Bay St Louis News

Three boaters were rescued Wednesday after their yacht collided with a tug near Bay St. Louis, Miss.The U.S. Coast Guard said its watchstanders at Sector Mobile received a report Wednesday of a 53-foot yacht and a tug vessel pulling two barges were involved in a collision. Sector Mobile watchstanders coordinated the launch of a Coast Guard Station Gulfport 45-foot Response Boat–Medium boatcrew to assist.The response boatcrew arrived on scene, embarked the three boaters from the yacht and transported them to Bay St.

More than $241 million in discretionary grant funding has been awarded for projects to improve U.S. port facilities, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced on Thursday.The grants, which will go to 25 projects in 19 states and one territory through the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), are intended to help strengthen America's supply chains to meet heightened demand and help address inflationary pressures, the DOT said.“U.S. maritime ports play a critical role in our supply chains,” said U.S.

Beier Integrated Systems (Beier) informs it has purchased South Coast Electric Systems (SCES) from American Electric Technologies (AETI), expanding the its manufacturing capabilities in the marine market. Beier said it will acquire SCES’s operations, including a manufacturing plant and equipment in Bay St. Louis, Miss, and will add 13 employees of the South Coast Electric operation to its team. SCES, a marine and industrial electrical switchgear manufacturer and service provider, has been in business for 14 years. South Coast Electric Systems will now operate under a new name - South Coast Electric, LLC. “We are very excited about refitting existing vessels and engineering new vessels with our new power and control products from South Coast Electric…

Dean Taylor bid farewell to his post as Tidewater Inc.'s chief executive officer on May 31, following a prosperous, far-flung career of 34 years at the New Orleans-based company. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Platt, who has worked side by side with Taylor for fifteen years, took the helm. And Jeff Gorski was named the new COO. In his decade as chief, Taylor guided Tidewater's fleet expansion. The company has poured hundreds of millions of dollars yearly into an energetic building-and-acquisition effort.

NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson is underway on a mission to deploy a variety of U.S. Navy ocean monitoring instruments in the vicinity of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The floats, drifters and autonomous underwater vehicles will aid researchers in monitoring the surface and deep currents that are distributing the oil. Of particular interest is the Loop Current and its potential to spread the oil to a much wider area. “NOAA is proud to partner with the U.S. Navy in the ongoing…

William Corso has been appointed as the new deputy assistant administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Service. Corso will officially assume his duties on November 20. Corso has spent the past seven years working for Lockheed Martin. Currently, he directs the diversified projects group at Stennis Space Center, Bay St. Louis, Miss. He is responsible for cost, schedule, and technical performance of programs supporting government agencies at the Center, including software development in support of naval oceanographic operations worldwide and contributions to the conceptual design of the Integrated Ocean Observing System. Corso also has been director of Lockheed Martin’s remote sensing program…

The Sun Herald has reported that 16 senators, including Mississippi Republican Trent Lott added their names to the list of lawmakers urging Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to increase funding to the Navy in 2008 to pay for more ships. The lawmakers told Rumsfeld the new ships were needed to counter an emerging threat from the rapidly expanding Chinese navy. The request comes on the heels of a similar call last week by 69 members of the House of Representatives, including Rep. Gene Taylor, a Bay St. Louis Democrat. The group wants Rumsfeld to up the Navy's budget proposal to $14.1 billion in fiscal 2008, which begins Oct. 1, 2007. That figure represents the amount that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen says is necessary to meet the Navy's national security requirements.

Officials at the Mississippi Department of Transportation have hired a consultant to determine whether to offer free ferry services while the two U.S. 90 bridges destroyed by Hurricane Katrina are rebuilt. Experts from Pacific Marine Technology Services of Bainbridge Island, Wash., are expected to be on the Coast this week. The company, which is to be paid about $50,000, will figure out where and how much it could cost to operate ferries. The Federal Highway Administration will pay for ferry costs, including vessels, crews and dock construction, while the bridges are built, Jackson Clarion Ledger reported. Consultants are to look at areas between Ocean Springs and Biloxi that had been linked by the Biloxi Bay Bridge. They also will investigate places near Bay St.

Tugboats began towing Boomtown Casino's gambling barge on Feb. 13 to a dry dock in Pascagoula, where it was expected to arrive around midnight. The repairs at Signal International should take about three weeks. Penn National Gaming, which owns Boomtown and Casino Magic Bay St. Louis, has committed to rebuild its Coast properties. However, a timeline has yet to be announced. Company executives are expected to release more information this week when they issue a quarterly earnings report and host a conference call. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald)

According to reports, Tugboats began towing Boomtown Casino's gambling barge to a dry dock in Pascagoula. The repairs at Signal International should take about three weeks, company officials said. Penn National Gaming, which owns Boomtown and Casino Magic Bay St. Louis, has committed to rebuild its Coast properties. Company executives are expected to release more information this week when they issue a quarterly earnings report and host a conference call. Source: SunHerald

The Coast Guard is investigating a tug fire that occurred yesterday south of Demopolis, Ala. on the Tombigbee Waterway. The Alabama Marine Police notified the coast guard Monday morning when the tug, Nonnie, pushing six empty hopper barges had caught on fire and was drifting south on the Tombigbee Waterway. The Coast Guard Cutter, Wedge, from Demopolis, an HU-25 Falcon jet from Aviation Training Center Mobile, and pollution response and investigation teams from Marine Safety Office Mobile were immediately dispatched to the scene. The vessel, owned and operated by Equipment Chartering Company inc. in bay St. Louis, Miss., was en route with the barges to a quarry on the Tennessee River from Back Bay Biloxi, Miss.