Harbor Area News

ABB has secured an order with Portsmouth International Port to supply a shore connection solution for visiting ferries and cruise ships as part of the UK port’s Sea Change project.Shore connection allows visiting ferries and cruise ships to avoid emissions by connecting to the shoreside electrical grid while in port, supporting the Portsmouth’s port aim to be the first in the UK to be zero emissions by 2030.The initiative is part of the port’s Sea Change project to design, build…

The wreck of a World War II-era freighter has been discovered in over 600 feet of water around 35 miles north of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula.Over the last 7 years, shipwreck researcher Dan Fountain has been studying remote sensing data in the search for shipwrecks in Lake Superior. After coming across a particularly deep anomaly, he reached out to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) for help in identifying the potential wreck. In 2023 GLSHS Director of Marine Operations…

Marine construction specialist company Herbosch-Kiere has chosen Bawat’s Mobile containerized ballast water management system (BWMS) for its reception facility to serve its entire fleet of vessels and barges. Herbosch-Kiere tested the world’s first Mobile BWMS from Bawat in the spring of 2020, and the company has now decided to purchase one of its own to serve a fleet of multiple ships and barges.Pieter Nagels, Head of Vessel and Plant Department at Herbosch-Kiere, said, "We were…

An ocean liner barred from returning to port in San Francisco due to a coronavirus outbreak on board will dock briefly at a nearby terminal in Oakland, where passengers will be unloaded and sent on to medical and quarantine sites elsewhere, officials said on Sunday.The cruise ship Grand Princess, whose guests have been largely confined to their staterooms since Thursday, is due to arrive at the Port of Oakland on Monday to begin immediately disgorging its 2,400 passengers, California Governor Gavin Newsom told a news conference.Nearly all 1…

Tramarsa has taken delivery of a Damen Cutter Suction Dredger (CSD) 450. Tramarsa will be providing the tools to its subsidiary company Salaverry Terminal Internacional (STI), which will be using the new vessel for maintenance dredging tasks in the Port of Salaverry, Peru.The purchase of the new Damen CSD450 relates to the 30-year contract that STI was awarded for delivering port services at the Port of Salaverry. This contract includes maintenance dredging to keep the harbor at a suitable depth…

ABS has been selected to class two Offshore Supply Vessels (OSV) being retrofitted with a battery/converter system by Harvey Gulf International Marine.The Harvey Energy will become the first ABS-classed dual fuel and battery vessel and the first U.S. flagged OSV equipped with a battery/converter system. The Harvey Supporter will become the second vessel in the Harvey Gulf fleet to have a battery power system.The battery installation, which is expected to achieve the ABS class notation ESS-LiBATTERY…

On 16 April 1947, in the port of Texas City, Texas, the freighter GRANDCAMP, with a cargo of ammonium nitrate, small arms ammunition, machinery, and sisal twine, caught fire. The fire quickly spread to the nearby freighter HIGH FLYER, loaded with ammonium nitrate and sulfur. When the two ships exploded, it largely flattened the harbor area. It is estimated that over 600 people died in the explosion and fires (exact numbers were unattainable due to the extent of damage). The US Coast Guard investigation of the casualty determined that the fire was initiated by unauthorized smoking in the cargo hold of the GRANDCAMP. It recommended, among other things, that regulations for carriage of dangerous goods be revised.(Source: Bryant's Maritime Newsletter)

Harvey Energy, the first platform supply vessel (PSV) to be fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) will become the first PSV in the Americas to be hybrid retrofitted. The vessel's owner, Louisiana-based Harvey Gulf International Marine, has ordered an energy storage solution from the technology group Wärtsilä to significantly enhance Harvey Energy's efficiency and environmental performance.The installation of a Wärtsilä 1450 kW battery hybrid solution will reduce the ship’s exhaust emissions, fuel consumption, and noise level.

Norway's leading cargo and ferry port, the Port of Oslo has placed an order to build one of the world’s most environmental efficient working boats possible, with Grovfjord Ship Yard.The boat is especially designed for efficient collection of waste at the water surface. The contract sum is NOK 23 million. Expected delivery is December 2019.Norway's shipbuilding and maintenance services has previously built the world's first full-electric fish farming boat."Today the boat "Pelikan" keeps our harbor area clean and tidy. The new environmental boat replaces the old port environmental boat, which during the course of 30 years has picked up about 1…

ESVAGT UK has appointed Ian Taylor as iUK Regional Director.Taylor brings many years of shipping experience and a considerable amount of ESVAGT knowledge to ESVAGT’s UK office at Dock Gate House in the heart of Aberdeen’s harbor area. As a Chartered Shipbroker, he has been handling contracts with ESVAGT for North Sea Charterers for the past decade.Having ‘sold’ ESVAGT to clients for years, getting onboard full time was an easy step. “It is a company I have known well for several years,” Taylor said. “ESVAGT has a significant presence in the U.K.

Congressman French Hill (AR-2) joined Mayor Mark Stodola to celebrate the official announcement of the a $6.185M TIGER grant awarded by the US Department of Transportation to the Little Rock Port Authority. The funds will be used to support the Little Rock Port Authority Growth Initiative to construct improvements to the existing slackwater harbor area, including a new dock with direct dock-to-rail capability; and add new rail storage. “We are celebrating today because getting a TIGER grant is a big deal,” said Congressman French Hill. “The Little Rock Port Authority through the leadership of our board of directors and staff have helped mold the Little Rock Port Authority into an economic engine for our central Arkansas economy, said Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola. U.S.

