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Costa Concordia News

02 Aug 2022

Crowley Names Jors Chief Naval Architect

Charlie Jors (Photo: Crowley)

Crowley has appointed Charles "Charlie" Jors as chief naval architect for the company’s engineering services. He will lead Crowley’s vessel design and marine engineering teams.With nearly 20 years of naval architecture and marine engineering experience, Jors has served in previous leadership roles on complex projects, involving vessel design and development, construction, structural analysis, conversion and modification.Since joining Crowley in 2010, Jors has played an active role expanding the company’s engineering services capabilities for maritime partners and customers.

10 May 2022

OPINION: A New Approach to Maritime Safety is Needed

Image courtesy SAYFR

For years, the shipping industry has focused on regulations and procedures to improve safety. Yet shipping is still at risk of major accidents. The whole industry needs to change its focus. Ticking boxes never made anyone safer. Also, assessing culture using valid and reliable survey instruments can help to improve safety.It has been well documented that most maritime accidents (~80%) are caused by human error. Still, most of the focus on learning is rooted in technical causes and adding procedures and checklists.Despite this bias…

13 Jan 2022

Ten Years on, Costa Concordia Shipwreck Still Haunts Survivors, Islanders

Credit: biancia

Ester Percossi can still hear the screams, feel the cold and see the terror in people's eyes.She is one of the survivors of the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia, the luxury cruise liner that capsized after hitting rocks just off the coast of the small Italian island of Giglio on Jan. 13, 2012, killing 32 people in one of Europe's worst maritime disasters.Percossi and other survivors have returned to the island to pay tribute to the dead and again thank the islanders who, in the dark and dead of winter…

09 Dec 2021

Insurance Insights: Larger Vessels, Larger Exposures

Photo courtesy Boskalis

The blocking of the Suez Canal by one of the largest container ships in service in the world – the Ever Given – in March 2021 caused huge delays to hundreds of vessels waiting to transit the canal, one of the biggest chokepoints on the critical East/West trade shipping route. The blockage was estimated to have affected an estimated $9.6bn of goods each day, or around 12% of total world trade.The latest in a growing list of incidents involving large vessels, the Ever Given has…

01 Apr 2021

Italy Approves Decree to Keep Ships Out of Venice Lagoon

© Oleg Znamenskiy / Adobe Stock

Italy’s government has ruled that large cruise ships and container vessels must not pass close to Venice’s historic center and should instead dock in a different location to preserve the famed lagoon.A decree approved late on Wednesday called for public consultations on building a terminal outside the lagoon where passenger vessels over 40,000 tons and container ships can berth without passing in front of Saint Mark’s square.In the meantime, large boats must dock at the industrial Marghera Port…

26 Mar 2021

Ever Given Salvors Weigh Time and Tide with Risk of Tip or Tear

(Photo: Suez Canal Authority)

The Dutch emergency response team hired to free the vast ship blocking the Suez canal has pulled off some dramatic recoveries, including lifting Russia’s Kursk nuclear submarine from the Barents Sea floor, but says this is one of the trickiest.Weighing 200,000 tonnes without cargo, the Ever Given is the heaviest vessel that Smit Salvage, a subsidiary of the Dutch marine services company Boskalis contracted in the rescue, has faced in its nearly 180-year history.With real-time emergency response crews across the globe…

15 Dec 2020

The Estonia Disaster: A Bottomless Source of Learning

© Karl Allen Lugmayer / Adobe Stock

The sinking of the Estonia ro-ro passenger ferry stands out as one of the most disastrous accidents in modern times. The tragedy claimed 852 lives and the wreck was declared a marine graveyard. At first glance, the sinking seems to have been triggered by a single technical failure only minutes before the point of no return, with no warning signs. The first objective of this review was to verify whether the pattern of typical major accidents can be found in the Estonia disaster. The usual pattern involves multiple human errors combined with an immature organizational culture.

