News – Page 160 – Pacific Maritime Magazine

01 Apr

All American Marine Gains Coast Guard Contract

Pacific MaritimeNews

Bellingham, Washington-based All American Marine is conducting a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) on a series of US Coast Guard 47-foot motor lifeboats under a contract granted by Birdon America which was awarded the prime contract covering 107 of the vessels last year. All American is currently working on two of the lifeboats at its Bellingham yard and plans to increase production up to eight vessels annually during Phase II of the multi-year project.

01 Apr

Pollution Prevention on Columbia River

Pacific MaritimeNews

The Coast Guard and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality teamed up with deputies of the Multnomah County river patrol to remove thousands of gallons of diesel fuel from two aging vessels on the Columbia River in January to prevent possible pollution. An estimated 8,500 gallons of diesel fuel and 100 gallons of lube oil was removed from the former 1942-built Navy tug Sakarissa (YTM-269) and the former 1927-built Coast Guard cutter Alert (WMEC-127), both privately owned and under various stages of restoration. The tugboat had been retired from active service in 1974 and the Coast Guard cutter in 1969.

01 Apr

Virgin’s Scarlet Lady Delivered

Pacific MaritimeNews

The Fincantieri shipyard at Genoa Sestri Ponente has delivered the 110,000-gt cruise ship Scarlet Lady to Virgin Voyages as the first of four sister ships. The 278-meter by 38-meter diesel-powered vessel has been fitted with a catalytic converter system and a heat recovery system and also incorporates all-LED lighting. Accommodation has been arranged for 2,770 passengers and a crew of 1,160. The second of the sisters, Valiant Lady, will be delivered next year while a further two sister ships will follow in 2022 and 2023.

01 Apr

Odfjell Tanker to Taihua Fleet

Pacific MaritimeNews

Norway’s Odfjell Tankers has sold its 2000-built chemical tanker Bow Andes to Hong Kong-based Taihua Ship Management for $5 million. Acquisition of the 16,000-dwt Japanese-built ship, which has a special survey due, brings the Taihua fleet up to 13 vessels, all oil or chemical tankers.

01 Apr

New Canadian Pilot Boat

Pacific MaritimeNews

Ocean Pacific Marine on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island has been contracted to build a 19.9-meter long pilot boat for the Pacific Pilotage Authority based in Vancouver. Designed by Scotland’s Camarc, the all-aluminum craft will be powered by Tier III MAN diesels driving Hamilton waterjets to give a cruising speed of better than 25 knots.

01 Apr

Petaluma River Dredging

Pacific MaritimeNews

The US Army Corps of Engineers will be allocating approximately $9.7 million this year to dredge the Petaluma River channel running into San Francisco Bay, the first time the river has received maintenance dredging since 2003. An additional $1.3 million has been set aside for preliminary work to eventually dredge the San Rafael Canal in nearby San Rafael.

01 Apr

AMHS Charters Tour Boat for Ferry Service

Pacific MaritimeNews, News Briefs

The Alaska Marine Highway System was forced to charter a tour boat from Sitka-based Allen Marine to operate several voyages between Juneau and the towns of Kake, Angoon and Tenakee in late February and early March after all but one of the ferry system’s vessels were out of service. Allen Marine had previously supplied one of its boats to transport passengers stranded by the breakdown of the system’s mainline ferry Matanuska earlier in February.

01 Apr

New Near Shore Fishery Research Vessels for Canada

Pacific MaritimeNews

The Government of Canada has contracted British Columbia’s Robert Allan Ltd to design a new version of the Near Shore Fishery Research Vessel (NSFRV) to be used for fishery research by Fisheries & Oceans Canada and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. Currently there are four NSFRVs in service, three of which were designed by Robert Allan and commissioned as CCGS Vladykov, CCGS Leim and CCGS M. Perley in 2012. The new design will be a direct development of these vessels with updates to be based on user input as well as to meet new regulatory requirements.

01 Apr

China Merchants Acquires Sinotrans Bulkers

Pacific MaritimeNews

Shanghai-based China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) is acquiring Sinotrans Shipping’s dry bulk carrier fleet as well as a 25.5 percent equity interest in five Arctic-class LNG carriers for $952 million. The Sinotrans vessels include nine Capesize, 11 Panamax-size and 21 handysize bulkers while the five LNG carriers are currently involved in the Yamal LNG transportation project in the Russian Arctic. The acquisition follows a merger between CMES and compatriot company Sinotrans & CSC Holdings carried out in 2017 and will allow CMES to enter the grain trades using the former Sinotrans Panamax ships.

01 Apr

Busy Bosphorus

Pacific MaritimeNews

Turkey’s Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry has reported that a total of 41,112 vessels passed through the Bosphorus Strait last year carrying nearly 639 million tons of cargo. Of those, 26,632 required a harbor pilot meaning that they were in international transit. The Strait also saw a growing number of larger ships, with 317 of the transited vessels having a length of more than 985 feet. Turkey is planning to launch construction of a new waterway to bypass the Bosphorus this year, the 28-mile-long Canal Istanbul, which will have a daily vessel passage capacity of 185 when finished in 2026. It…