U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Accepts Resignation of U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today accepted the resignation of Rear Admiral Allen Worley, Superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, effective January 4, 2010.

“The Merchant Marine Academy has gone through an important rebuilding year and is positioned for reaching the next level,” said Secretary LaHood. “We are confident the Academy is on course to continue as the premier institution in maritime education. We appreciate Admiral Worley’s service.”

Secretary LaHood noted that during the last year several steps were taken to upgrade processes at the Academy and to improve educational opportunities for Midshipmen, including cutting student fees in half, hiring an outside accounting firm to improve Academy finances and assigning a blue ribbon panel of national experts to examine the capital needs of the school and make recommendations for its upgrade.

Dr. Shashi Kumar, Academic Dean and Assistant Superintendent for Academic Affairs, will act as interim Superintendent upon Admiral Worley’s departure in January. A nationwide search will be conducted to find a permanent successor.

Admiral Worley has been the Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy since November 2008, the tenth person to hold this post since the institution’s dedication in 1943.

The Merchant Marine Academy, operated by the U. S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, is one of the nation’s primary sources of licensed merchant marine officers and is renowned internationally for its maritime education and training programs. – 9 November 2009

So the search begins for a new Superintendent.

This weeks interesting ship is the ULSTEIN A122 AHTS vessel, Olympic Hera, which was just recently delivered to Olympic Shipping by Ulstein Group.  Olympic Hera is the sister vessel of the Olympic Zeus, which has been highly attractive in the market since her delivery six months ago.

Ordered in December 2006, the Olympic Hera and Olympic Zeus are state-of-the-art AHTS/OCV designed for towing, anchor-handling, survey, crane, and ROV operations as well as general offshore construction work.  Along with their deep water capabilities, both vessels have excellent sea-keeping and performance characteristics ensuring good fuel economy and low emissions.

“From our experiences with Olympic Zeus in the North Sea we see that the vessel runs diesel-electric 80% of the time. Figures show that fuel consumption in these modes is about 50% lower than for most competing vessels due to the hybrid solution onboard,” says Olympic Shipping senior vice president Runar Stave.The Ulstein Group has more:

In deep water
The Olympic Hera measures 93.8 metres long, 23 metres wide and 10 metres from main deck to keel, and performs anchor handling, supply, subsea and construction operations. The bollard pull is approximately 260 tonnes. The Olympic Zeus and Olympic Hera can also be equipped with a 250-tonne heave-compensated offshore crane and two A-frames of different types. The large dimensions of the Olympic Zeus and Olympic Hera add stability, and together with the extra power installed onboard, make the vessels especially well suited to carry out deepwater operations.

“We were Ulstein Design´s first customers 10 years ago, and received the anchor handling tug supply vessels Olympic Pegasus and Olympic Hercules in 2002. The vessels perform well, but the market has changed. The trend has shifted from operations at depths of 1000–1500 metres to advanced subsea operations down to 2000–4000 metres. In order to provide the best services for the market at present, we need even larger ships with advanced capacities. With one large 500-tonne and two 450-tonne drums, the winch aboard the vessels has enormous capacity. Due to these newbuildings, we have become one of the world leaders in operations at such depths,” Remøy says.

Green operations
The Olympic Zeus and Olympic Hera are the first anchor handling/construction vessels with this type of diesel-mechanical/diesel-electric hybrid propulsion solution. The propeller on the system can either be driven directly by the diesel engine or by an electric motor powered by generator sets. The two modes can also be combined.

“The system has been tailor made to fit the vessels’ dynamic and versatile work operations. Three key elements provide the system with unsurpassed dynamic capabilities and low fuel consumption: The extensive electric portion allows the majority of vessel work operations to be performed in diesel-electrical mode, the development of a user-friendly interface, and the highly advanced automation system that fully utilises the dynamic nature of the hybrid propulsion concept. We call our concept Green operations, a joint venture by Olympic Shipping and Ulstein Group. The fuel-efficient vessels have low NOx emissions and meet DNV’s Clean Design criteria”, says Ulstein Group deputy CEO Tore Ulstein. “Given that the vessels only require low or medium power the majority of the time they are in operation, the engines can run with optimum fuel efficiency.”

