Avalon News

Galveston-based dredging contractor Callan Marine has been awarded a $136 million contract from Port Houston to dredge segment 1C of the Houston Ship Channel Expansion, under the port's Project 11 program.Callan will use its recently christened 32-inch cutter suction dredge, the General Arnold, among the newest, largest and most environmentally friendly cutter suction dredge in the U.S. fleet for the undertaking. The dredge features four EPA Tier 4 engines developing a combined 24…

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation, the largest provider of dredging services in the United States, announced the receipt of several major dredging awards totaling $138.8 million.The awarded work includes Trujillo Alto Design and Build for the Lago Loiza (Carraízo) Dredging Project (Maintenance, Puerto Rico, $93.1 million); Townsends Inlet to Cape May Inlet Project (Coastal Protection, New Jersey, $28.8 million); Palm Beach Harbor Maintenance Dredging Project (Maintenance, Florida…

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Siem Offshore has secured a contract extension for one of its AHTS vessels in Canada.The extension is related to the Ice Class AHTS vessel "Avalon Sea," covering a firm duration of 18 months upon completion of the current term. The extension will ensure continued operations for the vessel well into Q2 2024. The 87-meter-long vessel was built in Poland's Remontowa Shipyard in 2015.According to MarineTraffic.com, the Avalon Sea left the Hebron platform in Canada's Atlantic and is currently an route to St. John's.

Norwegian offshore vessel owners Solstad Offshore and Siem Offshore said Monday in separate statements they'd secured a contract for their offshore vessels.Solstad Offshore won a contract for its construction support vessel Normand Valiant with Brazil's Petrobras. Normand Valiant will provide accommodation services to support production activities on the Brazilian continental shelf. The charter is two years firm with an option of a two-year extension. The contract is expected to start in the second quarter of 2022.

CCGS Terry Fox, one the largest icebreakers in the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) fleet, has returned to service with new Thordon propeller shaft bearings after concluding that fitting laminate phenolic bearings would extend drydock time and costs.The 88-meter-long vessel, built in the 1980s, had been operating Thordon’s water lubricated elastomeric polymer bearings on both shafts for 24 years. Then in 2018 the port shaft was retrofitted with a European made laminate phenolic-type bearing as part of a shaft alignment contract with the manufacturer.In December 2020…

Cooperation strengthens chemical platform; underpins strategy to operate more sustainable, non-fossil fuel cargoes  Ardmore Shipping Corporation announced a new partnership with Carl Büttner, taking on the commercial management of four chemical tankers on behalf of the Bremen-based shipowner.The vessels Aurelia, Avalon, Apollo and Admiral are 24,000 deadweight tonne (DWT) chemical tankers, and will operate alongside Ardmore’s own chemical tanker fleet. This move signals a doubling of the number of similar sized chemical tankers under Ardmore’s management.Gernot Ruppelt…

Canada’s Irving Shipbuilding has cited Thordon Bearings as one of a number of partners playing a pivotal role in ensuring the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) are capable of environmentally sustainable operations.The first two in a series of six twin-screw vessels entrusted to Irving Shipbuilding, have been put to water with Thordon’s COMPAC water lubricated propeller shaft bearings, which the shipbuilder says are “environmentally progressive” resulting in “zero risk of pollution”.In a recent article…

Several months ago, Avalon Freight Services (AFS) approached Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) to explore different keel options to improve the directional stability of its landing craft, Catalina Provider.EBDG's team of engineers worked closely with AFS leadership to understand the vessel's particulars, operation and route, detailed project objectives and determine a project plan. Multiple keel designs were considered as viable options for the 150-foot landing craft. EBDG then…

Stephen Wang is counting the costs of President Donald Trump's trade war. He had to put down 12 times more cash as a guarantee to U.S. customs that he would pay the bill for tariffs on the Chinese-made pumps, valves and motors he imports.The cost of the guarantee - a U.S. customs bond - has shot up, an additional hit to importers already facing steep customs bills adding up to tens of billions of dollars for tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on incoming Chinese goods…

TGS announces its latest multi-client project in the Delaware Basin, Quail Ridge East, which will be conducted in collaboration with Fairfield Geotechnologies. The collaboration also includes an Area of Mutual Interest (AMI) for further joint opportunities in the area.The Quail Ridge East 3D survey is optimally located on the north flank of the Delaware Basin, extending TGS' current data portfolio to cover a minimum of 330 km2 in Western Lea County, New Mexico. The area draws strong industry attention with proven production from multiple stacked zones including the prolific Delaware Sands, the Avalon, the Bone Spring, the Wolfcamp A through D and the Strawn-Atoka.

The oil-to-water lubricated tailshaft conversion Thordon Bearings carried out last year to the 26,260dwt Great Lakes Fleet-managed bulk carrier SS John G. Munson has successfully completed its first season as a diesel-powered ship.The shaft conversion of the 1952-built self-unloader formed a key part of the mammoth 12-month power conversion project completed last year by Fincantieri’s Bay Shipbuilding yard, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, U.S.The vessel’s steam propulsion plant was replaced with an energy efficient medium-speed diesel arrangement.

The company River Advice started to make its Avalon fleet environment-friendly a few years ago. The Avalon Scenery was the first ship to use the MERUS water treatment technology, which was installed in 2012, marking the beginning of a cooperation between River Advice and Pronomar. Now several Avalon ships have the MERUS rings on board, including most recently the Monarch Empress. The Monarch Empress is a luxurious river cruise ship with 72 cabins which can accommodate 144 passengers. Furthermore, the vessel is equipped with a bar-lounge, restaurant and fitness center.

