporate the Caterpillar Mak diesel engines, with a power of 7,500 BHP, Voith propulsion and deck machinery of Ibercisa.

    Zamakona shipyards will continue to progress in the construction of the remaining eight tugs, in the same terms of quality and will be delivered progressively in a period of four years.

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