Shore Site News

Jennifer Carpenter has been president and CEO of The American Waterways Operators (AWO) in January 2020, but her time with the national trade association representing the inland and coastal tugboat, towboat and barge industry dates back to 1990. This month, she weighs in on top challenges and opportunities currently present in the industry, from difficult regulatory changes to the uptake of cleaner vessel technologies.What are some of the biggest and most important issues facing the tug, towboat and barge industry?Big picture, I feel like our industry has never been more relevant.

Joe Hudspeth is the Director of Business Development for Global Marine at BAE Systems in Endicott, N.Y. BAE Systems offers complete, efficient propulsion and auxiliary power systems utilizing electric technology. Hudspeth has been involved with maritime sales, marketing and product development since 2000. He currently serves as a regional co-chairman for the Passenger Vessel Association, is a judge for the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association student design competition, and frequently speaks and writes on maritime and ferry related issues. Hudspeth lives in Bellingham, Wash.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be dredging MIlford Harbor over the next two weeks, says a press release from Milford Mayor Ben Blake’s office. Army Corps will be using a 150-foot vessel called the Currituck, which is a special purpose dredge barge. Over the next two weeks, the crew of the Currituck will remove the silting and shoaling along the federal channel by relocating approximately 14,000 cubic yards of material to a near shore site, off of Bayview Beach. “The dredging will be at no cost to the city and will help ensure that Connecticut’s most popular recreational harbor remains safe to navigate,” said Mayor Ben Blake. Built by the Barbour Boat Works from North Carolina in 1974…

International classification, certification and engineering group RINA said it has widened its services to the global gas industry. While its traditional classification society arm RINA Services has recently approved a new Compressed Natural Gas carrier to aid the exploitation of marginal fields, the groups’ engineering arm, D’Appolonia, is delivering geotechnical, social and environmental services to the Mozambique LNG development. The gas market and technology are constantly changing, and RINA Services and D’Appolonia lead those changes, according to the group. The first offshore FSRU, the first FLNG project, the first marine CNG ship and the longest offshore pipeline were all delivered with RINA expertise and assistance.

J. Ray McDermott will undertake fabrication and installation work for the P-61 Tension Leg Wellhead Platform (TLWP) in more than 3,871 feet of water, for the Papa Terra Joint Venture, consisting of Petrobras (operator) and Chevron. The overall P-61 project — comprising design, engineering, construction, transportation, installation, and a three-year limited operations contract — was awarded to FloaTEC Singapore Pte Ltd (FloaTEC Singapore), a joint venture between Keppel FELS Ltd (Keppel FELS) and J. Ray. Almost all the work will be carried out through the combined resources of Keppel FELS, J. Ray and FloaTEC LLC (FloaTEC), the US-based joint venture company that will perform global engineering and basic design work.

People who spend any time around the world’s ports and river estuaries are familiar with the sight of a cutter suction dredge working to maintain adequate depths in the navigation channels. Typically these suction dredges will be attached to the shore by a long umbilical of piping that takes the dredgate to a shore site where it can be utilized or trucked to another site. IHC Merwede offers a supplement to this system for use with their suction dredgers. Their booster station…

The Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) invites maritime industry representatives to attend the SOCP's October 7-8, 2003, meeting on the Eastern Shore at Piney Point, MD. SOCP’s packed agenda features guest speakers Captain William G. Schubert, Maritime Administrator, RADM Thomas Gilmour, USCG Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety and Environmental Protection, Ms. Marjorie Murtagh, National Transportation Safety Board and Mr. Anil Mathur, Alaska Tanker Company CEO. Presentations include: Short Sea Shipping; Smart Tow; Intermodal Freight Opportunities on the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway System-SE Michigan, along with technical presentations on GPS Based Cargo Tracking Systems; and Cargo Container Advanced 3-D Scanning which will round out the first day’s agenda.

Fugro Survey A/S recently used the ConCat survey catamaran to conduct a near shore multibeam survey at Larvik, Norway. The harbor in Mørjefjorden, south of Larvik has a customized loading berth for export of aggregates excavated in the region. approximately 250 x 50 m must be deepened to facilitate access for larger barges. Fugro Survey was contracted to provide detailed bathymetric charts of the survey site, and saw ConCat as an excellent platform due to its high portability, and the quality of data from the integrated Kongsberg survey suite. Stein Åsheim, survey manager for Fugro Survey A/S said "Small multibeam projects such as this can be very expensive in proportion to the actual survey time, due to lengthy mobilization period when using chartered launches.