Carolinas News

With travel and tourism nearing pre-2020 levels, and transit systems benefiting from a return to work, passenger vessels have seen renewed activity. In its year-end review, John Groundwater, Executive Director of the Passenger Vessel Association (PVA), which advocates for the sector in Washington, D.C. wrote: “As we are nearing the end of the calendar year, we are delighted to report that our industry, and our members, are reporting far and wide that they have experienced very…

The recent delivery of a Marine Travelift 820CII (820 metric ton/1,804,000 lbs. capacity) Mobile Boat Hoist to the Stevens Towing Company, Inc. shipyard located on Yonges Island in South Carolina will transform marine services by alleviating overwhelmed dry dock schedules in the region.Founded in the late 1800s as Stevens Brothers with a single boat, Joseph Stanyarne Stevens and William Yates Stevens transported produce and supplies from Edisto Island to Charleston and many points in between.

The events of the last month have shown that, despite some negative factors, the impetus to continue to grow the U.S. offshore wind segment has lost little steam. The foundations are firmly in place to support the deployment of 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050.Two major outer continental shelf (OCS) projects with around 940 megawatts (MW) of capacity have reached final investment decision (FID) and have commenced onshore construction.The number of…

On Wednesday, French oil & gas major TotalEnergies and U.S. utility Duke Energy were declared provisional winners of the two lease areas auctioned by BOEM, the federal agency in charge of offshore wind area leasing and project permitting. Whilst the results can be seen as a positive indicator of the health of U.S. offshore wind market in the context of pre-2022 auction activity, the winning bidders secured development rights at considerably lower rates than those seen in the recent New York Bight auctions.The comparatively shallow water sites cover 110…

The Biden administration on Wednesday will hold a wind energy auction for two areas off the coast of North and South Carolina, its second such offering this year.The sale is part of the government's broad push to put wind turbines in federal waters along every U.S. coastline and comes on the heels of a record February wind auction off the coast of New York and New Jersey that drew $4.37 billion in high bids.U.S. President Joe Biden has said the nascent offshore wind industry will create good-paying jobs while creating the carbon-free electricity needed to combat climate change.

The Biden administration on Wednesday identified new areas for potential offshore wind development off the coasts of Oregon and several central Atlantic states, its latest step toward bolstering the nascent U.S. industry.Offshore wind is a key pillar of President Joe Biden's plan to fight climate change by decarbonizing the U.S. power sector by 2035 and the entire economy by 2050.Wednesday's announcement by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, part of the Department of Interior…

The U.S. will hold a wind energy auction for two lease areas offshore the Carolinas on May 11, the U.S. Department of the Interior said Friday, as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed its environmental review.The lease areas cover 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area that, if developed, could result in at least 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes, the Department of the Interior said."The Biden-Harris administration is committed to supporting a robust clean energy economy…

The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled fresh steps toward building offshore wind farms in waters off the coasts of Massachusetts, the Carolinas, and in the Gulf of Mexico.The announcement is the government's latest in an aggressive push to expand the nascent ocean industry to every U.S. coastline in a bid to wean the power sector off fossil fuels and address climate change.To date, most U.S. development of offshore wind has taken place in the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Northeastern states.

The United States plans to hold up to seven offshore wind auctions in the next four years and will extend its ambitions to areas that have yet to be developed such as off the coast of California and in the Gulf of Mexico, a Biden administration official said on Wednesday.The announcement comes as the administration is looking to bolster the nascent industry as part of a plan to address climate change by decarbonizing the power sector by 2035.The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)…

After what has seemed like the longest year ever, the offshore energy sector is emerging from a position of strength, from the standpoint of both economics and sustainability. Between the lockdowns implemented to reduce COVID-19, which reduced energy demand, to the oil price war between state-backed producers, 2020 was an unprecedented storm that hit the American offshore energy market. Now, there are unmistakable signs of a recovery, and policy makers in Washington, D.C. should embrace the opportunity before us to for sustained economic…

U.S. energy companies were returning workers and restarting operations at storm-swept production facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sunday, two days after Hurricane Delta barreled through the area.Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BHP Group were returning workers to production platforms in the U.S.-regulated northern Gulf of Mexico, the companies said.BHP expect[ed] to complete the return of workers to its Shenzi and Neptune production platforms on Sunday, spokeswoman Judy Dane said…

The United States has an opportunity to accelerate offshore wind energy growth, and benefit from 28 new gigawatts of wind power and $1.7 billion in U.S. Treasury revenue by 2022, according to a study released by the energy intelligence group Wood Mackenzie. Apart from the benefits to the Treasury, the offshore wind industry in the U.S. could create 80,000 jobs annually from 2025 to 2035.Commissioned by four energy industry groups, American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA)…

Built to guide mariners through safe waters, the Valiant Rock Lighted Whistle Buoy 11 was dangerously adrift in the Long Island Sound.When ferry operators traveling between Orient Point and Fishers Island, New York, first reported the buoy off station on Jan. 17, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oak (WLB-211) was already underway but foul weather kept the cutter from removing it.This was the beginning of a two-week saga that would involve several Coast Guard units. Like the Loch Ness monster of the Long Island Sound, the 35-foot-tall green buoy was occasionally seen but hard to catch.

