Interview: Joe Hudspeth, BAE Systems
Joe Hudspeth is the Director of Business Development for Global Marine at BAE Systems in Endicott, N.Y. BAE Systems offers complete, efficient propulsion and auxiliary power systems utilizing electric technology. Hudspeth has been involved with maritime sales, marketing and product development since 2000. He currently serves as a regional co-chairman for the Passenger Vessel Association, is a judge for the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association student design competition, and frequently speaks and writes on maritime and ferry related issues. Hudspeth lives in Bellingham, Wash.
Ship Management and Technology
Technology is central, not merely an add-on, to ship manager brand value. Ship managers who operate vessels on behalf of their owner clients, are the lynchpin of international shipping. As the industry has gone through rounds of relentless cost cutting, at times of increasing regulatory scrutiny, and commercial pressures for high standards, third party managers have filled the need for raising quality, while maintaining tight cost controls. The rise of third party managers in the 1980s and 1990s…
Regulatory Rant – Vessel General Permit
The initial implementation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Vessel General Permit (VGP) is now theoretically astern of the marine industry, but unlike any other new regulatory effort, this one has numerous unintended consequences, many of which remain “submerged” and undetected by vessel owners, their customers, insurers, and indeed the EPA itself. Although the protection of the marine environment is essential, it would appear as if the evolving American approach to regulate ballast water discharges will not achieve this quickly.
ABS Releases Exhaust Gas Scrubber Advisory
ABS released the ABS Advisory on Exhaust Gas Scrubber Systems, which will aid vessel owners and operators in assessing the viability of utilizing exhaust scrubbers to meet current and forthcoming environmental requirements. As the industry seeks solutions for increasingly stringent low sulfur fuel requirements, owners and operators should fully understand the impact of the regulations and properly assess available technologies. Fuel switching, which is frequently utilized in Emission Control Areas today is not expected to be a viable option in the future.
Feature: E-Ship: The Paperless Trail
Paperwork is, and always has been a necessary and essential aspect of ship operation. Indeed, the Barcelona Maritime Code of 1258 required ships carry clerks specifically for this purpose releasing the master to concentrate on his primary duty, safely navigating the vessel. Unfortunately, such is the way of things few ships now carry clerks. Indeed, notwithstanding a mushrooming in documentation shipping is required to carry and use in recent years, notably at the behest of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the number of crew available to manage the workload continues to reduce, the burden increasingly falling on the bridge watchkeepers. To what extent this has an impact on safety is moot.
