East Coast News

The extended South End Container Terminal in the Port of Halifax is now complete and is fully operational, having welcomed its first vessel, Zim Tarragona, on Friday.With the extension project finished, the South End Container Terminal operated by PSA Halifax now has the longest and deepest container berth in Eastern Canada with 800 meters continuous length and 16 meters depth. The recent installation of a new Super Post-Panamax (SPPX) crane, the largest in Eastern Canada, brings the total compliment of SPPX quay cranes at PSA Halifax to five.

Ports are economic engines for the regions they serve, and the impact from business activities at the Port of New York/New Jersey runs as big as the area it serves: 46 million consumers in a four-hour radius. The port is an economic giant in and of itself, providing for nearly a half a million jobs, a cumulative $35 billion in personal income and a cumulative $98 billion in business income. Sam Ruda, Director, Port NY/NJ, discusses a record 2019, continued investment in infrastructure…

Australian-based shipbuilding group Austal said it has entered into an agreement to acquire compatriot ship repair and support business BSE Maritime Solutions Group.BSE Maritime Solutions, which operates in Cairns and Brisbane, serves defense, commercial, tourism and luxury vessel customers, including Australian Border Force, BAE Systems, Thales and Svitzer. The deal, which comes at an enterprise value of A$27.5 million (US$19.6 million), aligns with Austal’s strategy to continue building the its key support business…

Coffee traders are struggling to ship cargos out of Brazilian ports because of a shortage of available containers or space in vessels to hold them, according to traders and analysts.Brazil's economy is suffering due to the coronavirus pandemic, causing a 40% slide in its currency, the real. That spurred a flood of exports of now-cheaper goods, but imports have dropped sharply, causing the imbalance in containers that has led to delays.That's a direct hit to Brazil, which with…

The American shipbuilding scene, filled with participants constructing all manner of vessels, has been navigating through stormy times (lately, yards along the Gulf Coast have literally been dealing with storms). The orders for newbuild, repair and conversion projects continue to flow in—albeit at a reduced pace—and the boats and ships go down the ways into the water, but the overall panorama has seen tremendous sea changes as the business has shifted.Maritime businesses worldwide have been grappling with currents both internal and external.

The U.S. Coast Guard recently accepted the Birdon America's first upgraded 47-foot Motor Lifeboat (47 MLB) at the agency's National Motor Lifeboat School (NMLBS) in Ilwaco, Wash., completing the first major milestone in the MLB Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). The first article vessel will undergo a four-month operational assessment by members of NMLBS.The 47 MLB is the Coast Guard's standard lifeboat, designed to weather hurricane force winds and heavy seas, capable of surviving winds up to 60 knots, breaking surf up to 20 feet and impacts up to three Gs.

The United States domestic maritime sector recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the passage by Congress of the Jones Act. It is considered the most significant of various US cabotage laws. Few mariners though appreciate the long history of cabotage laws in this country.Cabotage laws here are older than our nation. The British Navigation Acts and its predecessors were designed to develop, promote, and regulate British ships, shipping, trade, and commerce between other countries and with its colonies, including the restriction of foreign participation in its colonial trade.

This September, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District awarded the final two dredging contracts on its harbor deepening project, which will make Charleston’s harbor the deepest on the East Coast.The contract awards also coincided with the arrival September 20 of the CMA CGM Brazil, a 15,072-TEU containership stretching 1,200 feet long, and the largest containership to ever call on the East Coast and Charleston harbor.Charleston was the last stop on its East Coast itinerary…

The owners the New Diamond supertanker which caught fire with a cargo of two million barrels of oil aboard has agreed to pay 340 million rupees ($1.84 million) to Sri Lanka for its help in extinguishing the blaze and averting disaster.The interim claim is for services provided by the Sri Lankan navy, air force, ports authority and Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) after the fire on Sept. 3 until Sept 15, said Nishara Jayaratne, coordination officer of Sri Lanka's Attorney General.Insurers of the vessel West of England will settle the bill…

Dutch shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander has ordered Schottel thrusters for what has been described as the world's first shallow-draught ice-breaking walk-to-work vessel, targeted for operation at the Russian Far East.Under the order from a joint venture between the Russian companies Mercury Sakhalin and Pola, Royal Niestern Sander is constructing the 75.9-meter-long, 14-meter-wide vessel that will serve the offshore oil and gas installations near the Sakhalin Island, Russia.After ordering an ice-strengthened gangway for the vessel form Ampelmann in June…

U.K.-based marine services firm Manor Renewable Energy (MRE) said its newest crew transfer vessel (CTV), Manor Endurance, has embarked on its first charter supporting the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, off the U.K.’s East Coast.The launch follows a year-long build and sea trials at the Manor Marine shipyard in the U.K.

A new service operations vessel (SOV) was launched at the Cemre Shipyard in Turkey for French vessel owners Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA).Upon delivery in 2021, the 84-meter SOV Wind of Hope will go to work for Danish wind energy giant Ørsted servicing its Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, with accommodations for up to 64 technicians who will service and maintain the wind turbines and an additional vessel crew. The ship is expected to arrive at Ørsted’s east coast operations and maintenance facility at the U.K.

