Latest DoD Contracts: Drydocking & Dredging
![USNS Laramie: USN Photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/usns-laramie-usn-photo-24941.jpg)
Amongst the latest US Department of Defense listing, Detyens Shipyards has been awarded the dry-docking contract for Navy oiler USNS Laramie, and Mansen Construction has been awarded a US West Coast dredging contract. Detyens Shipyards Inc. of North Charleston, S.C., is being awarded an $8,529,497 firm-fixed-price contract for a 55-calendar day regular overhaul and dry-docking of USNS Laramie (T-AO 203). Laramie's primary mission is to provide fuel to U.S.
Israel's Zim Line Falls Deeper in the Red in 2013
![Image courtesy of Zim Line](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/image-courtesy-of-zim-line-24944.jpg)
Revenues of Zim, Israel Corp's shipping unit, dropped 7 percent as overall freight rates declined by 9 percent in 2013 and its loss rose from US$ 433-million in 2012 to US$535-million in 2013, according to Xinhua. Container ship operators Zim Line, which holds 2 percent of the international shipping market, is in the middle of financial restructuring. The process includes negotiations on cancelling the state's golden share, while keeping Israel's security needs and government interests.
Port Metro Trucker Dispute Resolved Says Port CEO
![Container truck: Photo CCL Dirk Ingo Franke](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/container-truck-photo-ccl-dirk-24946.jpg)
"The governments of Canada and British Columbia and Port Metro Vancouver have reached agreement with members of Unifor and the United Truckers Association to end the 28-day trucker work disruption. We are pleased that an agreement has been reached and are looking forward to truckers returning to work. The Joint Action Plan has been revised in recognition of the concerns voiced by container truck owner/operators.
Canadian Shipowners Applaud Government's Icebreaker Response
![Robert Lewis-Manning: Photo CSA](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/robert-lewismanning-photo-csa-24949.jpg)
The Canadian Shipowners Association (CSA) says it is extremely pleased that the Government of Canada is responding to the need for additional icebreaking support on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Waterway, as with another icebreaker, key cargo such as wheat, will move to market quicker. "This is an important move by the Canadian Government to support the Canadian short sea shipping industry on the Great Lakes and St.
BP Whiting Refinery Spill: Latest Update
![Oil spill clean-up: File photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/oil-spill-cleanup-file-photo-24939.jpg)
An assessment of yesterday's cleanup operations found small amounts of oil on the beach and along the east shoreline of the cove. A BP cleanup crew repositioned the boom to prevent the sheen from spreading outside of the cove and will remove the remaining traces of oil, inform the US Coast Guard. A shoreline cleanup and assessment technique team, comprised of members of the Coast Guard, EPA and BP…
Robert Allan Sign Tugboat Design Contracts in Netherlands
![Contract signing: Photo Robert Allan](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/contract-signing-photo-robert-allan-24938.jpg)
Robert Allan Ltd informs of the signing of two contracts during a recent Canadian Trade Mission to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The first signing covered the new ART 80-32, designed by Robert Allan Ltd. and incorporating a hybrid propulsion system developed by Aspin Kemp & Associates (AKA). The vessels are under construction at the Damen Shipyard in Poland and will enter the KOTUG fleet later this year.
SAFE Boats Delivers Cutter Boat for USCG Arctic Operations
![POLAR cutter boat: Photo SBI](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/polar-cutter-boat-photo-sbi-24936.jpg)
Bremerton, WA., aluminium boat builder SAFE Boats International (SBI) informs that it has delivered the cutter boat 'Over the Horizon IV' (CB-OTH-IV) POLAR to the 420-foot Ice Breaker, USCG Cutter Healy. The CB-OTH-IV POLAR has a modified outfit package different from the standard 26-foot CB-OTH-IV parent craft which SBI has been delivering to the U.S. Coast Guard since 2013 as part of a multi-year, 104 boat contract.
Texas City Oil Spill Update: Pollution Affects Coast
![Oil washing ashore Matagorda Island: USCG photo](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/oil-washing-ashore-matagorda-island-24935.jpg)
The Captain of the Port of Houston/Galveston opened the bay to all traffic Thursday after multiple cleanup assessments and input from the Texas Department of State Health Services. Oil is washing up on Matagorda Island. Coast Guard recruit volunteer 'Sentinels. After storms Wednesday afternoon and evening slowed cleanup efforts somewhat in the Ports of Texas City and Galveston because of safety concerns…
Coast Guard Receives New Response Boats
![U.S. Coast Guard photo by David Mosley](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/us-coast-guard-photo-by-24934.jpg)
U.S. Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment personnel recently received an upgrade to their small boat fleet, when two new 29-foot, Freedom Class, Response Boat – Small, were delivered and put into operation, replacing the 25-foot, defender class, Response Boat – Small. The new platform, offers crewmembers greater operational visibility, comfort and endurance. The new 29-foot RB-S is four feet longer, about 400 pounds heavier and handles differently.
