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January 14, 2016
News

Clean, Safe Arctic Seas

The prospect of increased shipping in the Arctic due to the melting of polar ice has inspired an international research effort focused on maximizing safety in arctic waters. Fifteen doctoral students at five universities in Finland, Norway, Germany, and Canada are filling science gaps on a breadth of issues ranging from ice impacts on hulls and preventing accidents to determining the movement of oil after a spill and its impacts on the arctic ecosystem.

The work is being carried out through the Joint Research Centre of Excellence for Arctic Shipping and Operations based in Aalto University (Finland), supported by GBP 1,707,673 in funding from Lloyd’s Register Foundation. This five-year project began in September 2013.

“Compared to vessels operating in open waters,” Dr. Brian Veitch points out, “much less is known about environments in cold ice-covered seas.” Dr. Veitch, professor of ocean and naval architectural engineering (ONAE) at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, is one of the principal investigators of the project. “They’re so far away, and they haven’t been studied as much so there is a bit of a deficit from a science point of view”—a deficit that makes conventional risk management techniques more uncertain.

“Our ambition is to generate knowledge that specifically can be used in the formulation of legislation, regulations, and industry standards—information that will give the people who are making decisions evidence upon which to make better decisions.” This article profiles the work of three PhD students who are focusing on preventing accidents, the movement and distribution of oil after a spill, and oil impacts on the marine ecosystem.

Preventing Accidents
Doug Smith, an ONAE PhD candidate at Memorial University, completed his Masters degree in Hydrodynamics and is now focusing on preventing shipping accidents from occurring in Arctic waters. Since arctic shipping accident information is scarce, rather than depending on historical data, he is developing models that reflect both the interdependencies of work functions on a vessel—how work actually gets done—and the variability within that work.

“This project focuses on what works, and uses that context to explain why things do not work from time to time,” says Smith. “If we can understand what makes shipping operations work, we can focus on making things work well more often, and being safe more often.”

He cites an example of variability. When a captain is navigating in ice-infested waters, he must assess the variability in the ice conditions, which could be constantly changing. He must then communicate his expected power requirements to the engine room, where there is also variability. If the engine state is in some variation that prevents it from providing the required power (such as maintenance on one engine or one engine cannot start), this will affect the Captain’s ability to navigate.

The combined effects of these variabilities could result in inadequate control of the vessel, which could result in an accident.

The accident prevention component of this project is focused on ways of improving shipping safety, without requiring the prediction of adverse outcomes. Smith is using the functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) of modeling, which incorporates an understanding of variability within the system.

“When you understand the range variability, you can adopt solutions to keep it within your control,” he says. “But if variability is not understood and controlled, that increases susceptibility to accidents.” Smith’s models will be populated with data that reflects both variabilities and also adjustments that have been made that successfully accommodate them.

He will be inputting information from captains, chief engineers, and others on board ships who can shed light on variability and the adjustments that were made that kept operations safe. Smith will be building models for arctic shipping activities, primarily for navigating in ice-covered waters, as well as for maneuvering ships in tight quarters such as leaving and entering port.

Complexities of Oil-Ice Interactions
The models that Mawuli Afenyo is developing will predict the fate and transport of oil spills in icy waters. “Right now, we are not ready for an oil spill in the Arctic,” he says. “Ice represents more complexity,” says the PhD candidate with a Master’s in Petroleum Engineering and an MBA in Green Energy and Sustainable Businesses.

“The oil can spread on ice, you can have it on snow, in leads and encapsulated in ice, or it can go below the ice,” he says, adding that there are a lot of uncertainties regarding oil-ice interactions, and noting that the limited field experiments that have been done make it difficult to know how oil will behave in this environment. “The Arctic has become very important,” Afenyo observes, “so we have to take these things seriously.”

One issue is remoteness and the capability of governments and other agencies to respond to a spill in a timely manner. Afenyo is following the lead of Norwegians who have done some numerical modeling of oil in ice conditions. He notes the complexity of the task, pointing out that a number of interrelated processes take place simultaneously immediately following a spill: evaporation, dispersion, spreading, sinking, biodegradation, and emulsification.

