Marine Log November 2019

arine oG M L www.marinelog.com

R e p o r t i n g o n M a r i n e B u s i n e s s & T e c h n o l o g y s i n c e 18 78

November 2019

CHANGING MARKETS

SPARK INNOVATION The U.S. Navy’s new Metal Shark 40 Defiant patrol boat hits the water

Visit Booth #1729 at the WorkBoat Show.

SHIPBUILDING: U.S. and Europe Adjust to New Realities PROPULSION: Performance Monitoring Key to Savings CEO SPOTLIGHT: Inland Marine Service’s David Hammond

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CONTENTS

32

39

Departments

Features

2 EDITOR’S LETTER Changing Markets Become New Normal

26

U.S. SHIPBUILDERS ADJUST TO CHANGING MARKET Workboats, Ferries, Tugs and More There are quite a few shipyards along the Gulf Coast that are parking lots for stacked OSVs, but there are plenty of survivors in the region who have moved on to build other ship types

30

GULF COAST SUPPLIERS WEAN OFF OSV DEPENDENCY Suppliers Seek More Diverse Markets The oil and gas sector’s traditional supplier base of shipyards, naval architects, equipment manufacturers and distributors looks beyond the Oil Patch for survival.

32

CEO SPOTLIGHT David Hammond, President of Inland Marine Service Inc. The vessel management provider has had a busy year by continuously expanding its fleet and forming a joint venture

34

EUROPEAN SHIPBUILDING: MIXED FORTUNES Specialist European Shipyards Undergo a Renaissance As world shipbuilding’s center of gravity has moved to the east, European shipyards have fought to survive

36

MARINE PROPULSION Applying Performance Monitoring to Ship Design Performance monitoring has become a routine part of managing and enhancing vessel operating efficiency

39

DECK MACHINERY A Year of Advances While innovation in new and improved deck equipment is an ongoing process, we rounded up a few highlights from the past year

4 INLAND WATERWAYS Shamrock Opens “Pilothouse” Office; Charlie Jones Dead at 101 6 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 8 WELLNESS Turkey—A Magical Bird 10 VESSEL OF THE MONTH MetalCraft Marine’s FireStorm 50 12 UPDATES • On the Cover: Metal Shark Delivers New Patrol Boat to U.S. Navy • USCG Moves Ahead On OPC Contract • Viking Newbuild Packed with Climate Newbuild 23 OP Ed - Elaine chao Gallant Ship Citation Award Presented to M/V Green Lake Crew 24 INSIDE WASHINGTON CBO: Navy Shipbuilding Plan is Off By Billions 41 NEWSMAKERS Seaspan Appoints MacLeod to New Vice President Role

Cover Image: Metal Shark

42 TECH NEWS 48 SAFETY Combating Bridge Fatigue With Limited Crew Sizes November 2019 // Marine Log 1

EDITOR’S COLUMN

MarineLoG November 2019 Vol. 124, NO. 11 ISSN 08970491 USPS 576-910 Subscriptions: 800-895-4389

Tel: +1 (402) 346-4740 (Canada & International) Fax: +1 (402) 346-3670 Email: marinelog@omeda.com PRESIDENT Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr. amcginnis@sbpub.com Publisher Gulf Coast & Midwest Sales Jeff Sutley jsutley@sbpub.com

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ Non Chanon

Changing Markets Become New Normal

A

s industry attention turns to the upcoming International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans, we look at how the U.S. maritime industry has responded to a market that is very different from the days when the primary focus of the show was on the offshore services vessel industry supporting U.S. offshore oil and gas exploration and production.

On page 26, we look at U.S. shipyards and how the changing offshore support vessel (OSV) market has impacted them. It hasn’t been that long since U.S. shipyards were delivering OSVs, but times change.

Demand for Jones Act newbuilds to serve the “Oil Patch” has now dried up and repair and maintenance requirements have dwindled. This feature looks at a variety of newbuilds, including workboats.

Expanding on the this theme, we also explore how Gulf Coast suppliers are seeking more diverse markets—including inland river opportunities, the passenger vessel and recreational markets, and, even still, the energy sector—during the OSV downturn. Learn more about this on page 30.

And since we aren’t exclusively a U.S. publication, we took at look at the renaissance specialist European shipyards are undergoing due to a record cruise ship

orderbook, an increase in hybrid ferry contracts and a demand for offshore wind support vessels on page 34.

All three of these feature stories show how maritime is adapting to evolving markets, where the industry sees those markets going post-2020, and how players are dealing with the current state of the industry.

On a different note, our cover image shows something you don’t see on many of the boats we feature—a gun on the bow. Exclusive to Marine Log, we show you the first on-the-water images of the U.S. Navy’s new Metal Shark 40 Defiant Patrol Boat (more details on page 12).

We will continue to follow how the commercial marine industry adjusts to evolving markets and changing demands and report our findings to you, our readers.

Finally, if you plan to attend the WorkBoat Show this year, stop by and say hello.

We will be at booth No. 1101.

EDITOR-In-Chief Heather Ervin hervin@sbpub.com web EDITOR Nicholas Blenkey nblenkey@sbpub.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Paul Bartlett paul.bartlett@live.co.uk European EDITOR Charlie Bartlett charlie.bartlett@runbox.com Art Director Nicole D’Antona ndantona@sbpub.com Graphic Designer Hillary Coleman hcoleman@sbpub.com MARKETING DIRECTOR Erica Hayes ehayes@sbpub.com PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Mary Conyers mconyers@sbpub.com Integrated Account Manager US East/West Coast & International David Harkey dharkey@sbpub.com SALES REPRESENTATIVE KOREA & CHINA Young-Seoh Chinn corres1@jesmedia.com CLASSIFIED SALES Jennifer Izzo jizzo@mediapeople.com Circulation DIRECTOR Maureen Cooney mcooney@sbpub.com CONFERENCE DIRECTOR Michelle M. Zolkos mzolkos@sbpub.com CONFERENCE ASSISTANT Stephanie Rodriguez srodriguez@sbpub.com

Heather Ervin Editor-in-Chief hervin@sbpub.com

CONTRIBUTORS Emily Reiblein Crowley Maritime Corporation Capt. Matthew Bonvento Good Wind Maritime Services Judy Murray

Marine Log Magazine (Print ISSN 0897-0491, Digital ISSN 2166-210X), (USPS#576-910), (Canada Post Cust. #7204564; Agreement #40612608; IMEX Po Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada) is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, 88 Pine St. 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10005. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and Additional mailing offices.

PRICING: Qualified individuals in the marine industry may request a free subscription. For non-qualified subscriptions: Print version, Digital version, Both Print & Digital versions: 1 year, US $98.00; foreign $213.00; foreign, air mail $313.00. 2 years, US $156.00; foreign $270.00; foreign, air mail $470.00. Single Copies are $29.00 each. Subscriptions must be paid in U.S. dollars only.

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Marine Log Magazine, PO Box 1407, Cedar Rapids, IA. 52406-1407.

2 Marine Log // November 2019

John Wooldridge Michael J. Toohey Waterways Council, Inc. Simmons-Boardman Publishing CORP. 88 Pine Street, 23rd Floor, New York, N.Y. 10005 Tel: (212) 620-7200 Fax: (212) 633-1165 Website: www.marinelog.com E-mail: marinelog@sbpub.com

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inland waterways

The M/V Ouizee underway.

M

etairie, La.-based Maritime Partners LLC recently christened the 2,600 hp. towboat M/V Ouizee at the John Bludworth Shipyard in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The new towboat is the second of six boats that Maritime Partners has on order at the shipyard.

It is named for Louise Brooks, the mother of company co-founder and CEO Bick Brooks, who explains, “My sister had her first kid three years ago. The name Louise is a mouthful for a toddler to pronounce, so my sister’s son just shortened the name to ‘Ouizee.’ The name ended up sticking, so my nephews and nieces all refer to my mother as ‘Ouizee.’”

Brooks says his mother’s example helped to give him the courage to pursue his passion for boats and barges by starting Maritime Partners four years ago.

Maritime Partners says it recognized the importance of choosing the right shipyard to construct its vessels.

“We did a ton of research and reference checking as part of our review process and it became clear to us throughout that process that the name ‘Bludworth’ stood out as a first-class brand name in the shipbuilding community.”

Measuring 84 feet by 32 feet with a molded depth of 11 feet, the M/V Ouizee is a John L. Bludworth III-designed vessel. The vessel’s

two Cummins QSK38 M1 Tier III main engines from Cummins Marine produce a combined 2,600 hp. and are mated to Reintjes WAF 665 reduction gears (5.95:1 ratio), with internal shaft brakes from Karl Senner LLC. The engines and gears drive a pair of four-blade stainless steel Sound propellers (82-inch diameter and 62-inch pitch) from Texas Wheel Works. R.S. Schmidt & Sons Machine Shop supplied the vessel’s propeller shafts and rudders. Rio Controls & Hydraulics supplied the M/V Ouizee’s steering system. The vessel’s service power comes courtesy of two Cummins 99 kW generators, also from Cummins Marine.

Karl Senner also provided the Aventics Controls aboard the Ouizee, while Premium Electronics supplied the radar, radios, AIS and GPS aboard the vessel.

The M/V Ouizee has tankage for 38,143 gallons of fuel, 14,367 gallons of potable water, 350 gallons of lube oil, 150 gallons of gear oil, 500 gallons of slop oil and 100 gallons of hydraulic oil.

M&M Bumper Service supplied the vessel’s laminated rubber fenders. Also on deck, the M/V Ouizee features a pair of 40-ton Patterson galvanized deck winches, two Quincy 325 air compressors and a full-width fleet deck forward of the main deck house.

Inside, the Ouizee has four staterooms and accommodations for up to six crew members.

