Feature Story – Professional Mariner

Test site for wave energy is nearly open for business off the coast of Oregon

A university in the Pacific Northwest has completed installing electrical infrastructure that will serve as a test site for wave-power generation devices. The project, which spanned two years of design and engineering and about 90 days of on-the-water work, required mobilizing specialized vessels and dozens of mariners. The project highlights the need for West Coast marine fleets and infrastructure to grow…

Facing a demographic cliff, maritime academies brace for the future

You’d never know the California Maritime Academy has been dealing with chronically low enrollment based on the number of people attending an open house in mid-February. On a chilly gray morning, prospective students and their parents shuffled around the school’s 92-acre Vallejo, Calif., campus tucked against the Carquinez Strait on San Francisco Bay. Young people collected pamphlets and swag branded with the “Keelhauler”…

Battery-electric propulsion: Pros talk pros and cons

Modern mariners now know that electrical propulsion-based storage batteries, or in some cases, fuel cells, is growing rapidly. There are plenty of similarities between these emerging technologies and combustion-based systems that have ruled the waves for nearly two centuries. But unsurprisingly, there are many differences — and those differences come with challenges. From the vantage point of Corvus Energy senior…

The past and present of ocean towing

By Alan Haig-Brown In recent years, news of the American tug industry has focused on the advent of ship-handling tugs. Voith Schneider propellers, z-drive propulsion, skegs and hawser winches are in the press. Meanwhile, the nation’s ocean-towing fleets have been moving dead ships, fuel, cargo and container barges in support of industry from Alaska, Hawaii, New York, the Caribbean and…

Bumpy year for offshore wind lets maritime infrastructure catch up

For America’s nascent offshore wind industry, the last year was the best of times and the worst of times. In the past 12 months, American offshore wind development reached some key milestones. Foundations were laid and turbines were installed at the nation’s first two commercial-scale offshore wind farms and those farms generated their first megawatts. The first U.S.-flagged turbine installation…

Shaver Transportation puts newest towboat to work on the Columbia and Snake rivers

Capt. Steve is named for Steve Shaver, the company’s longtime president The Shaver Transportation Company has added a new towboat to its fleet. Founded in 1880, Shaver Transportation is the oldest family-owned and operated tugboat and barge company on the West Coast. Headquartered in Portland, Ore., Shaver provides service for the Columbia Snake River System. With the addition of the…

Technology, innovative designs advance maritime firefighting, training

Fires while aboard a ship are a serious hazard that concerned mariners have to train for — and, in the event of an emergency, fight with while out on the water. Protecting the vessel and crew can come down to having the right equipment, proper training and appropriate systems in place. Technology and innovative designs have helped progress firefighting tools…

Regulatory changes impact FM-200 fire suppressant systems

The U.S. Coast Guard has alerted ship operators of plans to “phase down” the use of FM-200, a fire suppressant common in extinguishers and overhead sprinkler systems that lets loose a gush of greenhouse gas emissions. FM-200 is still allowed on vessels and there are no plans to prohibit it in the future, Pock Y. Utiskul, a fire protection engineer…

No quick fixes seen for shipping bottlenecks, port congestion

From the hills of San Pedro, Calif., you can see the problem firsthand: Towering cranes unload containerships at every available berth, and stacks of containers swell in the freight yards. Loaded containerships occupy every available anchorage inside and outside the long seawall. The number of ships waiting to unload in recent weeks at the adjacent ports of Los Angeles…

Port of Virginia avoids major container backlogs

Dozens of ships are waiting for berths off Los Angeles. Puget Sound is so overloaded, rarely used anchorages have filled up. And now, the cargo backlogs are spreading to the East Coast ports of Savannah and New York-New Jersey. The Port of Virginia, meanwhile, continues to operate normally despite similar surges in cargo that have bedeviled other ports. Joe Harris,…