Academic Partners News

A new pathway toward a low-emission and ultimately a zero-emission future in shipping has recently been opened up through the market introduction of a mono-fuel Hydrogen version of the Recuperated Split Cycle Engine.The HydroMAR-E project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 (CMDC2) which was launched in May 2022, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. As part of the CMDC2, the Department allocated over…

The National Science Foundation’s new Regional Class Research Vessel that will soon call the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Campus home has a name: Narragansett Dawn.Graduate School of Oceanography Dean Paula S. Bontempi announced the name of the new $125 million vessel after a nationwide competition and approval from the NSF.“Narragansett Dawn acknowledges the Indigenous peoples’ histories, ancestors, and perseverance in our communities today,” said URI President David M. Dooley.

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, the 50-50 joint venture between EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US, has submitted its proposal to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to supply the state with up to 2,300 MW of renewable wind energy.New Jersey seeks to award between 1,200 MW and 2,400 MW of offshore wind energy projects as part of its second solicitation. Atlantic Shores estimates their first project would be completed as early as 2027 and if awarded, the…

A U.K. startup tracking fuel-use performance in aviation will look to apply its product in the maritime sector in an effort to improve the environmental record of the shipping industry.One of 10 winners of MarRI-UK funding, Signol and its academic partners at University College London’s Energy Institute have been awarded a total of £130,000 ($162,200) for STEAM (Sustainability Through Efficient Actions in Maritime), a project looking to directly change the behavior of ships’ crews…

Inspecting fuel and ballast tanks. Sand-blasting old paint coatings and applying new ones. Removing corrosion on ships, submarines, aircraft and other vehicles.These are some of the unpleasant jobs in naval shipyards and maintenance facilities that could be made safer by pairing human workers with robots. Experts say this could improve the speed and efficiency with which the U.S. Navy sustains its assets—and expand the career paths of current workers (and create new jobs) by teaching them to operate…

A consortium of maritime industry and academic partners have been awarded EU funding for a project aimed at reducing fuel consumption and lowering emission levels for shipping.The SeaTech project consortium, led by technology group Wärtsilä, has been formed to develop two symbiotic ship engine and propulsion innovations that when combined, could lead to a 30% reduction in fuel consumption. At the same time, the project envisions 99% reductions in emissions of sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx)…

ROVOP, the global subsea robotics specialist, is the latest company to join the ORCA (Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets) Hub offshore robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems development program. The ORCA Hub is a consortium of five universities – Heriot-Watt University, University of Edinburgh, University of Liverpool, University of Oxford and Imperial College London – that are working together to develop highly specialized robotics and AI technologies for the inspection, repair, maintenance and certification of offshore energy platforms and assets.The partnership will see ROVOP support the research the ORCA Hub is carrying out in the subsea domain.

Nokia, ABB and Kalmar, part of Cargotec,  have successfully conducted industrial trials that leverage the low latency capabilities of 5G to support time-critical applications and enhance protection and efficiency in a smart electricity grid and in harbor automation.In a joint press release the companies said that the trials, conducted as part of the Wireless for Verticals (WIVE) research project, represent one of the first real-world applications of time-critical 5G applications on electricity grid and harbor automation.URLLC (ultra-reliable low latency communications) has been identified as one of the three main usage scenarios for 5G due to its ability to transmit data, within a few milliseconds or less, with high reliability.

A consortium, led by Bowman Power Group Ltd has created a new, marine-capable system designed to increase engine efficiency and reduce emissions.According to Bowman, the timing of this technology couldn't be better, coming just months after the International Maritime Organization (IMO) reached an agreement to cut carbon emissions from the global shipping industry by at least half by 2050.The project was part-funded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and a leading research and innovation hub.

Commander, Submarine Forces (COMSUBFOR) officially kicked-off Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2018 in the Arctic Ocean with the construction of temporary Ice Camp Skate and the arrival of two U.S. Navy fast-attack submarines and one U.K. Royal Navy submarine March 7. ICEX 2018 is a five-week biennial exercise that allows the Navy to assess its operational readiness in the Arctic, increase experience in the region, advance understanding of the Arctic environment and continue to develop relationships with other services, allies and partner organizations. The Seawolf-class fast attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) from Bangor, Washington, the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Hartford (SSN 768) from Groton…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced plans to work with Asahi Kasei Engineering Corporation (AEC) on a project to verify predictive detection of abnormalities in marine rotary machineries using vibrating sensors. The research will focus on the use of vibrating sensors to monitor the condition of key auxiliaries, such as pumps or purifiers, on a car carrier and VLCC that are under construction, using analysis software. The participants expect this project to create not only a standalone onboard monitoring system, but also to allow incorporation of data into the "Fleet Monitor" platform of real-time communication between ship and shore as a part of the Ship IoT system, allowing analysis of abnormalities as soon as they occur.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) will dedicate the Atlantic Sand Assessment Project (ASAP) core storage repository on Tuesday, October 25 at 11:00 a.m. The collection is a result of the BOEM-funded project to create a new inventory of potential offshore sediment resources in Federal waters in the Atlantic. The project involved collecting, analyzing and cataloging sediment cores from federal waters offshore 11 East Coast states from Miami, Florida, to Massachusetts beginning in 2015. The core analysis provides important information on thickness of sediment layers, composition of sediment layers, organic material content, and overall compatibility with beach sands.

