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Deepwater probes Revolution, South Fork waters

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GZA GeoEnvironmental has started a geotechnical survey of the seabed for Deepwater Wind's 90MW South Fork and 400MW Revolution offshore wind farms off the US east coast.

The work involves taking and evaluating soil samples from the sea floor in 30 to 37 metres of water about 24km southeast of Block Island.

GZA will analyse the sand, gravel, silt and clay extracted by the drilling operation to advise Deepwater Wind on how wind turbine foundation options will perform in various areas.

GZA chief executive Bill Hadge said: “What Deepwater Wind has launched off the coast of New England is a revolutionary new industry that will bring clean, renewable energy to thousands of homes and businesses throughout our region.

“GZA is honoured and excited to take on the challenge of providing the rigorous geotechnical analysis that will help Deepwater Wind site and install their turbines with the most appropriate foundations.”

Deepwater Wind chief executive Jeffrey Grybowski said: “We’re embarking on this major scientific endeavour so we can better understand the seafloor where we’ll build these next wind farms.”

“When we’re done, we’ll know more about this part of the ocean than ever before. Local labourers, mariners and scientists will help us get the job done.”

The survey is one of the early phases of what will be a five-month review by Deepwater Wind of its offshore leased property.

Once permits are secured, construction of South Fork is scheduled to start in 2021, with the wind farm becoming operational in 2022, while Revolution's construction could kick off in 2020 to come online in 2023.

Source:renews

Innogy primed for Oz mega-solar

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German energy company Innogy has taken a final investment decision for the 349MW Limondale solar farm in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Construction of the project will start in October, Innogy said. A 50MW section will be commissioned in 2019, with the remaining 199MW following in mid-2020.

Innogy will also implement the 115MW Hillston project, also located in New South Wales.

The project rights for Hilston will be transferred from the previous owner Overland Sun Farming to Innogy before the end of the year, the German company said.

Innogy's Belectric subsidiary will be responsible for construction and operations and maintenance once the projects are operational.

Investment costs for both projects amount to some €400m, Innogy added.

Source:renews

Piraeus Port reports increase in profit for first half of 2018

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Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) approved the financial statements for the first semester of 2018, according to which the Greek Port reported a large increase in profit, compared to last year.

Namely, the turnover amounted to € 63.5 million, which compared to the same period of 2017 (€ 52.0 million) increased by € 11.5 million or 22.1%. This change is mainly due to the significant increase in revenue from the concession agreement of Pier II+III (+29.5%), container terminal sector (+20.1%), car terminal sector (+29.7%), as well as ship repairing sector (+48.3%).

he profit before tax for the six months period reached € 18.7 million, more than double (+ 117%) compared to the same period of 2017 (€ 8.6 million). Earnings after taxes amounted to € 13.3 million compared to € 4.4 million in the first semester of 2017, which are the highest in the contemporary history of PPA for this period.

In addition, the staff cost reduced in the first semester of 2018 to € 28.8 million from € 30.2 million in the first semester of 2017. This decrease is because of the voluntary retirement incentives for those employees who have been entitled to retirement.

The CEO of PPA, Cpt. Fu Chengqiu stated:"The very positive financial results prove once again the potential of PPA S.A. and the upward trend continues even in the second semester of 2018. They also confirm the right choices of our strategic planning and the right direction of our investment plan, for which we still expect the necessary approvals in order to proceed to projects that will keep the high development rates in all business units."

Source:safety4sea

 

Future USS South Dakota Delivered to US Navy

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The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the 17th submarine of the Virginia class, the future USS South Dakota (SSN 790), on September 24.

The next-generation attack submarine began construction in 2013 and is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2019.

South Dakota is the seventh Virginia-class Block III submarine. Block III submarines feature a redesigned bow with enhanced payload capabilities, replacing 12 individual vertical launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles. This, among other design changes, reduced the submarines' acquisition cost while maintaining their outstanding warfighting capabilities.

"South Dakota's delivery is an important milestone," said Capt. Chris Hanson, Virginia Class Program manager. "It marks the penultimate Block III delivery and will be a vital asset in the hands of the fleet."

The submarine's sponsor is Deanie Dempsey, wife of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman and retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey.