Afenyo adds that there has been little study of encapsulation—an oil spill becoming engulfed in ice. Location-specific data will be fed into two integrated models built on a risk analysis framework.

His aim is to apply this framework to arctic shipping, which will, in turn, provide guidance with regard to policies, operations, ship design, and environmental response measures. Dr. Faisal Khan, Department Head in Process Engineering and Vale Research Chair of Process Safety and Risk Engineering, and Dr. Brian Veitch, a professor in the Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering department and Husky Research Chair in Oil and Gas—both at Memorial University—are supervising Afenyo’s project.

Oil Impacts on Animals
Maisa Nevalainen, a PhD candidate in Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki, Finland, is focusing on the ecosystem impacts of an oil spill in the Russian Arctic. “Even if there is no drilling,” she says, “ships are still going to use those routes. Climate change is making it easier and easier.”

Noting that there is no data available, Nevalainen quickly adds, “I hope we never have the data.” She will be interviewing subject matter experts, asking them about probabilities regarding the impact of oil on arctic species, combining their accumulated knowledge, and adding historical and toxicological data into the model.

The Bayesian model she will be building will reflect probabilities.

The species she is focusing on are at all levels of the functional food web, from apex predators (e.g,, polar bears) down to benthic invertebrates. Addressing one facet of the impact of a spill, Nevalainen says, “If the polar cod would die, that is such an important species in the Russian Arctic food web. If it happens at a time when the offspring are not yet juvenile and they cannot avoid the oil, then all the eggs could die.”

In her view, the ability to responsibly manage Arctic shipping operations depends on knowledge of risk. “We should understand better how big the risk is. Right now, environmental groups are saying the risk is enormous, and oil companies are saying they are being safe, so no worries. I’m hoping to find some actual number in between those two.”

While Nevalainen’s model will be focused on the Northern Sea Route and coastal areas of the Russian Arctic, it will be functional for other areas once local species distribution data has been inputted. She is collaborating with Afenyo; hence, her recent visit to St. John’s. Afenyo’s model will show where the oil goes after a spill, and her model will show how the ecosystem responds to that particular quantity and distribution of oil.

Smith, Afenyo, and Nevalainen plan to publish the results of their work in scientific papers, and information regarding their findings will be available on the Research Centre of Excellence for Arctic Shipping and Operations web site: http://cearctic.aalto.fi/en/

December 05, 2015
Shipyard News

Navy awards Ingalls $200 million LPD 28 contract

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According to defense media, BIW will get the additional destroyer under a “hull swap” agreement in a 2002 MOU between the Navy and its two largest shipbuilders that, among other things, reportedly included an agreement that, should a twelfth LPD be ordered,a fourth DDG 51-class ship or equivalent workload would be awarded to BIW.

Apparently, that’s likely to happen and that destroyer will be DDG 127, once Congress comes through with the funding.

However all that works out, the funds awarded Huntington Ingalls under the contract announced today will be used to purchase long-lead-time material and major equipment, including main engines, diesel generators, deck equipment, shafting, propellers, valves and other long-lead systems.

“This funding demonstrates the priority the Navy places on Ingalls getting started on this important ship,” said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias. “Our shipbuilders have made great strides in the LPD program, and we are performing well. Building LPD 28 is key to maintaining a reliable supplier base and leverages our hot production line, enabling our team of shipbuilders to build this ship and future amphibious warships as efficiently and as affordably as possible.”

Ingalls’ 10th San Antonio-class LPD, John P. Murtha (LPD 26), was the most complete and lowest-cost LPD when launched, with many key systems finished months ahead of the shipyard’s historic best in the program.

Though LPD 28 will be substantially similar to its predecessors, it won’t have quite the same appearance. Gone will be the towering enclosed masts that had been built at HII’s now-closed Gulfport, MS Composites Center of Excellence facility, in their place will be open masts similar to those on the DDG 51 destroyers.

