Search Results for: container shipping

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ABB announces turbocharger essay contest winners

On November 16, 1905 Swiss engineer Alfred Büchi patented the world’s first turbocharger for BBC, the precursor company of today’s ABB. Today, turbochargers are deployed across the globe in ships, locomotives, freight vehicles, heavy construction equipment and agricultural machinery, and in generating sets and power stations. More than 200,000 ABB turbochargers are in daily use to raise power output, lower emissions, cut fuel consumption and, ultimately, save money.

The competition, which was judged by three engineers from ABB Turbocharging Baden, required entrants to write a 750-1,250 word essay on the development of turbocharger technology and the key drivers for further technological progress in the future. Participants were also asked the challenging question: “How much would a pair of sneakers made in the U.S. and shipped to Switzerland cost if shipped without a turbocharged container vessel?”

ABB has named Charles Stuart from Ballycastle in Northern Ireland as the overall winner of the competition’s $2,500 first prize essay. His entry on “How 110 Years of Turbocharging Changed the World’ brought to life the critical impact turbocharging has had on engine development in general, and on shipping efficiency and costs in particular. Charles is a 24-year-old Ph.D. student researching compressor aerodynamics and 1-D design tools at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Second prize, worth $1,500, has been awarded to Anton Ronquist, also 24 years old, a mechatronics Masters student at Linköping University.Petr Kohout, a 24-year old mechanical engineering Masters student at Czech Technical University in Prague specializing in combustion engines, won the third prize, worth $1,000.

ABB has also awarded ten consolation prizes to runners-up in the contest.

Volkmar Haueisen, ABB’s Head of Research and Development, commented: “We are delighted that our essay competition attracted so many participants in this important year in ABB’s turbocharger timeline. The quality of their entries has been very high. Our wholehearted congratulations go to Charles whose entry was, in our opinion, outstanding. What Alfred Büchi invented more than a century ago has developed into a truly transformational technology which has played a vital part in raising engine efficiency for more than one hundred years. Millions of tonnes of fuel and harmful emissions have been saved. Charles’ entry reflects these remarkable achievements.”

Entrants to the competition may have wrestled with answering the question on sneakers, but they had no shortage of material to include from over 100 years of continuously evolving turbocharger technology.
Some of the key milestones include:

  • 1920 – first turbocharged airplane reaches 33,000 feet
  • 1925 – first marine turbochargers introduced to the market
  • 1954 – first compact units launched for use in freight trucks
  • 1973 – turbochargers became standard on all diesel vehicles as a result of the oil crisis
  • 2010 – Power2 launched, a two-stage turbocharging system raising efficiency by another 10%
  • 2015 – MSC Oscar, one of the world’s largest containerships, achieves a 75% increase in energy efficiency and a 62% reduction in fuel consumption and emissions through its ABB turbocharger installations

“This has been a fantastic record of continuous development in a technology with no downside. Turbochargers only improve performance,” Mr. Haueisen said. “Our research team is now fully focused on the science relating to the next stage of technological development. We are proud to be the pioneers of this outstanding technology.”

Download the winning essay HERE

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Big Data: Connecting and merging the dots

 

Yet, the requirements and demands put upon naval architects and shipyards can sometimes feel worlds away from the day-to-day operation of vessels. The challenge of crews having different priorities and needs from their shore-based counterparts has also been well documented. So what can be done to draw these different groups together?

Years of experience in providing both ship design software to yards and onboard performance monitoring solutions that report in real-time to shore based offices, gives NAPA an interesting umbrella perspective. We have seen how sometimes the day-to-day demands on each of these industry segments, and regulations they are working to, can pull them each in different directions. But we can also see that, on the whole, their end goal is fundamentally the same – safe, efficient and productive vessels that serve both their owner and the wider supply chain.

Increasing visibility and understanding between each of these vital functions and helping each to understand their own contribution to the whole, and how it impacts and relates to work in other sectors, will be increasingly vital as the industry evolves technologically and comes under greater environmental scrutiny. With the advent of big data, better tools to analyze it and improved systems to share it, this is quickly becoming more feasible.

