Nelson News

We think of Bermuda as a tiny paradise in the North Atlantic. But long before cruise ships moored up, prison ships carried hundreds of convicts to the island, first docking in 1824 and remaining there for decades.Islands have long been places to deport, exile and banish criminals. Think of Alcatraz, the infamous penitentiary in San Francisco, or Robben Island in South Africa, which held Nelson Mandela. The French penal colony Devil’s Island was immortalised in the Steve McQueen film Papillon…

Britain and the United States on Thursday said they had imposed coordinated sanctions on four key Houthi figures for their roles in supporting or directing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.Attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis have disrupted global shipping and stoked fears of global inflation. They have also deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war could destabilize the Middle East.Those sanctioned were Houthi Defence Minister Mohamed Nasser al-Atifi…

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…

The lead ship in the U.S. Coast Guard's Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program, USCGC Argus (WMSM-915), was launched and christened during a ceremony at Eastern Shipbuilding Group's Nelson St. Shipyard in Panama City, Fla.Attended by more than 3,000 guests, the event featured a keynote address delivered by Admiral Linda Fagan, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.“The Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) is one of the service’s highest acquisition priorities and is absolutely…

The water level at a major river port in Brazil's Amazon rainforest hit its lowest point in at least 121 years on Monday, as a historic drought upends the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and damages the jungle ecosystem.Rapidly drying tributaries to the mighty Amazon river have left boats stranded, cutting off food and water supplies to remote jungle villages, while high water temperatures are suspected of killing more than 100 endangered river dolphins.The port in Manaus…

Thungela Resources, South Africa's largest shipper of thermal coal burned in power stations, said its shipments of the fuel have not been impacted by a workers' strike at the country's key coal export hub. Workers at Richards Bay Coal Terminal, which is owned by coal exporters including Thungela, Exxaro Resources, Glencore, and Seriti, have been on a strike for the past three weeks. A two-week strike at South Africa's state-owned ports and rail company Transnet last year hit coal shipments…

On a windswept island 50 miles north of Seattle sits a U.S. Navy monitoring station. For years, it was kept busy tracking whale movements and measuring rising sea temperatures. Last October, the Navy gave the unit a new name that better reflects its current mission: Theater Undersea Surveillance Command.The renaming of the spy station at the Whidbey Island naval base is a nod to a much larger U.S. military project, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans:…

Multipurpose carrier Intermarine and sister company Jumbo-SAL-Alliance (JSA) expand their presence in South America, opening a new office in Santiago.Intermarine and Jumbo-SAL-Alliance are joining Intermarine’s long-time agent, Marval, to form the new subsidiary JSA-Intermarine Chile. The first office to carry the name of both companies will be led by Nelson Matus, a veteran in the South American breakbulk and multipurpose sector with over 25 years of experience. Matus and his…

Norwegian shipping company Clipper Shipping A.S. has been convicted of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships after admitting that oily bilge water was discharged from the motor tanker Clipper Saturn. As part of the plea, they acknowledged the discharges were omitted from the Oil Record Book. Immediately after the plea entered July 6, U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett ordered the company to pay a $1.5 million fine.On Sept. 27 and Oct. 1, 2021, the Clipper Saturn was anchored near Lome, Togo. The chief engineer at the time directed oily bilge water to be transferred into the vessel’s gray water tank and then discharged directly overboard under the cover of darkness.

$2 million for Suffolk County Community College to stimulate workforce training and redevelopment. At a recent meeting of the Corporate Committee of the Long Island Council of the Navy League of the United States, US Navy Command Master Chief Joshua Sturgill who is Command Senior Enlisted Leader for Team Submarines, announced a $2 million grant for Advanced Manufacturing Scholarships supported by the Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base. The $2 million grant was awarded to Suffolk…

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…

Palatka, Fla. shipbuilder St. Johns Ship Building announced it has appointed Nick Nelson as its first HSE officer.Nelson has more than a decade of service with St Johns Ship Building, most recently acting as yard safety manager.“I expect to participate in an increased effort to protect our employees from the hazards of the industry by implementing additional new policies and procedures as well as increased oversight and training,” Nelson said. “As we continue to grow as a company, so will our efforts and commitment to protect our employees and our environment.

