Trends – Page 2 – Professional Mariner

A conversation with Jennifer Carpenter, new AMP president

Jennifer Carpenter, CEO of the American Waterways Operators (AWO), has, in addition to her responsibilities at AWO, assumed the position of president of the American Maritime Partnership (AMP), which bills itself as the “voice of the domestic maritime industry.” The industry “is led by 650,000 American men and women who are committed to ensuring a reliable supply chain, reducing our…

Proposal to operate U.S.- flag vessels with foreign crews blasted

“Egregious” and “irresponsible” is how a consortium of American labor unions, including the Maritime Trades Department, AFL-CIO, is labelling a proposal to create a second level of U.S.-flagged vessels that would be operated by foreign crews. Such a move, “would outsource American maritime jobs, disregard America’s national security requirements and waste taxpayer dollars,” they charged in a statement countering a…

New York, New Jersey offshore wind projects axed

Equinor and bp, the developers behind the giant Empire Wind 2 offshore wind project, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority have reached an agreement to terminate the Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) Agreement for the Empire Wind 2 offshore wind farm project. The Empire Wind 2 project called for development of an offshore wind farm…

Electric propulsion surges ahead

Wärtsilä said it has agreed to work on a pioneering project to build the first zero-emission, high-speed, electric ferries in the U.S. Finland-based Wärtsilä will collaborate with the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA), which operates the San Francisco Bay Ferry system, in finalizing the vessel’s design and charging system concepts. Part of the Rapid Electric Emission-Free Ferry Program initiated by…

Port NOLA, trade group sign joint marketing MOU

The Central Ohio River Business Association (CORBA) and the Port of New Orleans have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to encourage efforts to create joint marketing initiatives. The memorandum marks the third renewal of the port-to-port relationship and “serves as a direct bridge between the Ports of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and Port NOLA,” according to Brandy D. Christian,…

Sewing up the loopholes in the Jones Act

The Jones Act, a law that supports the U.S. maritime industry, is alive and well despite many attempts over the years to weaken or circumvent its provisions. The Act, named for its sponsor, Sen. Wesley Jones (R-Wash.), is a provision in the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 which mandates that cargo moving between two points in the U.S. be carried…

Airbus looks to rotor-powered ships

While primarily known as an aircraft manufacturer, Airbus maintains its own fleet of three chartered vessels that ferry aircraft subassemblies across the Atlantic from Saint-Nazaire, France, to the company’s single-aisle aircraft final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama. With A320 production at the U.S. plant expected to climb to 75 aircraft per month by 2026, Airbus has commissioned shipowner Louis Dreyfus…

Funding OK’d for Port of Stockton development

New state funding is slated to clear the way for significant infrastructure upgrades at the Port of Stockton, a major inland deepwater port which is linked to the Pacific Ocean via the San Joaquin River-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel. Located in the heart of California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley, the port serves as a major export center for agricultural products and other commodities…

Use of hydrogen as a marine fuel advances

Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) will design and build a hydrogen fueling barge under the terms of a one-year $590,000 contract agreed to by the Port of South Louisiana’s Board of Commissioners. The hydrogen fueling barge will reportedly be built in three stages and be the first of its kind in the U.S. and the second in the world. “The…

An electric surge on the Pacific Coast…almost

Ports on the West Coast are working toward a zero-emissions future thanks to advances in electrification, but cost remains an issue with state and federal funds helping to support their efforts. Decades ago, forward thinking positioned the Port of Oakland in California as the first major deep-water port on the U.S. Pacific Coast to build terminals for container ships. Today,…