“Only a few vessel operations require the extra power from the hybrid solution. This leads to thousands of litres of reduced fuel consumption every single day. We currently see that others are also entering into the market with hybrid vessels, and we welcome that. This is all the better for the environment,” concludes Stave.

“The Olympic Zeus has shown that this is the proper way to go, and now that we also have the Olympic Hera in the fleet, I am convinced that we chose the right design company and shipyard,” says a satisfied Stig Remøy.

More on the Olympic Hera and Olympic Zeus can be found on the Ulstein Group website, HERE.

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I’m going to come right out and tell you something that almost no one in the maritime industry understands. That includes mariners, executives, managers, insurers, dock workers, for certain – fisherman, and even many (most) rescue professionals:

It is impossible to die from hypothermia in cold water unless you are wearing flotation.

Despite the research, the experience, and all the data, I still hear “experts” – touting as wisdom – completely false information about cold water and what happens to people who get in it. With another season of really cold water approaching, I feel compelled to get these points across in a way that will change the way mariners behave out there on (or near) the water.

What follows is the truth about cold water and cold water immersion. I know that you think you know all there is to know about hypothermia already (and maybe you do), but read ahead and see if you aren’t surprised by something.

When the water is cold (say under 50 degrees F) there are significant physiological reactions that occur, in order, almost always.

You Can’t Breath:

The first is phase of cold water immersion is called the cold shock response: It is a stage of increased heart rate and blood pressure, uncontrolled gasping, and sometimes uncontrolled movement. Lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes depending on a number of factors, the cold shock response can be deadly all by itself. In fact, of all the people who die in cold water, it is estimated that 20% die in the first two minutes. They drown, they panic, they take on water in that first uncontrolled gasp, if they have heart problems – the cold shock may trigger a heart attack. Surviving this stage is about getting your breathing under control, realizing that the stage will pass, and staying calm.

You Can’t Swim:

One of the primary reasons given by recreational boaters when asked why they don’t wear a life jacket, is that they can swim. Listen up, Tarzan; I swam for a living for the better part of my adult life, and when the water is cold – none of us can swim for very long. The second stage of cold water immersion is swimming failure. lacking adequate insulation your body will make its own. Long before your core temperature drops a degree, the veins in your extremities (those things you swim with) will constrict,  you will lose your ability control your hands, and the muscles in your arms and legs will just flat out quit working well enough to keep you above water. Without some form of flotation, and in not more than 30 minutes, the best swimmer among us will drown – definitely – no way around it. Without ever experiencing a drop in core temperature (at all) over 50% of the people who die in cold water, die from drowning perpetuated by swimming failure.

You Last Longer than You Think:

If you have ever heard the phrase, “That water is so cold, you will die from hypothermia within ten minutes.” then you have been lied to about hypothermia. For that matter you can replace ten minutes with twenty, or thirty, or even an hour, and you’ve still been lied to. In most cases, in water of say 40 degrees (all variables to one side), it typically takes a full hour to approach unconsciousness from hypothermia the third stage of cold water immersion – though you must be wearing flotation to get this far.

We are all different in this regard, but I once spent an hour in 44 degree water wearing street clothes and my core temperature was only down by less than two degrees (I was not clinically hypothermic). It was as uncomfortable to be sure, and I wouldn’t recommend finding your own limit, but it probably would have taken another hour to lose consciousness, and an hour after that to cool my core to the point of no return. The bodies efforts to keep the core warm – vasoconstriction and shivering – are surprisingly effective. The shivering and blood shunting to the core are so effective, that twenty minutes after jumping in (twice the “you’ll be dead in ten minutes” time), I had a fever of 100.2.

Rescue Professionals Think You Live Longer:

There is a good side to the misconceptions about hypothermia. Should you ever be in the water in need of rescue, you can be certain that the Coast Guard is going to give you the benefit of every possible doubt. When developing search criteria – search and rescue coordinators use something called the Cold Exposure Survival Model (CESM): It is a program wherein they enter all the available data about the victim (age, weight, estimated body fat, clothing, etc.) and about the environment (water temp, sea state, air temp, wind) and the software spits them out a number that represents the longest possible time you can survive under those conditions. I plugged my own information into it once and it said I could survive for over 4 hours in 38 degree water wearing nothing but a t-shirt and jeans and no flotation. I can tell you from experience that the CESM is full of it – I’d give me 35 minutes tops – but the error is comforting. If the program that determines how long I might live is going to be wrong – I want it to be wrong in that direction.