30 Jul 2020

Stalled Cruise Industry Targets Repeat Passengers

Retired New Yorkers Mahlon and Kim Russell have taken 15 cruises over the past 15 years, visiting destinations from Tahiti to St. Petersburg, primarily with Norwegian Cruise Line.After canceling a fall trip to Europe, in July the Russells booked a 10-day cruise around Australia and New Zealand—for January 2022.“We love cruising,” said Mahlon Russell. “But we don’t love it enough to be the first ones out of the gate.”The cruise industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic…

13 Jul 2020

Malen-Habib Named President of the American Salvage Association

Lindsay Malen-Habib (Photo: ASA)

Resolve’s Lindsay Malen-Habib takes the helm to become the American Salvage Association's first woman presidentLindsay Malen–Habib has been named president of the American Salvage Association (ASA) effective immediately, the trade group's executive committee announced Monday. She becomes the first woman to assume the role.Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Malen-Habib is currently Resolve Marine Group’s manager of client services, and she has been an active ASA member for more than 10 years…

25 Dec 2019

SOLAS Amendments from 1 January 2020

A set of important amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and various codes mandatory under the Convention enter into force on 1 January 2020, said International Maritime Organization (IMO).Amendments to SOLAS regulations III/3 and III/20 make mandatory the Requirements for maintenance, thorough examination, operational testing, overhaul and repair of lifeboats and rescue boats, launching appliances and release gear. This package of provisions aims to prevent accidents with survival craft and addresses longstanding issues such as the need for a uniform, safe and documented standard related to the servicing of these appliances…

21 Nov 2019

Interview: Boriana Farrar, Ship Owners Claims Bureau

Boriana Farrar is a familiar face in maritime circles, the Vice President and Counsel and a Senior Claims Executive and Business Development Director for the Americas at the Ship Owners Claims Bureau, Inc. managers of the American P&I Club.

Boriana Farrar is a familiar face in maritime circles, the Vice President and Counsel and a Senior Claims Executive and Business Development Director for the Americas at the Ship Owners Claims Bureau, Inc. managers of the American P&I Club. We met with her in her NYC office to discuss her path from her native Bulgaria to a top maritime professional position.When Boriana Farrar moved from her native Bulgaria to the United States in 2001, she did so to be close to family, her mother and her sister who had already established a life in the U.S., some 5,000 miles from her homeland.

24 Jun 2019

Venice Must be Put On UN Danger List, Ban Cruise Ships - Conservationists

© atm2003 / Adobe Stock

Venice should be put on the United Nations' list of endangered cities and cruise ships should be banned from its fragile lagoon to prevent an ecological disaster, Italy's main conservation group said on Monday.The call came less than a month after a towering cruise ship collided with a dock and a tourist boat in Venice, injuring four people and rekindling a heated debate in Italy about how to protect the historic city, which draws some 30 million tourists a year."Venice is unique and we cannot allow it to be destroyed even more than it has been already…

23 May 2018

Tim Bush Promoted to Crowley VP, Deputy General Counsel

Crowley Maritime Corp. has announced that Tim Bush has been promoted to vice president and deputy general counsel. In his new position, Bush will help support the company’s growth as a provider of solutions for the U.S. government and various public-sector agencies. He will be based in Houston and report to Michael Roberts, senior vice president and general counsel. “Tim is an outstanding lawyer, and adds a great deal of value to the Crowley team,” Roberts said. Bush will continue to serve as Crowley’s lead attorney on several large projects for the U.S government, including the Defense Freight Transportation Services (DFTS) contract for the U.S.

30 Apr 2018

Icebergs Could Float to the Rescue of Cape Town Water Crisis

© kavring / Adobe Stock

Marine salvage experts are floating a plan to tug icebergs from Antarctica to South Africa's drought-hit Cape Town to help solve the region's worst water shortage in a century.Salvage master Nick Sloane told Reuters he was looking for government and private investors for a scheme to guide huge chunks of ice across the ocean, chop them into a slury and melt them down into millions of liters of drinking water."We want to show that if there is no other source to solve the water crisis…

30 Apr 2018

Heavy Lift: Boka Vanguard to Ship 90,000-ton FPSO

Boskalis' mega lift ship Boka Vanguard -- the world's largest semi-submersible heavy lift vessel -- is preparing to load a truly enormous cargo: a 90,000-ton floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) platform.The FPSO is equivalent to the weight of approximately 300 Boeing 747s, making this the heaviest cargo ever to be transported by a semi-submersible heavy lift ship, according to Boskalis.Until recently, the Boka Vanguard was known as the Dockwise Vanguard. Boskalis acquired Dockwise in 2013, and the renaming and subsequent rebranding of the vessel marks the start of the process to present the company's integrated service portfolio for the offshore energy sector under the Boskalis brand name…

19 Jun 2017

Autonomous Workboats: The Future is Now

Sea Machines is bringing autonomous self-driving systems to the world of workboats. At an impressive virtual reality demonstration seen late last year and then again at a frigid, late winter visit to the Boston waterfront, the future of workboat technology became all too evident for this writer. The late George Allen, former head coach of the Washington Redskins football team perhaps said it best when he coined the phrase, “The future is now.” If so, then Michael Johnson, the founder of Sea Machines Robotics has brought that reality to the marine industry. The technology company targets the emerging market of autonomous marine vessels. That’s not some sort of futuristic vision; those capabilities are here, now.

