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Delaware News

18 Jan 2024

Not All Underwater Reefs are Made of Coral

The South Carolina Army National Guard and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources turns unused armored carrier vehicles into an artificial reef off the coast of Beaufort, S.C. in 2014. (Courtesy photo by Phillip Jones/South Carolina Army National Guard)

When people hear about underwater reefs, they usually picture colorful gardens created from coral. But some reefs are anchored to much more unusual foundations.For more than a century, people have placed a wide assortment of objects on the seafloor off the U.S. coast to provide habitat for marine life and recreational opportunities for fishing and diving. Artificial reefs have been created from decommissioned ships, chicken transport cages, concrete pipes, rail cars and more.We study how ocean-dwelling fish use artificial reefs in the U.S. and beyond.

11 Jan 2024

Rebuilding the Foundations of US Offshore Wind

© Fokke Baarssen / Adobe Stock

As we enter a New Year, the memories of the shocks to the foundations to the U.S. offshore wind segment remain fresh. In short, supply chain inflation and capacity/availability, interest rate increases, and tax credit monetization have been the key themes highlighted by developers to explain why many projects became commercially unviable.Several Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have reacted rapidly, accepting the termination of power sales & purchase agreements and allowing the canceled projects to be rebid into new solicitations.

11 Dec 2023

US Proposes Offshore Wind Auction for Central Atlantic Areas Next Year

© Fokke Baarssen / Adobe Stock

The Biden administration on Monday announced a plan to sell offshore wind development rights for two areas off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia next year.The proposed sale by auction is the latest effort by President Joe Biden's Interior Department to accelerate the expansion of offshore wind energy to combat climate change.The administration has forged ahead with its ambitious offshore leasing plan despite soaring industry costs and supply chain constraints that have derailed some projects.

05 Oct 2023

Making Hydrogen Work: Demo Project in San Francisco Port

© muddymari / Adobe Stock

Hornblower Energy LLC, in partnership with the Port of San Franciso, the U.S. Department of Energy and six corporate partners, including Air Liquide and Glosten, is leading a project to demonstrate the feasibility and viability of using hydrogen (H2) as a maritime fuel.The project is located at Pier 68 in San Francisco. DOE selected the project for funding in 2020. It’s supposed to be completed in 2025 but there are important decision dates before then. So far, project activities have concentrated on planning and modeling.

29 Aug 2023

Eastern Gets Green Light to Build USACE Hopper Dredge

(Image: Eastern Shipbuilding Group)

Florida-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group announced on Tuesday it has received a notice to proceed after winning a contract to design and build a new hopper dredge for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).The 6,000-cubic-yard-capacity diesel-electric dredge will be constructed at Eastern’s Allanton and Port St. Joe facilities and is scheduled for delivery in 2027, the builder said.The new medium-class hopper dredge (MCHD) will be based at the Corps’ Philadelphia District, replacing the 57-year-old McFarland…

28 Aug 2023

Offshore Wind: US Shipbuilders Answering the Call

From left to right: Lasse Petterson, CEO of Great Lakes Dredge and Dock; Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.; President Joe Biden; and Steinar Nerbovik, CEO of Philadelphia Shipyard (Photo: Philly Shipyard)

It’s a big deal when a U.S. president visits an American shipyard, and these trips always send a message. When President Obama spoke at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding in 2013, he warned of the consequences of sequestration. President Trump’s 2020 speech at Fincantieri Marinette Marine touted a $5.5 billion naval contract that gave a welcome boost to the Wisconsin shipyard and its supply chain partners. Most recently, President Biden traveled to Philadelphia’s Philly Shipyard…

21 Aug 2023

US Offshore Wind: Long-term Outlook Bright Despite Short-term Concerns

© Dragon Claws / Adobe Stock

While trouble areas continue to emerge in the young U.S. offshore wind industry, analysts at Intelatus Global Partners maintain an optimistic outlook for the industry in the long term.The business intelligence and consulting firm said in its latest U.S. Offshore Wind Report that it sees long-term foundations for the U.S. offshore wind sector solidifying, referencing several positive advancements such as the recently announced auction of three shallow water lease areas with at least 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of the month…

01 Aug 2023

BOEM Announces Three Final Wind Energy Areas Offshore Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia

Credit: BOEM

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Monday announced three final Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) offshore Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.These areas, BOEM said, were developed following extensive engagement and feedback from states, Tribes, local residents, ocean users, federal government partners, and other members of the public.If fully developed, the final WEAs could support between four and eight gigawatts of energy production. The Biden administration has a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.The three WEAs total approximately 356…

