Design Package News

ESNA and Strategic Marine have signed an agreement to develop a SES CTV (Surface Effect Ship Crew Transfer Vessel) for offshore wind applications.According to Wikipedia, a surface effect ship or sidewall hovercraft is a watercraft that has both an air cushion, like a hovercraft, and twin hulls, like a catamaran.The vessel type offers the combination of higher speed, increased operational wave height and reduced fuel oil consumption.The plan is to start building the first offshore…

Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Glosten and Siemens Energy have selected Ballard Power Systems and Chart Industries as primary equipment vendors for their design of what will be the first hydrogen-hybrid research vessel in the world. The vessel, nominally known as the CCRV, is currently in the design phase and will be owned and operated by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Scripps). Ballard Power Systems will provide the fuel cells which will help power the vessel…

Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Glosten announced it has been hired by San Francisco Bar Pilots to design new station boats that will meet California Air Resources Board (CARB) emission requirements.Glosten’s support of the new station boats includes a propulsion feasibility study, which is currently underway, and a contract design package.The first two station boats are expected to be in service by the end of 2024, with the third in service by the end of 2025, making San Francisco Bar Pilots the first pilot association in California to acquire vessels that will meet CARB’s Commercial Harbor Craft Regulation. The rules…

Houlder, the design and engineering consultancy, is collaborating with Blue Sea Power, an integrated energy solution provider as a gas-to-power company based in Athens, to develop three innovative floating LNG-to-power barges (FSRPs).According to the partners, the FSRP barges, which are set to be operational by 2025, will efficiently provide greener, lower emission baseload and peak power to the non-interconnected islands of Kos, Chios, and Lesvos. This power will be used when existing renewable solar and wind energy utilization reaches its technical limits.

How do you excel at ship design? Bart Daman, Manager Naval Architecture at Ulstein Design & Solutions BV in Rotterdam, has an answer: "In our case, by combining specialist knowledge and expertise focused on certain niche markets with data-driven work. This allows us to quickly develop new high-quality ship designs. Our customers experience the difference, and we often hear that they are impressed by the quality of the information we provide. From quotations to full construction specifications…

Canadian naval architecture and marine engineering firm Robert Allan Ltd. said it has been awarded a contract by Rio Maguari Shipyard (Estaleiro Rio Maguari – ERM), located in Belém, Brazil, to develop the design package for an innovative Articulated Tug and Barge (ATB) for shipping containers along the coast of Brazil. These two ATB convoys will be owned and operated by Aliança Navegação e Logística (ANL), a major logistics services provider in Latin America, and part of the Maersk Group.Robert Allan Ltd.’s engineering team…

British company Windship Technology has unveiled a whole-ship solution to tackle CO2 emissions from ships, launching its emissions-free bulk carrier and tanker designs alongside an investment partnership with classification society DNV.Starting from a clean drawing board, Technical Director Simon Rogers and his design team developed and tested at the Wolfson Unit in Southampton the company’s patented high performance, highly efficient triple-wing rig. The technical team further developed a new diesel electric ship drive system that eliminates CO2…

Royal IHC has been awarded the contract for the design and engineering of a 6,500yd3 trailing suction hopper dredge (TSHD) for U.S. based Cashman Dredging & Marine Contracting Co., LLC.The tailor-made shallow draft TSHD design combines advanced technology with a high level of maneuverability, the designer said. The diesel electric configuaration of the dredge will enable optimal power utilization for the various types of dredging works, and the engines will comply with air pollution regulations EPA Tier IV and IMO Tier III.

Biblia, Inc., Marine Towing and Transportation has ordered a new dry dock to service its fleet tugs and barges.The 500-ton lift capacity floating dry dock was designed by JMS Naval Architects and is currently being built by Conrad Shipyard in Morgan City, La. The new dry dock, which will replace Biblia’s existing dry dock in Savannah, Ga., is 120’ long, 60’ wide, has a 6’ deep pontoon, and 14’ tall wing walls. It will primarily be used for hauling tug boats with a maximum length of 120 feet and draft of 10 feet.Biblia owns and operates a fleet of tugs and barges…

The first two low emission EPA Tier 4 compliant 29-meter passenger ferries, named H401 and Curiosity, have been delivered for the still expanding NYC Ferry by Hornblower, said naval architect Incat Crowther, whose digital ship design package allowed identical vessel to be constructed at independent shipyards; Halimar Shipyard of Morgan City, La and Breaux Brothers Enterprises of Loreauville, La.The new vessels complement the 17 Incat Crowther designed 26-meter vessels and 14 29-meter vessels already been delivered to NYC Ferry.

Canadian naval architecture and marine engineering company Vard Marine has been contracted to complete the basic class design package of a new generation of Siemens powered SeaFloat power barges to support New York’s Gowanus Repowering Project.Working under the guidance of Stantec, the project’s engineer of record, Vard Marine will supply the barge arrangements, structural design package, marine engineering and naval architecture for the project.Vard Marine’s Houston Vice President, Darren Truelock, said, “We are very pleased to be partnered with Stantec and Siemens in such an important initiative that reduces potential emissions in…

Vard Marine, a naval architecture and marine engineering company, recently completed the concept design of a new 5,400 cubic meter (CBM) LNG bunker barge for Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding.The barge is being designed for Polaris New Energy’s bunkering operations that will support LNG fueled ships in the east coast of the United States. It will be built at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and is expected to be delivered in November 2021.Vard Marine is currently developing a classification design package for the review and approval by the American Bureau of Shipping and the United States Coast Guard.The barge is designed with a philosophy of utilizing proven technology.

