South Portland News

Coast Guard Sector Northern New England officially opened a new 24-hour command center Wednesday in South Portland, Maine.Sen. Susan Collins, Atlantic Area Commander Vice Adm. Scott Buschman, and First District Commander Rear Adm. Andrew Tiongson were all on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The command center is the hub for all Coast Guard operations across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and parts of New York. Located at Coast Guard Base South Portland, the command center's exterior remained the same, but the interior is completely new.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it is responding to an oil spill in the Fore River in Maine along with Maine Department of Environmental Protection and local fire departments.   According to initial reports, the cause of the spill was a car accident involving an overturned tank truck carrying diesel fuel on Interstate I-295.   Pollution responders from Coast Guard Station South Portland and Coast Guard Sector Northern New England are on scene.

The captain of the ill-fated cargo ship that sank in a hurricane off the Bahamas with no survivors last week was an experienced and highly trusted mariner who had spent a lifetime on the water, friends and colleagues said. The captain of El Faro, Michael Davidson of Windham, Maine, was raised in South Portland, alongside Maine's largest port, and spent summers nearby at a family home on an island in Casco Bay. The U.S. Coast Guard called off the search and rescue mission for the 28 American crew members and 5 Polish contract workers aboard El Faro on Wednesday night.

U.S. Coast Guard crews from Station South Portland, Maine, and Air Station Cape Cod responded to a report of a fishing boat fire Wednesday, about six miles from Jeffreys Ledge, a fishing area which stretches from the coast of Rockport to just southeast of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. A crewmember aboard the 40-foot fishing boat Gretchen Marie contacted watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Northern New England at about 7:40 p.m. Wednesday reporting a fire onboard and heavy smoke in Gretchen Marie's pilothouse. Two men were aboard the vessel.

A Coast Guard Station South Portland, Maine, crew responded to a boat fire aboard a 30-foot lobster boat in the vicinity of Cushing Island, Maine, Monday. The Portland dispatch notified Station South Portland at about 12:20 p.m., of a fire aboard the lobster boat Hard Bottom with one person aboard. A Station South Portland 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew and a 25-foot Response Boat-Small crew immediately launched and a Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Massachusetts, helicopter was diverted to the scene. Once on scene, the South Portland crew learned the fire had been extinguished, but had rendered the vessel disabled. The 25-foot RB-S crew was able to safely tow the Hard Bottom in to Union Pier. There were no medical concerns reported.

City councilors in South Portland, Maine, voted late Monday night to ban the loading of crude oil onto tankers along its waterfront, throwing up yet another roadblock to the export of Canadian oil sands crude and setting up a showdown with industry which called the process illegal. The city of 25,000, known for its scenic lighthouses and sweeping views of the island-speckled waters of Casco Bay, is also the east coast's second largest oil port, located at the southern terminus of the Portland-Montreal Pipeline, which currently flows north to Canada.

US Defense Department, Navy, has awarded General Dynamics Corp. -- Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine, a $212,000,000 fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract for the design and construction of a steel superstructure (deckhouse and hangar) plus construction of an aft peripheral vertical launching system for the Zumwalt-class destroyer (DDG 1002). Work will be performed in Bath, Maine (80.5 percent), Corona, Calif. (4.1 percent), Coatesville, Pa. (2.6 percent), South Portland…

Ship docking tugs now take the Z-drive for granted, but it has found only limited acceptance for river towboats. That is about to change with a new boat being built for The Carline Companies at Raymond and Associates in Bayou LaBatre. One of the Carline companies is the Burnside Fleet located at Mile 169 on the lower Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. When the big tows of up to 40 195 x 35-foot barges come down river, it is the fleeting tugs job to take selected barges off the tow and park them in the riverside fleet.

The U.S. Coast Guard & U.S. Attorney Office announce sentencing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Former Coast Guard man Shane Coxon, 24, was sentenced for knowingly making a false distress call to the Coast Guard in July 2010, and was sentenced to time-served of approximately three and a half months imprisonment to be followed by two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay the U.S. Coast Guard more than $4,500 in restitution. Prior to the incident, Coxon was a petty officer second class in the Coast Guard, stationed at Sector Northern New England. On July 18, 2010, Coxon called the Coast Guard Sector Northern New England Command Center, provided a false name and reported a flare sighting off the coast of Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced the award recipients for the 2012 Biennial Rear Admiral William M. Benkert, Marine Environmental Protection Award for Excellence at the American Petroleum Institute Tanker Conference in Orlando, Fla. The winner of the Osprey award went to APL Co. Pte. Ltd. based out of Singapore in the large vessel category. The winners for the Gold award went to AEP River Operations based out of St. Louis and Holland America based out of Seattle in the foreign vessel category. Ingram Marine Group based out of Nashville, Tenn., Matson Navigation based out of Oakland, Calif., and Marathon Petroleum Co. based out of Tampa, Fla., were winners in the large vessel category. Winners for the Silver award in the large vessel category went to Maersk Line Ltd. based out of Baltimore.