Yards face increasing regulatory pressures that require internal validation as well as increased communication and data sharing with class societies. Tools and data interfaces are rapidly developing to make this a streamlined part of the vessel design process and deliver an easy shift from design terminals to construction plans for yards. But, by far the most interesting progress that data can help deliver is designing for real-world vessel performance. Until recently, yards designed vessels to meet the required sea-trial performance parameters – and sea-trial data confirming whether or not that aim was achieved was the only performance information they were provided with.

However, sea trial conditions rarely reflect those faced during real-world vessel transits and expected performance often doesn’t match with real experiences. Until now, that real world information never got back to the yard. The sea trial data was all they had to go on, so they were never able to identify these anomalies and correct them to deliver high-performance vessels for real conditions.

Performance monitoring tools have been in use for many years to collect this data for ship owners and operators. With an added layer of analysis it is now turned it into usable information for both shore-based offices and vessel crews to manage vessels in real time. More advanced performance monitoring and optimization tools like ClassNK-NAPA GREEN provide further big data analytics, combining weather, speed positioning and route data with measured vessel data to enable a true view of efficiency. It presents users with actionable information about each vessel and the fleet as a whole.

Our question was: Why could access to this data not be extended to the yard that designed and built the vessel? This is one of the things we have been trialling as we enhance and continue to build on the success of ClassNK-NAPA GREEN. With agreement from all parties, designers are being given access to efficiency data from the ships that are now in operation. This joined up approach to data sharing will help to drive the entire industry towards common goals.

That is just one example of how big data can change the way we work and how greater transparency could open up pathways for improvement across the industry. But big data—in fact any data—is only relevant when it responds to a businesses specific needs. This business intelligence can be anything a business needs to know to improve or develop its operations, but ultimately you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Stena Line’s Energy Saving Program (ESP) has excellently demonstrated this ongoing management. Since 2005, it has been adjusting vessel operations as well as testing other efficiency solutions using data analytics to evaluate fuel-saving effectiveness and ROI. In that time Stena has adopted changes ranging from bulbous-bow removal to energy-conserving window films. With ClassNK-NAPA GREEN installed on 24 vessels for day-to-day performance optimization, the ESP has resulted in $17 million in savings to date.

Equally, even with measurement in place, sometimes it can be difficult to know what to manage if you don’t ask the right questions. That’s where ongoing storage for historical big data analysis can be incredibly beneficial. For example, one major cruise line had been collecting data with onboard performance management and optimization systems since 2006 but it was only fairly recently that they wanted to ascertain the cost-benefit relationship of waiting for late passengers.

After analysis on the waiting time and period of increased speed to the next destination held in the existing data it was discovered that the current policies were costing tens of millions of dollars every year. This resulted in a policy change across the cruise line’s business.

Sometimes it’s a combination of the two that results in the greatest benefit. Real-time measurement of current performance when compared against data benchmarks of normal vessel operation allows easy identification of underperforming systems. For example, after minutes reviewing the real-time analytics for a container vessel, Class NK-NAPA Green identified that the hull needed cleaning. Once actioned, this cleaning reduced the vessel’s monthly fuel expenditure by $60,000.

The common element to each of these examples and ways of working is big data and a willingness to share that data to reach a common goal. Whether it’s to give yards the knowledge they need to design for real-world efficiency or simply to manage vessel maintenance, effective implementation of the right questions and powerful tools that can help you answer them can have a real impact. Applied wisely, transparently and collectively, big data can better connect us and support us all in delivering a more productive, efficient and safer future for shipping.

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Construction of new Shanghai Wartsila factory begins

 

After the ground breaking ceremony, CWEC signed strategic cooperation agreements with the Hudong Zhonghua and Shanghai Waigaoqia (SWS) shipyards. It also signed a Letter of Intent ]with SWS for the delivery in 2017 of Wärtsilä Auxpac 32 generating sets for three large container vessels being built at the shipyard.