28 Jul 2023

Ocean Shippers Playing Catch Up to Electric Vehicle Fire Risk

Freemantle Highway car carrier burning off the Dutch coast - Credit: Dutch Coast Guard

Electric vehicles are crisscrossing the globe to reach their eager buyers, but the battery technology involved in the zero- emission automobiles is exposing under-prepared maritime shippers to the risk of hard-to-control fires, industry, insurance, and emergency response officials said.That risk has been put under the spotlight by the burning car carrier [Freemantle Highway] drifting off the Dutch coast. The Dutch coastguard said the fire's cause was unknown, but Dutch broadcaster…

25 Jul 2023

Eastern Shipbuilding to Build New Hopper Dredge for the USACE

McFarland is one of four oceangoing hopper dredges owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (Photo: Dave Evinger / USACE)

Panama City, Fla. based Eastern Shipbuilding Group has been awarded a contract to design and build a new hopper dredge for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.The $256,955,264 firm-fixed-price contract will see Eastern design and build the new medium-class hopper dredge (MCHD) for scheduled delivery in August 2027. Eastern was one of three bidders for the project.The new 6,000-cubic-yard-capacity hopper dredge will replace the USACE Philadelphia District's high-powered deep draft hopper dredge McFarland, built in 1967.

20 Jul 2023

Biden Attends Steel Cutting for Great Lakes' Subsea Rock Installation Vessel

From left to right: Lasse Petterson, CEO of Great Lakes Dredge and Dock; Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.; President Joe Biden; and Steinar Nerbovik, CEO of Philadelphia Shipyard (Photo: Philly Shipyard)

President Joe Biden traveled to Philadelphia on Thursday to attend a steel cutting ceremony for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation's new offshore wind rock placement vessel, touting his administration’s clean energy agenda and job creation efforts as the U.S. builds up its offshore wind industry. "The clean energy future we’re building all across America will be transformational,” Biden said during the ceremony at Philly Shipyard. “Thousands of families will rely on good jobs these projects create…

05 Jul 2023

US Approves Construction for Orsted's Ocean Wind Project off New Jersey

© esbobeldijk / Adobe Stock

The Biden administration on Wednesday approved construction of an offshore windfarm that will generate 1,100 megawatts of power from up to 98 turbines off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the third such project in the United States.Approval of Orsted's Ocean Wind by the Interior Department is the administration's latest move toward meeting its goal of developing 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind in the U.S.

04 May 2023

NTSB Cites Potential Fire Risks for Marine Operators Carrying Scrap Materials

The scrap metal fire aboard the CMT Y Not 6 on the morning of May 23, 2022. Inset shows molten metal leaking out of a starboard-side freeing port. (Source: U.S. Coast Guard)

Lithium-ion batteries and other possible ignition sources could pose a fire safety issue in the transportation of scrap materials as cargo, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday.Although scrap metal cargo is typically nonhazardous and poses a low fire risk, there have been several recent fires involving such cargo. In January 2022, a shoreside pile caught fire in Newark, N.J. Two international vessels carrying scrap material experienced cargo fires in 2022…

10 Apr 2023

Rare Shipments of North Sea Forties Crude Head to East Coast Refiners

U.S. and Canadian refiners have turned to North Sea "Forties" crude oil for the first time in seven years in the latest sign of changing global oil flows from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Nearly 2.6 million barrels of the crude are set to arrive at U.S. East Coast ports since February, according to Customs data on Refinitiv Eikon. Some of the oil is likely headed to Canada via pipeline. The light, low-sulfur Forties crudes are blended with others to replace Russian crudes that have been barred from the U.S. and Canada. Prior to the ban, about 50% of all crude from Russian ports that landed in the U.S. went to East Coast refineries, the customs data showed. The tanker Sea Turtle in February discharged 770,000 barrels of Forties and Forties blend crudes in Maine, destined for Suncor Energy.