The 684-foot-long, 105-foot-wide LPD 17 class ships are used to embark and land Marines, their equipment and supplies ashore via air cushion or conventional landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing aircraft such as the MV-22 Osprey. The ships support a Marine Air Ground Task Force across the spectrum of operations, conducting amphibious and expeditionary missions of sea control and power projection to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions throughout the first half of the 21st century.

November 11, 2015
Oil & Gas

OSVs: Survival Mode

The current downturn in the offshore oil market is probably one of the most severe since the 1980s. Oil companies are deeply cutting E&P spending for 2016. During its midyear analysis of the oil market, investment banker Cowen & Company reported that it expected global E&P expenditures in 2015 are now estimated to be down by 22% from the 2014 level to $545 billion. The “Original E&P Spending Survey,” initiated by Cowen’s James Crandell, estimates a 13 percent decline in E&P spending by the super majors— ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, BP, ENI, ConocoPhillips and Total—for next year.

Offshore drillers are feeling the pinch—as are the shipyards that support them. Last month, another South Korean shipbuilding giant was hit with the cancellation of an offshore drilling unit order.

Pacific Drilling S.A. exercised its right to rescind the construction contract for the ultra-deepwater drillship Pacific Zonda “due to the failure by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to timely deliver a vessel that substantially meets the criteria required for completion of the vessel in accordance with the construction contract and its specifications.”

Pacific Drilling says it made advance payments totaling $181.1 million under the shipbuilding contract, and will be seeking a refund of the installment payments.

The company inked a contract for the drillship with Samsung Heavy on January 25, 2013 that provided for a delivery date of March 31, 2015.

The cancellation comes after the October 27 news that Fred Olsen Energy had cancelled an semisubmersible drilling rig order at Hyundai Heavy Industries and the October 26 announcement that Transocean, Shell and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) had agreed to push back the operating and delivery contracts of two newbuild ultra-deepwater drillships – the Deepwater Pontus and the Deepwater Poseidon – by 12 months each.

Transocean is also scrapping rigs. Cowen & Company reports that the latest is GSF Rig 135, bringing the total number of scrapped rigs by company since October 2014 to 21, by far the largest number of retired units by any company this down cycle. Cowen and Company says, “With 14 rigs still cold stacked, we expect further rig retirements are likely.”

OSV operators hunker down
To survive in such a challenging environment, offshore support vessel operators have been hunkering down, enacting cost controls, including cold stacking vessels and preserving cash.

That was the strategy outlined last month by Hornbeck Offshore Services Chairman Todd Hornbeck during a recent conference call discussing the company’s third quarter of 2015 results. Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS), with a fleet of 66 offshore support vessels (OSVs) and Multi-purpose Support Vessels (MPSVs), currently has 27 vessels stacked and expected to stack an additional 3 vessels by the end of the year.

When you cold stack a vessel, it means that you preserve that asset until there is an upturn in the market (and a rise in dayrates) that justifies putting that piece of equipment back in service. Cold stacking cuts OPEX costs. The downside is that you lay off valuable mariners and shoreside staff that are involved in operations.

CFO Jim Harp says that those 30 stacked vessels would save about $125 million in costs on an annual basis. HOS had also delayed cash outlays of $10 million on regulatory dry docks in 2015 by stacking vessels and expected to save $15 million in regulatory dry docking costs in 2016.

On a deadweight tonnage basis, the 30 stacked vessels represent 81,000 dwt or 28 percent of the company’s 295,000 dwt fleet. Hornbeck’s entire remaining operational fleet will be high spec 300 Class vessels and Multi-Purpose Service Vessels, all 6,000 dwt and above, DP2 Jones Act vessels.

Hornbeck believes that market conditions will continue to deteriorate and that the next two quarters are “going to be choppy.”

