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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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28 Feb 2024

Esvagt Enters South Korea’s Offshore Wind Market

(Credit: Esvagt)

Danish vessel owner Esvagt and South Korea-based shipping company KMC Line have formed strategic partnership to cooperate on offshore wind opportunities in the East Asian country.A new collaboration between Esvagt and KMC Line, formalized through the signing of the letter of intent, is aiming to unlock the considerable potential in South Korean offshore wind industry.Combining the two shipping companies' respective strengths is the new partnership's strongest card to secure a significant market position in the developing offshore value chain in the country…

13 Feb 2024

DNV Merges Its Cyber Security Arms

From left: Remi Eriksen, Group President and CEO at DNV; Liv Hovem, CEO of DNV’s Accelerator; Teemu Salmi, CEO Nixu and DNV Cyber; Jari Nisk, Chairman of the Board at Nixu. (Photo: DNV)

DNV announced it has merged its existing cyber security business with two recently acquired companies, Nixu and Applied Risk.The merger brings together more than 500 cyber security experts to safeguard IT and industrial control system environments across multiple industries, including maritime and offshore energy. It follows DNV’s acquisition of Amsterdam-based industrial cyber security specialist Applied Risk in 2021, and the conclusion of DNV’s acquisition of Helsinki-headquartered cyber security services leader Nixu in December 2023.“Cyber security is a defining risk for the coming decade.

20 Nov 2023

BRIX Marine Launches New Pilot Boat

(Photo: BRIX Marine)

Port Angeles, Wash. boatbuilder BRIX Marine has launched its newest pilot boat, Aldebaran, for a customer in Central America.The trailerable 11.3-meter-long rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) is powered by twin 300-horsepower Yamaha outboards with 3 bl 15.75" X 18" SS props.The boat's Naiad hull has a 23 degrees progressive deadrise,, 5086 alloy aluminum hull skins, D-shaped foam EV50 (approx.

27 Oct 2023

Bath Iron Works Shipyard Employee Killed in Maine Mass Shooting

Peyton Brewer-Ross (Photo courtesy General Dynamics - Bath Iron Works)

An employee of General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard was killed during a mass shooting event in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday.The Bath, Maine shipyard, which designs, builds and supports surface combatants for the U.S. Navy, released the following statement on social media on Thursday: "All of us at Bath Iron Works are heartbroken to share that we have lost a member of our BIW family. We send our deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of our employee Peyton Brewer-Ross, who was killed in Lewiston on Wednesday night.

19 Apr 2023

Russia Accuses Ukraine of Sabotaging Grain Deal with Bribery Scheme

© Olivia / Adobe Stock

Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of sabotaging the Black Sea grain deal by demanding bribes from ship owners to register new vessels and carry out inspections under the cover of a deal the United Nations hopes could ease a global food crisis.There was no immediate comment on the allegation, levelled by Russia's Foreign Ministry, from Ukraine which has blamed Moscow for problems with the agreement. Moscow did not immediately provide documentary evidence to back its assertion.Russia and Ukraine both say the deal…

01 Feb 2023

Analysis: Container Shipping and Falling U.S. Retail Sales

Copyright Aliaksei Pliutsinski/AdobeStock

“Despite falling 1.1% m/m in both November and December, US retail sales volumes remain 13% above 2019 levels and 6% higher than the pre-COVID trend. However, sales volumes could return to trend during 2023 and thereby pose a risk for Asia to North America container volumes,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.Supported by COVID stimulus packages and mobility restrictions limiting spending on services, retail sales volumes in the US have remained on average 15% higher than 2019 levels since early 2021.

24 Jan 2023

In Memoriam: E. John Michel, MRCM (DV) USN (Ret), Chief-of-the-Boat, Bathyscaph Trieste

Master Chief Machinery Repairman John Michel, 08 November 2022, enjoying a break during a BBC interview.  (Photo by L. McAuliffe, used with permission.)

REMEMBERING MY SHIPMATE JOHN MICHELWe met in January 1959 when I became the first Officer in Charge of the Navy’s newly acquired Bathyscaph Trieste and John was the first USN enlisted man to be assigned to the project. We were based at the Naval Electronics Laboratory in San Diego. Trieste was unique as there were only two deep diving manned submersibles in the world. The French Navy had the other. Our team learned about the bathyscaph more by ‘apprenticeship’ than through any sort of formal learning process.

