US Navy-owned FLIP Research Platform Retired from Service
A dynamic era in naval oceanography recently ended as the iconic Floating Instrument Platform â popularly known as FLIP â was officially retired from service.Built in 1962 with funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), FLIP helped generations of scientists and oceanographers better understand the mysteries of the sea, including internal waves, air-sea interaction and long-range sound propagation. Sadly, age and exorbitant life-extension costs resulted in the platform being disestablished.On Aug.
Floating Offshore Wind and the Need for High-end AHTS
As the world continues to scramble for renewable energy, floating offshore wind has emerged as a key capacity enabler in the coming decades. With no major commercial scale projects currently in operations, the segment is largely based on governments and developers ambitious project plans for the future. Nonetheless, this market segment can offer vast opportunities to the world of offshore support vessels in both near- and long-term prospects.In this piece, we will discuss the key opportunities and challenges related to offshore floating windâŠ
Norden Offers Carbon Inset Tokens
Danish bulk shipping company Norden has partnered with 123Carbon and its partners, AllChiefs and Verifavia, to commence offering carbon inset tokens through 123Carbonâs newly developed platform.With the platform, Norden will now be able to tokenise CO2-equivalent reductions made on biofuel voyages and allocate them to industry customers who are looking to reduce their maritime Scope 3 emissions.The platform supports auditing companies like Verifavia, a global verification auditing body specialised in transportâŠ
Markets: The Challenges of Developing Floating Wind at Scale
Tens of gigawatts of floating wind projects are slated for development in this and the next decade, but many obstacles remain.There has been much focus on the emerging floating wind market of late.The U.K. is forging ahead with commercial scale floating wind developments through the Scotwind and INTOG awards of at least 24 gigawatts (GW) of floating wind capacity representing close to 1,500 floating turbines that will come on stream through 2030. And this will be soon followed by the award of at least 4 GW of capacity through the Celtic Sea floating wind auctions. The U.S.
NOAA, Coast Guard to Collect Data from a Great Lakes Icebreaker
This week, NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) scientists worked with the U.S. Coast Guard during ice-breaking in Lake Superior Harbor in Duluth, Minnesota, aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Spar. This project is the first set of experiments funded by the newly developed Great Lakes Center of Expertise.Teams from both Coast Guard District 9 and NOAA deployed uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) with multispectral, thermal and LIDAR sensors to collect data while the Spar was breaking ice in the harbor.
China, US Spar Over Warship in South China Sea
China's defense ministry said on Friday that it yet again had to monitor and drive away the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Milius that entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands."We sternly demand the U.S. to immediately stop such provocative acts, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen incidents," a spokesperson said in a statement from the Ministry of National Defence.The U.S. Navy said the guided-missile destroyer was assertingâŠ
How Do Floating Wind Turbines Work?
Northern California has some of the strongest offshore winds in the U.S., with immense potential to produce clean energy. But it also has a problem. Its continental shelf drops off quickly, making building traditional wind turbines directly on the seafloor costly if not impossible.Once water gets more than about 200 feet deep â roughly the height of an 18-story building â these âmonopileâ structures are pretty much out of the question.A solution has emerged thatâs being tested in several locations around the world: wind turbines that float.In CaliforniaâŠ
First US Floating Wind Auction Closes
Five developers selected to build the first floating wind farms in U.S. federal watersTo support the California Energy Commissionâs planning goals of 2-5 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045 as well as a federal target to deploy 15 GW of floating wind by 2035, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has concluded the auction date for five 33-year leases offshore California. Exhibit 1 summarizes the outcome of the auction and estimates the potential of the lease areas using BOEMs standard power density formula of 3 MW per square kilometerâŠ
Demand Grows for OSVs in the Offshore Floating Production and Storage Energy Sector
