Publication > Professional Mariner – Page 153

06 Mar

MarAd, Navy see their goals align in Marine Highway ship designs

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

When the Maritime Administration (MarAd) unveiled a series of new vessel designs late last year, it promoted them primarily as a way to make the American Marine Highway a reality. But the U.S. Navy has its own interest in the project, as a low-cost way to replace its rapidly aging fleet of sealift ships. And it's splitting the cost of…

06 Mar

Law should require companies to feed mariners a proper diet

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

In the movie Super Size Me, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock eats nothing but fast food for every meal, three meals a day, for a month. It doesn't take long before he, literally, gets sick from the food. By the end of the movie, after a month of eating this drive-thru cuisine, Spurlock has gained 24.5 pounds, has a cholesterol level of…

06 Mar

Hornbeck orders 16 OSVs, boosting confidence in Gulf deepwater outlook

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

In a move that may signal expectations of a comeback in Gulf of Mexico activity, Hornbeck Offshore Services says it will build sixteen U.S.-flagged new-generation offshore supply vessels (OSVs). The 300-class DP-2 OSVs will be Jones Act-compliant. Hornbeck said the new vessels will serve the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Mexico. Hornbeck Offshore says eight of its new vessels…

07 Feb

Port state control inspections aim to protect crews and the environment

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

The conference room table at the Transport Canada office in Vancouver groaned under the weight of books with the IMO imprint. Capt. To For (John) Yeung gestured at the pile and said to me, “I will give you our normal one-week training in two hours.” He proceeded to work through the intricacies of a port state control (PSC) inspection, starting…

25 Jan

New grain carriers to employ air bubbles along hull to reduce friction and save fuel

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

Archer Daniels Midland Co. has ordered three grain carriers that will employ air-bubble technology to decrease hull resistance through the water as a way of cutting fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The air-bubble technology was developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Called the Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System, it reduces friction between a vessel's hull and seawater by means of…

25 Jan

Coast Guard and industry seek to identify promising new oil recovery technologies

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

The U.S. Coast Guard, in cooperation with the maritime industry, is trying to identify promising new methods of cleaning up marine oil spills. The April 2010 blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oilrig — which sent huge volumes of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico for many months — focused the nation on the limitations and shortcoming of existing…

25 Jan

Prototype skimmer holds the potential for more effective cleanup of spilled oil

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

The prototype skimmer that won the million-dollar first prize in the X Prize Foundation's Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge can clean up almost 5,000 gallons of spilled oil a minute with an 89.5 percent recovery rate, both far in excess of the current industry standards. But the team that built it said the commercial skimmer that ultimately emerges will…

25 Jan

Technology may be contributing to a reduction in piracy

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

The good news for the maritime industry is that more and more vendors have begun to bring technological solutions for combating piracy to market — the better news is that they may be paying off. Industry statistics show that pirates seized fewer vessels worldwide last year than in 2010 and held fewer hostages for ransom. The increased presence of…

25 Jan

Spill responders look to Congress for protection from liability suits

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

The nation's spill-response and maritime salvage contractors are organizing a campaign to win additional legal protection for vessel crews who respond to disasters. Lawsuits resulting from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico have revealed an unintended gap in the law that grants immunity to responders who act under the direction of the U.S. government. When it enacted…

25 Jan

U.S. struggles to create icebreaking fleet to maintain Arctic presence

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner

The state of the United State's aging icebreaker fleet has been at a critical point for a decade, yet no action has been taken on a comprehensive plan to replace the vessels. As of early December 2011, there was disagreement on Capitol Hill about what to do with the two current heavy polar icebreakers, Polar Star and Polar Sea, both…