England Coast News

Heavy lift and transport services firm Mammoet said Monday it had secured contracts for two large offshore wind projects for undisclosed clients in the United States, both of which begin in 2023. Together, the two contracts cover a range of port scopes, including the load-in, load-out, handling, and temporary storage of XXL monopiles, plus the pre-assembly of turbines in a US marshaling port."Mammoet’s vast experience in offshore wind, presence in the USA, and long track record in supplying specialized equipment as well as tailor-made solutions have proven decisive to confirm these awards.

Dutch offshore crew transfer equipment specialist Ampelmann said Tuesday it had signed six new contracts in the offshore wind market in the United States for 2023, 2024, and 2025.The contracts set for 2023 have been secured for work on two new offshore wind farms being built off New England's coast."In the coming year, Ampelmann’s motion compensated gangways will assist with the hook-up, cabling and commissioning of turbines on Vineyard and Southfork wind farms, two of the first commercial offshore wind farms in the USA that will provide clean energy to the region…

Offshore wind developers Ørsted and Eversource announced Thursday that they have chosen two regional vessel operators that will partner with Rhode Island shipyards to build crew transfer vessels (CTV) to service their wind farm projects in the U.S. Northeast. The joint venture partners revealed plans to charter five new Jones-Act-compliant CTVs, including three from New York-based WindServe Marine and two from Massachusetts-based American Offshore Services (AOS).The purpose-built aluminum catamarans are designed to handle the unique offshore conditions at the wind farms…

As International Maritime Organization (IMO) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions requirements continue throughout the IMO Emission Control Areas (ECA), they are also forcing postponement of many new construction decisions as vessel owners and operators continue to tread cautiously along the path forward. The Marpol Annex VI program looked to correct emissions requirements while working with petroleum fuels. Technology developers continue best efforts to advance long-term solutions to reach the latest IMO zero emissions greenhouse gas (GHG) goals of 2050.

This year, despite innumerable challenges and setbacks, a great number of new U.S.-flagged vessels made their way into service. In addition to Maid of the Mist's new electric tour boats James V. Glynn and Nikola Tesla featured Wednesday, the newbuilds highlighted below are some of the most noteworthy to come out of U.S. shipyards in 2020.DredgerU.S. dredging contractors have been adding tonnage in a big way. This Spring, Callan Marine added a significant piece to the U.S. fleet with its new Jones Act cutterhead suction dredge (CSD) General MacArthur.

WindServe Marine's offshore wind crew transfer vessel Windserve Odyssey, built by its sister company Senesco Marine, is embarking upon sea trials on the U.S. East Coast.The news of the vessel launch was shared Thursday by the world's largest offshore wind developer Orsted, via social media.The Windserve Odyssey will support Orsted's U.S. offshore wind projects along the U.S. the East Coast. "After sea trials at Ørsted’s Block Island Wind Farm, the Odyssey will travel from Rhode…

Dutch offshore survey company Fugro has moved two vessels off the coast of New York to perform a large-scale site characterization program for Sunrise Wind offshore wind project.The project is being developed by Denmark's offshore wind developer Ørsted, and Eversource, New England’s largest energy company.Fugro said Thursday that the four-month operation would involve acquisition and analysis of integrated geotechnical and geophysical data to support multiple phases of the Sunrise Wind project…

The U.S. Coast Guard medically evacuated the Captain of the 734-foot Singapore-flagged containership M/V Maersk Batam, approximately 100 nautical miles south of Puerto Rico, Monday night.The containership captain, a U.K. citizen, was experiencing life threatening symptoms of a possible stroke during the ship’s transit from St. Marta, Colombia to their next scheduled port call in Southhampton, England.Coast Guard Sector San Juan watchstanders received the medevac request at 9:55 a.m. Monday from the M/V Maersk Batam, as the ship was transiting 175 nautical miles southwest of Mona Island, Puerto Rico. Coast Guard watchstanders launched a Coast Guard MH-65D helicopter crew from Air Station Borinquen to conduct the medevac…

Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind has entered into an agreement with the offshore wind support services provider WindServe Marine LLC to construct a two purpose-built offshore crew transfer vessels (CTVs).The first CTV will be built by US Workboats in Hubert, North Carolina and used for Orsted’s Coastal Virginia offshore wind farm, followed by subsequent service on northeast projects.The second CTV will be built by WindServe’s affiliate shipyard, Senesco Marine, in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, specifically for Orsted’s and Eversource’s Revolution Wind project located off the southern New England coast.CTVs are the workboats that carry workers to and from offshore wind towers for construction…

If you want to book a plush river cruise vacation in America’s heartland – say on the Mississippi or Ohio Rivers – you can do it. The American Queen Steamboat Company’s website offers as many as 13 river cruises in 2018. Certainly, the ‘bourbon cruise,’ aboard the lavish American Duchess sounds like fun. Or, maybe next year you can sign up for the nine-day ‘Derby Cruise.’ And, next year means 2019 because the 2018 cruise is sold out. Maybe the most fun is that passengers themselves…

A second powerful storm in as many weeks was bearing down on a string of battered Caribbean islands, with forecasters saying Maria would strengthen rapidly into a major hurricane as it ripped into the Leeward Islands on Monday night. Maria's strength was building as it approached the Lesser Antilles, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, estimating its winds near 90 miles per hour (145 kph). "Maria is expected to become a major hurricane as it moves through the Leeward Islands," the forecaster said, marked by "rapid strengthening" during the next 48 hours. Maria is approaching the eastern Caribbean less than two weeks after Irma hammered the region before overrunning Florida.