Over the last year we have seen an upswing in floating production and storage systems ordering after many years of low activity. According to our colleagues at World Energy Reports, âThe global oil and natural gas markets are contending with rebounding energy demand on top of supply disruptions from Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine. As a result, activity and business sentiment in the floating production sector has seldom been stronger.â This increased activity in the floating productionâŠ
Offshore Renewable Energy: A Port Puzzle for Floating Offshore Wind
After being very much on the margins of the offshore wind industry, floating offshore wind now appears to be ready to hit the mainstream. With gigawatt scale developments already on the horizon, what will the infrastructure needed to build and support them look like? Over the past 12 months, the floating offshore wind sector appears to have had a major dose of adrenaline. While the largest development, to date, is the relatively small-scale 50MW Kincardine project off northeast Scotland (which will be outdone by the 88MW Tampen project in Norway later next year [2022])âŠ
Cargill Loads Soy in Texas After Ida Damages Louisiana Terminal
The first bulk U.S. soybean cargo from the Texas Gulf Coast in about six months was loaded and shipped last week from a Cargill Inc terminal, in a sign of shifting trade flows in the wake of Hurricane Ida, traders and shipping sources said.The vessel Spar Rigel was loaded early last week with about 55,000 tonnes of soybeans at Cargill's Houston terminal, an outlet that typically loads mostly wheat and sorghum grown nearby, according to a shipping vessel lineup seen by Reuters.The uncommon shipment is the first of several soybean cargoes expected to load at Cargill's Texas facility this autumn after one of the company's two terminals at the Louisiana Gulf Coast - the country's top outlet for corn and soy shipped down the Mississippi River - was severely damaged by Ida on Aug.
Dredging: Important Developments Will Impact Business
For dredging company officials, the first quarter of 2021 was a pretty good start to a new year. In a tough business, challenges and pitfalls are always expected. But from a bigger picture perspectiveâmarkets, regulations and policiesâcompany officials couldnât be faulted if a bit of optimism infused their worldview.There are a number of reasons for this. Many are well known and donât need to be detailed here. Just quickly, though, WRDA 2020 would be at the top of the list. WRDAâŠ
Gallery: BP's Giant Argos Platform Arrives in Texas
BP's behemoth Argos offshore oil platform, the centerpiece ofâŻthe company's $9 billion Mad Dog 2 project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico,âŻhas arrived in the U.S. after a 16,000-mile journeyâŻfrom South Korea.The platform, loaded onboard Boskalis' BOKA Vanguard heavy transport vessel, had left South Korea on February 3, and it has this week arrived in theâŻKiewitâŻOffshore Services fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas."TheâŻarrival of the new floating production unitâŻisâŻaâŻmajorâŻmilestone towards the completion of Mad Dog 2.
VIDEO: BP's Argos Platform Sails Away from S. Korea
Oil major BP has informed that its Argos oil platform, built by Samsung Heavy Industry, has set sail from South Korea and is en route to Texas.The platform, which will be capable of producing up to 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day from up to 14 production wells, will be deployed in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as part of the Mad Dog 2 development.As previously reported, the Argos platform weighing almost 70,000 tons was in January loaded on Boskalis' semi-submersible heavy transport vessel BOKA Vanguard preparation for the sailaway.Announcing the sailawayâŠ
Gallery: BP's Giant Argos Platform Loaded on BOKA Vanguard in South Korea
BP's giant Argos offshore platform, to be used for the Mad Dog 2 development in the Gulf of Mexico, was this week loaded on Boskalis' BOKA Vanguard vessel in South Korea and is preparing set sail for the U.S.According to Boskalis, the Dutch marine services contractor, the giant Argos floating production unit weighing nearly 70,000 tons was floated onto Boskalis' semi-submersible heavy transport vessel BOKA Vanguard on Tuesday."The vessel was submerged well over 29 meters to make this happen.
Ex-TechnipFMC Director to Lead U.S. Dredging Giant's Foray into Offshore Wind
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, a U.S.-based dredging services giant, on Wednesday announced the appointment of industry veteran Eleni Beyko as senior vice president offshore wind â a strategic growth area for the company. Beyko, who started on Jan. 25, brings more than 20 years' experience in program engineering, business leadership and project management in the automobile and offshore oil and gas markets. At GLDD, she is responsible for developing its offshore wind operations, including strategy and business development, tendering and project execution.
