Preston News

Global Diving & Salvage, Inc. has appointed Alisa Preston, P. Eng., as Director of Marine Technology to lead the growth of the marine services company’s underwater technology resources.Preston will be responsible for advancing the development of sustainable and innovative marine technology and remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) services as part of the overall business strategies for both Seattle-based Global and sister company MER Diving.Preston brings to the role a background in mechanical engineering, nuclear physics, project management and entrepreneurship.

Nearly 200 towing vessels and 600 barges are queued on the Intracoastal Waterway while salvors work to clear a halved and partially sunken rock barge near Berwick, La., the U.S. Coast Guard said.A section of waterway has been closed since Sunday night, when a towing vessel pushing six rock-filled hopper barges ran aground at mile marker 99.The push boat Miss Odessa was reportedly transiting southbound on the Atchafalaya River when it turned west onto the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and hit bottom. One of the barges, ACL 01700, split in half and sunk when the vessel attempted to break free.

Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding, the classic Maine boat designer and builder will build to Baltic Workboats design for the domestic workboat market.Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding, the classic Maine boat designer and builder will announce at this year’s International WorkBoat Show that it has entered into the domestic workboat market as the Jones Act builder for the Estonian, Baltic Workboats wave piercing pilot boat, currently popular with Danish and Belgian pilots.How do you feel about taking on something as unusual as building a pilot boat designed and built in Estonia…

Ardea, a 20-meter catamaran crew transfer and support vessel, was delivered to Cape Preston in Western Australia earlier in 2019, Australian marine engineering design company Incat Crowther announced.Built by Echo Marine Group, the Incat Crowther 20 design has proven speed, robustness and seakeeping capabilities beyond its size, said a press release from the naval architect and engineering services firm.With twin Cummins QSK19s, each producing 597kW at 2,100rpm and twin Kamewa S45-3 waterjets it reaches a maximum speed of 25 knots. Its performance is owed to a hull form based on Incat Crowther’s proven crew transfer vessels operating…

Vessel traffic along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday was under restrictions ahead of Tropical Storm Gordon, which is expected to make landfall as a category 1 hurricane near the Mississippi-Alabama border.Ports from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama were closed to inbound traffic greater than 500 tons at 8 a.m. local time, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Alexandra Preston. The port of Pascagoula, Mississippi was closed to traffic by the U.S. Coast Guard, Harbor Master Cliff Porter said on Tuesday.Reporting by Jessic Resnick-Ault in New York and Erwin Seba in Houston

More than $20 million in grant funding has been awarded to support capital improvement projects at 29 small shipyards in 22 states across the U.S.The funding, awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) Small Shipyard Grant Program, supports capital improvements that foster increased efficiency and economic growth.“These grants are an investment in our country’s small shipyards and will help create good jobs for America’s workers,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L.

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) appointed Preston Khomo, previously Richards Bay Port Manager, as Executive Manager: Ship Repair, to manage and administer the organization’s ship repair resources nationally.Thamsanqa (Thami) Sithole has been appointed as the new Port Manager for Richards Bay. Both appointments are effective July 1.Khomo joined TNPA in 2004 as Head of Infrastructure Development: Port Operations and Consulting at Portcon (the then international arm of Transnet)…

Independent EMC and environmental testing organization Retlif Testing Laboratories has promoted Richard Reitz to the position of Director of Engineering. Reitz has been with Retlif since 1985, serving in several capacities. As Director of Engineering, he will now oversee testing and staff engineers at all the Retlif testing facilities including Ronkonkoma, N.Y. headquarters and Plainview, N.Y. composite laboratory, as well as the Harleysville, Penn., Charlotte, N.C. and Goffstown, N.H. laboratories. Reitz will be based in Harleysville, Penn.

Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard announced that the Government of Canada is investing $289 million in small craft harbors across the country in 2016-2017. The announcement includes $32 million of the $149 million allocated to small craft harbors in Budget 2016. Small craft harbors are crucial infrastructure for Canada’s commercial fishing industry, providing coastal communities with safe and reliable access points. This investment in Canada’s harbors will support this industry, which employs approximately 76,000 Canadians and contributed $6 billion to the Canadian economy in 2015, by ensuring facilities are in good repair and available for commercial fish harvesters and all harbor users.

Ceona, a London-based SURF contractor with deep-water subsea construction capabilities, has announced that the company's executive vice president commercial and business development, Mark Preece, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). According to the press release, Mark takes over from current CEO, Steve Preston, who after 40 years in the industry has decided to retire from operational management and step down. Steve has worked tirelessly to establish Ceona as a key subsea player over the last three years, having been a prime mover and overseeing the construction of the company's purpose-built flagship, Ceona Amazon. Ceona is a SURF and heavy subsea construction contractor in the deep-water market…

A brass propeller from the first U-Boat to be sunk a century ago has been given back to the country it belongs to, the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) reported. The propeller from the German World War I submarine U-8 was handed over by the MCA to members of the current Navy during a handover ceremony on the German Naval vessel Karlsruhe in the Portsmouth Naval Base. The propeller, recovered along with other historical items following a number of seizures of illegally recovered dive artifacts in the Kent area in 2014…

A crewman was medically evacuated from a fishing boat by U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue crews 110 miles east of Cape Cod, Friday. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Boston Command Center received an urgent call from the fishing vessel Capt Joe stating that a 62-year-old crew member aboard was suffering from severe abdominal pain. Considering the potential severity of the man's condition and the distance from land, Sector Boston conferred with the 1st District Command Center who initiated the medevac. Air Station Cape Cod was directed to launch two air crews, one aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to conduct the hoist, another aboard an HC-144A Ocean Sentry aircraft to provide communication and support coverage.

