Rita News

NGO Shipbreaking Platform reports that on January 16 two workers lost their lives after being crushed by a heavy iron plate during the dismantling of bulk carrier Chatherine Bright at Dewan Shipbreaking PVT Ldt in Gadani, Pakistan.The vessel was linked to Oman-based Maritime International Transport & Trading and flagged Panama when it was beached, says the Platform.The National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) accuses authorities of negligence as there continues to be a lack of compliance…

A fishing vessel mate not maintaining a proper lookout and conducting maintenance on critical equipment while underway led to the collision of a containership and fishing vessel, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Wednesday. No injuries were reported. Damage to the vessels was estimated at $6.25 million.On October 28, 2022, while the containership MSC Rita was transiting southbound in the Atlantic Ocean, the fishing vessel Tremont was transiting north-northeast in the same area.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has signedon to help the One Sea Association in a callaborative effort promoting the development of new space-enabled services which will support the maritime sector’s transition towards autonomous shipping.Satellite communications and satellite navigation play a key role in the adoption of autonomous shipping technologies and operations. During offshore passages, ships are often further from land than satellites which can offer invaluable secure and resilient communication channels for monitoring, command, and control of autonomous ships.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, on Monday held a christening ceremony for the Derrickboat Kolber. This new derrickboat is 160 feet long, has a beam of 60 feet and a depth of 12 feet. The large crane is a SeaTrax series 60 Model S9302. Its design and construction were contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Marine Design Center. The barge was designed by TAI Engineers of New Orleans, and constructed by Metal Trades, Inc., of Hollywood, S.C.The Kolber’s…

Greece has cut Russian gas imports by more than half this year thanks to increased deliveries from other producers to its sole liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Athens, the country's gas grid operator said on Thursday.Greece has relied on Russia for about 40% of its gas needs for years but it has ramped up LNG purchases from other countries in line with a European Union plan to cut dependence on Russian energy. It has been receiving Russian gas via the Turkstream pipeline which also delivers to Hungary via Serbia.Its LNG facility on the Revithoussa islet…

The kick-off ceremony for the realization of Gastrade SA's LNG FSRU facility in Alexandroupolis, Greece, was held on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in the old Storage House of the Alexandroupolis Port Customs.Once delivered, the FSRU, with a capacity of 153,500 c.m. of LNG, will be moored in the offshore area 17.6 km southwest of the port of Alexandroupolis. It will be connected to the National Natural Gas Transmission System (NNGΤS) of Greece with a 28 km long pipeline, through which the gasified LNG will be transmitted to the markets of Greece…

Gustavo Alcides Diaz, an Argentine fisherman and hunter from a river island community, is at home on the water. The Parana River once lapped the banks near his wooden stilt home that he could reach by boat. Fish gave him food and income. He purified river water to drink.Now the 40-year-old looks out on a trickle of muddy water.The Parana, South America's second-largest river behind only the Amazon, has retreated this year to its lowest level since its record low in 1944, hit by cyclical droughts and dwindling rainfall upriver in Brazil.

The Texas A&M Maritime Academy said it has been notified by the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD) that the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) expected to arrive on its Galveston campus in 2025 will be named the Lone Star State.The ship, which is slated to be built by Philly Shipyard, is the fourth in a new series of vessels specifically designed to support both maritime training needs and disaster response capabilities.“The Galveston…

Congress on Monday approved $390 million to fund construction of a fourth National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV). The state-of-the-art ship will be assigned to the Texas A&M Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University at Galveston, serving as a training platform for future merchant mariners and offer a critical disaster resource in the Gulf Coast.Scheduled for delivery in 2025, the new NSMV for Texas A&M is the fourth in a series of five ships to replace the aging and outdated fleet of training vessels currently used by state maritime academies.

HudsonAnalytix, announced that Admiral Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard retired, has joined their operation as a Senior Executive Advisor.Admiral Allen served as the 23rd Commandant of the Coast Guard from 2006 to 2010. He will be focusing on risk management for the global maritime transportation sector served by Hudson. Focus areas include regulatory and policy issues, crisis response and disaster management, environmental compliance, and cyber risk to shipping, ports, and supply chains.

The Governing Board of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has approved the promotion of the Nigerian Alternate Permanent Representative at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr. Dikko Bala, to Director. Also elevated to the position of Director in the Agency was the Deputy Director, Maritime Labor Services, Mrs. Rita Uruakpa.Other beneficiaries of the promotion exercise were Mr Kazir Musa, who was promoted to Deputy Director, and 18 officers, who were elevated to Assistant Directors.

Five crewmembers have been rescued from a towing vessel that sank in the Mississippi River near Laplace, La., Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.At approximately 3 p.m Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report that the St. Rita, owned and operated by Marquette Transportation Company, sank on the right descending bank on the Mississippi River.The five crewmembers that were on board the vessel were rescued by nearby towing vessel, Rod C, and then transported to shore. No injuries were reported. There are no reported impacts to vessel traffic and the river remains open, the Coast Guard said.According to the Coast Guard, the St.

