Engineering Department News

A formal naming ceremony was held at the CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Company in the Chinese province of Quanzhou on April 26 for AAL Shipping’s new heavy lift vessel, AAL Limassol.Due to sail on her maiden voyage from China into Europe, the 32,000 deadweight AAL Limassol is set to carry a full weather deck of project heavy lift cargo, including two 135-meter-long barges, weighing 1,650 tonnes and fifteen 80.5-meter-long wind blades. The newbuild will sail under the Cyprus flag.Kyriacos Panayides…

Bollinger Shipyards announced it has hired Nathan Schneider as Director of Engineering for its Bollinger Mississippi Shipyard (BMS). As Director of Engineering, Schneider will be responsible for leading the BMS Engineering Department in support of various Department of Defense and commercial new construction programs.“As we continue to grow and expand to meet the changing needs of our customers, it’s important that the leadership team and broader organization evolve to meet those demands and provide the highest levels of quality…

Established in 1907 as the Industrial Revolution arrived to Seattle, Markey is the oldest privately-held winch manufacturer in the United States today. The company was formed in the Georgetown District of what later became known as King County, Wash. The Markey sign above its original manufacturing plant, on Horton Street, is still retained, although Markey has since moved to its current facility on 8th Avenue South.Markey was a major supplier to the U.S. Navy in both world wars…

During a seven-week Arctic transit aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB 20), researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) will study the impact of the extreme environment on crew performance and potential mitigations, as well as advanced Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies in adverse sea conditions.The studies, which commenced with Healy’s departure from Kodiak, Alaska on Aug. 26, will be led by principal investigator Dr. Nita Shattuck, a professor in the NPS Operations Research (OR) department.

Dutch shipbuilding conglomerate Damen announced it has delivered a new shallow draft vessel to the German energy infrastructure construction company Bohlen & Doyen Bau GmbH, a subsidiary of Friedrich Vorwerk. The new Multi Cat 1908 SD workboat, named Scholle, is the first marine asset to be bought by the company in many years.The 19.4-meter vessel has been bought for use on a multi-year project supporting transmission system operator TenneT on its offshore grid connection systems in the North Sea.

ABS and Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) have signed a research agreement to investigated ammonia as fuel, ship electrification, carbon capture and sequestration, trusted artificial intelligence (AI), and safety of industrial wearable visualization technologies, among other topics.The research agreement is part of the continuing collaboration between ABS and Texas A&M which includes a recent endowment establishing the ABS Ocean Engineering Department Chair. The…

Reserve, La. based dredging equipment company DSC Dredge announced it has promoted Scott Laiche to the position of Vice President of Engineering.Laiche first joined DSC’s Engineering department as a Mechanical Engineer, quickly moving up the ladder to Engineering Manager in 2016 and in 2021 he was promoted to Director of Engineering.In his new role, Laiche will continue to lead and work alongside his team as they develop the company’s product lines.“Scott has been with DSC for 11 years now and continues to be an integral part to the growth of our Engineering department…

Massachusetts Maritime Academy is in the process of restructuring its former Engineering Department with the formation of the School of Engineering.To be headed by an Associate Dean, the School of Engineering will be composed of the Departments of Marine Engineering, Facilities Engineering, and Energy Systems Engineering. Each department will have a Department Chair reporting directly to the new Associate Dean of Engineering, who in turn will report to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies.Today…

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley returned to homeport at Coast Guard Base Kodiak, Alaska, on Thursday, following an extended seven-month dry dock maintenance period in Seattle.While in dry dock, the crew and contractors successfully completed more than $6 million worth of repairs.The engineering department oversaw 76 work items including major overhauls on the cutter’s controllable pitch propeller system, speed reducers, rudders, and boilers, along with inspections of fuel, sewage, and water tanks.

Austal USA Vice President of Engineering, Tom Perrine, has retired after eight years of service with the company and over 40 years in the shipbuilding industry. During his tenure, Perrine led Austal USA’s engineering department overseeing the work of over 250 engineers, naval architects, designers, and other engineering support staff and overseeing the department’s shift to include steel design and construction.During Perrine’s tenure with the company, Austal USA delivered 23 surface combatants and auxiliaries to the U.S.