With a renewed wave of offshore industry investment in Brazil, there is a growing demand again for specialized vessels on the horizon. Underwater service providers play a major role in maintaining offshore assets, especially in deep water, by  performing diving operations and ROV surveys (Remotely Operated Vehicles). In the plethora of Brazilian operators, a company stands out from the crowd, having performed work for the Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras for several years: Belov Engenharia Ltda.Understanding this new demand…

Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering Corporation, a naval architecture and marine engineering firm specializing in AT/B or Articulated Tug/Barge design announced that it is now a member of the Hyperion Marine Engineering Group headquartered in Portland, Maine with offices in India, Dubai, Norway and the Netherlands.CT Marine & Buoyancy Consultants formed Hyperion three years ago recognizing a need for an integrated naval architectural & marine engineering firm to serve the inland and offshore tug and barge industry that incorporates a capability for conceptual through highly detailed production design, all under one corporate roof. With over seventy engineers who span the globe…

Bob Kunkel needs no introduction to Marine News readers. Kunkel, President of Alternative Marine Technologies, previously served as the Federal Chairman of the Short Sea Shipping Cooperative Program under the Maritime Administration and Department of Transportation from 2003 until 2008. A past Vice President of the Connecticut Maritime Association, he is a contributing writer for Maritime Logistics Professional magazine and of course, Marine News. A graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy…

Jensen Maritime Consultants, a Crowley company, said one of its workboat designs will be used by a Pacific Northwest boat builder to fulfill a construction project for the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). In support of the project, Jensen will supply a functional and regulatory design package for the 41-foot vessel, which will provide ship- and sub-assist services, as well as other port operational services at U.S. Navy port locations around the world. Jensen’s Bryan Nichols…

Regular maintenance of propulsion shafts and propellers requires shafts to be aligned and locked in place so that ships’ engineers can perform the needed work. A Turning, Locking & Braking (TLB) System from Twiflex Ltd. provides a compact solution to allow the shaft position to be set and locked when the vessel is stationary. The Twiflex TLB consolidates three usually separate interfaces and functions into one design package. The modular TLB system is configured to allow customers to select and install one of the turning…

Eastern Shipbuilding’s forward-thinking inland towboat design now features CAT Tier 4 propulsion and aftertreatment. When Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) introduced its cutting edge 4,000 hp Thunderbolt inland towboat designed around twin azimuthing AAA Propulsion electric V-Pod propulsion and diesel-electric technology back in 2015, the approach was collaborative, with input from operators, naval architects (Gilbert Associates, Inc. (GAI)) and propulsion OEM’s. In selecting the podded propulsion system for inclusion on the design, Eastern met with two inland owner/operators that had Z-Drive towboats, and others that didn’t. Starting as far back as 2013, listening to each and noting their concerns, it was decided that the V-Pod was the best solution.

A newly built 50-meter high-speed catamaran passenger ferry for Seaspovill of South Korea, SeaStar 11, has been launched at Austal Limited’s shipyard in the Philippines. Austal said it was awarded the A$16 million (US$12.1 million) contract to build the Incat Crowther designed catamaran in June 2016, following Seaspovill’s satisfaction with a pre-owned Austal vessel, Seastar 3, constructed in 1998. Incat Crowther said it worked with Seaspovill to develop the design of the vessel, offering improvements over an off-the-shelf production design.

Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (MES) obtained Bureau Veritas Approval in Principle (AIP) for the noah-FPSO Hull and associated design and construction methods following American Bureau of Shipping. This AIP provides assurance of the feasibility and reliability of the noah-FPSO Hull design. The noah-FPSO Hull is a next generation FPSO – Floating Production, Storage and Offloading – platform, and “noah” stands for New Offshore Adapted Hull. The hallmark of the noah…

Having recently supplied the concept design for DEME Group’s new offshore installation vessel Orion, C-Job Naval Architects said it will now provide COSCO OFFSHORE CO. Ltd (Qidong) with the vessel’s basic design package. Orion will be built at COSCO SHIPPING HEAVY INDUSTRY in China for delivery in 2019. The technical specs of the vessel, to be operated by DEME subsidiary GeoSea, will service offshore wind installation, oil and gas and decommissioning activities. While working on this next phase of ship design…

Marine News looks back at the past 12 months and showcases the best of North America’s workboat design shop and shipyard output. In a year where some stakeholders might not rank 2016 as the best of years in the shipyard or on the waterfront, we might disagree. And, there is plenty to write about. New contracts, deliveries and designs all combine to show that the collective workboat waterfront is moving forward, with technology, the environment and replacement tonnage requirements as the main drivers.

The ITB Marine Group Ltd. (ITB) is currently well into construction of the first of two, twin Z-drive, ATB pusher tugs for service on the West Coast of North America. The tugs are being built at their Annacis Island Shipyard near Vancouver. The tugs will be connected by an articulating pin system to the existing double-hulled oil barges ITB Reliant and ITB Resolution which will receive retrofitted pin ladders and stern extensions for connecting to the new tugs. ITB had a well-defined statement of requirements for the tugs and a relatively clear vision of the desired layout. Accordingly, the general arrangement for the tug was developed in close collaboration with ITB Marine Group’s Chairman of the Board Captain Bob Shields.