Maritime Reporter @ 75: The Daily Cartoon
![© New Wave Media](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/new-wave-media-24979.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.
ICC: Beware Spurious Oil Fraud Claims
![Photo: ICC](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-icc-24930.jpg)
The ICC reported that shipowners are facing new dangers from criminal gangs making spurious oil fraud claims. The “victims”/fraudsters try to extort money from owners by bringing action against them for failing to deliver cargoes of oil they allegedly own. Such scams were previously confined to West Africa, ICC said, but now appear to have spread to other countries, as a case reported recently to the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) shows.
HYPACK Automatic Download of ENC Charts
![FIGURE 1. S-57 Charts in HYPACK](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/figure-1-s57-charts-in-24929.jpg)
The new HYPACK feature allows U.S.-based users to quickly obtain the most recent charts provided by NOAA and the USACE at no additional charge. U.S.-based users who have an Internet connection will be able to download the charts from the USACE and NOAA web-map servers with the click of a button. Both agencies have made their charts available for download, and HYPACK has made it easy to ensure users have the latest chart data.
RHL Hamburger Lloyd Selects KVH Broadband Service
![Compact and rugged, KVH’s TracPhone V7-IP Ku-band VSAT system was chosen to meet growing bandwidth usage and Internet demand onboard the RHL Hamburger Lloyd tankers.](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/compact-and-rugged-kvhs-tracphone-24925.jpg)
To meet growing bandwidth usage and Internet demand onboard its tanker fleet, RHL Hamburger Lloyd Tanker GmbH & Co. KG, of Hamburg, Germany, an international shipping company known for managing sophisticated, innovative tankers, has chosen KVH Industries, Inc., for its mini-VSAT Broadband satellite communications solution. Twelve oil and chemical tankers will be outfitted with KVH’s TracPhone V7-IP satellite antenna systems in the next month…
Nonlethal Equipment Prevents Robbery at Sea
![The P-Trap installation releases lines in the water on both sides of the fishing vessel. Propellers of hostile vessels tangle in the lines, engines stall as a result of this and the intruder remains at a safe distance, meaning that pirates cannot climb aboard.](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/the-ptrap-installation-releases-lines-24923.jpg)
Westmark BV has recently performed a test in which passive nonlethal equipment served in a multilayered strategy to protect fishing crews from the threat of robbery at sea. Until now fishing vessels operating in high risk areas have been virtually unprotected. Due to low freeboard, low speed, these vessels are a vulnerable target for heavily armed criminals. Employing armed guards is not an option for these fishing boats.
Six Skiffs Pursue Oil Tanker
GAC advised mariners in its daily alert that on or about 1:23 p.m. UTC, March 26 the Master of an oil tanker reported being pursued by six skiffs in position 13.16.00 N - 042.57.00 E…
$5.6M Granted for US Fisheries Research
Research projects in New England and the Mid-Atlantic are expected to receive nearly $5.6 million in federal funding, according to an announcement made today by NOAA Fisheries.
USCG Medevacs Cruise Ship Crewman
![USCG video screen capture](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/uscg-video-screen-capture-24922.jpg)
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said it medevaced a 42-year-old male crewmember Wednesday from a cruise ship approximately 25 miles east of Cape Lookout, N.C. The captain of the 950-foot cruise ship Carnival Splendor notified Coast Guard Sector North Carolina command center watchstander at approximately 6 p.m. stating Efendi was is in medical distress. Coast Guard watchstanders launched a crew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., to assist.
New Director of Engineering for Foss
![Michael Minnig](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/michael-minnig-24919.jpg)
Foss Maritime announced that Michael Minnig has been promoted to Director of Engineering. Minnig joined Foss in 2012 with more than 15 years of naval architecture experience in vessel design, shipyard construction support, and project management. He has a background in vessel stability assessment, structural engineering including finite element analysis and 3-D modeling. "Michael brings strong technical skills coupled with extensive industry experience to his new position…
Today in U.S. Naval History: March 27
![USS Constitution (Watercolor attributed to Michel Felice Corné)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/ss-constitution-watercolor-attributed-to-24918.jpg)
Today in U.S. Naval History - March 27 1794 - Congress authorizes construction of six frigates, including Constitution 1799 - USS Constitution recaptures American sloop Neutrality from France 1880 - USS Constellation departs New York with food for famine victims in Ireland For more information about naval history, visit the Naval History and Heritage Command website at history.navy.mil.
Virginia Leads US in Shipbuilding Jobs
![Alexander Manning pulls a piece of track into position at Newport News Shipbuilding under a transfer car for the submarine John Marner (SSN 785). Photo by Chris Oxley](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/alexander-manning-pulls-a-piece-24916.jpg)
The American Maritime Partnership (AMP) today joined with the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Congressman Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), to highlight new data that shows Virginia ranks first among all U.S. states in shipbuilding with 63,650 jobs, far and above any other state. These jobs pump more than $5.5 billion into Virginia’s economy every year. The U.S.