HOS has taken delivery of 17 of the 24 vessels under its HOSMAX newbuild program and another three OSVs will be delivered before the end of this year. There are an additional four MPSVs under construction for delivery in 2016. HOS has newbuild programs at Eastern Shipbuilding in Panama City, FL, Leevac Shipyards in Jennings, LA, and VT Halter Marine at Moss Point, MS.

HOS is trying to push back the delivery dates from the shipyards. “We are delaying their delivery as much as we can. We’re slowing the build process down to better align for the market recovery,” says Hornbeck, “and tweaking systems to make sure they are going to be the most optimal for the customer.” Hornbeck says the system modifications are based on the operational experience of the previously delivered HOSMAX vessels in the newbuild program.

A silver lining for HOS has been the sale of four 350 EDF Class OSVs to the Navy. During the quarter, HOS received $38 million for the sales of the fourth vessel to the U.S. Navy. As a result, HOS received $152 million for the purchase of the vessels and continues to operate them under contract. “It was a timely development during the industry downturn,” says Harp.

Investment analyst J.B. Lowe of Cowen & Company rates HOS as an “outperform.” In his latest equity research, Lowe outlines some of the highs and lows for the company during the quarter. “Effective utilization across the 41.5 average vessels that were active during the quarter (i.e., excluding the 18.1 average stacked vessels) was 72.2%, below our forecast for 43.0 average vessels and 76.8% utilization. Average OSV dayrates of $25,699 fell 3% shy of our estimate of $26,428, while off-hire days were 17% higher than we had forecast. While the company continued to withhold data on its MPSV segment for competitive purposes, we note that our estimated MPSV segment revenue of $37.5mm was 7% below our $40mm forecast. The OSV segment was even weaker, by our estimate, with revenues of ~$71mm trailing our ~$80mm forecast by 12%.”

Continues Lowe, “Although cost guidance for full-year 2015 was lowered by ~7% at the midpoint (to $223.9-$228.9mm from $238-$248mm), we do not expect it will be enough to alleviate investor concern over the weakness of the GOM market.

“Additionally, 2016 cost guidance was not released and will likely be a focus on the call this morning. Full-year 2015 G&A guidance was also lowered to $49.1-$50.1mm (from $50-$53mm).”

OSVTable Shares of publicly traded OSV operators have been under pressure and are now trading substantially lower than they were one year ago (see Table 1). Last month, GulfMark Offshore, Inc., went so far as to part ways with its Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer David Rosenwasser.

It would be no surprise during this downturn to see some consolidation among OSV operators as well as the shipyards that support them.

Harvey Gulf International Marine, New Orleans, LA, which purchased the Gulf Coast Shipyard Group, in June, has put the Trinity Yachts business up for sale. The sale would include the New Orleans facility, 20 fully engineered designs and a partially built 168 ft megayacht.

Squeezing out old tonnage
The current conditions are squeezing out older tonnage that might not ever return to the market.

According to Clarksons Platou, there are currently 5,301 OSVs in service and another 602 on order. The average fleet growth over the last 10 years has been 7 percent.

In its monthly blog examining the surplus of offshore support vessels in the market, Clarksons questions whether OSV operators will follow the lead of Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) operators are begin to scrap vessels.

“OSV demand has fallen—at least 11% of the total fleet was laid up at start September,” writes Clarksons. “So far in 2015, 23 removals have been recorded from the OSV fleet (18 AHTS/AHT and 5 PSV/Supply vessels). For AHTS/AHTs this is a 29% increase on 2014 on an annualized basis. PSV removals, however, are down by 46%. In either case, the number of removals seems below what might be expected given the challenging market conditions.”

Clarksons points to several reasons for the low number of removals from the OSV market. It says the “likely reason for the low uptake in OSV removals relative to the MODU sector is that there is comparatively more value in scrapping rigs (in particular, floaters), compared to OSVs, on account of their larger size and steel content.

“Furthermore, it is relatively easy and cost-effective to lay-up or stack OSVs, which has been the preferred option for owners—at least 340 AHTSs and 254 PSVs are estimated to be laid up, although in reality this number may be even greater. Similarly, the sale of vessels for use in other sectors (e.g. utility support) provides some means of reducing active vessel numbers, although sales activity for OSVs in 2015 is currently down by 25% on an annualized basis.”

