Balancing News

As dusk descends upon our nation's ports, casting shadows over the waterfront, another shadow looms in the digital landscape — the threat of cyber warfare. In an era where connectivity reigns supreme, our maritime infrastructure stands at a critical juncture, balancing vulnerability and resilience. The recent White House announcement of a Presidential Executive Order, and a hefty $20 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding proposal to fortify our ports, underscores the gravity of the situation.It is a fact that at this time China has manufactured 80% of our nation’s ship-to-shore cranes…

Catherine Gianelloni sailed with the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (IOMM&P) for about 10 years after graduating from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 2009. But in between times at sea, she would help out at the MITAGS (Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies). Operating simulators evolved into teaching opportunities, and Gianelloni took a full-time position in 2012. “Because we are the union school, I was allowed to take breaks—leave of absences—to go out and sail.

As the IMO prepares for negotiations on regulations to support net-zero by 2050 at MEPC 81 in March, the World Shipping Council (WSC) has proposed a greenhouse gas pricing mechanism it calls the Green Balance Mechanism.The aim is to provide a new approach to greenhouse gas pricing which makes it possible to close the price gap between fossil fuels and green fuels, at the lowest possible overall cost:• Through the Green Balance Mechanism, fees are taken from fossil fuels and allocated to green fuels used…

Blake Powell, president at JMS Naval Architects, discusses his career, company and latest trends in naval architecture and marine engineering.Please give a brief professional bio, including education, experience and overview of current duties as president of JMS Naval Architects.I earned my degree in Naval Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley where I attended on a Navy ROTC scholarship and was commissioned as a Diving and Salvage Officer after I graduated.

DNV secured partners to launch a new project to enhance technology development and prepare for scale/industrialization of concrete substructures for floating offshore wind.The new Joint Industry Project (JIP) called Concrete FLOW will optimize requirements for concrete floaters (floating or semisubmersible structures, generally moored to the seabed, used as foundations upon which equipment can be mounted), specifically tailored for floating offshore wind farms.At the kick-off…

Russia on Friday failed to win enough votes for re-election to the United Nation's shipping agency's governing council after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had urged countries not to allow Moscow to be part of the UN body's executive arm.The outcome is another blow for Russia after it failed in its bid to return to the UN's top human rights body in October, in an election seen as a key test of Western efforts to keep Moscow isolated.Last year Moscow also failed to win…

CMA CGM said on Friday its profit fell in the third quarter as a COVID-era boom in shipping continued to fade, but its volumes picked up as a destocking trend in the United States was offset by brisk demand in other parts of the world.The French-based shipping giant was cautious about next year's outlook, with the prospect of a recovery in global trade - as U.S. firms finish destocking - tempered by expectations of modest economic growth and an influx of new vessels.CMA CGM, privately controlled by the Saade family…

Energy ecosystems are evolving as the value of offshore power-to-X production is being realized.Flexible and delivered in long lengths on reels in a fast-track operation, thermoplastic composite pipeline can transfer up to nine times the amount of energy as a cable and can be used to store hydrogen, increasing the uptime of offshore wind farm generated power.That’s according to Netherlands based supplier Strohm, member of the Hydrogen Offshore Production for Europe (HOPE) project and the Dutch floating green hydrogen and ammonia OFFSET project.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Monday it had completed its environmental review of the proposed Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project.“The completion of our environmental review marks another step towards a clean energy future—one that benefits communities and co-exists with other ocean users,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “The best available science and knowledge shared by Tribes, other government agencies, local communities, ocean users…

“During the first eight months of 2023, contracting of product tanker newbuilds hit a 10-year high, reaching 140 ships and 10.72 million deadweight tons (DWT). The last time more than 10 million DWT were contracted from January through August was in 2013,” said Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.Newbuild contracting activity during the past five years has been low at about 5.46 million DWT per year. In addition, the product tanker order book hit a low of 9.67 million DWT in December 2022…

Speakers from the vanguard of maritime digitalization will be joined by the first British astronaut and science communicator Helen Sharman at the Connected Future Conference during London International Shipping Week (LISW) 2023.Moving from smart talk to practical solutions and bringing stakeholders together will be the key themes of an industry event organized by Inmarsat, a Viasat business, in partnership with Smart Maritime Network. Staged at Inmarsat headquarters on September 12…

Houston-based dredging contractor Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation announced it has been awarded a dredging and disposal contract in support of the Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 project.Great Lakes has been contracted by Bechtel Energy, the engineering, construction, and procurement company that’s managing the project in partnership with Sempra Infrastructure. The Port Arthur LNG project is a natural gas liquefaction and export terminal in Southeast Texas with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico.

