San Juan Harbor News

Twelve stowaways were found on a barge in San Juan Harbor, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Coast Guard watchstanders at Sector San Juan received notification from a Coast Guard Station San Juan boat crew at 8:34 a.m., Saturday, of a possible stowaway sighting aboard the barge that was being towed by the U.S.-registered tugboat Sarah Dann.Coast Guard Sector San Juan’s Boarding Team responded to the report and found nine stowaways aboard the barge, including one who was unresponsive. The unresponsive stowaway was reported to be breathing and have vital signs.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is snapping back from the doldrums of COVID-19, wrapping up a strong first half of 2023 with a slew of awarded dredging work.“The federal government is no different from state and local governments, nor the private sector when it comes to COVID-19 work related recovery and USACE is not an exception,” said William P. Doyle, CEO of the Dredging Contractors of America. “The Army Corps has been steadily issuing contract awards since February, and that’s on the award side.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on Friday awarded three contracts totaling more than $100 million for dredging projects in Puerto Rico, Oregon and Pennsylvania.USACE Jacksonville awarded Long Beach, Calif. based Curtin Maritime Corp. a $54,204,676 firm-fixed-price contract for San Juan Harbor construction and maintenance dredging. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work will be performed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2024. USACE Portland, Ore. awarded Seattle based Manson Construction Co.

U.S. Coast Guard air and surface rescue crews at Sector San Juan responded and assisted the distressed M/V Island Express Wednesday afternoon, after the ship started taking on water when it departed the Port of San Juan for storm avoidance in anticipation of Tropical Cyclone 9.The M/V Island Express, a Cyprus flagged 412-foot ro-ro cargo ship, and its 18-man crew is now safely moored in San Juan Harbor.Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan received a Mayday VHF radio transmission on Channel 16 from the Captain of the M/V Island Express…

At the end of December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) announced its selection of ten dredging projects that will form the core of a pilot program to advance the beneficial use of dredged material.The recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ announcement culminated a program required by Congress, established within the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016, specifically Section 1122. Congress directed that the ten pilot projects selected were required to present environmental…

Event heralds new era of world-class supply chain service. Crowley Maritime Corp. christened the U.S.-flag combination container/roll on-roll off (ConRo) ship MV Taíno today in San Juan, where the company’s investments have ushered in a new era of world-class supply chain services in the U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico trade. Clara Crowley, daughter of Chairman and CEO Tom Crowley and board member Christine Crowley, served as the ship’s sponsor and broke the ceremonial bottle of champagne on the bow of MV Taíno at the company’s Isla Grande Terminal before several hundred employees…

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s new container/roll on-roll off (ConRo) ship El Coquí delivered its first cargo from Jacksonville, Fla., to the company’s Isla Grande Terminal in San Juan yesterday – a milestone in the company’s transformation of its U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico logistics services.“Increasing supply chain velocity while reducing customers’ landed costs was the core reason for our $550 million investment in this important service,” said Tom Crowley, company chairman and CEO.

VT Halter Marine has launched the second of Crowley Maritime Corp.’s new Commitment Class ships, Taíno, one of the world’s first combination container/roll on-roll off (ConRo) vessels powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). Taíno will now proceed through the final topside construction and testing phase at the shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., before beginning service in the U.S. Jones Act trade in 2018. She will join sister ship, El Coquí, which was launched earlier this year and is now in final testing prior to entering service in early 2018.

The Pentagon named a senior general to command military relief operations in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico on Thursday and the Trump administration sent a Cabinet emissary to the island as U.S. lawmakers called for a more robust response to the crisis. The U.S. territory of 3.4 million people struggled through a ninth day with virtually no electricity, patchy communications and shortages of fuel, clean water and other essentials in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the most powerful storm to hit the island in nearly 90 years. The storm struck on Sept. 20 with lethal, roof-ripping force and torrential rains that caused widespread flooding and heavily damaged homes, roads and other infrastructure. The storm killed more than 30 people across the Caribbean, including at least 16 in Puerto Rico.

Three new ship-to-shore cranes that were constructed in Ireland were delivered to Crowley Puerto Rico Services’ Isla Grande Terminal in San Juan on Wednesday. The cranes are a key element of the $130 million Crowley is investing in infrastructure improvements to its Isla Grande Terminal, and their arrival marks the first time new, specialized gantry cranes have been received for operation in the San Juan Harbor in five decades. “With the delivery of these state-of-the-art cranes…

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s newest combination container/Roll on-Roll off (ConRo) ship has been launched at the VT Halter Marine shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. for the Crowley’s service between Jacksonville, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Named El Coquí after a beloved frog native to Puerto Rico, the ConRo is one of the world’s first to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). The ship will now proceed through the final topside construction and testing phase before beginning service in the U.S. Jones Act trade during the second half of 2017.

The fire aboard the passenger vessel ferry Caribbean Fantasy has been extinguished, and the vessel has been moored safely at Pier 15 in San Juan Harbor, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The fire broke out Wednesday, August 17, leading to the evacuation of 511 people from the ship. The Puerto Rico Fire Department put out the blaze around 6 p.m. Saturday using 3,000 gallons of seawater from the San Juan Harbor. The single source of the fire was contained within the vessel’s engine room.

A U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Air Station Borinquen MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew evacuated an ailing mariner from a tanker vessel approximately 50 nautical miles north of San Juan Harbor, Puerto Rico, early Tuesday morning. The helicopter crew safely transported the man to emergency medical services at Centro Medico Hospital in San Juan. Coast Guard Sector San Juan command center watchstanders received a request for assistance from the crew of the 600-foot tanker Champion Cornelia early Monday morning while the vessel was approximately 300 nautical miles north of Puerto Rico.

Three Coast Guardsmen suffered non-life threatening injuries Friday after their rescue boat capsized in the surf off Puerto Rico. The search-and-rescue crew was responding with other local agencies to a report of two people in the water two nautical miles northeast of San Juan Harbor when the incident occurred. The three-man crew of a Coast Guard 33-foot Special Purpose Craft/Law Enforcement was rescued by the crew of a Puerto Rico Police marine unit immediately after the incident north of the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Tugs 'Triton' and 'Honcho' of the Puerto Rico Towing & Barge Co. recently assisted a drifting vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico. The cargo ship Global Destiny, owned and operated by Diavlos Maritime based in Athen, Greece, called for assistance the morning of Saturday, March 16. The vessel reported that it had run out of fuel and was drifting approximately five miles off the coast of Dorado, approximately nine miles north west of San Juan. Puerto Rico. Towing’s tug Triton came…

Puerto Rico Towing & Barge Co. is expanding the size of its tugboat fleet with the addition of the newly constructed Handy-Three which arrived in San Juan Thursday morning. Puerto Rico Towing & Barge Co., a subsidiary of The Great Lakes Group, is located in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has been providing vessel assistance and towing services to commercial vessels and barges in San Juan Harbor, other Inland Ports, and ports throughout the Caribbean for over 15 years. Recently constructed at Great Lakes Shipyard, Cleveland, Ohio, the Handy-Three is now the fifth tug in the Company’s fleet.

The Port of San Juan, which is experiencing a tremendous growth of maritime traffic and planning for more, received an additional economic boost today when NOAA debuted a new nautical chart that will make ocean-going vessel traffic safer and more efficient through San Juan Bay and the port area. “There is not only more traffic, but larger vessels are making San Juan their port call,” said Capt. John Lowell, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “Mariners asked for NOAA’s help when they started finding themselves too far right of the port entrance,” Lowell said. “The San Juan harbor pilots knew the ship captains were at risk of endangering their vessels.

The Port of San Juan, which is experiencing a tremendous growth of maritime traffic and planning for more, received an additional economic boost today when NOAA debuted a new nautical chart that will make ocean-going vessel traffic safer and more efficient through San Juan Bay and the port area. “There is not only more traffic, but larger vessels are making San Juan their port call,” said Capt. John Lowell, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “Mariners asked for NOAA’s help when they started finding themselves too far right of the port entrance,” Lowell said.

1917- With the outbreak of World War I, the President issued an executive order transferring 30 lighthouse tenders to the War Department. All were subsequently assigned to the Navy Department and 15 lighthouse tenders, four lightships, and 21 light stations also were transferred to the Navy Department. One more tender was transferred on 31 January 1918 making a total of 50 vessels and 1,132 persons. The War Department used those assigned in laying submarine defense nets during and in removing these defenses after the war. Other duties performed by these vessels were placing practice targets, buoys to mark wrecks of torpedoed vessels and other marks for military purposes, as well as being employed on patrols and special duty assignments.

1953- Heavy rains in the Coquile, Coos, and Willamette River Valleys of western Oregon caused flooding of the lowland areas and isolation of some towns through the blocking of highways by slides and high water, necessitating the evacuation of families and livestock.   A Coast Guard relief detail of boats, men, and aircraft participated in relief assistance measures, cooperating with the Red Cross and civil authorities. 1999- The 605-foot Russian freighter Sergo Zakariadze, loaded with a cargo of cement dust, ran aground at the entrance to San Juan harbor, Puerto Rico.  Coast Guard Strike Team, MSO San Juan, Greater Antilles Section, among others, responded to the accident. (Source: USCG Historian’s Office)

1953- Heavy rains in the Coquile, Coos, and Willamette River Valleys of western Oregon caused flooding of the lowland areas and isolation of some towns through the blocking of highways by slides and high water, necessitating the evacuation of families and livestock.   A Coast Guard relief detail of boats, men, and aircraft participated in relief assistance measures, cooperating with the Red Cross and civil authorities. 1999- The 605-foot Russian freighter Sergo Zakariadze, loaded with a cargo of cement dust, ran aground at the entrance to San Juan harbor, Puerto Rico.  Coast Guard Strike Team, MSO San Juan, Greater Antilles Section, among others, responded to the accident. (Source: USCG Historian’s Office)

The U.S. Coast Guard has stated that the M/V KENT RELIANT is scheduled to be refloated today. Most of the cargo has been removed from the ship, grounded off San Juan Harbor.

The Coast Guard approved the salvage and oil removal plans earlier this week for the M/V Kent Reliant which has been grounded outside San Juan harbor since September 18. The salvage operation will begin with the removal of all the vessel’s oil products which is expected to last two days then the partial removal of cargo is expected to begin. A Protective boom has been deployed and staged in environmentally sensitive areas around Isla de Cabras and Isla de Esperanza. The salvage company, Titan Marine, was forced to delay the start of offloading procedures for the heavy fuel oil today due to poor weather conditions. The primary considerations of the response coordinators, Federal On-Scene Commander, Coast Guard Capt.