Publication > Professional Mariner – Page 72

31 Aug

Coast Guard ruling extends uncertainty over treatment of ballast water

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner

The latest U.S. Coast Guard decision on ballast water management systems (BWMS) leaves vessel owners in uncertain waters. In May, the Coast Guard issued the results of a review to determine if technology existed to achieve a significant improvement in ballast water treatment efficacy. The Coast Guard determined that “there are no data demonstrating that ballast water management systems can…

31 Aug

Great Lakes officials: Economy at risk without second Poe-sized lock

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner

Officials throughout the Great Lakes are intensifying their call for the federal government to approve a second large lock at Sault Ste. Marie, citing potential economic devastation if the need goes unmet. Approximately 75 million metric tons of cargo traverse the locks at Sault Ste. Marie annually. All vessels funnel through one of two locks at the confluence of Lake…

31 Aug

Quality control failures at Lockheed contributing to LCS delivery delays

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner

Two of three quality control failures in Lockheed Martin’s production of littoral combat ships have yet to be resolved, contributing to delivery delays in the $29 billion program. In May, June and July of 2015, the U.S. Navy’s supervisor of shipbuilding issued a corrective action request citing shortcomings at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine yard in Wisconsin, where Lockheed Martin is…

31 Aug

Senate panel OKs funding for new Coast Guard icebreaker, three LCS

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner

Funding for the first new U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker in 27 years and three more littoral combat ships (LCS) are among recommendations from the Senate Appropriations Committee for fiscal year 2017. The committee has set aside $1 billion for the icebreaker, with construction to begin in 2020, according to Coast Guard budget documents. The Coast Guard estimates that $147 million…

31 Aug

Towing industry enters new inspection era under Subchapter M

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner

After a 12-year process, Subchapter M, the federal regime for the inspection of the nation’s towing vessels, is now law. Now a new chapter begins. Owners and operators have up to six years from July 20 to meet the requirements of Subchapter M as it is phased in. But in order for all vessels to get a dry-dock inspection from…

31 Aug

Subchapter M highlights the need to embrace innovative tech

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner

Subchapter M has raised three distinct technology issues that we now wrestle with and will continue to grapple with over the next several years. Electronic recordkeeping, big data and cybersecurity are the hinges of a door that is only now beginning to open in the inland towing industry. These technological innovations have the potential of exercising an enormous influence not…

31 Aug

Crowley tugs keep pace at bustling LA/Long Beach

Professional Mariner StaffPublication > Professional Mariner, Tugboats & Towing

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach kept Crowley Maritime’s fleet of four tugs busy last spring, with each vessel conducting 110 to 120 ship moves per month. “We are above average right now,” said Ryan Stirewalt, Crowley’s port captain in San Pedro on Los Angeles Harbor’s Main Channel. “We’re getting so busy here and in San Diego that…

31 Aug

Search for answers in El Faro disaster turns to VDR recovery

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner

His stricken ship battered by wind and waves, one can picture El Faro Capt. Michael Davidson struggling to manage an increasingly tense situation. Over wailing alarms, he no doubt gave orders, received updates over radio and perhaps made announcements over the intercom. El Faro’s voyage data recorder, currently some 15,000 feet below the surface, likely caught some of these discussions…

31 Aug

Bulker aground for a week after hitting charted Lake Superior reef

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner

The 833-foot laker Roger Blough was downbound in Lake Superior when it struck a reef near Sault Ste. Marie. The ship remained there for a week, with its bow hard aground in Canadian waters and its stern floating in the United States. The U.S.-flagged ship’s forward section ran onto Gros Cap Reef, which marks the eastern edge of the shipping…

31 Aug

‘Old school’ mate’s delay with autopilot cited in Gulf platform strike

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner

Improper lookout and a crewman’s lack of fluency with the autopilot system were leading factors in an allision last year in the Gulf of Mexico that ignited an unmanned drilling platform, according to federal investigators. Connor Bordelon, a 257-foot offshore supply vessel, was traveling back to Port Fourchon, La., from the deepwater oil fields when it struck the platform South…