“The Ouizee is state-of-the-art equipped and follows the tried-and-true design of Mr. Johnny Bludworth,” said Raymond Butler, new construction vessel representative for Maritime Partners. “These hulls are unique to the industry, employing a ‘double chine’ construction, which streamlines water flow to the wheels and makes for a very efficient, highly maneuverable hull.”

Butler said, at 2,600 hp, the Ouizee is wellequipped for pushing 600-foot tows on the open reaches of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway or 900-foot tows on the Mississippi River.

Waterways Industry Pioneer Charlie Jones Dead at 101

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aterways industry pioneer Charles “Charlie” Jones passed away October 20 at the age of 101.

Jones was CEO of Amherst MadiCharlie T. Jones son Inc., Charleston, W.Va., a family owned operation providing a wide variety of marine services. During 4 Marine Log // November 2019

his long career, he worked for Star Coal and Coke, Amherst Coal Company, Madison Coal & Supply, Amherst Industries, Port Amherst Ltd. and Red Star Towing.

His waterways industry involvement included, yet was not limited to, chairman emeritus of the Inland Waterways Users Board, trustee emeritus of the WV Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, director emeritus of the Mariners Museum, and director of Waterways Council Inc.

Shamrock Marine Opens “Pilothouse” Office in Baton Rouge

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ore than a year after first announcing plans for an office inspired by a towboat, Shamrock Marine has opened its new headquarters just upriver from the I-10 bridge on the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, La. The building looks exactly like a wheelhouse because that’s what it started life as.

“The old rotting wheelhouse was in a field next to a shipyard we often visited to do repairs on our boats,” says Duncan Armentor Sr., co-owner and founder of Shamrock Marine. “I used to look at it from time to time and tell my port engineer that it would make a great office. ” The old wheelhouse was entirely gutted, rebuilt and painted from its original state.

Bayou Machine & Fabrication, Harvey, La., reproduced the wheelhouse’s missing main deck and aft second deck to bring back its original look. M&P Barge Company, Plaquemine, La., built the conference room onsite; while Shamrock Marine did the interior work once the wheelhouse was set into position in Baton Rouge.

Shamrock Marine is a warehousing and vessel transport provider of goods and services to towboats and oceangoing vessels midstream. Armentor says the new office meets a variety of company needs.

The former towboat pilothouse has been transformed into a meeting room and 4D theater, with three removable screens inserted in the vessel’s front windows and a projector that displays a tow. The theater has working radar and air throttles.

“We are planning on using this 4D theater to help spark interest in young children in the marine industry,” says Armentor.

In addition to its new office, Shamrock Marine has been busy building the first of many new state-of-the-art custom crew boat docks.

The docks will have solar-powered lighting, and the roof will capture and store rain water for dock use. The docks are being built in Pittsburgh, and will be more than 400 feet long.

The new office was built using an abandoned towboat wheelhouse.

Photo Credit: Amherst Madison ; Bryan Tumlinson ; Shamrock Marine

Maritime Partners Christens Second in Newbuild Towboat Series

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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS WELCOME TO

Industry Insights Industry Insights is Marine Log’s quick snapshot of current trends in the global marine marketplace. In this edition, we examine the depressed tanker freight markets as newbuilds on order are currently at modest levels. Overall, the current orderbook accounts for just 8% of the trading fleet. The largest orderbook to fleet ratio is currently in the VLCC sector. MR newbuilds are currently the most in

demand, followed by the LR2/Aframax range. In contrast, LR1/Panamaxes have fallen out of favour with very few vessels on order. According to data from Alibra Shipping Ltd. Research, there are just over 430 tankers slated for delivery in the next four years, with Asian countries taking the top spots in vessel construction. More data from Alibra is shown below.

Tanker Orderbook by Size | Percentage of Orderbook and Older Vessels to Tanker Fleet

Tanker Orderbook by Country of Build

6 Marine Log // November 2019

WELLNESS COLUMN

Turkey: A Magical Bird

8 Marine Log // November 2019

nutrient). Increasing choline intake is now used to treat diseases like non-alcoholic fatty-liver disease, hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver. Inadequate levels of choline in the body have been linked to diseases like depression, schizophrenia, memory loss and various forms of dementia. Not a huge amount is known about choline deficiency in the U.S. population, but small studies show that

Turkey meat is a balanced protein source full of amino acids that help make up most of our functionality. only 10% of Americans and 8% of pregnant women currently meet their gender- and lifestage-specific choline intake levels, making about 90% of the population deficient.

Choline is particularly important for pregnant women. Those children who get adequate amounts of choline in the womb and after birth demonstrate stronger cognitive functioning and reaction times for years to come.

For adult men and women, the choline intake amount ranges from 425 mg to 550 mg a day; children range in intake by age from 125 mg (babies) daily to 550 mg (older male teens).

Maintaining that intake is vital to brain development and maintenance at all ages.

Nothing in this article constitutes medical advice. All medical advice should be sought from a medical professional.

Emily Reiblein

Crowley Maritime Corporation, Labor Relations-Union Wellness Programs/ Operations Integrity

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ Nattakorn_Maneerat

W

ith the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, it seems only fitting to give a moment of thought to the nutritional value of the American holiday dinner meat—turkey.

According to the National Turkey Foundation, about 46 million turkeys will be consumed this Thanksgiving and another 22 million on Christmas Day. Turkey meat is a balanced protein source full of amino acids that help make up most of our human functionality. Stomach acids break the turkey down into 20 amino acids and then reassembles those amino acids into what we need to function (i.e. cells, brain, heart, hormones, memories, etc.)

Turkey contains fat, as well. This fat content is generally located more heavily in the dark meat and in the favored part of a cooked bird, the skin. Healthy vitamins and minerals can also be found in every part of this bird, complementing the amino acids and fat. These vitamins and minerals include B6 (a disease preventer) and B12 (known for aiding in the replication of red blood cells and DNA). Minerals like zinc (for testosterone and an immune boost), selenium (reduces risk of diseases such as cancer) and niacin (lowers risk of cardiovascular disease) are also in the mix. One of the most interesting nutrients in turkey is neither vitamin nor mineral, but the essential nutrient choline.

Choline is a nutrient that is made in small amounts in the liver. Among the nutritional discoveries of the 1990s was that the body did not produce enough choline for human functionality. Only diet can provide the nutrient in the amounts needed for optimum human health (that is why it is called an essential

Now back to the bird—100 grams of turkey has about 70 mg of choline in it. If you eat two hard-boiled eggs for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, you will boost your intake another 250-300 mg. You can also increase choline intake with broccoli and Brussels sprouts that can provide another 60 mg per cup. If you are a vegetarian or turkey is not your favorite, various forms of beans can also provide about 60 mg of choline per cup.

Another important factor that influences the nutritional value of your turkey dinner is where your bird grew up. Your bird is made of what it eats. What type of home the turkey had during its life matters nutritionally.

Those fed with corn and soy-heavy diets have more omega 6 fatty acids and tend to inflame the human body. Those who forged through underbrush and pecked around grasses are heavier in omega 3 anti-inflammatory fatty acids. The nutritional difference in the two types of fats has a marked effect on inflammatory diseases when consumed over a lifetime. Disease symptoms from arthritis, tendonitis and others tend to lessen with diets higher in “anti-inflammatory” agents.

If your turkey is not an omega 3 heavy bird (pastured), then add omega 3 to your meal somewhere else. Add walnuts to your lowsugar cookies or cakes and use them as a topping on low-carb ice cream. Make some lightly sweetened chia seed pudding or have a shrimp cocktail as an appetizer. These foods can add omega 3s to your holiday plate.

Most of us grew up thinking that the amino acid tryptophan in turkey has been responsible for our after-Thanksgiving dinner siesta. It should be noted that there are higher levels of tryptophan in other foods that are traditional holiday fare. For example, pumpkin and squash seeds are higher in the sleepy amino acid. Meats such as pork, lamb and beef all contain higher amounts of tryptophan, too. Do not blame the magical bird—a traditional Thanksgiving table is filled with culprits that make us feel tired.

Towards 2020 and beyond

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Featureof the month vessel The FireStorm 50 fireboat is the fourth ordered by Kuwait Fire Service Directorate, but it has some unique features.

Fireboat For Kuwait Is Packed With Innovations

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FireStorm 50 fireboat delivered

by Kingston, Ontario-headquartered MetalCraft Marine Inc. to the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate incorporates the very latest in technology available for firefighting and search and rescue.

Though this is the fourth FireStorm 50 ordered by the KFSD since 2015, continuous improvement in systems design are key elements at MetalCraft and this boat incorporates a number of firsts. It is the first FireStorm to be powered by twin Volvo D13 1,000 hp. diesels and is propelled by the first Marine Jet Power 310X mixed flow waterjets installed in North America. The combination of lighter weight engines coupled to lighter jets with higher thrust, pushed the typically heavily laden fireboat to 44.5 knots.

MetalCraft prefers to use ZF Marine gears. ZF sized the gears to match the jet impeller size and engine speed with zero loss in efficiency at the high or low end of vessel performance.

10 Marine Log // November 2019

Engineroom ventilation is provided by Delta T Systems of Florida.

The boat’s electronics are Raymarine’s latest offerings, the Axiom PRO Series.

The boat has three 16-inch screens and one 8-inch screen in the aft helm’s hinged enclosure; all screens are built into the consoles. The screens can display all camera systems, including stabilized FLIR M Series night vision camera, as well as provide remote drone control and internet access. Additionally, they can be preloaded with SAR rescue patterns. The boat also has the latest in Radio Direction Finding technology: The Rhotheta R T-500-M can not only interpret the radio hex code of a mayday call but also pinpoint the location via Doppler technology.

The boat’s HVAC system uses tw in 2 7 K BT U D om e t i c Cr u i s e S tow aw ay Turbo Air HVAC units each capable of cooling the entire vessel cabin spaces with a backup engine-driven 36K BTU Arctic Wolf compressor, for use in the case of an AC power supply malfunction.