The DHS Maritime Security Center (MSC), led by the Stevens Institute of Technology, announces a competitive research opportunity to address challenges in maritime cyber security. This effort invites qualified researchers to propose projects that will provide DHS stakeholders with innovative research that addresses current challenges in maritime cyber security as outlined in the RFP. MSC plans to fund one award of up to two years and up to $350,000. Any questions should be directed to [email protected] no later than April 19, 2016. development of the current and future maritime security workforce. More information on MSC may be found on www.stevens.edu/msc. In November 2015, MSC co-hosted the Maritime Risk Symposium in conjunction with the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center.

A new technology research programme aimed at developing propulsion products specifically for operating in arctic conditions has been implemented with Wärtsilä and VTT, the Technical Research Centre of Finland, as the main contributors. The ArTEco (Arctic Thruster Ecosystem) project will altogether be supported by ten industrial and academic partners from Finland and other countries. ArTEco is a three year programme, commencing in 2015 and ending in 2017. Its primary aim is to foster new technology for propulsion solutions in an arctic operating environment. The platform will consist of developing state-of-the-art simulation and load determining methods for dynamic loading conditions…

The MIT Sloan School of Management launched the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, also known as (IC)3, yesterday. Using an interdisciplinary research approach, (IC)3 focuses on the strategic, managerial, and operational issues related to cybersecurity, and invites businesses to join the consortium. “The cybersecurity of our critical infrastructure is a serious national security challenge," said MIT Sloan Dean David Schmittlein. (IC)3…

Scientists at the Army Corps of Engineers, Environment Canada and NOAA documented a record-setting surge in water levels on Lakes Superior and Michigan-Huron that began in January 2013, and has continued through November 2014. The United States and Canadian federal agencies expect water levels to stay near or above average on all of the Great Lakes over the next six months. At no other point in recorded history have water levels risen as much on Lake Superior and Michigan-Huron over the same two-year period, NOAA said.

The White House yesterday awarded three NOAA scientists with Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. The award is the highest honor given by the federal government to outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. Laboratory. The NOAA scientists are part of a group of 102 scientists from across federal agencies that received the prestigious award. “NOAA is home to some of the world’s leading scientific research and our scientists strive each day to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our planet,” said NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan, Ph.D. “Through their research on improving sustainable fisheries management…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. announced plans to install the Selective catalytic Reduction (SCR) system — jointly developed by MOL, Yanmar Co., Ltd. (President: Takehito Yamaoka), and Namura Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (President: Kensuke Namura) — on all three power generators of an MOL-operated oceangoing freighter for a demonstration test. This test demonstrates NOx denitration under the actual operation of freighter, to meet the Tier III NOx regulations set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The SCR system received a statement of fact from ship classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) on July 1, verifying that it meets the NOx Tier III emission limit, and its superior denitration performance was confirmed.

The Swedish Maritime Administration has initiated an extension of the ongoing Monalisa  project, called Monalisa 2.0, through a renewed application to the European Commission's TEN-T program. Monalisa  2.0 takes its point of departure in the results and experiences from the current Monalisa project, co-financed by TEN-T under the Motorways of the Sea and which has received very positive feedback from stakeholders, international bodies and the European Commission. Monalisa 2.0 is a concrete step in the process of further developing the Motorways of the Sea concept by implementing concrete pilot actions and studies that will foster deployment of new maritime services and processes.

BMT Group Ltd (BMT), the international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, has announced another strong financial performance for the year to September 30, 2012. By focusing on markets where it can deliver high-value customer solutions, revenues from BMT’s continuing businesses rose 22% to £156m and underlying operating profits increased to £13.7m, a proportion of which has been distributed to the staff through the company’s profit share schemes. David McSweeney…

US-based C-Nav Solutions launch its latest GNSS Real-time tide measurement package, C-Tides. The company says that its C-Tides suite combines the exceptional vertical accuracy of C-Nav's GNSS Precise Point Positioning service with the latest advanced ocean and coastal tides models. C-Tides Online features real-time filters and vessel dynamics, choice of world-wide Mean Sea Surface or regional reference frame models, and tidal prediction for mission planning. C-Tides Offline utilities include data smoothing and outlier rejection, harmonic analysis, Doodson X0 filter and a LAT option. C-Tides is a fully supported C-Nav utility. The results are suitable for combining with other suitably calibrated vertical components to achieve IHO SP44 Order 1 or better.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has begun an onshore demonstration test of a new prototype sailing rig that they believe has great potential for reducing vessel CO2 emissions. MOL/ Akishima Laboratories (Mitsui Zosen) tests of the "Power Assist Sail" were started at the Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (MES) Oita Works in June 2013. The joint study of the Power Assist Sail, has produced the prototype for the demonstration test, which is large enough to use on an actual vessel.

Persistent winds and a weakened current in the Mid-Atlantic contributed to higher than normal sea levels along the Eastern Seaboard in June and July, according to a new NOAA technical report. After observing water levels six inches to two feet higher than originally predicted, NOAA scientists began analyzing data from select tide stations and buoys from Maine to Florida and found that a weakening of the Florida Current Transport—an oceanic current that feeds into the Gulf Stream—in addition to steady and persistent Northeast winds, contributed to this anomaly. “The ocean is dynamic and it’s not uncommon to have anomalies,” said Mike Szabados, director of NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services.