Moises DelToro at GE Vernova’s Power Conversion business, discusses how deploying a Ship’s Electric Grid is a flexible way to accommodate growing energy demands for naval and coast guard vessels.A new age of electrificationWe’re in a new naval era and it is reshaping views about fleet mixes and capabilities. Modern fleets need to be mission-configurable, highly capable for military advantage, adaptable for technology insertion, but still affordable. The growing demand for vessel power is increasingly an enabler for mission systems, not just for platform propulsion.

Volvo Cars has announced that it is switching delivery of its production material to container ships using renewable biofuel.The company will use renewable fuel for inbound ocean container transport of production material destined for manufacturing plants based in Europe and the Americas, as well as all spare parts distribution made globally by ocean container transport.Volvo Cars says that it is the first global car maker to announce such a switch which will achieve an immediate reduction in fossil CO2 emissions from intercontinental ocean freight by 55,000 tonnes a year.

This is going to be about whales, but it will actually be an engineering discussion rather than a nature discussion. Let’s start with an easy truth. Whale deaths due to offshore wind activities is utter nonsense. It has no basis in fact, and is a total fabrication by truly malicious characters.There, now let’s get into more interesting stuff. Whale deaths caused by humans is a complex issue that will never be solved completely, but, with careful adjustments, can be reduced. There is a possibility that occasionally there are whale COVID style epidemics that cause unusual levels of mortality…

In Cape Cod Bay, 10-year-old Pilgrim and her calf skim the water's glassy surface alongside the Shearwater research vessel to feed on tiny crustaceans.The two are among the last surviving 340 or so North Atlantic right whales left migrating along the U.S. East Coast – down from 480 right whales in 2010.The biggest threats they face include being struck by passing ships or getting entangled in ropes used for lobster fishing off the U.S. East Coast - scientists have recorded 98 such injuries or deaths of whales since 2017.Now, the whales face another threat as the U.S.

Shell Ventures and Idékapital have invested $90 million in Kongsberg Digital, a business area within Norway's KONGSBERG.The funding and new investors will support and accelerate the future growth and development of Kongsberg Digital. The investment values Kongsberg Digital at $540 million post-money, Kongsberg Digital said.Shell Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Shell that invests in innovative technology companies, business models and growth plays to further the…

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Monday it had completed its environmental analysis of the proposed Ocean Wind 1 wind project offshore New Jersey, which could power up to a half million households.As part of the Ocean Wind 1 project, Orsted's Ocean Wind LLC proposes to build up to 98 wind turbine generators (WTGs) and up to three offshore substations within its lease area. At its closest point, the Ocean Wind 1 project will be at least 13 nautical miles southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The commercial maritime industry is seeking solutions to improve efficiency and reduce emissions, and a wide range of new solutions are coming to market to answer the call. Among these is a new design for a methanol-hybrid tug from naval architecture and marine engineering firm Glosten. The SA-100, developed in collaboration with systems integrator ABB, is a high-powered tug with 90-ton bollard pull that’s “intended to give operators a means to improve environmental performance…

Commercial divers recently helped a tanker return to service after suffering major propeller damage in the Port of Corpus Christi.Phoenix International Holdings, Inc. said its commercial ship husbandry division recently responded to a call from the stricken 330-meter vessel in 60-feet of water in Corpus Christi, Texas.Upon mobilizing a fly away dive spread and dive team, the project manager Errol Gritten performed the complex mathematics involved in calculating the mass loss of the damage to restore hydrodynamic balance.

When Hurricane Michael slammed the Florida Panhandle in October 2018, the deadly category 5 storm inflicted billions in damages to the region, tearing apart homes and businesses in its path. Among those severely impacted was Eastern Shipbuilding Group, which suffered a nearly direct hit at its Allanton shipyard, located about 15 miles east of the company’s headquarters and main yard in Panama City.Eastern, which had been scheduled to begin building the first of up to 11 Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC) for the U.S.

The Port of Rotterdam on Monday said it will help develop a 14,000 square metre factory for Battolyser Systems, a company that designs combined battery and green hydrogen production machines.Financial terms were not disclosed.The port, which has announced a series of hydrogen-related deals this year, said it views the company, a spin-off from the Delft University of Technology, as an anchor for a part of the port that will be devoted to companies helping to get carbon out of supply chains."Companies in the port are already actively working on projects regarding production…

The integrity of the marine transportation system as a key plank in a country's economic prosperity is in heightened focus today, with logistics snarls contributing to fast rising inflation. Maintaining the integrity of the vast U.S. inland waterway system - with more than 12,000 miles of inland and intracoastal waterways including 218 lock chambers at 176 sites - is the focus of the Maritime Risk Symposium 2022, a 2.5-day conference scheduled for November 15-17, hostd by Argonne National Laboraty's TCS Conference Center.On Wednesday, November 16, 2022, James P.