Emergency Systems News

Port Angeles, Wash. boatbuilder BRIX Marine has delivered Kamohoali'i, a state-of-the-art 40- by 14-foot high tunnel catamaran (HTC) purpose-built for Haleiwa Shark Tours on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.With a full-width open cabin Superstructure on a 4014-CTC hull form, the USCG Subchapter "T" inspected vessel has capacity for 29 passengers and two crew.Kamohoali'i is powered by twin Volvo 380HP D6 diesel engines and features Seastar Optimus inboard steering systems and EPS smartcylinders.The vessel is equipped with a Garmin navigation system…

Danish offshore energy industry services firms Bladt Industries and Semco Maritime have been awarded a contract to deliver substations for Dominion Energy's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project in the U.S.The contract comprises three 880 MW offshore substations, which will be established in 2021-2025 and commissioned in 2026."The three substations will constitute the backbone of the electrical infrastructure for the 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. The contract is Bladt Industries’ and Semco Maritime’s third offshore substation project in the U.S.

Mercy Ships announced that its newly built hospital ship Global Mercy has completed sea trials leading up to delivery, equipping, maiden voyage and launch into service to sub-Saharan Africa in 2022.The first-of-its-kind 174-meter vessel, designed by Finnish naval architect Deltamarin and built at the Tianjin Xingang Shipyard in China, is the world’s largest purpose-built civilian hospital ship. It has a beam of 28.6 meters, with a design draft of 6.15 meters and gross tonnage of 37…

ABS has published the ABS Guide to Wind-assisted Propulsion System Installation, providing class safety standards when installing wind-assisted systems.The classification society said its new guide is applicable to both Flettner rotors and wing sails, including both rigid and soft sails. These wind-assisted propulsion technologies have been gaining attention as operators seek new ways to reduce fuel costs as well as their environmental footprint.“Wind-assisted propulsion systems…

European ferry operator Stena Line has announced that the first of its three new E-Flexer class ferries destined for the Irish Sea, Stena Estrid has successfully completed sea trials in China’s Yellow Sea.Following three days of extensive testing, the new vessel performed excellently across a wide range of stringent test criteria and is now on schedule to start operating on the Dublin to Holyhead route in early 2020.Stena Estrid is the first of five new Stena Line next generation RoPax vessels that are being constructed at the AVIC Weihai Shipyard in China, three of which will be introduced on the company’s Irish Sea routes from Dublin to Holyhead and Belfast to Liverpool.

The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MoU) on Port State Control held its 52nd Committee meeting in St. Petersburg, the Russian Federation, from 13-17 May 2019, chaired by Brian Hogan.The meeting was opened by Yuri Kostin, Director of Department on State Policy on Maritime and River Transport, Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation.The Committee reviewed the work of the Paris MoU of the last year, also taking into account the declaration of the 3rd Joint Ministerial Conference, and took decisions for the period ahead.The Committee considered the report of the Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on MARPOL Annex VI. The CIC was carried out from September to November 2018.

The U.S. Coast Guard is known for saving lives at sea, but did you know the service plays a huge role in the economy, too?As a regulatory entity, the Coast Guard conducts marine inspections on vessels entering United States ports to make sure the vessels do not pose a safety, security, or environmental threat to the country. With 90 percent of U.S. imports and exports entering or exiting the country by ship, these inspections ensure there is fuel at the gas station, food in the store and presents at birthday parties.But even before a ship ever gets in the water…

Leaked fuel that contacted a hot surface in the engine room was determined to be the immediate cause of a fire that burned for three days aboard the auto and passenger vessel Caribbean Fantasy in August 2016.According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), who reported their findings Tuesday, the fire started in the main engine room of the 614-foot long, Panamanian-flagged vessel, when fuel spraying from a leaking flange contacted the hot surface of the port main…

ClassNK released its annual report on Port State Control. The report aims to assist ship operators and management companies in maintaining compliant operations by providing information about ships detained by PSC as well as deficiencies that were found on board from many port states in 2015. PSC inspections ensure that vessels departing the port meet international standards and have proved to be highly effective in eliminating substandard ships that are in operation. They oversee not only the physical structures and components of a ship, but also examine operations related to safety management systems and labor conditions such as wages and hours of rest with regards to MLC, 2006.

NTSB Issues Update on Investigation Into Sinking of Cargo Ship El Faro. On February 13, 2015, El Faro successfully completed the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) class and statutory surveys, meeting all rules and regulations as applicable. All deficiencies identified were rectified prior to completion of the surveys. None of the deficiencies were associated with El Faro’s main propulsion systems. The annual inspection of El Faro, required by the United States Coast Guard (USCG), was completed by qualified USCG inspectors in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 6, 2015. In June 2015, a qualified ABS surveyor examined and tested the main, auxiliary and emergency systems as part of the continuous machinery survey program and found them to be satisfactory.

Alewijnse Marine Systems performed electrical repairs and modifications on the flexible fallpipe vessel Stornes within a challenging timeframe. The vessel has left Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen after just three weeks of repairs, modifications and the commissioning of its electrical systems by a team of 40 Alewijnse technicians. Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen subcontracted the electrical repairs and modifications to long-standing partner Alewijnse Marine Systems, which has a permanent representation at the shipyard.

New regulations on davits used in the offshore industry on both sides of the Atlantic are driving a step change in safe davit design. In the USA API 2 and in Norway NORSOK R002 regulations will come into force from 2015. Both sets of regulations apply to davits and lifting appliances used on offshore installations and specify many new design features and safety systems. In Norwegian waters, NORSOK R002 will be retrospective, requiring every davit on offshore platforms in Norwegian waters to be inspected and updated to the new standards.

BP released the findings of its internal investigation into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said no single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy. Rather, a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties led to the explosion and fire which killed 11 people and caused widespread pollution in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year. •    Even after explosion and fire had disabled its crew-operated controls, the rig’s blow-out preventer on the sea-bed should have activated automatically to seal the well. But it failed to operate, probably because critical components were not working.

Relative to the huge MAN B&W ship engines manufactured at the STX Engine Company factory on the southern coast of South Korea, their emergency generators are small in size. But in the event of a crisis on a deep-sea container, bulker or tank ship, they can literally be lifesavers. This is, of course, the reason that the IMO has mandated their installation in the upper decks of all new ships. On the first of February this year, STX Engines was shipping a Cummins KTA19-D(M)-powered emergency generator set.