Out of the Water is Not Out of Trouble:

I lost count of the number of survivors I annoyed in the back of the helicopter because I wouldn’t let them move.  I had a rule – if they came from a cold water environment – they laid down and stayed down until the doctors in the E.R. said they could stand.  It didn’t matter to me how good they felt or how warm they thought you were.  Because the final killer of cold water immersion is post-rescue collapse.  Hypothermia does things besides making everything colder.  Victims are physiologically different for awhile.  One of the things that changes is called heart-rate variability.  The hearts ability to speed up and slow down has been effected.  Getting up and moving around requires your heart to pump more blood, being upright and out of the water is also taxing, then any number of other factors collide and the heart starts to flutter instead of pump – and down you go.  Victims of immersion hypothermia are two things; lucky to be alive; and fragile.  Until everything is warmed back up – out of the water and dry is good enough – mobility comes later.

Did You Learn Anything?:

If you did, then hopefully you’ll use it to make good decisions when it comes to being safe on and around cold water; good decisions like these:

1. When working on deck, wear flotation.  This includes, especially, all fisherman in Alaska.  I couldn’t find more recent research, but the 31 Alaskan “fell overboard” casualties in 2005 died from drowning, not cold water.  Not one of them was wearing flotation.  Many couldn’t stay above water long enough for their own boats to make a turn and pick them up…..over a life jacket.
2. If you witness a man overboard – getting the life ring directly to them is critical (vital – step one – must do it).  Make certain that all-important piece of safety gear is not just on your vessel, but readily available and not tied to the cradle.
3. When working on deck – wear flotation.  I said that already? Well, when I quit reading search reports that end with “experienced” mariners dying because they thought they understood cold water – I’ll come up with better advice.

For more advice about how to handle an accidental immersion into cold water – please watch Cold Water Boot Camp – it is one of the best 10 minutes on immersion hypothermia ever produced.  For even more advice, ask me a question on the discussion boards.

Click here to view the embedded video.

disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. Coast Guard.

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Welcome to this 187th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 137 here. (Published 24 November 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find links to all the previous editions at the bottom of this post. You are encouraged to participate using the comment link/form at the bottom of the post. If you have photos or stories to tell, do email me at fred@gcaptain.com.

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NOTE: It is with mixed emotions that I announce that I will be ending my weekly involvement with Maritime Monday. I expect my last edition to be number 190 which is scheduled for publication at the end of the month. While I really enjoy working on it every week, I am ready to take a break from this non-stop weekly schedule after the 3+ years that the series has run.

The gCaptain crew is evaluating some options in how best to keep the series going. With that said, if putting together a weekly roundup of maritime news and events is something that interests you and is something that you have the time for, then feel free to contact any of us.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Norway’s Tschudi Project Transport:

Tschudi Project Transport offers complete logistic solutions – pre- and on-carriage including documentation, as well as ocean transportation – of non containerised cargo; including over dimensioned and heavy lifts. Geographically, we work globally, but with a focus on Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS.

By drawing on and linking the Tschudi Group competencies within the key elements of logistics (www.tschudilogistics.com) ocean towage and heavy lift transportation (www.itctowage.com) and traditional shipping (www.ottodanielsen.com) plus the respective companies huge global networks, we will be able to cover the complete chain of transport from Works to Site and thereby offer a “one-stop-shopping” facility with a view to achieve the most competitive transport solutions for our clients.

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Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “MV Arctic Sea: Inside Story?“

gCaptain has “Class Action Suit Filed in Hawaii to Declare Jones Act Unconstitutional“.

USA Today has “World’s largest cruise ship rocked by ‘extreme’ seas in North Atlantic“. See video here. Gives another good example of the power of the sea in how it can move the world’s largest cruise ship as it does. Then think of all the smaller ships out there, most all without stabilization equipment. You can find the OASIS OF THE SEAS website here with lots of video including updates of the vessel’s Atlantic crossing.

Reuters has “U.S. requests talks with Mexico over tuna dispute“.

