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Apache News

21 Feb 2024

ARC Keeps the Cargo Rolling

Flags on M/V ARC Defender.
Image courtesy ARC

With a fleet of nine U.S.-flag RoRo ships, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC), is the U.S.’ premier commercial RoRo carrier of U.S. government and military cargo. As the world becomes an increasingly contentious place, Eric P. Ebeling, President & CEO, ARC, discusses the vast capabilities of the ARC fleet and logistics network, as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead for U.S.-flag ships in the international trade.By the numbers’ is a simplistic means to gauge the size and shape of any shipping company…

15 Nov 2023

Rem Offshore Nets Multiple Offshore Vessel Deals Worth $138M in Total

Norway-based offshore vessel owner Rem Offshore said Wednesday it had secured multiple long-term contracts for its vessels. "The contracts have been signed on market terms and will ensure high fleet utilization in the coming years," Rem Offshore said.The 2013-built Rem Inspector subsea vessel has been awarded contracts for work on offshore wind projects in Taiwan. The contracts have a total duration of just over one year with start-up in the fourth quarter of 2023, with an undisclosed client.Since 2019…

26 Apr 2023

Bumi Armada Sells Armada Claire FPSO

Malaysian FPSO leasing company Bumi Armada said Tuesday it had completed the sale of the Armada Claire floating production storage and offloading vessel. The FPSO was sold by Bumi Armada's subsidiary, Armada Balnaves."The Armada Claire sale was on an “as is where is” basis, at a sale price of US$20 million. The sale proceeds were received by [Armada Balnaves] on April 19, 2023," Bumi Armada said,Bumi Armada said it would recognize a gain on sale of the Armada Claire FPSO of approximately US$12 million in its second quarter financial results. Proceeds from the FPSO sale, net of transaction fees, will be used to reduce Bumi Armada Group’s corporate debt.

14 Mar 2023

Rem Offshore Announces New PSV Contracts

Rem Cetus (Photo: Rem Offshore)

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Rem Offshore on Tuesday announced it has secured multiple contracts for several of its platform supply vessels (PSV).Rem Cetus, Rem Insula and Rem Server have been extended for one year with Apache North Sea Limited in the U.K. sector. Rem have had several vessels on charter with Apache over the last years.Rem Arctic has been awarded contracts with Well Expertise (DNO Norge ASA and Wellesley Petroleum AS) for two wells supporting Deepsea Yantai…

10 Mar 2023

Offshore Workers to Strike at UK Continental Shelf

Clair Ridge platform (File photo: BP)

British union Unite on Friday said several Sparrows offshore services workers have voted to strike at dozens of platforms on the UK continental shelf including those of BP and Shell.Around 150 Sparrows workers across more than 20 oil and gas platforms have voted for strike in a dispute over pay, the union said in a press release.This comes after the union last week announced its Sparrows members working on BP’s Andrew, Clair, Clair Ridge, ETAP, Glen Lyon and Mungo installations backed strike action in a separate dispute over pay and conditions.The strike action will hit BP’s platforms from Mar

25 Oct 2022

Two Koreas Exchange Warning Shots Near Sea Border

© Igor Groshev / Adobe Stock

North and South Korea exchanged warning shots off the west coast on Monday, accusing each other of breaching their maritime borders amid heightened military tension.The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it broadcast warnings and fired warning shots to see off a North Korean merchant vessel that crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea boundary, at around 3:40 a.m. (1840 GMT Sunday).The North's military said it fired 10 rocket artillery rounds after a South…

08 Feb 2022

Viking Supply Ships Wins Work for Four AHTS Vessels

Offshore vessel operator Viking Supply Ships said Tuesday it had secured a seasonal contract with "a major construction company" for its four anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels of 1A and 1A Super ice classes. "The vessels will assist in a major industrial project in a harsh environment region in the summer of 2022 and 2023, with an option to extend operation for 2024," the company said, without sharing details on the location of the project.The contract covers 240 fixed days and up to 660 optional days. The estimated contract value for the fixed days, including mobilization and demobilization fees, is 18.5 million euros.Viking Supply Ships owns four AHTS vessels.