A challenge for designers or an emergency response vessel is deciding to what type of emergency the boat will respond. The designers at the non-government Marine Engineering Bureau in Odessa Ukraine have fitted a very wide range of capabilities into their 31.73 by 9.7-meter tug. The vessel’s beams and 4.1-meter molded depth will give it the stability for handling heavy ships. The azimuthing stern drive tug will be ready to handle a wide range of services. These will range from towing various objects to auxiliary operations in the harbor area.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox today announced 40 awards totaling nearly $500 million in funding for the  FY 2016 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants. Of the 585 applications submitted totaling $9.3 billion in requests, six awards totaling $61.8 million – or about 12.36 percent of the total funding – are going to commercial seaports or projects that directly aid the efficient movement of goods to and from America’s ports. Port applications totaled 9 percent, or 53, of the total 585 submitted. In his written statement, Sec. Foxx said, “For the eighth year running, TIGER will inject critical infrastructure dollars into communities across the country.

The two main construction projects in the Marseille harbor area of leading French port Marseille Fos are nearing completion following a decisive stage in works costing almost €64 million ($70.6 mln) that will cater for mega-ships by enlarging the Passe Nord port entrance and recommissioning the giant No.10 drydock. The drydock has been flooded for the first time since work started in January 2014 to enable flotation of a new 9,100 tonne dock gate and three 4,500 tonne caissons – under construction there since March - that will form the remodelled ends of sea walls guarding the harbor entrance.

A Coast Guard boatcrew was hit by a green laser light while underway near the Squalicum Harbor area of Bellingham, Wednesday night, ending a valuable training opportunity due to medical concerns. The crew aboard a 45-foot Response Boat - Medium, from Coast Guard Station Bellingham, had to return to base and a backup boatcrew had to be called to stand the remainder of the watch. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound were notified of the incident by the affected boatcrew at 8:30 p.m. The incident cancelled the scheduled routine operations with a helicopter crew from Air Station Port Angeles. "Boat and helicopter operators can be temporarily blinded by green laser lights during night operations," said Cmdr. Brian Meier, Sector Puget Sound Response Department head.

Italian tug operator Rimorchiatori Riuniti has recently placed an order with the Damen Shipyards Group for two ASD Tugs 2913. Rimorchiatori Riuniti operates more than 100 vessels across a range of maritime sectors, including harbor towage and offshore. Amongst the company’s fleet are a number of Damen vessels. The most recent Damen vessel to join the Rimorchiatori Riuniti  fleet was an ASD Tug 2411, delivered to the client in September 2014. This was the company’s third Damen vessel, making the ASD Tugs 2913 numbers four and five respectively.

The Port of Los Angeles has entered a long-term agreement with Hecate Energy Harborside LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hecate Energy LLC (HECATE), to build, operate, and maintain photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems (PV Systems) that will generate electricity at multiple site locations within the Port. The PV Systems will feed clean energy to the utility grid operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). "This solar project is a perfect example of our city departments doing their part to adopt my Sustainable City plan," said Mayor Eric Garcetti. The agreement supports the Port’s larger goals under the San Pedro…

The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to the report of a missing person and capsized vessel in the Upper Mississippi River, Monday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Upper Mississippi River received the report Sunday at approximately 7:30 p.m of a capsized towing vessel at mile marker 173 on the Upper Mississippi River. Reports state three people were aboard the towboat and that two were rescued by the St. Louis Fire Department. The 61-foot towing vessel, Charlie Boy has approximately 9,350 gallons of fuel and other oils on board. Sector Upper Mississippi River issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast and has closed the waterway from mile marker 165 to 178. There are no vessels in the queue at this time.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the completion of all cleanup work required to remove Waukegan Harbor from the binational list of Great Lakes Areas of Concern. EPA Regional Administrator Susan Hedman was joined for the announcement at Waukegan Harbor by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, U.S. Representative Brad Schneider and Mayor Wayne Motley. Waukegan Harbor was one of 43 contaminated sites on the Great Lakes designated as a Great Lakes Area of Concern by the United States and Canada under the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. “Today is a great day for Waukegan Harbor and for Lake Michigan,” Hedman said.

Several petroleum-stained pelicans rescued from the blackened muck of California's latest oil spill spent the day on Friday being gently, painstakingly scrubbed clean at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Los Angeles. The six pelicans brought this week to the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center in the city's San Pedro harbor area were the first known surviving wildlife casualties from a pipeline rupture on Tuesday about 150 miles away near Santa Barbara. They were to be joined soon by two more oil-contaminated pelicans from the spill zone, said Christine Fiorello, a veterinarian from the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at the University of California, Davis.

Diesel air pollution from ships, trucks, trains and other big machines at the Port of Long Beach has declined by 82 percent since 2005, a comprehensive air quality analysis has found. The report – which focuses on 2013 – shows seven straight years of steadily declining air pollution from goods movement in the harbor area. Compared to emissions levels in 2005 — when the port adopted its Green Port Policy — all of the key air pollutants from port-related sources have declined in 2013.

With the wharf fire in Wilmington now more than 90 percent contained, terminals at the Port of Los Angeles plan to resume full operations Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. informs the Port. Only the Pasha terminal at Berth 177, the location of the fire, will remain closed. Nearby Yusen Terminals International will reopen at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning. “I’d like to thank the brave men and women from several agencies that are doing an extraordinary job keeping Harbor Area residents and workers safe while preventing further damage from this stubborn fire,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. “The Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Port Police, the Long Beach Fire  and Police departments, U.S.

Port Manatee and its stakeholders look to benefit from full federal funding of a feasibility study related to deepening of its channel and harbor area, the port said. Manatee Harbor, near the Gulf of Mexico entrance to Tampa Bay, is one of only 10 waterways in the continental United States identified for such U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funding in the fiscal 2016 civil works budget announced by President Obama Monday, February 2. “Port Manatee is deeply appreciative of this funding…