NASA rocket booster recovery vessel gets new home as Kings Point’s training ship
08 Nov

NASA rocket booster recovery vessel gets new home as Kings Point’s training ship

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner
Midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point will soon be training aboard a modern vessel equipped with state-of-the-art navigational technology, including dynamic positioning systems and advanced towing gear. In an agreement signed in August between the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Maritime Administration (MarAd) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Kings Point received the 176-foot…
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Great Lakes Dredge & Dock orders world’s first ATB dredge
08 Nov

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock orders world’s first ATB dredge

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner, Tugboats & Towing
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. has awarded a $94 million contract to Signal International, of Mobile, Ala., to build the world’s first articulated tug/barge (ATB) dredge. The ATB trailing suction hopper dredge would be the largest of its kind in the United States and the only ATB dredge in the world, according to Signal International. The uniqueness of this…
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New IMO low-sulfur fuel regs creating challenges for vessel operators
08 Nov

New IMO low-sulfur fuel regs creating challenges for vessel operators

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner
As of Aug. 1, 2012, stricter rules took effect for sulfur emissions from ships sailing off the coasts of Canada and the United States. These requirements are part of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) effort to reduce the incidence of sulfur emissions in the North American Emission Control Area (ECA). Sulfur emissions contribute to atmospheric levels of sulfur dioxide, a…
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TugCam’s remote video camera system allows pilots to see what lies ahead
08 Nov

TugCam’s remote video camera system allows pilots to see what lies ahead

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner, Tugboats & Towing
When the Norfolk Tug Co. was assigned the job of relocating a couple of three-story-tall barges for the U.S. Navy, the company foresaw some potential safety problems. Visibility ahead is always an issue for the crew of a tug pushing barges. But in this case, given the height of the barges, the problem would be acute. From the pilothouse, the…
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Linking East Coast cities, McAllister tug does the work of hundreds of trucks
08 Nov

Linking East Coast cities, McAllister tug does the work of hundreds of trucks

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner, Tugboats & Towing
In the wheelhouse of the tug Donal G. McAllister, Capt. David Jurs looked on with admiration as another McAllister tug nudged a large container barge into its berth at the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore. The tug Eileen McAllister had towed the container barge Columbia Elizabeth up the Chesapeake Bay from Norfolk, Va., arriving in Baltimore in late morning following…
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Largest laker runs aground bow-to-stern, blocking St. Marys River
08 Nov

Largest laker runs aground bow-to-stern, blocking St. Marys River

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner
A 1,013-foot self-unloading bulk carrier ran aground and pivoted sideways, becoming stuck on both sides of the St. Marys River channel and blocking a crucial Great Lakes shipping lane for more than a day. Paul R. Tregurtha, the largest ship operating on the Great Lakes, suffered extensive hull damage in the Aug. 15 grounding that was blamed on pilot error.…
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