The CWEC joint venture was established in July 2014 for the manufacture of medium and large bore, medium speed, diesel and dual-fuel Wärtsilä engines. The new factory will be the first in China capable of producing locally large bore medium speed diesel and dual-fuel engines. By being able to produce and deliver locally, the new joint venture will provide CSSC Group and other Chinese shipyards with closer access to the Wärtsilä range of engines with the benefits of faster delivery times and competitive pricing. Wärtsilä’s share of the joint venture is 49 percent.

Products to be manufactured at the new facility will include the Wärtsilä 26, Wärtsilä 32, Wärtsilä 34DF, and Wärtsilä 46F engines, the first of which are expected to be ready for delivery in 2016. The production capacity is planned at 180 engines per year.

“It is an honor and a privilege to celebrate this latest milestone in our joint venture journey. By combining the strengths of our two companies; CSSC’s strong capabilities as the number one ship builder in China and Wärtsilä’s industry leading technologies, we can together make an important difference in today’s challenging global marine market,” said Roger Holm, Senior Vice President, Engines, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.

This is an important occasion for the shipping industry in China. The new factory will produce state-of-the-art marine engines that will serve our customers with value adding efficiencies. We are pleased to cooperate with Wärtsilä in this exciting joint venture,” said Wu Qiang, President of CSSC.

The CWEC joint venture will target the offshore and LNG markets in particular, both of which are growing significantly in China. It will also serve the large container vessel segment.

  • News

Concept LNG fueled mega box ship would be COGAS electric

The partners in the study — LNG containment system specialist GTT, containership operator CMA CGM (and its subsidiary CMA Ships) and classification society DNV GL — say the concept that has the potential to offer a more efficient, more flexible and greener box ship design than current 20,000 TEU two-stroke diesel engine driven ultra large container vessels.

They have dubbed the vessel the “Piston Engine Room Free Efficient Containership” (PERFECt).

Essentially, the concept ship takes advantage of the flexibility of electric drive to use space previously occupied by the main to carry cargo, more than offsetting the extra volume required by the LNG fuel tanks in comparison with conventional HFO tanks.

A comprehensive analysis with the DNV GL COSSMOS tool simulated components of the power production and propulsion system to analyze the COGAS system, making it possible to get detailed data for the calculation of the overall fuel efficiency for a complete round voyage.

Using a global FEM analysis, the project partners also evaluated the impact of the changes that were made to the general arrangement.

The two 10,960 cu.m LNG fuel tanks are located below the deck house, giving the vessel enough fuel capacity for an Asia/Europe round trip.

With the gas and steam turbines integrated at deck level within the same deck house as the tanks, space normally occupied by the conventional engine room can be used to increase cargo capacity significantly.

The dissociation of electric power generation from electric propulsion allows the electric power plant to be moved away from the main propulsion system, giving a great deal of flexibility. In fact, say the partners “an engine room is not needed any more.”

The three electric main motors, which are arranged on one common shaft, can be run fully independently of each other providing increased redundancy and reliability and a high level of safety.

With gas turbine-driven power production utilizing a very clean fuel as well as electric propulsion, the ship’s machinery systems will be simplified and more robust. This approach is also expected to lead to new maintenance strategies, already common practice in aviation, that would enable shipping companies to reduce the ship’s engine crew and save costs.

The study also suggests that optimizing the power plant through minimizing the steam turbine size, reducing power capacities, condenser cooling, and using a two-stage pressure steam turbine and steam generator will increase the system’s efficiency further. The next phase of the study aims to optimize the propulsion system and ship design to attain even greater efficiency and increased cargo capacity.

THE PRICE TAG

As part of the analysis, costs for additional and reduced systems to the base case ship (CMA CGM’s 20,000 TEU Marco Polo) were considered.Additional costs included:
ƒƒ

  • membrane tanks,
  • gas and steam turbines,
  • fuel gas handling, and
  • structural reinforcements (needed as there is no aft engine casing).

