A Turning Point in Oil Spill Recovery
Cleaning up marine oil spills can be a challenge as there are various types of oil spilled but only a few effective recovery methods. The three main technologies for oil spill recovery for inland and offshore waters are mechanical, insitu burning (ISB), and dispersant application. Absorbent booms and pads may also be used, but they are more effective for small fuel spills. Mechanical recovery, usually an oil skimmer, is a device that skims contained floating oil and transfers the recovered oil to a storage container or vessel.
Seaspan Installs BWTS on Louis Dreyfus Cable Layer
Following five weeks of repair and installation activities, Seaspan’s Vancouver Drydock (VDC) has completed its refit activities on Louis Dreyfus’ Ile de Batz Special Purpose/Cable Layer vessel. Arriving on April 21 and departing VDC on-schedule on May 25, 2017, the Paris, France-based vessel underwent a wide scope of work that included the assembly of a new plow (special insitu welding/machining), overall support for mobilizing the ship, as well as the primary focus of the refit program, the installation of a Ballast Water Treatment (BWT) system – the first of its kind at VDC. “This innovative repair and maintenance project truly was an all-hands-on-deck job…
Aerial Drone Scans for Pirates off Somalia
A team of antipiracy personnel currently on patrol off Somalia has deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to help scan for potential pirate activity in the region. As part of the counter-piracy military operation EU NAVFOR Somalia, also known as Operation Atalanta, the UAV crew from Spain’s 11th Squadron has been conducting air surveillance and reconnaissance patrols off the Somali coast using its ScanEagle drone from the deck of Spanish Navy ship ESPS Galicia. Once in the air…
Indian Navy to Buy 50 Ship Borne Drones
Seeking to enhance its surveillance capabilities on its warships, the Indian Navy (IN) has now announced a global competition for procuring ‘Ship-Borne Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’ (UAV) that can augment various patrolling and search-related tactics on its vessels. The navy is planning to acquire a total of 50 shipborne drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions as part of its effort to boost maritime security, says a report in PTI. "We want to have such a capability and want to know what kinds of products are available in the market," defence sources said. At present, the navy operates two squadrons of Israeli- origin Heron and Searcher Mk-II UAVs which are based in Kochi and Porbandar.
Coast Guard Cutter Deploys UAS, Interdicts Smugglers
The Coast Guard has completed the second of three planned shipboard demonstrations of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) capabilities aboard Coast Guard Cutter 'Bertholf' . The Coast Guard is using knowledge gained from these demonstrations to inform a future cutter-based UAS acquisition project. During the two-week deployment, the UAS demonstration team operated a ScanEagle UAS for more than 90 hours of flight time and aided in the interdiction of nearly 600 kilograms of cocaine – the first Coast Guard interdiction conducted with the support of an embarked UAS asset.
Omnipure Series 55 Receives USCG Certification
Omnipure Series 55 marine sanitation treatment systems from Severn Trent De Nora have received final certification from the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to the International Maritime Organization’s MEPC.159(55) effluent standards. Certification by the USCG involves testing environmental standards such as shock and vibration above and beyond IMO requirements. The Omnipure Series 55 technology utilizes a unique electrolytic treatment process, combined with electrocoagulation to both effectively treat wastewater and provide sanitary solids for handling.
Demonstration, Littoral Warfighting Capabilities
A Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC)-led team has successfully demonstrated the integration of the AN/SPQ-9B radar and Naval Expeditionary Overwatch (NEO) system sensor data into the Integrated Combat Management System (ICMS) at the Navy's Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) at Dam Neck, Va. The team included Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren and Harris Corporation. NEO is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The demonstration illustrated the open architecture capabilities of ICMS to rapidly and affordably integrate both shipboard and off-board sensor data into a combat system network to support enhanced Fleet combat operations.
Project Profile, Muuga Port
In very challenging weather conditions Danish contractor Per Aarsleff is installing its largest profile and one of its longest combination steel pile retaining walls for the extension to the container terminal in the Port of Muuga on the Gulf of Finland south coast, 17km east of the Estonian capital Tallinn. The site team, with its fleet of specialist marine plant, has been coping with freezing temperatures, strong winds and rough seas at the exposed site to accurately drive over 420 tubular steel piles up to 1.67m diameter and 45m long into the seabed.
