MarineLink News Search
Search term • Up,-Up-and-Away?
Create an email alert for Up,-Up-and-Away?
Port Sudan Struggles to Recover from Blockade and Turmoil
A blockade of Sudan's main Red Sea port by a local tribal group and threats of more disruptions have hurt efforts to lift the country out of economic crisis and could push trade flows to another regional route, officials and shipping executives say.Several shipping firms were forced to pause bookings via Port Sudan, the African nation's main international trade gateway that generates vital revenue…
OCIMF Overhauls Its Tanker Inspection Program
The Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) is overhauling its Ship Inspection Report Program (SIRE) by introducing tablet-based inspections, a more comprehensive inspection process, and enhanced policies and procedures from Q2 2022. The new program, SIRE 2.0, will facilitate a risk-based approach to assessing the safety and quality of a vessel and its crew on an ongoing basis, but will require a “change in mindset” from industry…
Does the US Have the Right to Sail Warships Through the South China Sea?
Images of what appeared to be U.S. warships emerged from China last month, but they were not anywhere near an ocean. In fact, they were thousands of kilometers away, in a desert in western China.Military experts said the mock-ups of U.S. warships were part of a new target range developed by the People’s Liberation Army. The images demonstrate how seriously China is taking the repeated appearances of…
Dockers' Strike Threatens Ivory Coast Cocoa Bean Exports
A week-long strike by dockers in Ivory Coast's two main ports of Abidjan and San Pedro could hurt cocoa bean exports from the world's top cocoa producing nation after workers blocked access to the ports on Friday.The two ports were at a standstill behind closed gates on Friday morning as stevedores and dockers walked away over demands that the government respect a 2019 agreement to pay them three euros ($3.40) per hour…
Two Crew Members Missing after Danish and British Vessels Collide in Icy Baltic
Two Danish crew members of a capsized barge were missing in the freezing Baltic Sea on Monday after an overnight collision with a British vessel in a busy maritime route off Sweden.With the pair unlikely to survive long in water temperatures around 4 Celsius, rescue boats and a helicopter hunted for hours. There was also hope they might still be inside an air pocket within the hull of the overturned…
Water-based Corrosion Innovation Awarded UK Patent
Applied Graphene Materials (AGM), the producer of specialty graphene nanoplatelet dispersions, announced the issuance of UK Patent No. GB2585648, covering the use of Graphene Nanoplatelets in water-based anti-corrosion protective coatings applications.According to AGM, raphene nanoplatelets have been shown to provide highly effective barrier properties, enhancing corrosion prevention in solvent-based paints through the use of high-performance dispersions.
Opinion: A Call for the USNS Walter Munk to Honor America’s Greatest Oceanographer
In the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress established a commission to rename several military bases and ships that commemorate members of the Confederacy. One of these is the Naval oceanographic ship USNS Maury (T-AGS 66), named after oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, who resigned his commission in the U.S. Navy to join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War. The USNS Maury is an asset of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC)…
NTSB Issues 10 Safety Recommendations Following Dredging Pipeline Strike
The National Transportation Safety Board issued 10 safety recommendations Tuesday during a public board meeting held to determine the probable cause of the fatal August 21, 2020, hazardous liquid pipeline strike and subsequent explosion and fire aboard the dredging vessel Waymon Boyd.The Waymon Boyd struck a submerged 16-inch hazardous liquid pipeline carrying propane during dredging operations in Corpus Christi, Texas. A geyser of propane gas and water erupted adjacent to the vessel.
U.S. Oil Drilling Review Proposes Higher Fees, Development Curbs
The Biden administration proposed a slew of changes on Friday to the nation's federal oil and gas leasing program, including hiking fees on drilling companies and limiting their access to sensitive wildlife and cultural zones.The recommendations followed a months-long review aimed at ensuring drilling on federal lands and waters benefits the public. But in a sign of the extreme controversy surrounding the issue…
Gold Rush Draws Hundreds of Dredging Rafts to Amazon Tributary
Hundreds of dredging rafts operated by illegal miners have gathered in a gold rush on the Madeira River, a major tributary of the Amazon, floating hundreds of miles as state and federal authorities dispute who is responsible for stopping them.The flotilla of rafts equipped with pumps are moored together in lines that nearly stretch across the vast Madeira, and a Reuters witness spotted plumes of exhaust indicating they are vacuuming the riverbed for gold."We counted no less than 300 rafts.
