In Harbor News

Caroline Yang, by anyone’s standard, is a busy woman. She is the CEO of Hong Lam Marine, a Singapore ship owner, which owns, operates and manages its own fleet of 33 vessels. She also is the president of the Singapore Shipping Association [SSA], a national trade association in one of the world’s most important and dynamic maritime hubs. She shares insight on her dual positions and the many challenges facing shipowners today.Hong Lam Marine started in 1981 with two steel tankers and today it owns about 33 vessels…

Fairplay Towage Group has placed an order with Damen Shipyards for the delivery of two additional tugboats.One of the two tugboats is of the ASD Tug 2813 design, while the other will be fitted with azimuth stern drives and a bollard pull of 60 tonnes and with an aft winch for offshore towage.The ASD Tug 2813 boasts a bollard pull in excess of 80 tonnes for harbor assistance. Both vessels will be fitted with external FiFi capabilities for swift response to emergencies.These are the most recent vessels to be purchased by Fairplay from Damen…

On 8 May 2024, KOTUG Canada Inc., a partnership between KOTUG International B.V. and Horizon Maritime Inc., held a keel laying ceremony for two RAsalvor 4400-DFM dual fuel methanol escort tugs – Robert Allan Ltd. design – to service the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, at Sanmar Shipyards Altinova in Yalova, Turkiye. The first tug is expected to be delivered by mid-2025.The tugboats are reportedly the first of their kind to be powered by methanol and are engineered to provide…

American aerospace manufacturer ULA on Wednesday announced it has ordered a new ship to transport rockets from its factory in Decatur, Ala. to launch sites at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.ULA said it awarded a contract to build the 356-foot-long roll-on/roll-off vessel to Bollinger Shipyards, who recently started constructing the new ship at its shipyard in Amelia, La. The company has also hired naval architecture and marine engineering firm Bristol Harbor Group, Inc.

Kongsberg Maritime won a contract to supply azimuth thrusters to Turkish shipbuilder Med Marine, to power six new sterndrive tugs for the Tunisian port authority OMMP.The new tugs, of Robert Allan RAstar 2800 series design, are designed for a range of towing and harbor operations in Tunisian ports.Kongsberg Maritime will supply a pair of its US205 FP azimuth thrusters to each of the six 28-m vessels. The thrusters feature 2.8-m, fixed pitch propellers which will deliver efficient operation and enhanced maneuverability…

Marine towage provider Svitzer announced it has taken delivery of the final tug in a series of six built for its operations in Brazil.Built by Brazilian shipyard Rio Maguari, the new vessel Svitzer Babitonga is an Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) tugboat from the 2300 Rampart Series, designed by Robert Allan Ltd. These sister vessels boast a top speed of 13 knots, an overall length of 23.2 meters, and a bollard pull of 70 tonnes. Svitzer Babitonga is also equipped with Fifi-1 firefighting…

Germany sent two warships to the Indo-Pacific region on Tuesday in a bid to strengthen its military presence in the region amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan and over the disputed South China Sea.Those tensions were putting pressure on the freedom of navigation and free passage on trade routes, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said at the northern German navy base in Wilhelmshaven.Some 40% of Europe's foreign trade flows through the South China Sea."Looking the other way…

The captain of a dive boat that caught fire and sank off the California coast in 2019, killing 34 people in one of the state's deadliest maritime disasters, was sentenced on Thursday to four years in prison for his conviction on a federal charge of seaman's manslaughter.Jerry Boylan, 70, was found guilty by a U.S. District Court jury in November on a single felony count of "misconduct or neglect of a ship officer" under a federal homicide statute dating from steamboat accidents of the early 1800s.Federal prosecutors had sought the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison…

Hawai‘i’s interisland freight company Young Brothers has become the first marine transportation company in the Unites States to install an innovative mooring system designed to improve safety and efficiency.The new $1.5 million ShoreTension mooring system was blessed in a ceremony at the Port of Kaumalapau in Lāna‘i on Monday. The technology, which keeps the barge steady against the dock during inclement weather, is already being utilized in harbors around the globe in countries like New Zealand…

Dredging of the Cleveland Harbor federal navigation channel by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District and its contractor, Michigan-based Ryba Marine Construction Co., will begin in May. Dredging of harbors like Cleveland’s ensures accessible depths for large vessels, the continued flow of commodities across the Great Lakes, and the economic viability of United States waterways.“Keeping our nation’s ports open for safe navigation is critically important to maintain the environment and economy of the United States,” said Lt. Col. Lyle Milliman, USACE Buffalo District commander.

