Auxiliary Machinery News

The United States reserves its domestic maritime trade to vessels “built in the United States” under a set of laws popularly referred to as the “Jones Act.” What qualifies as “U.S. built” under the law and U.S. Coast Guard interpretations was recently tested in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit case of Diamond Services Corp. v. Curtin Maritime Corp.Coast Guard regulations provide a two-part test to determine whether a vessel constructed in the United States meets the “U.S. built” test.

The FBI said on Monday it opened a criminal probe into the collapse of a Baltimore bridge in March when a ship crashed into a bridge support, while local officials confirmed the recovery of a fourth body from the incident.FBI agents boarded the cargo ship Dali to conduct court-authorized law enforcement activity regarding the crash, an FBI spokesperson said. The spokesperson said there was no other public information available and the bureau will have no further comment.The body…

Rescuers have lost hope of finding more survivors of the Baltimore bridge collapse, the coast guard said, as efforts switched on Wednesday to looking for bodies of the missing and more answers to why a container ship smashed into the span.Search divers were expected to return near dawn to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of the bridge in Baltimore Harbor to search for six workers missing and now presumed dead.The disaster has forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S.

Search divers were expected to return near dawn on Wednesday to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of a bridge knocked down in Baltimore Harbor by a faltering cargo ship, leaving six workers missing and presumed dead.The disaster also forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, and created a traffic quagmire for Baltimore and the surrounding region.As the odds of their survival vanished, the search for the six workers was suspended on Tuesday evening…

Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crippled by a power loss rammed into the structure, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident, U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland…

A massive cargo ship smashed into a bridge while sailing out of Baltimore early on Tuesday, sending cars and people into the river below and closing one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.Rescuers pulled out two survivors, one of whom was hospitalized, and searched for more in the Patapsco River after huge metal spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the icy water around 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT).The ship reported a power issue before impact…

Swiss marine power company WinGD and South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) have agreed to cooperate on future fuel vessel applications with ammonia-fueled engines. The memorandum of understanding, signed during the Gastech conference in Singapore this week, indicates a strong intention on the part of SHI to install WinGD’s X-DF-A dual-fuel ammonia engines on forthcoming newbuild vessels.The cooperation will include preparing X-DF-A for integration with wider ammonia fuel systems and auxiliary machinery across a range of vessel designs…

The Thome Group announced the opening of its new operations hub at its office in Mumbai.The new hub, which complements the one opened in November 2017 at Thome Group’s head office in Singapore, boosts fleet support using a large video wall comprising of 10 LED monitors to display different monitoring and enterprise resource planning systems simultaneously.The Mumbai hub will be operational 24/7 being equipped with state-of-the-art resources such as video conferencing, CCTV, UPS…

One of the world's most advanced polar research vessels is equipped with Atlas Copco marine-duty compressors.The RRS Sir David Attenborough, commissioned by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), built by Cammell Laird and operated by British Antarctic Survey, is a research platform engineered to transform how shipborne science is conducted in the Polar Regions. Its commissioning is part of a significant government polar infrastructure investment program designed to keep Britain at the forefront of world-leading research in Antarctica and the Arctic.

A significant number of existing and newbuild vessels are operating systems and machinery containing asbestos despite regulations introduced 10 years prohibiting the use of the hazardous substance on board, according to maritime testing facility Maritec.Maritec, which carried out asbestos surveys for IMO compliance between 2011 and 2020, said more than 55% of in-service vessels and 50% of all newbuilds were found to contain asbestos materials.John Rendi, General Manager, Environmental Services…

Singapore's PSA Marine recently took delivery of two new 32-meter harbor tugs, PSA Marvel and PSA Valkyrie, from PaxOcean Engineering Zhuhai Co.The newbuilds, which follow the PSA Thor and PSA Hulk delivered from the same builder in 2018, are of the same basic design with some improvements, said naval architect Robert Allan Ltd.The RAmparts 3200 ASD tugs are designed for ship assist in berthing and un-berthing operations at ports/terminals, coastal towing operations and in addition are capable of escort service.

A crewman from a cattle ship that capsized enroute from New Zealand to China has died after being pulled unconscious from water by the Japanese coastguard on Friday, while it emerged the vessel had a history of mechanical issues.The unidentified man was only the second crewman to be found. The search is still on for the remaining 41 crew members after the ship carrying 6,000 cattle capsized in the East China Sea on Wednesday.Rescuers also found a life jacket and cattle carcasses in the area where the Gulf Livestock 1 is believed to have sunk after it sent a distress call amid strong winds and heavy seas whipped up by Typhoon Maysak.Gulf Livestock 1…

Total Lubmarine has extended the global reach of its technical support services with the opening of a new Diagomar Plus Laboratory in Chicago, Ill.The new lab opening means the marine lubricant specialist now has five centers around the world – with Chicago joining Ertvelde (Belgium), Singapore, Shanghai and Panama City.“North America is an increasingly busy market for us and the opening of the Chicago Lab ensures we have a specialist team on hand to deliver onshore dedicated technical support to our customers…

MAN PrimeServ, MAN Energy Solutions’ service brand, has extended its ‘PrimeServ Omnicare’ concept from turbomachinery into the marine and power segments. This one-stop service solution now also focuses on maintenance that covers non-MAN as well as MAN machinery, including engines, turbochargers and related auxiliaries.In the marine and power segments, PrimeServ Omnicare provides a maintenance service with OEM (original equipment manufacturer) spare-parts, based on global agreements.