Costs that could be eliminated or reduced in compared to the two-stroke engine system included:ƒƒ

  • scrubber, which is eliminated,
  • cooling system capacity, which is reduced and the system simplified, and
  • ƒƒHFO treatment or tank heating, which is not needed.

At the end, the CAPEX (capital expenditure) for the COGAS ship are seen as being to be 20% to 24% above those for a conventionally-fueled vessel.

The OPEX (operating expenditure) costs largely depend on the difference in fuel price, the additional income related to the additional containers which can be transported and the savings related to a possibly higher system efficiency.

On the basis of the current gas price in Europe, which is nearly the same as the HFO price a business case in comparison with a two stroke ship using HFO plus scrubber as a reference therefore “needs compensation either by a larger difference between gas and LNG price or by additional benefits from efficiency improvement and additional revenue from additional container slots.”

Still, the partners say that the results of the feasibility study, including the CAPEX and OPEX calculations, encourage them to plan a more detailed evaluation of the overall system in a follow-up project.

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APL in $9.8 million False Claims Act settlement

Scottsdale, AZ, based APL is a wholly-owned American subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Limited.

The Department of Defense contract required APL to affix a satellite tracking device to each shipping container transported from Karachi, Pakistan to U.S. military bases in Afghanistan when the Department of Defense (DOD) requested the tracking services.

The United States alleges that APL billed the DOD for tracking services despite knowing that the tracking devices completely or partially failed to transmit data, or were not affixed to shipping containers. The government also claims that APL attached a single satellite tracking device to two shipping containers despite being required to affix one device to every container.

“Today’s settlement demonstrates our commitment to ensure that contractors doing business with the military perform their contracts honestly,” said Principal Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to ensure that there are appropriate consequences for those who knowingly fail to live up to their bargain and misuse taxpayer funds.”

“Thanks to the collaborative efforts of many U.S. law enforcement professionals, APL is today being held accountable for their actions,” said Director Frank Robey of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit.

“I applaud all those responsible for their continued pursuit of those who attempt to take advantage of the U.S. military through false claims for services that were not provided.

The settlement with APL was the result of a coordinated effort among the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch; the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California, Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit; DOD’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command and DOD’s Defense Contract Audit Agency.

The Justice Department notes that the claims resolved by the civil settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

Great Lakes Shipyard holds a double celebration

The sponsor of the Commissioning Ceremony was Karen W. Penale, Real Estate Administrator – Western Region, New York Power Authority – Niagara Project.
Breaking the traditional bottle of champagne, she declared “I name this tugboat Joncaire II. May God bless here and all who will sail on her.”

Joncaire II and its sister vessel will be used to service winter operations at the Niagara Power Plant in Buffalo, NY. They will augment and replace aging vessels that are used for the installation, removal, and maintenance of the Lake Erie-Niagara River Ice Boom and for various associated marine construction projects.

Construction for the first tug began last April. The second tug is scheduled for delivery in late-2017.

The new tugs are specially reinforced with heavy stems and shell reinforcement for operations in seasonal ice. The design of the conventional drive tugs includes elevated pilothouses for improved visibility when maneuvering and a spacious work deck aft to facilitate ice boom connections.

In 2010, Great Lakes Shipyard built the New York Power Authority’s new 80′ x 34′ Ice Boom Operations Barge, which incorporates a Terex 80-ton pedestal mounted lattice boom crane.

KEEL LAYING

The tug commissioning was followed by a separate ceremony, marking the keel laying of a new 3,400 H.P. tugboat to be built for Regimen de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Personal de la Empresa Portuaria Quetzal, Guatemala, Central America. Representing the owner at the ceremony was Eduardo De Jesus Paiz Lemus, Presidente Junta Administrador.

Congresswoman Marcy C. Kaptur, U.S. Representative of the 9th District of Ohio, the principal speaker, commended the Company indicating that “We are fortunate to have a company like Great Lakes – their industry is the gift that keeps on giving. They are [through their education programs] passing on skills to the next generation, who will keep this country great.”