07 Jun 2017

IMO Set to Adopt Passenger Ship Safety Amendments

Revised safety requirements to ensure new-build passenger ships remain afloat after a major incident are among a set of amendments set for adoption by International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), which meets from 7-16 June. The revisions to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) chapter II-1, relating to subdivision and damage stability, follow a substantive review of SOLAS chapter II-1, focusing in particular on passenger ships. The review has taken into account recommendations arising from the investigation into the 2012 Costa Concordia incident. Also up for adoption is the latest set of amendments to the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code (IMSBC Code); as well amendments to a number of other Codes.

12 May 2017

Costa Concordia Captain Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison

© Samuele Gallini / Adobe Stock

The former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday by Italy's highest court for his role in the 2012 shipwreck, which killed 32 people off the island of Giglio, a court official said. Francesco Schettino was originally found guilty in 2015 of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his passengers. Friday's ruling exhausted his appeals process, with the court rejecting his claim that others bore the blame for the disaster. Free pending the decision, the 56-year-old Schettino is expected to start his jail sentence in the coming hours.

07 Dec 2016

Troll Solution Wreck Removal Completed

(Photo: Ardent)

A stricken jack-up has been removed from the Mexican seabed in close proximity to a well head platform, making for the largest wreck removal project completed in 2016. Weighing approximately 7,000 tons, the jack-up Troll Solution, contracted to operate in Pemex's Abkatun-Pol-Chuc shallow water oil field, experienced a debilitating accident while carrying out maintenance work on the wellhead platform CAAN-A in May 2015. The offshore rig was positioning itself to carry out maintenance on wells linked to the Caan Alf platform in the southern Bay of Campeche when it listed, killing two workers.

18 Oct 2016

Jensen Evolves With Crowley's Support

As the City of San Francisco commissions its latest fireboat today, the vessel, designed by Seattle-based Jensen Maritime Consultants, exemplifies the evolution and growth of the naval architecture and marine engineering firm since it was acquired by Crowley Maritime Corp. in 2008. “Eight years ago I’m not sure this project would have been in our sweet spot,” said Johan Sperling, vice president of Crowley’s marine solutions group, which includes Jensen. “But over the past eight years, Crowley has made a considerable effort to give us all the tools we need to expand into new areas. “It’s one thing to be able to design a good looking boat, but if it can’t be built efficiently and cost effectively, and if it doesn’t operate the way it is supposed to, what do you really have?” said Sperling.

06 Oct 2016

Interview: Todd Schauer - President, American Salvage Association

Todd Schauer

Todd Schauer is Director of Operations at Resolve Marine Group, as well as President of the American Salvage Association. After graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a degree in Naval Architecture in 1991, he followed that up with graduate degrees in Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. And, while his considerable U.S. Coast Guard experience includes shipboard engineering, marine safety, advanced engineering and emergency response, he is best known for his longtime role in the commercial salvage business.

06 Sep 2016

Ensuring Cruise Ship Safety in the Northwest Passage

The Crystal Serenity will be the largest vessel to ever sail across the Northwest Passage. (Photo: Crystal Cruises)

Providing critical support to ensure the safety of this historic journey is Ardent’s Global Preparedness Cover (GPC), whose staff are on 24-hour response throughout the cruise ship’s transit through the Northwest Passage. “Ardent has been on the forefront of provide emergency preparedness services to its marine industry for many years, and this goes hand in hand in being prepared to respond in all regions in the world including the Arctic,” said Oliver Timofei, Ardent’s Director Emergency Management.

11 Jul 2016

Ardent in for Major Expansion in India

Before the furious monsoon and tropical cyclones hit South East Asia, Ardent, the amalgamation of two salvage giants, has already positioned itself to tackle the growing number of accidents and casualties that become a regular feature this time of the year. Ardent is also responding to the recent initiatives of the Indian Shipping Minister Mr. Nitin Gadkari, who is focused strongly on setting up new ports, augment capacity of existing ports, develop coastal shipping, passenger ferry services, lighthouse and cruise tourism, island development and other services related to Indian Maritime Sector. The company sees this as an important driver for Ardent.

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