27 Oct 2022

Software Flaw Led to of New York Ferry Grounding -NTSB

Commodore underway before the casualty, approaching the East 35th Street New York City Ferry Terminal. (Photo: Seastreak)

A software flaw combined with the captain’s failure to use back-up controls led to the grounding of a passenger ferry last year in New York City, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.The high-speed passenger ferry Commodore, owned and operated by Seastreak, was transiting northbound on the East River on June 5, 2021, when the catamaran lost primary steering and speed control to both of its port hull water jets and then grounded. One minor injury was reported among the seven crewmembers and 107 passengers on board.

27 Oct 2022

ABS Opens LNG Training Center in Doha for Qatari Seafarers

©ABS

Classification organization ABS will open a global liquified natural gas (LNG) training center in Doha, Qatar, as part of its support of Qatar’s National Vision 2030 and the Tawteen Program, which focuses on education and quality employment for Qatari nationals.In collaboration with local corporations, the training center will focus on LNG production and operations, ensuring that seafarers are skilled to work with this dynamic fuel and the most modern fleet of vessels, ABS said.“LNG…

10 Oct 2022

V.Group Inks Crew Payment Deal with ShipMoney

Founder and President of ShipMoney, Stuart Ostrow (Photo: ShipMoney)

ShipMoney announced a new long-term strategic partnership with ship management compnay V. Group to digitalize its seafarers’ payroll system. The deal also enables V. Group to make international corporate remittances, network payments, money transfers and all other forms of shoreside and onboard payments.Companies using ShipMoney’s Account Management System can pay crew members instantly with a single file upload or from their own crewing/payroll system via an API integration.

17 Aug 2022

Seven Charged with Labor Racketeering in the Port of San Juan

© soultkd / Adobe Stock

On August 11, 2022, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging seven defendants with running a criminal enterprise dedicated to extorting and misleading shipping companies into paying fees for the loading and unloading of cargo at the Port of San Juan—Piers 9, 10, and 11—under the threat of strikes and blockades on the part of union members of the ILA-1740 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) and under false representations…

15 Aug 2022

TWIC Renewals Now Available Online

File photo: U.S. Coast Guard officers perform a TWIC card check. (Photo: Renee C. Aiello / U.S. Coast Guard)

Mariners and other transport workers seeking to renew their Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) will now be able to do so online following recent changes enacted by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA).Starting August 11, 2022, current TWIC holders are able to renew their credentials online, which eliminates the need to go to an enrollment center for most applicants, including U.S. citizens, nationals and lawful permanent residents, and makes…

12 May 2022

Mass Maritime Puts on Offshore Wind Training Demo for Governor Baker

Photo Courtesy Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Governor Charlie Baker, Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Bethany Card, and Massachusetts Clean Energy Center CEO (MassCEC) Jennifer Daloisio joined Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) officials for a Global Wind Organization (GWO) training demonstration at the Academy. Nearly three years since helping launch MMA’s first-in-the-nation offshore wind crew transfer training facility, Governor Baker returned to observe a wind and life raft training and highlight the investments the Baker-Polito Administration is proposing to expand the offshore wind workforce further.

01 Mar 2022

Plug in Power Infrastructure for Electric Boats fast-tracked in Europe

Credit Aqua superPower

Aqua superPower announced a strategic partnership with AC charge point developer e-concept, which has developed a novel design of charging posts that have been approved for use in certain sensitive environments including the canals in Venice. Aqua superPower will be developing charging infrastructure for marine and inland water applications deploying e-concept’s AC charging posts where environmental, cultural and heritage factors need to be considered.e-concept manufactures public and private recharging stations for electric boats and for the transition towards electric marine transport.

