Hq News

The American Bureau of Shipping dominates the global market in the classification of Floating Production. Offshore Engineer recently sat with Matt Tremblay, ABS’ Vice President of Global Offshore Markets, at American Bureau of Shipping HQ in Houston for his insights on market drivers and technical trends in this dynamic market.Matt, big picture, how do you see the Floating Production market developing in the coming years?At a macro level, I think we're going to be supply limited over the next five years.

HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions) has announced Alex Delamere-White’s official appointment as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), following six months as acting interim CCO.Based out of the new HX HQ in London, Delamere-White will bring the global functions under one leadership model to further fuel HX’s long-term growth plans, including newly evolved roles for Nathaniel Sherborne and Jim Sayer. Sayer is appointed to SVP Global Marketing bringing together the global marketing functions under his leadership.

This is the dawning of the age of AI and Big Data, huge agglomerations of new and transformative energy; almost self-generating, always strengthening and pulling at the reins, seeking to break free and run, a prospect both exciting and terrifying. That image can imply a human is holding the reins. How quaint: these days, AI itself may be holding the reins.In a review of innovation in 2023 – across any industrial or economic sector, not just maritime – AI looms large, a game-changer equivalent to IBM’s programming advances in the 1940s.

Ukraine struck a large Russian landing warship in Crimea with cruise missiles in an overnight attack that killed at least one person and could hinder any Russian attempt to seize more Ukrainian territory along the Black Sea coast.The Russian defence ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said Ukraine had used air-launched missiles to attack the Crimean port of Feodosia and that the Novocherkassk large landing ship had been damaged.Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had briefed President Vladimir Putin in detail about the attack, the Kremlin said.

COLI Group’s subsidiary Asia Break Bulk (Singapore) has entered a strategic partnership with CSL Shipping (China) to market CSL’s multi-purpose carrier Jian Yang Hua Qing.The vessel has 2 x 250mt cranes for loading breakbulk, heavy lift and project cargo and is already active for both companies.Felix Peinemann, Managing Director of the COLI Group, said the partnership will expand our footprint in the multi-purpose (MPP) market. “COLI is steadily expanding its activities to offer clients more sailing possibilities and increase its footprint in the Chinese market.

When asked about the top issues facing shipbuilders, executives at the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) listed a number of topics and concerns. SCA is the only national trade association representing U.S. shipyards engaged in the building and repairing of military and other government and commercial vessels, and companies providing goods and services to the shipbuilding industry.Shutdowns have consequencesMatthew Paxton and Paula Zorensky are, respectively, SCA President and Vice President. Their top federal concern at the end of September? A U.S.

I. MoneyNo one ever said it’s easy to understand federal budgets and spending plans. Nevertheless, a general sense of clarity and straightforwardness is critical for any review of public expenditures. This becomes more pressing when tracking revenue and expenditures linked to specific users’ fees, such as the $0.29/gallon fuel tax, paid by inland waterways operators. In 2021, the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) held $221.5 million, money earmarked to build, maintain and operate…

Marine electric drives manufacturer Torqeedo GmbH celebrated the grand opening of a brand-new 8,300 m2 building near Munich where all company activities, including research, development, and production, will now take place.Fabian Bez, Torqeedo's chief executive officer, said, Whether by road, rail, air or water, sustainable forms of propulsion are needed to achieve the climate targets. In the transport sector, in particular, there is still a lot to be done. As Torqeedo, we recognized this trend early on and developed battery-electric drives for watercraft.

Satellite communications solutions company Intellian is set to launch another factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, marking an expansion of the company’s HQ base. The new factory, expected to be operational from August 2022, is located 4 km from the existing factory."The new facility and existing factory will run simultaneously, providing unparalleled production capacity of all existing product lines across maritime and land sectors, including gateway antenna systems, and the recently announced range of flat panel antennas.

On January 18, 2022, federal, state, and local officials gathered to mark the signing of a Project Partnering Agreement for the Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico project that was executed on December 28, 2021 to kick-off federal-led construction for the project.The Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico project aims to provide risk reduction for people and property as well as the remaining fragile marsh from hurricane storm surge in the vicinity of Houma, Louisiana. It received $12.46 million funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to develop and execute a Project Partnership Agreement…

For many, the path to Subchapter M compliance has been anything but smooth sailing. And while progress has been made through the growing pains, some feel it’s time for the U.S. Coast Guard to pump the brakes.A funny thing happened on the way to compliance. We all learned that nobody was quite ready for Subchapter M.Sure, we had gone through the law with a fine-toothed combed and had self-inspected vessels and trained crews, but we were all surprised by interpretations.Third party organizations (TPO) have done their best to set up systems and satisfy paying customers and the U.S.

Trelleborg said its marine and infrastructure operation in North America has recently moved into its new sales office in Houston, Texas, in a move aimed at meeting the growing demands across all North American markets and providing more localized and coordinated customer support for its complimentary product offerings, which include marine fender systems, docking and mooring equipment, transfer link systems, and navigation and piloting solutions.The new 8,600-square-foot office located on the west side of Houston places Trelleborg in the heart of the Houston metro area.

