ShipCrunch

Iceland Drilling: The money

By Ryan Skinner (email)

No, this is not a story about beleaguered Icelandic bankers looking for gold. A geothermal drilling company from Iceland, called Jardbaronir, has just invested in a new planned maintenance system, first for one rig, later maybe the rest. Imagine winning a contract in Iceland these days. Not bad work.

Here's the press release!

Why the Merchant of Venice did not follow rules

By Ryan Skinner (email)

I stumbled across a curious statement in a report last week. It appeared in a report commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police after a fast-ferry accident in 1999, in which 16 people died.

Among the report’s leading conclusions was a critique of placement of the reserve batteries in the ship (an interim power source that kicks in if power is lost, and before an emergency aggregate can kick in). The ferry’s specifications, and drawings, positioned the batteries above the water-line in the event of an accident, as required by law. In reality, the batteries were put far lower than that (below the water-line), thus providing less power, slower, than should have been the case during the accident.

The commission investigating the accident states that there is reason to criticize the shipyard for this error, naturally. But here’s the curious bit...

Brand Putsch!

By Ryan Skinner (email)

In any branding there is the whiff of totalitarianism. Brand managers don't resemble little Robespierres and Trotskys for nothing. Out with the old! In with the new! Stick to the party line! We will march into a glorious future together! They roar from the balconies.

But can it go too far? Isn't it dangerous for a company to sever all ties with its past, even if that past is associated with something lost, defeated, bankrupt or inert?

Got the chops?

By Ryan Skinner (email)

We're all vanity publishers now. We're all gated publishers now. The line between the two - once as obvious as the train tracks splitting town - is whisked away. Gone.