The submarine will be the third U.S. Navy ship to be commissioned with the name South Dakota. The first South Dakota (ACR 9) was a Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser. The ship served in the Pacific until the American entry into World War I, where it patrolled the South Atlantic operating from Brazil, and escorted troop transports destined for Europe.

During World War II, the second South Dakota (BB 57) was commissioned as the lead ship in its class. The four ships of the South Dakota class are considered the most efficient battleships built under the limitations of the Washington Naval treaty. South Dakota served in the Pacific and Atlantic as a carrier escort and patrolled the North Atlantic with the British navy. During the ship's second tour in the Pacific, it helped to cripple the Japanese navy during the Battle of the Philippine Sea before helping to bombard shore defenses at Okinawa and preparing for an eventual invasion of the Japanese home islands.

Virginia-class submarines are built to operate in the world's littoral and deep waters while conducting anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface ship warfare; strike warfare; special operations forces support; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; irregular warfare and mine warfare missions. Their inherent stealth, endurance, mobility and firepower directly enable them to support five of the six maritime strategy core capabilities – sea control, power projection, forward presence, maritime security and deterrence.

Source:marinelink

Guyana Puts Oil Auctions on Hold

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Guyana has put planned oil auctions on hold as the impoverished South American country works to establish a Department of Energy to oversee the energy boom, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said on Monday.

Since 1999, Guyana has awarded a group led by Exxon Mobil Corp hundreds of oil blocks along Guyana's maritime borders with Venezuela and Suriname. Their finds are turning Guyana, a country with no history of oil production and relaxed energy regulation, into one of Latin America's hottest prospects for oil investments.

Exxon, China's CNOOC Ltd and U.S.-based Hess Corp operating in a consortium discovered more than 3 billion barrels of oil and gas resources off Guyana's Atlantic coast, enough to boost the nation's oil output to more than 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in coming years, a similar volume to OPEC-member Ecuador.

In 2016 the companies signed a new agreement with Guyana for a four-year license to develop its blocks. The parties also agreed to a 2 percent royalty and 50-50 profits when production costs are recovered.

Opposition politicians and some Guyanese had complained that the royalties were too low and that the contract not beneficial enough to Guyana. The government of President David Granger in August decided to transfer oversight of the oil industry from the Ministry of Natural Resources to a newly created Department of Energy, which is reviewing the planned auctions of both deep-sea and shallow-water blocks.

"If you want to call that being on hold you can do so, but what I am saying it is basically an administrative process which is basically requiring the Department, which was only established on the 1st of August, to get a better sense … of the lay of the land, before they start to proceed to engage people and to make decisions," Harmon told Reuters in an interview at his Georgetown office.

Harmon, whose ministry oversees the Department of Energy, said it was not immediately clear when the auctions would start, adding that the department would give an update in mid-October.

"Several companies have inquired about the status of their applications and the status of any new applications," said Harmon, declining to identify the companies.

The former head of the ministry for natural resources, Raphael Trotman, had told Reuters in April that Guyana was receiving interest from major oil firms, including France's Total SA, Spain's Repsol SA, U.S.-based Chevron Corp, Brazil's Petrobras and Italy's Eni.

Source:marinelink

Hapag-Lloyd: Increased service quality and efficiency with enhanced Mediterranean – U.S. East Coast service

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– Cooperation between Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express, Yang Ming and CMA-CGM, COSCO, and OOCL starting December 2018

– Consolidation of AL6 service and Amerigo service into one larger loop

– Livorno to be covered by AL7 Service

Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express, and Yang Ming have announced the strategic cooperation with CMA-CGM, COSCO, and OOCL to enhance their Mediterranean – U.S. East Coast service AL6 (Atlantic 6). The aim of this cooperation is to deliver a more efficient and comprehensive service quality.
The improved service is consolidating the AL6 service (operated by Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express and Yang Ming), and the Amerigo service (operated by COSCO, CMA-CGM and OOCL) into one larger loop with a deployment of six 8,000-TEU vessels (three by Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express, and Yang Ming and the remaining by CMA-CGM and OOCL). The newly designed port rotation for the service will be La Spezia – Genoa – Fos – Barcelona – Valencia – New York – Norfolk – Savannah – Miami – Algeciras – La Spezia.