Markey Machinery is a storied marine company, starting operations in 1907, when a Charles Markey, fresh from a two-year trading expedition on the Alaska and Siberian coast, launched the C.H. Markey Machinery Company serving both the marine and logging industries.Today Markey Machinery serves as a global leader in the marine deck equipment and winch industry, a position that it seeks to grow with the announcement that it closed outside investment with Christian Schiller and Brian Bogen to take the company to the next level.To its broad maritime client base…

Jan De Nul Group's new water injection dredger Cosette was launched on Wednesday at the Neptune Marine shipyard near Dordrecht in the NetherlandsThe newbuild, scheduled to be completed in this autumn, is a sister vessel to the Pancho, delivered earlier this year. The design of both vessels is based on an existing vessel design from the Neptune’s workboat portfolio. However for this vessel, Jan De Nul, together with Neptune’s engineering department, has integrated its in-house designed and built dredging equipment…

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. That’s the simple explanation. It does not encompass the complexities of what needs to be done to assure the all-important continued conditioning of the air in your vessel.The systems installed in vessels today can run the gamut from static vent scoops that force air into an area to a raw water chiller system whose workings take up the same amount of space as a 40-foot cargo container. The equipment is there to meet the need of the end user.

Tom Perrine, Austal USA vice president of engineering, was recognized by the University of Michigan as the 2022 Rosenblatt-Michigan Award recipient. The award is presented annually by the University of Michigan College of Engineering’s Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in recognition of outstanding professional achievement, integrity and devotion to excellence and innovation in ship design.The award honors the name of its first recipient, Lester Rosenblatt…

The Marine Travelift/Shuttlelift/ExacTech, Inc. family of companies announced Kurt Minten has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Marine Travelift. As the longest tenured employee in Marine Travelift history, Minten has many years of experience in all aspects of the business and has held positions in both engineering and sales leading up to this promotion.Minten’s experience with Marine Travelift began even before he was an employee of the company. Early in the company’s history…

While the average person may have a little trouble placing the name Jan De Nul, as in “JDN Group”, that’s not necessarily the case throughout parts of Europe and in nautical circles. There the Belgium-based company is known for its dredging capabilities and high-profile projects in Dubai and the Suez Canal.In addition to dredging, JDN is building a reputation as a global player in its other business segments: offshore services, civil engineering, and environmental. Today, the company continues to invest heavily in all areas of the business.

Catriona Savage, BMT’s Technical Assurance and Capability Director, has been names President of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA). She is the organization's first woman President.Savage, who is Honorary Professor at University College London Mechanical Engineering Department, takes over the RINA Presidency from Maurizio d’Amico who has served the institution over the last two years.Commenting on her presidency and vision for the future, Savage said, "I have been a member of RINA for over 25 years since I joined as a student at Southampton University.

Wind power pioneer Henrik Stiesdal built his first wind turbine in 1978. It was one of Denmark’s first step towards becoming a wind energy powerhouse, with Stiesdal regularly at the helm. He’s now got wider climate initiatives in his sights, including industrializing floating offshore wind. He reflected with OE’s Elaine Maslin.By 2021, a total of 35 GW of offshore wind had been installed across the world. To meet global climate targets, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that another 80 GW of it needs to be built per year by 2030.

The United States' largest dredging contractor Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation announced it has signed an agreement with the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University to provide funding and technical support for what will become the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Laboratory of Dredging and Coastal Studies.Lasse Petterson from Great Lakes commented, “Our company has had a long and robust relationship with Texas A&M that has included research, participation in dredging short courses, and advocacy for the ocean and coastal engineering profession.

Singapore-based heavy lift and bulk shipping company AAL Shipping announced it has increased the number of vessels in its latest newbuild series from four to six.In November 2021, AAL announced the launch of its third-generation newbuilding plan with the initial order of four 32,000 deadweight (DWT) Super B-Class multipurpose vessels from China’s Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard. The carrier, which already operates a fleet of 25 heavy lift multipurpose vessels (MPV) globally, has now…

Jan De Nul Group’s new water injection dredger Pancho was launched at the Neptune Marine shipyard near Dordrecht in the Netherlands. The dredger will be used mainly in the Argentine dredging market, but will be available for projects elsewhere as well.The design of this newbuild vessel is based on an existing vessel design from Neptune’s workboat portfolio. Together with the engineering department of Neptune, Jan De Nul integrates its in-house built dredging equipment, including the dredge pump and dredge pipes…

Autoship Systems Corporation (ASC) of Vancouver, Canada has been supplying the marine industry with its Autoship Pro (hull design) and Autohydro Pro (hydrostatics and stability) software for over 40 years. These two programs combined has resulted in many hundreds, if not thousands of ships at sea, including ocean going fish trawlers.Pesquera Diamante in Lima, Peru is a current Autoship System user that has engineered over a dozen purse seiner vessels for its integrated operations that include a fish processing facility, using our hull design and hydrostatics programs.

DSC Dredge announced it has promoted Scott Laiche to Director of Engineering, overseeing both DSC's Engineering and Automation teams.“Scott has been with DSC for nine years and has been a vital part of the growth of our Engineering department,” said William J. Wetta, EVP and Chief Technology Officer with DSC, “This is Scott’s second promotion during his time at DSC. He first joined the team as a Mechanical Engineer, and after being promoted to Engineering Manager in 2016 he has…