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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Howard News

27 Mar 2024

Pilot Called for Tugboat Help Before Baltimore Bridge Disaster

Source: US Army Corps of Engineers

The pilot of the container ship that knocked down a highway bridge into Baltimore Harbor had radioed for tugboat help and reported a power loss minutes earlier, federal safety officials said on Wednesday, citing audio from the ship's "black box" data recorder.The head of the National Transportation Safety Board also said that Francis Scott Key Bridge, a traffic artery over the harbor built in 1976, lacked structural engineering redundancies common to newer spans, making it more…

27 Mar 2024

Divers Recover Two Bodies After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies.

Divers on Wednesday recovered the remains of two of the six workers missing since they were tossed into Baltimore Harbor from a highway bridge that collapsed into shipping lanes when a faltering cargo freighter rammed into the structure, officials said on Wednesday.The bodies were pulled from the mouth of the Patapsco River a day after the massive container ship lost power and its ability to maneuver before plowing into a support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, knocking…

27 Mar 2024

Authorities Warned of Ship Approach Moments Before Baltimore Bridge Collapse

(Photo: David Adams / U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Federal investigators on Wednesday examined the cargo ship that crashed into a Baltimore bridge while emergency teams searched for bodies and details emerged of the intense efforts to save lives in the minutes before the steel span collapsed."Hold all traffic on the Key Bridge. There's a ship approaching that just lost their steering," someone said on police radio minutes before the 1:30 a.m. crash on Tuesday.While voices were heard discussing next steps, including alerting any work crews to leave the bridge…

26 Mar 2024

Six Presumed Dead After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies.

Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crippled by a power loss rammed into the structure, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident, U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland…

26 Mar 2024

Cargo Ship Lost Power Before Slamming Bridge in Baltimore

Collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore (Credit: Screenshot/StreamTime Live)

A massive cargo ship smashed into a bridge while sailing out of Baltimore early on Tuesday, sending cars and people into the river below and closing one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.Rescuers pulled out two survivors, one of whom was hospitalized, and searched for more in the Patapsco River after huge metal spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the icy water around 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT).The ship reported a power issue before impact…

03 Jan 2024

Jonathan Daniels to Lead Port of Baltimore

Jonathan Daniels (Photo: Maryland Department of Transportation)

Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld has announced Jonathan Daniels as the new executive director of the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Maryland Port Administration. Daniels comes to Maryland after serving as chief executive officer and director at Port Everglades in Broward County, Fla., and has more than 30 years of port and economic development experience.Daniels will begin in his new position February 5, taking over from Brian Miller, who has been serving…

18 Dec 2023

The Man Behind the 'Jones Act'

Senator Wesley Livsey Jones (Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, photograph by Harris and Ewing, [LC-DIG-hec-15427])

Senator Wesley Livsey Jones gave his name to the famous “Jones Act” governing U.S. domestic maritime trade. But what do really know about him? It turns out that he was much more than a leading merchant marine policy maker. (i)Jones had a long career in the U.S. House of Representatives before he was a Senator, was an effective legislator, an astute politician, one of the hardest working legislators of his era, and always viewed as honest and forthright. His many maritime legislative successes included the Merchant Marine Act…

03 Dec 2023

Houthis Attack Commercial Ships, US Warship in the Red Sea

RED SEA (Oct. 19, 2023) Sailors aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) stand watch in the ship's combat information center during an operation to defeat a combination of Houthi missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in the Red Sea, Oct. 19, 2023. (Source: US Navy)

The Pentagon said it was aware of reports regarding attacks on an American warship and commercial vessels in the Red Sea on Sunday, as Yemen's Houthi group claimed drone and missile attacks on two Israeli vessels in the area."We're aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available," the Pentagon said.Yemen's Houthi movement said its navy had attacked two Israeli ships, Unity Explorer and Number 9…

17 May 2023

Alaska LNG Project Clears Legal Hurdle

(Image: Alaska LNG)

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit filed by environmental groups challenging federal approvals needed to construct a $39 billion project that would move natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope across the state.A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's review of plans for the state-run Alaska Gasline Development Corp's project satisfied the National Environmental Policy Act requirements to take a hard look at environmental impacts of major proposals…