Sailors at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon have had a very small but very important piece of kit to show the public. The item officially known in Royal Australian Navy parlance as the 'Boarding Life Jacket Load Bearing', is a new capability that turns three items of Navy equipment in one. Sailors from the Seamanship School at HMAS Cerberus were kept busy answering questions about the new jacket which will be used by members of Australian Navy boarding parties. Leading Seaman Boatswains Mate Kerin Young and Able Seaman Boatswains Mate Jarryd Parsons took turns modelling the jacket in the stifling heat and dust at Avalon. “The new integrated boarding life jacket brings together webbing, a life jacket and body armour, in one tailor-made solution,” Leading Seaman Young said.

Marine News looks back at the past 12 months and showcases the best of North America’s workboat design shop and shipyard output. In a year where some stakeholders might not rank 2016 as the best of years in the shipyard or on the waterfront, we might disagree. And, there is plenty to write about. New contracts, deliveries and designs all combine to show that the collective workboat waterfront is moving forward, with technology, the environment and replacement tonnage requirements as the main drivers.

A con/ro ship, said to be Canada’s largest, was launched in Flensburg, Germany on Friday, May 31. Representatives from Oceanex Inc., were in attendance for the naming ceremony and launch of its newly constructed, custom-designed 210 meter con/ro vessel. Following the launch, the vessel was hauled to the fitting out quay, where the final details including the bridge and accommodations block will be installed and the vessel readied for delivery in October. Mrs. Bernice Hynes, wife of Executive Chairman…

Avalon Freight Services co-founded by Greg and Tim Bombard and Harley Franco, will debut freight service on Friday, April 1, 2016. Currently scheduled to operate a minimum of five days a week, year round, the company will transport freight from Berth 95 in San Pedro and the Pebbly Beach freight facility in Avalon. In addition to scouring the country seeking the best Landing Craft and Tug and Barge systems, the new company will provide the safest, fastest, quietest, most efficient…

Global Rescue, a crisis response firm providing medical, security, evacuation, and travel risk management services, says it has coordinated the rescue of a rower from the middle of the Indian Ocean after he sustained severe burns. Ocean Row Events (ORE) crew member Shane Usher was successfully evacuated to the 590-foot K Line bulk carrier Nordic River on the morning of July 11, 2014. Earlier in the week, Usher had accidentally scalded himself while preparing food on the ORE rowboat, Avalon. Global Rescue’s medical team confirmed that Usher’s burns were significant enough that an evacuation was necessary to secure proper treatment. The six-man and one woman Avalon crew was rowing non-stop across the Indian Ocean, from Geraldton, Australia.

River line Avalon Waterways has christened its newest Suite Ship class of river cruise vessels, the 166-passenger Avalon Passion, one week after the company launched another new Suite Ship, the 128-passenger Avalon Imagery II. Built at a shipyard in the Netherlands, Passion joins eight other Avalon vessels sailing at least part of the year on the Danube. The river cuts through more than half a dozen countries including Germany, Austria and Hungary. U.S. women's national soccer team coach Jill Ellis served as godmother for the 166-passenger vessel during a christening ceremony along the waterfront of Linz, Austria. It's a port the ship will visit often over the coming year.

A Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft from Number 36 Squadron has successfully performed an air drop mission over Antarctica in support of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) building on the summer drop previously conducted in February 2016. The most recent air drop provides the Royal Australian Air Force with an all-season resupply capability and the ability to provide support to the current expeditioners on the continent. The air drop consisted of pallets containing supplies for vehicles and plant equipment, medical supplies and personal mail. The C-17A aircraft was pre-positioned at Avalon airfield to allow the crew to confirm suitable weather over Casey drop zone, approximately 70 kilometres from Wilkins Aerodrome.

The Coast Guard and Washington State Department of Ecology are responding to a report a of 65-foot pleasure craft aground near Pleasant Harbor in Brinnon, Washington, Sunday morning. There is reportedly up to 500 gallons of diesel fuel aboard the vessel and an unrecoverable sheen was reported to be visible on the water. Responders are working with the owner to deploy containment boom around the vessel and develop plans to remove the fuel aboard. Jefferson County dispatch notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound that the 65-foot pleasure craft Avalon was aground in Pleasant Harbor at 2:30 a.m. The vessel was under tow by a 14-foot skiff at the time of incident. All four people involved departed the 65-foot vessel and made it ashore at Pleasant Harbor State Park in the skiff.

GT USA, operators of Canaveral Cargo Terminal, has expanded its supply chain capabilities to serve shipping lines, along with domestic customers, with the addition of more than 40,000 square feet of covered storage now available at the Marlin Street Warehouse at Port Canaveral. The facility serves as a secure location for general warehousing, providing a full range of logistics services, including trucking, cross docking, storage and inventory control and last mile distribution.

The McLean Group announced that it acted as the exclusive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisor to 3 Phoenix, Inc. (3 Phoenix) in its sale to Ultra Electronics Holdings plc (Ultra) for an initial cash consideration of $70 million. Additional payments of up to $17 million will be due subject to earnings growth over the next three years. 3 Phoenix is a supplier of specialist sonar, radar, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance products and solutions. For 10 years, the company has delivered mission critical, real-time sensor and processing systems, primarily to the U.S. Navy, but also to commercial customers. 3 Phoenix is a bolt-on acquisition to Ultra's existing Tactical & Sonar Systems Division.

Anything but business as usual, trusted partners operate innovative, environmentally correct and cutting edge equipment – in a decidedly niche trade. A  new freight service began operation in southern California this past April. For the businesses and residents of Catalina Island who depend on freight from the mainland, this new service aims to provide the safest, fastest, quietest, most efficient, eco-friendly and state-of-the-art freight transportation in the island’s history. Customers will also benefit from the use of unique and innovative tonnage built specifically for this niche trade.