Southern California ports launch ambitious drive to cut air emissions

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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Decision to expand Panama Canal locks should benefit East and Gulf Coast ports

The decision to expand the 92-year-old Panama Canal should provide a major boost to East Coast and Gulf ports, even those that cannot handle post-Panamax vessels. By building locks capable of handling much larger ships, and widening and straightening channels, the Panama Canal Authority will dramatically increase the canal's capacity and allow the transit of vessels up to 1,200 feet…
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New products aim to improve upon life rings

By Dom YanchunasFor Capt. Rory Sheridan and deck hand Paul Monti, it was supposed to be a routine pilot transfer from a bulk freighter in San Francisco Bay. Instead, the two crewmembers of the pilot vessel Golden Gate found themselves in the midst of a frantic water rescue of two men near the anchored ship. A surveyor was transferring from…
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Perseverance prevails, as tugs wiggle Intrepid free of mud

For the tugboat industry, it's one of the most famous towing operations in years. Yet it almost didn't happen--twice. On Dec. 5, McAllister Towing and Transportation Co. successfully delivered the historic USS Intrepid to dry dock in Bayonne, N.J. For the previous 24 years, the World War II-era aircraft carrier had rested at Pier 86 in Manhattan as part of…
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