Marine

The marine sector refers to the businesses working in direct relation to the sea; here are many different types of markets that operate within the marine sector. These businesses include, but are not limited, to:

• Shipping companies and transport, responsible for the transportation of goods and passengers between countries or areas
• Ports and terminals, monitoring the activity of incoming and outgoing ships
• Marine engineering firms, producing boats and other vessels such as military vessels, commercial navigation equipment, and oil rigs
• The seafood industry, which includes the harvesting, processing, transportation and storing, and selling of seafood

According to the latest research, the UK maritime sector currently contributes £46.1 billion to the UK economy each year, and employs over 1.1 million people.

The diversity and scope of the maritime sector highlights it as aginormous industry, not just in the UK, but globally.

The maritime industry is responsible for carrying a vast percentage of the world’s trade; the ability to transport goods across seas keeps the price of goods low, more accessible to consumers, and cuts transportation time.

Transportation across the sea is one of the cheapest modes of transportation; this has allowed developing countries access to valuable resources to aid their growth and increase their standards of living. Moreover, transportation provides jobs for people all over the world.

The maritime sector has aided international relations and trade, alongside transport. The maritime sector not only links countries through routes, but trade means countries are invested in maintaining mutual relations.

On the whole, cold rolled sections are generally considered better value for money. Part of the reason for this is to do with ease of production: they are just easier to make when compared with hot rolled sections, so that means that they also cost less to produce. But that’s not all: cold rolled sections are also known for their greater integrity in terms of strength.

On top of all that, cold rolled sections are suitable for a wide array of different marine components, such as steel plates and shipbuilding plates, drill pipes, anchor chains and even offshore oil platform components.

There are many types of cold rolled sections used in the marine sector. That would include beam sections, structural sections, ship plating and rails. Also, cold rolled sections are used for rail track sections, chrome trims on yachts and other similar vessels, yacht fenders and the door track sections on yachts too. They are also used on oil platforms in a wide variety of applications, so as you can see there are many uses here.

The nature of marine life is that corrosion is always a high possibility, and that environment therefore requires some particular considerations to be taken into account. There is a need for a special grade of steel to be used, and there are multiple coating options for protection to be considered as well.

The most common grades of steel used in the marine sector are Grade 304 and Grade 316. This is due to the simple fact that they provide the best protection against corrosion.

First of all, Grade 316 is arguably the single most common type of stainless steel that is used in many applications, and certainly in the marine environment. Part of the reason for that is because of the high level of molybdenum it contains compared to other grades. That allows it to resist pitting more effectively along with other effects of salt water.

On the other hand, Grade 304 has a lot more chromium in its makeup. This also gives it excellent resistance against corrosion. 304 is often used for aesthetic purposes, such as on trims for yachts and so on.

Part of the reason is historical: the cold rolling of propeller shafts was considered to be valuable by the marine sector as a means to reduce shaft condemnations and other failures on the USS Norfolk.

Beyond that, however, there is potential for high flexibility to create unequal angles, zed sections, U-bars and L-bars, hotbars and much more. It is also easier to work within a tolerance, allowing for greater utility, and the parts can be finished off in lots of different ways.