Throughout the world, offshore wind is on a growth trajectory. With green energy mandates from states in New England and the mid-Atlantic, the U.S. is joining the fray. Consultants Wood MacKenzie, in its U.S. Offshore Wind Outlook 2020-2029, suggested that as much as 25 gigawatts (GW) of capacity could be deployed in the U.S. by 2030 (though estimates range from 14 GW to as much as 34 GW), accounting for a hefty portion of incremental capacity coming online.Shipyards in New England have already seen the tip of the offshore wind iceberg…

Wilhelmsen, one of the world's largest shipping companies, has agreed to acquire a 25% stake in Østensjø Group’s growing offshore wind business Edda Wind.Wilhelmsen has also secured an option to buy another 25% before June 2021. Launched in 2018, Edda Wind owns and operates service vessels supporting the maintenance work conducted during the commissioning and operation of offshore wind farms.Commenting on the Edda Wind deal, Thomas Wilhelmsen, CEO of the Wilhelmsen group said: "The Wilhelmsen group’s strategy is very clear…

Texas-based Gulf Copper and Manufacturing said it has been awarded a $3.9 million dry docking and refurbishment of the NOAA research vessel Henry B. Bigelow. The work will be performed at Gulf Copper's Galveston yard.Commissioned in 2007 and homeported in Newport, R.I., Henry B. Bigelow is a fisheries survey vessel that studies a wide range of marine life and ocean conditions along the U.S. East Coast, primarily from Maine to North Carolina. The ship's main mission is to study and monitor fish stocks…

The dredging market in the U.S. is strong and growing, a bright spot for U.S. shipyards, with increased funding for critical infrastructure projects and port dredging at the federal and state levels. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, the country’s largest dredging company, has invested mightily in new dredgers at U.S. yards. Lasse Petterson, CEO and President, shares insights on the strategy ahead.You have sat at the helm of Great Lakes Dredge and Dock for just over three years. What…

A salvage team is still trying to plug a fuel leak from the fire-stricken New Diamond oil supertanker, Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Indika de Silva said on Friday.The tanker, which is carrying the about 2 million barrels of oil, caught fire on Sept. 3 and is currently 45 nautical miles (83 km), off Sri Lanka's east coast.The fire has been extinguished but the New Diamond has left two long trails of fuel oil after the Navy towed it out to sea.Authorities want to avoid damage to the…

Maritime navigational safety near two U.S. Navy installations in Kings Bay, Ga., and Portsmouth, N.H. has been improved thanks to new Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems, also known as PORTS, installed by NOAA and the U.S. Navy. They are the first new PORTS in two years, and the 34th and 35th in the nationwide network.The system near Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, the East Coast home to America’s Ohio-class submarines, is an integrated series of sensors which will provide critical real-time information on oceanographic and meteorological conditions.

Wight Shipyard Co said it has built and delivered four ferries simultaneously from its yard in Cowes, Isle of Wight, for a Maltese tour operator.The order, WSC’s largest ferry export order to date, consists of two 20-meter and two 33-meter lightweight ferries, designed by One2Three Naval Architects.Jo Daly, COO, WSC, said the four ferries were produced within a year, despite the restrictions and changes to working brought about by the worldwide pandemic COVID-19.The bespoke vessels for Captain Morgan Holdings Ltd…

The Sri Lankan navy has towed a fire-stricken supertanker further out to sea to keep it off the coast of the Indian Ocean island after the wind picked up strength and changed direction, a spokesman said on Thursday.The tanker, loaded with 2 million barrels oil, was 50 nautical miles (95 km) from the east coast and moving in a northerly direction, the navy spokesman, Indika de Silva, said. Earlier, it had been headed southwest.The stricken vessel has raised fears of an environmental disaster…

The Sri Lankan navy said on Tuesday an oil slick had been spotted a kilometer from a loaded supertanker carrying roughly 2 million barrels of oil that has been engulfed in intermittent fires since an explosion on September 3.Oil from the engine room of the 20-year old New Diamond tanker “appears to have leaked out to the sea” following regular bouts of water-dousing by fire-fighting vessels, the navy spokesman said.The oil slick has raised concerns about the potential of further leakage from the cargo holds…

Europe has been the clear leader in offshore wind power since the world’s first offshore wind farm was built off the coast of Denmark in 1991. Now, as regions in Asia and North America set out to harness the huge energy potential gusting off their shores, local firms are drawing from the expertise laid out in the well-established European industry as they build the foundations for new offshore wind markets of their own.It’s no surprise, then, that designs for offshore wind support vessels currently being built in the U.S. come from the other side of the Atlantic.

The Sri Lankan navy said on Wednesday it had extinguished another fire on a stricken supertanker loaded with 2 million barrels of oil and is towing it to deeper water.The navy's disaster management team put out the fire that reignited on Monday on the MT New Diamond, and there were currently no fires burning on the ship which is 41 nautical miles (76 km) off Sri Lanka's east coast.Officials were working to assess any damage to the environment from the incident, which began on Sept.