We recently talked with Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) President James Weakley to get the organization’s perspective on U.S. Great Lakes issues. Marine Log (ML): What is the mission of the Lake Carriers’
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) has awarded $9.5 million in America’s Marine Highway Program grants to eight projects. The funding supports the enhancement of navigable waterways and expands existing
SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 — Highways, roads, and bridges in and around the New York metro area are increasingly clogged with bumper-to-bumper commercial truck and commuter traffic. That’s not news to anyone who
NOVEMBER 24, 2017—Operators are investing in new vessels to keep up with the increasing popularity of river cruising in the U.S. and Europe. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA)—which represents about 95 percent
NOVEMBER 7, 2016 — Federal Maritime Commissioner William P. Doyle has issued a follow-up statement on the Ocean Alliance Vessel Sharing Agreement. On October 21, 2016, the Federal Maritime Commission voted to
OCTOBER 25, 2016—The first four of 15 towboats operated by Impala Terminals Colombia have been converted from oil to water-lubricated tailshaft bearings using Thordon RiverTough bearings and TG100 shaft seal combinations. The
JUNE 8, 2016 — The U.S. marine industry is condemning a measure proposed by Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) that would exempt Puerto Rico from the Jones Act – which requires waterborne cargo
Soon, noon-day reporting from fallible human beings will be a thing of the past. From cradle to grave, a whole new approach to ship efficiency has been made possible by recent advances in IT and data processing. Now, a step change in “always-on” ship connectivity will allow maritime assets to be monitored and managed remotely right round the clock.
As we reported in “Shipping’s Space Age Future” (ML April 2016, p. 37), perhaps the most ambitious project on the go in Europe is the Rolls-Royce-led Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWAI) in which other maritime firms including DNV GL, Inmarsat, Deltamarin and NAPA are also involved. Other participants include top academics from various Finnish universities.
At a project update meeting recently in Helsinki, Rolls-Royce President – Marine, Mikael Makinen declared: “Autonomous shipping is the future of the maritime industry. As disruptive as the smart phone, the smart ship will revolutionize the landscape of ship design and operations.”
Delegates heard that the sensor technology is now sufficiently sound and commercially available so that algorithms required for robust decision-making—the vessel’s virtual captain—are not far away. Now the arrays of sensors are to be tested over the coming months on board Finferries’ 65-meter-long double-ended ferry, Stella.
“Some of the distinct goals of this project are to make a difference in marine safety and energy efficiency,” Päivi Haikkola, Manager, R&D, Deltamarin Ltd., told Marine Log. “We want to mitigate human error.”
Finferries and dry bulk shipping company ESL Shipping Oy are the first ship operators to join the project, which aims to explore ways in which to combine existing communication technologies as effectively as possible for autonomous ship control. Inmarsat’s involvement is key.
The London-listed communications company recently began the roll-out of its new Fleet Xpress service, seen by many as truly a light-bulb moment. Preparing the ground for rapid advances in smart ship operation and crew welfare, the new service now provides always-on high-speed broadband communication between maritime and offshore assets at sea, and shore-based managers. It is the first time that such a service has been available from a single operator.
Fleet Xpress will also facilitate cloud-based applications from third parties with smart systems to raise ship operating efficiency and improve the life-quality of seafarers. For the first time, big data can be used to improve asset management and maintenance.
IT advances have also facilitated a new approach to ship design. Model basins and testing tanks still have their place, of course, but thousands of relatively high-speed computational iterations can measure the relative benefits of small design changes in a way that has not been possible before.
Take the Finnish company Foreship, for example. Its capabilities in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the super-efficient hull forms which it has developed have propelled the company into a position as one of the top ship design consultants to global cruise lines, advising both on newbuilding plans, conversions and retrofits.
In a couple of months, the first of two 4,700 dwt “EcoCoaster” cargo ships is due for delivery to Finland’s Meriaura Group from the Royal Bodewes yard in the Netherlands. Foreship carried out extensive hull optimization work and, as a result, these vessels will burn only about half of the fuel compared to an existing vessel of similar size and class.
Foreship worked with both the owner and Aker Arctic Technology on the ships which will be able to run on biofuel or marine gasoil. Meriaura plans to have at least half of its fleet – currently about 20 ships – based on EcoCoaster designs by 2020. Since ordering the 4,700 dwt units, work has been carried out on larger designs.
Also hailing from Finland is progressive ship design firm Deltamarin. Now a subsidiary of Singapore-listed AVIC International Maritime Holdings Limited and ultimate Chinese ownership, the company’s range of super-efficient B.delta bulk carriers spanning a size range from 28,000 dwt to 210,000 dwt has caught the attention of long-established dry bulk owners including heavyweights such as Algoma, Canada Steamship, Cosco, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Oldendorff.
Of course the catalyst for taking a fresh look at the hull forms which had not changed for decades was the spike in bunker prices. But although the oil price collapse means today’s fuels cost only a fraction of prices two or three years ago, the search for improved economy has developed a momentum of its own, and nowhere is this more obvious than amongst leading propulsion companies, many of which are to be found in Europe.
