Safety Department News

Germany's Anneliese Jost has been selected as the recipient of the International Maritime Prize for 2022, the the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced. The decision was made by the IMO Council at its 129th session, being held July 17-21, after Jost was nominated for the award by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.In its statement supporting her nomination for the prize, Germany cited Jost's "crucial contribution towards achieving the objectives of IMO…

The Coast Guard medevaced a man suffering severe abdominal pains from Bald Head Island, North Carolina, Monday.Coast Guard Station Oak Island watchstanders received a report of the 49-year old man's condition and the request for a medevac from medical personnel with the Bald Head Island Public Safety Department.Station Oak Island launched a 29-foot Response Boat-Small boat crew, who embarked the man and two medical personnel at Bald Head Island, and transported them to awaiting EMS personnel at Deep Point Marina in Southport.The two medical personnel were returned to Bald Head Island."It's imperative we continue to work hand-in-hand with our local partners on Bald Head Island," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Josh Meyer, officer-in-charge at Station Oak Island.

EURONAV has converted its first vessel to Sertica. Coming up next, is the entire EURONAV fleet consisting of more than 50 vessels. The roll-out is expected to be completed in four months.EURONAV has offices in both Antwerp and Athens. The tanker vessels are managed from the Athens office whereas the FSO and VPLUS vessels are managed from Antwerp. It is therefore essential that SERTICA can be operated from both offices without any problems.Rudi Vander Eyken, Group IT Manager at EURONAV says…

The Chamber of Shipping of America awarded thirty- nine (39) Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc. operating vessels the Jones F. Devlin Award, at the Annual Safety Awards Luncheon in New Orleans, LA. This award further symbolizes Bouchard’s dedicated commitment to safety, and is a true testament to the hard work and devotion their crew and safety department put forth every day to ensure Bouchard always operates safely. B. No. B. No. M/V Barbara E. M/V J. B. No. B. No. B. No. B. No. M/V Marion C. B. No. B. No. M/V Brendan J. M/V Morton S. B. No. B. No. M/V Ralph E. B. No. B. No. M/V Rhea I. B. No. B. No. M/V Danielle M. M/V Robert J. B. No. B. No. M/V Ellen S. B. No. B. No. B. No. B. No. B. No.

This edition of MarineNews headlines the increasingly diverse articulated tug-barge (AT/B) units which are beginning to make up a large percentage of the domestic merchant fleet. Conventional, less expensive towed barges are much slower than the traditional ships they replaced. That’s one reason that ATB’s are here to stay. The demand for the now familiar AT/B grew out of the need for low cost, safe, reliable, and more rapid marine transportation. That story begins on page 23. It turns out that safety is important to just about everyone. In the third quarter of 2013, I interviewed Harvey Gulf CEO Shane Guidry for an article that touched upon many things, but also seemed to always come back to one important metric: safety.

Insights: Morton S. Bouchard  III - President and CEO, Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc. When it comes to iconic, East Coast mainstays of the U.S. maritime industry, probably one of the first names that come to mind is ‘Bouchard.’ Likewise, Morton S. Bouchard III, who has served as President of Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc., the nation’s largest independently-owned oceangoing petroleum barge company since 1996, also needs no introduction to Marine News [and Marine Link] readers.

Forty-three Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc. vessels have been honored by The Chamber of Shipping America (CSA) with Certificates of Environmental Achievement. The awards, given out on Thursday, November 13, recognize vessels that have operated for two full years or more without an environmental incident. “These commendations are a testament to the hard work of both our safety department and our vessel employees,” said Morton S. Bouchard III, President and CEO of Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc. “At Bouchard Transportation we have made the safety of our crew and the environment a priority.

Mikhail Ulyanov, an ice-breaking shuttle tanker (ice class – ARC6) belonging to OAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group), has been the subject of a Greenpeace protest, while at the Port of Rotterdam carrying a cargo of 67,000 tons of crude oil, loaded on the continental shelf of the Pechora Sea, Russia. “We are extremely disappointed that our vessel has been the subject of an irresponsible publicity stunt by Greenpeace, which occurred despite the measures taken by our ship and the port authorities, including the Coast Guard and the Marine Police.

