Sydney Arrival Ceremony, photo credit: Plastiki photostream

As we have followed Plastiki on the blog here and here, it is no surprise that we want to congratulate them on reaching their final destination – Sydney.  The boat made of entirely recycled materials, including 13,000 plastic bottles successfully completed their 11,000 mile journey from San Francisco.  Though their journey is complete, their mission – to raise awareness about global waste – is far from over.  We hope to see more seaworthy innovations from this crowd.

Read an account of the arrival here or explore their photostream here.

Cavotec is pleased to announce the publication of our Interim Report 2010; a period in which we recorded a 75.3% rise in orders on 1H 2009, to EUR 78.0 million. Our 12-month rolling order intake increased 14.7% on the same period last year.

The first half of 2010 showed a steady resurgence in demand from our customers worldwide, specifically in the airports and mining sectors. Despite the overall low level of investment in the ports sector during the period, we were able to record some promising results for niche systems such as AMP™ and MoorMaster™. The general industry sector is also starting to pick up, specifically in France and Germany, heralding a return to an overall positive economic climate.

Cavotec won several important orders for various airports and ports related projects in the period. For example, our Airports unit has seen a number of new orders at airports in China, India, France, Argentina, and Qatar; and crucially, our first airports project in Africa in coordination with partners in the Middle East.

Work on our project at Bahrain International Airport continues to progress to schedule. In July, the client successfully commissioned the first PCAir units at the Cavotec Fladung facility in Germany. We expect the final commissioning phase to take place as planned, during Spring 2011.

Our Ports & Maritime unit has reported encouraging results with an order for eight MoorMaster™ units for the Port of Dampier in western Australia. Also of note for the period: our cooperation agreement with German engineering group Vahle, to market E-RTG systems. This agreement will expand our capacity to deliver these systems in markets where we previously lacked access.

We also continue to win a large number of small projects for applications dotted all around the world. This positive trend suggests that the global economy, despite recent difficulties in Europe, is in a better position than this time last year. Based on our current expectations, we are confident that we will return to our 2008 level of revenues and profitability.

Video still of remote-controlled excavator, photo credit: Teknisk Ukeblad

As we reported in a recent post, we will be exhibiting at ONS 2010, one of the premier, global energy industry events. This year, from our stand  - B290/7 - we conduct a series of live demonstrations of Cavotec radio remote control equipment supporting munitions clearance 650 km away.

Cavotec’s radio remote controls are currently helping to clear a 165 square km combat training range in central Norway. The former testing range, used by NATO and the Norwegian army and air force, is to be cleared of all munitions and revegetated.

As reported by Norwegian national television, our radio remote control systems have been fitted to two dumper trucks, two excavators and one bulldozer that clear and transport unexploded ordnance from the range. Large TV monitors are used to monitor the machines. On each screen, images from up to eight colour cameras, mounted on the vehicles, stream imagery from the site in real-time. A converted shipping container acts as a control room, equipped with custom-made chairs fitted with joysticks and other control functions. The application also caught the attention of Norwegian engineering publication, Teknisk Ukeblad.

At the Hjerkinn site, our remote control units usually control clearance vehicles from distances of around 2 to 3 km. Everyday during ONS, from 10.00-10.30 and 13.30-14.00, we will operate the machines working at Hjerkinn from our stand – a distance of some 650 km.

For further details on the planned demonstrations and the application itself,
 contact the Cavotec Norway team by email: info.no@cavotec.com, or on + 47 32 27 43 00.

Concern over air quality in ports has led to growing calls on the industry to reduce carbon and nitrogen dioxide emissions. Alternative Maritime Power, AMP™, or ‘cold ironing’, allows ships to turn off their engines when in port, and plug into shore-side electricity supply, thus helping to improve air quality in ports and surrounding communities.

Cavotec’s AMP™ systems can be fitted on ships, or, space permitting, on quaysides. Click on the above image to see a recent film – on Cavotec’s YouTube Film Channel – of a ship connecting to a Cavotec AMP™ system.

Vessels in port require electrical power to run their onboard systems such as heating, lighting, refrigerating containers and cargo handling. During a single port call, a 7,000 TEU container ship can emit sulphur oxide equivalent to 30,000 cars. While electricity produced by power stations and used by ships in port has 35 times less nitrate oxide and 25 times less particle matter compared to the heavy fuel normally used by ships when docked.

Interest in AMP™ continues to grow: there are currently some 200 operational AMP™ systems on ships, while the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Vancouver, Seattle, Antwerp, Goteborg, Stockholm and several others across northern Europe use the technology.

We travel far and wide, and deep: Cavotec exhibiting at a trade show - underground

Cavotec is set for a busy second half of the year, exhibiting at several major trade shows in a number of our industry sectors including, Airports, Ports & Maritime, and General Industry. You will find a number of highlights below. If you would like to arrange a meeting with us at any of these shows, we will be announcing relevant contact details in due course.

Our upcoming round of exhibitions gets underway with ONS: one of the world’s leading oil and energy events. Held in Stavanger, Norway, the exhibition runs from August 24 to 27. For the latest on ONS, keep an eye on their Twitter.

We are also due to be exhibiting at the largest container ports and terminal operations events in southern Asia, the 5th Southern Asia Ports, Logistics and Shipping conference, held in Mumbai, India on September 16 and 17.

Our Ports & Maritime team will also be at TOC Americas. Held this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the exhibition runs between November 9 to 11.

Cavotec’s Airports unit will be exhibiting at NBAA2010, Dubai Build & Supply Aviation Show and the Australian Airport Association’s Airports and Aviation Outlook Convention. We’ll also be at Inter Airport China.

Other trade shows where we intend to be exhibiting include TIV Hardenberg, in the Netherlands, (August 31 to September 2), China Wind Power, (October 14 to 16), and in November: SPS Expo in Germany, AAPA Facilities Engineering Seminar and Exposition in the US, and Bauma China 2010.

We will publish details of any changes to our exhibition programme, further information and news of other events right here on the Cavotec blog.

Narita Airport cleaning robots, photo credit: Shibuya246

We have talked about fun airport innovations before, but this is even more up our alley – it’s not only fun, but it also cleans! If Tokyo’s Narita Airport cleaning robots go on cleaning airport interiors, we will continue our work on the outside, using our tunnel systems and pop-up pits to keep tarmacs more organized and efficient.