The fire main system, a MetalCraft proprietary design, is fully compliant with NFPA 1925 standards. The fire pump has oversized sea chest intakes that are easily cleaned from inside the vessel. The oversized long radius elbows, and oversized manifolds help to achieve pumping numbers well over-rated capacity. The twin W.S. Darley ZSM 3000 pumps achieved 7,500 gallons per minute (gpm.) in sea trial testing. A standard fire truck pumper can pump 1,250 to 1,500 gpm. MetalCraft notes that W.S. Darley has no problem providing service in Kuwait or any other place in the world and offers a three-year warranty on all of its pumps.

The fire pumps supply roof and bow mounted EXM Scorpion 2500 GPM remotecontrolled monitors by Elkhart Brass. The vessel is also equipped with twin Bronze Copperhead 1250 GPM manual monitors on the aft deck. The generator is a Kohler 20 kW, to support multiple large electric dewatering pumps. Kohler, too, is well supported in the Middle East.

Photo Credit: MetalCraft Marine Inc.

Fourth in a series from MetalCraft

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Marine Log Exclusive

Metal Shark CEO Chris Allard with the Metal Shark 40 Defiant patrol boat

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME Marine Log gets an exclusive first look at Metal Shark’s next-generation U.S. Navy patrol boat

By Heather Ervin, Editor in Chief

12 Marine Log // November 2019

decision-makers attending the PB-X Industry Day information session at the 2016 International Workboat Show, “We want a mean and badass-looking boat.”

Presented with the opportunity to replace between 100 and 160 of the Navy’s existing CRF patrol boats with a larger and more advanced platform, industry went to work, making the PB-X procurement one of the most sought-after U.S. military vessel procurements in years.

In December 2017, the Navy awarded the PB-X contract to shipbuilder Metal Shark, selecting the company’s entry from a field of seven competing U.S. shipbuilders. Metal Shark’s 40 Defiant patrol craft, designed by the company’s in-house engineering team specifically to achieve the Navy’s mission requirements, was announced as the chosen platform for the U.S. Navy’s new “40 PB.” For the first time since the award of the contract, Metal Shark is “lifting the lid” to offer a look at its new 40 Defiant, which, while shown here as configured for the U.S. Navy, will also soon be made available to the militaries of U.S. allies through the U.S. Department of Defense Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programs.

“The need for more advanced and capable vessels, designed to discourage asymmetric threats and to respond to them with unprecedented firepower, has led to the development of this radically different patrol boat platform,” said Metal Shark’s CEO Chris Allard. “We designed the 40 Defiant explicitly to meet the U.S. Navy’s PB-X mission requirements. This vessel is driving the evolution of our entire military patrol boat lineup and offers a glimpse

The Metal Shark 40 Defiant patrol boat

Photo Credit: Metal Shark

G e n e r a lly spe a k i n g , to day ’s

welded-aluminum military patrol boat offerings tend to look fairly similar to one another.

They are capable and purpose-built, but not particularly distinctive. It is often difficult to distinguish a military patrol boat from a commercial workboat, or even a private recreational vessel, until you catch a glimpse of the weapon on the bow.

With this in mind, the U.S. Navy began the multi-year process to select the “PB-X” patrol boat, intended to eventually replace its entire fleet of Coastal Riverine Force (CRF) protection vessels. The Navy challenged shipbuilders to reinvent the patrol boat as we know it today to deliver a far more advanced vessel with next-level capabilities and far more firepower.

Equally important, in keeping with the Navy’s intent to discourage potential aggressors through a more intimidating presence, the Navy emphasized its need for a vessel with a strong visual-deterrent aspect.

A “visually intimidating topsides arrangement” was the polite wording used by the Navy in its PB-X procurement documents.

However, as Navy program managers more succinctly explained to a room full of industry

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Update

Coast Guard Moves Ahead with Waterways Commerce Cutter Plan

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JMS-Designed

Modular Dry Dock 200’ expandable to 420’ 3,800 to 7,500t Lift Capacity Designed by JMS for Group Ocean New Brunswick

14 Marine Log // November 2019

one-on-one with interested shipbuilder and ship design teams. The deadline to request a meeting was November 11, but shipbuilders and ship design teams not able to meet during the WorkBoat Show may request a phone conference or by emailing wcc@ R V • uscg.mil. Because of resource constraints, • the Coast Guard will meet one-on-one only with shipyards with design capability or ship designers teamed with shipyards.

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C

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Dry Docks Work Boats Barges

common after-body as the materiel solutions to replace the WLIC and WLR. While the draft specification is unclassified, parties interested in viewing it must request explicit access via the Federal Business Opportunities website. The Coast Guard Contracting Officer will decide all requests for access.

The Coast Guard also plans to be present at the upcoming International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans, La., December 4-6 to meet

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ahead with its plan to replace the capabilities of 13 Inland Construction Tenders (WLIC) and 18 River Buoy Tenders (WLR) with a new class of Waterways Commerce Cutters.

It is releasing a draft specification with drawings and project peculiar documents.

All of them are current versions and subject to change. The draft specification is for two mono-hull ship variants with a

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The U.S. Coa st Guard is pressing

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Let’s make plans.

Naval Architecture Marine Engineering www.JMSnet.com 860.536.0009

Photo Credit: Metal Shark

to the teeth. In contrast to the vessels they are replacing, which typically were equipped with either two or four gun mounts, the new 40 PB features six MK 16 weapons foundations plus a large forward foundation for stabilized, remote operated, optically guided MK 49 / MK 50 weapons systems.

Ballistic protection enables the 40 PB to sustain extended firefights, allowing crews to respond with overwhelming force to asymmetric threats such as swarm attacks while remaining secure and protected from hostile fire.

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into the future direction of military patrol.”

Immediately identifiable thanks to its chiseled, menacing profile and unique faceted hull, the 40 Defiant flaunts its brute-force capability and bristles with armament. The new platform will operate in permissive environments during asset protection and port security missions, but may also make forays into hostile environments, so it carries a significant force projection capability.

Addressing the vulnerabilities of the previous generation, industry-standard Navy CRF patrol boats, the 40 PB has been armed

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With its menacing profile and unique faceted hull, the 40 Defiant flaunts its brute-force capability.

Metal Shark declined to provide specifics on electronics, stating only that “the vessel has been designed to deliver enhanced situational awareness through an advanced communications and sensor suite.”

The vessel is powered by twin diesel inboards and water jets and incorporates a moderate aft deadrise, wide-waterplane, sharp-entry hull form that not only achieves 40-knot sprint speeds while displaying superb dynamic stability in a range of conditions, but also offers enhanced handling and greatly reduced operating cost at the 10-15 knot escort speeds where the vessel will spend the bulk of its operational life.

“The 40 Defiant has been developed in concert with the U.S. Navy to meet the evolving requirements of modern military engagement and it is the result of an unprecedented investment in testing and development,” said Allard. “Setting a new standard for military patrol boats, Metal Shark is delivering unmatched lethality, next-generation situational awareness, and greatly improved safety for our fighting forces, in a thoroughly tested platform that will be made available for other customers in other markets, in a range of styles and sizes.”

The U.S. Navy 40 PB is produced at Metal Shark’s Jeanerette, La., production facility.

Deliveries to the Navy are currently underway.

•

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USCG Moves Ahead On OPC Contract The Department of Homel and Security is easing the time deadlines in

Eastern Shipbuilding’s (ESG) offshore patrol cutter (OPC) contract, but only on the first four hulls of the planned 25-ship acquisition.

After that, it says, “The Coast Guard will immediately transition to a follow-on competitive contract for the remaining OPC program of record.”

The contract changes came following ESG’s submission of a request in June for extraordinary contract relief after its facilities sustained significant damage resulting from Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm, in October 2018.

The Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate says that following the DHS determination, it is moving forward with an adjustment to the OPC detail design and construction contract with ESG for up to the first four hulls.

The Coast Guard will work with ESG to establish new cost and schedule targets under the contract and continue OPC production at ESG’s facilities in Panama City, Fla. On October 18, it released a request for information to gauge industry interest in re-competing the remainder of the OPC program of record. “ This information w ill inform the acquisition strategy for the follow-on procurement,” said the Coast Guard. “The decision to immediately re-compete the remaining program is a means to balance acquisition risk. The Coast Guard is committed to conducting a fair and open re-competition in order to acquire the OPC fleet needed to address the nation’s security needs, while maintaining public trust and stewardship of the American taxpayers’ dollars.”

Ship repairer East Coast Repair & Fabrication, which is based in the

253 N 1st Ave, Sturgeon Ba y, WI 54235 PH:(92 0)743-82 82 FX:(92 0)743-9543

16 Marine Log // November 2019

Hampton Roads area with operations in Jacksonville, Fla., and San Diego, Calif., is rebranding as ECR and making moves to expand its capabilities.

Since its start-up in 1999, the company has focused primarily on building competence and capacity geared towards supporting the maintenance of the Navy’s fleet. Last summer, though, ECR secured a facility in Newport News, Va., with the aim of offering its ship repair services to commercial vessel owners and operators. The 84-acre facility, located at the foot of the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, includes two piers, one at 1,100 feet and one at 1,000 feet, and each with a water depth of 40 feet. This spring, the company

also expanded its efforts in the commercial sector by acquiring a small commercial ship repair company and machine shop in Jacksonville and establishing a crane and rigging company.

The culmination of ECR’s recent business development efforts resulted in its winning its first ship repair contract award for performance the new facility. U.S. Marine Management, a private operator for a number of Military Sealift Command (MSC) vessels, will bring the USNS Bob Hope to ECR’s facility for a 90-day period for some steel repair work. The vessel is the lead ship in MSC’s class of vehicle cargo ships are used to preposition tanks, trucks and other wheeled vehicles and supplies.

“This is a monumental event for our company,” says Rene Doiron, ECR’s president.