Hindsight, they say is 20/20, and in this regard renowned design house Gibbs & Cox has nine decades in the rear view mirror on which to lean. We recently caught up with Chris Deegan, President and CEO of Gibbs & Cox, celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2019, to discuss the organization’s rich history and promising future.When you took the top spot at Gibbs & Cox in 2016, what were your goals for the organization?As a company that designs everything from yachts to work boats to destroyers, I wanted to reassert G&C as the global leader in the naval architecture and marine engineering industry.

Stunned residents of the Bahamas surveyed the wreckage of their homes and officials struggled to assess the number killed by Hurricane Dorian, as the storm bore down on the South Carolina coast, threatening record flooding on Thursday.The United Nations said 70,000 people in the Bahamas needed immediate humanitarian relief after the most damaging storm ever to hit the island nation.Aerial video of the worst-hit Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas showed widespread devastation…

At 800 AM EDT (1200 UTC), the center of Hurricane Dorian was located near latitude 29.5 North, longitude 79.6 West.Dorian is moving toward the north-northwest near 8 mph (13 km/h), and a northwest or north-northwest motion is expected through this morning. A turn toward the north is forecast by this evening, followed by a turn toward the north-northeast on Thursday morning.On this track, the core of Hurricane Dorian will move dangerously close to the Florida east coast and the Georgia coast through tonight.

On December 22, 2018, a continuing resolution passed by Congress to fund a portion of the U.S. Government into the 2019 fiscal year expired and was not renewed resulting in a partial federal government shutdown. Among the affected Executive Departments are the Department of Homeland Security (which includes the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection), the Department of Transportation (which includes the Maritime Administration), the Department of Interior (which includes the Bureau of Environment and Enforcement (BSEE) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM))…

Hurricane Michael, the third most powerful storm ever to strike the U.S. mainland, headed northeast on Thursday, weakened but still set to soak Georgia and the Carolinas after devastating the Florida Panhandle.By 6 AM on Thursday, heavy rain and wind had reached as far north as Charlotte, North Carolina and the Western North Carolina mountains. The center of the storm was located over Augusta, Georgia, moving north rapidly at more than 20 MPH in a north / northeast heading. Charlotte…

Hurricane Michael is expected to strengthen today in the Gulf of Mexico, with the Florida panhandle directly in its dangerous path.Thousands of local residents in Wakulla, Gulf and Bay counties have been ordered to leave. Forecasters now say that Michael could be a Category 3 storm when it makes landfall on Wednesday. That prediction, if true, would make the storm the strongest to hit this area in at least a decade.As of 3 AM CDT on Tuesday, Michael was a Category 1 storm, with sustained winds of up to 90 miles per hour. It was gaining strength following a path that took it along Cuba's western tip, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Flooding is expected to worsen in the coming days as the Coast Guard continues its relief efforts.The emergency is by no means over in North Carolina. As flooding is expected worsen across the Carolinas later this week in the choppy wake of Hurricane Florence, Coast Guard units across North Carolina are continuing to assess damage, and respond over a wide geographic area. Florence, responsible for 36 deaths in three states, continues to impact the Carolinas. Major waterways across the tri-state area of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia remain well above flood stages, and were expected to rise through the weekend before cresting, according to the National Weather Service said.

Preparations underway all along the Eastern Seaboard. As Hurricane Florence threatens a wide swath of the U.S. East Coast, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard are taking no chances as the dangerous storm advances westward. As that happens, most Navy ships are departing ports in Virginia. As many as 30 vessels from Naval Station Norfolk and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek on Monday. Following close behind, the Coast Guard’s medium endurance cutter Bear could also be seen heading for sea.As all Navy installations in the Hampton Roads area were making preparations for the storm’s possible arrival, further south in North Carolina, commercial ports were making similar arrangements.

As Florence bears down on the North Carolina coastline, the Category 4 storm is being compared to the worst storm ever to hit the Tarheel State - Hurricane Hazel, occurring back in 1954.Hurricane Florence, packing winds of more than 130 mph. Hazel, in comparison, brought winds of 150 mph, causing 19 deaths and destroyed thousands of buildings as it bulled its way inland.As many as 1.5 million residents have been told to evacuate coastal and low lying areas in South Carolina and North Carolina. Local authorities have reversed eastbound lanes of Interstate highways as both states looked to expedite the evacuation process. The U.S. Navy has sent its fleet to sea and cruise ships with regular port calls in this area have been rerouted. Separately, the U.S.

Hurricane Florence is forecast to be a major hurricane when it nears the U.S. coast on Thursday, bringing life-threatening storm surge and rainfall to portions of the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory on Wednesday morning.The extremely dangerous hurricane, currently a category 4, is located about 530 miles southeast of Cape Fear, N.C. packing maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour, it said in an advisory issued…