Livorno will no longer be covered by the enhanced Mediterranean – U.S. East Coast Service. However, Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express and Yang Ming will be able to offer services via Livorno on a redesigned ZIM-operated AL7 service in due course, which is part of the continuing cooperation between THE Alliance and ZIM.

The partnership with CMA-CGM, COSCO, and OOCL is slated to begin in December 2018 and subject to regulatory approval. With this change, the member lines aim to provide customers with an improved and more competitive service.

Source:hellenicshippingnews

ExxonMobil Starts New Unit to Increase Ultra-Low Sulfur Fuels Production

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ExxonMobil said that a new unit at its integrated Beaumont, Texas facility has started operations, increasing production of ultra-low sulfur fuels by about 45,000 barrels per day. The new unit relies on a proprietary catalyst system developed by ExxonMobil to remove sulfur and meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency specifications while minimizing octane loss.

The addition of the new unit, ExxonMobil’s second major investment in Beaumont in less than two years, has supported more than 800 construction jobs. In 2016, the company increased the capacity of an existing crude unit by 20,000 barrels per day and added the flexibility to process light crudes. Both projects are components of ExxonMobil’s Growing the Gulf initiative.

“Our latest investment in Beaumont will produce cleaner, higher-value products using unique and efficient proprietary catalysts and processes,” said Bryan W. Milton, president ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Company. “The new unit at Beaumont will further enhance our competitiveness and strengthen ExxonMobil’s position as a leader among Gulf Coast refiners.”

The company is expanding its polyethylene manufacturing capacity by 650,000 tonnes per year by 2019 and is proceeding with front-end engineering, design and other preparatory work to further increase the refinery’s crude refining capacity. Construction of the new crude unit, which is subject to a final investment decision, is scheduled to begin in 2019, with startup anticipated by 2022.

The Beaumont facility has logistics advantages because of its proximity to nearby terminals, railways, pipelines and waterways. It also will benefit from Permian production growth. More than 2,000 employees support its refining and chemical manufacturing operations.

The abundance of domestically produced oil and natural gas has dramatically reduced energy costs and created new sources of feedstock for U.S. refining and chemical manufacturing.

Source:hellenicshippingnew

Industry Experts Weigh Up Solutions For Sulphur Cap 2020

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Despite the different solutions available for the industry to comply with the impending 2020 Sulphur Cap, there is still no consensus from the industry on which works best for the long-run. This is outlined by industry experts in a newly-launched Sea Asia industry insights report, ‘2020 Sulphur Cap: Is the industry ready for the long-run?’.

Launched ahead of the biennial Sea Asia conference and exhibition, the report explores the long-term viability of the three main solutions that industry players are mulling over ahead of the new enforcement – installing scrubbers, switching to low-sulphur fuel alternatives or running on liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The 2020 Sulphur Cap, which will be enforced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) from 1 January 2020, will ban ships trading outside of the sulphur Emission Control Areas (ECAs) from using marine fuels with a sulphur content higher than 0.5 per cent.

Dragos Rauta, Technical Director at INTERTANKO, an association of independent tanker owners, pointed out that even with less than 18 months to go before the new sulphur cap is enforced, there are still not many viable solutions for the long-run.

Other than clean fuel, I do not see many other potential long-term solutions that the industry can implement for the sulphur cap. Most of the solutions can work in the short-run but will not be sustainable.

For example, the use of scrubbers will not last for more than 10 years because the high acidity of the wash-water is a challenge for the integrity of the installation. There will still be some impact on the environment that will not go unnoticed.

“As such, it is clear that the industry still needs that silver bullet solution to comply with the 2020 Sulphur Cap – a solution that is both viable and sustainable keeping also in mind the forthcoming developments on greenhouse gas emissions reduction from international shipping,” said Mr Rauta.

According to Precious Shipping’s Managing Director, Khalid Hashim, it is important that while looking for the best solution to adhere to the new 2020 sulphur regulations, the industry looks beyond that.

“With the IMO already looking to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2050, there is an opportunity for the industry to go back to the drawing board and see if there are innovative solutions that can be implemented to move the industry towards a zero carbon future,” said Hashim.

