Material Management News

Austal USA has named Jim Blastos as vice president supply chain management, with responsibility for the company’s procurement, strategic sourcing, warehousing, logistics, material management and production control activities.Blastos has over 25 years of experience in developing strategic organizational transformation, collaborative solutions and operational processing. He has held leadership positions in supply chain and operations in the U.S. Navy and industry, including Overhead Door Corporation…

Researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Great Lakes Districts — Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago — recently released a technical report providing guidance for evaluating the environmental suitability of dredged material in the Great Lakes region.The “Environmental Evaluation and Management of Dredged Material for Beneficial Use: A Regional Beneficial Use Testing Manual for…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, said it has begun dredging operations in sections of the Intracoastal Waterway (IWW) in St. Johns County, Fla., within the Palm Valley North Reach.An Operation and Maintenance (O&M) dredging contract is underway, which will address problematic shoaling occurring within this reach of the IWW. The contract is being funded with a combination of Federal funds and Contributed Funds form the Florida Inland Navigation District.The Palm Valley North Reach is a large O&M dredging project for the IWW…

The Maryland Port Administration (MPA), Port of Baltimore, officially joined the Council for Dredging and Marine Construction Safety (CDMCS), a national unified safety voice for the dredging and marine construction industry.The Port of Baltimore is one of the busiest seaports in the United States, handling every type of cargo at its public and private terminals. Currently, Baltimore is in the execution phase of more than $200 million in marine construction, dredging and infrastructure upgrades at Seagirt, Dundalk and Locust Point Marine Terminals.

For dredging company officials, the first quarter of 2021 was a pretty good start to a new year. In a tough business, challenges and pitfalls are always expected. But from a bigger picture perspective—markets, regulations and policies—company officials couldn’t be faulted if a bit of optimism infused their worldview.There are a number of reasons for this. Many are well known and don’t need to be detailed here. Just quickly, though, WRDA 2020 would be at the top of the list. WRDA…

It was an odd legislative journey, but ultimately one with a happy ending. That’s one way to sum up the rather tortuous process that led to the passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA). For the first time WRDA (usually reauthorized every two years) was not enacted as its own legislative bill. This time it was rolled into the massive government 2021 omnibus budget bill, the ‘‘Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,’’ signed into law on December 27.Still, the WRDA text itself…

The end of the 2019 saw some unprecedented funding measure pass through Congress and signed into law by President Trump. The Gulf and East Coast have continued to receive significant funding to help deepen and widen navigational channels and gateways. One of the projects passed into law included the Gulf Coast Regional Demonstration Project. Some of the ports receiving funding and underway include Mobile, Baltimore, Houston, Port Everglades and Norfolk. All these projects funded by Congress draw a direct correlation to the expanded Panama Canal.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' FY2020 Work Plan release on Monday places dredging at the forefront.“We welcome the FY 2020 Work Plan released by the Army Corps,” said William P. Doyle, CEO of the Dredging Contractors of America. “We’re ready – our dredging companies are hard at work on projects and continue to build new dredging ships for America’s ports, waterways and beaches.”The Work Plan is based on the FY2020 Energy and Water Development appropriations bills signed into law by President Trump in December 2019.In December 2019…

Kalmar, the provider of the cargo handling solutions and services to ports, has concluded an agreement to supply comprehensive preventive and corrective maintenance services to Operaciones Portuarias Canarias S.A. (OPCSA) at their Las Palmas container terminal.The Cargotec subsidiary said in a press note that the order, which comprises a Kalmar Complete Care service contract covering the terminal's ship-to-shore (STS) and rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes, was booked in Cargotec's 2019 Q3 order intake with the contract coming into effect at the start of Q1 2020.Established in 1986, OPCSA operates the largest and most modern terminal in the Port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, a strategic enclave for traffic between Europe, Africa and South America.

Case study: Chantier Davie Shipyard invests in AVEVA technology to keep competitive. Established in 1825, Chantier Davie Shipyard is Canada’s oldest, and still today one of its most innovative, shipyards. Situated in Quebec, the yard has been expanding in both working and production capacity, and its 1,300 workers now have the capability to handle 1,200 t / month of steel production at its 570,000 square meter facilities. Chantier Davie (Davie) is a diversified shipbuilder, building various types of ships for both naval and commercial clients.

Stena RoRo, a subsidiary of the Swedish ship owner Stena AB, and AVIC International Ship Development (China) Co. Ltd. have signed a contract, subject to board approval, for four ro-pax ferry newbuilds, including option for another four. These will be some of the first ro-pax ferries to be built in China for a western owner. Deltamarin Group will deliver an engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) package for the new vessels, to be constructed at AVIC Weihai Shipyard.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to amend its 2005 rule that designated the Central and Western Long Island Sound Dredged Material Disposal Sites. The proposed amendments will help meet the goal of reducing or eliminating dredged material disposal in open waters of the Sound. These amendments are available for public review and comment through March 25, 2016, and the EPA will also hold two public hearings on the proposed amendments in early March. According to the EPA…

Representatives from the Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) educated the surface warfare community on who they train and how they support the Fleet at the Surface Navy Association (SNA) Symposium January 12-14. Capt. Bill McKinley, CSCS commanding officer, oversees 14 learning sites and is responsible for combat systems training across the rates of fire controlman, operations specialist, gunner’s mate, sonar technician surface, mineman, interior communications electrician, and electronics technician.