While big low-speed diesel manufacturers like MAN Diesel & Turbo and Wärtsilä have made huge strides in raising the fuel efficiency of large engines, it is among some of the smaller niche machinery providers where true design innovation is to be found. Electrical power, energy storage and the growing popularity of azimuth thrusters are fiercely fought-after markets. ABB, Rolls-Royce, Steerprop, and Wärtsilä all feature in a market popular with operators of cruise ships, workboats, offshore support vessels and dynamically positioned offshore units of various types.
ABB, for example, recently won a European Marine Engineering Award for its Azipod D electric propulsion system with a power range from 1.6MW to 7MW. Launched last year, the latest Azipod was designed to allow its use on a wider range of ship types. It incorporates various innovative features including a new hybrid cooling system which contributes to a requirement for 25% less installed power and similar fuel savings.
The first cruise ship with Azipod D will be the 16,800 gt Scenic Eclipse being built by Uljanik shipyard in Croatia. The Scenic Eclipse (pictured above) is being built to Polar Class 6 and will operate in the summer waters of the Polar regions when it is delivered in 2018. The 228-passenger ship will have two 3MW Azipods installed.
Meanwhile, ABB recently announced a deal to supply a new electrical power system based on its Onboard DC Grid system for a hybrid car ferry in Norway. Initially the vessel, for Torghatten Trafikkselskap will operate as a hybrid with two battery packs contributing to peak demand. However, the 60-car, 250-passenger vessel can be easily modified to become fully electric in due course by adding 16 battery packs and a shore connection.
For the cruise ship and offshore vessel markets, Wärtsilä recently unveiled the Wärtsilä WTT-40 transverse thruster, which features a 4,000 kW power level and a 3,400 mm diameter controllable pitch propeller. The thruster complies with the U.S. EPA’s latest VGP2013 regulations. It also features integrated hydraulics to save machinery room space and installation and commissioning time in the shipyard.
Meanwhile, last year Steerprop Ltd. landed orders for a total of ten SP25D units to serve as main propulsion for three inland towboats being built for SCF Marine at C&C Marine & Repair, Belle Chasse, LA. The propulsors will be delivered this summer to the shipyard by Karl Senner, LLC., Kenner, LA, the North American distributor for Steerprop. These will be the largest and highest horsepower inland towboats equipped with Z-drives built in North America to date, according to Chris Senner of Karl Senner, LLC. He adds, “It is imperative to consider the harsh conditions of the inland waterways and select a unit suited for the environment, which is why we propose the equivalent of an ice-class rated unit.”
A new generation of much more fuel and operationally efficient newbuilds, however, does nothing for the tens of thousands of existing vessels built before the new wave of design innovation began. But there are a range of initiatives in progress focused on enhancing existing ship efficiency.
Germany’s Becker Marine Systems is a leading light in energy-efficient retrofits and appendages. The company recently signed a deal with Abu Dhabi’s Adnatco to fit some 20 vessels with Becker Mewis Ducts (pictured at right). Rudder modifications and Becker Twisted Fins are also generating a steady pipeline of sales.
Walter Bauer, Sales Director, concedes that sales volume has reduced. But he says that this is partly a result of the dire state of the bulk carrier market. Tanker business, he says, is holding up well.
But what to do with almost-obsolete panamax container ships? Owing to beam constraints, they are generally long and relatively thin, and were mostly built in an era of cheap fuel and fast sailing speeds. They are not particularly efficient from a box-carrying point of view, but are in dire straits today, competing with larger ships and lower slot costs. There are more than 800 such vessels in the world fleet today and well over half are less than 10 years old. They are likely to prove increasingly unpopular with charterers.
Cargo access specialist MacGregor is one of several companies which offers capacity increasing conversions for container ships. By slicing a vessel in half lengthways, a newly constructed midship section can be inserted and stack heights raised by lifting the navigation bridge.
In a similar project, the capacity of the 4,860 TEU MSC Geneva, owned by Reederei NSB, was increased to 6,300 TEU. The five-month widening project, undertaken in close cooperation with Hamburg’s Technology GmbH, was completed at Huaran Dadong Dockyard in China. Through its subsidiary NSB Marine Solutions, Reederei NSB is now offering to assist in similar projects for third parties.
MARCH 17, 2016 — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio yesterday announced that Hornblower, Inc. is to be the operator of the new Citywide Ferry Service, which is on track to
Countless Federal laws govern nearly every aspect of the inland waterways transportation industry, yet the convergence of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Subchapter M impending Final Rule with Internal Revenue Services (IRS) Inland Waterways Excise Tax audit practices might have a more profound, far reaching impact then industry observers have as yet considered. Fortunately, it appears that taxpaying tow & barge operators may come out on top if they take full advantage of this unlikely Federal rulemaking interplay.
