Maritime Reporter @ 75: The Daily Cartoon
![© New Wave Media](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/new-wave-media-23887.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.
NSRP Awards $3.3M for Shipbuilding R&D
The Executive Control Board of the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) has selected four major research and development projects for award, as part of…
Hearing: Environmental Regs’ Impacts on Maritime Transportion
The Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, chaired by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), will hold a hearing next week examining the impacts of federal…
Oil Drilling Slowdown to Last 12-18 Months
The current slowdown in offshore oil and gas drilling will last 12 to 18 months, and the market for rigs will rebound in 2015, Maersk Drilling said, providing a…
P3 Network Restructures the Shipping World
![Photo: Xeneta](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-xeneta-23886.jpg)
The P3 agreement between Maersk, MSC, and CGM CMA continues to roil the waters. While the agreement’s pros-and cons are about to be scrutinized in an upcoming meeting between America’s Federal Maritime Commission, the European Competition Commission, and China’s Ministry of Transport, carriers outside the P3 are aggressively taking steps to stay competitive regardless of the regulators final decision.
Coast Guard Foundation to Tribute USCG Spouses
The Coast Guard Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to the education and welfare of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced today that its…
Norway to Relaunch Carbon Capture Plan
Norway's government will this spring launch a strategy to develop technology for capturing and burying heat-trapping emissions from polluting industries, aiming…
Panama Canal Expects Work Deal Thursday
![Photo courtesy Panama Canal Authority](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-courtesy-panama-canal-authority-23885.jpg)
The Panama Canal Authority expects to formally sign a deal next week with a Spanish-led consortium to finish work on expansion of the waterway after a dispute over cost overruns held up completion, an official said on Friday. "We expect that by Thursday we should be signing said document," Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano told reporters a day after announcing a deal with the GUPC consortium, which is led by Spanish builder Sacyr and Italy's Salini Impregilo.
Today in U.S. Naval History: February 28
![USS Indiana (U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/uss-indiana-us-naval-historical-23884.jpg)
Today in U.S. 1844 - Explosion of Peacemaker, experimental 14 inch gun, on board USS Princeton. 1893 - Launching of USS Indiana (BB-1), first true battleship in U.S. Navy. 1959 - USS Strong rescues 13 Arab fishermen from Bahrain when their fishing boats floundered in a storm. 1980 - Blue crew of USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) launches 4 Trident I (C-4) missiles in first C-4 Operational Test. For more information about naval history…
Borgøy: the World’s first LNG-Fueled Tug
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-23882.jpg)
Late last year, an innovative project to design and build the world’s first LNG fuelled escort tugs became a reality when the Borgøy was handed over for sea trials by builder Sanmar in Tulza Bay near Istanbul. For the Christening at the Sanmar Shipyard in Tuzla, representatives from the Turkish shipyard were joined by executives from Norwegian tug operator Buksér og Berging AS and from Rolls-Royce.
HamiltonJet HT900s for World’s Biggest High Speed Crew Boat
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-23880.jpg)
Waterjet manufacturer HamiltonJet recently got great news when four HT900 waterjets were selected for Incat Crowther’s latest project – a first-of-type 70 meter Catamaran Fast Crew Boat for operations in the Caspian Sea oil industry in Azerbaijan. When completed, this vessel will be the world’s largest high speed crew boat operating in the global oil industry. It will also be the largest vessel HamiltonJet has been involved in to date…
Regulatory Rant – Vessel General Permit
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-23878.jpg)
The initial implementation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Vessel General Permit (VGP) is now theoretically astern of the marine industry, but unlike any other new regulatory effort, this one has numerous unintended consequences, many of which remain “submerged” and undetected by vessel owners, their customers, insurers, and indeed the EPA itself. Although the protection of the marine environment is essential…
Can Fracking Waste be Carried on the Water?
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-23875.jpg)
The barging industry has the answer. It’s nowhere near as complicated as it seems. As shale gas production continues to ramp up across the United States, millions of gallons of wastewater is created through the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. That waste, referred to as shale gas extraction wastewater (SGEWW), or frack water, needs transport to storage and reprocessing facilities around the U.S., including disposal sites in Louisiana, Texas and Ohio.
Texas Boats Combat Drug Cartels on the Rio Grande
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-23874.jpg)
Texas Marine Unit Uses Yellowfin-built Shallow Water Vessels for Border Patrol missions. Menaced by Mexican drug cartels, the Texas Department of Public Safety operates a fleet of six shallow-water vessels it commissioned in late 2011 and 2012 to patrol its borders. The agency purchased the boats from Bradenton, Florida-based manufacturer Yellowfin Yachts as threats along the Rio Grande escalated.
Swissco Enters Offshore Rig Charter Business
Swissco Group expanding upstream into the offshore rig chartering business with the acquisition of Scott and English Energy. Scott and English Energy is in the business…
U.S. East Coast Refiners Slash Light Crude Imports
Reuters - East Coast refiners slashed imports of lighter, sweet crudes from countries like Norway and Nigeria last year as they commissioned new rail offloading…
Hold-harmless Clauses May Not Be So Harmless
![Robert Hodge](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/robert-hodge-23873.jpg)
ITIC has warned that the so-called ‘hold harmless’ clauses in many of the contracts entered into by its members may contain pitfalls which could prejudice their rights. A mutual hold-harmless indemnity clause should provide that each party to the contract agrees to take responsibility for - and to indemnify the other against - injury and loss to its own personnel and property and its own consequential losses, even if the accident and related losses are caused by negligence.
Wire Rope Integrity Regulatory Update
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-23872.png)
Current state-of-the-art wire ropes, updated regulation references, and flow diagrams to assist with the wire rope integrity management process have been included in the revised ‘Guidance on Wire Rope Integrity Management for Vessels in the Offshore Industry’ just published by the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA SEL 022 Rev.1/ IMCA M 194 Rev. 1). “This document offers guidance on…
DNV GL, MPA Collaborate in Maritime R&D
![The signing ceremony took place at the DNV GL 150th anniversary celebrations, in the presence of Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Singapore’s Minister for Transport and Mr Borge Brende, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/the-signing-ceremony-took-place-23871.jpg)
DNV GL and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) today to promote research and development (R&D) and innovation in the maritime industry. The signing ceremony took place at the DNV GL 150th anniversary celebrations, in the presence of Lui Tuck Yew, Singapore’s Minister for Transport, and Borge Brende, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. The MOU was signed between Dr.
U.S. Government Offers $600M for Transport Projects
![U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/us-transportation-secretary-anthony-foxx-23870.jpg)
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will join President Barack Obama today to announce that $600 million will be made available to fund transportation projects across the country under a sixth round of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s highly successful Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) competitive grant program. The announcement will be made at the Union Depot in St.