Shannon News

The U.S. state of Maryland has opened a temporary channel on the northbound side of the collapsed Baltimore bridge, allowing limited tug and barge traffic around the container ship stuck at the disaster site, Governor Wes Moore said on Monday."It will help us to get more vessels in the water around the site of the collapse," Moore told a news conference.The Port of Baltimore's shipping channel has been blocked since a fully loaded container ship lost power and collided with a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge last Tuesday…

Salvage crews worked to lift the first piece of Baltimore's collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge from the water on Saturday to allow barges and tugboats to access the disaster site, Maryland and U.S. officials said, the first step in a complex effort to reopen the city's blocked port.The steel truss bridge collapsed early on Tuesday morning, killing six road workers, when a massive container ship lost power and crashed into a support pylon. Much of the span crashed into the Patapsco River…

Rescuers have lost hope of finding more survivors of the Baltimore bridge collapse, the coast guard said, as efforts switched on Wednesday to looking for bodies of the missing and more answers to why a container ship smashed into the span.Search divers were expected to return near dawn to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of the bridge in Baltimore Harbor to search for six workers missing and now presumed dead.The disaster has forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S.

Search divers were expected to return near dawn on Wednesday to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of a bridge knocked down in Baltimore Harbor by a faltering cargo ship, leaving six workers missing and presumed dead.The disaster also forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, and created a traffic quagmire for Baltimore and the surrounding region.As the odds of their survival vanished, the search for the six workers was suspended on Tuesday evening…

Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crippled by a power loss rammed into the structure, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident, U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland…

Earlier this week, Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Carlos Del Toro along with U.S. Representatives Rob Menendez and Mikie Sherrill visited to Bayonne Dry Dock & Repair Corp. (BDD).As the U.S. places renewed emphasis on navy shipbuilding and ship repair, the SECNAV has made it a point to visit to naval bases, shipyards, depots, training ranges, tarmacs, and runways worldwide to witnessed firsthand the progress being made toward improving training, readiness, and modernization of the fleet and force.BDD has provided repair services to vessels ranging from small tugboats to U.S.

The Navy wants, and needs, more ships; but it can’t build them fast enough.While the U.S. Navy aims to achieve a 355-ship fleet, it is decommissioning older (and some not so old) ships at about the same rate it's adding new ones.A Congressional Research Service report stated that, as of April 17, 2023, the Navy included 296 battle force ships. "The Navy projects that under its FY2024 budget submission, the Navy would include 293 battle force ships at the end of FY2024 and 291 battle force ships at the end of FY2028."But there is progress…

The U.S. Coast Guard said it has temporarily relieved Capt. Matthew Baer from command of Coast Guard Sector North Carolina, Tuesday, June 20, 2023.Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath, Fifth Coast Guard District commander, temporarily relieved Baer due to a loss of confidence in his ability to effectively command the sector, pending an administrative investigation and final determination.The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to MarineLink's request for comment.Cmdr. Courtney Sergent…

The U.S. Department of Transportation has formed a new advisory council to help drive improvements at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), a service academy in Kings Point, N.Y.According to the DOT, establishment of the USMMA Advisory Council fulfills a key recommendation from the National Academy of Public Administration’s (NAPA) November 2021 report entitled “Organizational Assessment of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy: A Path Forward.” Specifically, NAPA’s report recommended…

The U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board concluded the formal public hearing proceedings into the fire and total constructive loss of the passenger vessel Spirit of Norfolk Feb. 2, 2023.The joint investigation team reviewed and considered evidence related to the fire and total constructive loss of the passenger vessel, which occurred on June 7, 2022.The investigation team heard from 23 witnesses who provided testimony into pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance…

An innovative wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) design from Houston-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm Friede & Goldman (F&G) has earned approval in principle from classification society DNV.The review and AIP confirms that F&G's Windsetter 156 Class WTIV with optional BargeRack feeder barge system design complies with applicable DNV classification rules and statutory requirements.The WTIV design is suitable for all offshore wind markets globally and was…

The Royal Canadian Navy's second and third Harry DeWolf-class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) were officially named at Halifax Shipyard on Sunday.Named HMCS Margaret Brooke and HMCS Max Bernays in honor of two Canadians who served in the navy in the Second World War, the vessels are among six AOPS being delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy.“This is a proud day for our team of over 2,100 shipbuilders. These two ships are visible signs of the success of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy.

