San Francisco Harbor News

I woke up the first night out of Anacortes, Washington, when the ship dropped out from under me and I levitated off my bunk. Then came the sound of shuffleboard in the conference room one deck above. The only trouble was, there's no shuffleboard on the research vessel Neil Armstrong. It was Halloween 2015 in the Northeast Pacific. We were in the first hours of the first voyage of the newest ship in the U.S. academic research fleet, and we were already plowing through 15-foot waves. But the ship’s motion made it feel more like we were facing much heavier seas.

The largest container ship to ever visit the U.S., the1,300-foot-long CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, left the Port of Oakland Monday afternoon around 1:15 p.m. after docking at the port on New Year’s Eve, port officials said. It stopped at Los Angeles first before arriving in Oakland, and will export agricultural products and other items back to Asia, port officials said. CMA CGM, based in Marseilles, France, expects the Benjamin Franklin to return to Oakland regularly, hauling cargo between China, South Korea and the West Coast. Receiving an 18,000-TEU capacity vessel for the first time requires long and meticulous preparation to guarantee a flawless call and fluid operations in as little time as possible.

The U.S. Executive Branch has declared that the cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation, and that America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on effective cyber security. Before the maritime industry sounds the danger signal, it needs to monitor other industries and branches of the government and take proactive preventative measures. There is no better place to prepare future and current mariners for these challenges than in maritime simulators.

US Coast Guard Sector San Francisco advise that its personnel joined with  CMA CGM – the third-largest shipping group – along with other local industry partners to test the Bay Area’s capability to tow ultra-large container vessels. The vessel used for this exercise was CMA CGM’s Centaurus, an 11.400 TEU container ship measuring 365 meters, or approximately 1,200 feet. The purpose of the towing demonstration was to test the capability of existing tug assets within San Francisco Bay to connect to and tow an ultra-large container vessel. This exercise marked the first such attempt in the United States. The demonstration was intended as…

1954-USS Asterion and SS Kokoku Maru collided in a heavy fog 40 miles west of San Francisco, killing one crewman of the latter ship and injuring three others. The Coast Guard cutters Magnolia, Comanche, Avoyel, and patrol boat CG-95311, as well as two commercial tugs, converged on the scene. Comanche and Magnolia successfully removed all 43 survivors from the disabled Kokoku Maru, all of whom were subsequently delivered safely ashore. Although Asterion was able to proceed under its own power, the Japanese ship had to be towed by the commercial tugs to San Francisco. When the bilge pumps on one of the tugs failed, Coast Guard aircraft dropped emergency pumping equipment to control the flooding. The two tugs then successfully towed the Kokoku Maru into San Francisco harbor.

The U.S. The conference focuses on the importance of the Marine Transportation System (MTS) and how the MTS structure can assist policy- and decision-makers operate efficiently, effectively, and consistently throughout the nation. Key topics will include: Harbor Safety Committee contributions to the Marine Transportation System, strategies for coordination and stakeholder participation at the port level, MTS outreach, port security, and the latest tools and technology available to the ports. The conference will be held at the Argent Hotel in San Francisco, on March 19-20, 2001. An evening reception will be held on March 18. For more information, contact LCDR Greg Case, 202-267-0386 or Karen Bradley, 703-394-4125.