Electric drives manufacturer  announced it has broken ground on its new headquarters and production facilities in the Munich metro area on Wednesday.Construction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, and the site will consist of 3,720 square meters of office space, with a mix of co-working spaces and on-site offices, 4,800 square meters of warehouse, production, and research and development area.Dr. Ralf Plieninger, managing director of Torqeedo, said, "The new facilities will allow direct contact and exchange between various departments.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is working with industry partners to create and sustain an injury-free workplace and safety-first culture for the men and women who work in dredging and marine construction.On June 3 in Washington, D.C., the USACE inked a strengthened partnership agreement with the national safety voice for the dredging and marine construction industry, the Council for Dredging and Marine Construction Safety (CDMCS), and the groups discussed ways to meet shared safety goals.

The Sabine Pilots Association on Monday formally opened its new headquarters located in Port Arthur, TexasThe new structure is designed and built to enable the Sabine Pilots to handle the growth and challenges of expanding shipping demands on their waterway.Present at the opening ceremony were some 500 maritime community stakeholders as well as elected and appointed governmental and port area leaders. Speakers were Captain Charles A. Tweedel, President of the Sabine Pilots, and Father Sinclair Oubre' of the Port Arthur Seafarer Center and Apostleship of the Sea…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is evaluating remote operation of locks within the U.S. inland waterways system. Timetables are hazy, but the Corps plans to include remote operations capabilities during rehabilitations or new construction, in the work planned, for example, in the Upper Ohio Navigation Project, part of the USACE’s Pittsburgh District.In fact, the first install project is being readied at Lock & Dam 4 on the Monongahela River. L&D 4 is also known as Charleroi Locks and Dam because it’s at Charleroi, Pa, at river mile 41.5, between Pittsburgh and Fairmont, W.Va.

Who do you call when you need a job done on short notice, in total darkness, under 100-percent ice cover, thousands of meters at the bottom of the sea? In the case of the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), you call your friends in Norway.That is exactly what the Chief of Naval Research Rear Admiral Lorin C. Selby did when he enlisted the help of the Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel, the CGV Svalbard, to retrieve oceanographic moorings containing irreplaceable data.

A social media post has falsely claimed the Ever Given ship that blocked the Suez Canal is carrying nuclear weapons. There is no evidence to support this – and Evergreen Line, the company leasing the vessel, told Reuters the allegation is false. The original post has now been removed from Facebook; however, other accounts have shared a screenshot. It claims information has been leaked in the Netherlands that the “EVERGREEN was loaded with WEAPONS and NUKES”. Comments left underneath suggest some users believe the claim to be true. “This is getting deep. More tentacles than an octopus.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. announced Thursday it is moving its corporate headquarters to Houston, positioning the nation’s largest dredging services provider nearer to major regional projects and opportunities. The firm will also open regional offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Staten Island, N.Y.The move to Houston from from Oak Brook, Ill., which stems in part from changing industry dynamics, places the company closer to key regional customers and new markets, especially along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River…

Norway’s Island Offshore broke free from the enforced conservatism of the E&P sector, adding not just a new ship to its fleet, but one that re-writes the rulebook in capabilities, technology and despite its size and power, environmental credentials.Simply put, Island Offshore’s new deep water installation Vessel ‘Island Victory’ is the most powerful multi-purpose offshore vessel ever built; a point proven during bollard pull tests conducted by its builder VARD last November with a towing power of 477 tonnes recorded…

Offshore wind (OSW) energy is a new focus for the U.S. under President Biden, who highlighted it in his January 27, 2021 Executive Order on climate. Since then, there have been several new supporting developments:Rulings by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP);Announcement that workers in Alabama and West Virginia are supplying 10,000 tons of domestic steel for use at a Texas shipyard where Dominion Energy is building the nation’s first Jones Act compliant wind turbine installation vessel;U.S.

Cox Powertrain, a British manufacturer of high-power diesel outboard engines, announced it has raised £9 million from existing shareholders and a further £3 million loan from HSBC UK Equipment Finance to allow the company to expand and ramp up production of the CXO300 outboard engine.Since 2007, Cox Powertrain has been continuously backed by private investors. Production of the CXO300 began in May 2020 and since then, the CXO300 has been shipped to more than 16 territories across the globe.The CXO300 is built at Cox Powertrain’s HQ in Shoreham…

Maersk's towage arm Svitzer announced it has opened a new Americas regional headquarters in Panama City.Svitzer said it decided early last year to relocate its Americas headquarters from Miami, U.S. to Panama and move into the Panama Design Center, which also houses other entities of the Maersk Group including Sealand Americas, APM Terminals, Hamburg-Sud, Twill, and Maersk Liner Operations Clusters.Arjen van Dijk, managing director of Svitzer Americas, said, “Panama is an important, strategic maritime hub with good infrastructure and easy connections to nearby countries and ports.