Subchapter M, the United States regulatory code dealing with towing vessels and requirements for towing vessel safety, has officially been in place since July 20, 2016, when the U.S. Coast Guard finalized Sub M rulemaking.Since the rules were finalized there have been a couple of important hammer dates. In spring and summer 2018 the first certificates of inspection (COI) were issued. COIs are central within the Sub M program. A vessel needs a COI to legally operate. (All vessels were required to comply with Sub M by July 20, 2018.

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has awarded Wärtsilä system-level cyber certification for its network architecture relating to Wärtsilä’s integrated main and auxiliary machinery. The LR’s ShipRight SAFE AL2 certification, which is with Wärtsilä’s Data Collection Unit (WDCU), gives Approval-in-Principle (AiP) for the entire Wärtsilä integrated system network, rather than for any individual component. The certification is one of the first of its kind to be awarded globally.At a time when information and operational technologies onboard ships are being networked together…

Classification society DNV GL has developed new class rules and a class notation ‘Gas Fuelled LPG’ for using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as fuel in anticipation of growing industry interest ahead of IMO 2020 and overall decarbonization of the shipping industry.The Norway-based international accredited registrar and classification society said that the “Gas fueled LPG” for using LPG as fuel comes as a way of bridging the gaps present in international regulations for such fuels, with the exception of liquefied natural gas (LNG).Except for LNG, currently all gases and low-flashpoint fuels are subject to the ‘alternative design approach’…

It just might. And, you’ve got options.The Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) carriage requirements apply to all passenger ships regardless of gross tons or year of build, and to all cargo ships 3000 gross tons or larger built after 2002. A simplified VDR (S-VDR) is allowed on older ships built before 2002. The performance standard was updated in 2014. That said; a full type-approved VDR is not a requirement for inland vessels under 3,000 GT. Nevertheless, a good case to be made for installing a (less costly) data recording device on such vessels, ideally with remote access and reporting as part of an Internet of Things (IoT) solution to monitor the vessel and its installed equipment.

It just might. And, you’ve got options.The Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) carriage requirements apply to all passenger ships regardless of gross tons or year of build, and to all cargo ships 3000 gross tons or larger built after 2002. A simplified VDR (S-VDR) is allowed on older ships built before 2002. The performance standard was updated in 2014. That said; a full type-approved VDR is not a requirement for inland vessels under 3,000 GT. Nevertheless, a good case to be made for installing a (less costly) data recording device on such vessels, ideally with remote access and reporting as part of an Internet of Things (IoT) solution to monitor the vessel and its installed equipment.

Wake Media appointed Gavin Lipsith as its new Head of Content.Effective Tuesday October 1, 2019, Lipsith joins the team at Wake Media to focus on developing the agency’s content offer to its clients.As a veteran journalist and former editor of marine technology titles The Motorship and more recently Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery, Lipsith brings market knowledge that will assist Wake Media and its clients in aligning their communications with the evolution of the shipping industry.As well as helping shape the content agenda for Wake Media’s clients…

The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA), Høglund, the marine solutions and system integration company, ferry operator Fjord1, and the classification society DNV GL have completed the first testing phase of the ROMAS (Remote Operation of Machinery and Automation Systems) project.As ship systems become more complex, operators increasingly rely on the suppliers of individual systems to operate and maintain them. At the same time, finding machinery engineers who have the skills to deal with these sophisticated systems and are willing to work on board for weeks or even months is challenging.One way of dealing with this is through remote operations.

Rolls-Royce has received a supply order from Spain’s Astilleros Gondan shipyard for the design, propulsion and auxiliary machinery systems for what has been dubbed one of world’s most advanced fishing vessels.Scheduled for delivery in 2020 to Prestfjord Seafood, a division of Norway’s Holmøy Maritime, the 77m trawler will be based on a Rolls-Royce NVC 732 WP design arranged with triple trawl and pelagic trawl for operation in Arctic waters catching white fish and shrimps. The vessel has been designed to accommodate a 29-person crew.Knut Roald Holmøy…

The U.S. Coast Guard has issued an alert informing operators of the role that the main propulsion lube oil system was found to have played in the 2015 sinking of U.S. cargo ship El Faro. All 33 crew on board died when the 790-foot El Faro sank close to the eye of Hurricane Joaquin near the Bahamas on October 1, 2015, while en route from Jacksonville, Fla. to Puerto Rico. Loss of propulsion during extremely heavy weather was revealed as a major contributing factor to the vessel’s sinking, according to The Coast Guard Marine Board Report on the incident.