16 Mar 2023

Bibby Marine Appoints Woodcock as Non-executive Director

Howard Woodcock (Photo: Bibby Marine)

U.K. based vessel owner and operator Bibby Marine announced it has appointed Howard Woodcock as non-executive director.Howard has more than 35 years’ experience across the maritime and offshore energies sectors, having held senior executive roles with United Offshore Support (GmbH) and Bibby Offshore Holdings Limited, in addition to non-executive directorships with Aberdeen Harbor Board, Costcutter Supermarkets Group, IndoChina ShipManagement UK Ltd and AWSR Shipping Limited.In his most recent role…

25 Jan 2023

Armach Robotics Promotes John Dunn to COO

John Dunn (Photo: Armach Robotics)

Armach Robotics announced it has promoted its operations VP John Dunn to chief operating officer.Armach, which uses small autonomous robots to keep ships clean and collect hull data that can inform future maintenance and operations, hired Dunn when the company was launched in late 2021, as a spin-off company by marine software company Greensea Systems.In his new role, Dunn continues to play a central role in further developing and overseeing Armach’s ongoing business operations.

24 Jan 2023

Subsea Mining Plans Pit Renewable Energy Demand Against Ocean Life

Deep sea sponges and other creatures live on and among valuable manganese nodules like this one that could be mined from the seafloor. ROV KIEL 6000/GEOMAR

As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed.A wealth of these metals can be found in manganese nodules that look like cobblestones scattered across wide areas of deep ocean seabed. But the fragile ecosystems deep in the oceans are little understood…

12 Jan 2023

Manson Construction Names Ray EHS Director

Forrest Ray (Photo: Manson Construction)

Seattle-based dredging and marine construction contractor Manson Construction announced it has named Forrest Ray as its new director of environmental health and safety, effective January 1, 2023.Ray succeeds Dave Howard, who will retire this Spring after 18 years of service at Manson. Howard will work in an advisory role until his last day, scheduled for March 7, guiding Ray through the transition.Ray, who has worked at Manson since 2011, will continue to be based out of the company's Jacksonville, Fla. office.

04 Oct 2022

Proactive Ship Hull Cleaning: Bellona and Armach Partner Up

Armach Robotics' Hull Cleanier - Credit: Armach Robotics

"Biofouling is a global problem, and to solve a global problem we need to collaborate globally. This collaboration aims to accelerate the uptake of proactive hull cleaning, as well as to understand the limits and risks with such solutions, say CEO of Bellona, Hallstein Havåg and VP Growth and Strategy at Armach Robotics, Rob Howard.The build-up of marine life on ships’ hulls – biofouling – is an age-old problem for the environment, for ship operators, and for the international shipping industry.

28 Jul 2022

Syrian Ship Carrying 'Stolen Ukrainian Barley, Flour' Docks in Lebanon

A Syrian ship under U.S. sanctions has docked in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli carrying barley and wheat that the Ukrainian embassy in Beirut told Reuters on Thursday had been plundered by Russia from Ukrainian stores.The Laodicea docked in Tripoli on Wednesday, according to shipping data website MarineTraffic."The ship has traveled from a Crimean port that is closed to international shipping, carrying 5,000 tonnes of barley and 5,000 tonnes of flour that we suspect was taken from Ukrainian stores," the embassy told Reuters."This is the first time a shipment of stolen grains and flour reaches Lebanon," the statement said.Russia has previously denied the allegations that it has stolen Ukrainian grain.