16 Feb 2023

2023 Shipbuilding Report: US Passenger Vessels

Casco Bay Line selected the Senesco to build a double ended hybrid electric ferry to replace an existing diesel boat. (Image: EBDG)

With travel and tourism nearing pre-2020 levels, and transit systems benefiting from a return to work, passenger vessels have seen renewed activity. In its year-end review, John Groundwater, Executive Director of the Passenger Vessel Association (PVA), which advocates for the sector in Washington, D.C. wrote: “As we are nearing the end of the calendar year, we are delighted to report that our industry, and our members, are reporting far and wide that they have experienced very…

15 Feb 2023

Aberdeen's James Hutton Institute Hosts Green Hydrogen Tech Start-Up sHYp

Jennie Morrison, director for sHYp BV in Scotland - Image supplied

Green hydrogen technology start-up sHYp has moved into offices and laboratory space at The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen with plans to expand to five staff on site by summer.The move gives sHYp access to the institute’s specialist analytical equipment and expertise. This will help it develop what could be the first electrolyzer able to produce hydrogen from sea water without the need for desalination, which traditional electrolysis techniques need. According to sHYp, its technology…

01 Jan 2023

US Judge Orders Norwegian Cruise Line to Pay $110 Million for Use of Cuba Port

© IanDewarPhotography / Adobe Stock

Norwegian Cruise Line must pay $110 million in damages for use of a port that Cuba's government confiscated in 1960, a U.S. judge ruled on Friday, a milestone for Cuban-Americans seeking compensation for Cold-War era asset seizures.The decision by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami follows her March ruling that the use of the Havana Cruise Port Terminal constituted trafficking in confiscated property owned by the plaintiff, Delaware-registered Havana Docks Corp."Judgment is entered in favor of Plaintiff Havana Docks Corporation and against Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings…

14 Dec 2022

Tanker Helps Rescue Overdue Boaters off US East Coast

A Hong Kong registered tanker assisted in the rescue of two men adrift in a sailboat off the U.S. East Coast.On Sunday, watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard Fifth District command center were notified of an overdue sailing vessel, Atrevida II, which was sailing from Cape May, N.J. to Marathon, Fla. The two men aboard, 65-year-old Kevin Hyde and 76-year-old Joe Ditomasso, were last in contact with family and friends on December 3, when they departed Oregon Inlet, N.C. The Coast Guard began urgent marine information broadcasts and direct communication with commercial vessels in the area in an attempt to locate the Atrevida II. A search effort was launched, involving multiple Coast Guard aircraft and cutters, vessels from the U.S.

24 Nov 2022

Sail Freight: Fair Winds or Grassroot Sustainability?

(Photo: Hudson River Maritime Museum)

Climate change advocates and seafarers recently gathered for a small conference at the Hudson Valley Maritime Museum in Kingston, N.Y., to discuss the shipping industry’s struggle to achieve sustainability and environmental compliance.The setting, the hamlet of Rondout, N.Y. (within Kingston), holds significance as it was, ironically, a Hudson River port once considered the largest coal port in the world (yes, the world). In 1828, the opening of the Delaware and Hudson Canal enabled coal to be delivered from Pennsylvania to New York City.

17 Nov 2022

U.S. BOEM Seeks Public Comments for Eight Wind Energy Areas Off Central Atlantic Coast

©BOEM

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Wednesday announced eight draft Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) offshore the U.S. central Atlantic coast for public review and comment. The draft offshore wind areas cover approximately 1.7 million acres offshore North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware The areas' closest points range from about 19 to 77 nautical miles off the U.S. central Atlantic coast. “As BOEM moves forward to identify wind energy areas in the central Atlantic…

24 Oct 2022

WSP USA Hires Harris as Navy Program Director

Chuck Harris (Photo: WSP USA)

WSP USA, an engineering, environment and professional services consultancy, has hired Charles "Chuck" Harris as Navy program director for the firm’s Federal Programs national business line.In his new role, Harris directs the growth of the Federal team’s Navy program, which includes a recent joint venture win to directly support the $500 million U.S. Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) for improvements to dry docks at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate…

27 Sep 2022

New Bill Aims to Increase US Federal Funding for Public Ferry Service

© sheilaf2002 / Adobe Stock

A new bill recently introduced by Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) aims to increase federal funding for public ferry services in the United States.The “Ferry Service Expansion Act” would boost funding for both the Federal Highway Administration’s formula and the Federal Transit Administration’s competitive grant programs to the levels requested by the Public Ferry Coalition, building upon New Federal Investment in Ferry Service under Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.Specifically…

14 Sep 2022

Delaware Pilots Order New Launch from Gladding-Hearn

(Image: Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding)

Somerset, Mass. shipbuilder Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation informs it has secured another pilot boat order from the Pilots’ Association of the Bay and River Delaware. The vessel will be the pilots’ association’s fourth Chesapeake Class launch and 11th pilot boat built by Gladding-Hearn since 1957. Delivery of the new pilot boat is scheduled for 2024.With a deep-V hull designed by Ray Hunt Design, the new all-aluminum launch measures 53.6’ overall, with a 17.8’ beam and a 4.9’ draft.