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03 Mar 2024

Malaysia Says MH370 Search Must Go On

© atulvermabhai / Adobe Stock

Malaysia is pushing for a renewed search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the transport minister said on Sunday, as the 10th anniversary of its disappearance in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries approaches.Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.Malaysian investigators initially did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course, and debris…

17 Oct 2023

Rolls-Royce to Cut Up to 2,500 Jobs

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Rolls-Royce (RR.L) said on Tuesday it would cut up to 2,500 jobs as its new chief executive seeks to build a more efficient business, the latest boss to attempt to revamp one of Britain's most prestigious engineering companies.Over the last decade, Rolls-Royce, whose engines and systems are used on the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 as well as ships, submarines and in power generation, has been through several restructurings, axing more than 13,000 jobs.Tufan Erginbilgic, who took over in January, is the latest CEO to try to tackle the company's inefficiencies.

13 Sep 2023

Turbine Installation Kicks Off at U.S. First Commercial-scale Offshore Wind Farm

Credit: Avangrid

Avangrid, Inc., a U.S. offshore wind developer and part of the Spanish Iberdrola Group on Wednesday announced the start of the wind turbine installation campaign for Avangrid’s Vineyard Wind 1 project offshore Massachusetts, the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States. The installation campaign follows the transportation earlier this week of the first GE Haliade-X Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) from the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal to the wind energy development area more than 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod.“Over the past year…

29 Jun 2023

Carlyle and Stellex Complete Sale of Titan to an Affiliate of Lone Star Funds

(Photo: Vigor Industrial LLC)

Funds managed by global investment firm Carlyle and private equity firm Stellex Capital Management announced they have completed the sale of Titan Acquisition Holdings, a bi-coastal leader in ship repair services and marine and heavy complex fabrication, to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds. The initial definitive agreement of the sale was announced in February 2023 and the final close took place on June 15, 2023.Titan is comprised of Vigor Industrial LLC, an infrastructure, defense…

06 Feb 2023

Lone Star Buys Shipyards Group Titan from Carlyle, Stellex Capital

(Photo: Vigor Industrial LLC)

Lone Star Funds has reached a del to buy U.S. shipbuilding and repair group Titan Acquisition Holdings from peer investment firms Carlyle and Stellex Capital Management. Financial terms were not disclosed.Titan is comprised of Vigor Industrial LLC, an infrastructure, defense, and maritime services company based in Portland, Ore.; MHI Holdings LLC, a ship repair, maintenance, and other ship husbandry services company based in Norfolk, Va.; and Continental Maritime of San Diego (CMSD). Key Titan customers include the U.S. Navy, U.S.

08 Dec 2022

New Zealand Navy Idles Ships as Labor Crisis Hits

(Photo: New Zealand Defence Force)

Three of New Zealand’s nine naval ships are sitting idle in port as higher civilian salaries lure personnel out of the military, the country’s Defence Force said on Wednesday, even as tensions in the Pacific rise between China and the U.S. and its allies.The HMNZS Wellington, an offshore patrol vessel, headed back to New Zealand early from what was meant to be a three-month deployment in the Pacific and was taken out of operation in November because of shortages, the New Zealand Defence Force said.The Wellington is the third ship to be put into “care and custody”…

26 Jul 2022

US Navy Boost Aspirations for Unmanned Fleet

A Seahawk medium displacement unmanned surface vessel (Photo: Shannon Renfroe / U.S. Navy)

The U.S. Navy sees its future fleet comprised of more than 350 manned ships and about 150 unmanned ships hoping technology means lower operating costs as it prepares to counter a growing Chinese fleet, according to a Navy report released Tuesday.The plan for the 2040s and beyond underscored "the need to address long-term competition with China and sustain military advantage against Russia". It forecasts fleet numbers up slightly from a 2021 Navy long-range shipbuilding plan which…

26 Jul 2022

Rolls-Royce Names Erginbilgic CEO

Tufan Erginbilgic (Photo: Rolls-Royce)

Rolls-Royce named former BP executive Tufan Erginbilgic as its new chief executive to replace outgoing boss Warren East, a move analysts say will help drive profits at the British engine maker.East, whose seven years at Rolls were marked by costly troubles with the blades on its engines and the COVID-19 pandemic, will step down at the end of this year, with Erginbilgic taking over on Jan.