Congresswoman Kaptur also paid compliments to the company’s team – paying special recognition to Ronald C. Rasmus, President of the Great Lakes Group.

She highlighted the significance of the achievement, “To create here, in the heart of America, a shipyard; a place that faces global competition every day, is no small achievement. It is extraordinary. Look at all of the suppliers that benefit from your efforts.”

The tugboat is being built under a contract awarded this August. It will be another of the company’s HandySize Class 3,400 HP twin-screw tugboats and will be used for harbor towing operations in Puerto Quetzal; a growing commercial cargo, container, and cruise port on the Pacific coast of Guatemala.

The buyer, Regimen de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Personal de la Empresa Portuaria, is a pension benefits plan for port employees and retirees who operate a commercial tugboat service in the port under a Port Authority franchise for the purpose of ensuring future retirement benefits.

Representing the Regimen at the ceremony was Eduardo De Jesus Paiz Lemus, Presidente Junta Administrador, who inscribed his signature on the keel plate declaring that “The keel has been truly and fairly laid.”

The HandySize Class tug was designed by Jensen Naval Architects & Marine Engineers, Seattle, WA.

Set for delivery next year, the tug is specifically designed for harbor work and coastal towing. It is 74-feet long with a beam of 30 feet, and a design draft of 11.5 feet. It is to be built to American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) standards and its Cummins QSK-50 main diesel propulsion engines, each rated at 1700 BHP@ 1600 rpm meet US EPA Tier III emission regulations delivering superior fuel economy, durability, and reliability.

In recognition of the significant achievement for a U.S. domestic shipyard in competitively concluding a foreign sale, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration and the U.S. Embassy, Guatemala City, was represented at the ceremony by Antonio Prieto, Sr. Trade Specialist, who was credited by the company with facilitating the transparent negotiations and sale.

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LNG fuel tanks installed in first Crowley ConRo

Another important milestone was marked last week, with the installation of three LNG fuel tanks in the first ship.

The double-walled, stainless steel tanks – which are 110 feet in length and 20.6 feet in diameter – weigh 225 metric tons and will hold more than enough LNG fuel for two round-trip voyages between the vessel’s future ports of call, Jacksonville, FL, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“While we are all excitedly watching these ships take shape, we are particularly proud of the role we, as a company, are playing to bring the most modern, technologically advanced and environmentally friendly ConRo ships in the world to the Jones Act market of Puerto Rico,” said Tom Crowley, company chairman and CEO. “There are no other ships of their kind being built anywhere else in the world today, and they are being constructed right here at home – in the United States of America. Having that shipbuilding capability here is essential to our national defense and an important reason we as a country need the Jones Act to be maintained and strengthened.”

Crowley’s two Jones Act ConRo ships, which will be named El Coquí (ko-kee) and Taíno (tahy-noh), are are scheduled for delivery second and fourth quarter 2017 respectively.

“It’s very impressive to see these new state-of-the-art Commitment Class ships take shape,” said John Hourihan, senior vice president and general manager, Puerto Rico services. “Seeing those LNG tanks being placed into El Coquí really resonates with me because we are setting a new standard for environmentally responsible shipping.”

The Commitment Class ships have been designed to maximize the carriage of 53-foot, 102-inch-wide containers, which offer the most cubic cargo capacity in the trade.

The ships will be 219.5 meters long, 32.3 meters wide , have a deep draft of 10 meters, and an approximate deadweight capacity of 26,500 metric tonnes. Cargo capacity will be approximately 2,400 TEUs (20-foot-equivalent-units), with additional space for nearly 400 vehicles in an enclosed Ro/Ro garage.

Each ship will be powered by an MAN B&W 8S70ME-GI8.2 main engine and three MAN 9L28/32DF auxiliary engines, all fueled by LNG .