But Clarkson sees stacking as a temporary solution because the current size of the orderbook is “equivalent to 11% of the active fleet and, although some slippage is expected, 293 units are slated for delivery by end 2015.”

Clarksons concludes that with no significant upturn in oil prices likely in the near term, it expects pressures to continue. It says that fleet growth stands at 2.3% year-over-year, and “the issue of OSV oversupply is expected to remain significant. Against this background, the discussion of removals is likely to be ongoing theme.

October 21, 2015
Shipyard News

Ingalls authenticates keel of Paul Ignatius (DDG 117)

The Aegis guided missile destroyer, Paul Ignatius (DDG 117). DDG 117 is the 31st ship in the Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class of destroyers Ingalls is building for the U.S. Navy.

“The keel authentication is an important milestone in a ship’s life and it’s really a foundation upon which the ship is made,” said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias. “Paul Ignatius epitomizes the leadership and agility that has propelled our nation forward – I couldn’t think of a better namesake for DDG 117. Over the coming years as we build this great ship, our shipbuilders know what we do is important. We are building great ships to defend our nation, to protect the brave men and women who will serve on this ship and come back safely home to their families.”

Ingalls welder Reginald Whisenhunt welded the initials of two authenticators — the ship’s namesake Paul Ignatius and 26-year shipbuilder Bill Jones, an Ingalls hull superintendent —onto a steel plate signifying the keel of DDG 117 to be “truly and fairly laid.”

The plate will remain affixed to the ship throughout the ship’s lifetime.

“It is a pleasure for me to be here with Huntington Ingalls officials and the men and women who are building DDG 117,” said Mr. Ignatius, whose wife, Nancy Ignatius, is the ship’s sponsor. “DDG 117 will become part of our country’s proud destroyer tradition. Built tougher than steel by one of America’s leading shipbuilders, constructed by dedicated and skilled shipyard technicians and manned eventually by the world’s finest naval officers and seamen, this new ship will sail for many decades into the future.”

“Every time the men and women of Ingalls craft another destroyer, they build a living, lasting remembrance of either the courage, the leadership or the intellectual contribution of the very best that the Navy and Marine Corps have to offer,” said Capt. Mark Vandroff, the Navy’s DDG 51 program manager.

Ingalls is building three other destroyers — John Finn (DDG 113), which is scheduled to be delivered in 2016, Ralph Johnson (DDG 114), which will launch by the end of the year and Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), which started construction in July.

To date, Ingalls has delivered 28 DDG 51 destroyers to the U.S. Navy. .

October 13, 2015
News

Ferries: Reconnecting with the water

But like many ferry services in the U.S., the SSA’s workhorse fleet is aging. The nine vessels in the authority’s fleet have an average age of 30 years old. The 60-year-old Governor, which in a previous life served Governors Island in New York Harbor, will be replaced in 2017 by the M/V Woods Hole, a new ferry under construction at Conrad Shipyard in Morgan City, LA. Conrad Shipyard won the tender to build the ferry with a $36,448,000 million bid.

The ferry is designed by Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG), Seattle, WA, whose name is synonymous with ferry design in the U.S. Besides the SSA ferry project, EBDG naval architects are currently working on the Alaska Class Day Boat, the Fisher Island ferry, and the Staten Island Ferry.

EBDG’s Brian King, Vice President of Engineering, says the construction of the new SSA ferry has now reached a significant construction milestone with the launching of the hull. The hull was launched upside down and then righted while in the water by use cranes. Pre-built superstructure assemblies are now being installed on the deck.

Oct Ferry2 When MARINE LOG visited Conrad Shipyard in August, the Woods Hole had yet to be launched, but its highly shaped bulbous bow was in place.

When designing the Woods Hole, particular attention was focused on ship’s planned powering and seakeeping characteristics, as well as efficiency.

