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Mixtures News

19 Jul 2023

MAN Developing Methanol Retrofit Solutions for Medium-speed Engines

© been.there.recently / Adobe Stock

MAN Energy Solutions announced it will begin developing retrofit solutions for medium-speed marine engines as part of a research association including WTZ Roßlau gGmbh and TU-Darmstadt. The three-year research project, ‘CliNeR-ECo’, is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) with initial work having already commenced at the beginning of 2023.CliNeR-ECo aims to develop concepts for diverse, medium-speed, marine engines that will enable the retrofitting of entire ship fleets at reasonable economic and technical costs.

28 Jun 2023

China's Shandong Starts Releasing Oil Stranded at Ports after Inspections, Sources Say

©komi$ar/AdobeStock

China's Shandong refining hub has begun releasing millions of barrels of oil that were stuck at ports after inspections curbed imports into the province, trading sources said following a meeting this week between officials and refiners.The easing of curbs placed on China's top oil importing province in mid-April will help free up inflows of heavy crude from Venezuela and Iran, they said. In a meeting hosted by the Shandong government on Tuesday between customs officials and independent refiners…

21 Apr 2023

Tankers Face Delays at China's Shandong as Customs Hold Up Mislabelled Cargoes

©komi$ar/AdobeStock

Tankers delivering to ports in China's Shandong province are facing delays discharging their oil due to orders for tighter customs inspection checks after several Iranian cargoes were declared as diluted bitumen, traders said.Crude oil, unlike bitumen, is subject to strict import quotas and dozens of oil tankers were being inspected since last week, after customs authorities were given instructions in late March to step up checks. The delays at the terminals could cause further reductions in already low operating rates among the independent refiners in Shandong…

28 Nov 2022

New Ship Technology Will Produce Hydrogen on Board from LNG

(Image: Wärtsilä)

The technology group Wärtsilä has entered into a joint development agreement with Hycamite TCD Technologies, a privately-owned Finnish company specializing in the development of a technology for producing clean hydrogen and solid carbon from methane. The two companies will work together to enable cost-effective production of hydrogen from liquefied natural gas (LNG) on board marine vessels. The concept design will be ready by mid 2023 and the prototype testing unit will be ready…

22 Jun 2022

US Grain Shipments Through Great Lakes-Seaway Up 39%

(Photo: Nick Corbin, courtesy Chamber of Marine Commerce)

U.S. grain shipments via the Great Lakes-Seaway system totaled 312,000 metric tons from March 22 to May 31, up 39% compared to the same period in 2021. Much of the increase is due to exports of corn and soybeans out of the Port of Toledo and some new trade starting at the port of Oswego this shipping season. The rise in shipments, which are predominantly heading to Europe and North Africa, are in part due to shifting global grain trading patterns as the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine — both major grain exporters — continues.“The Great Lakes-St.

23 Oct 2020

Naval Fuel-related Assets Protected by Coatings and New Robust Standards

© Mohok / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Navy has many assets other than its seaborn vessels to care for, and recently it adopted new standards to protect those that are fuel-related. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) contracted with Master Painter Institute (MPI) services to establish product standards for interior carbon-steel fuel pipes, interior welded fuel tanks, exterior steel systems and waterfront steel structures. These new standards, known as the MPI 500 Series Standards, are for use in numerous aspects of work involving specialized Department of Defense (DoD) petroleum…

01 Sep 2020

LR Publishes Guidance on Methanol Bunkering

© ibreakstock / Adobe Stock

As stakeholders across the maritime industry assess future fuel options in support of the International Maritime Organisation’s 2030 and 2050 greenhouse gas reduction ambitions, Lloyd’s Register (LR) and the Methanol Institute (MI) have produced a Bunkering Technical Reference on Methanol, which is among the future fuels receiving close attention.The new guidance outlines the procedures required for the safe bunkering of methanol and incorporates dedicated checklists to assist shipowners/operators…

21 Aug 2020

US Continues to Crack Down on Maritime Pollution Crimes Despite COVID-19

© Kirk / Adobe Stock

United States Department of Justice’s steadfast protection of U.S. waters equates to criminal charges and massive finesThe United States has a long history of holding companies and individuals accountable for violating environmental laws and regulations, including the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). With the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), which implements MARPOL, United States government agencies continue to prioritize the protection of oceans and waterways from pollution.

