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Friday, April 19, 2024
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Shock News

11 Apr 2024

Ukrainian Seafarers Experiencing Increased Levels of Depression and Anxiety

Ā© Genya / Adobe Stock

Ukrainian seafarers are experiencing increased levels of loneliness and depression amid fears of conscription if they return home as the war enters its third year, seafarer charity Stella Maris warns.Stella Maris regional port chaplains for Southampton and Southern ports, Charles Stuart and Gregory Hogan, who make multiple daily ship visits report Ukrainian seafarers are under increasing strain.ā€œThe initial stresses have been replaced by something else,ā€ Hogan says. ā€œAt firstā€¦

11 Apr 2024

Nine People Die as Boat Capsizes in Mediterranean

Nine people, including a baby, have died after their boat capsized while trying to cross the Mediterranean in stormy weather, and another 15 people are feared missing, Italy's coast guard said on Thursday.The Italian coast guard said it received a cooperation request from the Maltese search and rescue (SAR) authority after the boat capsized approximately 30 miles (50 km) southeast of the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday .The coast guard said it dispatched its own patrol boat to the sceneā€¦

09 Apr 2024

Dali Hit Key Bridge with the Force of 66 Heavy Trucks at Highway Speed

(Photo:  Brandon Giles / U.S. Coast Guard)

The cargo ship Dali knocked down three main truss spans, constructed with connected steel elements forming triangles, on the Francis Scott Key Bridge just seconds after crashing into one of the bridge piers early on Tuesday morning, March 26, 2024.The bridge collapse happened so fast that it left little time for the work crews on the bridge to escape. Civil engineers like me have been paying attention to this disaster, because we want to find ways to make infrastructure like these large bridges more resilient. For a bridge this large to collapse would require a catastrophic collision force.

26 Mar 2024

Leadership Profile: Tor Svanes and NAVTOR's Quest to Transform Shipping

Tor Svanes, Founder and CEO, NAVTOR. Image courtesy Navto

Compliance, performance, profitability, sustainability; take the biggest ā€˜pain pointsā€™ for almost any shipping company and watch NAVTORā€™s digital ecosystem work wonders. Here Tor Svanes, Founder and CEO, explains how NAVTOR has grown to lead the smart shipping world, why the recent merger with Voyager Worldwide was so critical, and how he hopes to help steer the industry towards brighter, simpler, and more intelligent horizons.ā€œThe morning of the announcement I got a text from the boss of one of our biggest competitorsā€¦

06 Mar 2024

US Container Shippers Slow Walk New Contracts, Eye Easing of Red Sea Rate Hikes

Ā© Mariusz / Adobe Stock

U.S. importers are playing the waiting game with new container shipping contracts, gambling the rate spike from Red Sea vessel attacks will fade and put them in a stronger negotiating position, shipping industry analysts said.Iran-aligned Houthi missile and drone attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea have forced most container carriers to reroute vessels around Africa and sent spot rates soaring.That price shock is a "gift" that carriers will be giving back when the assaults stopā€¦

21 Feb 2024

Ultimate Boats Delivers Recyclable Patrol Boat

Source: Ultimate Boats

Glasgow boatbuilder Ultimate Boats has delivered a recyclable patrol boat to fellow Scottish organisation Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority.The bespoke vessel is 11 meters in length with a 3.1 meter beam. It features six permanent shock mitigation seats and two fold-down shock mitigation crew seats. Powered by two 350 HP Suzuki outboard engines, it has a 2,050kg payload, 1,000 litre fuel capacity and range of 400 miles.The vessel is built from Ultimate Boatā€™s patented Danu recyclable boat building material including its hullā€¦

15 Feb 2024

Is Stern Tube Damage Declining?

Shaft removal during stern tube repair procedures courtesy of Marine and Industrial Transmissions.
Photo courtesy Marine and Industrial Transmissions

It might be easy to blame EALs, but the ongoing causes of stern tube damage are varied, and possibly declining.Environmentally Acceptable lubricants (EALs) gained market traction with the introduction of US VGP regulations in 2013. Since then, DNV has observed two major trends. The first, starting in 2013 was early life damage, either during sea trials or within the first five years of operation, where aft stern tube bearings typically failed under extreme load conditions. Then from around 2018ā€¦

08 Feb 2024

Volunteer Fire Department in Indiana Gets Its First Boat

The Bellmore Fire Department uses the boat for the first time in early January while responding to a nighttime report of a dog in the water. (Photo: Marathon Petroleum Corporation)

