Bridge Wing News

Simulation-based training has its whole-of-ship/whole-of-team scenarios, but zooming in, the industry is now working on more specific targets.We have a close relationship with technology, evidenced by, for example, the phones we are estimated to unlock around 50-80 times a day. It has changed us. Half the people surveyed in a 2022 King’s College London study said that they feel like their attention span is shorter than it used to be. They are wrong, though, if they think that the average attention span of adults today is just eight seconds, one second less than goldfish.

Simulation-based training has its whole-of-ship/whole-of-team scenarios, but zooming in, the industry is now working on more specific targets.We have a close relationship with technology, evidenced by, for example, the phones we are estimated to unlock around 50-80 times a day. It has changed us. Half the people surveyed in a 2022 King’s College London study said that they feel like their attention span is shorter than it used to be. They are wrong, though, if they think that the average attention span of adults today is just eight seconds, one second less than goldfish.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released its investigation report into a bulk carrier’s collision with two tugs in Tasmania last year highlighting the importance of bridge resource management (BRM) and the design of bridge systems to reduce the risks of human error.On January 28, 2022, the Australian-flagged bulk carrier Goliath was turning in the swing basin to berth at the Port of Devonport, Tasmania, when it collided with two moored tugs, which subsequently sunk.

A deteriorated bollard led to a Valaris drillship breaking away and colliding with a bulk carrier in Pascagoula, Miss. last year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday.On March 12, 2022, the mobile offshore drilling unit Valaris DS-16 was in the process of being reactivated at the ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore Shipyard (STEHMO) when it broke away from the dock in strong winds, drifted across the Bayou Casotte channel and collided with the bulk carrier Akti.

Furetank turned a former office building into a maritime educational center on Donsö outside Gothenburg: a state-of-the-art ship simulator complex for training, assessment and certification. Starting in the summer of 2023 it will be available for the shipping cluster on Donsö as well as external organizations.Furetank has ordered a large range of new-built vessels to be delivered in the coming years, and crewing these ships is a challenge. The new simulator center is seen as helping to alleviate some training bottlenecks…

The Government of Bermuda’s Marine and Port Services has chosen Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, to undertake a major refit of the 700-passenger ferry Bermudian. Built in 1988, the 118’ steel vessel completed the 635-mile crossing of the North Atlantic, arriving at the Somerset, Mass. shipyard, this week. With engineering and project management by Gladding-Hearn and Propulsion Data Services, and Class oversight by Lloyd’s Register, the refit is scheduled for completion in mid-2023.Among the myriad items to be removed…

Wärtsilä Voyage, part of the technology group Wärtsilä, launches Smart Realities a fully immersive extended reality (XR) training and assessment solution for ship handling, bridge and marine engineering applicationsAccording to Wärtsilä, Smart Realities applications can transform the way that maritime educational content is delivered, enhancing student learning and engagement, and inspiring a new generation of tech-savvy mariners as the shipping industry continues to adopt the latest intelligent and green technologies.

When it came time to replace their 50-year-old station vessel New York, the Sandy Hook Pilots Association thought long and hard, weighing their options to determine the best possible solution. They traveled the country, to Houston, San Francisco and up to the Columbia River, and even to Europe—the Elbe River in Germany and Rotterdam in the Netherlands—to ride with other pilots in search of an answer.“We looked at everything from SWATH (small-waterplane-area twin hull) boats to helicopters to big boats in Europe…

A vessel that formerly operated as an oil spill response vessel has been converted to a pilot station vessel and delivered to the United New York & New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Association.The conversion work was performed by Feeney Shipyard of Kingston, N.Y., and design and engineering work for the project was led by JMS Naval Architects, of Mystic, Conn. The 208-foot vessel, previously known as Maine Responder, has been renamed New York, and it will go to work for the Sandy Hook pilots…

JMS Naval Architects informs conversion work is nearly completed of the former oil spill response vessel OSRV Maine Responder to a pilot station vessel for Sandy Hook Pilots Association of Staten Island, N.Y. The conversion work contract was competitively awarded to Feeney Shipyard of Kingston, N.Y.The Sandy Hook pilots have been piloting ships in the New York harbor for more than 300 years. They operate a pilot station boat by Ambrose Light year-round and in all weather conditions.

UK-based shipping company Scotline Marine Holdings has ordered newbuilding number 750 to be named Scot Ranger with Swedish/Finnish Ice Class 1A at Dutch shipyard Royal Bodewes Group.After the successful delivery of the Scot Carrier in November 2018, construction of the second vessel, Scot Explorer, started February 2019, said a press release.Scot Explorer is seen here with the aft section leaving the brand-new production facilities at the Royal Bodewes Shipyard site at Hoogezand. The vessel is expected to be launched in October 2019 with final delivery shortly afterwards.The Scot Explorer, a 4800 dwt Bodewes Trader type, with Swedish/Finnish…

When talk turns to ‘Maritime Simulation’ visions of high-tech bridge simulators with seamless graphics and interwoven component simulators – engine room, DP systems, cargo loading – come to mind. But modern simulation is so much more, a wholistic visual, audio, tactile and cereberal experience that prepares mariners to deal with a bevy of real-world situations. Modern maritime simulation has evolved rapidly, driven by exponential leaps in computer and graphic display power, a…

Two maritime pilots who defied fire to bring a burning ship to safety, averting a major maritime catastrophe, received the 2017 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea during the 2017 IMO awards ceremony, held on Monday (27 November). Pilots Captain Michael G. McGee and Captain Michael C. Phillips, from Houston, United States, were recognized for their role in averting a major tragedy in September 2016. The ship they were piloting, the 247 meters-long tanker Aframax River, broke down in the Houston Ship Channel in the middle of the night and burst into flames after colliding with mooring dolphins. Captain McGee and Captain Phillips were surrounded by a towering wall of burning fuel as the raging fire quickly spread across the channel…

In October the world’s ferry operators gathered in Split Croatia for the Forty Second Annual Interferry Conference. The 470 or so delegates represented 210 operators and support companies from 27 countries. A trade show included firms from around the world including shipbuilders, naval architects, equipment suppliers, training and others of the diverse group that make up the ferry industry. In a panel on Mediterranean Ferries, Philippe Holthof, of the Belgian-based Shipax explained the huge size and complexity of the fleet.

