Sea Wave News

Italian oil group Eni is joining forces with shipbuilder Fincantieri, power grid group Terna and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to develop wave power stations.The agreement, which follows the understanding signed last 19 April, will launch the first phase of a joint project to convert the Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter (ISWEC) pilot project, an innovative system that transforms energy generated by waves into electricity, into an industrial scale power station, making its application and use immediately available.The partnership agreement will focus on two phases: during the first phase, the companies will develop a business model and define a deployment plan for Italy.

Italian oil group Eni is joining forces with compatriot shipbuilder Fincantieri, power grid group Terna and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to develop wave power stations.The Chief Executive Officers of the companies have signed a non-binding agreement today at the Eni headquarters in the EUR district of Rome to develop and build wave power stations on an industrial scale.The agreement seeks to combine the knowledge of the collective companies to transform the Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter (ISWEC) pilot project into a project on an industrial scale for immediate application and use. ISWEC is the innovative system that converts energy generated by waves into electricity.

Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni has activated the Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter (ISWEC), offshore Ravenna, capable of converting energy generated by waves into electricity, which will in the future enable Eni to convert mature offshore platforms into renewable energy generation hubs.The pilot plant was installed at the Ravenna offshore site by Eni’s Central Northern District and has been integrated into a hybrid smart grid system featuring photovoltaics and energy storage.It reached a peak power output of over 51 kW, or 103% of its nominal power. This technology is suitable for powering medium and large offshore assets and…

Conventional surveillance technologies cannot easily help to detect fast boats, which generally have small radar signatures and do not carry automatic identification systems (AIS). For this reason, the NATO STO CMRE (Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation) has addressed this problem along with other project partners, as part of the European project PERSEUS. The PERSEUS project (Protection of European BoRders and Seas through the IntElligent Use of Surveillance), coordinated by Spanish technological company Indra…

Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk halted oil exports on Monday due to storm, while the loadings are not expected to resume before Friday, port sources said. "The wind is very strong there. Looks like it (stoppage) will last till Friday," a source said. Another source said that a sea wave as high as four meters was detected near the terminal for Caspian Pipeline exports. Shipments of oil product exports via neighbouring port of Taman have also been suspended, according to a port source. Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin

DuPont Performance Polymers and Ireland-based Technology from Ideas (TFI) collaborated to develop  a novel way to allow moored devices to move with the sea, which dramatically reduces peak loads up to 70% and improves durability of  mooring lines that tether and protect high-value marine devices, such as wave energy devices and fish farms. The new Dynamic Tethers wave protection system replaces chain and rope mooring, which pulls taut, rattles and wears quickly as it moves against the sea.

Jensen Maritime Consultants – leveraging a unique porthole on the maritime industry – anticipates and meets demand in the burgeoning maritime LNG sectors. Nevertheless, says Jensen’s Johan Sperling, it’s not rocket science. At the recent Passenger Vessel Association (PVA) annual meeting held in Houston, Texas, Jensen Maritime Consultants had on display just a couple of their many design efforts underway at the Crowley-owned design and engineering shop. Naturally, those designs had the use or carriage of LNG as their central theme. LNG, at least on this side of the pond, is still largely uncharted waters, but that’s hardly the case for Jensen.

Israel-based SDE Energy Ltd  has signed an agreement with the Conakry government for the development of a 100MW sea wave power plant along the coastline of Guinea Conakry, West Africa. This project is intended to help Conakry become more independent and with a stable power supply that can solve all its energy problems. Due to the high oil prices and the rising costs of electricity, sea-wave energy production has emerged to become today a proper viable alternative for renewable energy production. S.D.E says it is continuing to expand throughout the world. The company adds that it has signed agreements worldwide for the construction of power plants through joint ventures and agreements with companies that are backed by government agencies.

