Jeff Sokolik News

The San Francisco Bay will soon have a new fossil fuel-free ferry floating in its waters, propelled completely by hydrogen fuel cells, and officials hope it heralds change on the high seas.Aptly named Sea Change, the 70-foot (21-meter), 75-passenger ferry will service multiple stops along San Francisco's waterfront. It was built at All American Marine shipyard in Bellingham, Washington, and was undergoing tests with the U.S. Coast Guard in nearby Puget Sound."We're here in the water…

Fairhaven Shipyards in Bellingham, Washington purchased a barge, Lucky Angel, with the intent of towing it from China to the U.S., refurbishing it and using it as a submersible dry-dock. The 435 ft long by 132 ft wide barge, renamed Faithful Servant, was loaded with an estimated 11,500 m3 – 19,000 m3 of ballast water from unknown Chinese coastal waters. The shipyard faced a dilemma:  conduct an open-sea exchange, easy but risky, or bring the barge into Washington state waters and proactively address aquatic invasive species prior to de-ballasting. They chose the latter.