District News

Meyer Turku has outlined some of the highlights of its environmental policy developments, noting that it has used only certified carbon neutral electricity since 2018. Starting from 2023, also all district heating used the shipyard has been carbon neutral.“We are lucky to partner with Turku Energia who is able to supply up-to-date electricity and heating solutions. The impact we make together is big and encourages us further with our sustainability ambitions. This decision showcases our deep-rooted values and our forward-thinking approach and commitment to embracing cleaner energy solutions.

Provaris Energy and Norwegian Hydrogen AS have announced a new agreement to jointly progress the identification and development of several sites in the Nordic region for the large-scale production and export of hydrogen to European markets.The projects will utilize locally available renewable energy to produce hydrogen for shipment to European ports. This will assist energy-intensive industries in making an impact on their decarbonization plans and target a scale and level of…

Crowley Maritime Corporation has owned and operated a lot of vessels since its founding in 1892. But the latest vessel to join its fleet is unlike any other that has come before it.Crowley’s new harbor tug, eWolf, is unique in that it runs 100% powered by batteries, not diesel engines, meaning it produces zero emissions and nearly no noise. Not only is the vessel the first fully electric tug in the Crowley fleet, but it is also the first of its kind in the United States.Faced with stricter regulations and commercial pressure to prioritize environmental…

Norwegian car shipping firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen estimates a $5 million to $10 million hit to core earnings from last week's U.S. Baltimore bridge collapse and expects the key ship channel to be closed for weeks, it said on Wednesday.The company said its vessel Carmen - which according to shipping data is among the biggest car carriers in its fleet - remained stuck in Baltimore's port, with the ship and its crew ready to sail as soon as the channel was reopened.Recovery teams opened a second channel enabling smaller vessels to navigate the Port of Baltimore on Tuesday…

U.S. shipbuilder Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc (ESG) on Wednesday announced it is teaming up with Dutch shipbuilding group Royal IHC to design and construct a highly automated hopper dredge for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).The diesel-electric vessel, contracted for the Department of Defense, will be constructed at ESG's Allanton and Port St. Joe facilities in Florida for scheduled delivery in 2027.The new 6,000-cubic-yard-capacity medium-class hopper dredge (MCHD) will be based at the Corps’ Philadelphia District…

A maritime industry recruiter has agreed to work with plaintiffs and share worker compensation data in a lawsuit accusing major U.S. shipbuilders of limiting employee mobility, marking the first settlement in the case.Attorneys for a proposed class of engineers and architects suing General Dynamics, Huntington Ingalls Industries and other companies disclosed the settlement with Faststream Recruitment on Tuesday in Alexandria, Virginia federal court.The October lawsuit said the shipbuilders violated U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sea Dog (WPB 87373) sustained damage during the crew’s inbound transit from sea to the St. Marys River, Monday, the Coast Guard (USCG) said.The damaged cutter moored in Fernandina Beach, Fla., with assistance from additional Coast Guard assets and a commercial towing vessel, the USCG said.There were no reported injuries, damage to other vessels or environmental impact, and navigation remains unaffected, the agency added, noting the incident is under…

2024 marks another year for development of a biennial WRDA bill—Water Resources Development Act, critical legislation for the Nation’s waterways, ports and harbors. WRDA encompasses a range of issues, from environmental regs to energy use to agriculture and, of course, a focus on projects critical for economic growth.Because these are dynamic and timely issues, Congress and the maritime sector like to keep WRDA on a two-year reauthorization timeline. Indeed, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, December and January, held three WRDA information hearings.

Demopolis Lock—which suffered a recent catastrophic failure—is a cautionary tale for other locks and those in Congress and the White House who may fail to see the urgency and importance of investing in the inland waterways system.The nation’s inland waterways lock and dam infrastructure, largely constructed in the 1930s, has seen modernization and rehabilitation across the system, albeit very slowly. Despite those efforts, lock failures continue, and the risk of failure persists.While…

The first towboat of 2024 passed through Lock and Dam 2, in Hastings, Minn. on Sunday, signaling the start of this year's navigation season on the Mississippi River.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' St. Paul District said it considers the first tow to arrive at Lock and Dam 2 as the unofficial start of the Mississippi River navigation season, because it means all of its locks are accessible to commercial and recreational vessels.On Sunday, Marquette Transportation Company's Joseph Patrick Eckstein traveled through the lock with 12 barges en route to St.

(The Center Square) - The U.S. Coast Guard says it “will not enforce” a new California Air Resources Board regulation, citing “safety concerns.”The Coast Guard and business organizations oppose CARB's requirement that commercial harbor craft install diesel particulate filters (DPF) linked to a number of fires. Seventeen states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency for giving an exemption to California alone to enact its own air standards that, by power of its market size…

A 300-acre property along the Mississippi River in Herculaneum, Missouri recently received Port District zoning making way for redevelopment as an intermodal transportation hub and industrial park.Located on the shipping lanes of the Mississippi River, the site has been utilized since the 1700s as a port. With its easy access for barge loading and offloading and the site’s proximity to early lead mines in adjacent Washington County, under early French ownership the port was utilized to ship lead cannonballs and shot to Europe to support Napolean’s army.