Photo Credit: U.S. Coast Guard

Hampton Roads Shipyard Rebrands, Expands

St. Johns Ship Building Multiple Ferries Currently Under Construction

e s at th See u t Show oa Workoboth 729 B th - 6th

Dec. 4

Recently Launched 152’ Ferry

560 Stokes Landing Rd. Palatka, FL 32177 Tel: 386-456-6699 stjohnsshipbuilding.com

Update

Phone Distraction Leads to Grounding The U.K. Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has issued its

report on the July 18, 2018, grounding of the Netherlands-registered general cargo vessel Priscilla on Pentland Skerries, Scotland.

For about two hours prior to the accident, says the report, the officer of the watch had been unaware that Priscilla was drifting away from the planned passage. When the officer of the watch realized what had happened, the route chosen to regain the navigational plan resulted in the vessel heading directly into danger.

MAIB says the officer of the watch was distracted from the critical task of monitoring the passage by watching videos on his mobile phone. He was the sole lookout at night as the vessel headed towards land, and the electronic navigation system was not set up to warn of danger ahead. Priscilla’s officer or the watch also responded to two radio calls from shore authorities warning of the danger ahead; however, his reaction to the warnings was not sufficient to avoid danger.

The report also found that the Bridge

The Priscilla aground on Pentland Skerries, Scotland.

Navigational Watch Alarm System (BNWAS) was not switched on.

The MAIB holds records of 194 groundings of cargo vessels between 500 gt and 3000 gt that occurred in U.K. waters between 2008 and 2017. Nine of these groundings, six of

which occurred when the vessel was on passage, resulted in a full MAIB investigation and a published report. In five of the six groundings where the vessel was on passage, the BNWAS was switched off and there was no additional lookout on the bridge.

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18 Marine Log // November 2019

6/27/2019 4:16:43 PM

Update

Photo Credit: Nichols Brothers Boat Builders

New Repair Yard Starts Business Ice Cap Holdings, the parent company of Ice Floe LLC, dba Nichols Brothers Boat Builders (NBBB), has set up a new company in Everett, Wash.

Called Everett Ship Repair LLC (ESR), it is strategically located within Puget Sound and will focus on vessel repair, maintenance and conversion, targeting customers including commercial operators, government agencies and military vessels.

ESR recently purchased the Faithful Servant, a floating dry dock formerly located in Bellingham, Wash. The 492- by 148-foot dry dock arrived in Everett on October 1 and immediately began preparations for operation. The Faithful Servant is capable of docking vessels up to 430 feet in length with a beam of 110 feet and maximum draft of 32 feet. Its lift capacity is 7,800 LT. In addition to the dry dock, ESR has approximately 500 feet of dockside available for in-water service and support.

Ice Cap Holdings CEO Gavin Higgins will manage the two sister companies.

“This is a very exciting expansion,” says

Facilities at Everett Ship Repair include a 492- by 148-foot floating dry dock.

Higgins. “ESR will mirror Nichols Brothers’ culture, values and training; and together we will offer outstanding shipbuilding from new construction to service and repair.”

NBBB will continue business as usual at its Freeland, Wash., shipyard, supporting

ESR as necessary to foster success and growth. NBBB is currently busy building two new Kitsap Transit passenger-only ferries and four new Foss Maritime tractor tugs, as well as carrying out a complete rebuild of the M.S. Sonoma, a Golden Gate ferry.

November 2019 // Marine Log 19

Update

MOL Adds Electric Shocks to Virtual Reality Training Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. ( MOL) has added a new dimension that

includes mild electric shocks to its virtual reality (VR) based marine safety education program. The enhanced program allows trainees to virtually capture the sensations of falling, having a hand being caught between something, and experiencing “an incinerator explosion incident.”

The new content involves all the trainees’ senses by introducing new equipment that replicates the touching and sensing they would experience during an onboard accident, taking the training to a new level of realism.

In particular, says MOL, “trainees may

feel an electric shock (at an extremely low current) administered by the controller, as well as hear and see the situation and feel vibration through the VR goggles. This is intended to connect the training to instinctive learning by recreating the experience of an actual accident.”

If a crew works without recognizing a

danger, there is a higher likelihood of an accident or problem, says MOL. The VR-based content enables them to think about issues that require extra care and helps them plan their next moves during onboard operations.

The program uses VR goggles and VR technology created by Tsumiki Seisaku Company Ltd.

BIZ NOTES FINCANTIERI GETS BUOY TENDER MAINTENANCE AWARD While the Coast Guard plans to replace its Inland Buoy Tenders with a variant of its new class of Water ways Commerce Cutters, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Meantime, the existing buoy tenders must be maintained and last month Fincantieri Marine Systems North America (FMSNA) won a $9.6 million contract to perform maintenance and repairs to their engines.

The multi-year contract was awarded by the Coast Guard’s Surface Force Logistics Center in Virginia.

Its focus is the maintenance, repair and overhaul of the Isotta Fraschini Motori V1312 main diesel engines onboard the 75-foot WLIC and 65-foot WLR Class cutters.

“This award with the U.S. Coast Guard builds on our proven expertise in the modification, repair and overhaul of the main diesel engines for the Inland Buoy Tender fleet,” said Rick Dinsmore, FMSNA’s general manager and vice president. “Since our original contract to repower the buoy tenders, FMSNA has provided continuous mission critical support to the U.S. government by assuring the highest levels of fleet readiness.”

November 2019 // Marine Log 21

Update

Viking Newbuild Packed With Climate Smarts Finland’s Viking Line says that its newbuild cruise ferry, the 63,000 gt M/S Viking Glory, will be one of the most climate-smart passenger ships in the world. It estimates that the ship, currently under construction at China’s Xiamen Shipbuilding, will consume up to 10% less fuel than the 57,565 gt M/S Viking Grace, which is smaller and was hailed as the world’s most eco-friendly ship of its time.

Viking Glory will launch into service in 2021 and will be equipped with Wärtsilä 31DF dual-fuel engines, which will run on LNG and will also have the ability to run on biogas.

“Viking Glory will have six 31DF engines for efficient optimization of fuel consumption.

These engines have the lowest fuel consumption, but at the same time, the highest cylinder output in their segment (550 kW/cylinder),” says Project Manager Kari Granberg, who is in charge of the new construction at Viking Line.

“Today, recovery of waste heat is already common, but to recycle waste cold for the purposes of refrigeration appliances and cold rooms is an innovative and highly climatesmart solution. Viking Line has carried out development work in collaboration with Wärtsilä, Projektia and Deltamarin,” says Granberg.

Additionally, Viking Glory will be equipped with a Climeon energy recycling system that harnesses and converts waste heat from the engines into electricity. The system can generate up to 40% of the electricity required for passenger functions. Additionally, a dynamic air conditioning and lighting system will be installed onboard, which will have a direct effect on energy consumption. This system

will be controlled by the booking system: if a cabin remains empty at departure, it will be set in a power-saving mode, thereby minimizing air-conditioning and heating for that particular cabin.

According to Viking Line, the ship will also be the first in its category to have an ABB Azipod propulsion unit and a hull design with approximately 8% less water resistance than with a traditional propeller system.

Notably absent from renderings of the new ship just released by Viking Line: Two Norsepower rotor sails depicted in the initial renderings of the ship. The earlier ship, Viking Grace, delivered in 2013, was retrofitted with a rotor sail in April last year.

Waste Cold Recovery

Photo Credit: Viking Line

Viking Glory will also, in a world first, recover the waste cold from the use of LNG and recycle it for use in cold counters, cold rooms and other special rooms.

22 Marine Log // November 2019

Op Ed

“… For Those in Peril on the Sea”

Of the 21 crewmembers on board the Serenity Ace, shown here on fire, seven were rescued.

Photo Credit: U.S. Coast Guard (top left); BalticShipping.com (top right); MARAD (bottom)

I

n the pre-dawn of New Year’s Eve 2018, fire broke out on the 650-foot Panamanian-flagged car carrier Sincerity Ace underway in the Northern Pacific. Fire is one of the greatest threats at sea. The vessel, which was roughly 1,800 nautical miles northwest of the Hawaiian Islands, alerted the U.S. Coast Guard of its intent to abandon ship due to the rapidly intensifying blaze.

The perils at sea are many, which is why mariners of all nations rapidly respond to distress calls, knowing that every second counts in saving lives. The U.S.-flagged vessel Green Lake, also a vehicle carrier, was 54 miles away and rapidly responded to the distress call. Green Lake is a vessel in the Maritime Security Program (MSP), overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD). The MSP is a keystone of U.S.-flag commercial sea power, maintaining a fleet of 60 modern ships, active in trade, yet ready “on call” to meet U.S. defense transport requirements or rapidly respond to other emergencies at sea. Its captain, William Boyce, and his crew of 20—including two Midshipmen from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy—undertook an 18-hour-long rescue in deteriorating weather conditions at tremendous risk. They ultimately saved the lives of seven of the Sincerity Ace’s 21 crewmembers.

For their courageous efforts, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration awarded the Gallant Ship Citation Award and U.S. Merchant Marine Medals for Outstanding Achievement to the captain and crew of the Green Lake in ceremonies at the U.S. Customs House in Lower Manhattan on November 1. The Gallant Ship

Citation was established by Executive Order in 1944 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for vessels “participating in outstanding or gallant action in a marine disaster or other emergency to save life or property at sea.”

Roosevelt established the award to recognize merchant mariners, who endured the highest casualty rate of any service in WWII—1 in 26. Only 42 vessels, including Green Lake,

The perils at sea are many, which is why mariners of all nations rapidly respond to distress calls, knowing that every second counts in saving lives. have been designated as a Gallant Ship in the past 75 years. The last award was presented in 1995.

When the Green Lake arrived, it found Sincerity Ace burning throughout most of its length, with crewmembers trapped on the forward deck by billowing smoke. The furious fire made the decks so hot, they melted the bottoms of the crews’ survival suits, which are essential to survival after abandoning ship. The trapped crewmembers were forced to climb 100 feet down mooring

The captain and crew of the Green Lake were presented with the Gallant Ship Citation Award, the first time since 1995. lines to the water. They escaped the fire and heat of the deck only to arrive in rough, unforgiving seas.

