Strategic Plan News

2024 marks another year for development of a biennial WRDA bill—Water Resources Development Act, critical legislation for the Nation’s waterways, ports and harbors. WRDA encompasses a range of issues, from environmental regs to energy use to agriculture and, of course, a focus on projects critical for economic growth.Because these are dynamic and timely issues, Congress and the maritime sector like to keep WRDA on a two-year reauthorization timeline. Indeed, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, December and January, held three WRDA information hearings.

Tidal Transit, a supplier of purpose-design crew transfer vessels for the offshore wind industry, has begun the design and engineering phase of a project to deliver what is said to be the world’s first retrofit electric crew transfer vessel (E-CTV).Over the next 15 months, Tidal Transit will retrofit a diesel-powered Mercurio 20-meter vessel, Ginny Louise, with over two megawatt-hours (MWh) of battery capacity, electric motors and propulsion pods.The finished product, e-Ginny…

Chee Hong Tat, Singapore’s Acting Minister for Transport, announced a record year in 2023 at a Singapore Maritime Foundation New Year Conversations event.The annual vessel arrival tonnage in the Port of Singapore crossed three billion gross tonnage (GT) for the first time, increasing by 9.4% over 2022 and setting a high of 3.09 billion GT in 2023. This reflects growth in all segments, including container ships, dry bulk carriers, liquid bulk and chemical tankers, ferries and specialised vessels…

PTTEP has made three consecutive oil and gas discoveries offshore Malaysia and says it is strategically poised to expedite the development of these discoveries through a cluster development approach.Montri Rawanchaikul, CEO of PTTEP, disclosed that PTTEP’s subsidiary, PTTEP HK Offshore Limited and PTTEP Sarawak Oil Limited have made new oil and gas discoveries in three fields offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, including Chenda-1 exploration well in the block SK405B, Bangsawan-1 and Babadon…

Brazil's Petrobras will invest around $102 billion within the 2024-2028 period, the firm's new strategic plan showed on Thursday, representing a major boost in expected investments by the state-run oil company.The plan, the first released by the oil giant since CEO Jean Paul Prates took the helm of the company, includes investments in a range of different segments, with most of it going into oil exploration and production.The figure represents a 31% leap from the $78 billion Petrobras…

Construction and engineering company Orion Group Holdings announced it has been awarded a contract worth more than $100 million for the turnkey design-build of a replacement dry dock at the Grand Bahama Shipyard, situated in Grand Bahama, Bahamas.The scope of work includes marine works and infrastructure construction, dredging, creating new mooring facilities and providing enhancements to shore stability. In addition, Orion will modify and extend service piers for the installation of two cutting-edge floating dry docks, which are among the largest in the western hemisphere.

Realizing the full value of digital solutions far exceeds the capability of technology. The technology exists today to help offshore energy and maritime operators radically improve efficiency and cut costs in equal measure. The real trick to driving efficiencies is to take advantage of the latest technologies while at the same time negotiating the necessary culture change within individual organizations, to really reap the benefits.Harvest Technology Group is a relatively young and small Australian company that has caught the attention of a number of offshore and subsea industry heavyweights…

RADM Michael Alfultis announced he will retire in 2024 after nearly a decade as president of SUNY Maritime College and more than 30 years in higher education.When RADM Alfultis was appointed Maritime College president in 2014, he immediately focused on two priorities for the college: the replacement of the training ship Empire State and the formal reconciliation with the Fort Schuyler Maritime Alumni Association. Within three years, a formal SUNY-approved Memorandum of Agreement was signed between Maritime College and the Maritime College Alumni Association.

Two U.S. Navy sailors have been arrested on charges of handing over sensitive national security material to China, U.S. officials said Thursday.Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, was charged with conspiracy and bribetaking in connection with taking nearly $15,000 in exchange for photographs and videos of sensitive U.S. military information, the officials said. U.S. Navy sailor, Jinchao Wei, whose age was not disclosed, was charged with conspiring to send national defense information…

Spearheaded by the Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA), Bay Ferry 2050 is a visionary initiative aimed at transforming the San Francisco Bay Ferry service into an eco-friendly and forward-thinking transportation system. With a focus on fleet electrification, community engagement and the exploration of alternative propulsion technologies, the project sets the stage for a more community-minded, sustainable, operationally strong, fiscally sound and environmentally conscious…

“Not only does the top of the river move, but the bottom of the river also moves.” - James Bodron, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division, Regional Business Director.Dredging was the Herculean act that allowed much of the U.S. economy to keep chugging along as usual, at least for Midwest and Central states, as drought conditions threatened to shut down river traffic on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, during fall and winter 2022 and early 2023.The full scope of these U.S.

Uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), automated vessels, maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS), remote controlled vessels, and the employment of artificial intelligence and smart marine technology to navigate and operate civilian and military vessels have created a lively debate over utilizing and regulating such technology. Recent articles addressing artificial intelligence (AI) have questioned the value of experience and intuition versus computed logic based upon data and logarithmic differentiations.

Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) announced it has taken delivery of another 24,188 TEU mega ship.The OOCL Turkiye, recently named during a ceremony at Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (NACKS) shipyard, is the third 24,188TEU vessel to be received by OOCL in a series of12.Being a part of OOCL’s strategic plan for further growth in Asia -Europe trade, OOCL Turkiye will join her sister vessels OOCL Spain and OOCL Piraeus in serving OOCL’s Asia-Europe LL3 service loop.

When Ukraine successfully deployed self-driving “drone” boats for a major attack on the Russian navy at Sevastopol in Crimea in September 2022 it was a defining moment that changed the future of naval warfare. Uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) have been used before, but this was the first instance of multiple, armed USVs, used simultaneously in combination with aerial drones for a successful, offensive naval operation on a military target.Several Russian ships were damaged in the attack…

A Mackinac Island passenger ferry will be converted to zero-emissions electric power with the help of a $3.06 million award from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Fuel Transformation Program (FTP) Part 2.Star Line, now known as the Mackinac Island Ferry Company (MIFC), will replace two 1988 diesel engines with two brand new electric propulsion motors on a ferry, the Chippewa, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 14,152 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents and 887 metric tons of nitrogen oxides over the boat’s lifetime.

Houston, Penn.-based Campbell Transportation Company, Inc. (CTC) on Monday announced it has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the majority of the marine assets owned by NGL Marine, LLC, a subsidiary of Tulsa, Okla.-based NGL Energy Partners LP.The $111.65 million cash deal, which is expected to be finalized by the end of March, includes a fleet of 13 towboats and 25 tank barges that provide waterborne transportation of refined products and crude oil for customers on the Gulf Coast, NGL said. A majority of the fleet will go to Campbell, and another portion will go to an unnamed buyer.For Campbell, the acquisition marks another step forward in its strategic plan to diversify its marine business line, the company said in a statement.

With travel and tourism nearing pre-2020 levels, and transit systems benefiting from a return to work, passenger vessels have seen renewed activity. In its year-end review, John Groundwater, Executive Director of the Passenger Vessel Association (PVA), which advocates for the sector in Washington, D.C. wrote: “As we are nearing the end of the calendar year, we are delighted to report that our industry, and our members, are reporting far and wide that they have experienced very…

French telecoms group Orange's deputy chief executive and head of finance, Ramon Fernandez, is leaving the company to join shipping and transport company CMA CGM as finance director.Fernandez will Orange at the end of the first quarter of 2023, the company said on Tuesday, adding that a successor will be named soon.French transport group CMA CGM said in a separate statement that Fernandez would start his new role at the start of the second quarter next year."I would like to thank Ramon for his unfailing commitment to the group," Orange CEO Christel Heydemann said in statement.

Swedish Furetank and Canadian Algoma Central Corporation expand the FureBear joint venture to include eight climate-friendly, dual-fuel product tankers to trade in Northern Europe.The 50/50 owned joint venture was announced in August and is now extended with four additional 17,999 DWT tankers, bringing the total investment to eight vessels.Like the initial four vessel order, the additional four ships will be constructed at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Yangzhou, China. Two of them have already been ordered by Furetank in September and will be transferred to FureBear…

d’Amico International Shipping S.A. announces that its operating subsidiary d’Amico Tankers exercised its purchase option on the High Adventurer, a 50,000 dwt medium-range product tanker vessel built in November 2017 by Onomichi Dockyard Co., Ltd., Japan, for a consideration of JPY 4.1 billion (equivalent to approximately US$ 30.4 million) and with delivery expected in November 2022.Paolo d’Amico, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of d’Amico International Shipping, said, “I’m very pleased to announce the purchase of MT High Adventurer, an MR vessel built in Japan in November 2017 and time-chartered-in by d’Amico Tankers ever since.

More than a half a billion dollars in recent, current or expected improvements at three Midwestern ports will strengthen these facilities and reinforce their important roles in the global freight network. The significant investments at Port KC, America’s Central Port, and Kaskaskia Regional Port District, along with new infrastructure funding recently secured, will spur an increase in barge services and deliver cost efficiencies that drive profitability for the industry. Port KC is located on the Missouri River.

Oil and gas company VAALCO Energy has hired DOF Subsea to perform subsea construction and installation services offshore Gabon, where the company operates the Etame field.The contract is for the support of the subsea reconfiguration associated with the replacement of the existing Floating Production, Storage and Offloading unit (“FPSO”) with a Floating Storage and Offloading vessel (“FSO”) at the offshore field.VAALCO in 2021 said it had struck a charter deal with the FSO owner World Carrier Offshore Services Corp for the Cap Diamant, a double-hull crude tanker built in 2001, which will be converted to an FSO for operations at the Etame field.By deploying the FSO at the field…

Superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Vice Adm. Jack Buono announced his retirement after a maritime career that has spanned more than 45 years.Vice Adm. Buono, a 1978 Kings Point graduate, has spent the past three and a half years at the Academy helm, and will relinquish command at a ceremony in June 2022. His successor has not been announced.“For Ginger and I, serving as the Superintendent and First Lady of the Academy has been the honor of a lifetime,” Buono said. “The young women and men who come here are truly the best and brightest America has to offer.