Vieques News

The US Coast Guard Sector San Juan marine investigators and vessel inspection teams are investigating two separate and unrelated vessel fires in Puerto Rico.Both vessel fires were successfully extinguished, and there are currently no reports of marine pollution or reported injuries in either case.The most recent vessel fire occurred Saturday morning aboard the M/T Scot Stuttgart, a Marshall Islands flagged 383-foot chemical tank ship, while the vessel was moored at Puerto Nuevo Channel’s N Wharf.At 3:43 a.m.…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded $4.85 million in grants to five marine highway projects across the nation via the United States Marine Highway Program (USMHP). The funding will enhance the movement of goods along our navigable waterways while expanding existing waterborne freight services in Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Washington, and West Virginia.The USMHP aims to expand the use of the nation’s navigable waterways to relieve landside congestion, support new and more efficient transportation options, and enhance performance of the surface transportation system. The program works with public…

Louisiana-based shipbuilder Conrad Shipyard on Tuesday announced it has secured a contract to build four cargo and passenger ferries for Puerto Rico.The contract from the Puerto Rico Maritime Transit Authority (PRMTA) will see Conrad deliver the first ferry to San Juan, Puerto Rico in late 2024.The ferries, designed to carry 300 passengers and 300 short tons of cargo, will operate between the Municipality of Ceiba and the Municipality Islands of Vieques and Culebra in Puerto Rico."These…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded nearly $39 million in grants to 12 marine highway projects across the Nation under the America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP). The funding will help expand marine highway services on the United States’ navigable waterways to reduce congestion, alleviate supply chain bottlenecks, and move goods more quickly from ships to shelves.“At a time of record demand for goods, it’s more important than ever to…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) today announced the immediate designation of four new Marine Highway Projects as part of the America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP). Projects in North Carolina, Alaska, and Puerto Rico will receive these designations. They can now apply for record levels of funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help address supply chain challenges.A Marine Highway Project is a planned service, or expansion of an existing service, on a designated Marine Highway Route.

Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews rescued two divers and a minor during two unrelated cases Thursday in Fajardo and Vieques, Puerto Rico. The first rescue came when Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan received a 911 call Thursday afternoon reporting four children and two adults had been pulled away from shore by strong currents at “Playa Escondida” in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. The crew of a Coast Guard helicopter diverted to the scene, located the people in distress and deployed their rescue swimmer to hoist one of the children from the water. The Coast Guard aircrew safely transferred the minor to shore, and confirmed that the other five people were able to swim safely to shore.

The Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) has taken delivery of a new patrol boat from Louisiana-based boatbuilder Metal Shark. The new 35-foot Defiant welded aluminum pilothouse patrol vessel, built at Metal Shark’s Jeanerette, La. production facility, joins the fleet of 36-foot Metal Shark Fearless-class high performance center console patrol boats delivered to the PRPD a year ago. The PRPD’s new patrol boat features a fully-enclosed, climate-controlled pilothouse for all weather operation, outfitted with Shockwave shock-mitigating seating for a crew of four, the builder said.

1822 - Crew from the schooner Enterprise capture and burn seven small pirate vessels off Cape Antonio, Cuba. 1862 - The ironclad CSS Virginia destroys the wooden ships USS Cumberland and USS Congress in Hampton Roads, Virginia. 1943 - PBY-5 Catalinas from VP-53 sink German submarine U 156 east-northeast of Trinidad. 1945 - Phyllis Daley becomes the first African-American ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps and serves at the Naval Dispensary at Boston, Mass. 1945 - Navy patrol bombers hit a Japanese convoy, sinking cargo vessel No. 21 Yusen Maru in Formosa Strait. 1950 - Operation Portrex begins.

The Coast Guard is conducting a series of formal investigations after Tuesday’s collision involving a Coast Guard cutter and a fishing vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico. Three separate investigations have been initiated and will review different aspects of the collision between the 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Key Largo and a U.S. Virgin Island fishing vessel named Sea Shepherd. The incident happened at 6:38 a.m, just east of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. No one was injured, but the Sea Shepherd sank after the collision. A Marine Casualty Investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is an independent…

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is conducting a series of formal investigations after Tuesday’s collision involving a Coast Guard cutter and a fishing vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico. Three separate investigations have been initiated and will review different aspects of the collision between the 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Key Largo and a U.S. Virgin Island fishing vessel named Sea Shepherd. The incident happened at 6:38 a.m, just east of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. No one was injured, but the Sea Shepherd sank after the collision. A Marine Casualty Investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is an…

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating a collision Tuesday between the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo and the 42-foot commercial fishing vessel, Sea Shepherd, approximately nine nautical miles east northeast of Vieques, Puerto Rico. At 6:38 a.m., the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo was on a routine patrol when the collision occurred. Following the collision, the Sea Sheppard sank at a depth of over 100 feet. The crew of the Key Largo recovered and embarked the two-man crew of the Sea Shepherd, Winston Ledee, 57, and Kenneth Turbe, 30, both residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Conrad Industries, Inc. (OTC Pink Sheets: CNRD.PK) announced the delivery of an aluminum passenger vessel for Puerto Rico Maritime Transportation Authority (PRMTA). The Cayo Blanco can carry 600 passengers on two decks. She measures 160 ft x 32 ft x 13 ft and the vessel route is from Fajardo to Vieques and Culebra in Puerto Rico. She is powered by four MTU 12V-4000 M60 main engines with MGX 6848 Twin Disc gears. The generators are John Deere and there is a 200 hp tunnel bow thruster. The delivery crew traveled from Morgan City to San Juan in five days and the vessel performed excellently.

