University Of North Carolina News

Colonna's Shipyard said Wednesday that its President & CEO, Tom Godfrey, would retire effective December 31, 2023. Randall Crutchfield has been named to replace Godfrey as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Crutchfield is currently Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer (COO). Additionally, Jordan Webb, currently Executive Vice President of Shipyard Operations, will become President & General Manager. Both appointments are effective January 1, 2024.“Randall…

Researchers from NOAA, the state of Michigan, and Ocean Exploration Trust discovered an intact shipwreck resting hundreds of feet below the surface of Lake Huron. Located within NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the shipwreck has been identified as the sailing ship Ironton. Well preserved by the cold freshwater of the Great Lakes for over a century, the 191-ft. Ironton rests upright with its three masts still standing."Using this cutting-edge technology, we have not only located a pristine shipwreck lost for over a century…

U.S. federal Maritime Commission Chairman Daniel B. Maffei announced Phillip C. “Chris” Hughey has been hired as the General Counsel of the Federal Maritime Commission and appointed to be a member of the Senior Executive Service.In his capacity as General Counsel to the Commission, Hughey will provide legal advice and recommendations to the Chairman and Commissioners on regulatory and policy matters. He will serve as a member of the agency’s senior management team and will also…

Norfolk, Va. ship repair yard Colonna’s Shipyard announced a series of senior management promotions along with a revised organizational structure effective July 2022.Jordan Webb, currently Vice President, Contracts, has been promoted to Vice President of Shipyard Operations. Randall Crutchfield, currently Colonna’s Chief Experience Officer and Executive Director of Steel America and Weld America, has been named Vice President of Industrial Operations and Facilities. Chris Marsh…

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Rear Admiral (Rear Adm.) Ann Phillips, USN, Ret., has been confirmed and sworn in as the 20th Administrator of the Maritime Administration (MARAD). Nominated by President Biden on October 21, 2021, Rear Adm. Phillips was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 10, 2022. She is the first woman to lead MARAD as administrator.“From her distinguished naval service to her leadership on coastal infrastructure, Rear Admiral Ann Phillips has championed America’s maritime sector throughout her career,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Hepburn and Sons LLC team has welcomed CAPT Timothy Crone as its newest Director. CAPT Timothy Crone, USN (Ret) will serve as Hepburn’s Director, Advisory Services.CAPT Crone, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the US Naval Academy and completed a Master of Science in Justice, Law and Society from American University. He has also received a Master of Arts in National Security Policy and Strategic Studies from the U.S.

The reemergence of organotin in marine hull coatings is of increasing concern, with academics and environmentalists calling on International Maritime Organization (IMO) to investigate the use of tin in silicone-based foul release systems and other ships hull coatings. While use of the organotin tributyltin (TBT) was outlawed as an active biocide almost 10 years ago, the IMO is claimed to “have left the door open” for tin as a catalyst, but according to some academics the amount of organotin used suggests it could be acting as the active agent. Dr.

Researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its partners are set to visit what remains of two ships—a German U-boat and a Nicaraguan freighter – which sank off Cape Hatteras during World War II’s “Battle of the Atlantic,” which pitted the U-boats of the German navy against combined Canadian, British, and American forces defending Allied merchant ships. By July 1942, the United States had been in World War II for less than a year, but the fight was coming to the nation’s shores.

Dave Brown has joined Volvo Penta of the Americas as director of commercial marine sales. In this new position, Brown will provide strategic and administrative direction and leadership to support overall segment growth. His primary focus will be to secure and maintain effective business relationships with governmental agencies, OEMs, dealers and customers in the marine commercial engine market. He will report to Marcia Kull, vice president of marine sales for Volvo Penta of the Americas. Brown has a 17-year background in business development and sales.

Heriot-Watt scientists have cracked the genetic code of the marine bacteria which helped ‘eat’ the oil spilled in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, information which could aid clean-up efforts for any future major spill. Dr Tony Gutierrez, Associate Professor of Microbiology at Heriot-Watt, was in the US at the time of the disaster and was able to perform experiments with samples from oil-contaminated waters of the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the spill occurred, samples that contained key species of bacteria that fed on the oil. Experiments with the samples revealed that certain bacteria had thrived on the oil that gushed into the Gulf, devouring the oil as a preferred food source.

Crude oil shipper DHT Holdings, Inc. announced today that it has appointed Joseph H. Pyne to its board of directors, expanding the board from three to four independent directors. Erik Lind, Chairman of DHT said, “We are very pleased to have Joe join the DHT board of directors. His commercial and operational experience and longstanding insight into the U.S. Pyne is the Executive Chairman of Kirby Corporation, a U.S. tank barge operator, and served as the Chief Executive Officer of the company from 1995 to April 29, 2014.

Partnering U.S. agencies have commenced surveying the historic shipwreck of an American lightship shelled and sunk by a German U-boat during World War I nearly 100 years ago. Teams from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), on Sunday, August 30, began a survey of the historic wreck of Diamond Shoal Lightship No. 71, the only American lightship to be sunk by enemy action during World War I.