As the Green Lake rushed to pick up survivors, it fought 17- to 20-foot waves and stiffening winds, which made the rescue more dangerous and challenging. The high wind and waves combined with the Green Lake’s high freeboard and bluff sides made it difficult to maneuver and lift survivors to safety one by one. The rescue lasted from 2 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the entire crew working tirelessly to get seven survivors aboard.

Nine others were rescued by four other ships: the SM Eagle, a liquefied natural gas tanker, and two other vehicle carriers—New Century 1 and Venus Spirit—and a bulk carrier, Genco Augustus. Sadly, despite these efforts, five Sincerity Ace crewmembers lost their lives. Two Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft and a Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft also participated in the search for survivors.

All are to be commended for their efforts.

As the citation for their Gallant Ship Award reads: “… The courage, seamanship and ingenuity of (Green Lake’s) captain and crew bring honor upon themselves, their ship and the U.S.-flag fleet.” It is a welldeserved recognition, but accolades are the farthest thing from a mariner’s mind when the life of another is at stake. For as long as men and women sail the seas, mariners will act without hesitation to save the lives “of those in peril on the seas.”

These seafarers have earned our thanks and admiration.

Elaine Chao

U.S. Secretary of Transportation

November 2019 // Marine Log 23

inside washington

CBO: Navy Shipbuilding Plan is Off By Billions

T

he Navy would have to spend $200 billion more—or 31% more each year—over the next 30 years to reach its goal of 355 ships, a vastly higher number than the $660 billion the Navy currently projects it will spend, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says in report on the Navy’s FY2020 shipbuilding plan submitted to the Congress in March 2019.

Fleet Cost.

The 2020 plan would require shipbuilding appropriations that are more than 50% larger than the Navy’s average funding for shipbuilding over the past five years.

Including nuclear refueling and all other costs associated with the Navy’s shipbuilding budget, CBO estimates, the total shipbuilding budget would average $ 3 1 b i l l i o n p e r y e a r, one-third more than

Fleet Size.

the Navy estimates. Annual operation and support costs for the fleet over the next 30 years would grow from $60 billion today to about $90 billion by 2049.

Adding an additional $1 billion to the Navy’s estimate would be the costs of ship conversions, construction of ships that are not part of the Navy’s battle force (oceanographic survey ships, for instance), moored training ships, outfitting and post-delivery activities (including the purchase of many smaller tools and pieces of equipment that are needed to operate a ship but that are not necessarily provided by the shipyard when the ship is built, and smaller items.

If the Navy adhered to that purchasing plan and to the schedule for retiring ships outlined in the 2020 plan, the inventory of ships would rise from 290 today to its goal of 355 ships in 2034 and thereafter, but would fall short of its specific goals for some types of ships.

The Department of Defense submitted the Navy’s 2020 shipbuilding plan to the Congress in March 2019. The average annual cost of carrying out the latest Navy plan, which covers fiscal years 2020 to 2049, would be $31 bil¬lion in 2019, the CBO estimates.

The Navy’s 2020 plan differs very little from its 2019 plan in its goal for the total inventory of battle force ships, the number and types of ships that the Navy would purchase, and the funding proposed to implement the plan.

If fully carried out, the shipbuilding plan would represent the largest naval buildup since the 1980s.

Purchasing Plan.

The Navy plans to purchase 304 new ships between 2020 and 2049: 247 combat ships and 57 support ships.

BRIAN GAUVIN PHOTO

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I

t seems like an eternity, but it’s actu`ally not that long since U.S. shipyards were delivering offshore support vessels, including some pretty impressive ones.

Only two years ago, for example, Eastern Shipbuilding delivered the Harvey Blue-Sea, the second of two large capacity 340-foot Multi-Purpose Support Vessels (MPSV) to Harvey Gulf International Marine.

But times change. Demand for Jones Act newbuilds to serve the Oil Patch has now dried up and repair and maintenance requirements have dwindled. In this situation, BAE Systems took the decision in March last year to wind up operations at its Mobile, Ala., shipyard. BAE Systems ship repair director-communications, platforms and services, Karl Johnson told Marine Log that, “The shipyard’s primary business—the repair and maintenance of commercial vessels that support the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico—has been in a prolonged downturn for several years.”

That downturn continues. And anyone who thinks there will be an upturn any time soon is whistling through a graveyard. To underscore that point, BAE’s Mobile yard was subsequently bought by a subsidiary of

26 Marine Log // November 2019

Epic Companies LLC, a Houston-based offshore construction and decommissioning company, which said that it would provide ship repair and maintenance services to its customers at the yard and service vessels from its own fleet there. Epic Companies filed for Chapter 11 on August 26 in the Southern District of Texas.

Looking Beyond the Oil Patch Right now, there are quite a few shipyards along the Gulf Coast that are either shuttered or acting as parking lots for stacked OSVs. But there are also plenty of survivors in the region and elsewhere in the U.S. who have moved on to build other ship types for which demand is consistent. These include ferries, tugboats, pilot boats and fireboats.

Ferries: Pressure on Margins Though the demand is there, shipyards face stiff competition in winning orders, which puts pressures on profit margins. One insight into the challenges they face is the differing fates of the two yards tapped for New York City’s development of its NYC Ferry system (originally called City Wide Ferry).

In March 2016, Hornblower Inc. won

the contract to manage the operation and hit the ground running with a construction program that initially started with 18 vessels, split between two builders: Jeanerette, La.-based Metal Shark and Horizon Shipbuilding, headquarted in Bayou la Batre, Ala. The Incat Crowther-designed ferries were delivered in record time by the two yards, but things worked out better for Metal Shark than for Horizon. In September 2017, Horizon Shipbuilding Vice President Lance Lemcool said that the yard had delivered all of the ferries scheduled for 2017. However, he added that “project revenues were not sufficient for Horizon to continue normal day-to-day operations. ” The following month, Horizon filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. Subsequently, Metal Shark acquired its assets and Horizon CEO Travis Short joined Metal Shark to serve as executive vice president. The acquisition took the number of Metal Shark shipyards to three with its yards in Jeanerette and Franklin, La., being joined by the former Horizon yard.

Most ferry orders don’t involve building whole new fleets but come at one time as established operators add capacity. Thus, in September, Atlantic City, N.J.-based Seastreak

Photo Credit: VT Halter Marine

ADJUST TO A CHANGING MARKET

WORKBOAT

VT Halter Marine recently launched the barge component of what will be America’s first LNG ATB.

By Nick Blenkey, Web Editor

LLC placed an order at the Midship Marine shipyard in Harvey, La., for a sister vessel to its Seastreak Commodore. Delivered last year, the Incat Crowther 45 design, 600-passenger Seastreak Commodore is the highest capacity Coast Guard Subchapter K-certified fast ferry ever built. Its success in services prompted Seastreak to add a second Incat Crowther 45 to accommodate the large passenger volume along its routes.

The 147.6- by 39.4-foot vessel will be powered by four MTU 12V4000 M64 main engines and propelled by Kongsberg Kamewa 63S4 waterjets. Each of the Seastreak Incat 45 vessels features four Reintjes WVS 730 reverse reduction gearboxes, supplied by Karl Senner LLC, that allow for back-flushing the waterjets.

These gearboxes utilize lightweight aluminum housings, diagonal offsets and robust gearing ideal for a high-speed catamaran with high operating hours.

Bigger Ships Need Powerful Tugs In the tug sector, leading operators have been beefing up tugboat power to handle the bigger ships now calling at U.S. ports.

In August, McAllister Towing reported the arrival in Charleston, S.C., of the Capt. Jim

McAllister, the fourth in a series of four 100by 40-foot tugboats and the 33rd tractor tug in McAllister’s fleet.

Built by Eastern Shipbuilding , the tug is powered by 3516E Tier 4 Caterpillar engines with twin Schottel SRP4000 FP units. Packed into its hull is 6,770 horsepower. It achieved 82.50-metric tons during its ABS bollard pull certification and had a maximum pull of 83.70 tons. The Capt. Jim and its three sisters are the most powerful EPA Tier 4 tugs in the McAllister fleet.

Capt. Steven Kicklighter, McAllister’s vice president and general manager, said, “Capt.

Jim will make a huge difference here. We are receiving 1,200-foot, 14,000 TEU containerships on an almost daily basis. This tug, with its capabilities, will be able to safely handle these ships and even larger ones with exceptional control and power.”

Another indication of the continuing demand for shiphandling tugs is an order placed with Washburn & Doughty (W&D), East Boothby, Maine, by Moran Towing in May. It covers two 86- by 36-foot ASD-type ship assist and escort Z-drive tugs based on a design by Jensen Maritime Consultants with a bollard pull of 63 tons. It also includes four two-tug options. The option tugs are expected to be a combination of the 86-foot Jensen design and W&D’s 82-metric-ton bollard, 93- by 38-foot design—14 of which are currently in service in the Moran fleet.

Pilots Are Picky About What They Want in a Boat At the beginning of the year, the Southwest Alaska Pilots Association’s (SWAPA) newest pilot boat, Emerald Island, went to work.

“She will provide our pilots with the stable and secure platform required for them to handle the dynamic and unpredictable weather conditions that we may encounter performing our work 24 hours a day, seven days a week each year,” said Capt. Ron Ward II, SWAPA pilot.

With a length overall of 75.7 feet, a beam of 20.6 feet and a draft of 3.11 feet. Built

by Gladding-Hearn, the all-aluminum pilot boat features the Ray Hunt-designed Deep V hull. It is powered by twin Cummins QSK38-M1, EPA Tier 3 diesel engines, each delivering 1,400 bhp at 1,800 rpm and connected to twin ZF-5000 gear boxes. The launch is propelled by a pair of Hamilton HM651 water jets. Top speed is 29 knots.

