Oceanic Consulting News

Marine News looks back at the past 12 months and showcases the best of North America’s workboat design shop and shipyard output. In a year where some stakeholders might not rank 2016 as the best of years in the shipyard or on the waterfront, we might disagree. And, there is plenty to write about. New contracts, deliveries and designs all combine to show that the collective workboat waterfront is moving forward, with technology, the environment and replacement tonnage requirements as the main drivers.

The emerging trend of marrying the design of an articulated tug and barge (ATB) to a particular propulsion system to maximize efficiencies of that system has, of late, been taking hold in workboat markets. For example, one recent project involving a dynamic partnership between Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc, Guarino & Cox, LLC (GCL) naval architects, Nautican Research & Development Ltd., integrated propulsion unit manufacturers, and VT Halter Marine shipbuilders, aptly demonstrates the concept in practice. What the collaboration produced, is even more important.

Improving and updating Arctic design standards for material, equipment, and offshore structures for the petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries. Seventy representatives from seven countries met for two days in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador in early October to further the creation of standards for resource development in the Arctic. The countries represented included Canada, UK, France, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, and Russian Federation. It was the third annual…

Heeding the call to join “An Ocean in Common,” authors flooded the Oceans ‘13 MTS/IEEE San Diego technical program committee with a record number of abstracts in a single day. Special topics include an Ultra-deep track discussing current and prospective robotic technologies, plus a panel of scientists to consider research questions. Oceans2013 Chair Bob Wernli, and Co-Chair Kevin Hardy, developer of the unmanned landers for James Cameron’s DeepSea Challenge Expedition, will be the session conveners. “James’ intention is to be certain the door remains open to other explorers,” Hardy said.

Industries Co., Ltd. For many years now, contracts for ships and floating units to operate in an offshore environment have been much-prized value-added goals at Samsung. These include not only shuttle but drill ships, floating storage and offloading units (FSOs), with their derivative production types (FPSOs), crane ships, and various types of floating and fixed platforms. Some of the more interesting ships that have been created here have included a trio of deepwater drill ships for Reading & Bates capable of working in water depths down to 3000m, the 312,500 dwt FPSO Bonga for operating off Nigeria, and the Saibos FDS, a pipelayer/crane vessel with a jib capacity of 600tonnes.

Oceanic Consulting Corporation, a Newfoundland-based ocean engineering firm, has been awarded a contract to evaluate the design of the racing yacht for Switzerland's 2003 America's Cup Challenge. Oceanic's contract will be ongoing until late 2001, with model tests being conducted at the National Research Council of Canada's Institute for Marine Dynamics (NRC-IMD) in St. John's, and with technical services support from Memorial University of Newfoundland. The Swiss team chose Oceanic based on a proven track record in performance evaluation of racing yachts and state-of-the-art model testing capabilities. In the 1995 America's Cup, one of the fastest challenger boats was designed using model test results produced at NRC-IMD.