Towers Joins EBDG Engineering Team
Elliott Bay Design Group, a Seattle-based Naval Architect and Marine Engineering firm with offices in New Orleans and Ketchikan, has hired seasoned marine professional Jim Towers. Towers, originally hired at the firm in 2000, brings more than 30 years' experience to his role as Senior Naval Architect and Marine Engineer. Tower's extensive skill set includes production engineering and management, shipyard estimating and budget control…
Mexico Sells 1M Barrels of Light Crude to Japan
(Reuters) - Mexico's state-run oil giant Pemex said on Tuesday it is selling crude to Japan for the first time in 11 years, opening another Asian market as an export…
Valve Train Halves Idle to Full Load Time
One of the new tools that engine builders are using these days to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is Valve Control Management (VCM), ABB’s variable valve train system…
Unmanned Ships Now a Reality
Drones do it and spacecraft have too, for many years. Recently, also, automobile makers and small boat makers have introduced their first autonomous vehicles on the streets, and waterways.
NOAA Nautical Charts Now Permanently Free
After a three-month trial period, PDF versions of NOAA nautical charts will become a permanent product, free to the public. The free PDFs, which are digital images of traditional nautical charts, are especially valued by recreational boaters who use them to plan sailing routes and fishing trips. The free PDF charts are part of a suite of new and enhanced navigational products designed to make NOAA’s data more accessible to the general public.
New BWM Regs Cometh - Are you ready?
The global market for BWT systems is predicted to grow to over $34 billion through 2020 in response to IMO and USCG-based ballast water discharge regulations (Frost and Sullivan, 2012). BWT systems are now manufactured by dozens of companies around the world, including traditional suppliers of marine equipment, suppliers of municipal water and wastewater treatment equipment, and shipbuilders. As of November 2013…
Siemens System Controls Filter Biofouling
The U.S. Patent Office awarded Siemens Water Technologies a patent for a system and method to control biofouling of filters used as a first stage of treating ballast water in its SeaCURETM Ballast Water Management System. The patent, entitled “Method and System for Biofouling Control of Shipboard Components” (U.S. patent no. 8,591,740 B2), involves injection of biocide into ballast seawater before…
Oily Wastewater Transformed with WETT-O
Terragon Environmental Technologies has been developing the Wastewater Electrochemical Treatment Technology for oily water, or simply WETT-O, for the past six years. WETT-O uses an electrochemical process to transform oily wastewater into reusable or dischargeable water depending on the application. WETT-O uses electrochemistry and does not require filters, membranes, chemicals or biological treatment commonly found in alternative approaches.
Alfa Laval: Green & Efficient Shipping
When Gustaf de Laval read in 1877 an article in the German periodical ”Milchzeitung” (Milk News Paper) about centrifugal separators, he certainly did not expect that it would lead to his founding of a global acting company with around 16,400 employees nearly 140 years later. His first continuous separator, with a capacity of 130 liters per hour, was demonstrated 1879 in Stockholm; and four years later, in 1883, he and his partner, Oscar Lamm, established the company AB Separator.
Scientists Train Students on Oil Spill Research
As part of ongoing research nearly four years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will team up with a group of high school students in Florida to collect remnants of oil from Gulf Coast beaches this week. Marine chemist Chris Reddy studies how the many compounds that compose petroleum hydrocarbon, or oil, behave and change over time after an oil spill.
SNAME Report Covers SOx Emissions Reduction
The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) has published a new technical report that provides recommendations on technologies, practices and fuels…
MSC Preziosa: The Ultimate in Cruise Ship Tech
MSC Cruises recently added a new state-of-the-art liner, the MSC Preziosa, helping the Italian company, truly a family business, attain the status of third largest cruise line in the world.
SS United States: Leading Lady to Damsel in Distress
Once queen of the express liners, and the fastest, safest and biggest passenger liner in history, the SS United States today quietly awaits rescue from a pending cruise to the scrapyard. The Big Ship the Big U, the one that didn’t sink. The S.S. She is waiting for a rescue that may never come from an appointment with the scrap yard looming large on her summer schedule. And that would be a shame according to her many supporters…
ABS Pleased with Innovative Metals & Materials Award
In response to today's announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama regarding the awarding of funding under the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation…
Hijacked Tanker Returns Minus $8M of Diesel
Reuters - An oil tanker hijacked for a week off Angola in January has been returned to the country's authorities, a board member at state oil firm Sonangol said on Tuesday, adding that the hijackers had stolen diesel worth $8 million from the ship. The Liberian-flagged MT Kerala was under a time charter contract for Sonangol when it vanished off the coast of the capital Luanda on Jan. 18 before being intercepted by the Nigerian navy a week later.
Port Strike to Bring Delays in Vancouver
Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) warned that this week’s industrial action by truck drivers serving Port Metro Vancouver is expected to severely impact Canada's largest and most diverse port. A strike notice has been issued to the port authority by the United Truckers Association, who have voted for a 48 hour strike commencing Wednesday, February 26. While not all drivers are members of the association…
Double Top for Exova Experts
Phil Dent and John Carter, corrosion specialists with Exova, the global testing, calibration and advisory services provider, have been appointed as chairmen of the Marine Corrosion Forum and STG44 - Marine Corrosion, respectively. Phil Dent, technical manager at the Exova Corrosion Center UK, takes up a three-year tenure with the Marine Corrosion Forum. He has over 35 years’ metallurgical experience, and particular expertise in sour service (H2S) corrosion testing for the oil and gas industry.
First Valemax Ship to Discharge in Malaysia
Reuters - Brazil's Vale SA will launch in March the first phase of its iron ore storage and distribution center in Malaysia that will improve its access to China, its biggest customer, a company official said on Tuesday. The world's top iron ore miner, whose huge Valemax vessels are banned from Chinese ports, built the Malaysian terminal to better compete with Australian rivals Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.
Seadrill Sees Bigger Drilling Market Slowdown
Reuters - The global oil drilling market will slow by more than expected over the next two years as energy firms save cash for dividends and delay exploration, Seadrill…
Construction Begins on First LNG Containership
Fireworks marked the first cut of steel in a ceremony last night as construction of TOTE, Inc.’s new Marlin Class, the first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered containership in the world, began at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, Calif. “These ships, will be the most advanced, environmentally progressive vessels of their kind,” state Representative Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation said…