Coast Guard Vessel Spills Oil in Womens Bay, Alaska
The U.S. Coast Guard said on Saturday it was responding to a report of a discharge of hydraulic oil from Coast Guard Cutter SPAR in Womens Bay, Kodiak, Alaska.Coast Guard said it was monitoring the cleanup which has been contracted to Choctaw Defense Services (CDS). Personnel on scene deployed boom systems, absorbent pads, and a skimmer that is pumping to a vac truck.Watchstanders at the Sector Anchorage Command Center received notification from the National Response Center at 9:40 a.m., that the crew of the cutter SPAR reported a hydraulic oil discharge.
Interview: Astrid Skarheim Onsum, SVP, Head of Wind, Aker Solutions
Offshore renewable energy is gaining investment support in the United States, particularly on the east coast. While the U.S. is a full generation behind its European counterparts in tapping the wind as an energy source, if current plans come to fruition it could gain ground quickly. Recently we spoke with Astrid Skarheim Onsum, SVP, Head of Wind Aker Solutions, for her view on the path ahead and the growing role and promising future of âfloating wind.âPlease give an overview of your responsibilities as SVPâŠ
BMT Subsea Technology for Equinor
Global engineering company BMT announced a partnership with Sonardyne to deliver to Subsea 7 its proven âRiser Monitoring Systemâ (RMS).The subsea integrity monitoring solution has been adopted by the worldâs largest spar platform, Aasta Hansteen.The Aasta Hansteen Spar platform is operated and owned by Equinor ASA, the Norwegian multinational energy company.Located 300 kilometres west of Sandnessjøen on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in water depths of up to 1,300m, the deepest field development on the NCS, the Aasta Hansteen Spar is installed in a harsh environment utilising highly robust deepwater Steel Catenary Risers (SCR).Neil CharlesâŠ
MTR100: Five "Ones to Watch"
For Marine Technology Reporter's (MTR) 14th Annual "MTR100" - a look at 100 innovators and technologies in the subsea space - MTR editor-at-large Elaine Maslin reports on five companies and technologies that are worth the watch for the remainder of 2019 and beyond. For the full edition, see https://magazines.marinelink.com/nwm/MarineTechnology/201907/Blue Logic: Entering a new eraCompletely new modes of operation are entering the underwater domain for oil and gas operations andâŠ
Coast Guard Corrals Wayward Buoy in Long Island Sound
Built to guide mariners through safe waters, the Valiant Rock Lighted Whistle Buoy 11 was dangerously adrift in the Long Island Sound.When ferry operators traveling between Orient Point and Fishers Island, New York, first reported the buoy off station on Jan. 17, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oak (WLB-211) was already underway but foul weather kept the cutter from removing it.This was the beginning of a two-week saga that would involve several Coast Guard units. Like the Loch Ness monster of the Long Island Sound, the 35-foot-tall green buoy was occasionally seen but hard to catch.
Aquaculture: Inside the De Maasâ Offshore Fish Farm
As attention increasingly turns to ocean health and sustainability, an innovative new fish farm solution was deployed earlier this year when the De Maasâ Semi-submersible Spar Fish Farm (SSFF) became the worldâs first offshore farm installed at an open ocean location exposed to tropical storms. MTR recently visited â virtually â with co-founder Philip Schreven for insight on the design and operation particulars of their innovation.How did you became involved in this unique niche of the maritime industry?Mark van Leeuwen and I founded De Maas in 2007 as an offshore oil and gas services company.
DNV GL Releases Class Rules for Floating Offshore Wind
The floating offshore wind industry, currently at its beginnings, is set for massive growth in the years to come, which has now led the classification society DNV GL to released the first integrated rule set for floating offshore wind structures."The rules provide both new entrants and experienced stakeholders a set of well-tested rules and standardized processes for these new structures," the company said.According to forecasts in the Carbon Trustâs new Floating Wind Joint Industry Projects reportâŠ