02 Mar

Shipboard fire fighting – water makes a comeback

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Maritime News

High velocity water sprays combined with low water discharge rates are changing the way shipboard fires are fought. The eruption of a fuel fire in the engine room of the cruise ship Nordic Empress (see sidebar) was controlled and extinguished expeditiously because of the swift activation of a water mist system designed to protect shipboard machinery spaces. This is the…

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01 Mar

‘Super-rust’ in Castor leads to calls for more stringent inspections

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Maritime News

The plating of the oil tanker Castor corroded up to seven times faster than normal, causing massive cracks across its deck that put the ship at risk of explosion or a hull rupture, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has determined. The cracking in the deck of Castor, a 600-foot tanker, sent an alarm through the industry. The rapid corrosion…

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28 Feb

Integrating AIS with other bridge electronics

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Tugboats & Towing

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) was originally conceived as a safety and navigation aid for ships at sea. Mandated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and implemented and enforced by member states, AIS provides information otherwise unavailable to a crew. AIS transponders act as conduits for information about a vessel, gathering both dynamic data about a ship, such as position,…

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28 Feb

When a cylinder fails, engineers still keep ship on schedule

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News

Patrick McCormack's routine as the first engineer aboard the 750-foot containership Horizon Anchorage cracked at 0800 hours. "When I came into the engine room, I could smell engine-cooling water," said McCormack. Horizon Anchorage on its way north from Tacoma, Wash.    Image Credit: Brian Gauvin "If you're smelling water, you go to the main engine. It jumped right out. It…

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28 Feb

Z-drive barge extends life of single-screw tug

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News

Marcon International recorded 441 tugs for sale worldwide in its July 2004 market report. Of these, 162 were still single-screw boats. A number of innovative companies have found ways to upgrade and use these vessels in contemporary situations. The barge can carry up to 54 trailers.    Image Credit: Alan Haig-Brown In some cases, where the hull has enough beam,…

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28 Feb

Lightweight carbon-fiber drive shafts becoming common on U.S. tractor tugs

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News

The rest of the world has baseball bats, bicycles, skis and sailing yachts made either all or in part from carbon-fiber materials. Now the age of carbon fiber is finally making its way down into the machinery spaces of American tugboats. As of this year, about a half dozen U.S. tug companies are using carbon-fiber shafts — each weighing about…

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28 Feb

East Coast docking pilots increasingly coming under state regulation

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News

When a foreign ship arrives at the sea buoy of a West Coast port, direction of the vessel passes to a state-licensed pilot who navigates the vessel into the harbor and then brings the vessel alongside the dock with the assistance of tugs. In most cities on the East and Gulf coasts, however, federally licensed docking pilots take the conn…

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28 Feb

2004 Plimsoll Awards won by Mississippi river pilot, Coast Guard R&D Center for support of AIS

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Tugboats & Towing

The editors of Professional Mariner have presented the Plimsoll Awards for 2004 to Capt. Douglas J. Grubbs of the Crescent River Port Pilots' Association and to the U.S. Coast Guard's Research and Development Center in Groton, Conn. Grubbs and the R&D Center were honored for their work in developing automatic identification system technology and promoting its acceptance by mariners. Rear…

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28 Feb

New federal law requires inspection of towing vessels

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News

Towing vessels will be required to undergo U.S. Coast Guard inspection as a result of new legislation that is expected to have a profound effect on the industry. C.F. Campbell is a 4,000-hp ocean-capable tug built in 1975 by Halter Marine. Over 5,000 tugs in the United States will be subject to U.S. Coast Guard inspection as a result of…

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27 Feb

Southern California ports launch ambitious drive to cut air emissions

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News

Harbor craft and oceangoing vessels will soon run cleaner at America's two biggest ports. The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have agreed on a joint five-year program to reduce smog in Southern California. The San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan will require ships, trucks, trains and cargo handlers to reduce diesel emissions, and…

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