After more than 30 years of frustratingly slow progress, cost overruns and more than a few mistakes, Olmsted is finally poised for success. That’s something to celebrate.It is official: The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) wants Olmsted operational by October. After more than 30 years, the ribbon cutting to officially open the Olmsted Locks and Dam took place on August 30. The very old (1929) upstream locks and dams – Nos. 52 and 53, which Olmsted is replacing – will be dismantled by December 2020. Before that happens, Olmsted’s performance will be tested and confirmed.

Three ships carrying livestock feed grain, sorghum, from the U.S. to China switched their destinations on Thursday to Japan and South Korea, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon ship tracking data, after Beijing hit imports with hefty anti-dumping deposits.The cargoes are among roughly two dozen bought by China but left stranded after Beijing announced last month it would hit U.S. imports with a 178.6 percent deposit on the value of sorghum shipments. The move was part of an anti-dumping probe by China as trade tensions with the U.S. escalate.Sorghum is mainly used in livestock feed and the fiery Chinese liquor baijiu.The 'Ocean Belt' carrying 58,000 tonnes of sorghum from the United States switched its destination from China to Kashima, Japan, according to the data.It had loaded U.S.

Alison Nolan is General Manager and a fourth-generation owner of Boston Harbor Cruises (BHC), a company that moves more than 2.5 million passengers annually on its fleet of 60 vessels with more than 600 daily departures seven ports and more than 30 facilities. But the story of BHC and Alison Nolan transcends raw numbers; as the company and passenger vessel industry are in her DNA, more of a lifestyle than a career. She spoke with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently to address the rewards and challenges inherent in her position.

Weather and climate-related disasters cost the United States a record $306 billion in 2017, the third-warmest year on record, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Monday. The report from the federal agency underscores the economic risks of climate change, even as President Donald Trump's administration casts doubts on the causes of it and has started withdrawing the U.S. from a global pact to combat it. NOAA said western wildfires and hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma contributed to making 2017 the costliest year on record.

Traveling across the globe from port to port, the U.S. Navy fleet transports sailors and Marines, aircraft, and supplies. Unfortunately, ships can also unintentionally transport stowaways, small organisms which live in ballast water. Most people would not look at small organisms like mitten crabs or zebra mussels and think they are a major threat to the environment – and in their natural habitats they pose no threat. But what happens when these organisms are introduced into a new ecosystem? According to Rachel Jacobs, a chemical engineer in the Wastewater Management Branch at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, the results of introducing non-native species into a new environment can be disastrous for the ecosystem…

U.S. drivers are starting to feel the effects of Tropical Storm Harvey in their wallets as the country's fuel distribution network starting at the Gulf Coast and stretching across the country is squeezed by floods, refinery closures and dwindling supplies. At least 3.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity is offline and more refineries are at risk of shut downs as the storm relentlessly dumps rain on Texas and heads toward Louisiana. The longer refineries remain shut, the more retail prices will increase, traders and analysts said. Two of the major pipelines delivering gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast are operating at reduced rates or plan to shut entirely, with wholesale markets in Chicago and the Gulf region seeing sharply higher prices.

At annual IUMI (International Union of Marine Insurance) conference in Tokyo, James McDonald, chairman of IUMI’s Offshore Energy Committee warned that the sector was “sinking”. His warning was based on declining total premium income set alongside upstream energy large losses for 2015-16 of USD 4.8 billion. McDonald explained: “In recent years it would appear that claims have exceeded the global premium base and the last two underwriting years have seen significant losses. The impact of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey are unlikely to deliver the same magnitude of loss that resulted from Katrina and Rita in 2005 or Ike in 2008, but whilst Harvey and Irma appear not to have had much impact on the offshore sector the year’s hurricane season still has some distance to run”.

Vessel sales for October 2017 (as of November 1) as prepared by Shipping Intelligence, Inc., New York. 10/29 - COASTAL NO.

The Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC), the nation’s leading oil spill response organization, has announced that Steven T. Benz, the company’s President and CEO, will be retiring on April 30, 2017. Tim Plummer, Chair of the MSRC Board of Directors, said “We are thankful to Steve for his many years of strong leadership. During his tenure, he has solidified MSRC as the preeminent spill response organization in the nation, as demonstrated by the critical role MSRC played in the “Deepwater Horizon” response.

Over the course of a six-week period during the last quarter of 2017, three German containerships docked at Gibdock’s Gibraltar yard for repair work, highlighting the yard’s success in attracting German ship owners. The containership visits are part of an encouraging general upturn in activity at the Gibraltar yard in recent weeks, Gibdock said. “Business has been picking up and container vessel owners and operators have been attracted to the yard by our location, close to key trade lanes…

After a few years of relative calm, the 2017 hurricane season wreaked havoc in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, causing widespread damage and human suffering, and exposing the vulnerabilities and strengths of American energy security. As the flood waters from Hurricane Harvey receded and Gulf coast residents embarked on the arduous road to recovery, the offshore energy industry took stock and counted its losses and blessings. Offshore energy facilities faired remarkably well compared to onshore energy facilities, many of which suffered catastrophic damage from flood waters.