Eco Wave Power (EWP) has recently installed a medium-scale wave energy power plant in the Black Sea. The installation of EWP's system, took place in recognition of the international 'Mother Earth Day,' celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. The Black Sea provided real-life conditions necessary for the testing of EWP's wave energy devices under uncontrolled wave heights and wave periods. The next phase of EWP will be to move the medium-scale power plant to a different coastal structure, in order to show potential clients that EWP's wave energy generation system can be easily connected to almost any ocean structure. After this…

Navionics, provider of electronic charting and digital navigation data, named Mr. Don Black as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Mr. Black will head the Navionics Teams for Sales, Marketing, Product Management and Business Development, working across all divisions. Black’s most recent position was CEO/President at SeaWave, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, a company which developed ship to shore wireless communications. Prior to that, Black worked in leadership positions at Drew Scientific and Instrumentation Labs. Early in his career he was a sales and marketing manager for Canada Packers and Gainers Corporation, Canada. Black is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan and studied at the Goethe Institut…

Globe Wireless announced the availability of a new version of the Rydex software. Now branded GlobeRydex, the software is a ship/shore satellite communications solution for the maritime industry. Customers use the GlobeRydex software either through the public hub environment (a service where ships connect to a shoreside hub managed by Globe Wireless) or a private hub configuration (where the shoreside server is kept and maintained at the customer’s premises). “In past years Rydex has seen only minimal software updates. It was in need of enhancements and maintenance.” commented Shane Rossbacher, Vice President of Product Management with Globe Wireless. Mr. Rossbacher continued, “The first phase of improvements addressed the public hub infrastructure.

There are a number of computer programs and hardware that promises to make marine vessels more productive and interactive. For example, Maxsea, Marstons Mill, Mass. has a module that connects their chart plotter to the sensors of a dredge to record the vessel's track. The track can be displayed on the chart plotter and the data collected can be directly exported in the ASC II format for use by other data processing software. The seabed outline is displayed "live" in 2-D and 3-D and the data is recorded. Need a tough bulkhead-mounted PC? Comark of Medfield, Mass. has a unit with the enclosure made of marine aluminum with an epoxy powder finish and is rated for a Nema 12 environment.

SeaWave, LLC has installed the SeaWave Integrator 3.0 aboard the Alaska Marine Highway System's (AMHS) high speed ferry "Fairweather," as it embarks on a one month trip for delivery from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Juneau, Alaska today. The builder of the vessel, Derecktor Shipyards, wanted to have a communications system on board for email and weather tracking for its delivery voyage. Working with SeaWave, this has been accomplished. The SeaWave Integrator will provide voice and email communications to the Derecktor delivery captain and 10 crew members during transit of the first commercial ferry to be built to the international High Speed Craft (HSC) code in the United States.

Maritime communications is an estimated $1 billion industry, encompassing ship operators, merchant fleets, governments and private yacht owners. There is arguably no more quickly evolving technical sector in the maritime market than the satellite communications niche. Safety, operational efficiency and quality of life onboard vessels of all type and size today more than ever depends on clear, reliable and cost effective satellite communication services and products. The following reports on recent advances from major service, product and system suppliers. The year started with news that Connexion by Boeing, a business unit of The Boeing Company, would roll-out its high speed satellite broadband capability for the maritime industry.

As technologically advanced as communications have become, the bottom line, particularly for business applications, remains basically the same: the need for clear, reliable and cost-effective means to communicate. Trends in the transmission of data, voice and e-mail from ship-to-shore are much like that of land-based operations. The need for more speed and increased reliability are never ending, and the companies that excel are the ones that not only continually innovate, but those that consistently stay on the front of the curve to deliver real-world technologies that deliver benefits in the unique maritime operational environment. In parallel, price pressures are ubiquitous, as shipowners are keen to exploit every outlet to cut costs and generate revenue.

SeaWave LLC released its newest maritime communications software, SeaWave Navigator Version 1.1. SeaWave Navigator is a low-cost, user-friendly communications solution, providing Internet e-mail, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) color weather charts, NOAA text weather forecasts, and other communication services to professional mariners. SeaWave Navigator is the software component of SeaWave’s marine communications system, which utilizes high frequency (HF) radio technology to securely transmit digital data to vessels at sea. Eliminating the need for costly capital investment, SeaWave Navigator employs standard Single Sideband (SSB) hardware and does not require specialized and expensive equipment.