Drydocks World, an international service provider to the maritime, oil and gas and energy sectors, received the Award for the Health Safety and Environment Project (HSE) of the Year at the fourth Oil & Gas Middle East Awards hosted by publisher ITP Business on October 9, 2013 in Abu Dhabi. The ceremony was attended by key decision-makers and professionals from the Middle East’s upstream oil and gas community and celebrated excellence amongst this sector. The Awards sought out best-in-class organizations, projects and the people who have proven that going that extra mile made a real difference.

Signal Ship Repair, a division of Signal International, Inc., recently attained a milestone of 1,000 days without a lost time injury, on January 30th, 2013. This significant milestone was achieved by the commitment of all Signal Ship Repair employees towards a safe work environment. Signal Ship Repair has several crafts which never had an injury, including; maintenance, security, inside machinist, scaffolding, carpenters, structural welders, riggers, operators, electricians, laborers, and the safety department. The painters and drydock crew will have attained a two-year injury-free milestone on March 15th and 16th respectively. On May 11th the pipe and structural ship fitters will be injury-free for one year.

Safety experts both in and out of the maritime industry have for years been urging companies to restructure their organizational charts and erase the traditional division between Safety and Operations Departments in favor of disseminating safety responsibilities throughout operational divisions. This internal merger is often sold as an effective strategy for improving employee communications, fostering greater safety leadership throughout a company, and reducing the rate of injuries, as well as the high costs that come with them.

Khamis Juma Buamim, Chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World received the Singapore's Non-Resident Ambassador (NRA) to the United Arab Emirates, HE Tee Tua Ba and his accompanying delegation and held discussions on topics of mutual interest. Discussions revolved around the company’s future business strategy and action plan for the company’s Singapore-based operations, areas of mutual co-operation and exchange of know-how and technical expertise and identifying areas of further development of relations and partnerships. Drydocks World is actively engaged with several maritime organizations at various levels in Singapore such as Association of Singapore Marine Industries (ASMI).

Use of Dyneema ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber is helping to ensure that a major construction project to bring clean energy to millions of people in the U.K. moves ahead as efficiently and safely as possible. The world’s largest offshore wind farm is under construction in the North Sea, 23 km off the coast of England. Scheduled for completion in 2012, the Greater Gabbard wind farm’s 140 turbines will generate 500 megawatts of electricity for the people of London. The turbines are mounted on top of 65-meter, 650-tonne steel “mono piles” that are transported by barge from the Verbrugge Zeeland Terminal in Vlissingen, Netherlands to the construction site.

Unveiling the sculpture, Soaring with the Can Do spirit, to commemorate the inauguration of Keppel Nantong Shipyard are Mr Luo Yi Min, Party Secretary of Communist Party of China (CPC) Nantong Committee and Mr Lim Chee Onn, Executive Chairman of Keppel Corporation. Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited (Keppel O&M) has officially opened its new wholly-owned subsidiary, Keppel Nantong Shipyard Co. Ltd (Keppel Nantong), in Nantong, Jiangsu province, China. Min, Party Secretary of Communist Party of China (CPC) Nantong Committee, graced the occasion as the Guest-of-Honour, joined by more than 300 guests. The ceremony was landmarked by the sale of two 45-tonne Azimuth Stern Drive tugboats to Kuwaiti owner, Arabian Gulf Mechanical Services & Contracting (AGMS).

Large harbor tugs assist USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) as she returns to her forward deployed base after conducting sea trials. U.S. USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) returned to Yokosuka on May 7 after conducting sea trials in the Tokyo Bay. The carrier was at sea for three days testing its shipboard systems and equipment following a four-month selected restrictive availability (SRA) maintenance period. Sailors also participated in a number of drills and exercises, such as mass casualty and man overboard drills. “Sea trials give us a better judgment of where the ship is at and where the crew’s training level is that you can’t find by sitting next to the pier,” said Machinist’s Mate 1st Class (SW/AW) Chad Hemric, Safety Department leading petty officer.

At the Lloyd’s List Maritime Security Conference in held in London today, Dr. Hans Payer of Germanischer Lloyd, and Clay Maitland of International Registries, Inc. (IRI) were on hand to deliver speeches outlining pertinent security issues. During his speech, Dr. Payer, a member of the executive board of the society and a former chairman of IACS, said, Germanischer Lloyd is planning some specific research into the resistance of double hulls to external explosions caused by terrorist attack. "This is a natural extension of the studies we have already conducted both theoretically and experimentally into the collision resistance of double- hull ships. Double hull designs are more resistant to limited impacts such as low energy collisions or groundings.