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) board of directors has elected Kellye Walker to serve as corporate vice president and general counsel and Charles R. “Chuck” Monroe Jr. to serve as corporate vice president, associate general counsel and secretary. These organizational changes are effective Jan. 12, 2015. As corporate vice president and general counsel, Walker will report to HII President and CEO Mike Petters and will have overall leadership responsibility for HII’s law department and outside counsel…

A team of researchers led by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries have discovered two significant vessels from World War II’s Battle of the Atlantic. The German U-boat 576 and the freighter Bluefields were found approximately 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina. Lost for more than 70 years, the discovery of the two vessels, in an area known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, is a rare window into a historic military battle and the underwater battlefield landscape of WWII.

Rep. Coble  started off in 1949 in North Carolina, 250 miles inland, where he knew “virtually nothing” about the Coast Guard prior to enlisting. He was attending Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. where his college classmates had gone to the recruiting office and talked him into going with them. Why the sudden interest? “I wrecked my dad’s car, for one thing,” chuckled Coble. “Ran it right off the road. I had a college deferment. Coble was soon a recruit at Training Center Cape May. After boot camp, Coble’s first duty station was a port security unit just outside of Portsmouth, Va. After five and a half years of active duty service, Coble transitioned into his role as an officer in the Coast Guard Reserve and continued to serve for 22 years.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners this week appointed Heather A. Tomley as the new Director of Environmental Planning. She will be charged with leading Green Port environmental initiatives. Tomley has been serving as the City of Long Beach Harbor Department’s Acting Director of Environmental Planning since July 2013. She will report to Managing Director of Environmental Affairs and Planning Rick Cameron. Tomley originally joined the Harbor Department as an Environmental Planning Associate in 2005…

International Yacht Collection (IYC) iannounced that Frank Grzeszczak and Barbara Stork Landeweer are the company’s  2013 Yacht Broker and Charter Brokers of Year, respectively. Representative of a banner year for IYC, both brokers played a pivotal role in promoting the superyacht lifestyle and helping their clients achieve results in the global market. “I have the privilege to again congratulate Frank and Barbara on their exceptional performance,” said Bob Saxon, IYC President.

The R/V 'Cape Hatteras' is for sale after 31 years service to Duke-University of North Carolina Oceanographic Consortium (DUNCOC). Currently on the market with an asking price of $1.25 million, the ship's future owner will acquire a legendary craft highly respected by the international scientific community. The 135-foot R/V Cape Hatteras is perhaps best known for work in 2010 after the deadly Deepwater Horizon accident jetted oil and natural gas into the Gulf of Mexico. During cleanup efforts…

Famed for Finding Oil Deposits on the Seafloor after the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon Accident, the Invaluable Seagoing Laboratory is up for Sale. Meticulously tended to by a professional crew, and certified for another decade of exploration, the research vessel (R/V) Cape Hatteras has a lot of life left in her. That service may, however, take place in new seas now that the craft is being retired and sold by the Duke - University of North Carolina Oceanographic Consortium (DUNCOC). Constructed for The National Science Foundation in 1981 by Atlantic Marine Ship Builders, the 135-foot craft has been operated and meticulously maintained for 31 years by DUNCOC, and berthed at Duke University Marine Laboratory (DUML) on Pivers Island in Beaufort, North Carolina.

Troy Container Line Ltd, announced May 14, 2012 the appointment of three key personnel to management positions. Svetlana Azimova has been named Assistant Vice President of Troy Container Line’s Freight Cashier Department; Jonathan Lasker has been appointed Assistant Vice President of the company’s Import Department; and Michael C. Troy II is now the Global Account Manager of Troy Container Line’s Sales Department. Svetlana Azimova has been an integral part of the Troy Container Line team for the past seven years.

Jeff Sharbaugh was appointed Senior Vice President, Parts and Service Division of Alfa Laval Inc. in February 2012. In this role, Sharbaugh is responsible for driving consistent profitable growth, and developing new sales opportunities for the parts and service business of Alfa Laval in the USA. His responsibilities include leading parts sales, reconditioning services, field services and technical support activities in all of Alfa Laval’s market segments. Sharbaugh joined Alfa Laval in 1987 as Product Engineer at the company’s welded heat exchanger manufacturing facility in Lykens…

Jeff Sharbaugh was appointed Senior Vice President, Parts and Service Division of Alfa Laval Inc. in February 2012. In this role, Sharbaugh is responsible for driving consistent profitable growth, and developing new sales opportunities for the parts and service business of Alfa Laval in the USA. His responsibilities include leading parts sales, reconditioning services, field services and technical support activities in all of Alfa Laval’s market segments. Sharbaugh joined Alfa Laval in 1987 as Product Engineer at the company’s welded heat exchanger manufacturing facility in Lykens…

In this timely work, James Giermanski describes the advent and subsequent development of security operations in the global supply chain, outlining the respective contributions of governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders to this worldwide concern. Global Supply Chain Security explores the potential impact of port-related catastrophic events in the United States and their effects worldwide, concentrating, in particular, on the United States’ contribution to global container security. Offering insights on deficiencies in U.S.