Humphree interceptors, with active ride control and automatic trim optimization, were installed at the transom.

“Everything about this new boat speaks to the demands of our work environment as Alaska pilots,” Ward said. “The Emerald Island will be stationed in Valdez, Alaska,

and will primarily be providing a year round service to tankers carrying crude oil from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline terminal.”

Another boat delivered earlier this year, the 64- by 19-foot Brazos Pilot, was built for the Brazos Pilot Association in Freeport, Texas, by Metal Shark at its Franklin, La., facility, as a replacement for its smaller, single-engine 40-foot pilot boat, improving safety for crews while enhancing service to operators and providing around-the-clock service at Port Freeport.

Key operators who rely on the services of Brazos Pilots Association include Dow Chemical, Enterprise, Phillips 66, FLNG and BP. “The 64 Defiant Pilot employs a very stout, extensively proven deep vee hull for stable operation in heavy seas,” explained Carl Wegener, Metal Shark’s vice president of commercial sales. “Meanwhile, the decks, pilothouse and belowdecks spaces are a showcase of modern pilot boat design. The entire vessel has been thoroughly optimized for pilots, with an emphasis on comfort, convenience, efficiency and safety.”

A spacious, climate-controlled wheelhouse employs Metal Shark’s signature “pillarless glass” for dramatically improved visibility, in a reverse-raked arrangement developed by Metal Shark specifically for pilots. Large overhead skylights provide upward visibility while approaching and operating alongside moving ships. Visibility is further augmented by the vessel’s centerline helm position.

Like all of Metal Shark’s pilot boat offerings, the Brazos boat was designed with extensive input from the client to result in a custom-tailored vessel ideally suited for its specific mission profile. In the case of the Brazos pilots, one requirement was a large pilot transfer platform that was engineered into the vessel’s foredeck, with a wide, integrated non-skid stairway and specially configured safety rails.

To facilitate operation in close quarters, the vessel has been outfitted with a secondary control station on the aft deck, equipped with steering and throttle controls and a set of digital displays, that allow the operator to monitor engine performance while controlling the vessel from this station.

Powered by twin 803-hp. Caterpillar C-18 diesel engines coupled to Twin Disc MGX5146SC transmissions and turning fivebladed 36- by 43-inch Nibral propellers, Brazos Pilot achieves a top speed in excess of 28 knots, with a nominal cruise speed of 18 knots.

Fireboats Need Tailoring to Local Needs Another Metal Shark specialty is fireboats— this, too, is an area where customers have very November 2019 // Marine Log 27

WORKBOAT clear ideas on their locally specific needs. Earlier this year, Metal Shark booked an order to build a new generation of boats for the MiamiDade Fire Rescue Department.

Based on Metal Shark’s 50 Defiant X design, the welded aluminum monohulls feature a proven hull form and a specialized arrangement optimized for firefighting.

The 50- by 15-foot boats will be powered by twin inboard diesel engines mated to water jet propulsion units to give a projected top speed is in excess of 45 knots, for the fastest possible emergency-response time.

At a more economical cruise 30-knot cruise speed, the vessels are expected to deliver a nominal operating range of approximately 250 nautical miles.

The 50 Defiant X features a reverse-raked windshield arrangement with large overhead skylights that provide upward visibility while approaching and operating alongside moving ships or elevated structures, or while keeping overhead aircraft in view.

A full complement of modern firefighting equipment will allow crews to safely and efficiently conduct the full spectrum of marine fire rescue response missions.

Another builder, with a strong presence in the fireboat market is Lake Assault Boats, a division of Fraser Shipyards in Superior, Wis.

This summer, the Secaucus Fire Department in Hudson County, N.J., placed a 28-foot Lake Assault Boats firefighting and rescue craft into service. The department’s firefighting and emergency response area includes a large portion of the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers (and their 28 bridges) that empty into Newark Bay and the Hudson River.

“We’re located in a somewhat landlocked part of the river system, so our new fireboat has to be versatile and self-sustaining in case of a major incident,” said Fire Chief Carl Leppin.

New Shipbuilding Opps and Risks The move to LNG as a marine fuel has created a need for Jones Act compliant LNG bunkering vessels.

Now in service in Jacksonville, Fla., is the Clean Jacksonville, the first LNG bunkering barge built in the U.S. Constructed at Conrad Orange Shipyard, a subsidiary of Conrad Industries, the Clean Jacksonville has a single GTT membrane tank with a capacity of 2,200 cubic meters and can rightly be considered a technical milestone.

However, learning curves can be expensive. For the six months ended June 30, Conrad reported net loss of $2.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to net income of $5.3 million for the

six months ended June 30, 2018. The losses would have been worse but for the inclusion of $7.5 million from the Deepwater Horizon settlement.

Two other LNG bunkering vessel projects that are under way both involve Articulated Tug and Barge (ATB) solutions.

VT Halter Marine last month launched the Q-LNG 4000 ATB barge. just a few weeks after its naming ceremony. The 324- by 64- by 32-foot, 6-inch unit is the barge component of America’s first offshore LNG ATB unit and is designed to carry 4,000 cubic meters of LNG. The tug component of the ATB, the 128- by 42- by 21-foot Q-Ocean Services was to launch from VT Halter late October and will be powered by two GE 6L250 MDC EPA Tier 4 main engines delivering 5,100 hp. Propulsion will be

by Wärtsilä Z-drives.

The second LNG ATB project underway currently will see Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding to construct a 5,400-cubic-meter LNG barge under an agreement reached with NorthStar Midstream. Paired with a suitable tugboat, the barge will operate as an ATB unit that will initially run along the East Coast of the United States providing LNG bunkering solutions to NorthStar’s customers. NorthStar subsidiary Polaris New Energy will operate the ATB, sourcing LNG from the JAX LNG production facility in Jacksonville.

T h e AT B w i l l b e f i t t e d w i t h f o u r 1,350-cubic-meter IMO Type C tanks and will utilize a cargo handling system designed and developed by Wärtsilä.

Dimensions of the vessel will be 340 feet long, with a 66-foot beam and a depth of 32 feet, 10 inches. It will be ABS classed.

From Oil Patch to Wind Patch Looking further ahead, development of U.S. offshore wind will create another area of new demand and some experienced players are already sizing up potential yards.

Early last month, Foss Maritime, Seattle, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Haugesund, Norway-headquartered Østensjø Rederi AS to establish a partnership to provide domestic Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) for offshore wind projects in U.S. waters.

The aim of the partnership is to build Jones Act-compliant SOVs based on the designs developed by Østensjø.

The announcement from Foss was followed later the same month by the news that Bernhard Schulte Offshore GmbH and MidOcean Wind LLC entered into a joint venture to build and operate support vessels for the U.S. offshore wind industry as well as to explore opportunities in other sectors of U.S. merchant shipping.

28 Marine Log // November 2019

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GULF Coast Gulf COAST Suppliers SUPPLIERS The Topaz Endurance has a FUELTRAX system.

GULF COAST SUPPLIERS

DIVERSIFY

Gulf Coast suppliers seek more diverse markets, including inland and passenger vessels, during OSV downturn

30 Marine Log // November 2019

Laborde said that in addition to targeting the inland river marine segment in the United States, it is also seeking customers on the landside of its business. These customers include large and small rental companies that lease equipment to oil producers, primarily in the Permian Basin. “Some of the rental companies we have been working with are also providing equipment to the municipalities throughout the southeastern United States,” added Laborde.

In terms of the service side of the company, Laborde said that things have been going well.

“A few operators delayed some maintenance, which we don’t like to see, but there are catching back up with that work,” it said. “We are satisfied with where our service business is today.”

Despite the current state of the OSV market, Laborde said he believes it will make a comeback. “We believe it will be a progressive return,” it said. “There is a lot of new equipment that is ready to go to work, and it will be some time before too many additional OSVs are being built. There is still plenty of deep-water activity in the Gulf that will keep many of these boats working, as well as activity around the world. Laborde Products will

continue to follow the offshore market, and as it comes back and there is a demand for diesel engines, we will be there for our customers.”

Diversification Houston, Texas-based Thrustmaster of Texas Inc. approached the downturn in the OSV market a bit differently. Adam Jost, applications manager for the company, said it sought more diverse markets ranging from ferries, construction vessels, offshore wind, cable and pipe laying and fishing vessels.

“Thrustmaster has also diversified its product offerings with the addition of complete turnkey hybrid propulsion systems, electric podded thrusters, the purchase of Rolls Royce’s ICON DP product, and an easily deployed containerized energy storage system that reduces fuel consumption of the OSV,” he said.

Jost said the company’s advanced battery based energy storage system design is nonintrusive into the existing OSV power control system or ships service water for cooling, so it is easily deployable unlike other comparable ESS systems on the market.

Adding that there is tremendous interest in

Photo Credit: FUELTRAX

T

he oil and gas offshore services industry in the U.S. Gulf is not what it used to be. Its traditional supplier base of shipyards, naval architects, equipment manufacturers and distributors has had to look beyond the Oil Patch for survival. Companies like Laborde Products, FUELTRAX and Thrustmaster and Karl Senner (see page 43) have had to find new ways to navigate the current market.

Laborde Products in Covington, La., says that, in fact, the OSV and offshore market downturn, as a whole has not had that significant of an impact on its business. The company extended its focus more toward the inland barge and towing sector as more offshore boats were being tied up.

“We also focused more than ever before on the shale plays and did what we could to capitalize on those fast growing markets, which include water pumps, hydraulic power units and other diesel-powered equipment,” said Laborde.

As the company continues to focus on new marine markets, it says it is also seeking new “major buyers.” Since the OSV downturn,

By Heather Ervin, Editor in Chief

GULF COAST SUPPLIERS stored energy hybrid and all-electric solutions, Jost said the company’s new containerized energy storage solution would be a game changer from the feedback it has received.

