YEAR AT A GLANCE: 2023

August 2023

American Eagle, American Cruise Lines’ first Coastal Cat, passed its sea trials. ACL accepted delivery of the 100-passenger vessel from Chesapeake Shipbuilding on time as scheduled.

Moose Boats was awarded a contract from Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol for the construction of a M2–35 catamaran rescue/patrol boat.

July 2023

The Panama Canal Authority notified its customers that it will maintain a draft of 44 feet for the next several months, as long as weather conditions do not vary significantly from current projections. The move was made “in light of the prolonged effects of the dry season and in compliance with its responsibility to provide reliable and sustainable service,” the PCA said.

The American Pilots’ Association and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration signed a  memorandum of agreement calling for improved communication regarding safe maritime navigation at U.S. ports and inland waterways.

June 2023

The U.S. Coast Guard has convened a marine board of investigation (MBI) into the loss of the submersible Titan and the five people on board.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, launched the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study, a five-year, $25 million study that will deliver recommendations for effective and practical management of the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to the Gulf of Mexico.

The International Longshore & Warehouse Union and the employers of the 22,000 dockworkers at U.S. West Coast ports announced a tentative agreement on a new six-year contract. The agreement ends 13 months of talks and eases supply chain worries.

May 2023

Crowley announced a new investment in Tugdock, developers of the world’s first road-transportable floating dry dock known as the Tugdock Submersible Platform (TSP), to help advance offshore wind energy in the U.S. 

MetalCraft Marine (MCM) was awarded a $31 million contract from the U.S. Coast Guard as part of the Long-Range Interceptor (LRI) III program. The contract was the second contract MCM had received for the design and build of its 11-meter (36-foot) high-speed Interceptor patrol boat. 

Bollinger Shipyards delivered USCGC John Patterson to the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West, Fla. The vessel s the 179th vessel Bollinger has delivered to the Coast Guard over a 35-year period and the 53rd fast response cutter delivered under the current program.

April 2023

Proman Stena Bulk, the joint venture between tanker company Stena Bulk and the methanol producer Proman, announced the successful completion of the first barge-to-ship methanol bunkering on the U.S. Gulf Coast. 

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) said it would support the reactivation and modification of an offshore support vessel (OSV) that will function as the world’s first marine spaceport for human spaceflight operated by Space Perspective. 

The Northwest Seaport Alliance’s Terminal 5 welcomed MSC Brunella as the first vessel to plug in to the terminal’s shore power infrastructure. 

March 2023

Matson Navigation Co. confirmed its plans to convert the main engine aboard its containership Kaimana Hila to a new unit capable of running on liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Foss Offshore Wind said that its New Bedford terminal — currently under construction to support Vineyard Wind, the first commercial offshore wind project in the U.S. and future East Coast projects — will be operational this summer. 

SAFE Boats International announced the introduction of Merlin, an autonomous hydrographic survey vessel. This innovative, 75-foot semi-displacement monohull design was developed in collaboration with Mythos AI, Echo81, and World Marine Design.

February 2023

The U.S. Department of the Interior proposed the first offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The proposed sale was organized to help meet the federal government’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.

Florida’s 16 seaports reported a new record high of 112.5 million tons of cargo received during 2022, a 6 percent increase over 2021, a newly released report from the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic Development Council stated. 

The U.S. Maritime Administration issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity making available more than $662 million in federal fiscal year 2023 funding for the agency’s Port Infrastructure Development Program. 

January 2023

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration said that $384.4 million in federal funding would be earmarked for expanding and improving the nation’s ferry service in communities across the country, as well as accelerating its transition to zero-emission transportation.

The Georgia Ports Authority handled a record 5.9 million twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) in 2022, an increase of 5 percent over 2021. The Port of Savannah achieved four of its top five months for container volume in 2022, with trade volumes peaking in August at an all-time high of 575,500 TEUs. 

The Port of South Louisiana entered into a purchase and sale agreement with T. Parker Host to purchase the Avondale Global Gateway, the 254-acre logistics hub that serves the Port of South Louisiana.

December 2022

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the details of a public-private partnership between the state of Louisiana, the Port of New Orleans and two global maritime industry leaders to build the new $1.8 billion Louisiana International Terminal in St. Bernard Parish on the Lower Mississippi River. 

South Carolina Ports and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District announced completion of the three-year Charleston Harbor Deepening Project. The achievement made Charleston Harbor the deepest harbor on the East Coast at 52 feet.

Elliott Bay Design Group unveiled plans for a harbor power and charging barge to serve large vessels both dockside and at anchor. The barge is designed to deliver 7 megawatts of continuous, methanol-generated power.

November 2022

A new action plan, launched by United Nations organizations, shipowners and unions, set out recommendations to upskill seafarers to meet shipping’s decarbonization goals. The plan is in response to findings from new research, the modeling of which cautioned that as many as 800,000 seafarers will require additional training by the mid-2030s.

Bollinger Shipyards announced that it had completed its acquisition of VT Halter Marine Inc. and ST Engineering Halter Marine Offshore. 

October 2022

To advance its zero-emissions goals, the Port of Long Beach joined the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems, a public-private partnership formed to help capture newly available federal funding to assist in developing a renewable hydrogen market in California.

The Massachusetts Port Authority celebrated the completion of critical infrastructure projects as part of a nearly $850 million plan to dredge the Port of Boston and enhance its cargo-handling capabilities. 

September 2022

The U.S. Maritime Administration launched a 16-month study exploring low carbon options for shipping on the Great Lakes. The research group, led by the International Council on Clean Transportation in partnership with the American Bureau of Shipping and the Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers, was formed to conduct the study.

Petroleum products and shipments of U.S. grain continued to lead the way in August on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system, with 3.46 million tons of cargo moved. For the 2022 shipping season through the end of August, Great Lakes-Seaway shipping reached nearly 19.2 million tons. 

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding broke ground on a new 19,000-square-foot machine shop at its Sturgeon Bay, Wi. shipyard. The new 300-foot-long building will feature two overhead cranes capable of lifting 5 and 30 tons, respectively.

August 2022

The American Bureau of Shipping verified the design of the Foss harbor tug Rachael Allen outfitted with the system with Sea Machines Robotics’ SM300 autonomy system.

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the American Bureau of Shipping a contract to research barriers to the adoption of advanced nuclear propulsion on commercial vessels. The $800,000 research project was commissioned by the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy