Northern New Jersey News

Civil, environmental, marine engineering, and surveying firm, MidAtlantic Engineering Partners announced Joseph Mele, P.E., P.P., P.L.S. has joined its team as part of their growth initiative for northern New Jersey and an expansion of services in New York.According to company officials, adding Mele’s strong experience in Hudson, Essex, and Bergen Counties will enable MidAtlantic’s civil engineering, surveying, environmental, and marine engineering services, which clients have engaged throughout northern New Jersey, to become a key focus of growth.

In recent years the U.S. Coast Guard has identified an increasing trend in the use of cellular phones by the maritime public when communicating distress. In 2018, leadership in the Office of Search and Rescue (SAR) at Coast Guard Headquarters asked the Research and Development Center (RDC) to investigate available technologies that could assist Coast Guard responders in adapting to this trend by leveraging the cellphone’s internal GPS. The RDC, located in New London, Conn., has been serving the Coast Guard for nearly 50 years through research…

First Coast Guard District command center crews, from Maine to Northern New Jersey, have a new tool to help distressed mariners come home to their families after being out to sea.The i911 program allows for watchstanders to use a mariner’s cellphone number to assist in finding their location for Coast Guard rescue crews to locate them faster. Once the number is entered, the mariner receives a text message authorizing them to share their location with the U.S. Coast Guard. Once shared…

The United Seamen's Service (USS) 2016 Admiral of the Ocean Sea Awards (AOTOS) will be presented to Arthur E. Imperatore, Founder and President of New York Waterways; Donald Marcus, President of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots; and Christopher Wiernicki, Chairman and CEO of American Bureau of Shipping. The maritime industry's most prestigious awards will be presented at the 47th annual gala industry dinner and dance at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York City, on October 28, 2016. Recognition will also be given to American seafarers for specific acts of bravery and heroism while at sea. General Kenneth Wykle…

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) rescue crews assisted a fishing vessel in distress by air-dropping de-watering pumps after the 53-foot Canadian flagged vessel Island Cruiser collided with the 120-foot converted ferry vessel Esperanza June 26, 2014. Watchstanders at Sector Southeastern New England received notification that the Island Cruiser was being towed by the Esperanza and the tow broke causing the collision and resulting in a hole above the water line on its port quarter. After the collision, the onboard pumps on the Island Cruiser could not keep up with the flooding. Rescue crews from Air Station Cape Cod launched an MH-60 Jayhawk Helicopter with two additional pumps aboard. The pumps were dropped and the vessel reported that the flooding was being controlled.

EPA Invests $2.7 Million to Reduce Air Pollution from Old Diesel Engines in New York and New Jersey. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has provided a total of $2.7 million to help two organizations reduce air pollution in the New York metropolitan area by replacing old, dirty diesel engines on a tug boat and two trains with less polluting models. The projects will cut emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides by 70 tons per year and particulate matter by three tons per year. These pollutants are linked to health problems, including asthma, lung and heart disease and even premature death. Diesel engines are durable and often remain in use a long time. Older diesels that predate current and stricter air pollution standards emit large amounts of air pollutants.

Models Project Northward Distribution Shifts Using Temperature, Estuarine Habitats as Key Factors. NOAA scientists continue to develop and improve the approaches used to understand the effect of climate change on marine fisheries along the U.S. east coast. Their latest study projects that one common coastal species found in the southeast U.S., gray snapper, will shift northwards in response to warming coastal waters. In a study published online December 20 in the journal PLOS ONE…

Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service New York received an apparent distress call Monday, reportedly from the yacht Blind Date, stating the vessel suffered an explosion, seven people were injured and all 21 people aboard the yacht had abandoned ship into liferafts. A later call to the Coast Guard reported that three people aboard the boat had died, and that several people had 2nd and 3rd-degree burns, and that people aboard were abandoning ship into liferafts. Coast Guard search east of Sandy Hook included two Coast Guard boat crews and four Coast Guard helicopter crews, who searched approximately 638 square nautical miles. Response units from New York City Police Department…

Non-Profit’s Tribute Celebrates the United States Coast Guard’s Finest in Boston. The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education, welfare and morale of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced today that its Inaugural First District Coast Guard Awards Dinner will take place on Thursday, September 15, 2011 in Boston. The evening’s Master of Ceremonies, ADM Thad W. Allen, USCG (Ret.) former commandant and current Coast Guard Foundation board member…

Dennis L. Bryant, Senior Maritime Counsel at the law firm of Holland & Knight, Washington, D.C., is a contributing editor of MR/EN. The first foreign terrorist attack inside the United States was not the aviation-based assault of September 11, 2001. Eighty-five years earlier, foreign terrorists attacked a vital marine port facility in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Lest we forget. Port security was first formally recognized as a national priority, and a Coast Guard mission, during the World War I era. Early on the morning of July 30, 1916, a tremendous series of explosions ripped through the waterfront at Black Tom Island in Jersey City, New Jersey. Even though Europe had been at war for almost two years, peace still reigned in the United States. Although officially neutral, U.S.

