In the aftermath. In this photo released by the Mandalay Gazette, a sunken ship is seen in a river after cyclone Nargis in Yangon Myanmar, Tuesday. Hungry crowds of cyclone survivors stormed a few shops that opened Wednesday in Myanmar’s devastated Irrawaddy delta, as the country’s military rulers kept a massive international aid effort on hold. --AP

SHIPYARD operator FBMA Marine Babcock Inc. said it won the bidding to build two passenger catamarans for the United Kingdom’s Wightlink.

The high-speed vessels will be used for the Portsmouth-Ryde crossing, Aboitiz-owned FBMA Marine said in a statement.

The Cebu-based company said it bagged the contract on the heels of two other deals that include a 70-meter roll-on, roll-off/passenger-ferry vessel for a Scotland-based firm and a 57-meter high-speed catamaran ferry for a New Caledonia entity. No further details were given.

“The order for FBMA project 1026 and 1027 was awarded following an international tender, and the two vessels, due for delivery in summer 2009, will provide replacements for two existing high-speed catamaran vessels,” FBMA Marine said in the statement.

Designed by BMT Nigel Gee, the new catamarans have been configured to optimize both sea-keeping and fuel-efficiency levels on the very busy Portsmouth-Ryde commuter route, the FBMA Marine added.

The 260-seat vessels consist of a single deck and double-width boarding access doors for rapid embarkation and disembarkation and luggage stowage, as well as special features like dedicated stowage for bicycles and outdoor viewing and seating area.

“This project was secured against strong competition from traditional catamaran builders, and we are proud to have won this order based on both our cost-effectiveness and technical ability to meet stringent MCA [UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency] and EU [European Union] regulations,” said chief engineers Craig Patrick of FMBA Marine in the statement.

Wightlink is a principal provider of ferry services between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland. The company is the largest single user of the port of Portsmouth with more than 47,000 vessel movements over the year compared with around 3,000 naval sailings annually.

Together, the company’s vessel movements around Portsmouth and those starting or finishing at Lymington reach over 68,000 sailings a year.

FBMA Marine, on the other hand, was founded in 1996 as a joint venture between Aboitiz & Co. and the FBM Group of the Hong Kong Parkview group.

The Hong Kong firm was later sold to the Babcock International group.

In 2004 the Aboitiz group acquired 100 percent of FBMA Marine.

The company is now geared to build small and medium-sized vessels for customers like Lockheed Martin. Majority of the company’s customers are overseas and a handful come from the domestic shipping industry.

FBMA wins bid for UK’s Wightlink

SHIPYARD operator FBMA Marine Babcock Inc. said it won the bidding to build two passenger catamarans for the United Kingdom’s Wightlink.

ST. PETERSBURG—Deutsche Post AG, Europe’s biggest postal service, said its DHL Express division is experiencing its fastest emerging-market growth in Russia and plans to spend $250 million over the next four years developing its transportation network in the country.

OSLO—Gary Cronin usually lasted six weeks inside a diving capsule before he started seeing monsters.

“I’d look in the mirror to shave and see horrible faces like a werewolf,” says the 59-year-old Alaskan who began diving in Norway’s North Sea oil fields in the early 1970s. “I knew then that I had to go to the surface.”