“This is due to the innovative solution providing charge from the OSV power system to the ESS during long transits, which requires less fuel than other systems in the market,” he said.

Thrustmaster, too, says the service side of its business is doing well. “It’s remained steady throughout the downturn, but recently, we have noticed an increase in service calls as vessels are starting to come back online and for those customers that had pushed off service due to the decrease in work,” Jost said.

When asked about Thrustmaster’s plans for 2020, Jost said that it’s too soon to discuss, but the company will be making a big announcement around the time of the International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans, La., in early December. “The announcement is regarding a new patent-pending hybrid and energy storage system solution that will revolutionize the industry,” he said.

Digital and Automated Solutions

insight to our clients, which they have never had before,” Cantu said. “We have learned the complexities of collecting operational data from OSVs and are applying those lessons learned to our growing service sectors.”

Looking ahead to 2020 and beyond, Cantu said it wants people to know that maximizing fuel savings is going to be imperative to OSV operators who are only just now positioning themselves to tackle a depressed day-rate market. “In anticipation of IMO 2020 and how it will impact the cost of fuel, the market is recognizing the need for automated digitalization in fuel management,” she said. “It is accepting electronic fuel monitoring systems as the standard solution. With more and more charter mandates being implemented worldwide, it is only a matter of time before EFMS becomes a standard globally. It is crucial to recognize this shift in the industry and continue to improve our product that keeps vessel owners and operators ahead of the curve. With 99% uptime and 24/7 remote support, we are equipped to continue meeting the current market state of OSV dependency head on.”

Photo Credit: Thrustmaster of Texas Inc.

FUELTRAX, also headquartered in Houston, Texas, said it has been focused on digital and automated solutions during the current market state of the industry. “We are not only making these available to internal management, but also to the energy sector and other clients that hire these OSVs,” said Victoria Cantu, director of business development for FUELTRAX. “All stakeholders now see the value of using accurate and reliable data sets to improve operations. The FUELTRAX solution meets this demand by digitalizing and automating fuel efficiency, performance optimization, inventory control, vessel tracking, and much more across the entire OSV fleets.”

Cantu said that it is also seeing increased interest from outside of the OSV market and its charterers. “We also continue to see increasing

interest from operators of other vessel classes and types that all face the same challenges when it comes to fuel monitoring on board,” Cantu told Marine Log. “These include upstream tanker operations, bulk carriers, containerships and different large vessels working in other sectors of the marine industry.”

In terms of major buyers, Cantu said FUELTRAX sees the adoption of fuel monitoring systems coming in two folds. “First, by OSV owners themselves, and second, by the energy companies that they serve,” she said. “Some of the largest FUELTRAX fleet operators include Tidewater, Edison Chouest, Seacor, Swire Pacific Offshore, Bourbon, and Topaz to name a few.

Energy companies around the world that have implemented a FUELTRAX system include ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron.”

The company’s fuel monitoring solutions are based on studying the millions of operational hours that it has collected over the last 15 years and building new vessel efficiency solutions based on those findings. It also said that its service sector continues to grow.

“It’s growing specifically around new and improved data services that provide additional

November 2019 // Marine Log 31

CEO Spotlight

Q & A With

DAVID HAMMOND President of Inland Marine Service Inc.

By Heather Ervin, Editor in Chief

A

s Marine Log continues to expand its coverage to include commercial maritime operations in the heart of the United States, one company stood out to us right away—Inland Marine Service Inc. (IMS). The Hebron, Ky.-based vessel management provider has had a busy year by continuously expanding its fleet and forming a joint venture.

I n l a t e S e p t e m b e r, t h e c o m p a n y announced a deal it had struck w ith American River Transportation Company (ARTCO), St. Louis, Mo., where it will be responsible for the operation of five of ARTCO’s large line-haul towboat vessels and the management of more than 90 crewmembers. This news came just a week after IMS had announced a vessel-management agreement with Tennessee Valley Towing (TVT), Paducah, Ky., resulting in the operation of TVT’s entire fleet of more than 20 towboats.

And earlier this year, IMS partnered with James Marine, Paducah, Ky., to form Mavericks Towboat Solutions, which just completed its first purchase of seven harbor boats from Nashville-headquartered Ingram Barge Company for operation in the St. Louis harbor. The purchased vessels will continue under contract between Ingram and IMS.

32 Marine Log // November 2019

As one of the largest vessel management providers in the U.S., IMS offers its customers a host of services to include planned maintenance, compliance management, harbor services, training, safety and, as you’ll see in our interview with IMS President David Hammond, a lot more.

Marine Log (ML): How did you get involved with the barge and towing industry?

Dave Hammond (DH): I joke that I started in the towing industry at birth!

My grandfather and father were towboat captains, and the expectation was for me to become a towboat captain. At age 19, I received my pilot’s license and by 21, I received my 1600 GRT Masters license.

While in my teens, my father would bring me to work as a deckhand in the local harbor when he didn’t have one available.

However, my mother was not happy when he did this during the school year.

ML: A lot has been happening at Inland Marine Service this year. What else can people expect as we navigate into 2020?

DH: Inland Marine Service has grown tremendously in recent years. Large companies welcome our ability to provide a “fixed” daily rate coupled with our ability to relieve them of pain points, such as crewing vessels, transference of insurance liabilities, compliance with SIRE/TMSA/AWO/RCP/ USCG Subchapter M regulations, marine and health insurance for mariners, significant financial savings and more.

Mi d - s i ze co m p a n i e s we l co m e o u r ability to offer instant Coast Guard Subchapter M compliance relating to crew safety, compliance and training. Instead of spending $300,000 or more to hire a safety person and a compliance person, mid-size companies have the ability to outsource and utilize IMS resources.

Many small to mid-size companies are not prepared for Subchapter M regulations.

IMS and Mavericks Towboat Solutions offer unique solutions to help these companies. For example, IMS offers instant

David Hammond Sr. and his wife, Cathy, founded IMS in 1988.

David Hammond

Deckhand raises the IMS flag in front of the St. Louis Arch.

Photo Credit: Inland Marine Service Inc.

An IMS towboat working a fleet in the St. Louis Harbor.

Subchapter M compliance relating to nonvessel requirements, such as approved TSMS, health and safety plan, crew training, record keeping, survey/audit requirements, and more. Mavericks Towboat Solutions helps companies understand the costs associated with refurbishing their vessels to meet Subchapter M requirements. Mavericks also offers solutions for phasing out old equipment that must be replaced that meets Subchapter M requirements. Both companies offer simple solutions to very complex and costly problems.

ML: What are some factors behind IMS’s growth this year?

DH: As a result of increased regulatory requirements and the continued struggle to find qualified maritime crews, I foresee continued growth for Inland Marine Service.

Many companies are seeing the vast benefits associated with outsourcing their vessel operations so they can focus on their core competencies, which are not normally related to operating and managing vessel crews. Normally, their core competency relates to freight.

This allows each party to focus on what they do best to achieve optimal results.

Our ability to relieve maritime companies of vessel crew, insurances, safety/

compliance, daily maintenance and more, is of great value. And we feel very honored to work with our customers.

ML: What does your current fleet profile look like, and are there plans for expanding that portfolio?

DH: Currently, IMS manages more than 60 vessels operating throughout the Mississippi River System and Gulf Coast areas. We have locations in St. Louis, Cincinnati, New Orleans and Houston. Our plan is to grow our Gulf Coast presence. We are actively seeking companies that want to sell their businesses or have IMS manage and operate their maritime companies.

M L : Wh a t i s yo u r o p i n i o n o f t h e future of the inland barge and towing industry overall?

DH: I envision more consolidation in the future. The maritime industry ownership continues to shrink and small mom-and-pop-type businesses continue to struggle. With increased costs, complex regulatory requirements and increased industry standards, many will not survive.

Adaptation, agility and critical mass will be needed to survive in this ever-evolving environment. Many of the mom-andpop-type businesses do not want to adapt

IMS towboats waiting for orders dockside.

to this new environment. Also, there are some that do not have succession plans.

These types of maritime business are ideal for IMS and Mavericks Towboat Solutions. We have “turnkey� solutions for these maritime companies.

ML: The inland commercial shipping industry is historically observed as a conservative industry. What trends or technology developments do you think the inland industry will adopt in the near future?

D H : Te c h n o l o g y w i l l co n t i n u e to play a major role in our ability to work safely and efficiently while maintaining compliance. Continued advances in risk-based approaches, such as human factors to ensure op er ational safet y, re d u c t i o n i n e q u i p m e n t d ow n t i m e , inspections and audits, reduced environmental impact and costs will assist every maritime company soon.

For many, this technology is expensive and lowers margins; however, if small- to mid-size companies do not move toward this new technology, it will be hard for them to survive.

At IMS, we embraced and adapted years ago to new technology and we are constantly seeking new innovative solutions.

November 2019 // Marine Log 33

European Shipbuilding

E u r o pea n S h ip b ui l di n g

Mixed Fortunes Specialist European shipyards are undergoing a renaissance underpinned by a record cruise orderbook, hybrid ferry contracts and demand for SOVs

By Paul Bartlett, European Correspondent

34 Marine Log // November 2019

has four cities that rank in the top 10 most expensive in the world. Yet despite its high cost of living and eye-watering wage rates, the country’s shipyards have demonstrated remarkable flexibility in adapting their market focus.

Following the oil price crash in late 2014, the bottom fell out of the high-end offshore service and subsea construction market—a vital sector for specialist Norwegian designers and builders. However, in the last five years, shipyards in one of the world’s most expensive countries have turned their attention to small sophisticated expedition cruise ships, complex cable layers and offshore wind service vessels.

It is a mark of Norwegian pragmatism, determination and flexibility that has

transformed some of the world’s leading high-end yards from their traditional offshore business to new vessel types. Some have managed the change better than others but overall, Norwegian shipbuilding is in remarkably good shape. The country’s builders currently have 30 ships under construction, according to London-based analyst Clarkson Research.