25 Jul 2022

Terminals at Port of Oakland Resume Regular Hours

© Eric BVD / Adobe Stock

Marine terminals at California's Port of Oakland reopened for regular weekday hours on Monday after independent truckers formally ended a week-long protest of the state's new "gig worker" law that stranded cargo on ships, docks and warehouses, worsening U.S. supply chain snarls."All of our marine terminals are open this morning and operations are normal," a port spokesman said.The law, formally known as AB5, would make it harder for businesses that rely on freelance workers, also known as gig workers…

04 May 2022

Robotic Hull-cleaning Firm Armach Announces Key Appointment

Karl Lander - promoted to Director, Regulatory Compliance and Outreach of Armach Robotics - Credit: Armach Robotics

Following its public launch in March 2022, Armach Robotics, the robotic hull-cleaning subscription service has now promoted Karl Lander to Director, Regulatory Compliance and Outreach.Lander is a 25-year maritime veteran including 20 years in the US Coast Guard. He joined Armach as Senior Program Manager from sister company Greensea Systems where he served as Director, Hull Robotics. In his new role, Lander will be responsible for working with ship owners, maritime regulatory organizations…

28 Apr 2022

Greensea Promotes Howard to Chief Growth Officer

Greensea promoted Rob Howard to the role of Chief Growth Officer. Photo courtesy Greensea

Greensea appointed Rob Howard as Chief Growth Officer. Currently Howard is VP Growth & Strategy for Greensea’s sister company Armach Robotics, and Howard’s appointment to Greensea in this newly created role will ensure the company is able to exploit its future potential within the business of marine robotics."When we created the open architecture OPENSEA software platform for marine robotics we acknowledged the opportunities to drive growth outside our traditional defense market," said Ben Kinnaman, Founder and CEO, Greensea.

31 Oct 2022

Armach Robotics Set to Take the Pole Position on Ship Hull Maintenance, Intelligence

Image courtesy Armach Robotics

Melding advanced software, intelligence, robotics and navigation, Armach Robotics – a spinoff of Greensea Systems – leads a step change in ship hull cleaning and maintenance with its Robotics as a Service model. Ben Kinnaman, the CEO of Greensea Systems, explains.Ben, to start us off, please give us a background on Armach Robotics? Where did the idea come from and where are we today?Greensea Systems is a software company, well-known for our software platform on ocean robotics. We're also well-known for our unique navigation and autonomy solutions.

08 Mar 2022

Greensea Launches Hull Cleaning Spin-off Armach Robotics

Armach’s small form factor hull service robot is man portable and promises near to 100% hull cleaning coverage. (Photo: Armach Robotics Inc)

Marine software pioneer Greensea Systems Inc. has launched spin-off company Armach Robotics, that capitalizes on Greensea’s digital expertise to offer a subscription model robotic hull cleaning system using autonomy, intelligence and data fusion to tackle biofouling.Armach Robotics is not a technology company and does not sell robots; it is a service provider offering a subscription for clean hulls and hull intelligence. Its resident cleaning robots to ships, ports, harbors and…

03 Mar 2022

Russian Billionaire's Yacht Stuck in Hamburg Shipyard

© Olaf Gedanitz / Adobe Stock

A luxury yacht linked to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who faces EU sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is sitting in a shipyard in the German port of Hamburg and local authorities said there were no plans to deliver it to its owner.Hamburg authorities denied that they had seized the more-than-500-foot (150 meter) Dilbar superyacht, which boasts a 25-meter swimming pool and is worth nearly $600 million. Forbes had reported on Wednesday that it had been undergoing…

24 Feb 2022

U.S. Sanctions Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO

Matthias Warnig, Chief Executive Officer of Nord Stream 2 AG (Image Cropped) / Source © Nord Stream 2  Wolfram Scheible

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on the company in charge of building Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, expanding penalties on Moscow after it recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.The sanctions, which target the Nord Stream 2 AG company and its CEO, Matthias Warnig, add to pressure on the Baltic Sea project that was designed to double the gas flow capacity from Russia to Germany.Europe's most divisive energy project, Nord Stream 2 has not begun operations pending certification by Germany and the European Union.Germany on Tuesday halted the pipeline…

23 Feb 2022

Army Corps Announces Industry Days

© rmarinello / Adobe Stock

The US Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) announced four upcoming Industry Days. (Check SAM.gov for details).The St. Louis District Industry Day is Wednesday, March 2, 2022, 9:00AM to 5:00PM at the Engineering Center of St. Louis. Topics will cover ACE projects and opportunities within other agencies. ACE leadership will participate, and ACE will host one-on-one afternoon briefings covering specific topics. Advance registration is required. Use this link:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022…