25 Apr 2019

Vessel Owner, C/E Indicted on Environmental Charges

Adobe Stock / Renaschild

A federal grand jury in Wilmington, Delaware, returned a six-count indictment today charging Chartworld Shipping Corporation, Nederland Shipping Corporation, and Chief Engineer Vasileios Mazarakis with failing to keep accurate pollution control records, falsifying records, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering, the Justice Department announced.The charges stem from the falsification of records and other acts designed to cover up from the Coast Guard the overboard discharges of oily mixtures and machinery space bilge water from the Bahamian-flagged cargo vessel…

25 Apr 2019

Nederland Reefer Faces Pollution Charges in US

Greece’s Chartworld Shipping Corporation(CSC)'s cargo vessel Nederland Reefer, its manager, owner and the chief engineer have been indicted for falsification of pollution records, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.A federal grand jury in Wilmington, Delaware, returned a six-count indictment charging CSC, Nederland Shipping Corporation, and Chief Engineer Vasileios Mazarakis, according to the U.S Department of Justice.The charges stem from the falsification of records and other acts designed to cover up from the Coast Guard the overboard discharges of oily mixtures and machinery space bilge water from the Bahamian-flagged cargo vessel, M/V Nederland Reefer.According to the indictment, on Feb.

18 Oct 2018

Thordon Bearings Strengthens European Presence

Thordon Bearings, the provider of bearing solutions for marine, has signed sales and distribution agreements with St. Petersburg-based Industrial & Marine Projects (IMPRO) and Tallinn’s Marine Ecology Equipment (MEE), in a development that anticipates the introduction of more stringent pollution rules for European waterways.The appointment of new distributors for Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Azerbaijan coincides with concern that more should be done to reduce the impact of oil pollution in the ecologically sensitive Baltic Sea and Caspian Sea areas.“While MARPOL Annex I and Annex IV of the Helsinki Convention prohibit the discharge of oil or oily mixtures into the Baltic Sea…

16 Oct 2018

Making the Case for LPG as a Marine Fuel

 Research engine at Research Center Copenhagen equipped for LPG use. Images: ©MAN ES

The sulfur emission control areas (SECAs) in place in North-America and Northern Europe, in combination with the upcoming global 0.5% limit on sulfur in 2020 (or 2025) and similar EU limits in 2020, call for alternative fuels as a means for compliance. Several alternative fuels are available and, at the same time, new fuel oil products with very low sulfur content have been introduced.In this respect, the ability of the new MAN ME-LGIP engine to run on LPG, which is a sulfur-free fuel…

08 May 2018

Fishing Companies to Pay $400,000 for Pollution Claims

Challenge Fisheries LLC, Quinn Fisheries Inc., Charles Quinn II, and Charles Quinn III have agreed to pay a total of $414,000 in civil penalties and to perform fleet-wide improvements and other compliance assurance measures to resolve federal Clean Water Act claims stemming from oily bilge discharges from the commercial fishing vessel Challenge, and a related fuel oil discharge in August 2017 in New Bedford Harbor, Mass., the Department of Justice and the Coast Guard announced.In its complaint filed Monday, along with the lodging of a consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the United States alleges…

23 Mar 2018

China Considering New Tariffs on 128 US Products

© Amarinj / Adobe Stock

China's commerce ministry said on Friday that it may impose additional tariffs on up to $3 billion of U.S. imports in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products. The ministry said it was considering implementing measures in two stages: first, a 15 percent tariff on 120 products including steel pipes, dried fruit and wine, and later, a 25 percent tariff on pork and recycled aluminum. Below is a list of 128 U.S. 83  22043000  Grape juice other than that of heading item No.

25 Aug 2017

MST, Reederei Indicted for Falsifying Pollution Records

The U.S. Justice Department announced a federal grand jury in Portland, Maine, returned a nine-count indictment today charging MST Mineralien Schiffarht Spedition Und Transport GmbH (MST) and Reederei MS “Marguerita” GmbH & Co. Geschlossene Investment KG (Reederei) with failing to keep accurate pollution control records and falsifying records. The charges stem from the falsification of records in 2016 and 2017 designed to cover up overboard discharges of oily mixtures and machinery space bilge water from the Liberian-flagged cargo vessel, M/V Marguerita. On at least eight occasions between September 2016 and June 2016, the M/V Marguerita entered United States waters and ports with a false and misleading Oil Record Book available for inspection by the U.S. Coast Guard.

