October 2022 – Page 3 – Pacific Maritime Magazine

Western Baltic Engineering Reveals Plans for 1st Electric Pusher

Lithuanian ship designer Western Baltic Engineering (WBE) is unveiling new designs for what it believes is the first ever electric pusher vessel for use on Europe’s inland waterways called the Electric Eel. In an announcement, WBE said the first electric pusher is due to be built next year for the Lithuanian Inland Waterways Authority, a public body operating under Lithuanian Government Ministry of Transport and Communications. “We are so excited to unveil this electric pusher design,” WBE’s Head of Sales & Marketing, Eglė Mikalauskienė, said. “The Electric Eel has huge potential to help cut carbon emissions on inland waterways across…

USCG, Partners Respond to Oil Spill Off Catalina Island

On the morning of Sat., Sept. 3, members of the U.S. Coast Guard and partner agencies responded to an oil spill caused by a 40-foot yacht that sank near Two Harbors on Catalina Island. The yacht, which reportedly was submerged in 65 feet of water, had about 210 gallons of fuel, batteries, a portable generator and cleaning products, according to the Coast Guard. “Due to the pollution threat this vessel represents to the environment and surrounding area, the Coast Guard opened the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to hire an oil spill response organization to conduct clean-up operations,” the Coast…

Newsmakers

Austal USA Appoints New VP of Global Services and Support Austal USA in mid-August welcomed Michelle Kruger as the company’s vice president of global services and support. Kruger, who will work out of Austal’s San Diego waterfront services facility, is responsible for the company’s global post-delivery repair and warranty efforts, including the development of business strategy and strategic alliances. As the primary customer interface for ship repair and maintenance services, she now leads Austal’s pursuit of future government and commercial business opportunities and post-delivery initiatives. Kruger is a marine engineer with decades of maritime industry experience in new construction, repair…

Alaska Marine Lines Puts New Reefers into Service

Alaska Marine Lines was able to move 852 containers of Bristol Bay sockeye harvest this year, thanks to new refrigerated containers that were sent in May to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The containers, which were revealed by the company on Sept. 8, are the latest in AML’s refrigerated operations. They feature temperature-controlled software that can vary the fan speed and control the compressors to match the conditions and current cooling demand. That translates into a power draw one-fifth that of older containers. Less power required to run the reefers means fewer generators running, less fuel consumption and lower carbon emissions. “In…

Port of Los Angeles Nets $20M Federal Infrastructure Grant

The Port of Los Angeles and a range of elected officials and industry leaders joined U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sept. 7 to celebrate the award of a $20 million federal infrastructure grant for a critical road-railway grade separation project at the port. “We’re proud to be here marking such important progress being made, but also recognizing that there is so much more to do to fix the supply chains that were torn up by the pandemic and to make them more resilient for years to come – and right here we have a great example of that,” U.S.…

Seattle Port Commissioner Goes on Nordic Trade Mission

Port of Seattle Commissioner Ryan Calkins traveled in September with a delegation from Washington state on the Nordic Study and Trade Mission being led by Gov. Jay Inslee and the Washington Department of Commerce, the port announced Sept. 9. The mission encompassed travel to Finland, Sweden, and Norway and included visits to the U.S. Embassies in Helsinki and Oslo, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the KTH Royal Institute and the Wallenberg Wood Science Center in Stockholm, the Maritime Competence Center in Aalesund, Norway, and to Oceantech Innovation, Trondheim, which delves into technology aimed at supporting “offshore wind, aquaculture…

Austal USA to Build Saildrone Surveyor USV

Northern California-based ocean drone operator Saildrone has reached a partnership with Austal USA for designed to meet the growing demand for Saildrone’s uncrewed surface vehicles, known as Saildrones. The 65-foot Saildrone Surveyor is designed for deep ocean mapping and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications, above and below the surface. The Surveyor, which was developed and designed by Saildrone, will be manufactured exclusively by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama. The new partnership, which was revealed by the companies at the end of August, provides the U.S. Navy and other government customers a solution for maritime domain awareness, hydrographic survey and other…

Oil Pipeline Operator to Pay Almost $13 Million Over Huntington Beach Spill

Amplify Energy Corp., operator of the underwater pipeline that broke and released thousands of gallons of oil into Huntington Beach, Calif. waters in 2021, has agreed to pay close to $13 million as part of a plea agreement with the U.S. government, the company announced Aug. 26. To settle all federal criminal issues associated with the spill, the Houston-based oil and natural gas company agreed to pay a $7.1 million fine over three years and pay back $5.8 million to government agencies for responding to the spill. The company also agreed to plead guilty to one count of misdemeanor negligent…

Agreement on Tilbury LNG Projects Signed

Under a newly inked agreement announced earlier this month, FortisBC Holdings Inc. and the Musqueam Indian Band will work together to ensure that Tilbury natural gas projects will be beneficial to both parties. Tilbury LNG projects include the Tilbury LNG Expansion Project and the Tilbury Marine Jetty Project, which would allow ship-to-ship LNG fueling at Canada’s Port of Vancouver and bulk export for LNG. Phase 1A of the expansion calls for adding a 46,000-cubic-meter storage tank and LNG liquefaction capacity of 0.25 million tons annually. “Musqueam is looking forward to being an equity partner with FortisBC at Tilbury, on the…

From the Editor: Terminal Blockades

In mid-August, the Port of Oakland announced that its monthly loaded container volumes dropped 28% as compared to the same month in 2021. The reason for the dip? According to the port, it was a nearly week-long protest at the port during July that virtually shuttered each of the port’s container terminals. During the protests, which began July 18 and ended July 23, the port’s shipping terminals were effectively shut down. Specifically, the port said that protestors blocked and slowed traffic, particularly trucks, that were attempting to enter and leave the container shipping facilities located at the port’s inner and…