Metal Shark Building Fireboats for Anne Arundel County FD
Louisiana-based boat builder Metal Shark is building two welded-aluminum fireboats for Anne Arundel County Fire Department in Maryland.The new 50 Defiant NXT monohull pilothouse fireboats were designed by Metal Shark’s in-house engineering team and are now under construction at the company’s Franklin, La. shipyard. The newbuilds were ordered to replace the department's 20-year-old main fireboat, Lady Anne, delivered from MetalCraft Marine in 2023. The new vessels will offer faster speeds enabling shorter response times…
Coast Guard Responds To Barge Fire
The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of a fire that occurred during the transfer of fuel on board a barge at the Citgo Bulk Storage and Distribution Facility in . A 49-year-old man from , was on board the 592-ft. barge SMT Two, operated by the Jacksonville-based company Intrepid Ship Management Inc., and was monitoring the transfer of gasoline when a fire started in a machinery space below him. The man was able to evacuate the space but suffered burns on his hands and face. He was transferred to by emergency medical service personnel. His condition is unknown. Another crewmember was able to close the space and put out the fire with installed fire-extinguishing equipment. The SMT Two arrived from , and is carrying 75,000 barrels of jet fuel and 15,000 barrels of gasoline.
Tampa Bay Coast Guard Tests Pollution-Recovery System
Coast Guard personnel from Sector St. Petersburg, along with members from Port Manatee and Tampa Fire and Rescue, conducted a pollution-response exercise at the Port of Manatee in Palmetto, Fla., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. The exercise was aimed at testing and improving the Coast Guard's ability to assemble, deploy and operate a Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System (VOSS). A VOSS is used to isolate and collect the spilled substance during or after a spill. A VOSS is designed to be transported to a spill site and convert a vessel, 60-feet or longer, into a single-ship, substance-recovery platform. The Falcon, a 90-foot tug owned by Sea Bulk Towing, was used in today's training exercise. The last time a VOSS was deployed in the Tampa Bay area was Aug.