King says the ferry is designed to achieve sprint speeds of 16 knots but will more typically operate at 12 to 14 knots. The ferry’s highly shaped bulbous bow was designed to minimize wake and improve fuel efficiency. EBDG used Computational Fluid Design (CFD) analysis to optimize the hull and bulbous bow design.

The results of the CFD analysis was validated and further optimized in FORCE Technology’s towing tank in Denmark. While there are many fuel efficiency design features, the bulbous bow alone is estimated to provide fuel efficiency improvements of 3% over a conventional bow, according to King. Test results on a custom-made model built by FORCE Technology indicated that the vessel’s hull deign will be very efficient, requiring less than 2,500 hp to operate at a service speed of 14 knots, and that the vessel’s wake is expected to be minimal, even at speeds of 9 knots.

King says the Woods Hole has been specially designed to carry freight, but is also suited for walk-on passenger and car traffic. The freight-vehicle deck is designed to carry ten 100,000 lb tractor-trailers with straight through end-to-end loading. When not carrying a full load of tractor-trailers the freight-vehicle deck can accommodate approximately 55 standard passenger vehicles. Passenger plus crew capacity is 384.

The Woods Hole is 235 ft long, with a beam of 64 ft, and maximum draft is limited to 10 ft 6 in. at full load due to port restrictions. For simplified maintenance and crew oversight, passenger accommodations are all on a single deck above the freight deck with seating indoors and outside. Food service, Wifi, cell service and television will be provided. Crew accommodations are located on the deck above the passenger deck located behind the wheelhouse, which has been elevated for excellent visibility all around.

The main propulsion power is supplied by two EPA Tier 3-compliant, 2,680-hp MTU 16V4000 engines connected to Hundested controllable pitch propellers. Controllable pitch was chosen to allow propeller pitch and shaft RPM combinations that provide excellent low speed maneuvering responsiveness and still provide optimized fuel efficiency at all speeds.

Radiated noise is minimized through use of resiliently mounted main engines and generators and critical grade silencers.

Fuel, oil and waste tanks are all safely isolated from the hull.

Maneuverability and efficiency
King says that special attention has been devoted to fuel efficiency, least environmental impact and low speed maneuvering. For maneuvering and steering, the ferry will be fitted with Becker high-lift rudders located in line with the propeller shafts to improve fuel efficiency. A vectorable Tees—White Gill bow thruster in combination with the controllable pitch propeller system and high lift rudders will provide the Woods Hole with extremely good maneuverability in a tight quarters. King says the bow thruster, rudders, and CP system will also allow the ferry to turnaround and accelerate with very little wake wash.

The Woods Hole is expected to be delivered in May 2016 and enter service in 2017.

New ferry for Texas
When you are driving on Texas State Highway 361, the only way to get across Corpus Christi Channel from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas, is by the Port Aransas ferry. The ferry service runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The quarter-mile route typically takes less than 10 minutes across, although peak summer hours may require drivers to wait longer.

Each ferry can carry up to 20 regular passenger vehicles. Combined vehicles, such as a truck towing a boat, may not be longer than 80 feet, wider than 13 feet or taller than 13 feet 6 inches. Single-axle vehicles may weigh no more than 20,000 pounds, tandem axles no more than 34,000 pounds and combination vehicles may not exceed a total of 80,000 pounds.

The ferries are owned by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which recently awarded a contract to Southwest Shipyard, Houston, TX, to construct a 28-car ferry. When delivered in February 2017, the new ferry will be the third of a class designed by EBDG. EBDG, which will act as the owner’s representative for the project when construction begins this fall, signed a deal with TxDOT in 2014 to provide four years of on-call service. This is the first contract under the service agreement.

Unlike the two previous ferries built to this design and delivered in 2011, the new ferry will be a diesel-electric ferry. It will be classed by ABS and will have a length of 161 feet overall, a beam of 52 feet, a depth of approximately 11 feet and a draft of 8 feet.

Design updates to the interior, including the propulsion system, will translate into a vessel that has greater built-in redundancy and requires less maintenance over its lifetime.