25 Jul 2022

New InmarsatSatellite Reaches Geostationary Orbit, Testing Begins

Image courtesy Inmarsat

I-6 F1, Inmarsat's most sophisticated commercial communications satellite\, has reached geostationary orbit and begun on-orbit testing, Carrying both L-band and Ka-band payloads, I-6 F1 will deliver a further enhancement of Inmarsat’s ELERA and Global Xpress networks respectively.The satellite, the size of a London double-decker bus, with a solar array ‘wingspan’ larger than a Boeing 767, was launched by MHI in Japan in December 2021. Since its launch, it has been moving towards geostationary orbit (GEO) approximately 36…

25 May 2022

World’s Biggest Port is Returning to Normal, but Supply Chains Will Get Worse Before They Get Better

Credit: evening_tao

Shanghai is slowly emerging from a grueling COVID lockdown that has all but immobilized the city since March. Although Shanghai’s port, which handles one-fifth of China’s shipping volumes, has been operating throughout, it has been running at severely reduced capacity. Many shipments have either been canceled, postponed, or rerouted to other Chinese mega-ports such as Ningbo-Zhousan.With the city due to fully reopen on June 1, the port is going to be in overdrive as manufacturers try to fulfil backlogs, with serious knock-on effects around the world.

31 Mar 2022

UK Tightens Sanctions Targeting Russian Oligarchs' Yachts

© Andrii / Adobe Stock

Britain put in place new legal powers on Wednesday to prohibit maintenance on aircraft and ships belonging to specific sanctioned Russian oligarchs or their businesses.The government is acting in concert with Western allies to try to cripple the Russian economy as punishment for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. It has targeted Russia's access to the international financial system, industries like shipping and defense, and wealthy elites close to President Vladimir Putin.Britain said…

03 Mar 2022

Royal Caribbean Joins Rivals Canceling Sailings to Russia

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Cruise operators Royal Caribbean Group and Viking Cruises canceled sailings to Russia on Wednesday, joining their rivals and many Western brands in suspending operations in the country after its invasion of Ukraine.Celebrity Cruises, owned by Royal Caribbean, said it was removing Russian port city St. Petersburg from upcoming itineraries, adding that it would visit other Scandinavian ports in its place.Silversea Cruises also said it would re-route summer voyages scheduled to stop in Russia and Ukraine, while Royal Caribbean International said it had canceled its visits to St.

23 Dec 2021

Inmarsat Launches I-6 F1, Latest Tech Communication Satellite

I-6 F1 launch at JAXA Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. Photo courtesy Inmarsat/Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

With a rapid evolution of communication connectitivity need, Inmarsat launched I-6 F1, the first of seven new Inmarsat satellites to be launched by 2024, a key piece of the satcom giant's platform to deliver enhanced ELERA (L-band) and Global Xpress (Ka-band) for Indo-Pacific.Inmarsat confirmed the successful launch of its first Inmarsat-6 satellite (I-6 F1) by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) from the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.The Inmarsat-6s (I-6) are Inmarsat’s first ever hybrid L- and Ka-band satellites…

13 Dec 2021

Tor Svanes, "Mr. ECDIS", Chronicled in New Book

NAVTOR CEO Tor Svanes is "Mr. ECDIS", at least that't the title he's been given in a new book charting his life story as well as his role in the development of maritime e-Navigation. Author Tønnes H. Gundersen details the voyage that took Svanes from electrician’s apprentice in the small town of Egersund, Southern Norway, to a globally renowned figure in this key smart shipping niche. And, Svanes is keen to add, the journey isn’t over yet.Gundersen spent more than two years researching, interviewing and writing the 300-page opus, which was launched today in both English and Norwegian versions.

02 Nov 2021

Maersk Says Port Delays Will Stretch into New Year

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The chaos that has bedeviled global supply chains in recent months will extend into next year, with a lack of truck drivers preventing hundreds of container vessels from offloading goods around the world, shipping group Maersk said.“The whole system has become one gigantic bottleneck,” Chief Executive Soren Skou told reporters on Tuesday.Skou said the biggest problem preventing containers from leaving ports is a lack of labor, particularly drivers of heavy goods vehicles in the…

02 Nov 2021

Maersk Triples Quarterly Income Despite Lower Container Volumes

Credit: lazyllama/AdobeStock

Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Tuesday record-high freight rates boosted quarterly earnings despite lower container volumes due to congestion at ports.The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a shortage of container ships and logjams at ports at a time of high consumer spending, pushing the cost of transporting freight to record levels.Maersk, which handles one in five containers shipped worldwide, said its main Ocean business is now expected to grow below that of global container demand…

12 Jul 2021

Downed Cargo Jet Found on the Seafloor off Hawaii

In this image taken July 8, 2021, the forward fuselage of Transair flight 810 is seen as it rests on the ocean floor about 2 miles from Ewa Beach. Rhoades Aviation Inc., dba Transair, flight 810, a Boeing 737-200, ditched in the waters of Mamala Bay near Honolulu, shortly after takeoff from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Hawaii, July 2, 2021. (Image: NTSB, courtesy of Sea Engineering, Inc.)