A volunteer fire department in western Indiana has increased its capabilities to respond to incidents on lakes and waterways after getting an unexpected grant.The Bellmore Volunteer Fire Department purchased its first boat through funding from Marathon Pipe Line (MPL), a subsidiary of Marathon Petroleumā€™s midstream segment, MPLX.The departmentā€™s chief said he had considered budget cuts to make the purchase possible before MPL surprised him with a check for all the necessary funding.Bellmoreā€¦

16 Jan 2024

GE Vernova to Equip UK FSS Ships with Hybrid-electric Propulsion

(Image: Team Resolute)

GE Vernova's Power Conversion business in the UK has been chosen by Team Resolute to supply advanced hybrid propulsion technology for three Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships for the UK Ministry of Defense (MOD).Team Resolute is a consortium created by Spanish shipbuilder and defense company Navantia, shipbuilder Harland & Wolff and naval architects BMT to deliver the FSS program, for which Navantia UK, the UK subsidiary of Navantia, is prime contractor.The 216-meter-long ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) will be designed with an emphasis on minimizing carbon emissions.

10 Jan 2024

Surging VLCC Rates Impact US Crude Oil Shipments to Asia

Ā© Andriy Sharpilo / Adobe Stock

The economic incentive to import oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia has closed as the cost of booking supertankers on the route has surged amid a jump in bookings for the vessels, traders said this week.With the arbitrage for U.S. shipments closed, Asian refiners may make up some of the difference with similar Middle Eastern crude oil after top regional producer Saudi Arabia cut their sales prices for February, which is expected to carry over to other regional crudes. The spurā€¦

07 Jan 2024

War, Weather Put Ocean Shippers on Notice for Rough Seas in 2024

Ā© Daniel / Adobe Stock

Recent hostilities in the Red Sea have thrown global shippers of vital goods for a loop - but it is hardly the only issue that big carriers are facing as 2024 kicks off.Giants like Maersk say the industry, which handles 90% of global trade, faces the possibility of significant disruptions, from ongoing wars to droughts affecting key routes like the Panama Canal. Complex vessel schedules are likely to be knocked out of sync for giant container ships, fuel tankers and other commodity haulers throughout the year.That will increase delays and raise costs for retailers like Walmartā€¦

04 Jan 2024

RNLI Selects SKYDEX for Shock Mitigating Kneeling Decks

Source: SKYDEX

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has selected SKYDEX Technologies to provide their shock mitigating kneeling decks to protect crews aboard their D Class Lifeboats.The D Class lifeboat is the busiest in the RNLI's fleet. However, due to its compact size and difficult operating environment, the crews aboard these craft are exposed to impacts and whole-body vibration, causing discomfort and reducing performance. In response, the RNLI launched an initiative to improve craft equipment to better protect their crew.Working with the RNLIā€¦

22 Dec 2023

Sub-Continent Recyclers Hope for Better 2024

Source: GMS

As we enter the last week of 2023, sub-continent markets struggle on, says cash buyer GMS, going the final furlong to round out what has been an overall disappointing year for pricing and volumes.Prices have collapsed from over $600/LDT to below $500/LDT over certain stages this year, seeing around $150/LDT wiped from residual values in a shock for owners and cash buyers alike.ā€œNow that currencies and steel prices seem to have stabilized across the board for the time being, many will be hoping for a more bullish 2024, particularly as the supply of tonnage is set to increase ā€“ from both the dry

11 Dec 2023

Ship Recycling Market Remains Slumped

Source: GMS

The lackluster end to the year in subcontinent recycling markets continues for another week as disappointed owners and cash buyers face selling their inventory into markets where prices have slumped, reports cash buyer GMS.Several dry bulk sales were below USD 500/LT LDT into India in the lowest confirmed deals for several months.Steel prices have declined in India by almost 10% in a shock to many, particularly as international steel prices have pushed on to an impressive extent over the last month.

11 Dec 2023

MAN ES Wins Deal to Power ASW-Frigates

Damen Naval has contracted MAN Energy Solutions to supply the propulsion diesel engines and the diesel generator sets for the new Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) frigates. Image courtesy Damen Naval

Damen Naval has contracted MAN Energy Solutions to supply the propulsion diesel engines and the diesel generator sets for the new Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) frigates. The order consists of eight MAN 20V28/33D STC Marine Engines and sixteen variable speed 16V175D-MEV Naval generator sets with sound enclosure and plant auxiliaries. The agreement also includes Integrated Logistic Support for the four new frigates being designed and built for the Netherlands and Belgium.It is the second co-operation between the companies in just over a yearā€¦

20 Nov 2023

BRIX Marine Launches New Pilot Boat

(Photo: BRIX Marine)

Port Angeles, Wash. boatbuilder BRIX Marine has launched its newest pilot boat, Aldebaran, for a customer in Central America.The trailerable 11.3-meter-long rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) is powered by twin 300-horsepower Yamaha outboards with 3 bl 15.75" X 18" SS props.The boat's Naiad hull has a 23 degrees progressive deadrise,, 5086 alloy aluminum hull skins, D-shaped foam EV50 (approx.

