News – Page 31 – Pacific Maritime Magazine

WETA Awarded Nearly $15 Million to Develop Electric Ferry Network

The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) has won a $14.9 million grant from the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) to develop a high-frequency network to serve some of San Francisco’s fastest growing neighborhoods with battery-electric ferries. The grant, announced July 15, is to fund the construction of ferries and shoreside charging infrastructure to support the San Francisco Clean Ferry Network, which will use zero-emission ferries to connect waterfront San Francisco neighborhoods including Downtown, Treasure Island and Mission Bay, WETA said. This grant, through CalSTA’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, is the latest in a series…

Project Would Convert Plastic Ocean Waste to Bricks

An engineer with a background in Alaska’s commercial fisheries is working to recycle plastic garbage retrieved from oceans into construction industry materials, including plastic bricks. Patrick Simpson, president and chief executive officer of PKS Consulting, grew up in a fishing family in Cordova, Alaska. He worked his way up from crew to being a vessel captain, then studied engineering in college. He embarked on various commercial fisheries-related research projects, one being getting plastics out of oceans and recycling them into useable products. His latest grant, funded by the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will…

NW Seaport Alliance Expands Domestic Intermodal Capacity with New Rail Lease

At a July 6 meeting, Northwest Seaport Alliance commissioners voted to approve a 16-acre lease to BNSF Railway Co. that would allow BNSF to develop and operate a domestic intermodal facility at Lot M in the Tacoma Harbor. The new BNSF facility would increase cargo volumes moving to and from the Seaport Alliance and inland U.S. markets via rail. The adoption of the lease positions the NWSA as a port directly served by two mainline railroads in the domestic movement of containers. The Seaport Alliance is a marine cargo operating partnership of the Seattle and Tacoma seaports. “Growing the NWSA’s…

Assoc. of Pacific Ports Elects New President

The Association of Pacific Ports announced Long Beach Harbor Commissioner Bobby Olvera Jr. as APP’s new president on Aug. 5. Olvera assumes the role following the tenure of Kimberlyn King-Hinds from the Commonwealth Ports Authority, Northern Mariana Islands. “I look forward to working with APP members in the coming year,” he said in a statement, adding that “collaboration and communication between us all are essential as we work to further the best interests of our communities and constituents.” As International Vice President (Mainland) of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Olvera serves as the Vice President of the Long Beach…

USCG Expanding Its Astoria, Oregon Facilities to Accommodate Fast Response Cutters

The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded a contract to expand its shoreside facilities at East Tongue Point in Astoria, the USCG announced July 12. The winning bid was placed by GWWH, a joint venture team comprised of Granite Construction, Webcor Construction LP, Weeks Marine, Inc. and Healy Tibbitts Builders, Inc. The $30 million contract provides design-build improvements at the facility to accommodate the homeporting of fast response cutters (FRCs). The facilities are planned to include a fixed pier, two floating docks, gangways between the docks and pier, cutter shore tie utilities on the pier, underground utilities on the shore, new…

Port of LA Congestion Reduction Project Receives $3M Federal Grant

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration on Aug. 10 awarded a $3 million Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) grant to the Port of Los Angeles Gateway Project. The grant is expected to help the port deploy advanced technologies to improve trucking, drayage and terminal operator activities. Specifically, the Gateway Project will implement cloud-based, artificial intelligence applications to help streamline and schedule the staging of cargo and empty returns, according to the POLA. The application introduces new means to help direct cargo owners, truckers and drayage drivers and reduce congestion at the port. “ATCMTD grants promote…

Carbon Emissions Down 46% for Seattle’s Port-Owned Facilities, Operations

The Port of Seattle’s annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory, which was released Aug. 9, shows that it cut emissions from its own operations by 46% in 2021 over 2005 baseline. The port’s Aviation division became the first major operating division to meet Seattle’s ambitious goal to reduce owned and controlled emissions by 50% by 2030. The massive reduction came almost entirely from the purchase of renewable natural gas produced from landfill waste, the port said. The port has indicated that it expects to eliminate all carbon emissions from port-owned and -controlled sources by 2040 and for all entities operating at…

NASSCO Awarded $1.4 Billion Navy Ships Build Contract

San Diego-based shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO, which already has a large design-build contract with the U.S. Navy, is receiving more military work, the company announced Aug. 5. NASSCO has received a $1.4 billion contract with the Navy to build a sixth Expeditionary Sea Base ship (ESB 8) and two more John Lewis-class fleet oilers (T-AO 211 and 212). The award comes in addition to $600 million already received to procure long-lead time materials for the same ships. The contract modification also provides an option for the Navy to procure an additional oiler, T-AO 213, bringing the total potential value to…

More Western Shipyards: Full Steam Ahead

The famous Greek historian Herodotus is credited with saying, “The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.” Surely, Herodotus was talking to the working commercial fisherman about the importance of shipyard dock talk. The comings and goings of notable boats, repowers and refits (and regrets), dredging delays, infrastructure grants won, and the like is not idle trivia. One-part gossip, four parts pertinent business information, shipyard dock talk is still the best way for professional mariners to maintain the pulse of the scene. It’s in the spirit of spreading useful dock talk that the following information from some…

Global Piracy and Armed Robbery Incidents at Lowest Level in Decades: IMB

During the first half of 2022, the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) received the lowest number of reported incidents for the first half of any year since 1994, which the IMB is calling a testament to its pivotal role in raising awareness to make waters safer. IMB’s latest global piracy report, which was released July 12, details 58 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships – the lowest total since 1994 – down from 68 incidents during the same period last year. In the first six months of 2022, IMB’s Piracy Reporting Center reported 55 vessels…