In March, Mexico filed a World Trade Organization complaint challenging U.S. labeling rules for tuna caught using methods less harmful to dolphins that swim near the fish.

The United States bars the “dolphin-safe” label on tuna caught by boats using purse seine nets that also snare dolphins — a technique used by Mexican vessels, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said.

FIS has serious Government overreach in “Senators aim to block proposed raw oyster ban“.

Miami Herald has “Cuban crewmen stuck in Africa after ship begins to list“.

“Cuba is selling cheap labor to people who have no scruples, so Cuban crews have been stuck all over the world,” said Casañas, who first reported the Medea case Tuesday on Faro de Recalada, a Cuban naval forum on the Web.

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IMOWatch links to “Waste Stream Analysis for Platinum II (SS Oceanic, SS Independence)“.

Flags of Convenience has another Iranian weapons shipment handled by German shipping in “Francop: advanced AA platforms aboard“.

Freaque Waves has “Star fish tragedy“.

Hunt of the Sea Wolves has “Spain refuses prisoner exchange with pirates“.

The Merchant Marine Express has “Onward, Crew!“

The Maritime Executive has “Politics, Pilots, Pay – and Predictably, Problems…“

It is, apparently, a very good time to push back against state-sanctioned harbor pilots who are seeking to get rate increases of one sort or another. The weak economy notwithstanding, port authorities, local stakeholders, pilot commissions and state legislators are now regularly eschewing the usual rubberstamp for calls to hike rates and it’s not always about the money, either.

Life Magazine has photos of Sea Shepherd’s newest boat in “Superbad Anti-Whaling Stealth Boat“.

Sea Shepherd News has ‘Capt’ Paul Watson’s reaction in “Fears, Jeers, Cheers, and Loathing for Sea Shepherd In South Park“. Actually, it is a good editorial overall.

I knew as soon as I heard that South Park would be lampooning Sea Shepherd and Whale Wars that it would be viciously brutal. No one gets a free ride with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. But, I also knew that whatever they were planning it would be good for the whales, and that was all that I was really concerned with, so I was not disappointed.

Okay, so I get a harpoon through the head! Hey, s*@# happens!

ryanerickson has “Coast Guard Desktop Wallpaer: A tribute to CG-1705“.

The Malta Independent has “Largest ever seabed clean up yields unusual items“.

The Wall Street Journal has “Panhandling: Florida’s Debate Over Offshore Oil“.

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb gives an idea of how important seafarers view their vacation time in “home again.“

If this vacation is as dreary as the last one was, I will light myself on fire.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “Photo: The Dory Shop; Cape Ann, Massachusetts“.

BarentsObserver has “Difficulties ahead for Norwegian shipbuilding industry“.

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Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “USCG – Navigation Rules – updated and corrected“.

The US Coast Guard issued an updated and corrected version of the International and Inland Navigation Rules (COMDTINST M16672.2D). The publication is a compendium of: the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (72 COLREGS), the Inland Navigation Rules, their respective technical annexes, a listing of the COLREGS Demarcation Lines, the Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone Regulations, and various other legal provisions regarding compliance and penalties associated with the Navigation Rules. The original version was published on March 25, 1999, by the US Coast Guard Navigation Standards Branch at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC 20593-7856. This updated version has corrected typographical errors and omissions and includes post-publication 2003 amendments to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS). (10/19/09).

Danger Room has “Can Killer Drones Land on Carriers Like Human Top Guns?“

Greenpeace has a video tour of their vessel the ESPERANZA including a good look under the hull in “On board the Esperanza“. Interestingly enough the two cleanest spaces appear to be the bridge and the engine room.

US Naval Institute Blog has “A Rally for the Underdog: Valour IT“.

CNN Justice has an example of what you can find in a container in “Stolen 1965 Volkswagen van recovered after 35 years“.

A 1965 Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Spokane, Washington, was found by customs agents in a shipping container in the Los Angeles port last month, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official said.

Tugster has photos: “USS NEW YORK“, with parts 2 and 3.

Springbored’s Springboard has “Coffee At Sea: Canada Arms Up!“

The BBC has “Three Gorges water plan postponed“.

China has postponed a plan to raise the Three Gorges reservoir to its ideal height of 175 metres due to a lack of water, the firm running the dam said.

