March-April 2023 – Page 2 – Pacific Maritime Magazine

Port of Oakland Ramps Up Solar Energy Use

The Port of Oakland’s stake in a newly expanded solar array at Antelope Valley Solar Ranch came online in late January, and is now delivering renewable energy to the port. The Oakland seaport owns and operates its own utility, which then sells electricity to tenants including those at Oakland International Airport and the seaport. The port has agreed to purchase about 11,000-megawatt hours of electricity annually from this solar farm in the city of Lancaster, located in northern Los Angeles County. In March 2017, the port approved an $8.9 million deal to buy power from one of the largest solar…

Coast Guard Expands National JROTC Program

The Coast Guard on Jan. 25 announced that its establishing four new Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps units for the 2023-2024 school year—including, for the first time, one on the West Coast. The four new units will increase the national total from six to 10. The new units are to be located at: Mission Bay High School in San Diego Aspira Business and Finance High School in Chicago Saraland High School in Saraland, Ala. Clinton High School in Clinton, Miss. According to the Coast Guard, the addition of the four JROTC units is the largest expansion in the program’s history,…

Maersk Discontinuing 2M Alliance, Partnering with DP World

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) and Maersk A/S, a subsidiary of Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk have mutually agreed to terminate their 2M shipping alliance effective January 2025, the companies announced in late January. 2M is a container shipping line vessel sharing agreement that was introduced in 2015 by Maersk and MSC with the aim of ensuring competitive and cost-efficient operations on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades. The agreement has a minimum term of 10 years with a two-year notice period of termination. “MSC and Maersk recognize that much has changed since the two companies signed the 10-year agreement…

Billion-Dollar Chinese-Owned Seaport Opens in Lagos

In late January, Nigeria opened the new Lekki Deep Sea Port, a billion-dollar Chinese-built port in Lagos, which is expected to ease container traffic congestion and become an African hub for handling cargoes in transit to destinations around the world. The port is 75% owned by the China Harbour Engineering Co. and consumer goods company Tolaram Group. The remaining 25% is shared between the Lagos state government and the Nigerian Ports Authority. While addressing the media during the official commissioning of Lekki Port by Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari on Jan. 23, Du Ruogang, the managing director of port promoter Lekki…

Container Vessel Catches Fire While Transiting Panama Canal

A containership transiting the Panama Canal in late January caught on fire, the Panama Canal Authority confirmed Jan. 30. The container vessel Cape Kortia, while moving toward the PSA port in the Pacific, reported a fire outbreak in the engine room, the Authority reported. “Due to this incident another vessel was affected,” the Authority said in a statement. “The Cape Kortia remained briefly on its way to the Pacific Access Channel until it (was) removed by the Panama Canal staff.” “These maneuvers occurred during its regular transit window and did not cause delays to vessels transiting the Panama Canal,” the…

Global Piracy Hits Lowest Level in Decades: IMB

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in mid-January called for efforts to be sustained worldwide as maritime piracy and armed robbery attacks reached their lowest recorded level in almost three decades. The ICC IMB’s annual report recorded 115 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in 2022—compared to 132 in 2021—with half of them occurring in Southeast Asian waters, particularly in the Singapore Straits, where incidents continue to rise. Perpetrators were successful in gaining access to vessels in 95% of the reported incidents broken down as 107 vessels boarded, two vessels hijacked, five attempted attacks and one vessel fired…

Another Seaport Under Cyber Attack

The Port of Lisbon in Portugal is attacked by LockBit ransomware. Put yourself in this manager’s shoes: It’s Christmas Day. You’re in the middle of the extended family meal of roast turkey with all the fixings. Suddenly, you’re interrupted by an urgent call from your seaport duty officer. She informs you that the website is down, and all the computer screens are showing an alert from a ransomware attacker extorting your port. Operations seem to be okay, but the ransomware alert is threatening. This is essentially the scenario faced by the Port of Lisbon on Dec. 25 last year. The…

Winning the Battle Against Rust in the Maritime Industry

Anyone who works with exposed ferrous metal (iron or steel) knows that it’s going to rust, it’s a fact of life and science. Even rock star Neil Young knows: rust never sleeps. All it takes is metal exposure to oxygen, water, or humidity. It’s the enemy of steel and iron, causing damage and deterioration. In the maritime industry, all metal surfaces exposed to salt water and outside moisture need rust remover before any repaint process begins. In the industrial workplace, there are several factors to consider and questions to ask when choosing to remove rust versus replacing metal parts and…

The Elephant in the Room at the COP 27 Climate Conference

The agenda of the recent U.N. Climate Conference held in Egypt this past November leaves out a very big emissions source that could prevent meeting the 2050 deadline for a net “Carbon Zero” global economy, and that is transportation. The reason that transportation was left off the agenda is because there is seemingly no solution to a fossil fuel-based transportation sector when accounting for maritime shipping, rail transportation, commercial aviation and long-haul trucking. These four parts of the transportation sector simply cannot be electrified because electrical storage technologies are simply not energy dense enough for large-scale practical applications. Each of…

Shaver Debuts New 80-Foot ASD Tug Equipped with Belgian ABC Engines

Shaver Transportation, which provides ship handling services at all the ports of the lower Columbia River and barge hauling services down the Columbia-Snake River system, has been operating tugs on the Columbia since 1880 when its sternwheel steamboats towed sailing ships up the river to Portland. Today, the Shaver family still owns and manages the company and continues to develop new approaches to tug design in their fleet of 16 tugs and 22 grain barges, ranging from eight ASD (Z drive) ship-handling designs to powerful push tugs in the 90- to 100-foot range. One feature that covers most of this…