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South Coast News

11 Mar 2024

Coast Guard Will Not Enforce New California Rule, Citing 'Safety Concerns'

© Jill Clardy / Adobe Stock

(The Center Square) - The U.S. Coast Guard says it “will not enforce” a new California Air Resources Board regulation, citing “safety concerns.”The Coast Guard and business organizations oppose CARB's requirement that commercial harbor craft install diesel particulate filters (DPF) linked to a number of fires. Seventeen states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency for giving an exemption to California alone to enact its own air standards that, by power of its market size…

31 Jan 2024

Damen to Build Fast Ferry for South Korean Operator

FFe 4212 (Credit: Damen)

Damen Shipyards has signed a contract to build a new Fast Ferry 4212 (FFe 4212) for South Korean ferry operator KT Marine.The vessel ordered by KT Marine is already under construction at Damen Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam and is expected to be ready for delivery by mid-2024, the Dutch shipbuilder said.The latest vessel for KT Marine marks the seventh Damen’s fast ferry built for the Korean market, and the fifth to be built for South Korean operators.“Our management team holds…

11 Jan 2024

Rebuilding the Foundations of US Offshore Wind

© Fokke Baarssen / Adobe Stock

As we enter a New Year, the memories of the shocks to the foundations to the U.S. offshore wind segment remain fresh. In short, supply chain inflation and capacity/availability, interest rate increases, and tax credit monetization have been the key themes highlighted by developers to explain why many projects became commercially unviable.Several Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have reacted rapidly, accepting the termination of power sales & purchase agreements and allowing the canceled projects to be rebid into new solicitations.

31 Oct 2023

US Offshore Wind Writedowns Seen Soaring with Orsted Earnings

© Cavan / Adobe Stock

European energy companies, including Denmark's Orsted, will likely write down more of their U.S. offshore wind investments this week after BP and Equinor booked $840 million in impairments in recent days.Orsted, the world's largest offshore wind developer, said in August it may see impairments of 16 billion Danish crowns ($2.3 billion) on its U.S. offshore developments due to supply chain problems, soaring interest rates and a lack of new tax credits.Orsted, which was not immediately available for comment…

09 Oct 2023

US Committed to Tackling Offshore Wind Challenges -Intelatus

© Chirapriya / Adobe Stock

Despite the negative headlines around the longer-term prospects for the U.S. offshore wind segment, business intelligence company Intelatus Global Partners sees continued efforts by the federal government and, in particular, the East Coast states to find solutions to the challenges faced by the industry as whole, which can be grouped under three headings: high inflation, supply chain development and high interest rates.On the side of the federal government, offshore wind leasing and permitting is being prioritized over oil and gas development.

04 Oct 2023

New England States Buy Offshore Wind Power as US Industry Struggles

© Cavan / Adobe Stock

Three U.S. states in New England - Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut - on Wednesday agreed to jointly procure offshore wind power as soaring interest rates and rising equipment and labor costs have made some projects uneconomic.By joining forces, the states hope to counter the pain rippling across the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry, which is expected to play a key part in decarbonizing the power sector and revitalizing domestic manufacturing.Earlier this week, another…

15 Sep 2023

Biden’s Offshore Wind Target Slipping Out of Reach as Projects Struggle

Credit:Cavan/AdobeStock

President Joe Biden’s goal to deploy 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind along U.S. coastlines this decade to fight climate change may be unattainable due to soaring costs and supply chain delays, according to forecasters and industry insiders.The 2030 target, unveiled shortly after Biden took office, is central to Biden's broader plan to decarbonize the U.S. economy by 2050. It is also crucial to targets of Northeast states hoping wind will help them move away from fossil fuel…

12 Sep 2023

Gosport Ferry Undergoes Genset Overhaul

(Photo: Royston)

Royston’s specialist marine engineering team has completed essential repair and a service work on a power plant system used onboard a south coast of England ferry.The 32-meter-long Spirit of Portsmouth, which carries pedestrians and cyclists between Gosport and Portsmouth in Hampshire, has had one of its aft Cummins 6BT generator sets overhauled by Royston engineers at the company’s North East of England workshop facility.This involved a full engine strip down with service work completed on essential parts.

