Admiral Explains LCS Survivability to Senate Committee
![ADM Greenert: USN Photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/adm-greenert-usn-photo-24994.jpg)
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert has assured members of the Senate Armed Services (SASC) Committee on the survivability of the littoral combat ship (LCS). Alongside Secretary Ray Mabus the two defended the need for 52 small surface combatants in front of the SASC and in front of media following their testimony. The secretary emphasized how LCS costs have been driven down and Greenert responded to questions on LCS survivability, informs CNO Public Affairs, Washington.
Rolls-Royce Wins Substantial Volstad OCV Equipment Order
![Flightbridge image courtesy of Rolls-Royce](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/lightbridge-image-courtesy-of-rollsroyce-24993.jpg)
Rolls-Royce informs it has won a contract worth approximately £13.5 million to deliver a unique package of advanced ship equipment for a new offshore construction vessel (OCV) currently being built in Turkey for the Norwegian ship owner Volstad Shipping AS. The vessel is 125 meters long and is designed with ice class for operations in Arctic waters. It is a ST-259 design by Skipsteknisk and is due to be delivered from the Tersan Shipyard, Turkey, in the second half of 2015.
German Ships Well-Met in Gulf of Aden Encounter
![Hessen & AIDAdiva: EUNAVFOR photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/hessen-aidadiva-eunavfor-photo-24992.jpg)
It’s not every day that passengers on board a civilian cruise liner would get so close to a warship on operations that they could wave to each other, but this is just what happened when the German cruise liner, AIDAdiva, with over 2,000 passengers on board, met German frigate FGS Hessen at sea, informs EUNAVFOR. The German Navy warship FGS Hessen, which is currently operating with the EU Naval Force…
Rodriguez Shipbuilding Delivers Powerful Shallow-Draft Tugboat
![Sea Cypress profile: Image Cummins Hotips](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/sea-cypress-profile-image-cummins-24991.jpg)
The yard recently delivered a Cummins powered 75 by 28-foot model bow tug to Morgan City-based Garber Bros. Inc. and Sea Cypress LLC for Gulf of Mexico operations, inform Cummins Hotips. Cummins explain that over the years, Rodriguez Shipbuilding Inc, of Bayou LaBatre Alabama has probably delivered more shallow-draft tugs than any other US-yard. Their signature lugger-type tug design, with its distinctive aft cabin and wheelhouse…
Port of Long Beach Hosts Situational Awareness Exercise
![Sen. Mary L. Landrieu: Official photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/sen-mary-l-landrieu-official-24989.jpg)
Public, military and private sector leaders met to discuss how the Port of Long Beach (PoLB) model of a surface and subsurface situational awareness network can be a template for other ports to help increase America's resilience during the first 72 hours of a national or large-scale crisis, informs the ReadyCommunities Partnership (RCP). The RCP Military Base and Port Community Resiliency Initiative Hon. Chairman is Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (pictured) and the Initiative Hon. Co-Chairman is Hon.
Missing Airliner: Another Australian Warship Joins Hunt
![HMAS Toowoomba: RAN photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/hmas-toowoomba-ran-photo-24988.jpg)
The Royal Australian Navy informs that its warship HMAS Toowoomba has left Fleet Base West near Perth to join the international search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The Anzac-class frigate has been diverted from other operational tasks to join the search and is carrying a S-70B2 Seahawk helicopter which was flown from the RAN’s Naval Air Station HMAS Albatross by a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-17A Globemaster.
BP Whiting Oil Spill: Latest Update
![Clean-up operations: USCG photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/cleanup-operations-uscg-photo-24987.jpg)
The US Coast Guard informs that weather conditions improved overnight enabling clean up operations and assessment activities to progress near the BP Whiting Refinery in Whiting, Indiana. High winds and heavy surf created unsafe conditions for contractors and assessment team personnel both Friday and Saturday, suspending activities. A Coast Guard helicopter returning from a separate mission conducted an overflight assessment of the area and did not observe any oil sheen on the water.
Sick Crew Member Airlifted Off Crowley Tankship
![M/V Pennsylvania: Image courtesy of Crowley](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/mv-pennsylvania-image-courtesy-of-24986.jpg)
The Coast Guard informs it has medevaced a 54-year-old crewmember from the Crowley Maritime's US-flagged motor tanker 'Pennsylvania' approximately 20 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. The master of the 576-foot Pennsylvania notified Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders that a crewmember was suffering from chest pain and needed medical attention. Sector watchstanders launched a crew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., to assist.
Coast Guard Matagorda Bay Responds to Further Oil Pollution
![Beach, Matagorda Bay: USCG Photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/beach-matagorda-bay-uscg-photo-24985.png)
The US Coast Guard informs that clean-up and response teams from the Matagorda Bay Incident Command Post are responding to sightings of oil near North Padre Island and along sporadic portions of Mustang Island in Corpus Christi. Additional sightings also include tar balls in the area, although it is not clear whether the tar balls are the result of the March 22 spill near Texas City. However, response teams from Miller Environmental…
GoM FPO Vessel Emergency Production Shut-In
![Helix Producer 1: Photo CCL](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/helix-producer-1-photo-ccl-24984.jpg)
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) informs it is responding to a report of an emergency disconnect and production shut-in onboard the Helix Producer 1 located approximately 100 miles southwest of Houma, La. The offshore oil and gas operator, Energy Resources Technology Gulf of Mexico, LLC (ERT)/Talos reported to BSEE that the facility experienced an electrical black-out at approximately 1:45 p.m. CDT. ERT performed an emergency disconnect of the transfer system buoy.