VT Halter Marine Inc., a subsidiary of Vision Technologies Systems Inc., announced today that it was selected by the Puerto Rico Port Authority (PRPA) to design and build a $2.8 million sea-going passenger ferry. The 95-ft., all-aluminum vessel, with a 24-ft. beam, and five foot, six-inch draft will be U.S. Coast Guard classed sub-chapter “K” and U.S. flagged. The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration will provide financial aid to the Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority. Construction will take place at VT Halter Marine’s Pascagoula Operation located in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Delivery of the ferry is expected to be in the second quarter of 2004. The inter-island transportation ferry will operate and service the Fajardo-Vieques-Culebra Ferry Line.

VT Halter Marine Inc., a subsidiary of Vision Technologies Systems Inc., has launched a 95-ft sea-going ferry from its Mississippi-based Pascagoula Operations. Christened the Caribeña, the all-aluminum vessel was designed and built by VT Halter Marine for the Puerto Rico Port Authority. Capable of carrying 272 passengers, the Caribeña will provide inter- island transportation for the Fajardo-Vieques-Culebra Ferry Line. It will be U.S. Coast Guard classed sub-chapter "K" and U.S. flagged. VT Halter Marine plans to complete and deliver the Caribeña during the second quarter of 2004. It could take 10 or more days to make the 1600- mile trip to the Caribeña's home at the Port of Fajardo, a city located on the east side of the Island of Puerto Rico.

VT Halter Marine Inc., a subsidiary of Vision Technologies Systems Inc., launched a 95-foot sea-going ferry from its Mississippi-based Pascagoula Operations. Christened the Caribeña, the all-aluminum vessel was designed and built by VT Halter Marine for the Puerto Rico Port Authority. Capable of carrying 272 passengers, the Caribeña will provide inter- island transportation for the Fajardo-Vieques-Culebra Ferry Line. It will be U.S. Coast Guard classed sub-chapter “K” and U.S. flagged. VT Halter Marine plans to complete and deliver the Caribeña during the second quarter of 2004. It could take 10 or more days to make the 1600- mile trip to the Caribeña’s home at the Port of Fajardo, a city located on the east side of the Island of Puerto Rico.

Construction is progressing for the new Subchapter “K” passenger ferry vessels, M/V Isleño at Blount Boats, Inc. (BBI), Warren RI and M/V Caribeña at VT Halter Marine, Inc. (VTHMI), Pascagoula, MS. Bristol Harbor Marine Design (BHMD) is serving as a liaison for the Puerto Rico Ports Authority (PRPA), providing construction oversight for the vessels servicing the Fajardo-Vieques-Culebra Ferry Line. On July 15th, 2003, BBI signed a contract with the PRPA to construct a 155-ft. cargo/passenger ferry similar to a previous design by the yard. The construction of this vessel will be similar to the M/V Cayo Norte, built by Blount Marine in 1995. Four (4) MTU DD12V2000 engines coupled to 2.9:1 Twin Disc 5202 gears will provide 3220 BHP.

Official U.S. Navy file photo of Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Adm. Robert J. Natter, visiting with Sailors and Marines attached to Camp Patriot, Kuwait. Natter will relinquish command of Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Atlantic Fleet to Adm. William J. Fallon, in an Oct. 3 ceremony aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Adm. Robert J. Natter will relinquish command of the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Atlantic Fleet to Adm. William J. Fallon in a ceremony to be held aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) here Oct.

The 165 x 45-ft. 300 ST Class cargo/passenger ferry, M/V Cayo Largo built by Blount Boats, Inc. for the Puerto Rico and Municipal Islands Maritime Authority was accepted for delivery to Fajardo, on July 23. The Cayo Largo will also deliver the 45x17-ft. M/V La Plena, also built by Blount Boats. The M/V La Plena is being shipped as cargo on the M/V Cayo Largo, which will be arriving in on Sunday, August 3, 2008. M/V Cayo Largo is powered by four Detroit Diesel 12V4000 M60 engines totaling 7…

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced more than $42m in grants to improve ferry service and build new docks and facilities in 15 states and Puerto Rico. Congress authorized the Federal Highway Administration’s Ferry Boat Program was created to fund ferry boat projects that provide critical access to areas that lack other means of transportation where high passenger demand already exists. Program funds can be used for capital improvements to existing ferry operations which could increase the number of riders, relieve congestion or address environmental or significant operational concerns. The projects include funding…

Puerto Rico Maritime Transportation Authority (PRMTA) deployed the 300 passenger / 300 ton cargo vessel, M/V Cayo Largo to Barahona, Dominican Republic to assist in the humanitarian effort for Haiti. The vessel, which was designed and built by Blount Boats, Inc. of Warren, R.I., has been in service between the port of Fajardo on the east coast of Puerto Rico and the islands of Culebra and Vieques since her delivery in 2008. The vessel has an overall length of 162 ft, a beam of 46 ft, and draws less than eight ft of water loaded.