05 Sep 2023

How Serious a Problem is the Cost Issue in U.S. Offshore Wind?

Credit: mark_gusev/AdobeStock

Much has been written recently about the challenges facing U.S. offshore wind projects, resulting in requests to terminate or renegotiate contracts to sell power to states. Examples of these challenges can be found from Massachusetts to Virginia. Coming on top of last week’s somewhat disappointing events of the Gulf of Mexico lease auction, speculation has mounted around the longer-term prospects for U.S. wind. But how serious is this problem, and what does it mean to the longer-term goals of the federal administration to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 203 and 110 GW by 2050?Below…

24 Aug 2023

Port of Los Angeles Pays Tribute to Shipping Lines That Reduced Emissions

Source: Port of Los Angeles

The Port of Los Angeles has recognized the achievements of more than two dozen shipping lines and carriers for participating in the Port’s Vessel Speed Reduction Program (VSRP), an air quality and annual incentive program for vessel operators who reduce their speed as they approach or depart the port.The voluntary program is one of many sustainability efforts currently underway at the Port to reduce emissions and decarbonize operations.Emission reductions are achieved under the…

21 Aug 2023

US Offshore Wind: Long-term Outlook Bright Despite Short-term Concerns

© Dragon Claws / Adobe Stock

While trouble areas continue to emerge in the young U.S. offshore wind industry, analysts at Intelatus Global Partners maintain an optimistic outlook for the industry in the long term.The business intelligence and consulting firm said in its latest U.S. Offshore Wind Report that it sees long-term foundations for the U.S. offshore wind sector solidifying, referencing several positive advancements such as the recently announced auction of three shallow water lease areas with at least 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of the month…

05 Jul 2023

KOTUG to Operate Dual-fuel Methanol Tugs on Canada’s West Coast

(Image: KOTUG)

In 2021, Trans Mountain, on behalf of shippers for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP), awarded KOTUG Canada Inc. a long-term contract to provide escort towage services for tankers that load crude oil at Trans Mountain’s Westridge Marine Terminal.Trans Mountain operates Canada’s only oil pipeline servicing the West Coast of Canada providing tidewater access to foreign markets for Canada’s petroleum resources.Under the agreement, KOTUG Canada, which is a partnership between KOTUG International B.V.

06 Mar 2023

US Offshore Wind Pushing Forward, But Short-term Cost Concerns Linger

© Fokke Baarssen / Adobe Stock

As we move into March, we note both positive and negative trends developing in the U.S. offshore wind segment.As an indication of the long-term sustainability of the offshore wind industry in the United States, federal agencies are finalizing the auction by the middle of this year of three Gulf of Mexico sites that will support a minimum of 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity. This capacity is likely to come onstream early in the next decade. Including the Gulf of Mexico sites, federal authorities will have leased sites with a cumulative generating capacity of 60 GW.

10 Nov 2022

Mayflower Wind Names Slingsby CEO

Francis Slingsby (Photo: Mayflower Wind)

U.S. offshore wind developer Mayflower Wind announced Francis Slingsby has assumed the role of chief executive officer, succeeding Michael Brown who will join the company's board of directors.“I am delighted to join Mayflower Wind as we continue to accelerate the transformation to a cleaner energy future,” said Slingsby, who brings over a decade of experience in commercial and business development in the U.S. offshore wind energy sector. “Mayflower Wind has successfully built a leadership position in the offshore wind market…

03 Nov 2022

Cable Installation Kicks Off at U.S. First Commercial Scale Offshore Wind Farm

©Vineyard Wind

Cable installation has kicked off at Vineyard Wind, the U.S. first commercial scale offshore wind farm, at a site located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Vineyard Wind, the company developing the namesake wind farm, also announced that it expects to begin nearshore cable work off the south coast of Cape Cod in the coming days. The work is being conducted by Prysmian Group, the subsea cable manufacturing and installation firm based in Italy.Prysmian recently announced plans to build the first U.S.-based offshore wind subsea cable factory in Somerset…

27 Oct 2022

Canada's New Oil Spill Response Barges Launched

(Photo: Robert Allan Ltd.)