The ship design is provided by Wartsila Ship Design in conjunction with Crowley subsidiary Jensen Maritime.

ceowleyLNG vert

NASSCO delivers world’s first LNG fueled box ship

With the tragic loss of the TOTE ship El Faro still weighing heavily on the whole American maritime community, the delivery was not greeted with the celebrations that would normally mark an achievement of this magnitude.

 

The ship is the first delivered under a two-ship contract signed in December 2012 with TOTE. The two 764-foot long Marlin Class containerships will be the largest dry cargo ships fueled by LNG.

“Successfully building and delivering the world’s first LNG-powered containership here in the United States for coastwise service demonstrates that commercial shipbuilders, and owners and operators, are leading the world in the introduction of cutting-edge, green technology in support of the Jones Act,” said Kevin Graney, vice president and general manager of General Dynamics NASSCO.

The shipbuilder says the delivery is the result of a successful collaboration between industry and regulatory bodies. TOTE, NASSCO, the American Bureau of Shipping, and the U.S. Coast Guard worked hand-in-hand from the beginning of the project to the delivery of the Isla Bella. This included collaboration during the design approval, construction and commissioning the ship to safely and effectively operate on natural gas.

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NTSB issues preliminary report on El Faro investigation

Both ships were built at Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock in Chester, PA. The El Faro was delivered in 1975 and the El Yunque in 1976

At a final on-scene briefing in Jacksoville, FL, on October 8,  NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr, stressed that the NTSB investigation is still at the fact gathering stage.

Yesterday, NTSB issued its preliminary report on its investigation.

The agency says the information in the report is preliminary and will be supplemented or corrected during the course of the investigation.

Following is the text of the preliminary report:

On Thursday, October 1, 2015, about 07:15 a.m. eastern daylight time, the US Coast Guard received distress alerts from the 737-foot-long roll-on/roll-off cargo ship El Faro. The US-flagged ship, owned by Sea Star Line, LLC, and operated by TOTE Services (TOTE), was 36 nautical miles northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas, and close to the eye of Hurricane Joaquin. The ship was en route from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a cargo of containers and vehicles. Just minutes before the distress alerts, the El Faro master had called TOTE’s designated person ashore and reported that the ship was experiencing some flooding. He said the crew had controlled the ingress of water but the ship was listing 15 degrees and had lost propulsion. The Coast Guard and TOTE were unable to reestablish communication with the ship.

Twenty-eight US crewmembers and five Polish workers were on board.

The Coast Guard deployed helicopters and search vessels to the ship’s last known position, but the search was hampered by hurricane-force conditions on scene. On Sunday, October 4, a damaged lifeboat, two damaged liferafts, and a deceased crewmember wearing an immersion suit were found. On Monday, October 5, a debris field and oil slick were found, and the Coast Guard determined that the El Faro was lost and declared the event a major marine casualty. The Coast Guard suspended the unsuccessful search for survivors at sundown on Wednesday, October 7.

On Tuesday, October 6, the National Transportation Safety Board launched a full team to Jacksonville to lead the federal investigation in cooperation with the Coast Guard, the American Bureau of Shipping (the El Faro’s classification society), and TOTE as parties. The US Navy Salvage and Diving division of the Naval Seas Systems Command was contracted to locate the sunken ship, assist in the sea floor documentation of the wreckage, and recover the voyage data recorder.

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Pacific Maritime: A vital maritime cluster

 “In the more than seven years that Shell has held leases in the Chukchi, it has only recently been allowed to complete a single well. What we have here is a case in which a company’s commercial efforts could not overcome a burdensome and often contradictory regulatory environment,” says Murkowski. “The Interior Department has made no effort to extend lease terms, as recommended by the National Petroleum Council. Instead, Interior placed significant limits on this season’s activities, which resulted in a drilling rig sitting idle, and is widely expected to issue additional regulations in the coming weeks that will make it even harder to drill. Add this all up, and it is clear that the federal regulatory environment—uncertain, ever-changing, and continuing to deteriorate—was a significant factor in Shell’s decision.”

