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Approximately one month has passed since the Singaporean-flagged container vessel M/V Dali allided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26. The bridge, which connects Hawkins Point and Dundalk, Maryland, collapsed into the lower Patapsco River, bringing all maritime traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore to a standstill.The Unified Command offers its reflection on the response efforts underway:During the incident involving the Dali, eight road crew workers, who were on break from repairing potholes, were present on the bridge when it collapsed.

Paris 2024 Olympics organizers on Friday, April 26, received the Games' flame in a handover ceremony in Athens ahead of a 68-day torch relay that will end with the opening ceremony on July 26.The flame arrived at the central Athens' Panathenaic stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896, after an 11-day relay across Greece and following the lighting in ancient Olympia last week.Several thousand fans and tourists sat in the stands of the horse-shaped marble stadium on a sun-drenched afternoon as the head of the Paris Games…

Sweden-based construction and development company Skanska has signed the final contract award, worth $612 million, for the upgrade of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) in New York, which will serve as an offshore wind hub.The project will transform the SBMT into one of the largest dedicated offshore wind ports in the United States and support Empire Wind offshore wind project, which is currently being developed by Equinor off New York.The award will facilitate the demolition of existing buildings…

While construction productivity issues continue to present immediate challenges for the U.S. offshore wind industry, the long-term outlook remains strong for the nascent sector, according to a recent report from business intelligence and consulting firm Intelatus Global Partners. Intelatus' most recent monthly report on the U.S. offshore wind industry identifies a number of factors hindering offshore construction activities--from weather delays to the scheduling and availability of necessary vessels."Construction vessel productivity to date has been below expectation…

The tail rotor of an Agusta A109 struck a handrail while landing on a bulk carrier as the pilot did not detect the obstacle, and the ship’s crew were using an older version of the vessel’s helicopter operations checklist, reports the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).An ATSB investigation report details that the A109E helicopter was conducting marine pilot transfer operations to the bulk carrier Tai Keystone, which was about 240 km north-east of Mackay, Queensland, on December 6…

Wallenius Wilhelmsen has signed a 20-year lease agreement with the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), with options up to 30 years for Brunswick port expansion, increasing its strategic terminal and processing networkUpgraded and enlarged Brunswick facilities will further expand the scope and scale of U.S. Southeast operations of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, which is the world's largest RoRo vessel operator.The Brunswick expansion will further cement the company’s position as the favored partner for North American customers…

Damen Shipyards Group has launched a pilot project in which a small tug will be dismantled in a circular way and fully in line with the EU regulations.The project will serve as a trial, after which this approach of ‘green’ ship dismantling and recycling will be made available commercially, and also for larger vessels, according to Damen.The 15.4-meter-long tug named Jan, which was built in 1927, will be dismantled at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam’s Botlek site in line with the regulations…

Green hydrogen producer Lhyfe has launched the first Green Hydrogen Marketplace, on its online portal Lhyfe Heroes.Since 2017, Lhyfe has been working to accelerate decarbonization through major innovations such as the world’s first industrial-scale green hydrogen production site directly connected to a wind farm in 2021, the world’s first pilot platform for producing green hydrogen at sea in 2022, and the digitalization of the sector, since 2022, with the Heroes digital platform…

Esgian reports on the many rig movements that occurred last week in its Week 16 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsADES Holding Company has received a letter of award from an international oil company for a one-year firm drilling contract for a jackup offshore Qatar.TotalEnergies has exercised a three-well option for Transocean 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Skyros offshore Angola at a rate of $400,000, keeping the rig working into December 2025.After initially beginning a short-term job in the US GOM in January 2024…

An accident with a shiploader at the sugar terminal in the Recife port in Northeastern Brazil suspended loading operations at the site, according to a note from shipping company Williams Brazil late on Thursday.The company said the shiploader collapsed and a part of the machine fell inside the cargo hold of a vessel that was docked at the port to load raw sugar.The press service at the Recife port confirmed the accident, adding that nobody was hurt.The port said experts are evaluating the situation and there is still no time frame for the repair.