Two new oil spill response barges were recently completed at ASL Shipyard in Singapore for Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC).The two 3,500 tonne barges, Sentinel 303 and Sentinel 304, will be delivered to WCMRC in October, with arrival in Canada by the end of 2022. The response barges will join WCMRC’s fleet of pollution response vessels stationed along the south coast of British Columbia.These new barges represent a significant enhancement to the pollution response capabilities already in place and will benefit the entire local maritime industry…

07 Sep 2022

Ukraine Sailor Permits Crucial for Grain Exports, Global Shipping

© soleg / Adobe Stock

Ukraine's decision to allow its seafarers to leave the country despite wartime restrictions will free up vital manpower for both Ukrainian grain exports and the wider global shipping industry, industry figures told Reuters.The move, officially confirmed this week, is part of efforts by Ukraine to maximize its grain shipments via a UN-brokered corridor through the Black Sea, which lifted a Russian blockade of Ukraine's south coast when came into effect in early August."We understand…

25 Aug 2022

East Timor Expects Australia to Back Greater Sunrise Gas Development via Timor

File image - Credit: Woodside

East Timor is confident the Australian government will support plans for gas from the massive Greater Sunrise offshore field to be processed in Timor rather than Darwin, the country's petroleum authority head said on Thursday.Greater Sunrise lies in waters between East Timor and Australia and holds an estimated 7.3 trillion cubic feet of gas which the Timorese urgently want to develop as the impoverished nation's main revenue source, the Bayu Undan oil and gas field, is set to…

18 Jul 2022

S.Korea Gov't Calls on Strikers to End 'illegal' Siege of Daewoo Shipyard

Credit: IikaJzuchiN/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

The South Korean government on Monday called on striking workers at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) to end their month-long siege of a dock at the company's biggest shipyard, which has paralyzed production and is delaying delivery of new vessels.Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho called the occupation "outright illegal" and pledged a "stern response based on law and order."The shipyard near the city of Geoje, off the country's south coast, is one of the world's largest.

20 Jun 2022

Ukraine Hits Crimean Drilling Platforms

Ukrainian forces attacked drilling platforms in the Black Sea owned by a Crimean oil and gas company, the pro-Russian head of the annexed peninsula said on Monday, giving no details of what weapons were used.Three people were wounded and a search was underway for seven workers from the Chernomorneftegaz energy company, Sergei Askyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, said in a post on Telegram.Crimean officials said work on three drilling platforms had been suspended after the hit, with fires reported.Reuters was unable to immediately verify the reports. Ukraine's military declined to comment.Russian-backed officials seized Chernomorneftegaz from Ukraine's national gas operator Naftogaz as part of Moscow's annexation of the peninsula in 2014. The company is under U.S.

06 Apr 2022

Steller Systems to Open New UK Office

(Photo: Steller Systems)

Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Steller Systems announced it will open a new office on the U.K.'s South Coast. Slated to open next month, the new premises in the village of Hamble will house Steller Systems "growing" team of naval architects and marine engineers, the company said.The new location joins Steller Systems' existing Grade II listed office in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, and its rapid prototyping workshop which opened earlier this year in nearby Minchinhampton."With the continued increase in demand for Steller Systems’ services…

16 Mar 2022

Massachusetts Maritime Academy Teams Up with Union Apprentice Program for Offshore Wind

© MMA

With the passing of the historic infrastructure bill in August 2021, the backbone of the United States will undergo a transformation over the next several years, and for this, workers will be needed in all facets of the construction industry.Building Pathways South (BPS), a pre-apprenticeship program in Southeastern Massachusetts, is preparing young adults for opportunities available today as well as down the road, including in the growing U.S. offshore wind industry.Yvonne Tobey…

07 Feb 2022

Indian Register of Shipping Opens Coimbatore Office

Natarajan, Regional Manager for the South Coast of India, IRClass (Photo: IRClass)

Classification society the Indian Register of Shipping said it has opened a new office in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The premises were recently inaugurated and has been operational since February 1, 2022.Coimbatore is one of the most industrialized cities in Tamil Nadu with a diversified manufacturing sector including more than 25,000 small, medium and large-scale industries. IRS has serviced this region through its Cochin office in the past, however with increase in business opportunities…