Professional Mariner – January 2025

Dali companies agree to settle for $103 million to cover response to collapse of Baltimore bridge

In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement with the shipowners and operators of the 984-foot container ship Dali for costs sustained responding to the catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine, the Singaporean corporations that owned and operated Dali, agreed to pay $103,078,056 in civil damages under the…

Dredging industry sees big increase in awards while bidding below government estimates

The American dredging industry saw a 39 percent increase in U.S. Army Corps of Engineer awards between fiscal years 2022-23 amidst a $3 billion investment in construction of new dredges and associated vessels and equipment, according to a Dredging Contractors of America (DCA) report. “The private sector U.S. dredging industry continues to be highly competitive [and] innovative and saves the…

Ships for America Act would bolster US shipbuilding

Bipartisan legislation aimed at revitalizing the United States’ shipbuilding industry and maritime sector may soon be introduced as a bill. As of this writing, the Ships for America Act is a 200-page draft that has yet to be formally submitted into the legislative branch, though the bill has broad bipartisan support. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL) have…

Silverback Marine awarded multimillion-dollar DoD contract for truckable tug

Tacoma-based work-boat builder Silverback Marine will deliver a truckable, twin-azimuth-drive tugboat in 2025 to an as-of-yet undisclosed branch of the Department of Defense. The truckable tug will be just under 26 feet, with a beam of 14 feet, five inches and a draft of 3 feet, 4 inches. Silverback Marine’s goal was to create a tug that can be easily…

Blakeley delivers sixth 70-foot pushboat to Cooper Marine

Blakeley BoatWorks shipyard in Mobile, Al., has delivered its sixth 70-foot-long, 28-foot-wide pushboat to Cooper Marine’s Louisiana operations. Blakeley completed and delivered the Farrell & Norton-designed Hull 107, formally named M/V Claire Ellen, in October 2024. The towboat is fully compliant with the latest United States Coast Guard Subchapter M regulatory requirements. The Blakeley towboat is powered by two Caterpillar…

The first electric hydrofoiling ferry will skim the surface of Lake Tahoe

What’s being called the world’s fastest and longest-range electric vessel will soon go into ferry service on the deep-blue, mountain-ringed waters of Lake Tahoe. The P-12 from Swedish-based company Candela is an almost 40-foot, 30-passenger ferry capable of reaching 25 knots with a range of 40 nautical miles. The vessel will provide north-south service across Lake Tahoe’s 21.75-mile length. Ferry operator FlyTahoe said…

MSC will sideline 17 ships to ease stress on civilian mariners

In late November 2024, Military Sealift Command (MSC) said it would take 17 ships offline in order to ease pressure on civilian mariners. Efforts are also underway to improve mariner recruiting and retention. In August 2024, MSC said that a lack of qualified mariners prompted the command to draft plans to sideline some 13 percent of its approximately 125 vessels.…

After reluctance, maritime industry embraces artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence has become a topic du jour across industries, promising, or threatening — depending on one’s own sense of job security — to upend healthcare, finance, manufacturing, security, education and more by outsourcing some parts of decision-making processes to algorithms that can learn. The maritime industry is increasingly receptive to AI, according to a recent report from Thetius IQ,…

Starlink satellite internet service leads the way in offshore comms, drives operational efficiency, boosts morale

A rising number of recreational, commercial and military vessel owners and operators are rushing to reap the benefits of offshore connectivity using SpaceX’s Starlink service to achieve operational efficiency and overall mariner happiness. In prior decades, vessels relied on very-small-aperture terminals (VSATs) and a two-way satellite ground station to transmit or receive data and voice and video signals via a…

Despite protests from marine industry, California will not delay implementing strict emission standards

With two bills vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this fall, the nation’s strictest emission rules remain in effect for vessels operating in California’s harbors; the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is moving forward with plans to have the rules more widely adopted. In 2020, the governor issued an executive order mandating that CARB update its Commercial Harbor Craft (CHC) requirements…