Five people were killed after a barge collided with a bridge over a waterway in China's Pearl River Delta near Guangzhou city, causing part of the bridge to break off, plunging vehicles into the water, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.The barge was travelling from Foshan city to a southern district of Guangzhou when it crashed into the bridge at 5:30 a.m. (2130 GMT) on the Hongqili Waterway, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement.Images on state…

Exxon and Canada-based crude pipeline operator Enbridge were sued in Illinois federal court on Tuesday over claims they barred a competitor from building a terminal to ship oil by barge from the Chicago area to refineries in the Midwest and Gulf of Mexico.The antitrust lawsuit from energy infrastructure developer Ducere seeks more than $11 million in damages for work the Illinois company said it already paid for on the project and for lost future profits.Exxon, Enbridge and their…

A dredging and sand replenishment project at Southern California's Solana Beach is about halfway complete, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.The project, which reduces coastal storm damage and erosion along a 7,200-foot-long stretch of shoreline, includes construction of a 150-foot-wide beach fill using 700,000 cubic yards of compatible sediment.Operations started Jan. 17 and are on schedule to wrap up in mid-March, according to Caleb Lodge, coastal engineer with the Corps' Los Angeles District.“They’re doing about seven or eight loads a day…

The Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC), under the command of Capt. Michael Chien, has won the Commodore Viggo C. Bertelsen Jr. and Vice Admiral John P. Currier Auxiliary Integration Award in the category of Applied Innovation. The award was presented by Commander Steven Koch, who leads the Auxiliary (AUX) in New England, at a command all hands. The Auxiliary is the 25,000-member volunteer organization supporting the Coast Guard across 11 missions.Regional Auxiliary Commodore Michael West noted…

Oil and gas companies and environmental groups on Monday filed dueling legal challenges to the Biden administration's five-year plan to offer drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.The petitions to a U.S. appeals court come four months after the Interior Department unveiled a congressionally-mandated plan for offshore leasing that included just three sales, the lowest since the government began publishing the schedules in 1980.The American Petroleum Institute, an oil and gas trade group…

The U.S. government said it is spending more than $7 million a year to maintain a superyacht it seized from a sanctioned Russian oligarch, and urged a judge to let it auction the vessel before a dispute over its ownership is resolved.Authorities in Fiji seized the 348-foot (106-meter), $300 million Amadea in May 2022, pursuant to a U.S. warrant alleging it was owned by Suleiman Kerimov, a multibillionaire sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russia's activities in Syria and Ukraine.Efforts to auction the yacht are being challenged by Eduard Khudainatov…

North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District (NCFR) in Naples, Fla. has taken delivery of a newly built fireboat for fast fire and emergency response, including search and rescue.The 36-foot fireboat is an Ambar 1100 (AM 1100) multi-mission workboat from Silver Ships, based in Theodore, Ala. The vessel is custom-designed and -built for NCFR's daily operations along inland, intercoastal and gulf waters, said David Hunt, a the boatbuilder's business development team. “Finding effective…

Yemen's Houthis on Wednesday said their naval forces carried out an operation targeting an "American merchant ship" in the Gulf of Aden hours after firing missiles at U.S. Navy destroyer Gravely.They targeted the "American merchant ship KOI ... with several appropriate naval missiles," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement.The Liberian-flagged container ship Koi is operated by UK-based Oceonix Services. The company's fleet includes the oil tanker Marlin Luanda…

Houston based dredging and marine construction contractor Orion Group Holdings – Marine Group has become a member of trade group the Dredging Contractors of America (DCA).Orion has a near 100-year legacy and today ranks among market leaders in the provision of dredging services to keep waterways serviceable and to expand ports and other marine infrastructure throughout the United States, territories and Caribbean. The company works to create beneficial marsh habitats, dredging…

The U.S. government has awarded a major grant to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District for the construction of a new marine terminal to be primarily used for floating offshore wind-related activities.The grant for the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind MVP (Minimum Viable Port) project comes through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects (INFRA) grant program, which received a substantial funding increase…

Crowley on Wednesday announced it has taken delivery of its groundbreaking vessel eWolf, the first all-electric, ship assist harbor tugboat in the United States.The 82-foot tug, designed by Crowley’s engineering services team and built by Coden, Ala. shipbuilder Master Boat Builders, will enter service at the Port of San Diego this spring following final demonstration trials and completion of Crowley’s microgrid shoreside charging station. The vessel will operate with zero emissions while providing the complete performance capabilities of a traditional tug…