Background
The inland waterways constitute a 25,000 shallow-draft transportation system of which 12,000 miles are taxable Inland Waterways. This domestic waterborne transportation system is a prominent fixture in supporting key American industries such as: mining, agriculture, timber, petroleum and chemicals, cement, metal, and paper and allied products. Barging is a highly energy-efficient freighting solution that has historically been safe, congestion free, and creates a low impact land use and low pollution impact footprint. The movement of immense quantities of raw materials at low cost over long distances is the sustaining force of the waterways system. Stretching from Pennsylvania in the Northeast, to Texas in the Deep South, and Minnesota in the Heartland this “waterways highway” is a vital “import & export” network between states and an artery to foreign markets.
The economic impact in terms of product value transported between states on the inland waterways exceeds $100 billion annually. The 70,000 person inland waterways workforce underpins various industries of more than 800,000 workers. States along the inland waterways contribute 54 percent of the national population, 49 percent of GDP, 50 percent of Federal tax revenue, 56 percent of heavy manufacturing jobs, and 61 percent of agricultural jobs. Countless millions of payroll taxes are generated for Federal and State governments as a result of the inland waterways industry. The Inland Waterways Trust Fund has accrued in excess of $1.6 billion from fuel tax revenue since 1986 and is a catalyst for major construction and rehabilitation projects on the inland waterways.
Subchapter M is the result of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 (CGMTA 2004) in which Congress authorized the Secretary of Homeland Security to create regulations for towing vessel safety management systems and hours of service for towing vessel personnel. The Towing Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC), a Federal Advisory committee to the United States Coast Guard comprised of a broad spectrum of interested parties in the inland waterways industry, established a working group to assist USCG in framing the rules required under CGTMA 2004. Over the course of six years TSAC conducted numerous public meetings that culminated in four TSAC reports submitted to USCG for review and revision. USCG published the Subchapter M Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in August 2011 and held four public hearings nationwide for public comment. Publication of the Sub Chapter M Final Rule is anticipated in 2016.
Objective Evidence
Objective evidence is best defined as documented statements of fact, other information or records, both quantitative and qualitative, related to the quality of an item or activity, based on observations, measurements, or verifiable tests.
The 2011 NPRM publication set forth the U.S. Coast Guard’s intent to adopt “objective evidence” as a safety requirement through “…detailed processes, procedures, recordkeeping and auditing…” documented in “logbooks, non-conformity reports, and/or other reports of audits.”
The Internal Revenue Service applies accounting’s “Objective Evidence” standard when conducting audits of towing operators for compliance with the Inland Waterways Excise Tax as reported on IRS Form 720. A typical IRS Information Document Request (IDR) to an inland towing operator will include the vessel log, fuel purchases, maintenance records, machinery tech manuals, and fuel operating reports.
Workboat eLogs
Federal law details what entries must be made by watch officers in the vessel’s official logbook. TSAC, in a 2008 report to USCG, reinforced existing recordkeeping requirements for inland towing operators and expanded upon the increased recordkeeping burden Sub Chapter M rules will likely have from a watch officer perspective. Although Federal law does not require log entries related to geographic position, waterway conditions, or commercial activities, it does require the logging of pre-departure testing of steering & propulsion, safety items & drills, crew, and marine casualties. Log entries must be timely and are presumed accurate thus binding the vessel owner to those entries. Negating the binding effect in litigation is held to a rigorous test. The maintenance of a proper and accurate log cannot be over-emphasized as the consequences for poor onboard recordkeeping can be legally and financially catastrophic to a marine operator.
Appreciating the increased onboard recordkeeping burden Subchapter M posed, the U.S. Coast Guard provided for the automation of the onboard recordkeeping processes through definition of a towing vessel record, or workboat eLog, in Part A Section 136.110 of the NPRM. This definition allows any onboard recordkeeping or documentation of events required by Subchapter M to be “a book, notebook, or electronic record”. Thus, according to the NPRM, inland towing operators have the advantage of adopting workboat eLogs as a primary recordkeeping tool.
Workboat eLogs and Marine Enterprise Solutions
While the presence of an onboard workboat eLog offers considerable advantage to watch officers and onboard auditors, it is only through the integration of the eLog with a shoreside marine enterprise solution that its benefits can be fully realized. The ability to “push” onboard data shoreside for interrogation by various marine enterprise solution modules offers an unlimited variety of analytical models for decision makers to consider.
The two distinct audit report functions of safety (USCG) and accounting (IRS) are easily achievable within the framework of a mature, interfaced onboard/shoreside recordkeeping solution. Of course, affordability, scalability, ease of user interface, system stability, and system configurability play an irreversible role in the success of a mature marine enterprise solution. It should also be noted that the presence of Key Performance Indicator data pushed by eLogs to the marine enterprise solution and applied to an industry best practices regime can only improve asset utilization, workforce performance, and customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
The unintended opportunities facing inland waterway operators by opting into the Subchapter M onboard electronic recordkeeping options in lieu of manual recordkeeping are hard to contest. These options are greatly enhanced if the marine operator also elects to interface office accounting, safety, and personnel functions with the vessel as part of a shoreside marine enterprise solution.
Adopting a software architecture and infrastructure where the marine operator can satisfy the reporting requirements of a multitude of Federal agencies (USCG, USACOE, IRS, EPA) through a single electronic reporting system which also provides critical commercial data to the carrier, clients, vendors, and other interested third parties offers immeasurable value.
