Wise I News

A large number of ports across the United States are making headway toward ambitious decarbonization targets, but many are running up against significant challenges that threaten their progress, according to a new report from classification society ABS and trade group the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA).Financial constraints, low technology readiness and physical space limitations are among key obstacles identified the ABS and AAPA report, "Port Decarbonization Survey: Trends and Lessons Learned"…

Rolls-Royce Power Systems Division has opened a new Remanufacturing and Overhaul Center on its mtu Aiken campus in South Carolina.First announced in 2021 and representing a low double-digit million dollar investment, the new 69,000-sq.ft. (6,400 sqm) facility is connected to the existing manufacturing operations, bringing formerly outsourced workshop and warehouse operations in-house and expands them to provide remanufacturing and overhaul of mtu Series 2000, Series 4000 and Detroit Diesel 2-Cycle engines and components, plus internal and external rework services.

As 2023 is drawing to a close we would once again invite the readers of Offshore Engineer Magazine to gaze into our crystal ball to see what 2024 might have in store for the offshore support vessel industry. Before diving straight into our forward-looking sentiments however, it is important to address some of the main trends in the year that past as these lay the foundation for the year to come.Continuing the market development from the year before, 2023 very much advanced the ongoing recovery for offshore support vessels further.

Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco has been confirmed as the next Secretary-General of the IMO. The IMO Assembly unanimously approved the decision of the Council at its 129th session on November 30.Dominguez Velasco will take up the office of Secretary-General on January 1, 2024, for an initial term of four years. He becomes the Organization's 10th elected Secretary-General.The outgoing Secretary-General, Kitack Lim, congratulated his successor on his appointment. "I am confident that the Membership as a whole has made a wise decision, and that Mr.

The Marcura Group Board has announced Stuart Gregory is taking the helm as CEO of MarTrust.MarTrust is set to undergo a renewed phase of development and expansion, the company said. Over the past years, under the leadership of Domenico Carlucci and with the support of the Marcura Board, MarTrust has become a prominent fintech entity, managing over $12 billion in payments annually.Gregory brings a wealth of fintech expertise, having been instrumental in building and scaling Wise Business through to its successful public listing in London.

Wärtsilä announced it will supply its recently introduced Wärtsilä 25DF dual-fuel (LNG) engine for two new sail-assisted luxury cruise ships. The vessels are being built at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique (CdA) shipyard in France for Orient Express Silenseas, part of French hospitality group Accor. There is an option for an additional two vessels.The efficient and environmentally friendly Wärtsilä 25DF engine features a two stage turbocharging system, common rail fuel injection and cylinder wise combustion control.

Captain Morgan McManus will serve as the Ship’s Master on the Empire State VII, the first in a series of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV), which at press time was getting its post-sea trial finishing touches at Philly Shipyard. The project to design, build and deliver the NSMV series is one of the most exciting shipbuilding programs in the U.S. – a government shipbuilding project leveraging commercial shipbuilding efficiencies. For insights, we visited with Captain McManus to discuss the ship, it’s technology suite and its role in helping to educate a new generation of U.S.

Oil and shipping group Monjasa announced it has acquired the oil and chemical tankers Monjasa Thunder (19,991 dwt) and Monjasa Shipper (7,991 dwt) for bunkering and cargo operations across West Africa and in the Arabian Gulf. Both tankers will assume operations during this month.Monjasa said it has already taken delivery of Monjasa Thunder (formerly Solando) in Riga, Latvia and Monjasa Shipper (formerly Pearl Mercury) in Singapore, and the two tankers are currently inbound Lomé, Togo and  Dubai, UAE respectively.

Offshore wind energy planners are giving close review to fixed-tower systems in order to extend lessons learned to floating wind towers, under development now. In the U.S., floating towers have been most closely associated with plans for new wind energy areas (WEA) in the Pacific, off of California and maybe Oregon and Washington. But important research is also taking place in Maine, at the University of Maine, because of deep ocean Atlantic areas there, and floating towers may also be used in the Gulf of Mexico.As most readers likely know…

Rescuers recovered four more bodies on Monday, a day after a wooden sailboat carrying migrants to Europe smashed onto rocks in stormy weather off southern Italy, bringing the death toll to 63, including at least 14 children.Rescuers said most of the migrants came from Afghanistan, as well as from Iran, Somalia, Syria and elsewhere. Pakistan's foreign ministry said 20 Pakistani citizens were on the boat, with four missing and 16 survivors of the nighttime shipwreck.Many of the victims washed ashore close to where the vessel sank near Steccato di Cutro…

As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed.A wealth of these metals can be found in manganese nodules that look like cobblestones scattered across wide areas of deep ocean seabed. But the fragile ecosystems deep in the oceans are little understood…

Jeffrey Mountevans has been appointed Chairman of the Baltic Exchange Council, effective January 1, 2023. He succeeds Denis Petropoulos, who has held the position since June 2019.A former Lord Mayor of London (2015/2016) and ex-Clarksons shipbroker, Mountevans is an elected hereditary cross-bench member of the House of Lords where he plays an active role on maritime, defense and Reserves and Cadet issues. He was made an Honorary Life Member of the Baltic Exchange in 2016.The Baltic Exchange Council is the Baltic Exchange's governing body which sets its strategy for membership services…

MAN Energy Solutions’ after-sales division, MAN PrimeServ, has announced the signing of a contract to retrofit two LPG carriers for Tianjin Southwest Maritime Ltd. – the Chinese liquefied-gas carrier operator. The COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) yard will host the respective conversions of the individual MAN B&W 6G60ME-C engines aboard the ‘Gas Gemini’ and ‘Gas Aquarius’ to dual-fuel MAN B&W 6G60ME-LGIP units capable of running on LPG. The two vessels will be retrofitted in parallel, beginning May 30, 2023.PrimeServ will jointly carry out the work with CMS (CSSC Marine Service Co.