North Carolina DOT looks at adding passenger-only ferry
Meanwhile, North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is conducting a Passenger Feasibility Study that could lead to a new passenger-only ferry service between Hatteras Village and Oracoke’s Silver Harbor by the summer of 2017. The new service would start with either two 80-passenger ferries or one 150-passenger vessel. The passenger-only ferries would be in addition to the Ferry Division’s current car ferry service.

The passenger-only ferry service is seen as a possible way to boost tourism to Oracoke Island, which has seen a 250,000 visitor drop off from its peak of about 1 million in 2007. The passenger-only ferry service will also reduce long lines of autos during the summer for the car ferries. Parking on the island is scarce, too.

The study says the new ferry service would make four round trips per day, carrying 125,000 passengers in the first year at a cost of $15 per round trip. New visitor spending would reach $500,000 in the first year.

By 2020, the construction of permanent docking terminals would be complete and additional passenger-only vessels would be added.

This past summer, the NCDOT Ferry Division held meetings in Oracoke and Hatteras to gather the public’s input.
The passenger ferries would drop visitors off directly in Ocracoke Village, where Hyde County would provide tram service around the village and to attractions such as the Ocracoke Lighthouse and the British Cemetery.

“There are a lot of moving parts here, but if they all come together, this could solve a lot of the issues for Ocracoke visitation,” says Ferry Division Director Ed Goodwin. “It would ease the backups we have on the car ferry route, and bring more visitors with fewer cars into the village. On the surface, it seems like a win-win all around.”

Other solutions are included in the study as well, such as year-round dredging of the now-closed “short” car ferry route, putting more car ferries into service on the current route, or loading more walk-on passengers onto the existing departures. But each of those comes with its own expense and logistical issues.

The Passenger Ferry Feasibility Study being conducted by Volkert Inc., Raleigh, NC, for the state began earlier this year and has included test runs of the possible ferry route, passenger surveys, and meetings with the public and stakeholders. It has also identified the kind of infrastructure and parking improvements that would be needed before service begins. The study is due to be completed by the end of this year.

Staten Island Ferry draws interest
Any time you board the Staten Island ferry at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in lower Manhattan for the five-mile trip across New York Harbor, you are bound to hear at least four different languages spoken by your fellow passengers. The iconic orange ferry fleet is one of the city’s biggest annual tourist attractions, providing a free ride with priceless views of Governors Island, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano Bridge. The New York City Department of Transportation, owner and operator of the fleet, is in the process of developing a new class of boats to replace the 1965-built John F. Kennedy and the 1980’s vintage Andrew J. Barberi and Samuel I. Newhouse.

NYCDOT held an industry day on September 16 in New York outlining the project scope, bid process, and development and construction timeline for the 4,500-passenger New Kennedy Class ferries for the Staten Island Ferry. EBDG, lead naval architect on the project was on hand, along with representatives from Conrad Shipyard, Morgan City, LA, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, Sturgeon Bay, WI, Eastern Shipbuilding, Panama City, FL, VT Halter Marine, Pascagoula, MS, Dakota Creek Industries, Anacortes, WA, Leevac Shipyards, Jennings, LA, Vigor Industrial, Portland, OR, and General Dynamics NASSCO, San Diego, CA, and some key suppliers.

The city has received funding of $309 million towards the three boats, which will be 320 ft long by 70 ft, with EPA Tier 4 compliant diesel engines and a Voith Schneider propulsion system. The ferries are expected to retain some of the design elements of the beloved Kennedy Class, while incorporating energy and fuel-saving technologies.

Once the construction contract is finalized in the fourth quarter of 2016, all three ferries must be completed within a four-year time frame.

Expanding East River ferry service
Some of New York Mayor Bill deBlasio’s policies and initiatives have been downright forehead slapping. His handling of the homeless and push towards removing horse-drawn carriages from city streets have been baffling. His consideration of tearing up pedestrian plazas in Times Square to reopen up them to vehicle traffic as a means of removing painted topless women from the area is just plain dumb.