New Orleans Cruise Terminal Upgrade Nearly Complete
![Photo: Port of New Orleans](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-port-of-new-orleans-24983.jpg)
$2.3 million in renovations, expansions and upgrades are nearing completion at the Port of New Orleans’ Erato Street Cruise Terminal ahead of the arrival of the Port’s largest home-port cruise ship to date – the Carnival Dream. The 3,646-passenger Carnival Dream is scheduled to begin sailing seven-day, year-round eastern and western Caribbean itineraries April 14 from the Port of New Orleans’ Erato Street Cruise Terminal…
The Monterey Bay - A Leader in the Blue Economy
California’s blue economy is a +$50 billion industry. Today, marine science and the blue economy directly affect various business and government sectors such as offshore oil and gas production…
Bishop Lifting Acquires Delta Rigging & Tools
SBP Holdings, through its wholly owned subsidiary Bishop Lifting Products, has completed the acquisition of Delta Rigging & Tools headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Kiel Canal Strike Action Ended
The strike in the Kiel Canal ended at 6 a.m. this morning, March 28, according to a GAC report. At Brunsbuettel, the big south lock chamber and both small lock chambers are back in service…
Maritime Reporter @ 75: The Daily Cartoon
![© New Wave Media](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/new-wave-media-24978.jpg)
Maritime Reporter & Engineering News was founded by John J. O'Malley (1905-1980) in 1939, and today ranks as the world's largest audited trade publication in the world serving the maritime industry, with a circulation of more than 35,000 worldwide, including ship and boat owners, ship and boat builders, naval architects and marine engineers. Today Maritime Reporter heads a group of four print and 10 websites serving the global maritime, offshore and subsea sector.
USCG Lifts Matagorda Safety Zone, Response Ongoing
![Boom is put in place to prevent oil from the Texas City collision from affecting environmentally-sensitive areas in Matagorda Bay, March 28, 2014. Approximately 150 response personnel have placed more than 16,000 feet of boom. (Unified response photo)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/boom-is-put-in-place-24977.jpg)
Oil spill responders from the Matagorda Incident Command Post in Port O’Connor, Texas, continue to implement their aggressive plans, Friday, intended to protect environmentally sensitive areas of the Matagorda Bay area against any impact from a portion of the oil spilled in Saturday’s ship-barge collision near Texas City, Texas. Effective at 10 a.m. today, the U.S. Coast Guard has lifted the safety zone…
MARAD Study: Renewable Diesel Reduces Emissions, No Harm to Performance
![T/S State of Michigan engine room (Photo: MARAD)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/ts-state-of-michigan-engine-24975.jpg)
MARAD study shows renewable diesel fuel reduces emissions without impacting engine performance. The Maritime Administration (MARAD) has recently completed tests of renewable biofuel technology onboard the training ship State of Michigan. The project was part of a MARAD initiative to conduct “at sea” tests of advanced renewable fuels and assess its impact on the ship’s engine. The tests compared operational…
US, Canadian Icebreakers Escort Great Lakes Bulker
![U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of CSL Laurentien](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/us-coast-guard-photo-courtesy-24974.jpg)
U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews helped to keep commerce moving on the Great Lakes by breaking ice for bulk carrier CSL Laurentien in eastern Lake Eerie on March 27. The crews encountered plate ice as thick as 3 feet and ice ridges as tall as 8 feet. The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay, homeported in Cleveland, work with Canadian Coast Guard Ship Samuel Risley to escort the CSL Laurentien through the ice. uscgnews.com
Shipping Confidence at Highest Level Since 2008
![Richard Greiner](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/richard-greiner-24968.jpg)
Overall confidence levels in the shipping industry rose to their highest level for almost six years in the three-month period to February 2014, according to the latest Shipping Confidence Survey from international accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens. Freight rates look set to improve or maintain existing levels over the next twelve months, while an increase in private equity funding is expected to have a major impact on the industry.
Bollinger Delivers 9th USCG Fast Response Cutter
![USCGC Kathleen Moore (Photo: Bollinger)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/uscgc-kathleen-moore-photo-bollinger-24967.jpg)
Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. has delivered the Kathleen Moore, the ninth Fast Response Cutter (FRC) to the United States Coast Guard. Bollinger President, Chris Bollinger announced the successful delivery of the USCGC Kathleen Moore to the 7th Coast Guard District in Key West, Fla., stating, “We are very pleased with the latest delivery of this high quality Fast Response Cutter built by the Bollinger team. Once again, this is another successful FRC delivery that is on schedule and on budget.