Pleasant News

Norwegian shipowner Island Offshore announced it has secured long-term employment for its offshore support vessel Island Condor, commencing in autumn 2024."This is a fantastic Christmas gift for the company! We have worked purposefully to secure longer assignments and are grateful for the trust the customer has shown us," said Tommy Walaunet, managing director of Island Offshore Management AS.Having worked as a walk-to-work vessel in the British sector for many years, apart from Norwegian projects in the past year…

Senator Wesley Livsey Jones gave his name to the famous “Jones Act” governing U.S. domestic maritime trade. But what do really know about him? It turns out that he was much more than a leading merchant marine policy maker. (i)Jones had a long career in the U.S. House of Representatives before he was a Senator, was an effective legislator, an astute politician, one of the hardest working legislators of his era, and always viewed as honest and forthright. His many maritime legislative successes included the Merchant Marine Act…

Maintaining a nine-foot channel on the Mississippi River is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District’s critical navigation mission, especially during low-water conditions. Although early spring snowmelt caused flooding throughout the upper Midwest this past year, water levels receded quickly, causing large amounts of material to settle in the channel.To aid in channel maintenance, geological surveyors regularly monitor water levels throughout the District.

Washington Island Ferry Line (WIFL) has been the essential link between the residents, business and visitors of Washington Island and Wisconsin's Door Peninsula for more than eight decades.Picturesque and peaceful Door County isn't named for some intrepid settlers named Door. The name has a more ominous meaning. It's derived from the treacherous passage between the peninsula and Washington Island that mariners called Porte des Mortes, or Death's Door.A unique combination of environmental…

KOTUG's subsidiary KOTUG Guyana has been awarded a second contract by ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana to support operations in Guyana. KOTUG’s latest addition, the 120 tonnes bollard pull strong SD Honour, will join the fleet of dedicated offshore terminal tugs supporting the two floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs), Liza Destiny and Liza Unity, on the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana with static tow, push-pull duties and general…

Tore Hoem, adventures director at Hurtigruten Svalbard, has lived on Svalbard, the remote Norwegian archipelago just a few hundred miles from the North Pole, for more than two decades, long enough to witness the sea ice retreat significantly and more rain creep into the early and late snow season.These alarming effects of climate change are among key drivers behind the Hurtigruten Group’s sustainability efforts, including a new hybrid-electric excursion vessel recently put into service in Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s largest inhabited area.

U.S. President Joe Biden vowed during his 2020 election campaign to end federal oil and gas drilling as a major step in his strategy to fight climate change.The U.S. Senate Democrats' $430 billion spending bill agreed this week could kill that pledge. If it passes, it would effectively guarantee continued drilling rights auctions on federal lands and waters for at least another decade.Still, with Congress set to begin a summer recess by the end of next week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer faces a tricky road to quick passage for the bill…

Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC), has named Perissa Millender Bailey Vice President and General Manager, eSolutions. This new position on Mercury’s leadership team will be responsible for leading the company’s electrification business and product development strategy.Millender Bailey joins Mercury following an 18-year career with Ford Motor Company, most recently serving as the company’s global technology strategy and planning director. At Ford, she spearheaded electric vehicle user experience…

Hamburg Fire Fighting Vessels Dresden and Prag sport diesel-electric hybrid propulsion and battery systems from EST-Floattech.After the first 100 days of operation, operator Flotte Hamburg is reports it is satisfied with the two new firefighting ships Dresden and Prague: "Due to the full approval for the use of the EST battery system 'Green Orca 1050' on inland waterway vessels, which was already available at the start of the project, the first hybrid ships of the Hamburg fleet…

As naval architects and marine engineers we are familiar with the design spiral. While design is not truly a spiral, we use the concept to remind ourselves that all pieces of a ship design interact. The design spiral is not a standard figure and can be simplistic or overcomplicated.A Google search image summary provides dozens of interpretations, all investigating different variables, with the only commonality that all spirals start with the “mission” variable.Figure 1 is an old…

Three new Damen Patrol Vessels 1304 Electric have been christened at a recent ceremony at the Scheepvaart Museum in the maritime heart of Amsterdam. Two of the vessels, named Waterpieper and Waterhoen, were ordered by Gemeente Amsterdam (the City of Amsterdam) and the third (P55) is for Politie Eenheid Amsterdam (the Amsterdam Police). They will be used for general patrol duties in and around the canals of Amsterdam.The hulls for the vessels were built at Damen Shipyards Kozle…

A 120-foot dredge barge capsized in the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina, Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Coast Guard Sector Charleston watchstanders received a call at 3:34 a.m. from the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina staff stating the dredge barge rolled over on its side in the marina. There were no persons aboard the Capt Leo II when it capsized, but the dredge barge has a reported maximum potential of 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on board. Photos shared by the…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Rock Island District held a christening ceremony in Quincy, Ill., on Friday for the latest towing vessel to joins its fleet.The vessel, which has been renamed Quincy, was built in 2008 by Texas shipyard Orange Shipbuilding for $5 million and is being relocated from the Corps' Louisville District.Originally named the Gordon M. Stevens, the vessel was designed and contracted by the USACE's Marine Design Center and served as part of the construction…