But the Mayor should be given credit for announcing the launching of expanded citywide ferry services in 2017 and 2018 that would connect neighborhoods that are “starved of adequate mass transit,” in the words of State Senator Michael Gianaris. The expanded ferry services across the East River to Astoria, the Rockaways, South Brooklyn, the Lower East Side and Soundview would run seven days a week and cost $2.75 each way—the same as a city subway or bus. Future service would connect Coney Island and the Stapleton section of Staten Island.

Washington State gets funding for fourth ferry
The good news for Washington State Ferries is that this past summer Washington Governor Islee approved $122 million in the state budget for the construction of a badly needed fourth 144-car Olympic Class ferry.

WSF is building new Olympic Class ferries to replace some of the fleet’s oldest vessels. The Olympic Class design is based on the Issaquah class—the same ferries that have been the subject of a proposed midlife conversion to burn Liquefied Natural Gas.

Designed by Seattle-based Guido Perla & Associates, Inc., the Olympic Class vessels have a capacity of 144 cars and 1,500 passengers and are 362 ft 3 in long x 83 ft 2 in wide. Main propulsion is by two Electro-Motive Diesel engines developing a total 6,000 hp and giving the vessels a speed of 17 knots.

Two of the Olympic Class ferries, the Tokitae and Samish, are in service, and a third is under construction at Vigor in Seattle for delivery in 2017. As in the first two ferries, Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Whidbey Island, WA, is building the superstructure. The fourth is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2018.

WSF is building new vessels to replace our 1950s-era Evergreen State Class ferries. Nine of 24 vessels in its fleet are between 40 and 60 years old. These older ferries are approaching the end of their service lives and must be replaced with newer ones in the coming years.

New King County ferry starts service
King County’s newest vessel, the M/V Doc Maynard, started service on the Vashon route on September 29 sailing from Pier 50. The ferry replaced her sister ship, the M/V Sally Fox, which is being removed from service for scheduled warranty work.

Both the Sally Fox and Doc Maynard will built by All American Marine, Inc. (AAM), Bellingham, WA. The 105 ft x 33 ft aluminum catamaran ferries are the first U.S. Coast Guard Sub-chapter “K” inspected passenger vessels built and delivered under new guidelines that make it possible for boat builders to design and implement suitable structural fire protection in very low fire load spaces in the construction of weight-sensitive high speed passenger vessels.

AAM partnered with naval architecture firm, Teknicraft Design Ltd., of Auckland, New Zealand for the hull design. The advanced hull shape was custom designed using digital modeling and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis testing.

The hull design is complemented by Teknicraft’s signature integration of a wave piercer positioned between the catamaran sponsons to break up wave action and ensure reduced drag while enhancing passenger comfort.

All American Marine is the exclusive builder for Teknicraft Design Ltd. catamarans in North America.

Each ferry is powered by two Cummins QSK-50 Tier 3 diesel engines, rated at 1,800 bhp at 1,900 rev/min and driving twin propellers to provide a service speed of 28 knots.

The ferries also burn a 10 percent biodiesel blend and have LED lighting onboard.

The design features interior seating for 250 with 28 additional outdoor seats available on the upper aft deck.

With traffic congestion on roads and bridges continuing to plague area commuters, King County is also exploring a plan to possibly add ferry service on Lake Washington, something that has happened since the 1950s.

MARINE LOG FERRIES 2015 Exclusive: Tour the new boat
All American Marine is sponsoring a tour of the Doc Maynard at MARINE LOG’S FERRIES 2015 Conference & Expo, set for November 5-6, 2015 at the Hyatt Olive 8 in Seattle. As part of the tour, Joe Hudspeth, Vice President of Business Development, All American Marine and Paul Brodeur, Director of King County Marine Division, will jointly discuss the features and capabilities of the new ferries. Those interested in the tour should sign up early as space is limited. See marinelog.com/events for more details.

-By John R. Snyder, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

October 13, 2015
News