Chris Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade UBM EMEA, pointed out that since Sea Asia 2019 is taking place eight months ahead of the 2020 Sulphur Cap deadline, discussions at the Sea Asia 2019 conference will inevitably revolve around the issues raised by the implementation of the sulphur cap.

As with previous editions, Sea Asia 2019 will bring global maritime leaders together to discuss and debate key industry issues and trends including the 2020 Sulphur Cap.

For example, during the Sea Asia Parliamentary Debate, which will discuss the motion ‘This House believes that too much is expected of the shipping industry on environmental matters’, we expect to hear a wide variety of opinions from industry leaders on what the sulphur cap and other regulators would mean for sea transport.

“The third morning’s session on ‘Oil, Shipping and the Future Energy Mix’, will also see industry leaders discuss and consider the full range of fuel options that will be available to ship operators in the decade ahead,” said Mr Hayman.

Jointly organised by UBM (Seatrade) and the Singapore Maritime Foundation, Sea Asia 2019 will take place in Singapore from 9-11 April 2019 at the Marina Bay Sands®.

Source:marineinsight

Fraser Shipyards To Construct Passenger And Vehicle Ferry For Ohio’s Lake Erie

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Fraser Shipyards announced that it has been selected to build a new 26-car ferry for Miller Boat Line, which operates ferries that run from northern Ohio’s Catawba Island Township to South Bass Island and Middle Bass Island, two of Lake Erie’s most popular recreation destinations.

The new all-steel ferry will be 140 feet long and 38.5 feet wide. It will be named the Mary Ann Market, in honor of the late matriarch of the family that owns Miller Boat Line. The ferry will have drive-on-drive-off capability and will join Miller Boat Line’s four other ferries.

“We are excited and honored to have been selected for this project,” said James Farkas, president of Fraser Industries Inc., the parent company of Fraser Shipyards. “We have a long tradition of building Great Lakes vessels at Fraser, including car ferries. We are proud to be Miller Boat Line’s partner. We look forward to delivering a modern vessel that meets all of their needs.”

The ferry will have enhanced propulsion and maneuverability, a fully accessible main deck cabin and restroom and the ability to carry 20 percent more cargo than Miller Boat Line’s largest current vessel.

Fraser will start building the new ferry this fall in modules, which workers then will assemble. When the new ferry is completed in 2019, Fraser will deliver it from Superior to Put-in-Bay, Ohio.

“We chose Fraser due to their enduring high quality, integrity, value and with consideration of recommendations from industry professionals including marine surveyors, lake captains and engineers,” Miller Boat Line President Billy Market said.

IMO Celebrates Its 70th Anniversary On World Maritime Day 2018

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The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been celebrating its major anniversaries during 2018, with a focus on the achievements of the past decades as well as the challenges of the future, as the Organization seeks to promote safe, secure, environmentally sound, efficient and sustainable shipping.

The Convention establishing IMO was adopted on 6 March 1948 and it entered into force 10 years later, on 17 March 1958, when the 21st State ratified the treaty. IMO’s first meeting was held in London on 6 January 1959, at Church House in central London, United Kingdom.

“IMO’s heritage for 70 years has been to drive improvements in shipping to achieve a better world today. Our challenge for the years to come remains – to work in collaboration with all stakeholders to create better shipping – for a better future,” said IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim in his annual World Maritime Day Message.

On 27 September, IMO and the global maritime community celebrate the annual World Maritime Day, under the theme: IMO 70: Our Heritage – Better Shipping for a Better Future.

Shipping transports more than 80 per cent of global trade to people and communities all over the world. IMO has adopted more than 50 international instruments, which cover all aspects of international shipping – including ship design, construction, equipment, crewing, navigation, operation and disposal.

“Since its beginning, IMO has worked to ensure that people all over the world can continue to benefit from shipping in a manner that meets the needs of the global economy, and also changing expectations about safety, environmental protection, social responsibility and so on,” said Secretary-General Lim.

Individual governments are encouraged to mark the World Maritime Day, on a date of their choosing but usually in the last week of September.

World Maritime Day is an official United Nations day. Every year, it provides an opportunity to focus attention on the importance of shipping and other maritime activities and to emphasize a particular aspect of IMO’s work. Each World Maritime Day has its own theme.

Source:marineinsight

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