Uncategorized – Page 36 – Professional Mariner

28 Feb

Bold Endurance: From heavy lifting to deep-sea plowing

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

Under the blue hull paint, the Russian characters of her original name remain as a faint memory. Just above them the strong white lettering of her new name stands out â€" Bold Endurance. Image Credit: Alan Haig-Brown Built for the Russian navy by Hollming Ltd. of Finland in 1978, the 458-by-66-foot ship began life as a heavy-lift vessel. Purchased…

28 Feb

Seaspan orders eight ships that approach 10,000-TEU barrier

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

Now that Seaspan Container Lines Ltd. has placed orders for containerships capable of carrying almost 10,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), the question arises, "Is there any size limit?" The main engine of one of Seaspan's 8,500-TEU ships under construction by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. The MAN B&W 12-cylinder engine will generate 93,120 hp. Image Credit: Photos courtesy…

28 Feb

Inland waterways industry lobbying to protect trust funds

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

The inland waterways industry and its supporters in Congress have launched a campaign to stop what they consider to be a raid by the Bush Administration on two key trust funds. The administration is eyeing the Inland Waterways Trust Fund and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, both of which have built up substantial unused balances. The administration has proposed a…

28 Feb

U.S. court says Coast Guard has the right to order master to abandon sinking ship

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

A ruling handed down from the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston has granted the U.S. Coast Guard the authority to force a master to abandon ship if, in the judgment of the Coast Guardsmen on scene, the vessel is in imminent peril. That's what happened aboard Northern Voyager, the 144-foot trawler at the center of the lawsuit…

28 Feb

Luther Blount, at 89, can still hit the right notes

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

At Blount Boats in Warren, R.I., owner and founder Capt. Luther H. Blount is surrounded by his history, hobbies and family. Walking to the windows of his modest house on the shipyard grounds, the 89-year-old Blount points out the dock where he learned to swim and the docks being rebuilt along the shipyard's wharf. His grandfather, Willis Blount, ran an…

28 Feb

Queen Mary 2: Built to keep alive the traditions of the great ocean liners

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

Inside the chaotic interior of Queen Mary 2, welding leads and electrical wires were jumbled on deck, while ceilings yet to be welded dripped from the morning's rain. Outside, a half-mile-long section of the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St.-Nazaire, France, was full of massive sections of ships waiting to be joined like a giant Lego set. Halfway down the…

28 Feb

Construction to begin in Germany on large double-enders for BC Ferries

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

British Columbia Ferry Services expects to save about $80 million Canadian (about $66 million U.S.) by building its newest generation of double-ended ferries in Germany. In September 2004, BC Ferries awarded a fixed-price contract worth $325 million ($267 million U.S.) to Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in Germany for three 22,100-gt vessels. Construction is due to begin in the fall of 2006. That…

28 Feb

Made to fit

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

My dad used to walk the boats all the way to Montreal," said Capt. Rob Wheeler. His father, retired Capt. George Wheeler, started as a deck hand on the old Lachine Canal and Great Lakes waterways right after World War II. As the little 250-by-43-foot lake boats moved through the locks, the deck hands acted as line handlers and walked…

28 Feb

Newest Crowley oil barge features dual anchors for use at offshore terminals

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

Crowley Maritime continues to break ground in barge design and equipment with its newest 587-foot articulated tug-barge units, the first of which was christened in April. The 185,000-barrel barge, 650-1, is equipped with dual anchors for use at offshore oil terminals near the California coast. This system was installed at the request of ConocoPhillips, which has chartered the new vessel…

28 Feb

Poor communication causes a close call on the Delaware

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

It was a beautiful, sunny winter afternoon in January 2003 when we arrived at the Mantua Creek anchorage across from the Philadelphia International Airport on the Delaware River. We had towed an empty oil barge down from New York Harbor to load at the Girard Point terminal, but our berth wasn't open. With the light barge alongside the tug, we…