The U.S. Coast Guard has formally accepted the General Dynamics C4 Systems-built Rescue 21 Search and Rescue communications system now serving Sector Northern New England. With the command center located in South Portland, Maine, Sector Northern New England comprises more than 5,000 coastal miles from the New Hampshire/Massachusetts state line to the Canadian border, including Lake Champlain. Using advanced direction-finding technologies, digital communications and related enabling technologies…

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, is being awarded a not-to-exceed $110,799,779 contract modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-06-C-2303) for long lead time construction for DDG 1001, long lead time material for DDG 1002, and engineering and production support services. Work will be performed in Coatesville, Pa. (23.3 percent); Erie, Pa. (13 percent); Walpole, Mass. (12.9 percent); Parsippany, N.J. (11.1 percent); Loanhead, Midlothian, United Kingdom (5.4 percent); Deer Park, Texas (5.4 percent); Newton Square, Pa. (4.5 percent); Kingsford, Mich. (4.4 percent); Milwaukee, Wis. (2.8 percent); South Portland, Maine (2.7 percent); and other various locations with less than 2 percent (14.5 percent). Work is expected to be completed by October 2011.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, is being awarded a $105,353,508 modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-06-C-2303) for long-lead time construction for DDG 1001; long-lead time material for DDG 1002; and engineering and production support services.  Work is expected to be performed in Bath, Maine (52 percent); Parsippany, N.J. (21 percent); Iron Mountain, Mich. (8 percent); York, Pa. (7 percent); Mississauga, Canada (6 percent); Vernon, Conn. (3 percent); and South Portland, Maine (3 percent).  Work is expected to be completed by February 2011.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

The Coast Guard is conducting a waterways analysis review of the Kennebec River in Maine, to determine the effectiveness of aids to navigation in the river. Due to difficulties in keeping aids on station north of the Richmond/Dresden Bridge, the Coast Guard seeks to make all aids to navigation between the Richmond/Dresden Bridge to Augusta seasonal aids. Mariners and other concerned parties are invited to comment on the aids to navigation within these waterways. Questionnaires can be obtained by calling (207) 741-5442. Any comments or recommended changes to aids to navigation should be received no later than Dec. 15, 2008. (Source: U.S.

Ninety-six passengers were evacuated from a Portland-based ferry that ran aground about half a mile southeast of Basket Island, off the coast of Maine last week.. There were no reports of pollution or injuries to the 96 passengers and three crew aboard. The Bay Mist refloated with the incoming tide around 3:15 a.m., and an inspection of the hull showed no signs of a puncture. The ferry and its three crew were escorted by tug to the Casco Bay ferry dock in Portland. Coast Guard Station South Portland received the initial radio call ., reporting the 84-foot Bay Mist had run aground. The station launched a 25-foot and a 47-foot rescue boat to help evacuate the passengers from the stranded vessel. The case is under investigation.

We rolled into town on the last train north, arriving Portland, Maine at 2:00 a.m. Half an hour later we were at the dock, hauling our kit - and when Marine News travels light, we're like Hannibal crossing the Alps - over silent tugs resting abreast: Captain Bill, Justine McAllister, Stamford. On the phone a few days before, Capt. Brian Fournier had said something about leaving a light in Stamford's forward port cabin, and there, finally, it shone. But something brighter had caught our eye, and could we believe it? Last time we saw something like it, it was in Aberdeen, Scotland. Now, from Stamford's starboard rail, it loomed and glistened four hundred feet away - rising nearly as high - a pair of deep-sea drilling platforms, afloat waters barely up to their ankles.

Coast Guard Sector Northern New England, Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, the Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team, the Coast Guard Atlantic Strike Team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Maine Emergency Team-WMD, the Cities of Portland and South Portland, Portland Pipeline and many other area agencies and industry partners will be participating in a full-scale maritime security exercise in the port of Portland May 9 through May 12. The exercise provides local players with the opportunity to practice interagency coordination and response to a potential attack on the Maritime Transportation System. In the aftermath of 9/11…

The U.S. Coast Guard is soliciting for applications for the biennial Rear Admiral William M. Benkert, Marine Environmental Protection Award for Excellence. The program recognizes corporations and businesses involved in marine facility or vessel operations that have demonstrated sustained excellence and outstanding achievement in protecting the marine environment. It also encourages innovations in operations, maintenance, cargo handling, refueling, training, and provides a means for award recipients to share their successful methods and techniques with others in industry. Applications will be accepted from December 01, 2005 to March 31, 2006. Log into the award website at www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/mor/mor-1/benkert award/overview.htm to receive information on the application process.

The commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thomas Collins, is in Maine Wednesday, joining U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe for a tour of the Coast Guard base in South Portland, according to WMTW.com, touring the recently established Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. Snowe chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Fisheries and the Coast Guard.