16 Nov 2023

Seaqualize Executes Offshore Transfer Lifts on Vineyard Wind 1

Source: Seaqualize

Dutch heave compensation specialist Seaqualize executed the worldā€™s first offshore transfer lifts of wind turbine components from a heaving supply vessel.The companyā€™s newly developed offshore lifting device, the Heave Chief 1100, is being deployed by DEME Offshore US to instal the first turbines at Vineyard Wind together with the feeder barge solution developed by DEME Offshore US, with partners Barge Master, Foss Maritime and Seaqualize, and the operators and equipment fromā€¦

08 Nov 2023

Gladding-Hearn Delivers New Pilot Boat to Bermuda

(Photo: Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation)

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, has delivered a Chesapeake Class pilot boat to the Bermuda Government, Department of Marine and Port Services. It follows delivery of a 61ā€™ pilot/rescue vessel to the port services in 2011.The new all-aluminum launch is certified to Lloydā€™s Register class and replaces a 10-knot steel pilot boat built by the Somerset, Mass. shipyard in 1980. With a deep-V hull designed by Ray Hunt Design, the new boat measures 52.11ā€™ overall, with a 15.10ā€™ beam and a 4.8ā€™ draft.

06 Nov 2023

White House Says Orsted Remains 'Committed' to US Offshore Wind

Ā© Dragon Claws / Adobe Stock

Denmark's Orsted is still "committed" to developing offshore wind farms in the United States despite the company's cancellation of two projects off the coast of New Jersey, White House senior advisor John Podesta told Reuters on Monday.Podesta spoke with the company after its shock decision last week, he said in an interview. The discussion underscores the Biden administration's keen interest in offshore wind to further the nation's climate change goals by adding zero-emissions power generation."Orsted is moving forward with one of its projects here. I think they remain committed to the U.S.

06 Nov 2023

Ship Shortage Dealt Death Blow to Orsted's New Jersey Offshore Wind Hopes

Credit: Ian Dybal/AdobeStock

Danish energy firm Orsted's shock decision to cancel two offshore wind farms off New Jersey this week was based in large part on big delays securing the ship it needed to build the project, company officials said.The world's biggest offshore wind farm company on Tuesday said it would cease all development on the Ocean Wind projects even as it moves forward with developments off neighboring New York, triggering an angry response from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.The decisionā€¦

20 Sep 2023

Maritime Propulsion: The NSMV Power Play

Photo courtesy Wabtec

The quest to build a series of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMVs), which will serve as training ships for five U.S. maritime academies, has drawn a broad cadre of suppliers. The powerplant was a main focus, helping to evolve the schools from steam power plants to a modern propulsion package.NSMVs being built for the maritime academies is widely lauded as a ā€˜winā€™ for U.S. shipbuilding, an example of commercial shipbuilding practices applied to a government shipbuilding project.

06 Sep 2023

Man Drowns After Being Pushed off Ferry Departing Piraeus

A 36-year-old man who tried to board a passenger ship as it sailed from Greece's Piraeus port on Tuesday drowned after being pushed back by crew members off the vessel's stern ramp, the country's shipping minister said on Wednesday.The incident has shocked the country. Video footage released on social media showed crew members arguing with the man on the stern ramp just as the ferry Blue Horizon was leaving Piraeus for the island of Crete.Shipping Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said on Wednesday that the man, who had bought a ticket, had boarded the ship before disembarking for unknown reasons and then tried to board again, which was when he was pushed back by crew members and fell into the sea just as the ship departed."I feel shock and horror for what has happenedā€¦

22 Aug 2023

Vestdavit To Supply US Navy With Davits for New Class of Oilers

Source: General Dynamics NASSCO

Davits supplied by Vestdavit will be used for the launch and recovery of fast craft to support refuelling operations at sea for the US naval fleet after the company was awarded a major contract for six vessels being built by General Dynamics NASSCO in the US.The contract covers delivery of 12 high-specification PLRH-5000 davits to be installed on the John Lewis-class of T-AO oilers ordered by the US Navy at the shipbuilderā€™s San Diego shipyard, with two on each ship from T-AOā€¦