BEAN DREDGING

Bollinger Modifies Vessel For Deeper Dredging

Two Bollinger shipyards have teamed to increase the dredging depth of the Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co. dustpan dredge, Wallace Mcgeorge, from 62-ft. to 75-ft., enabling it to dredge at higher river stages and dispatch sooner on a falling river. In the process, Bollinger Quick Repair, Harvey, La., fabricated and installed 45-ton, 36-ft. by 20-ft., port and starboard sections to the horn of the dredge, increasing the vessel’s overall length from 252.5 feet to 288.5 ft. The shipyard then installed a new 46-ton, 40-ft. wide by 15-ft. by 30-ft. high, A-frame which it had pre-fabricated for the dredge. The A-frame, which more closely resembles an inverted “U”, is used to accommodate a new “ladder” that was fabricated at Bollinger Gulf Repair, New Orleans and installed at Bollinger Quick Repair. “By assigning the work to two of our shipyards, we were able to complete the entire job in just over three months,” said Allen Stein, operations manager of Bollinger. The 120-foot long by 17-foot wide, 93-ton ladder is fitted between the legs of the A-frame and the two new hull sections so it can be raised or lowered to the required dredging depth. The 20-ton, 30-foot-1/4 inch wide dustpan suction head tips the lower “business” end of the ladder. The dustpan, which can be likened to a vacuum cleaner, is very efficient in excavating sand material from river bottoms

From VLCC Bridge To Beans Café

Joseph Hazelwood -- the man who was captain of the Exxon Valdez supertanker when it grounded against the Alaska coast has started his first month-long stint of helping out at a kitchen -- Beans Cafe -- that serves Anchorage's poor and homeless. The community service is part of his sentence for his criminal conviction stemming from the 1989 accident in which about 35,000 tons of oil were spilled in Prince William Sound.

This Day in Naval History – Nov. 24

1852 - Commodore Matthew Perry sails from Norfolk, VA, to negotiate a treaty with Japan for friendship and commerce. 1964 - USS Princeton (LPH-5) completes 7-days of humanitarian relief to South Vietnam which suffered damage from typhoon and floods. 1969 - HS-4 from USS Hornet (CVS-12) recovers Apollo 12's all-Navy crew of astronauts, Commanders Richard Gordon, Charles Conrad, and Alan Bean, after moon landing by Conrad and Bean.

Agencies Reach Accord on Managing Long Island Sound Dredged Materials

Six government agencies tasked with regulating dredging activities in Long Island Sound have reached accord on a process to support the goal of reducing or eliminating open water disposal of dredged materials into the Sound while maintaining the economic viability of New York and Connecticut's working ports. The agreement ratifies the intent of three federal and three state agencies to formally administer a Regional Dredging Team to comply with the June 3, 2005, rulemaking by the U.S

Ship Operator Pleads Guilty and Sentenced

IMC Shipping Co. Pte. Ltd. (IMC), pleaded guilty in federal court in Alaska to a three-count information alleging two violations of the Refuse Act for the illegal discharge of oil and soy beans and one violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for killing of thousands of migratory birds that resulted from the grounding of the M/V Selendang Ayu on Dec. 8, 2004 in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. IMC was subsequently sentenced to pay a criminal penalty of $10m.

Ellicott Announces New Dredging Technology

Ellicott International offers details on a new type of dredge which actually walks by itself. The dredge moves on three moving spuds or traveling carriages enabling it to remain in exact position at all times because there are always two spuds firmly anchored in the bottom. It walks with the spuds while floating on the surface. This positioning allows the cutter to move forward into the next cut without losing position

Corps of Engineers Hopper Dredge Report

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released the report that it submitted to Congress on its Hopper Dredge Fleet. The Corps owns and operates four hopper dredges. The report recommends that one dredge be retired and another one be kept in ready reserve status. A combined fleet of government and contracted dredges are used to keep U.S ports and waterways open for navigation. Source: HK Law

4000 HP Tug for Brazil Port

The Estaleiro Rio Maguari, a shipyard in the District of Icoaraci in Belem, the capital of the State of Para in the Amazon estuary (See google earth 1 degree 17 minutes South and 48 degrees 26 minutes West) is currently finishing up a 4000 HP Z-drive harbour tug for Hermasa Navegação da Amazônia. The owners are a part of Hermasa a large producer of soya beans with 2.5 million tons exported in 2007.  

This Day in Naval History - July 28

From the Navy News Service 1915 - Sailors and Marines land in Haiti to restore order. 1916 - Navy establishes a Code and Signal Section which initially worked against German ciphers and tested the security of communications during U.S. naval training maneuvers. 1926 - Team of scientists from Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Carnegie Institution determine height of the Ionosphere through use of radio pulse transmitter developed by NRL.

Vosta Gets Order for Cutter Suction Dredge

Vosta LMG has been awarded a contract for a cutter suction dredge CSD750 by International Seaport Dredging Ltd., a joint venture company of the Belgian dredging major Dredging International (member of the DEME group) and the Indian construction giant Larsen & Toubro. The dredge will be used for dredging projects throughout India due to the growing demand from the Indian market for dredging operations. The mono hull cutter suction dredge design and characteristics has been defined in