Seattle-based vessel designer Glosten and the Skagit County (Wash.) Public Works Department are seeking proposals from electrical integrators to provide vessel and shore electrical systems, as well as the automated charging plug, for an all-electric ferry design to replace the m/v Guemes. The deadline for submissions however, is right around the corner. Skagit County Public Works hired naval architecture firm Glosten in 2017 to develop an all-electric ferry design to replace the 40-year-old diesel-powered vessel Guemes. The Guemes is a 21-vehicle, 99-passenger, diesel-powered ferry that was built and put into service in 1979. Today, it operates 365 days a year…
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, the body that oversees the Port of Vancouver, has officially opened the Centennial Road overpass on Vancouver’s south shore. The opening of the new overpass marks a milestone for the improvement in the movement of goods to and from the port. Construction of the overpass began in the summer of 2019. On July 4, 2021, it officially opened to container truck traffic in both directions. Coinciding with the opening of the new overpass, additional changes to traffic patterns on port roads were also implemented. The Heatley Avenue overpass temporarily remained open to inbound passenger vehicle traffic only…
The Port of Seattle Commission has voted to permanently prohibit the use of biometric technology — including facial recognition — for law enforcement, security, and mass surveillance purposes by the port and any private-sector entities operating at its facilities. The July 13 vote builds on a moratorium on new biometrics uses that the commission put in place in 2019 until policies could be reviewed and developed. The Port of Seattle, which also operates Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, has said that it’s the first port authority in the nation to formally limit the use of biometric technology. “No one at a port…
The U.S.-flagged oil/chemical tanker American Endurance docked at the Marathon Refinery Pier in Anacortes, Washington on Sun., July 25, 2021. The 29,801 gross ton vessel, which was built in 2016, is homeported in Wilmington, Delaware. Photo by Ernie Hayden.
The loss of shipping containers from a Young Brothers deck barge off Hawaii’s Big Island last summer stemmed from insufficient loading practices at the company’s Honolulu cargo hub, federal investigators have concluded. Fifty containers loaded on the aft deck of Ho’omaka Hou collapsed and 21 fell overboard on June 22, 2020 while under tow to Hilo by the tugboat Hoko Lua. Eight containers were recovered and 13 remain missing. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) attributed the collapse to Young Brothers “not providing the barge team with an initial barge load plan, as well as inadequate procedures for monitoring stack weights, which led…
The U.S. Coast Guard has broken ground on a new facility at its Los Angeles/Long Beach base that’s expected to become home to the service’s newest additions to its fleet. Located in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, the new $35 million, 11,500 square-foot Naval Engineering Department facility is scheduled to be an extension to the existing Maintenance Augmentation Team building that will support the Coast Guard’s first two offshore patrol cutters. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the support facility in late July. The 360-foot Coast Guard Cutter Argus and Coast Guard Cutter Chase are under construction and…
Container dwell time at the adjoining ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles remain high, according to an analysis released in mid-August by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. On average, containers leaving the San Pedro Bay port complex by truck during the month of July remained on terminals for 5.2 days, up from 4.76 days the month before, data show. Additionally, the number of containers leaving by truck that exceeded a five-day stay was 26.7%, up from 23.6% the month before, according to the PMSA, a non-profit global trade group. “The high cargo volumes continue, warehouses remain at capacity, and…
In mid-August, Norwegian Cruise Line celebrated its return to cruises in the U.S. with an inaugural call to Icy Strait Point, Alaska by the ship Norwegian Encore. NCL restarted its cruise operations on July 25 following a more than 500 day suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Norwegian Encore, which is NCL’s newest cruise vessel, set sail from Seattle on Aug. 7 for her first season of voyages to Alaska. According to NCL, the Norwegian Encore is the first in the cruise industry to berth at the new Wilderness Landing pier at Icy Strait Point, which was built in…
Harbor Commissioner Steven Neal has been elected president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, the five-member panel that oversees the Port of Long Beach. During the same meeting, the board also elected Sharon L. Weissman to serve as Vice President and Bobby Olvera Jr. as Secretary. Each July, commissioners select a president and two board officers to serve one-year terms. The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners sets policy for the port and directs the port’s executive director, who leads about 550 employees in developing and promoting the Port of Long Beach. Neal, a longtime community leader, was…
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, which manages the Port of Vancouver, will work with partners to design a new collaborative system to manage marine vessel traffic and optimize the supply chain flow for the gateway, Canadian Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra announced Aug. 12. The Port Authority and its partners will work to develop the implementation plan for the new system by March 31, 2022, according to the transport minister’s office. Planned measures include: Strengthening marine safety by reducing congestion and actively managing marine traffic in the busiest, most confined waters of the port; Improving the efficiency and reliability of…