14th Annual Maritime Risk Symposium to be Held Nov. 14-16 at SUNY Maritime
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The 2023 Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS) will be held Nov. 14-16, 2023, as an in-person event, hosted by Maritime College, State University of New York (SUNY) at the Maritime Academic Center. The theme of the 14th annual event is “Managing Impacts of Supply Chain Disruptors, Renewable Energy, Emerging Technology on the Maritime Transportation System (MTS)” with a focus on offshore infrastructure risk and disruptors. Founded in 1874, Maritime College is the oldest maritime college in the United States, providing mariner training for 150 years.
ORCA Hub Readies Drones for Offshore Energy
A consortium of five universities, including Heriot-Watt University, working with 35 industrial and innovation partners, has unveiled the latest results from its research collaboration.The largest academic center in the world for research into robotics technology for offshore energy infrastructure, the ORCA Hub’s aim is to advance robotics and Artificial Intelligence technologies for the inspection, repair, maintenance and certification of offshore energy platforms and assets.Creating solutions to some of the most challenging, hard to reach and hazardous real-world problems in the energy sector, ORCA Hub was launched in October 2017.
ROVOP Joins ORCA Hub
ROVOP, the global subsea robotics specialist, is the latest company to join the ORCA (Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets) Hub offshore robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems development program. The ORCA Hub is a consortium of five universities – Heriot-Watt University, University of Edinburgh, University of Liverpool, University of Oxford and Imperial College London – that are working together to develop highly specialized robotics and AI technologies for the inspection, repair, maintenance and certification of offshore energy platforms and assets.The partnership will see ROVOP support the research the ORCA Hub is carrying out in the subsea domain.
Are South Korean Shipbuilders Back from the Abyss?
![(Photo: Samsung Heavy Industries)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w200h200c/photo-samsung-heavy-industries-79353.jpg)
Sparks light up the night-shift at giant shipyards on Korea’s southeast coast, as welders and fitters at some of the world’s biggest marine engineers forge next-generation container ships, oil rigs and even ice-breaking tankers in a bid to clamber out of a global industry abyss. Sunk by drastic cuts in orders from customers hit by the 2008 financial crisis, South Korea’s shipping landscape has been littered with bankruptcies and billion-dollar losses. But some, like Busan’s DSME, are adding innovation to craftsmanship to tap new demand for nimbler ships and offshore energy platforms.
Israel Bolsters Navy to Protect Offshore Oil & Gas
Offshore energy platforms a potential target; Israel accepting bids on 24 new exploration blocks. Israel is boosting spending on its navy to better protect offshore oil and gas deposits and secure a large maritime zone that abuts that of its neighbour and enemy, Lebanon. The navy asked in 2013 for an increase in its budget of $700 million to build up its systems and $100 million annually to maintain them, though the defence ministry declines to say how much it has since received. The increase was tied to the need to defend the oil and gas development, and the current spending comes as Israel begins accepting bids from companies that want to explore 24 offshore blocks in the eastern Mediterranean that adjoin the vast Leviathan deposit.
DONG Energy Set for Europe's Biggest Share Float This Year
![Photo: DONG Energy](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w200h200c/photo-dong-energy-59152.jpg)
Danish wind farm developer DONG Energy, which analysts value as high as $13 billion, said on Thursday it plans to list its shares on the Copenhagen stock exchange this summer. Having built more than a quarter of the world's offshore wind farms, the company is a major player in Britain and Germany and has recently opened offices in the United States and Taiwan to cater for new growth markets. With a potential valuation as high as 85 billion Danish crowns (11.4 billion euros), Dong…
Threats to Global Navigation Satellite Systems
![Location and coverage of proposed Phase 1 South Korean eLoran transmitter (Inside GNSS News January 2015](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w200h200c/location-and-coverage-of-proposed-44761.jpg)
Originally developed to guide Allied convoys safely across the Atlantic, the use of synchronized low frequency radio signals as a navigational aid revolutionized modern maritime navigation in the 1940s. Faced with operating ships and aircraft over vast areas, researchers pioneered the use of radio signals to aid navigation in regions where poor weather conditions made traditional methods—such as dead reckoning and celestial navigation—exceptionally difficult. This system was eventually named LORAN.
Sovcomflot & Sakhalin Energy to Provide 3 Icebreakers for Sakhalin-2
SCF Group (Sovcomflot) and Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Sakhalin Energy) have signed a contract for the construction and long-term operation of three multifunctional icebreaking standby vessels to serve the Sakhalin-2 offshore energy platforms. The contract covers a 20 year term, during which the vessels will provide safe and reliable services for Sakhalin Energy’s platforms in the Sea of Okhotsk. The vessels will also assist with accommodation of the offshore facilities personnel. In an emergency, the vessels will help evacuate personnel from the offshore platforms and will provide oil spill response services when necessary.
Sovcomflot Extends Cooperation with Sakhalin Energy
Companies sign agreements for long-term operation of three vessels for the Sakhalin-2 project. SCF Group (Sovcomflot) and Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. have signed a contract for the construction and long-term operation of three multifunctional icebreaking standby vessels to serve the Sakhalin-2 offshore energy platforms. The contract covers a 20 year term, during which the vessels will provide safe and reliable services for Sakhalin Energy’s platforms in the Sea of Okhotsk. The vessels will also assist with accommodation of the offshore facilities personnel. In an emergency, the vessels will help evacuate personnel from the offshore platforms and will provide oil spill response services when necessary.
MISC Proposes $973m Deal for Ramunia
MISChas proposed a $973m deal to merge its shipbuilding business with Ramunia Holdings, an oil services company. The merger would expand MISC’s plans to create a regional business building oil rigs to compete against neighbouring Singapore, which is the world’s largest producer of offshore energy platforms. The deal would be a reverse takeover that could allow MISC to list its Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering unit under the Ramunia name in hopes of copying the success of Keppel Corp and SembCorp Industries, Singapore’s biggest oil rig builders, which saw a sharp rise in their shares last year due to higher oil prices. However, the…
Bollinger Delivers Patrol Boat
Security of the U.S. central Gulf of Mexico will be improved by the commissioning of the new 87-ft. coastal patrol boat, USCG Sturgeon, by the U.S. Coast Guard at Grand Isle, La. along with its builder, Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. Lockport, La. It will replace the 82-ft. patrol boat Point Sal that was commissioned in 1966. Sturgeon is the 36th of 50 nearly identical vessels being built by Bollinger for the Coast Guard in a contract worth more than $200 million. The Sturgeon has a 17.4 ft. beam and a 5.9 ft. draft. It is powered by two MTU diesel engines with a top speed of 25 knots and a range of 882 nautical miles. It has a crew of ten and accommodations for 11. The new shallow draft cutter equipped with state-of-the-art technology, is designed to operate up to 200 mi.
Bollinger Delivers Patrol Boat
Just as the U.S. is increasingly fortifying its coastal security, Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, La. has built, delivered and seen the commissioning of a new 87-ft. coastal patrol boat, USCG Sturgeon, for the U.S. Coast Guard at Grand Isle, La. The new boat will replace the 82-ft. patrol boat Point Sal, that was commissioned in 1966. Sturgeon is the 36th of 50 nearly identical vessels being built by Bollinger for the Coast Guard in a contract worth more than $200 million. Sturgeon has a 17.4 ft. beam and a 5.9 ft. draft. It is powered by two MTU diesel engines with a top speed of 25 knots and a range of 882 nautical miles. It has a crew of 10 and accommodations for 11. The new shallow draft cutter equipped with state-of-the-art technology, is designed to operate up to 200 mi.