There has been less water than expected flowing into the reservoir from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

More water than anticipated has also been let out of the reservoir because of drought further down river.

MarineBuzz has “Mistral: French Amphibious Assault Ship to Visit St. Petersburg” and “Indian Coast Guard Station at Karwar Commissioned“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has the problem of shipbreaking in “Urgent solution needed“.

SHIPBREAKING on beaches is nasty and brutish, shortening some of the lives of workers who toil at shipbreaking for a living. It also, by reliable accounts, adds seriously to environmental pollution, as toxic chemicals are washed out to sea.

Therefore it came as a surprise that a former Bangladeshi official defended the practice at a London conference last week.

The defence by AKM Shafiqullah, former director general of Bangladesh’s Department of Shipping, opined that environmental damage due to ship recycling in Bangladesh is greatly overblown.

CargoLaw has running aground in Croatia in ““Make 25 Knots, Then Sit” – M/V Marko Polo“.

Arctic Focus has “Commerical fishing ban in Arctic set for Dec. 3rd“.

In August, American Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, approved a plan that will see a large part of the Arctic remain off-limits to commercial fishing. Federal officials have announced that that plan will go into effect the 3rd of December.

Information dissemination has “USS New York“.

Kennebec Captain has “Cautious Optimism about Right Whales“.

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “HMCS Chicoutimi moving costs secret“.

Trade and Logistics Malaysia has “Shipping companies anchor vessels near Pengeran to save costs“.

EnglishRussia has photos “The Sea of Salty Lakes“.

Breakbulk Industry News has “WWL’s Orcelle Fund Seeks Green Maritime Projects“.

The Orcelle Fund, a grant-awarding body created by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, is looking for innovative new maritime projects to support. The fund provides seed capital for projects developing alternative maritime energy sources and energy-efficient technology. The goal is to find projects with potential commercial viability.

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Australia & New Zealand aid Remote Tongan island“.

HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS has “South Korean shipbuilders overtaken by Chinese rivals“.

Shipgaz News has “2,000 ships to the breakers next year“.

BitterEnd Blog has photos of a marina nightmare in “Boats on fire at Roch Harbor this afternoon“.

The Horse’s Mouth has sea lion photos with “Great White Sharks In San Francisco Bay!“

Inside GNSS has “Galileo Program Recalibrates Schedule, Budget, Open Signal ICD“.

Galileo program managers appear to have bowed to the unavoidable and acknowledged that completing the European satellite navigation system will take longer and cost more than their revised estimates of 2014 and €3.4-billion ($5.04-billion), respectively

70.8% has photos: “Paul Frankowski, sailing historian“.

The Old Salt Blog has “Schooner Mystic to be Sold at Auction“. Interestingly enough, one of the commenters points out that he is handling the sale of another schooner, the VICTORY CHIMES, which can be yours for only $1.5 million.

YouTube has “The Creation of a 21st-Century Expedition Ship“.

Come inside the shipyard for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the National Geographic Explorer.

Also, check out the National Geographic Explorer’s Inaugural Voyage! (Here)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Fairplay Daily News has:

Gunfights at sea? Look deeper – FIREARMS to protect merchant ships on the Indian Ocean will not alone solve piracy, a military analyst has warned.

Nick Davis – a military consultant and managing director of Gulf of Aden Group Transits, a provider of unarmed and armed maritime support services – commented on the Spanish government’s decision to allow fishing and merchant vessels under its flag to carry precision rifles while crossing the Indian Ocean.

“Arms onboard are not the solution in this type of area, although it is often the only choice,” Davis told Fairplay. “Armed patrol vessels maintaining a perimeter around the fishing fleets would be better than gunfights within 100m of a slow moving ship.”

Davis added that a subsidy by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission and the international fishing fleets to Somali authorities in places such as Galmudug/Puntland, in exchange for safe fishing, would be a better solution. “[Such a subsidy] would save €3M [$4.43M] per day in hardware costs for the military to be there,” said Davis, who added that piracy was “getting completely out of hand.”

“The whole solution is based around putting infrastructure and self-sufficiency into Somalia,” he emphasised.

“They need the ability and equipment to generate their own success. They are more than willing to sort themselves out – but they need help.” – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Sunken ferry chief sidelined – JOHN JONESSE, the chief of the ferry company that owned the foundered Princess Ashika, has been stood down from his position and told to seek independent legal advice.

