Beaufort Force News

Mercy Ships is known globally for its charitable work performing medical procedures in developing countries. For the first time, the organization has a new ship, Global Mercy, recently delivered from a shipyard in China. Jim Paterson, Marine Executive Consultant, Mercy Ships takes Maritime Reporter & Engineering News inside the construction of the world’s largest civilian hospital ship.Jim Paterson already had a career and Chief Engineer’s Certificate when he joined Mercy Ships nearly 34 years ago, in search of a life change to make a difference.

VIKING Life-Saving Equipment has delivered the first vessel in a series of three new ambulance boats for the Hellenic Coastguard.For many years, the Coastguard and the Hellenic National Center for Emergency Care (EKAB) have worked together to support patient transfer requirements from the Greek islands to larger hospitals. Today, a call for transport services is almost a daily occurrence.The new closed-cabin boat will be station in Naxos as the first in a series of special craft equipped with medical equipment.

Public transport networks around the world are becoming more and more sustainable. This is due to stricter emissions regulations as well as increasing public demand for cleaner and greener modes of transport. This growing attention to sustainability is also being seen in the ferry sector, which plays a vital public transport role in many countries. In the Netherlands, the issue of sustainable ferry transport is of particular relevance because: The Dutch inland ferry sector comprises more than 300 ferry services.

C-Job Naval Architects said it has delivered the concept design of a series of five sustainable car and passenger ferries to the City of Amsterdam. The vessels will operate 100 percent on electricity, thus providing an emission-free urban transport solution. The fully electric ferries are designed to recharge their batteries during the unloading and loading of passengers and vehicles. In order to maintain efficiency of service and a quick turnaround, this charging process will take place during a timeframe of a maximum of four minutes.

A maritime Solutions Company in Dubai has just taken delivery of ASIS 9.5m Cabin RIBs for Security Patrol and Pilot Services. The multi-purpose custom built crafts will be used for Dubai International Port Operations on a daily basis. The 9.5m Rigid Inflatable Boats have a heavy duty fiberglass hull and an extra reinforced aluminium cabin superstructure. Deigned and certified under Category “B”, these RIBs have great stability and seaworthiness. They can withstand waves of up to 4m height and wind of Beaufort force 8. They are powered by Yanmar diesel Inboard engine of 315 Hp.

Robert Allan Ltd. has designed a new generation of more capable High Endurance Self-righting Search & Rescue Lifeboats for the Canadian Coast Guard. This new design was developed from the successful similar vessels known as the “Severn” Class operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) of the United Kingdom. The new Canadian design is larger with a greater range than the RNLI vessel and has been specifically designed to handle the worst weather encountered year around in the waters off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Guangdong Yuexin Ocean Engineering has delivered the 'SMS Endeavour', an Anchor Handling Towing Supply (AHTS) Vessel . SMS Endeavour is intended for operations in the offshore waters of Asia, West Africa, and Middle East. The Martens Marine E 65T Series vessels are powered by twin CAT 3516C engines at 5,150 brake horsepower. These engines are in compliance with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Marine Tier 2 Commercial Regulations. Vessels in this series are also equipped with twin Kawasaki bow thrusters of 8T capacity each, and a set of Becker high-lift performance rudders.

A new version of the successful SurvitecZodiac MIS MES escape slide and liferaft system has been fitted to the latest addition to the Ventrafiken fleet. The Uraniborg was recently completed at the Hvide Sande shipyard in Denmark and has just entered service between Landskrona and the island of Ven located in the Oresund between Sweden and Denmark. The new ferry is fitted with two SurvitecZodiac escape slide systems that each contain two 151-person open reversible liferafts. The…

The Aero-Citadel is a superstructure with a slim streamlined shape which combines ship's accommodation, engine room , and funnel casing. Wind pressure during navigation will be reduced by 25-30% (ahown by wind tunnel testing). In a Cape size bulk carrier, the modular superstructure will enable a decrease of about 2% in fuel consumption (at normal output, about 9m/sec. in a Beaufort force 5 head wind). New marine use LED lighting is also introduced to the accommodation and engine room lighting system, which reduces electric power consumption used for lighting by about 50%.

Zodiac SOLAS, Chevanceaux, France, has developed a new escape slide system for small to medium-sized ships and high speed craft. The new Zodiac SOLAS MES MIS (Marine Evacuation System – Medium Inflatable Slide) is a double track slide that can enable the evacuation of 731 passengers in 30 minutes when used with Zodiac’s Throw Over 150 person canopy life rafts. When used with Zodiac’s Open Reversible Inflatable 151 person open life rafts, 397 passengers can escape in 17 min 40 sec. Although the new system is only now being formally introduced to the market, it has already been attracting considerable interest from shipbuilders. The first…

The all-aluminum TMV 115 monohull fast ferry Federico Garcia Lorca built at Rodriquez Cantieri Navali’s Pietra Ligure shipyard in Italy was delivered to Balearia Eurolineas Maritimas on June 22, 2001. The vessel immediately entered service on June 25 and operates between Dania on the Spanish mainland to the Balearic Islands of Majorca and Ibiza. Having completed her first season of operation, Rodriquez reports the performance of the largest Aquastrada class of fast monohull built to date. Federico Garcia Lorca entered service on June 25, only three days after the official handover from the yard. From then up until November 6, it did…

Vision, a unique VLCC built by Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI) in that it features twin-engines and twin-propellers, was recently christened at the Ulsan Shipyard. Concordia Maritime AB's new ultra-large 315,000-dwt VLCC was christened by Mrs. Karen Fidler, wife of the president of Sunoco Inc., the company that chartered the VLCC. Built for Concordia Maritime, of the Stena organization, the VLCC is a revolutionary type of crude oil carrier. The 1,102 ft. (336 m) long Stena V-Max design VLCC differs from other large tankers built in the world to date. In addition to double hulls, the VLCC has double, completely separate engine rooms, double rudders and double propellers.

It is little secret that efforts to develop and harness new forms of clean power is an ever-present global task to serve the dual purpose of ensuring a cleaner environment and to be less taxing on non-renewable resources. The wind has emerged as a viable, if sometimes unreliable and often more costly*, option to generate power. Plans to build the U.K.'s largest offshore wind farm, to provide electricity for 50,000 homes in Wales, has been given the green light. The North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm will feature 30 wind turbines, located five miles off the Welsh coast between Prestatyn and Rhyl in North Wales. There are currently two additional major offshore wind farm projects under consideration for the UK…