Transportation Platform News

Bob Kunkel needs no introduction to Marine News readers. Kunkel, President of Alternative Marine Technologies, previously served as the Federal Chairman of the Short Sea Shipping Cooperative Program under the Maritime Administration and Department of Transportation from 2003 until 2008. A past Vice President of the Connecticut Maritime Association, he is a contributing writer for Maritime Logistics Professional magazine and of course, Marine News. A graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy…

The Japanese shipping group NYK Group (Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, MTI Co., Ltd.) will collaborate with Dualog and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) Group on a vessel platform proposal that is currently being validated with ship information systems (SIMS) data, the companies announced. The experiment is focused on validation of the below technology, which is expected to benefit the maritime industry in actual sea operations: Data gathering from an expanding array of onboard sensors and monitoring equipment, Remote distribution and management of onboard applications and Monitoring of ship equipment, event analyses, and intelligent alerts.

Derecktor Shipyards of Mamaroneck, New York and Harbor Harvest of East Norwalk, CT. has announced their next revolutionary project providing an alternative transportation platform for organic food shipping. Combining the quality construction that Derecktor’s reputation is built on, along with their successful application of a cutting edge BAE HybriDrive propulsion system utilizing Cummins QSB6.7’s, the vessel is based on a 19m aluminum Catamaran platform designed for efficient operation in coastal waters.

Short sea shipping is alive and well on America’s East Coast. In the United States, counties and states directly on the shoreline constitute less than 10 percent of the total land area (not including Alaska), but account for 39 percent of the total population. From 1970 to 2010, the population of these counties increased by almost 40 percent and are projected to increase by an additional 10 million people or 8 percent by 2020. Coastal areas are substantially more crowded than the U.S. as a whole, and population density in coastal areas will continue to increase in the future.

Matson, Inc. today reported net income of $26.6 million, or $0.60 per diluted share for the quarter ended December 31, 2015. Net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 was $27.8 million, or $0.63 per diluted share. Consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter 2015 was $494.8 million compared with $443.5 million reported for the fourth quarter 2014. For the full year 2015, Matson reported net income of $103.0 million, or $2.34 per diluted share compared with $70.8 million, or $1.63 per diluted share in 2014. Consolidated revenue for the full year 2015 was $1,884.9 million, compared with $1,714.2 million in 2014. Matt Cox, Matson's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "2015 was an exceptional year for Matson. Financially, it was the best year in our history. Mr.

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) today presented SEACOR Marine with the 2015 NOIA Safety in Seas (SIS) Culture of Safety Award and Safety Practice Award. This is the first time the same company has won awards in the same year. NOIA added the Culture of Safety award to the competition in 2014. SEACOR Marine won the Culture of Safety Award for their safety culture model which spurred a seven year trend of declining total number of Lost Time Incidents, Medical Treatment Incidents, and Pollution Incidents reaching Goal Zero for 2014 – that’s a Total Recordable Incident Rate of zero. The Safety Practice Award was presented to SEACOR Marine for their behavior-based safety program PAUSE, which is short for Prevent Accidents Use Safety Equipment.