Metal Shark has delivered a custom 45-foot aluminum pilot boat to the Canaveral Pilots Association at Port Canaveral, Florida. The vessel was built at Metal Shark’s newly-opened shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana. For the project, the Canaveral Pilots specified a purpose-built pilot boat design by naval architect Bill Preston. The design utilizes the weight of a single bow-mounted diesel engine and a sharp forward entry to slice levelly through waves as opposed to riding over the top of the crests and then plummeting into the troughs.

BAE Systems in the U.K said it will take on 710 apprentices in 2015, the highest intake in the company’s history. Next year's intake surpasses the record set in the previous year by 142 places and includes 45 places for apprentices who will eventually join companies in BAE Systems' supply chain or work in local engineering companies. The latter are funded under the government's Employer Ownership Program. The new recruits - two-thirds of whom will be employed in engineering-related roles - will work across 14 of BAE Systems’ aerospace, security and defense sites around the U.K.

Ceona, SURF contractor with heavy subsea construction capabilities, has bolstered its fleet with the christening of its flagship asset, the Ceona Amazon, which has been delivered in less than two years of the letter of intent (LOI) for its construction being signed. The Ceona Amazon has been internally designed at Ceona and purpose built to perform in multiple pipelay and operational modes. She also features a large storage capacity and heavy subsea construction capability with her versatility setting her apart as a deepwater field development asset.

United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) is on a major expansion drive, investing more than $2 billion in bigger ships and forming alliances with peers to boost efficiencies and ride out tough markets. The shipping industry has been battling overcapacity, linked to a glut of new vessels ordered during a boom period before the global financial crisis of 2007-2009, forcing operators to look for ways to overcome one of the worst slumps on record. Despite the oversupply, companies are…

On October 10, 2014, Kenneth Smith, 99, the last of the original Smith Brothers, will christen the tug Captain Kenneth. The vessel was designed by the late Oliver Bryant and Parfait Designs and constructed at the company's yard on the Chesapeake Bay. Captain Kenneth is 49.5' x 19' x 7.5' with an operating draft of 6'. The boat, designed for both towing and pushing barges, with a model bow and push knees can operate in any part of the Chesapeake in most sea conditions. Power is…

U.S. coal-burning power utilities are being forced to turn to barges and more expensive trucks to move coal, desperate to shore up stockpiles left dangerously low by the widespread bottlenecks on rail networks. The shift in how coal is being delivered to some power plants from mining regions such as Illinois Basin and comes amid persistent railroad delays that began during last year's severe North American winter. The delays have been perpetuated also by a surge in rail deliveries of crude oil and grain…

UK-based Ceona contract with Lloyd Werft for the construction of a new multi-purpose offshore vessel, the 'Ceona Amazon'. The Ceona Amazon, based on a drill-ship design, is SPS compliant and equipped with a DP2 system. It will be especially well-suited for operations in remote and challenging locations and capable of laying rigid or flexible pipelines and umbilicals. Ceona has finalised its agreement with Lloyd Werft for the construction of a new high-capacity vessel, the Ceona Amazon, at a signing ceremony in Bremerhaven. Members of the Ceona management team, led by CEO Steve Preston and Chairman John Smith, were joined by a representative from majority shareholder Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, at the contract signing with Lloyd Werft at the Bremerhaven, German shipyard.

Merseyside shipyard and engineering firm Cammell Laird has formally started the second five year cycle of its biggest single contract. Work began in June 2013 on the second period of Cammell Laird’s through-life support cluster contract to maintain nine of the 13 ships in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) flotilla. The cluster contract was first awarded to Cammell Laird in 2008 and following reviews of performance and value for money the contract was extended for a further five years to 2018.

Toronto-headquartered Livingston International says it has acquired New York-based FPA Customs Brokers, Inc. “We look forward to welcoming the FPA team and their clients into the Livingston family,” said Livingston CEO Steven C. Preston. The acquisition bolsters Livingston’s air/sea customs brokerage operations, and expands the company’s presence in the United States. Notably, it strengthens Livingston’s footprint in New York and Los Angeles, the country’s two largest ports. Livingston was also attracted to FPA’s expertise in the retail textiles and apparel industry sectors in which Livingston continues to grow its presence. “This transaction…

Crowley Maritime Corp. inform that its ocean class tugs have successfully delivered oversized, overweight equipment – comprised of topsides, tendons, piles and more – that are now part of a massive semi-submersible floating production facility located in the U.S. Gulf, approximately 280 miles south of New Orleans, La. Working alongside the tugs were Crowley’s 455 series high-deck-strength barges, which carried much of the equipment as it was towed offshore. Utilizing the Crowley tugs’ dynamic positioning capabilities, the facility, known as Jack/St.

The offshore construction vessel Polar Onyx was delivered on March 4, 2014 from Ulstein Verft to GC Rieber Shipping, as the latest addition to their growing investments into the subsea segment. The vessel’s first assignment will be to work for deepwater projects serving as pipelay support vessel for Petrobras offshore Brazil. The 130-meter long and 25-meter wide Polar Onyx is based on ULSTEIN’s SX121 design, a design which is generally designed to operate in the IMR/SURF construction market, with high capacity for flexible pipe cargo below deck and on main deck. Irene W.