National Maritime Day Dinner, AMVER Awards
On May 23rd at the National Press Club in Washington DC, the North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA) and IHS Fairplay will be hosting a dinner to commemorate National Maritime Day, which is held on May 22nd to honor merchant mariners. At this dinner, the 2010 AMVER (Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System) Award recipients will receive recognition for their service from Congressman Frank LoBiondo, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, and Coast Guard Commandant Robert Papp. The evening begins at 6:00PM with a reception. The genesis of the Amver system ultimately finds its roots in the RMS TITANIC disaster in 1912.
The ATB : A History of the State-of-the-Art
(This is Part II of a two-part series on the Articulated Tug Barge from Robert P. Hill. Why The ATB? The ATB, or "Articulated Tug/Barge" unit is designed to combine the economics of tugboat and barge operation with the speed and weather-reliability of a ship. A hallmark of this concept that makes it different from the ITB or "Integrated Tug/Barge" is the fact that both the tug and the barge are truly independent vessels able to operate successfully even if not together. The tug is a full ABS or internationally-classed ocean tug, capable of meeting all SOLAS regulations where required. It can be made capable of towing and other traditional tug missions.
ABS Elects Kurz And Kwok To Board Of Directors
Gerhard E. Kurz, president and CEO, Seabulk International, Inc. and Joseph Kwok, COO, Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. were elected to the ABS Board of Directors, by the ABS Council, following the recent Annual Members Meeting of the classification society in New York. Kurz is responsible for the revitalization of Seabulk International, Inc. (formerly Hvide Marine Inc.), and Kwok is COO of the NOL group of companies and also its CEO of chartering. He is responsible for the entire group's fleet operations. Also elected to the ABS Council at the Annual meeting were Choo Chian Beng, chairman and managing director, Keppel FELS; Mustafa A. Jalali, president and CEO, Aramco Services Company; Dr. Frank F.H. Lu, chairman, Taiwan Navigation Co.; and A.P. (Paul) Revere, president, Sea River Maritime.
U.S. Shipbuilding 2003: A Congested Attempt to Fund
Meeting national transportation needs during the current decade should involve a surfeit of new contracts for our domestic shipbuilders. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) mandates double hulls for all vessels engaged in U.S. petroleum carriage. In our non-contiguous trades, renewal programs are needed for the replacement aging container and RoRo fleets. Moving freight containers and trailers on RoRo barges and vessels, and moving people on passenger and passenger-vehicle high speed ferries, provide the obvious solutions to traffic congestion in the population corridors served by at least two of our Interstate highways. Some of these vessel needs are now immediate because of private sector decisions to postpone projects.
