Publication > Professional Mariner – Page 136

26 Feb

Crew flees just as tugboat capsizes, sinks at N.H. bridge project

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner

A tugboat working on a bridge reconstruction project in Portsmouth, N.H., was caught in a strong current, capsized and sank. The two crewmembers escaped just in time. Benjamin Bailey’s troubles began just after noon on Oct. 24, 2012, said Lt. Nick Barrow of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. The tug, owned by Riverside and Pickering Marine Contractors of Eliot,…

26 Feb

Tender full of people gets stuck on rocks on way back to cruise ship

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner

Almost 100 people needed evacuation when a cruise ship tender struck a rock ledge and ran aground near Bar Harbor, Maine. Tender #12 from the 965-foot Celebrity Summit was transporting 93 passengers and three crewmembers from shore back to the ship when it grounded Oct. 4, 2012. The accident occurred at 1938 about one hour before low tide between Bar…

25 Feb

Lubricant technology helps vessels operate cleanly and efficiently

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

Marine owners and operators need to seize every possible advantage nowadays in a regulatory environment that poses tougher restrictions on pollutants and an economy that demands reducing costs to stay competitive. In recent years, marine lubricants have been developed to help operators meet the challenges of today’s shipboard operating environment. Petroleum-based fluids and lubricants used in shipboard equipment are developed…

20 Feb

Document renewals: Stay alert to changes or pay the price

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner

For decades, unlicensed mariners such as ordinary seamen, able seamen and oilers never had to worry about renewing their merchant mariner document (MMD), since it was issued for life. Officers had to renew their license every five years, and could do so one year before it expired and up to one year after it expired — although they couldn’t work…

23 Jan

LNG receives ringing endorsement from ferry operators

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner, Tugboats & Towing

The two biggest ferry operators in North America are poised to embrace liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative to marine diesel to fuel their fleets. Washington State Ferries, whose vessels carry more passengers than any other operator in North America, expects in the coming years to convert six existing ferries to LNG. And BC Ferries, second in North America…

23 Jan

Texas company designs ATB that can deliver LNG directly to vessels

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner, Tugboats & Towing

Waller Marine of Houston has developed a new concept for an articulated tug barge (ATB) that will bring LNG into smaller ports where there is no LNG infrastructure. The new vessel will allow maritime companies to use LNG as a marine fuel even if they are not located near LNG facilities or existing facilities are too costly. The classification society…

23 Jan

Mariners help with recovery from Hurricane Sandy’s devastation

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

Hurricane Sandy, the killer Northeast superstorm, caused more damage to the region’s maritime industry than any disaster in memory, mariners said. The combined tropical cyclone and nor’easter took dead aim at New York Harbor and closed ports from Florida to southern New England. The Oct. 29-30 landfall beached vessels, demolished piers, flooded quay-side offices and ruined cargo. Two people were…

23 Jan

Pollution responders cleanse beached tanker

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Maritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

When Hurricane Sandy deposited John B. Caddell onto a city street, the tanker became the storm’s first vessel pollution response site. The hull was breached, and fuel spilled into Upper New York Bay. Inside the single-skin vessel, bay-water ingress created an oil-water mix in the engine room. The cocktail of lube oils, residue and seawater filled the interior with several…

23 Jan

Study: Piracy triggering mental-health ailments among mariners

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

Seafarers who have been attacked by pirates suffer stress and trauma that may require professional treatment, according to the results of a three-year medical study. Yet many of those seamen feel they cannot seek help out of concerns of being stigmatized or “blacklisted” from future employment, or because effective mental health care is not available to them. The study, undertaken…

23 Jan

Coast Guard ponders next steps needed before launch of tug inspection program

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner, Tugboats & Towing

The U.S. Coast Guard is nearing a decision on whether the much-anticipated towing vessel inspection regulations need an additional round of public debate or whether a final rule can be proclaimed. Regardless, the next version of the rule is not expected to be published until the second half of 2013 at the earliest. Coast Guard regulators have reviewed almost 1,300…