14 Oct 2019

Wrangling Big Data Into Actionable Intel

Photo by Randy Montoya

Social media, cameras, sensors and more generate huge amounts of data that can overwhelm analysts sifting through it all for meaningful, actionable information to provide decision-makers such as political leaders and field commanders responding to security threats.Sandia National Laboratories researchers are working to lessen that burden by developing the science to gather insights from data in nearly real time.“The amount of data produced by sensors and social media is booming — every day there’s about 2.5 quintillion (or 2.5 billion billion) bytes of data generated…

12 Apr 2018

Fieldwood Hungry for US Offshore Output

© eaumstocker / Adobe Stock

The Chief Executive of offshore oil and gas driller Fieldwood Energy LLC, Matt McCarroll, says he is not scared of the hurricanes, geological risks and costs that keep some oil companies out of the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, he is doubling down. The private equity-backed company - already the largest operator on the U.S. outer continental shelf - announced on Thursday it is closing a $480 million acquisition of Noble Energy’s assets in the Gulf of Mexico that will add 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) to its current net production of 72,000 bpd of oil equivalent.

19 Jul 2017

Race Boat to Attempt US-Cuba Speed Record

(Photo: SilverHook / Lucas Cup)

An upcoming world speed record attempt by Nigel Hook and the crew of SilverHook will be a two-for-one as they set out to achieve the fastest crossing from the U.S. to Cuba, and then back. Captain Hook has chosen August 17 to try to set two speed records in what is considered the most technically-advanced offshore monohull race boat in the world. The first objective is a one-way speed record from a point just off the Florida Keys to Havana. If that record is established, then part two will be an equally-fast or faster return trip and a two-way record.

21 Jun 2017

Dredging: Digging Deep for a 'WIIN'

© Nancy Hochmuth / Adobe Stock

In the waning days of 2016, the outlook brightened dramatically for the big U.S. dredging contractors. Just before Congress dispersed for the Holidays, then-President Obama signed a pivotal piece of legislation – the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, S612. Authorized needed investment in America’s ports, channels, locks, dams, and other infrastructure that supports the maritime and waterways transportation system and provides flood protection. Authorized U.S.

06 Jan 2017

US Ships Tanks, Equipment for NATO Exercises in Europe

Hundreds of U.S. tanks, trucks and other military equipment arrived by ship in Germany on Friday to be transported by rail and road to eastern Europe as part of a NATO buildup that has drawn Russia's ire. Two shiploads arrived in the northern port of Bremerhaven and a third was due in a few days, bringing the fleets of tracked and wheeled vehicles for use by around 4,000 U.S. troops being deployed for exercises in NATO states near Russia. U.S. and Polish forces will participate in a large "massing" exercise in Poland at the end of January as part of a series of measures aimed at reassuring U.S. allies in Europe after Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.

12 Aug 2016

DOF Secures North Sea PSV Contracts

Skandi Caledonia (Photo: DOF Group)

DOF Group said it has secured an extension with Maersk UK for 2011-built platform supply vessel (PSV) Skandi Gamma until the end of 2016 and for 2003-built PSV Skandi Caledonia with Apache North Sea Ltd until mid-January 2017.

09 Aug 2016

El Faro’s Voyage Data Recorder Recovered

El Faro voyage data recorder in fresh water on the USNS Apache (Photo: NTSB)

The voyage data recorder (VDR) from El Faro, a U.S. flagged cargo ship that sank during Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015, has been recovered from the ocean floor late Monday evening, the U.S. National Transportation Board (NTSB) said. The recovery of the capsule caps a 10-month-long effort to retrieve the recorder, which was designed to record navigational data and communications between crewmembers on the ship’s bridge. Investigators hope the recorder will reveal information about the final hours of El Faro’s voyage and the circumstances leading up to the sinking.

05 Aug 2016

US Oil Drillers Add Rigs for 6th Week in a Row

U.S. drillers this week added oil rigs for a sixth consecutive week, according to a closely followed report on Friday, despite crude prices falling to April lows below $40 a barrel this week. Some producers are still boosting spending on expectations for higher prices in the future. Drillers added seven oil rigs in the week to Aug. 5, bringing the total rig count up to 381, compared with 670 a year ago, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc said. They have added a total of 51 rigs since the week to July 1, the longest streak of weekly additions since July-August 2015, when 37 rigs were added over six weeks. Energy firms continued to add most rigs in the Permian shale in west Texas and eastern New Mexico.