The sidelining of Jonesse has thrown a cloud over the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the 32-year-old vessel in the South Pacific on 5 August, with the loss of 78 people.

Tongans are suspicious about the move by the government-owned Shipping Corp of Polynesia, according to local media, fearing that Jonesse’s evidence has already proven damning of government policy.

After initially denying responsibility, Jonesse conceded he was solely in charge of recommending purchase of the former Japanese Inland Sea ferry from Fijian owners, even though he had no shipping experience.

The vessel was later found to have at least 40 major faults, but repairs were still under way when it was despatched on its fatal voyage from Tongan capital Nuku’alofa with about 180 people and cargo aboard. It capsized in calm seas and sank quickly, trapping many passengers below deck.

Jonesse told the inquiry that government surveyors failed to turn up for the pre-purchase inspection and no time limit had been set for the completion of repairs. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories and photos to fred@gcaptain.com for inclusion in future editions as well as suggest areas of coverage.

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Previous Editions: As linked below or click on the tag ‘Maritime Monday’ for all gCaptain editions.

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Senior NOAA officials today commissioned NOAA Ship Pisces, the nation’s most advanced fisheries research vessel, and dedicated a new fisheries laboratory in Pascagoula, Miss. The vessel and the NOAA laboratory will support fisheries research in the Gulf of Mexico, southeastern United States and the Caribbean.

Pisces, built by Pascagoula based VT Halter Marine, is equipped with high tech research equipment and quiet-hull technology. The vessel is so quiet and so advanced that scientists can study fish populations and collect oceanographic data with minimal impact on fish and marine mammal behavior.

The 208-ft ship is the third of four newly constructed NOAA fisheries survey vessels of the same class. Pisces is operated by the NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and is homeported in Pascagoula.

Pisces was named by a team of students from Sacred Heart School in Southaven, Miss., and christened by Dr. Annette Nevin Shelby, professor emerita at Georgetown University and wife of U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby.

The new Southeast Fisheries Science Center’s Pascagoula laboratory replaces the laboratory that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  At approximately 55,000 square feet, the building contains office space for 104 scientists, a library, and meeting rooms. This enables NOAA to consolidate several previously dispersed programs in the Pascagoula area including the Pascagoula Laboratory; National Seafood Inspection Laboratory; and the Documentation, Approval and Supply Services office.

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This weeks Interesting Ship is Dolphin Marine international Dolphin III Towing and Anchor Handling Tug.

The Dolphin III has been in service since 2001 and is based out of Port Fourchon, Louisiana. This SOLAS classed vessel is currently the most powerful offshore tugboat operating in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s powered by (2) EMD-20-710G7B Turbos which gives the tug a Bollard Pull of approximately 150 Tons. The Dolphin III has recently returned to service after it entered dry dock for a revamp and upgrades.

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The new amphibius assault ship USS New York, built with 7.5 tons of steel from the fallen World Trade Center, arriving in New York Harbor on November 2, 2009, en route to Pier 88.

Read More about the USS New York HERE or HERE

(Image Source – AP)

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As positioning capabilities have been improved to the point where a vessel can now sit on a (virtual) dime, the focus  now shifts towards refinement.  Making vessels more efficient is not only the right thing to do for the environment, it also makes good business sense.  As legislation continually moves towards stricter emission controls, companies that are taking the initiative now will remain ahead of the curve, staying competitive in the process.

Lets take a look at some of the improvments that are being made on DP components & technologies, in an effort to make them greener.

Dynamic Positioning Systems

Always at the forefront of DP Controllers, Kongsberg has released the GreenDP® system.

Compared to existing DP systems, GreenDP has been designed with the focus of reducing fuel consumption.  It accomplishes this with its controller design, which consists of 2 parts:

1. Environment Compensator
2. Model Predictive Controller

The Environment Compensator is designed to give slowly varying thruster demand, compensating for average environmental forces.  This demand will maintain the wanted position under average conditions, but reacts very leisurely to a changing environment.  In this way the power consumption is more stable & the usage is reduced.