SeaWave, a wireless communications company serving the maritime industry, has completed a new, state-of-the-art SeaWave Communications Station. The facility is located in Rhode Island and is used to provide SeaWave subscribers Internet e-mail and NOAA weather data using high frequency radio and advanced signal processing. The new station, which consists of multiple antenna arrays that provide worldwide coverage for SeaWave customers, has dedicated directional antennas support different geographic locations throughout the world to maximize coverage. Using a high-speed satellite link to interface with multiple servers located at SeaWave Corporate Offices in Middletown…

Wireless communications company SeaWave has appointed Chuck Gibson as director of sales. Gibson, who will be responsible for all sales in the U.S. will be based in in Coral Springs, Fla. Gibson brings to SeaWave his extensive industry experience having most recently served as a sales executive at Telenisus, a managed Internet infrastructure service provider, where he assisted customers in conducting business securely over the Internet. Prior to his accomplishments at Telenisus, he served as vice president of sales at Cruisephone, Inc. and was instrumental in driving the company to become a multi-million dollar, international maritime communications provider.

The early 1980s witnessed the birth of the first generation Autohydro by Coastdesign Inc. (now called Autoship Systems Corporation (ASC)). Autohydro was one of a very few PC-based first principles stability and longitudinal strength programs available on the market of the day. Running in DOS, Autohydro quickly became world-renowned as a robust, dependable design and analysis tool for the creation of trim and stability books. Even today, some users of these early versions of Autohydro call ASC asking for advice. Since those early times, ASC has continued to improve Autohydro. The most recent release, Autohydro 6.0, includes many new features that hundreds of naval architects around the world rely on for their hydrostatic and strength calculations.

SeaWave builds on the functionality of the Integrator 3.0 product line with its latest advancement in marine communications - the Remote Management Suite (RMS). RMS is a portfolio of IT tools which allow shore-side administration of vessel operations with near-zero ship-based intervention. These IT tools streamline vessel operations by transferring IT responsibilities to land-based IT personnel. Crews untrained in information technology (IT) are increasingly relied upon for file transfers, system updates, day-to-day administration and troubleshooting of shipboard PCs and associated systems. "As shipping companies have become increasingly IT intensive, the crew have struggled to become more technically proficient" said Lawrence Zevon, Technical Product Manager for SeaWave.

SeaWave LLC, a wireless communications company serving the maritime industry, has announced the appointment of David B. Markell as account manager responsible for sales in the northwest and northeast of the United States and Canada. Markell will be based at SeaWave Corporate Headquarters in Middletown, Rhode Island. Having served the marine insurance industry for the past twenty-two years, Markell brings to SeaWave his extensive marine industry experience. Before joining SeaWave, he was president of Hansen Marine Associates, Inc. in Newport, Rhode Island. Markell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts.

Globe Wireless has signed an Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of SeaWave & Rydex. The transaction is aimed to create a maritime communications end to end solutions, and provide a complete range of services to over 8,000 ships and over 500 ship operators. By combining the Globe Wireless network and total solution with the innovative technology of SeaWave and Rydex the business will provide customers with the complete choice of systems, service and solutions for the next generation of communications platforms.

Clipper Ventures based in Southampton England , selected US-based SeaWave LLC of Middletown, RI to provide voice and data communications to all ten yachts for the Clipper 05-06 Race. Each SeaWave unit provides email, telephone, daily log, weather and daily contact with the Race Office through the Iridium satellite network. While at sea, crew can share this unique racing experience with shore based friends and family via satellite telephone or individual email accounts. Clipper chose SeaWave in order to ensure reliable and efficient communications, as well as enhance the safety at sea. September 18, 2005, the Clipper Race 05-06 is the world's longest circumnavigation event measuring 35,000-miles.