The captain of a dive boat that caught fire last year near Santa Cruz Island, resulting in 34 deaths, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter.Jerry Nehl Boylan, of Santa Barbara, was named in the indictment by a federal grand jury that alleges Boylan, as the captain and master of the Santa Barbara-based Conception, “was responsible for the safety and security of the vessel, its crew, and its passengers.”The indictment alleges that Boylan caused the deaths of 33 passengers and one crewmember “by his misconduct…

Three rescue craft came to the aid of a disabled cargo ship adrift in heavy seas and in danger of hitting the rocks off the Irish coast.The Antigua Barbuda-flagged general cargo vessel Lily B reported to MRCC Dublin Tuesday afternoon that it had lost power off the Waterford Harbor, southeast of Ireland.The Irish Coast Guard called upon three Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboats from Dunmore East, Kilmore Quay and Rosslare to aid the drifting vessel until a tug could arrive.Dunmore East's Trent…

Finnish shipbuilder Helsinki Shipyard said it has secured an order to build a third luxury expedition cruise vessel for British operator Swan Hellenic.The new vessel is scheduled to be delivered at the end of 2022, and like the two ships already on order, it is designed for the global cruise market, with an emphasis on high-latitude cruises, the shipbuilder said. Helsinki Shipyard said design work is already underway and that construction is slated to begin in the summer of 2021.The order follows a keel laying ceremony held in September for the 113-meter…

Shipping Company Groningen (SCG) has contracted offshore internet services provider Castor Marine to install its Global 4G Connectivity package on all 30 of its vessels. With this, the coasters will have a fast, global 4G-LTE internet connection for its crews. On its fleet, SCG offers its personnel a Crew Welfare Zone with free internet within the 12-mile (4G) zone. To realize this, SCG wanted a plug-and-play, cost-efficient system that is always operational and doesn’t interfere with the crew’s activities.To make this happen…

David Loy Stewart Sr, former owner and Chairman of the Board at ship repair yard Detyens Shipyards, Inc. in North Charleston, S.C. passed away on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, at the age of 72.Loy, husband of the late Judy Ann Detyens Stewart, was born September 15, 1947 in Abbeville, S.C., son of the late John David Stewart and the late Ruby Gillespie Stewart. He graduated from Furman University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and although prone to sea sickness enlisted in the U.S. Navy shortly after graduating college.

He has decades of experience in the maritime sector and now works as a maritime consultant for Shipbuilder. André Zijderveld: “In all those years in the maritime sector, I have seen the financial departments in the maritime sector working with beautiful ERP programs. However, it is a misconception that you can manage an entire shipbuilding or yacht building project with it. To my surprise people are still trying to do that though, with all the mistakes that come along. That must…

My company has been around since 1875, and today we actually still do things that were being done in 1875. We still get calls from underwriters to attend on disasters all over the place, and we are still asked to provide values on ships on a moment’s notice.Moreover, some of the companies that ask us to attend to those issues, in some form or another, also have been around since 1875.That results in a very smooth operational routine, where we get a call from one of those clients in the middle of the night, we pull our pants on, step into the car and go out to see what is going on.

Siemens Energy has selected UK-based Fussey Engineering to supply and install steel framework and cladding at the National Grid 400kV substation site adjacent to the Hornsea Two offshore wind project.The steelworks, which will involve the construction of an annex building adjoining the National Grid substation, includes around 30 tonnes of locally sourced steel.With headquarters located less than a mile away from the new onshore substation in Lincolnshire, Fussey Engineering have worked all over the country, supplying a plethora of projects with steel fabrication.Michael Fussey, Director of Fussey Engineering said: “Here at Fussey Engineering we are proud to be involved in this small part in creating what is to be the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

The marine contractor in the international offshore oil and gas and renewables industry Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) contracted Ulstein Verft shipyard in 2018 to provide design and engineering services to convert their deepwater construction vessel Aegir into a fast sailing heavy lift vessel (HLV).The vessel is now converted into a dedicated offshore heavy lift vessel. Aegir’s already massive 4,000-ton main crane and the fact that her hull design is based on Ulstein’s SOC 5000 heavy-lift vessel design, is a key benefit in this development."Nevertheless, innovative solutions and smart engineering work is needed to make the vessel into an efficient asset for the new markets that Heerema is targeting…

Cochin Shipyard Ltd, the largest shipbuilding and maintenance facility in India, launched passenger/cargo ship for Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) Administration.The vessel is designed as a modern high-quality passenger vessel with electric propulsion suitable for carrying 1,200 passengers and 1,000 tonnes of cargo for “all-weather” operation on the mainland-to-A&N route.The ship is built to the highest standards of the Indian Register of Shipping and Lloyds Register of Shipping overseen by the DG Shipping of India and meets the requirements of “Class III Special Trade Passenger Ship” as per Indian Merchant Shipping rules.The vessel is built in steel as a modern, safe and seaworthy vessel with aesthetic lines and pleasant profile.