The Predictive controller uses a forecast of the vessels movements as an input & takes action during larger changes in external forces.  The prediction is considered in conjunction with pre-set boundaries.  When the prediction indicates that the boundaries will be broken the controller reacts swiftly, thereby insuring that the vessel will stay within the operational area.

Kongsberg indicates that this new control strategy will reduce fuel consumption by approximately 20%.  Additionally it will result in reduced wear & tear on mechanical parts of the power & thruster system, thus reducing maintenance costs.

The graph below shows the power consumption of a normal DP system compared to the GreenDP system, with exactly the same wind, waves & current.  It is seen that the variation in much lower for the GreenDP.  In a real world application this means that the number of generators running may be reduced, resulting in significant fuel savings.

Existing SDP systems can be easily upgraded to GreenDP by replacing the SBC & updating the software.

Hull Design

The most significant innovation in hull design this decade is the X-Bow, designed by the Ulstein Group.  This inverted bow design improves handling in rough sea conditions & increased fuel efficiency by displacing waves rather than slamming on top of them.  This is possible by the increased reserve buoyancy afforded by the large freeboard.

The idea for the X-Bow was conceived in 2003 as a result of a think tank collaboration between a group of industrial designers who knew about industrial design, but didn’t know anything about OSVs and a group of hardcore naval architects and ship designers who had extensive shipbuilding knowledge.

3 years later the first X-Bow AHTS was delivered: The Bourbon Orca.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Propulsion

Although not currently in use in the offshore, CRP Azipod technology will likely make its way there due to the improved hydrodynamic properties of the propulsion system, which lowers fuel consumption & could offer some interesting positioning capabilities.

Counter Rotating Propellers work by fitting a steerable azipod thruster inline with the  traditional fixed stern propellers.  The azipod propeller is smaller than the main prop to avoid cavitation & has a different number of blades, to avoid resonance.

The azipod propeller rotates in a direction opposite to the main propeller, at a slower speed.  It acts as the vessels rudder & as it has the ability to rotate through 360 degrees it would be very useful for positioning.

The azipods steering controls meet IMO & Class standards & can be used with DP & Autopilot systems.

Fuel Technology & Power Generation

Pressure to decrease Sulphur Oxide (SOx) emissions from marine vessels has increased the demand for low sulphur marine fuels.  Canada & the USA are planning to set limits to emmisions from vessels within their territorial waters. These fuels work well with systems designed for their use, but can cause engine problems on older vessels.

Marine BioDiesel is also starting to gain a foothold.  Biodiesel is non-toxic, readily biodegradable and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.  Some benefits are:

• Non-Toxic
• Biodegradable
• Cleaner exhaust
• Higher flashpoint vs. conventional diesel
• Superior lubricity

Because Biodiesel can replace or blend with petroleum diesel with little or no engine modifications, it is a viable alternative to several categories of the marine industry, including: recreational boats, inland commercial and ocean-going commercial ships, research vessels, and the U.S. Coast Guard Fleet.

Innovative generator arrangements consisting of various sizes of diesel generators allows optimization of different combinations of diesel mechanic and diesel electric drive. Advanced systems control the generator sets’ operating conditions for minimising fuel consumption and emissions of NOx and CO₂.  The recently launched Havila Venus is equipped with this system & was named the Greenest AHTS in the World.

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This weeks ship photo is of the 20 story Oasis of the Seas lowering its smoke stacks to squeeze under Great Belt Fixed Link in the Baltic Sea on Saturday.  The Oasis of the Seas is currently on its maiden voyage bound for Florida.  Continue reading for video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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This weeks incident photos are of the fire that was burning on Seadrill’s West Atlas jackup oil rig located in the Timor Sea between Australia and Indonesia.  BBC tells us:

An oil rig which has leaked thousands of barrels of oil into the Timor Sea over the last 10 weeks has been plugged, the rig’s operators have said.

A massive fire burning on the West Atlas rig has also largely been put out, said PTTEP Australia.

Experts plugged the leak on their fifth attempt by injecting thousands of barrels of mud into the well.

The oil leak, in the Timor Sea between Australia and Indonesia, has endangered marine life, environmentalists said.

PTTEP Australasia, said the fire broke out on Sunday as it made another attempt to plug a leak deep underwater at the West Atlas rig.

The company said it pumped nearly 3,500 barrels of mud into a relief well to plug the leak.

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