Divers from a documentary crew looking for the wreckage of a World War Two aircraft off the coast of Florida found a 20-foot section of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded and broke apart shortly after its launch in 1986, NASA said on Thursday.The divers contacted NASA after spotting a large, clearly modern object mostly covered in sand at the bottom of the ocean and bearing the shuttle's distinctive tiles, the space agency said in a written statement."This discovery gives us an opportunity to pause once again…

South African state-owned logistics firm Transnet said on Monday it had agreed a three-year wage deal with the union representing the majority of its workers, ending a two-week strike that had hit commodities exports and piled up millions in losses."Transnet and the company's majority union United Transport and Allied Trade Union (UNTU) reached a three-year wage agreement today," it said in a statement, adding the deal would bring most of its employees back to work.UNTU members…

South African miners are losing 815 million rand ($44 million) in export revenue per day due to an ongoing strike at state-owned logistics firm Transnet which has hit commodity exports, an industry body said on Thursday.Transnet's freight rail and port workers earlier said they had rejected a revised pay offer and vowed to continue the strike which started a week ago.The Minerals Council of South Africa said major mineral export harbors were currently operating at between 12% and 30% of their daily averages due to the strike.

Staff shortages caused by an ongoing strike over wages are impacting container and car terminals at South Africa's Durban port, one of the busiest on the continent, a unit of state-owned logistics company Transnet said on Tuesday.Transnet, which manages South Africa's freight rail network and ports, declared force majeure last week after its workers went on strike over a wage dispute.In an update on its website, Transnet Port Terminals said the strike had impacted waterside and landside operations at its Durban port…

New Zealand based MOVE Logistics Group revealed its plans to order a new coastal roll-on, roll-off (RORO) vessel capable of running on methanol fuel.Earlier this year, MOVE secured $10 million in co-investment funds from transport agency Waka Kotahi to support coastal shipping initiatives that improve the competitiveness of domestic coastal shipping, reduce freight sector greenhouse gas emissions and enhance resilience.Waka Kotahi has endorsed the proposal by MOVE for its vessel design that includes a methanol tank and pipework installation during construction.

South Africa, one of the world's biggest citrus exporters, will voluntarily stop shipments of valencia oranges to the European Union (EU) from areas affected by a fungal disease, the citrus growers' association said on Wednesday.The decision to halt exports to the EU comes after 10 incidents in which the fungal disease was detected on South African citrus, Citrus Growers' Association (CGA) Chief Executive Justin Chadwick said in a statement.Chadwick said the voluntary decision was meant to safeguard South Africa's long-term access to the EU…

The already endangered African penguin is being driven away from its natural habitat off the east coast of South Africa due to noise from ship refueling, a scientific study has found.The number of African penguins on St Croix island in Algoa Bay, once the world's largest breeding colony of the birds, has plummeted since South Africa started to allow ships in the area to refuel at sea, a process known as bunkering, six years ago, the study found.Situated in a busy shipping lane along South Africa's east coast…

Massive clouds of steam rose from Cuba's largest fuel depot in Matanzas on Wednesday as firefighters, helicopters and boats poured water and foam on the smoldering remains of the largest fire in the island's history.Black charcoal covered with white ash remained red hot after the flames died down. One firefighter was confirmed dead, and 14 were unaccounted for since blast on Saturday, according to authorities."We can now say that the fire is controlled," Lt. Colonel Alexander Avalos, deputy chief of the firefighters tackling the blaze, told the media at the scene.

A third crude tank caught fire and collapsed at Cuba's main oil terminal in Matanzas, its governor said on Monday, as an oil spill spread flames from a second tank that caught fire two days earlier in the island's biggest oil industry accident in decades.Cuba had made progress fighting off the raging flames during the weekend after drawing on help from Mexico and Venezuela, but late on Sunday the fire began spreading from the second tank, which collapsed, said Mario Sabines, governor of the Matanzas province…

Eastern Shipbuilding Group hosted the keel laying ceremony for the U.S. Coast Guard’s future Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC), USCGC Ingham (WMSM-917), the third vessel in the new Heritage Class built at the Nelson Street facility. The presiding official for the U.S. Coast Guard was Rear Admiral Chad L. Jacoby, Director of Acquisition Programs & Program Executive Officer (CG-93). Congressman Neal Dunn (FL – 2nd District) was the senior official in attendance."Today marks another pivotal…

New Zealand-based transport and logistics group, MOVE Logistics Group Limited has set up its first trans-Tasman shipping line, scheduled for Q4 2022, as part of its new Oceans business.In line with this, MOVE has entered an agreement to acquire a vessel, the Atlas Wind, out of Europe. It is expected that the acquisition will be settled in October 2022. The Atlas Wind can carry 350 containers or the equivalent of 5,000 tonnes of bulk cargo. With two cranes on board, the vessel has the ability to call into ports that historically may not have been able to accept containerised and bulk cargoes, the company said.The maiden journey will be the first of a regular monthly voyage that will see goods shipped between regional New Zealand ports…