AVEVA Group plc announces that it has agreed to acquire FabTrol Systems, Inc. from the Dowco Group of Companies the acquisition is expected to complete by Friday 26 June 2015. FabTrol is a software business, headquartered in Eugene, Oregon with operations in North America and the United Kingdom, providing fabrication management software to the steel fabrication industry. The consideration of $6.5 million has been funded through AVEVA's existing cash resources. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in FY16. The combination of the FabTrol software together with AVEVA Everything3D which is already integrated with AVEVA Bocad structural steel detailing software, creates a powerful design, detailing and fabrication solution.

Italian cruise ferry operator Moby S.p.A. has chosen the RINA InfoSHIP software suite for managing maintenance and purchase processes across its entire 13-ship fleet. RINA InfoSHIP Maintenance and Purchase Module (MP), developed in cooperation with IB Software and Consulting, facilitates and reduces the costs of management of planned and unplanned maintenance, stocking and inventory. The package of software which Moby will deploy is the core of the InfoSHIP suite and is equipped with a range of features for encoding and building a model of the technical structure of the ship…

Konecranes’ Agilon material management solution has won the Quality Innovation award in the Large companies series in The Quality Innovation Award of the Year competition, arranged by Laatukeskus Excellence Finland. Agilon brings industrial internet to material logistics and enables a new flexible way to manage material and information flow. Introduced in 2013, Agilon is an innovative materials inventory and management system that rapidly and automatically stores, picks, and replenishes items weighing up to 25 kg, using a robot to handle component transfers. Inventories stay up to date and the right components find their ways to the right places at the right time, thereby improving productivity and work satisfaction.

Las Vegas-based provider of enterprise engineering software for the process, power and marine industries, Intergraph, says it has released Intergraph Smart Production powered by NESTIX, the offshore and shipbuilding industries. Stephen Furze, Intergraph Process, Power & Marine's executive vice president of Industry Solutions, said, "Intergraph Smart Production powered by NESTIX brings the principles of digital shipbuilding and offshore construction to fabrication shops. This specialized solution controls all aspects of the parts and module/block production process in ship and offshore yards into one integrated package. A new solution within its next-generation Intergraph Smart Yard offering…

A bipartisan group of Great Lakes senators, led by Great Lakes Task Force co-chairs Sen. Carl Levin and Sen. Mark Kirk, wrote today to Army Corps of Engineers leaders, urging them to direct additional funding for harbor maintenance projects to reduce the backlog of projects in the Great Lakes. The letter, from members of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy and Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, asks that…

The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway awaits the chance to rescue the crowded eastern seaboard with a readymade alternative to the parking lot known simply as I-95. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) extends 1,200 miles from Norfolk, Va. to Key West, Fla.. That much is common knowledge. What you may not know is that the U.S. Congress authorized the creation of the AIWW in 1919 and the entire waterway was completed in 1940. Consisting of natural inlets, salt-water rivers, bays, and sounds; others are manmade canals, the canal is included on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark.

Tognum CTO Dr. Ulrich Dohle opened the facility situated in the Friedrichshafen district of Kluftern near Lake Constance. Over the next few months, the MMC will be entirely responsible for supplying parts to Friedrichshafen manufacturing plants and will later extend its activities to take in other production facilities in the international network. Tognum, a provider of propulsion and power solutions, and its new partner Stute Logistics, the Kühne + Nagel subsidiary that is operating the warehouse, together invested around 50 million euros in the ultra-modern Materials Management Center.

IFS North America said that Seaspan has selected IFS Applications as its Shipbuilding materials requirements planning (MRP) solution. IFS Applications was chosen because it provides a powerful project-based solution (PBS) with the ability to control cost and schedule in real-time, enhancing Seaspan’s ability to efficiently meet customer requirements. This capability will help Seaspan deliver on the recently awarded $8 billion Federal Government shipbuilding program to build non-combat vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy.

Fluor Offshore Solutions gains engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) support contract for Malampaya deep-water gas-to-power project. The project is being undertaken on behalf of the Philippine Government by the Service Contract 38 consortium composed of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (Operator), Chevron Malampaya LLC and Philippine National Oil Company—Exploration Corporation. This landmark project is among the most significant in the Philippines. Approximately 40 percent of the power for the main island of Luzon is generated by power plants using Malampaya gas. Malampaya Phase 3 involves the design, fabrication and installation of a new depletion compression platform that is linked by a bridge to the existing shallow water platform.

In Hurricane SANDY’s roiled aftermath, NJ Port’s dredged materials management method becomes even more important. Summer has come and gone. So has hurricane SANDY. The latter event brought rain, flooding, destruction and misery to the greater NY/NJ waterfront, and beyond. Well before that, however, the Robbins Reef Yacht Club in New Jersey’s Newark Bay within the Port of New York/New Jersey was reporting upbeat conditions. “We saw a significant increase in boating activity this summer because our members were able to access us with ease…