Industry News for June 8, 2016
http://www.elevatorworld.com/industry-news/june-8-2016/
OTIS, MEYER SHIPYARDS SIGN CRUISE DEAL
Otis has been selected to provide the elevators and escalators for four new cruise ships to be built by Meyer Werft in Germany and Meyer Turku in Finland. The OEM will install 160 of its elevators and 16 of its heavy-duty escalators. Zardoya Otis, the company's operating unit in Spain, will provide units specially designed to withstand damp and salty environments at sea. The elevators are equipped with special operational modes, such as luggage mode, gangway deck mode and radio-frequency-identification-based priority service for VIPs. Each of the "next-generation" ships will have a capacity of 2,500 cabins, exceed 180,000 gross T in size and are scheduled for delivery in 2018 and 2020.
LARGE MALTA PROJECT DETAILED
According to the Malta Independent, a project cost estimate has been drawn up for the proposed twin 40- and 25-story, mixed-use Mercury House development in the Paceville district of Malta. Though developers had only planned to pay around EUR110 million (US$125.1 million), the estimate puts the construction price at EUR160-180 million (US$181.9-204.7 million). Developers said that due to the building’s unique shape and the fact that this type of project would be unique in the country, reliable cost data was difficult to secure. Among the many imports that will be required, "fast lifts for high rise vertical distribution would have to be brought in from abroad," the newspaper reported. Gozitan hotelier Joseph Portelli's proposal was "still on the drawing board" as of June.
THYSSENKRUPP TEST TOWER ON TRACK IN ROTTWEIL
thyssenkrupp's 807-ft.-tall test tower in Rottweil, Germany (ELENET 609, 626 and 630), is on schedule and on budget, poised to start operations in December and open to the public in May 2017. A service elevator is already transporting workers to the upper levels at approximately 13 fps, and a panoramic elevator that will take visitors up 761 ft. to Germany's highest viewing platform has been installed. One of the company's largest drive units is being manufactured at its Neuhausen, Germany, plant. The structure will serve as the exclusive testing ground for thyssenkrupp's MULTI system (ELENET 613), which is ropeless and travels both vertically and horizontally via maglev technology. During a media briefing on the tower on June 1 (ELENET 651), CEO Andreas Shierenbeck called the tower “a beacon for thyssenkrupp Elevator.”
400-FT.-TALL TOWER PLANNED IN HONOLULU
A pair of Los Angeles developers and a Japanese investor hope to build the 400-ft.-tall Manaolana Place hotel/residential building in Honolulu across from the Hawaii Convention Center, Pacific Business News reports. The structure is set to include more than 100 condominium units and 125 hotel rooms, along with four levels of parking for 276 vehicles. Partners on the project are Jim Ratkovich and Bill Witte of Los Angeles and Kaijima Kagaku USA Inc. of Japan. Pending local authorities’ approval, the partners will combine properties they own totaling approximately 51,000 sq. ft. at Kapiolani Boulevard and Atkinson Drive.