Oil and shipping group Monjasa said it has acquired a secondhand 9,600 dwt oil and chemical tanker for cargo and bunkering operations in the Arabian Gulf.Formerly known as Trinity Erk, the 2009-built, 117.6-meter-long vessel has been renamed Monjasa Shaker and is now onw of four tankers ranging between 4,000 and 10,000-dwt serving Monjasa’s marine fuel operations across the Middle East.The Denmark-based company said it has seen increasing demand for its marine fuel solutions,…

Stena Line says that it has decreased the carbon emissions by 11% per ton of cargo carried over each nautical mile, plus a reduction of 4% total ship emissions compared to pre-Covid operations. According to the company, the main contributor is the higher utilization of its fleet with cargo during the latest years. Also, during port operations and lay times, Stena Line says that it now uses 100% renewable electricity. The energy is used for shore power at 20% of Stena Line´s terminals while berthing…

Decarbonization is the greatest challenge facing the shipping industry today.The effort to reduce emissions and environmental impact extends to all sectors and players and will leave no one in the industry unaffected.The IMO’s effort to decarbonise shipping is a numbers game. The goal, as stipulated in the Initial IMO GHG Strategy, is to reduce the average CO2 emissions per transport work by at least 40% by 2030, compared to 2008 levels., and to pursue a 70% reduction by 2050.The introduction of the EEXI  is part of the IMO’s latest attempt to achieve this goal.

Oslo-listed LPG vessel operator BW LPG has converted the main engine of the ‘BW Malacca’ vessel to dual-fuel running. The last such conversion for a series of 15 LPG carriers, the ship’s MAN B&W 6G60ME-C9.2 type engine was retrofitted to an MAN B&W 6G60ME-C9.5-LGIP dual-fuel type capable of operating on fuel oil and LPG.The work was carried out at Yiu Lian Dockyards in Shenzhen, China in conjunction with the vessel’s scheduled, five-year docking and under the supervision of MAN PrimeServ, MAN Energy Solutions’ after-sales division.

Wind power pioneer Henrik Stiesdal built his first wind turbine in 1978. It was one of Denmark’s first step towards becoming a wind energy powerhouse, with Stiesdal regularly at the helm. He’s now got wider climate initiatives in his sights, including industrializing floating offshore wind. He reflected with OE’s Elaine Maslin.By 2021, a total of 35 GW of offshore wind had been installed across the world. To meet global climate targets, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that another 80 GW of it needs to be built per year by 2030.

North P&I Club has announced the appointment of Michael Asherson as Claims Director, in a return to the Club after three years in private practice in his native South Africa.Asherson, who spent 18 years with North in the period up to 2018, returns to North’s Newcastle head office from November 2 to focus primarily on charter claims.“We are delighted to welcome Michael back to North in view of the widely recognized claims and legal expertise he developed at North and in private practice,” said Paul Jennings, Chief Executive, North.

While the adoption of unmanned/uncrewed surfaces vessels (USVs) was initially in defence, use of these low footprint systems has spread into other sectors, not least survey, and now the race is on for greater capability, endurance and autonomy. Elaine Maslin reports.After starting small, in inland waterways, use of USVs for survey operations has moved into coastal and now offshore waters. Given the extensive amount of seabed and rapid growth in offshore wind, there’s plenty of work out there for them to do.With the travel restrictions posed by Covid and increasing awareness of climate change…

3i Infrastructure has agreed to acquire AMP Capital's stake in the Danish offshore vessel owner ESVAGT.The deal will result in 3i Infrastructure owning a 100% of the equity in ESVAGT. "This further investment is expected to be £268 million. Completion is subject to certain third  party consents and is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2022," 3i Infrastructure said.Peter Lytzen, CEO of ESVAGT said: "ESVAGT has for a  while been subject to a strategic sales process undertaken by our owners 3i and AMP.

Inland and Coastal Marina Systems (ICMS) said Tuesday it had installed a new 30-meter pontoon for the Montrose Port Authority to service the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm, Scotland’s largest wind farm.The new 30m x 4.4m pontoon will allow safe berthing and access for crew transfer vessels (CTVs) to the new operations and maintenance (O&M) base for the wind farm which is currently under construction 27km off the coast of Angus."Located on Montrose Port’s South Quay, the new pontoon is topped with GRP decking suitable for a commercial application offering excellent anti-slip properties.

Ben Reed is a mechanical engineer from the U.K. now leading New Zealand-based waterjet manufacturer HamiltonJet as managing director.Raised in Shropshire, Reed graduated from Loughborough University of Technology in 1995 and later became a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering. He’s worked for a U.K. gas utility company developing natural-gas-powered engines; Ford Motor Company as a Systems Analyst, and 17 years for Caterpillar UK in diesel engine and transmission development for off-highway machinery and military products…