1898 - During the Spanish-American War, a landing party from the armed yacht, USS Gloucester, single-handedly captures Guanica, Puerto Rico. 1943 - The first Navy ship named for an African-American, USS Harmon (DE 678), is launched. USS Harmon is named in honor of Mess Attendant 1st Class Leonard Roy Harmon who posthumously receives the Navy Cross for heroic actions trying to save a shipmate on board USS San Francisco (CA 38) during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on Nov. 13, 1942.

Ten people have been rescued after the bus they were travelling in was hit by a large wave on the seafront road at Newgale in Wales, and 6 from a disabled French commercial fishing vessel off the southwest of England coast in a 60 mph wind. Milford Haven Coastguard say they were contacted with reports that the bus was stuck on the seafront, having been hit by a large wave and was surrounded by water. The wind at the time was gusting over 50mph. Broadhaven and St. Davids Coastguard Rescue Teams…

Almost 200 senior figures from across the U.K.’s offshore wind industry recently debated the future of managing operational wind farm projects. Delegates assembled to hear what lessons can be learnt from pioneering wind farm operators off the East of England coast, and the sharing of experiences and thoughts from past and potential developers which will help shape the future of the industry. The 'Asset Management: Reducing Cost, Addressing Risk' conference was staged at the OrbisEnergy centre in Lowestoft, hosted by national trade body RenewableUK. The event challenged the supply chain to rethink how operations and maintenance (O&M) can become a more integral part of planning at the design and construction phase of future windfarms.

Coast Guard crews medically evacuated a fisherman at approximately 8:00 a.m., Wednesday, approximately two miles west of Block Island, R.I. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a notification at 7:52 a.m. from the fishing vessel Explorer, homeported in New Bedford, Mass., reporting that a crewmember sustained a head injury due to the parting of a wire. A Coast Guard Station Point Judith 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew immediately launched and safely transferred the fisherman to waiting emergency medical services at Station Point Judith for further transport to South County hospital, R.I. Coast Guard crews work closely with the commercial fishing fleet…

1842- The House of Representatives passed a resolution requesting the Committee on Commerce to make an inquiry into the expenditures of the Lighthouse Establishment since 1816. This was to explore the possibility of cutting down on expenses, to examine the question of reorganizing the establishment and administration, and also to ascertain whether the establishment should be placed under the Topographical Bureau of the War Department. 1952- During a severe "nor’easter" off the New England coast, the T-2 tankers SSFort Mercer and SS Pendleton each broke in half. Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, and lifeboat stations, working under severe winter conditions, rescued 70 persons from the foundering ships.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Cape Wind Associates, LLC signed the nation’s first lease for commercial wind energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) on Oct. “This is the beginning of a new era for our Nation in offshore energy production,” Secretary Salazar said in a speech to the American Wind Energy Association in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he signed the lease. “This is an important milestone in the development of offshore wind energy,” said Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) Director Michael R. Bromwich, whose agency is responsible for reviewing proposed renewable energy projects on the OCS.

On April 28, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved the Cape Wind renewable energy project on federal submerged lands in Nantucket Sound, but will require the developer of the $1b wind farm to agree to additional binding measures to minimize the potential adverse impacts of construction and operation of the facility. “After careful consideration of all the concerns expressed during the lengthy review and consultation process and thorough analyses of the many factors involved, I find that the public benefits weigh in favor of approving the Cape Wind project at the Horseshoe Shoal location,” Salazar said in an announcement at the State House in Boston. The Cape Wind project would be the first wind farm on the U.S.

1842- The House of Representatives passed a resolution requesting the Committee on Commerce to make an inquiry into the expenditures of the Lighthouse Establishment since 1816. This was to explore the possibility of cutting down on expenses, to examine the question of reorganizing the establishment and administration, and also to ascertain whether the establishment should be placed under the Topographical Bureau of the War Department. 1952- During a severe "nor’easter" off the New England coast, the T-2 tankers SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton broke in half. U .S. Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, and lifeboat stations, working under severe winter conditions, rescued and removed 62 persons from the foundering ships or from the water with a loss of only five lives.

Coast Guard Sector Northern New England, Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, the Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team, the Coast Guard Atlantic Strike Team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Maine Emergency Team-WMD, the Cities of Portland and South Portland, Portland Pipeline and many other area agencies and industry partners will be participating in a full-scale maritime security exercise in the port of Portland May 9 through May 12. The exercise provides local players with the opportunity to practice interagency coordination and response to a potential attack on the Maritime Transportation System. In the aftermath of 9/11…

When MR/EN traveled up to the New England coast this past fall as part of a New England shipyard swing, we were expecting to meet the great one himself — Luther H. Blount — who could be informally known as the "father" of New England shipbuilding. Blount began his career so many years ago with the construction of a 77-ft. steel catamaran, was the first of many greater and more technologically innovative vessels that would later earn the designation as Blount crafted. Over the years, Blount oversaw the daily operations of his yard, managing to get his hands dirty on the overall production process. Carefully designing every vessel to a tee with a pencil and sketch pad…

The U.S. shipbuilding industry has not been too successful in the cruise market, but one American builder has found a comfortable niche in the trade, not only building ships, but marketing and operating them as well. The "ships" are relatively small but they are well known in the U.S. and Canadian tourism markets and carry a high number of repeat passengers. Captain Luther H. Blount, 82, considered the father of adventure cruising, is also the founder of American Canadian Caribbean Line (ACCL), a cruise line that probably enjoys the highest repeat passenger rate in the entire cruise industry. Blount established Blount Industries shipyard in 1949 after building a small catamaran out of old oil drums for the local oyster trade.