Investigators have located a Boeing 737-200 cargo jet that made an emergency water landing off the Hawaiian island of Oahu in the Pacific Ocean on July 2, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday.Transair Flight 810 was found approximately 2 miles offshore from Ewa Beach. The major components of the airplane -- the aft fuselage including both wings and tail along with both engines, and forward fuselage -- were located on the sea floor at depths between 360 and 420 feet…

07 Jul 2021

Russia Tracking Spanish Naval Ship in Black Sea

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Russia is tracking a Spanish naval ship in the Black Sea, the Interfax news agency cited Russia's defense ministry as saying on Wednesday, as Ukraine and NATO countries both held military drills in the area.The ministry said the Spanish ship had entered the Black Sea on Wednesday to take part in the Sea Breeze 2021 military drills, which started late last month in the Black Sea and southern Ukraine and involve more than 30 countries.Two Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets also escorted a foreign reconnaissance aircraft…

31 Mar 2021

Dredger Digs Up VDR from Crashed Sriwijaya Air Jet in the Java Sea

Indonesia has recovered the cockpit voice recorder from a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea in January, and the air accident investigator said on Wednesday it could take up to a week to be able to listen to the recording.The CVR could help investigators understand the actions taken by the pilots of the doomed jet, which crashed shortly after take-off on Jan. 9, killing all 62 people on board.A preliminary report by investigators released in February said the plane had an imbalance in engine thrust that eventually led it into a sharp roll and then a final dive into the sea. The report included information from the flight…

17 Mar 2021

Katherine Tai Confirmed by Senate as US Trade Chief

Katherine Tai (Photo: The White House)

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted unanimously to confirm veteran government trade lawyer Katherine Tai as the first woman of color to serve as U.S. Trade Representative, putting her to work enforcing trade deals, confronting China’s trade practices and patching up ties with U.S. allies.The rare 98-0 vote for Tai, a Yale and Harvard-educated daughter of immigrants from Taiwan, reflects support from pro-labor Democrats, traditional free-trade Republicans and China hawks from both parties.Tai…

15 Feb 2021

Subsea Defense: Navy Deepens Commitment to Underwater Vehicles

Senior Chief Mineman Abraham Garcia (left) and Aerographer's Mate 1st Class Joshua Gaskill, members of the Knifefish Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) test team, man tending lines during crane operations as part of an operational test conducted by members from Operational Test and Evaluation Force (OPTEVFOR). Knifefish is a medium-class mine countermeasure UUV designed for deployment off the Littoral Combat Ship. OPTEVFOR is the Navy’s sole test and evaluation organization for surface, air, and un

The U.S. Navy uses unmanned and robotic underwater vehicles for a multitude of functions, including environmental sensing, mine hunting, and salvage. The Navy plans to evolve an unmanned systems operating concept that is platform agnostic and capable of operating in highly complex contested environments with minimal operator interaction.The most recent edition of the Navy’s Unmanned Systems (UxS) Roadmap was issued in 2018, and a new version is expected in the near future. The 2018 document states that UxS will operate in every domain…

11 Jan 2021

First Building Complete at HII's New Unmanned Systems Campus

The new site will be used to assemble hull structures for Boeing’s Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) program for the U.S. Navy. (Image: Boeing)

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) said Monday it has completed the first phase of its Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence with the construction of a 22,000-square-foot facility.The first of two planned buildings on the 20-acre campus in Hampton, Va. will be used to assemble hull structures for Boeing’s Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) program for the U.S. Navy.“We are thrilled to reach this critical milestone with the development of our Center of Excellence campus,” said Andy Green, executive vice president of HII and president of HII’s Technical Solutions division.

15 Sep 2020

Charting Terradepth's Big Ambitions in the Unmanned Vehicle Space

The Terradepth leapfrog concept. Graphic from Terradepth.

Ocean mapping at scale is the target of a new unmanned systems player started by two ex-US Navy SEALS. They have big ambitions, from new building unmanned vehicles to creating the intelligence that will drive them to changing how accessible ocean data is. Elaine Maslin learned more. The pace of change in the ocean mapping space has been fast in recent years. New entrants have come into the scene offering “force multiplier” mapping using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and unmanned surface vessels (USVs).