A new 40-meter catamaran passenger ferry has been launched in China to be operated by Sea’s Young in Hong Kong. Designed by Incat Crowther and built by Wang Tak, Shi Zi Yang 7 is a 199-passenger ferry that has been designed and built to compete in the tough domestic Chinese market where speed, comfort and efficiency are paramount, the designer said. The design features an efficient semi-SWATH hull form. Its deck plan keeps superstructure to a minimum, with hull cross structure eliminated where not required. Shi Zi Yang 7’s main boarding zones are port and starboard aft, whereupon passengers enter the main cabin via an area that houses crew mess, bathrooms, luggage racks and a small kiosk. Forward of this, an open cabin features 139 seats.

RADM David Callahan for the US Coast Guard (USCG) 8th District presented Meritorious Public Service Awards to two Houston Pilots - Captains Michael McGee and Michael Phiilips - for their bravery last September aboard the crippled and burning tanker AFRAMAX RIVER. The USCG ceremony highlighted the fifth annual meeting of the Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee, announced Captain Robert M. Shearon, presiding officer -- Houston Pilots. Captain McGee and Captain Phillips were dispatched September 6 to the M/T AFRAMAX RIVER at Houston Fuel Oil Berth 3. Due to its large size, this massive tanker required two pilots. Capt. McGee was conning the…

Too much speed and too steep of an angle of approach resulted in the May 8, 2016, allision involving the cruise ship Carnival Pride in which more than $2 million in property damage occurred, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) marine accident brief released Tuesday. No fatalities, injuries or damage to the environment were reported in connection with the Carnival Pride’s allision with the pier at Cruise Maryland Terminal, South Locust Point, Baltimore Harbor, Md.

Two members of the Houston Pilots in the United States are to receive the 2017 International Maritime Organization (IMO)  Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea. The pair will be recognized for their role in averting a major tragedy when the ship they were piloting broke down and burst into flames after colliding with mooring dolphins. Despite being surrounded by a towering wall of burning fuel for nearly 90 minutes, pilots Captain Michael G. McGee and Captain Michael C. Phillips showed decisiveness, dedication and ship-handling expertise. As a result of their courageous actions, no lives were lost, serious damage to pier structures and petro-chemical facilities were prevented and a major marine pollution incident was avoided.

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation has supplied a suite of products to Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility, the largest offshore facility ever constructed. Prelude, which is 488 meters long, 74 meters wide, and made with more than 260,000 tons of steel, will extract and liquefy natural gas from a site in North West Australia. Trelleborg supplied its gas transfer technology and SafePilot navigational and piloting systems for Prelude. “Our SafePilot solution, SSL, ESL and radio ESD for tandem condensate offload have been used on Shell’s Prelude FLNG…

There are countless examples of how an over reliance of GPS navigation and the electronic charting systems, as well as the use of dead reckoning without a known fixed starting point – instead “eyeballing” the situation – are leading vessels in to danger. August 21, 2017 was the Great American Eclipse, and the science fiction fantasy fan in me wondered if this is when I would get my superpowers back. The navigator in me pondered if I was in the zone of totality and took a sight of the sun and moon, at the moment of totality would it count as two lines of position on my chart.

The next stage of construction for the second of the two new expedition ships for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises has been set in motion with a keel laying ceremony for the HANSEATIC inspiration held on October 18, 2017, in the Romanian port of Tulcea. The cruise line’s CEO, Karl J. Pojer, laid a specially produced coin in the first steel block of what will become the ship’s hull. As with its sister ship, the HANSEATIC nature, the coin was welded into the block and will bring the new vessel good fortune on all future expeditions. The keel laying of the HANSEATIC inspiration at the Vard shipyard in Romania will be followed by more milestones, such as the float-out of the hull and the completion of the external construction work.

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation has supplied the Association of Maryland Pilots with SafePilot Portable Pilot Units (PPUs) and a Port System server solution to facilitate consistent, real-time information sharing between almost 70 pilots. The SafePilot system is part of Trelleborg’s Smarter Product Portfolio, which its marine systems operation is evolving to support the ‘Port of the Future’. The Association of Maryland Pilots serves the Chesapeake Bay, the longest pilotage route on the East Coast of the United States, with its nearly 200 miles of waters. The scale of the waters put particular demands on the operational battery time the piloting equipment requires.

A quiet watch was the expectation for Leading Seaman Boatswains Mate James Cole in patrol boat HMAS Glenelg, but what he got was a lesson in ocean rescue for some entangled wildlife. “I stepped on to the bridge wing to get some fresh air and as I did, I noticed a net floating past,” he said. “As I looked closer, I saw that it was moving – there were three large sea turtles caught in the net,” Leading Seaman Cole said. A call was quickly made to Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Gary List, who decided to stop the boat and attempt to rescue the turtles. Glenelg launched one of her rigid hull inflatable boats with three sailors on board.