Murkowski made the point that just because the U.S. has created a difficult environment for offshore drilling in the Arctic, it doesn’t mean other countries have. “Development in the Arctic is going to happen—if not here, then in Russia and Canada, and by non-Arctic nations,” says Murkowski. “I personally believe that America should lead the way. The Arctic is crucial to our entire nation’s future, and we can no longer rely solely on private companies to bring investments in science and infrastructure to the region. As the Arctic continues to open, we urgently need to accelerate our national security investments in icebreakers, ports, and other necessities.”

Some Congressional opponents of Arctic drilling applauded Shell’s move. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) called offshore Arctic drilling “unacceptable” and irresponsible. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) went so far as to introduce the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act of 2015, which would prohibit new or renewed oil and gas leasing in the Arctic Ocean Planning Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf.

But this should probably be viewed more like a pause as opposed to a full stop. A more favorable regulatory environment for Arctic offshore drilling could develop if a Republican is in the White House in 2017 backed by a Republican-controlled Congress. Additionally, cheap oil and gas should also increase consumption and eventually lead to higher prices and make Arctic drilling more economically attractive.


 Shipyards, naval architects team on projects

Portland, OR, headquartered Vigor Industrial, the largest shipyard group in the Pacific Northwest with 12 facilities in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon, had bolstered its capabilities in anticipation of an increased workload. It added an 80,000-ton lifting capacity dry dock to enhance its ship repair and maintenance capabilities and merged with Kvichak Marine Industries, Seattle, WA, to add capabilities in new aluminum vessel construction. Vigor had supported Shell’s earlier efforts in Alaska, including the activation of the drilling barge Kulluk, and more recently repaired the damaged icebreaker Fennica.

Vigor is part of a vibrant Washington State maritime cluster that includes logistics and shipping, fishing and seafood, and shipbuilding and repair. According to a recent economic impact study, generated 148,000 direct and indirect jobs and directly creates $15.2 billion in gross business income and has a total impact of $30 billion on the state’s economy.

Back in March, Vigor “christened” its dry dock Vigourous with work on the cruise ship Norwegian Star and followed that up with repairs to the USNS John Glenn and USNS Montford Point. Now Vigor will turn its attention to completing the third Olympic Class 144-car ferry for Washington State Ferries and look forward to building the fourth in the series, which recently received $122 million in funding by the state legislature. There’s plenty of more coverage on the ferry market in this issue, including Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group’s support of ferry projects for the New York City Department of Transportation and Texas Department of Transportation.

Pacific Oct2nicholsSpecial launch system
Designed by Seattle-based naval architectural firm Guido Perla Associates, Inc., the144-car ferry is a joint construction effort between Vigor and neighboring Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Whidbey Island, WA. Nichols Brothers Boat Builders has been contracted to build the superstructure for the first three Olympic Class ferries. Nichols Brothers Boat Builders has used a new track and dolly system developed by Engineered Heavy Service (EHS), Everett, WA, for transferring the ferry superstructures it on to a barge for transport to assembly with the hull at Vigor Fab in Seattle.

That same transfer system is pictured on this month’s cover, to launch the ATB tug Nancy Peterkin, the first of two 136 ft x 44 ft x 19 ft sister ATB tugs being built for Kirby Offshore Marine.

This past May, Gunderson Marine, Portland, OR, had launched the Kirby 185-01, a oil & chemical tank barge.

The Nancy Peterkin’s sister ATB tug, the Tina Pyne, is set for launch this December.

The EHS launch system moved the ATB from the shipyard to the launch ramp. General Construction provided two floating cranes to assist in the final lifting of the vessel, shuttling it to deeper water.

The vessel was towed to Everett, for lightship, stability testing and fuel transfer. Following this the tug will be towed to Nichols Brothers outfitting pier in Langley, WA, located across the Puget Sound from Everett, WA, for final outfitting, dock and sea trials before its final delivery.