20 Jun 2017

Offshore Gas Safety atop the Agenda for Martek Marine

Gas Sampling System (Photo: Martek Marine)

Maritime industry technology specialists Martek Marine say it is setting the bar high when it comes to offshore gas safety. The company has developed a first-of-its-kind gas sampling system for a new moored floating production unit, which forms part of the Jangkrik Complex gas fields development in Indonesia. The system has been developed to dramatically improve offshore crew safety through the use of advanced gas sampling technology. The worst offshore disaster in history, the Piper disaster on July 6…

30 Jan 2017

New Cutting Machines for US Navy Shipyard

Image: Profile Cutting Systems

Profile Cutting Systems has completed the installation of two large Plasma & OxyFuel Cutting Machines for a U.S. Navy shipyard. Each system features dual Lincoln 400-amp Plasma systems, infinite rotation triple Oxyfuel beveling torches and introduced OxyFuel Cutting Torches. The oxygen and fuel mixtures for the Cutting Torch are totally CNC controlled, require no tools for tip changes, have internal automated height adjustment and automated spark ignition. Other features include Lincoln Burny Version 8 CNC, Bosch Sercos Servo Drives and Motors.

25 Feb 2016

Arctic Thaw Presents Shipping Risks to Environment

Rising average temperatures are melting ice; the call goes out for heavy fuel oil to be regulated in Arctic. The Arctic is thawing even faster than lawmakers can formulate new rules to prevent the environmental threat of heavy fuel oil pollution from ships plying an increasingly popular trade route. Average Arctic temperatures are rising twice as fast as elsewhere in the world and the polar ice cap's permanent cover is shrinking at a rate of around 10 percent per decade. By the end of this century, summers in the Arctic could be free of ice. As the ice melts, traffic of ships carrying cargoes of gas, coal and diesel through the region has increased. Russia, in particular, is keen to expand shipping through the Arctic given its rich natural resources and efforts to cut costs.

01 Feb 2016

Driving the Inland Waterways

Propulsion evolves, improves and powers forward in the inland markets. And, Z-Drive propulsion is the future. In a white paper released late in 2014 by The Shearer Group, Ed Shearer and Greg Beers outlined The Next Generation of inland vessels, what will drive design changes and the advantages of azimuthing stern drives – or ‘Z-Drives,’ for short. The authors point out that, until recently, towboats on all the inland waterways and Gulf Coast have traditionally been built using main engines connected to reduction gearboxes connected to long drive shafts passing through the towboat hull. In a nutshell, according The Shearer Group, the advantages of using z-Drives on inland towboats include decreased installation time…

14 Dec 2015

Ship Officers Charged in Oil Discharge Cover Up

A federal grand jury in Greenville, North Carolina, has returned a nine-count indictment charging two engineering officers employed by Oceanfleet Shipping Limited with crimes relating to the illegal discharge of oily wastes directly into the sea, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Oceanfleet Shipping Limited is a Greek shipping company that operates the cargo carrier M/V Ocean Hope. The two engineering officers indicted are the vessel’s Chief Engineer, Rustico Yabut Ignacio; and Second Engineer, Cassius Flores Samson, bolth of the Philippines.

15 Nov 2015

DNV GL'S Synergi Water Models Open Channel Flow

With the new release of Synergi Water software, water network engineers can model open channel flow, providing a more efficient and time saving design process with more accurate results. Many water systems include a network of open channels to transport water, particularly from collection systems to treatment plants. Planners and engineers need to model these systems along with their closed pipe networks in order to optimize the design and operations. Until now, some users have refrained from modelling open channels while others have used models in two separate software systems to model the water flow in both closed pipe networks and in open channels. This can be a cumbersome and time-consuming process.

14 Oct 2015

Black Market Refrigerants Pose Risk to Shippers

Svenn Jacobsen

In 2011, several refrigerated, reefer containers exploded, killing three port workers. While there has been no further tragedies since then, counterfeit refrigerants remain in circulation and still represent a safety risk. Counterfeit refrigerant cylinders can consist of a dangerously unstable cocktail of gases, blended to roughly mimic the most common refrigerant, R-134a. These cylinders are often loaded with rogue gases such as R-40. Though similar to R-134a, R-40 reacts with aluminium to form trimethylaluminum, a highly volatile substance that, when exposed to air, can explode.

08 Jul 2015

NASA to Further Develop Titan Submarine Design

Step forward the Titan Submarine, a proposal that NASA has just awarded a second round of funding through their Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. It is very much just a concept at the moment, but it is promising nonetheless. Aside from Earth, Titan is the only place in the solar system that has bodies of liquid on its surface, making it a rather attractive place to explore. But while a number of proposals have been put forward to take a closer look, none have come to fruition. Phase II of the Titan Submarine: Exploring the Kraken Mare effort will focus on advancing the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the concept by (1) retiring risks found in the Phase I design…