Philadelphia Gear Corporation announced the promotion of Scott Biddle, 36, to the newly created position of Northeast Regional Sales Manager. Biddle's new position includes management of sales growth throughout the eastern U.S. - an area already covered by himself, several Philadelphia Gear sales personnel, and three independent firms who represent Philadelphia Gear in their respective territories - along with the expansion of his own sales territory to include eastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey. As a regional sales manager, he will work to ensure that Philadelphia Gear customers are serviced in a fashion that meets their immediate needs.

The Coast Guard will hold a change of command ceremony at Faneuil Hall, Monday at 10:00 a.m., as Rear Admiral George N. Naccara will step down as commander of the First Coast Guard District, turning over leadership of the service's New England, New York and Northern New Jersey operations to Rear Admiral Vivien S. Crea. A number of VIPs will be in attendance, and senior Coast Guard officers will preside over the ceremony. Admiral Naccara will step down after 33 years of service, most recently as the First District Commander the past two years. Under his leadership, men and women of the First District responded to the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in our nation's history by immediately establishing a security presence in Boston and New York harbors.

Dawn breaks and envelops the northern New Jersey shoreline with a golden glow on an early December morning as a boat crew from Aids to Navigation Team New York braves the bitter cold winds of the Shrewsbury River, N.J., embarking on their annual winter buoy change. “The importance of the buoy change is for the mariner,” said Senior Chief Joseph Wright, Officer in Charge of ANT N.Y. “Most people don’t realize the damage ice can cause. “The large chunks of ice push down the regular buoys under the water and damage the buoy and lighting equipment attached to it,” added Wright. Seasonal buoy operations begin in different waterways at different times of the winter season. The dates are listed by local charts and light lists for each particular waterway. on Dec.

A dispute over the pending takeover of major U.S. shipping terminals, including Port Newark in New Jersey, will be addressed February 27 by state lawmakers. The state Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee is to consider a resolution condemning the Bush administration's approval of a deal permitting a firm owned by the United Arab Emirates government from taking over operations at the northern New Jersey container terminal. The committee will also consider other resolutions demanding that President Bush reconsider and reverse the decision involving Dubai Ports World. The Bush administration has been assailed in Congress by Republicans and Democrats for permitting Dubai Ports World to assume port operations.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will provide approximately $54.8 million for ferry-related projects in the New York City-Northern New Jersey metropolitan area to support the expansion of interstate ferry services due to the loss of Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) train service between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001. This funding for ferry-related projects supplements $100 million that was previously approved by FTA and distributed to the region for emergency transit capital improvements, and is a part of President Bush’s $20 billion commitment to rebuild and revitalize Lower Manhattan. “Under President Bush’s leadership, this administration has made its commitment to the New York metropolitan area abundantly clear.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will provide approximately $54.8 million for ferry-related projects in the New York City-Northern New Jersey metropolitan area to support the expansion of interstate ferry services due to the loss of Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) train service between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001. This funding for ferry-related projects supplements $100 million that was previously approved by FTA and distributed to the region for emergency transit capital improvements, and is a part of President Bush's $20 billion commitment to rebuild and revitalize Lower Manhattan. "Today we are providing $54.8 million dollars in funding to support the much needed expansion of interstate ferry services," said Mineta.

As the U.S. Department of Transportation works to develop transportation policies to meet 21st Century needs, perhaps the most vexing problems faced are those associated with traffic congestion on the Interstate highways which parallel our Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coastlines. Interstate 95, I-5 and I-10 carry automobile and truck traffic far beyond their design capacities. In the major metropolitan areas, which these highways intersect, the combination of interstate and local traffic increasingly slows vehicle movements to a crawl. More traffic is on the way. Additional highway lanes and intersections will not solve these problems. Properly fashioned waterborne trailer and container services and passenger ferry operations can and should.

The Commander, First USCG District has published the final rule for the increased safety of towing vessels and tank barges operating in the Northeastern U.S. The regional rules will apply to tugs and tank barges operating between Maine and Northern New Jersey. The new regulations create four sets of safety measures for towing vessels and tank barges operating in the waters of the Northeastern U.S. The measures include positive control for barges, enhanced communications, voyage planning and areas of restricted navigation. These measures should reduce the risk of oil spills from the many tank barges operating in the waters of the region, thereby reducing the risk of environmental damage to the unique and sensitive marine environment.

The Commander, First USCG District has published the final rule for the increased safety of towing vessels and tank barges operating in the Northeastern U.S. The regional rules will apply to tugs and tank barges operating between Maine and Northern New Jersey. The new regulations create four sets of safety measures for towing vessels and tank barges operating in the waters of the Northeastern U.S. The measures include positive control for barges, enhanced communications, voyage planning and areas of restricted navigation. These measures should reduce the risk of oil spills from the many tank barges operating in the waters of the region, thereby reducing the risk of environmental damage to the unique and sensitive marine environment.