15 Dec 2021

Ships Traveling the Thawing Arctic are Leaving Garbage in Their Wake

© Parilov / Adobe Stock

Following another year of stark climate impacts in the Arctic, scientists warned Tuesday of a new scourge hitting the region: marine trash.With the region warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, sea ice that has long blanketed the Arctic Ocean is disappearing, opening new routes to shipping. Scientists began noticing the trash bobbing in the icy water or piling up on Alaska Bering Strait-area beaches last year.“That’s a direct result of increased human maritime activities…

08 Nov 2021

Inland Waterways: A Crucible of Issues

© Bill Perry / Adobe Stock

As 2022 appears on the not-so-distant horizon, we asked inland waterways executives to reflect on the major issues impacting their industry. Just how those issues evolve – and whether they present as challenges or opportunities – is, of course, unknown. Answers to some future questions will be relatively straightforward, confidently based on industry knowledge and experience. Other outcomes remain hazier, and next steps could be influenced by forces and players completely removed from the business of barges…

11 Oct 2021

US Navy Engineer, Wife Charged with Selling Submarine Secrets

(File photo: U.S. Navy)

A U.S. Navy nuclear engineer and his wife have been charged with selling secret information about nuclear submarines to an undercover FBI agent who posed as an operative for a foreign country, the Justice Department said on Sunday.Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana, were arrested on Saturday in West Virginia and charged with violating the Atomic Energy Act, the Justice Department said in a statement. They are scheduled to appear in a West Virginia federal court on Tuesday.Toebbe…

17 Jun 2021

New Banking Payment Platform for Seafarers Launched

© Igor Kardasov / Adobe Stock

A new touch-free payment platform for the maritime industry has been launched by Secure Seas.Secure Seas says its electronic payment platform is designed to provide financial security to seafarers by transferring their pay electronically, removing the antiquated and problematic system of cash distribution in U.S. dollars. This provides seafarers with basic facilities the rest of us take for granted: full access to their funds in their preferred currency, use of an International…

03 Jun 2021

Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Ferries Hit by Cyber Attack

The operator of a ferry service to and from Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Woods Hole, Mass. said it was hit by a ransomware attack on Wednesday that continues to impact passenger bookings.The attack has prevented passengers from booking or changing reservations online or over the phone, local officials said, adding that credit card payment systems used to process ticket purchases and parking fees have also been affected."Scheduled trips to and from the islands continue to operate safely as scheduled, although some delays in the ticketing process may occur. Customers remain unable to book or change reservations online or by phone," the operator Steamship Authority said on Thursday.

17 May 2021

BSM Debuts Digital Pay Platform for Seafarers

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM)

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) launched BSM NiumPay, a digital payment platform for its seafarers and their families to manage finances. The new payment platform provides seafarers with a multi-currency eWallet and a complimentary VISA card. In addition, a supplementary VISA card is available for the seafarer’s family.With BSM NiumPay, seafarers can receive and send funds home in real-time, exchange money at best trading rates as well as withdraw cash at most ATMs worldwide.

12 Mar 2021

Maritime Groups Pleased with WRDA 2020

© Michael / Adobe Stock

It was an odd legislative journey, but ultimately one with a happy ending. That’s one way to sum up the rather tortuous process that led to the passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA). For the first time WRDA (usually reauthorized every two years) was not enacted as its own legislative bill. This time it was rolled into the massive government 2021 omnibus budget bill, the ‘‘Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,’’ signed into law on December 27.Still, the WRDA text itself…

17 Feb 2021

Thome Group Introduces Digital Payment Solutions for Crew Wages

© Kamchai / Adobe Stock

All Thome Group seafarers will now have access to a wide range of digital payment solutions, including crew payroll payments, international remittances, money transfers, mobile tops-ups, payroll advances and onboard expenses.Maritime Payment Solutions, LLC (d/b/a ShipMoney), a global provider of payment solutions for maritime companies, said Wednesday it will be facilitating Thome Group’s crew payments.Thome Group provides integrated maritime services to the international shipping and offshore industries, with a global crew pool of around 12,000 seafarers.

04 Mar 2021

Elaine Chao Used DOT Resources for Family Business - Report

Elaine Chao (Photo: Office of President Trump)

The U.S. Justice Department declined to investigate or prosecute then-Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao after the inspector general’s office referred allegations of potential misuse of office for review, a report made public on Wednesday said.The report included allegations that Chao directed staff to research or purchase personal items for her online using her personal credit card or performed other personal errands for her or her father.The report focused largely on Chao’s actions related to her family’s shipping business…