Shannon Foynes Port Company has selected Bechtel to update its Vision 2041 master plan to accommodate offshore and onshore investment within and near its harbor in Ireland. Bechtel will support the company in considering how to deliver significant growth and expansion of the port, including how it can support the offshore wind industry and the production of alternative shipping fuels.Shannon Foynes Port is located in Ireland's deepest sheltered commercial harbor with jurisdiction over all marine activities on a 500-kilometer square area on the Shannon Estuary…

The White House on Wednesday nominated attorney Tommy Beaudreau, who oversaw energy development programs at the Interior department during the Obama administration, as the agency’s second in command.Beaudreau will return as deputy to Secretary Deb Haaland after serving nearly seven years there under former President Barack Obama, becoming the first person to lead the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees offshore oil and gas activity.He later served as chief of staff…

A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions—all day, every day.We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.In this guest blog, Dryad's Belle Davenport, shares how her preconceptions about the maritime industry…

The Virginia Port Authority Board (VPA) of Commissioners today introduced Stephen Edwards as the next leader of The Port of Virginia. He succeeds John F. Reinhart who for the last seven years has led the VPA as its CEO and executive director.Edwards has extensive experience in the global transportation industry most recently as the president and CEO of TraPac, LLC (TraPac), which operates container terminals in Los Angeles, Oakland and Florida. His tenure with the VPA begins on January 19, 2021.“I am delighted to be joining the Virginia Port Authority team in January,” Edwards said.

The Ardent Group sold its Australian subsidiary Ardent Oceania Pty Ltd to its managing director Drew Shannon. It will continue as an independent company under the new name United Salvage Pty Ltd.Ardent, a maritime emergency management and wreck removal company created by the 2015 merger of salvage divisions of Svitzer and Crowley, announced last month it will no longer enter into new contracts from May 2020.In April, it sold Ardent Americas LLC to dredging, offshore contractor and maritime services provider Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.…

July is Second Busiest Month in Port of Virginia’s History.The Port of Virginia in July processed 265,559 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in July, making it the second busiest month in the port’s history.The strong cargo performance was driven by an increase of more than 4 percent in loaded import containers, and a jump of nearly 18 percent in export empty containers, which are being repositioned across the globe to handle peak season cargo.“We are continuing to set volume records.

The latest lifeboat to join the fleet of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the main sea rescue service in the UK and Ireland, is the waterjet-propelled Shannon class, which the organization says is its most agile and maneuverable all-weather lifeboat yet to be deployed. Designed entirely in-house by RNLI engineers, cutting-edge technology has been used in this new boat to meet modern-day rescue service demands following the lead taken with the RNLI’s introduction of the Shannon’s sister lifeboat class…

Shannon Enterprises of W.N.Y. a designer, and maker of reusable thermal and acoustic insulation, has put in place a custom-designed insulation system for Maid of the Mist Corp.'s two vessels, Maid of the Mist VI and Maid of the Mist VII, to improve engine efficiency, safety and acoustics on board each vessel.As part of a modernization program for the boats' lighting and climate controls, Maid of the Mist's engineering team installed a new generation set - including two, 38 kW Northern Lights marine generators - for both vessels.

Coming in the April 2019 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News we report on the latest lifeboat to join the fleet of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the main sea rescue service in the UK and Ireland, the waterjet-propelled Shannon class, RNLI says is its most agile and maneuverable all-weather lifeboat yet to be deployed.While the vessel and it's capabilities are amazing, we really like the new launch and recovery system. A special feature of the Shannon lifeboat…

Blyth Catamarans has handed over its largest vessel to date, an 18m survey vessel for the UK’s Swansea University, a project that has been in the making for nearly 14 months.‘Mary Anning’ features a large A frame, dive lift and survey station for Swansea University. And it boasts hard-wearing DuroWipers pantographs, synonymous with the new Shannon class lifeboat builds.Among some of the other advanced specs onboard Mary Anning are two trawl winches, a moon pool with multi-beam deployment…

Shrinking ice cover is making the Arctic more accessible to various countries, commercial entities and researchers, among others."While Arctic sea ice continues to shrink, human activity in the region is only growing. Ice extent, which is monitored by the U.S. National Ice Center (USNIC), often determines what types of activities are pursued in the region," says NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS).This increased human activity in the Arctic has also led to more national security concerns from both a traditional and non-traditional point of view. For the U.S., national security in the Arctic is more than just shielding the nation from potential threats to the northern border.Instead, the nation is starting to look at Arctic security more broadly.