SCHOTTEL will equip Guangzhou Port Group’s latest e-tug with two RudderPropellers type SRP 360 in the LE-Drive variant. The new harbor tug measures 37.9 x 10.5m and will be mainly used for berthing assistance, escorting and towing in the Port of Guangzhou, China. Each SRP has an input power of 1,500 kW and a propeller diameter of 2.2m. The 360-degree steerable thruster combines maximum maneuverability and bollard pull with outstanding efficiency during free sailing, providing…

The first commercial vessel transited through a newly opened channel in the Port of Baltimore following the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.The Fort McHenry Limited Access Channel (LAC) was opened as a temporary solution to provide passage for a limited number of commercial vessels into the Port of Baltimore and a departure opportunity for some deep draft vessels currently unable to leave the harbor since the bridge collapse.The channel—the fourth to be opened…

Maersk may resume some shipping services at the Port of Baltimore when a temporary channel is opened to give access for commercially essential vessels that remain blocked by a collapsed bridge, the company said."This channel, with a controlling depth of 20 feet, could potentially allow Maersk and other carriers to operate limited barge services into and out of the Port of Baltimore," Maersk said in a statement.The group last Wednesday said the port's alternate shipping channels…

The U.S. Coast Guard said it is seeking to fill 18 vacancies on the National Towing Safety Advisory Committee, which advises the Secretary of Homeland Security, via the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard on matters relating to shallow-draft inland navigation, coastal waterway navigation, and towing safety.The Coast Guard said it will consider applications for the following 18 vacancies:Seven members to represent the barge and towing industry, reflecting a regional geographic balance.One…

If nothing else, building vessels in the U.S. is a complicated business.In a session on the domestic shipbuilding marketplace, at Marine Money’s late-November 2023 conference held in New Orleans, Ben Bordelon, president and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards (with more than a dozen facilities, in Mississippi and Louisiana), described his company’s architecture as a “three-legged stool approach: commercial newbuilds, government newbuilds and repair/conversion capabilities”.On the same panel…

The Baltimore port's alternate shipping channels are not deep enough to accommodate the oceangoing container vessels that Maersk and other carriers use, the Danish shipping group said in a statement on Wednesday.A container vessel chartered by Maersk collided with a major bridge in the U.S. port of Baltimore's harbor last month, causing the structure to collapse.

Hurtigruten is working towards drastically reducing and recycling edible food waste from its fleet operations. A specially designed reactor at one of its ports converts edible food waste into compost used to grow vegetables for Hurtigruten.The initiative encompasses a comprehensive approach to waste management, starting with the sorting of edible food waste onboard Hurtigruten's Original Coastal Express ships during their year-round schedule along the coast of Norway, calling at 34 ports from Bergen in the south to Kirkenes in the north.

A fabricated image of characters from the animated television series The Simpsons viewing a collapsed bridge and a large ship has been widely shared on social media with the false suggestion that the show predicted the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March.The image shows signs of having been made with AI and an executive producer for the series told Reuters that the image is fake as the show never had an episode where a container ship hits a bridge.The Francis Key Scott bridge…

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said at a Senate hearing Wednesday that investigators had conducted interviews with key cargo ship personnel in the investigation of the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse.The Dali cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, sending it crashing into the harbor and killing six people. Work to clear the wreckage and restore traffic through the Mid-Atlantic state's shipping channel is ongoing.Homendy said investigators remained on site and had interviewed the pilots…

Jennifer Carpenter joined The American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association representing the inland and coastal tugboat, towboat and barge industry, in August 1990 and became its president and CEO in January 2020. She highlights some of the greatest focus areas for the 80-year-old trade group—simultaneously looking at both the present day and the road ahead.The towboat, tug and barge industry is in a period of rapid evolution. How is AWO—now in its 80th year…

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has launched the first pilot trial for electric harbor craft charging point at the Marina South Pier (MSP).The charging point was awarded to the Pyxis Energy, Pyxis Maritime, and SP Mobility partnership. Pyxis’s fleet of electric harbor craft operating at MSP will serve as the base offtake to ensure optimization of the charging infrastructure.The Pyxis and SP Mobility partnership has deployed a 150kW land-based direct current fast charger with a Combined Charging System 2 connector at MSP.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday it expects to open a new channel to the Port of Baltimore by the end of April, freeing up commercial shipping blocked by a collapsed bridge, and then restore port access to full capacity by the end of May.The main channel has been blocked by wreckage since the fully loaded container ship Dali lost power and rammed into a support column of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, killing six road workers and causing the highway bridge to tumble into the Patapsco River.The Army Corps…

Crowley Maritime Corporation has owned and operated a lot of vessels since its founding in 1892. But the latest vessel to join its fleet is unlike any other that has come before it.Crowley’s new harbor tug, eWolf, is unique in that it runs 100% powered by batteries, not diesel engines, meaning it produces zero emissions and nearly no noise. Not only is the vessel the first fully electric tug in the Crowley fleet, but it is also the first of its kind in the United States.Faced with stricter regulations and commercial pressure to prioritize environmental…