Used for vessels greater than 1,000 tons, the new launch system significantly increases the displacement and draft of the vessels that Nichols Brothers can haul and launch in the future. Currently the shipbuilder is engineering to install ridged buoyancy tanks to the side of the launch frame, eliminating the need for the floating cranes in the future.

Nichols Brothers followed up the launch with the signing of a construction security agreement with Kirby Offshore Marine to build two new 120 ft x 35 ft x 19 ft-3 in tugs. Each tug will be powered by two Caterpillar 3516C, 2,447 bhp at 1,600 rev/min main engines with Reintjes reduction gears turning two NautiCAN fixed pitched propellers with fixed nozzles. Karl Senner, Inc., Kenner, LA, supplied the reduction gears for the vessel. These vessels will also have two C7.1 Caterpillar generators for electrical service. Selected deck machinery includes one TESD-34 Markey tow winch, one CEW-60 Markey electric capstan, and one Smith Berger Tow Pin.

Keels will be laid for both vessels this fall with delivery of the first vessel scheduled for May 2017 and the second vessel is scheduled for delivery in November 2017.

Jensen Maritime Consultants, Seattle, the naval architectural and engineering arm of Crowley Maritime, will provide the ABS Class and functional design for the tugboats. These tugboats will carry an ABS loadline, compliant with USCG, as required at delivery.

Nichols Brothers is currently working on the second ATB Tug for Kirby Offshore Marine.

Nichols Brothers spokesperson Lacey Greene says the shipyard has just begun construction of the American Samoa 140 ft Multi-Purpose Cargo/Passenger Ferry, and next year will begin construction on the superstructure and final assembly of the WETA 400-passenger high speed catamarans.

“The vessel construction boom in the Pacific Northwest has impacted the economy in so many different ways,” says Greene. “Specific to our location our community is flourishing. Nichols Brothers is the largest private employer on Whidbey Island in Washington State and employs 300 men and women. We foresee the economic boom expanding even further; the tug market is strong in all aspects, from ATB tugs, tractor Tugs, to line tugs. We also see the passenger vessel industry sector thriving, and we predict additional passenger only high-speed ferries coming down the pipeline as well as leisure vessels.”


 Jensen Maritime is also providing construction management services for the Crowley product tankers under construction at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard. It’s also been busy working on developing LNG bunker barge concepts and recently received approval from ABS for a 452 ft-long ATB version.

Engineering consultant Art Anderson Associates, Bremerton, WA, has been increasing its staff and supporting the development of passenger-only ferry service in Puget Sound. Art Anderson’s Patrick R. Vasicek, PE, LEED AP, will be on hand at the Marine Log FERRIES 2015 Conference & Expo in Seattle to discuss, “An Exportable Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Determining Sustainable Visibility of Passenger-Only Ferry Routes and Systems.”

Ballast water treatment solution
Seattle-based naval architectural and engineering consultancy Glosten reports that Marine Systems Inc. (MSI) has delivered a pair of Ballast Treatment System Deck Modules, designed for tank barge and ship operations.

MSI turned to Glosten to develop the design in response to requests from vessel operators and the first of a kind modular ballast water treatment units combine expertise from Glosten, MSI and Alfa Laval, which provided PureBallast 3.1 treatment systems, Filtrex high efficiency filters, and expertise from hundreds of ballast water management system installations.

The resulting modules, built at the Foss Seattle Shipyard, complete with lighting, ventilation, and integrated controls, were shipped ready for “plug-and-play.”

Each Ballast Module packs a treatment capacity of 1,000 m3/hr within a 20-foot shipping container footprint and is ABS and U.S. Coast Guard approved for hazardous area installations.

Using the module reduces the technical demands on busy shipyards. Rather than juggling independent components and vendors, shipyards can instead focus on fabricating a few well-defined interfaces and foundation system. Each purchased module comes pre-approved by USCG and ABS, is fully tested prior to shipment, and includes integration support from MSI and Glosten engineers.

“The demands of the vessel operator drove this design,” says Kevin Reynolds, Principal at Glosten. “Doing this as a manufactured product ensures that we get it right, every time.”