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said at a Senate hearing Wednesday that investigators had conducted interviews with key cargo ship personnel in the investigation of the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse.The Dali cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, sending it crashing into the harbor and killing six people. Work to clear the wreckage and restore traffic through the Mid-Atlantic state's shipping channel is ongoing.Homendy said investigators remained on site and had interviewed the pilots…

Global Energy Storage (GES) and Provaris Energy have entered a collaboration agreement to develop a gaseous hydrogen import facility at the GES terminal in Rotterdam.Under the collaboration, GES and Provaris will complete a comprehensive prefeasibility study to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of berthing and unloading of Provaris’ H2Neo compressed hydrogen carriers.Activities will also include the joint marketing of the proposed facility where Provaris will be…

The Unified Command began to remove containers onboard M/V Dali at the Key Bridge incident site, Sunday. Salvors removed containers from the Dali as part of the effort to gain access to the portion of the Key Bridge that lies atop the ship. The transfer of containers from the Dali will continue in the coming days, as weather permits.The removal of the containers is a critical step required to safely move the Dali and eventually fully re-open the Fort McHenry Channel. Removing containers allows for safe access to then remove the pieces of the Key Bridge that lie across the ship’s bow…

Unified Command dive teams have recovered the body of a missing person at the Key Bridge incident site in Baltimore.The recovered individual was identified as 38-year-old Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval.Unified Command salvage dive teams located what they believed to be the missing construction worker and notified the Maryland Department of State Police. Maryland State Police Underwater Recovery Team deployed in coordination with dive teams from allied law enforcement partners and recovered Suazo-Sandoval.Maryland State Police investigators…

The U.S. Transportation Department on Friday said it reached an agreement with Baltimore County to revise an $8.26 million grant agreement to enable Tradepoint Atlantic (TPA) to accommodate more cargo.Repurposing the funds will allow a boost in cargo to Sparrows Point at the Port of Baltimore, which is outside the area affected by last week’s collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and continues to move cargo.The changes will enable Baltimore County and TPA to speed paving at least 10 acres that will be used for an additional cargo laydown area by the end of April…

Marine geosciences and offshore construction support services company NextGeo has appointed Frank Koopman as Offshore Wind Strategy Director.Koopman is an experienced executive and leader in the offshore energy sector, with over 20 years of experience in leading complex organizations, projects and innovation programs. He was Global Director Offshore Wind and Global Director Marine Site Characterization at Fugro from 2019 to 2023.Giovanni Ranieri, CEO of NextGeo, said, “We are thrilled to confirm our collaboration with Frank Koopman, who will serve as NextGeo's Offshore Wind Strategy Director.

The state of Great Lakes port infrastructure is one of the biggest issues facing the U.S. and Canadian maritime industries. According to the America Great Lakes Ports Association, “Due to years of inadequate funding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been unable to maintain Great Lakes navigation infrastructure. Over the next five years Great Lakes navigation channels will require $540 million of dredging to maintain authorized channel dimensions. Breakwaters and other federal…

Maritime services company Consulmar has performed a zero-emissions mooring service for a tanker, said to be the world’s first such operation.This operation took place at an offshore multiple buoy mooring site near the BP refinery, situated 2 miles from the Port of Castellón in Spain.Utilizing its electric line handling tug, CASTALIA, Consulmar towed the steel mooring lines from the vessel to each of the five mooring buoys, marking a significant advancement in the maritime industry towards more sustainable practices.The tanker vessel ARCHANGEL…

The Unified Command continues to coordinate response operations to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse despite the challenging weather conditions which included severe thunderstorms and high winds on Wednesday.Trained crews, in conjunction with the Unified Command, are conducting routine salvage assessments. Divers are on scene to conduct underwater surveys along with mapping out plans for future wreckage removal. “Our operations continue but will be adjusted as necessary in response to any adverse weather conditions,” said U.S.

Recovery teams opened a second channel enabling smaller vessels to navigate the Port of Baltimore on Tuesday but most commercial shipping remains blocked by the collapsed bridge and stranded container ship that brought the structure down a week ago.A team including the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state of Maryland announced crews had cleared a channel with a depth of 14 feet (4.3 meters), similar to the 11-foot channel opened on the opposite side of…

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…

Between January 2023 and February 2024, TDI-Brooks conducted an extensive site investigation program in two offshore wind blocks in state and federal waters. The projects involved surveying in excess of 20,000 line-kms of analogue and either single or multi-channel seismic in lease blocks and cable routes along the coasts of New York and New Jersey. Various tasks were carried out at different stages, such as offshore geophysical surveys, UHRS detailed surveys, archaeological identification surveys…

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…