UK, France Trade Blame as 27 Migrants Die While Trying to Cross Channel to Britain
British and French officials traded blame on Wednesday after 27 migrants died when their dinghy deflated as they made a perilous crossing of the English Channel.The accident was the worst disaster on record involving migrants in the narrow seaway separating the two countries.The Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong. Human traffickers typically overload the dinghies…
Tech File: OATECH Fish-Farming "Superyacht" Earns RINA AIP
A fish-farming superyacht developed by Ocean Ark Tech of Chile (OATECH) and its strategic ally, London-based Ocean Sovereign, is one step closer to delivering fish to market after winning a key approval from marine classification society, RINA.Registro Italiano Navale (RINA) announced the Approval in Principle (AiP) of the new-concept offshore fish-farming system, Ocean Ark. The vessel delivers a new approach to aquaculture and looks set to disrupt by dramatically improving fish health…
Marine News' Top Boats of 2021
Sea Change - America’s first hydrogen powered ferrySWITCH Maritime’s new 70-foot passenger ferry Sea Change is navigating uncharted waters as the United States’ first zero-emissions, hydrogen fuel cell-powered, electric-drive ferry.The pioneering aluminum newbuild, constructed by Bellingham, Wash. shipbuilder All American Marine, Inc. (AAM), has been completed and was launched this summer, though permitting of hydrogen fuel systems for maritime vessels is still being worked out with the U.S.
Missouri River Shipping Channel Dredged
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District, collaborated with the St. Paul District, of the Mississippi Valley Division, to bring the Dredge Goetz onto the Missouri River from late October through early November 2021 to participate in a pilot project to dredge sediment that had created shallow areas in the shipping channel.The Goetz has provided critical assistance to the Kansas City District through this pilot program, said Maj.
As Port of Los Angeles Import Backups Ease, Empty Containers Pile Up
The number of container ships waiting to enter the busiest U.S. seaport complex hit a new record of 84 on Tuesday, as growing piles of empty containers crowd docks at the Southern California facility that has been racing to remove lingering imports.The conundrum illustrates the challenge faced by a U.S. government task force charged with tackling supply chain snarls that are contributing to product shortages and inflation.U.S.
Biden Signs $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill into Law
President Joe Biden signed into law a $1 trillion infrastructure bill at a White House ceremony on Monday that drew Democrats and Republicans who pushed the legislation through a deeply divided U.S. Congress.The measure is designed to create jobs across the country by dispersing billions of dollars to state and local governments to fix crumbling bridges and roads, and expanding broadband internet access to millions of Americans.The bill-signing ceremony…
Eni: Coral Sul FLNG Complete and Ready to Sail Away to Mozambique
Italian energy industry giant Eni said Monday it had held the naming and sail away ceremony for the Coral-Sul FLNG unit, the first floating LNG facility ever to be deployed in the deep waters of the African continent. The event took place at Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Geoje, South Korea, in the presence of Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of the Republic of Mozambique, and H.E. Moon Jae-in…
Infrastructure Bill a Huge Boost for US Inland Waterways
The $1 trillion infrastructure package headed to President Joe Biden to sign into law will provide a welcome funding injection for America’s inland waterway infrastructure.The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was approved by Congress on November 6 and is expected to be signed by President Biden next week. The plan has money for everything from roads, bridges, ports and rail transit…
In the Shipyard: Austal USA Opens Ship Repair Business in Mobile
Known best for its construction of U.S. Navy warships, Austal USA in September 2020 acquired waterfront property along the Mobile River and established a commercial ship repair facility. Mike Bell, Austal’s VP Operations and Harley Combs, Director, Austal West Campus Ship Repair discuss the plan. Austal USA’s long-established shipbuilding facility in Mobile, Ala., is a modern ship manufacturing factory, one of the largest aluminum warship builders in the world producing new ships for the U.S.
Shooting the Messenger? Shipping Carries the Can as Investors Shun Coal
Shipping companies that transport the world's coal are in the crosshairs of some financial backers who are cleaning up their businesses in the absence of a truly global drive by nations to renounce the dirtiest fossil fuel.In a sign of investors taking the initiative, six European firms collectively representing over 5% of the estimated annual $16 billion capital financing requirements of the dry bulk…