04 Aug 2016

New Mission Set to Retrieve El Faro's VDR

El Faro's voyage data recorder next to the ship's mast on ocean floor (Photo: NTSB)

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will launch its third mission to the wreckage of the El Faro on Friday from Virginia Beach, Virginia. The mission’s primary objective is to retrieve the sunken cargo ship’s voyage data recorder. The Military Sealift Command’s fleet ocean tug USNS Apache is expected to arrive at the accident site around August 9. Along with the NTSB, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, and Phoenix International are joining the recovery effort, using CURV-21…

04 Jul 2016

TWMA Bags £1.5 mln North Sea Contract with Apache

Global integrated drilling waste management and environmental services firm, TWMA, has recently secured a £1.5 million contract with Apache on the WilPhoenix platform in the North Sea Beryl field. As part of TWMA’s fully integrated waste management solution, the one year (with one year option) contract will utilise the company’s award-winning TCC RotoMill® for offshore processing and EfficientC® for cuttings transfer and distribution. Chief operating officer, Neil Potter, said: “We have built a strong relationship with Apache over the last five years, and are delighted to have been selected to support on the WilPhoenix project. The provision of bulk transportation involves directly pumping drill cuttings from storage tanks onboard the rig to a supply vessel…

06 Jun 2016

Investigators Set Mission to Recover El Faro’s VDR

El Faro's voyage data recorder next to the ship's mast on ocean floor (Photo: NTSB)

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it is set to launch a mission to recover the voyage data recorder (VDR) of sunken cargo ship El Faro. The VDR, belonging to U.S. flagged El Faro which sank during Hurricane Joaquin last October, was located April 26 in about 15,000 feet of water near the Bahamas. The El Faro wreckage was positively identified on November 1, 2015, during the NTSB’s initial mission to locate the wreckage. Video gained from remotely operated…

18 Apr 2016

Search Resumes for El Faro Data Recorder

The National Transportation Safety Board is set to resume its search April 18, 2016, for the vessel data recorder of the sunken El Faro cargo ship. The U.S. flagged El Faro sank during Hurricane Joaquin on Oct. 1, 2015. All 33 of the El Faro’s crew perished in the accident. The mission for the second search is to retrieve the ship’s vessel data recorder and better document the wreckage to help determine exactly why and how the ship sank. The second search is being conducted in cooperation with the National Science Foundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The research vessel Atlantis is scheduled to depart Charleston, South Carolina, April 18. The vessel is scheduled to search the accident site for 10 days before returning to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, around May 5.

27 Jan 2016

SUPSALV & Finding El Faro

Captain Gregg W. Baumann discusses with CBS ‘60 Minutes’ anchor Scott Pelley  the technology to be deployed in the search for El Faro. The feature El Faro spot aired on CBS on Sunday, January 3, 2016.  If you missed it, view the 60 Minutes video here:http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/lost-in-the-bermuda-triangle  (Courtesy of U.S. Navy/CBS ‘60 Minutes’)

Last month we were offered an in-depth discussion on marine salvage with Captain Gregg W. Baumann, U.S. Navy, Director of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving. Captain Baumann and his team have a long history regarding difficult missions accomplished, including most recently the location and filming of the lost TOTE containership El Faro. What is the scope of the responsibility of the Supervisor of Salvage & Diving; Director of Ocean Engineering? The responsibilities of the Supervisor of Salvage & Diving…

08 Dec 2015

Marcus Hook Range Rock Blasting

The Coast Guard will be enforcing a safety zone within the waters of the Delaware River, from Marcus Hood, Pennsylvania, north to Eddystone, Pennsylvania until March 15, 2016. The safety zone will cover all navigable waters in the Delaware River within 500 yards of vessels and machinery conducting rock blasting, dredging, and rock removal operations. This zone is intended to protect personnel, vessels and the marine environment in these navigable waters while operations are being conducted. Entry into, transiting, or anchoring within the safety zone is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port (COTP), Delaware Bay, or his designated representative.

17 Nov 2015

NTSB: Sunken Cargo Ship El Faro "Black Box" Still Missing

El Faro (File photo: TOTE)

The video documentation of the cargo ship El Faro and the associated debris field has been completed but the vessel’s voyage data recorder was not located, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. “Over the years we’ve completed many investigations without the aid of recorders and other investigative tools,” said NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart. The 790-ft. ship went missing on Oct. 1 during Hurricane Joaquin and was located on Oct. 31 in about 15,000 feet of water in the vicinity of its last known position near Crooked Island, Bahamas.

09 Nov 2015

Tropical Storm Kate Halts El Faro Salvage Operation

Image: NOAA

Salvage operations for the sunken cargo ship El Faro were suspended on Friday due to Tropical Storm Kate, which moved through the Bahamas with winds of 45 miles (75 km) per hour, U.S. authorities said. The El Faro sank off the southern Bahamas in a hurricane last month with the loss of 33 mostly American crew. Its wreck was located on the seafloor in 15,000 feet (4,500 meters) of water a little over a week ago. A U.S. Navy salvage tug, Apache, is searching for the ship's bridge and voyage data recorder, which became separated from the wreck, the U.S.

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