Electric Ferries Oslo-listed Havyard Group ASA is a diverse industrial organization with principal focus areas of ship design, ship construction at Havyard Leirvik, and power and control systems. The shipbuilding subsidiary is currently midway through construction of a series of 10 electric ferries for the country’s

Photo Credit: AIDA Cruises

A

s world shipbuilding’s center of gravity has moved to the east, European shipyards have fought to survive.

Many haven’t. In the U.K., for example, which was once the world’s number one shipbuilding nation, there are virtually no yards now operating in new construction other than a handful of facilities that build naval craft and highly specialized vessels, such as the $190 million-plus polar research vessel, Sir David Attenborough. It is currently undergoing final outfitting work at Merseyside shipbuilder Cammell Laird.

Four European countries, however, do stand out in a shipbuilding context—Norway, France, Germany and Italy. Norway

European Shipbuilding AIDA Cruises recently took delivery of the world’s first LNG-powered cruise ship, the AIDAnova.

lines of business.

The company has built four service operation vessels (SOVs) for wind farm support functions and has one still under construction for Bernhard Schulte of Germany. Other ships currently being built include two highend expedition cruise vessels for New York’s Lindblad Expeditions and a sophisticated cable layer for Paris-headquartered Nexans.

Earlier this year, the shipbuilder delivered the walk-to-work offshore wind construction vessel Acta Centaurus, which is due to have batteries and an energy management system from Wärtsilä installed during the last quarter of this year. This will enable hybrid operation, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by about 15%.

Just across the fjord from Ulstein lies Kleven Verft, until recently another family-owned enterprise but now a company within the Hurtigruten group. There are presently two ships under construction, the second hybrid-powered expedition cruise ship for Hurtigruten, built to a Rolls-Royce (now Kongsberg) design—MS Fridtjof Nansen—and a deep-sea mining vessel for Debmarine Namibia.

Hurtigruten is expected to confirm orders for more expedition cruise ships soon.

Meanwhile, recent deliveries have included the expedition cruise line’s vessel, MS Roald Amundsen, and the last in a series of six Starfish design anchor handling tug supply ships for Maersk, the Maersk Maker.

Cruise Focus

largest ferry operator, Fjord1 AS. Some hulls have been built at the Cemre Shipyard in Turkey and then towed to Havyard for outfitting and completion.

Norwegian Electric Systems, another group company, picked Canadian energy storage system manufacturer, Corvus Energy, to supply the battery systems. While Havyard’s orderbook is focused mainly on the ferries for Fjord1, the company is also building three offshore wind support units for Denmark’s Esvagt.

Photo Credit: Ulstein Verft

Ulstein Diversification Located in the Sunnmøre region of Norway’s west coast, family-owned Ulstein Verft is a good example of shipbuilding resilience. Having built a series of the most sophisticated offshore vessels over the first 15 years of this century, Gunvor Ulstein and her brother, Tore, have overseen a successful change of direction which has radically altered the company’s traditional

Vard, owned by Italy’s Fincantieri, has nine shipyards, with five in Norway and others in Romania, Brazil and Vietnam. Cruise ship construction is very much the focus at Norwegian facilities which, like other yards in Norway, were previously specialists in high-end offshore vessels. Two expedition cruise vessels are under construction for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises at Vard Langsten, and five more are being built at Vard Soeviknes, three for French cruise line Ponant SA, and two for Los Angelesbased Viking Ocean Cruises.

Elsewhere in Europe, Fincantieri is also making the most of the cruise contracting spree. In fact, shipyards within the Fincantieri group or falling under its control now hold orders for more than half of the 112ship cruise orderbook, estimated to be worth more than $67 billion. Building contracts stretch until 2027.

Europe’s largest shipbuilder has no fewer than 44 cruise vessels on order at its four Italian shipyards—Ancona, Marghera, Monfalco and Sestri. Through its ownership of Vard, there are another seven cruise contracts effectively within the Fincantieri group. And the Italian

company also holds a majority stake in French shipyard Chantiers de l’Atlantique, which has a further 10 cruise vessels on order. This takes Fincantieri’s tally to 59 contracts, worth tens of billions of dollars.

Genting Group Comes to Germany In shipping, it is quite common for European companies to establish joint ventures or subsidiaries in Asia, where most of the world’s commercial ships have been built for the last few decades. However, the Malaysia-based Genting Group has adopted an opposite strategy having bought Germany’s Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven in 2016 and subsequently three shipyards belonging to Nordic Yards in Stralsund, Wismar and Rostock that are now operating as MV Werften.

After major upgrades, these yards are now building a range of cruise ships for brands within Genting Group control. Early in 2018, the first steel was cut at the Stralsund shipyard for the Crystal Endeavor, a luxury Polar-class expedition cruise vessel that is due to join the Crystal Cruises fleet in 2020.

Me a nw h i l e , co n s t r u c t i o n o f t wo 204,000-gross-ton Global-class cruise ships for Genting subsidiary Dream Cruises is also underway at MV Werften. They will be the largest cruise ships ever to be built in Germany and are designed for the Asian market, where cruise demand is rising fast.

The 342-meter-long vessels have a nominal capacity of 5,000 passengers in 2,500 cabins.

But flexible arrangements, two bathrooms and space for two, three or four persons could well mean the ships have more passengers. With a crew of 2,200, they will have a total life-saving capacity of 9,500 persons and are due for delivery in 2021 and 2022.

Gunvor Ulstein and her brother, Tore, of Ulstein Verft in Norway.

November 2019 // Marine Log 35

PROPULSION Performance monitoring has become a routine part of managing and enhancing vessel operating efficiency.

Foreship Applies Performance Monitoring to

Ship Design

By Matthew Patey, Senior Specialist for Ship Dynamics at Foreship Ltd.

W

here ship designers conventionally estimate propulsion power by adding a “sea margin” to standard model test data at constant speeds in calm seas, Foreship, a Finnish naval architect firm, has used real voyage to develop a more accurate way of calculating fuel consumption and a propulsion solution that can maximize efficiency across a vessel’s operating profile. The breakthrough work supported the decision to make a significant change in the ship’s powering solution at the newbuild stage.

In voyage planning software, systems installed on ships contain a baseline performance model used to make recommendations about planned speed and weather routing.

This model is adjusted over time using measured data from the performance monitoring system itself, in a learning process that brings continuous improvement to an individual ship’s voyage planning capability.

For the last three years, Foreship has been building the capability to use hind cast weather and reference ship performance databases to support realistic voyage simulations for new ship designs. Measured operational data are used to tune the analytical models being used at the ship design stage.

36 Marine Log // November 2019

One familiar focus when it comes to optimizing propulsion power is the standard procedure to evaluate the performance of the hull using reference data from previous design, RANS CFD methods to optimize the hull form, with findings later validated by self-propulsion tests in a model basin.

These are tried and tested ship design methods, but they leave room for uncertainty: CFD procedures may not capture the flow in sufficient detail. Again, model test procedures suffer from scale effects.

Ultimately, the designer estimates the required propulsion power based on standard model test procedures at constant speed in calm water and then adds a 15% “sea margin” to account for the weather, making an educated guess on wind resistance. It is up to the hydrodynamicist to balance the propulsion power estimate with commercial pressures to optimize hull shape for minimum engine power.

In reality, a ship’s propulsion solution, engine arrangement and related systems must take account of many more factors, including, for example, marine growth on the hull; hotel load needs; planned and unplanned engine maintenance; energy saving devices (waste heat recovery, air lubrication system, etc.); and of course the actual logistics of the shipping operation.

Assessing electrical power demand for a diesel electric-powered ship is therefore no simple task.

Real-World Scenario Recently, Foreship was offered the opportunity to take advantage of full-scale operational data, after being approached by an owner with a new way of calculating fuel consumption as part of a newbuilding project. The subsequent work supported the decision to make a significant change in the ship’s powering solution.

Foreship’s suggestion was to use the full-scale performance data available from the owner’s ships, calibrate fuel consumption and propulsion power models by measuring specific voyages using their reference vessel and then apply the correction factors to the new design. In the case being assessed, contributions made by energy efficiency devices were taken into account.

Foreship was primarily interested in the required propulsion power and fuel consumption. Using operational data covering a six-month period, it was possible to establish actual measured fuel consumption and develop a daily average power profile of the service load for the reference ship in operation.

Deriving correction factors started with simulating a section of the measured voyages

PROPULSION during which the speed was more or less constant using hind cast weather data over a defined timespan, with sections of 36 individual port-to-port voyages simulated. The specific fuel oil consumption curves were corrected by a factor provided by the owner based on its own experience and marine growth rates applied based on the owner’s own data. Propulsion power was calibrated through an iterative process where the baseline speedpower curve was adjusted to maximize the correlation between the measured average propulsion power on each voyage and the simulated propulsion power. This approach achieved a 98% correlation between predicted and measured total fuel consumption and 96% between predicted and measured average propulsion power.

The tweaked “operational” speed-power curve was then compared to the most recent “design” speed-power curve for the reference vessel to develop a set of correction factors to apply to the new vessel.

The final step in making the scenario realistic involved incorporating the owner’s statistics on engine availability. Removing one engine from consideration on a regular basis for a single port-to-port voyage reflected planned

maintenance. Unplanned maintenance was simulated using a random number generator and giving the probability of failure to remove an engine for a port-to-port voyage.

The reference vessel in operation and the new design were then run through a series of voyage simulations covering four round-trip itineraries in four different sea areas. Simulations were run over a 25-year period for which hind cast weather data was available. The information generated from simulations included: speed, engine mode and power profiles; voyage buffer times and late arrivals; fuel/energy consumption, CO2 emissions/EEOI; passenger comfort and seasickness experienced; weather conditions; wind, wave and current contributions to power demand.

Propulsion Power Conclusions One of the main conclusions from the process was that the proposed engines for the new vessel would feature insufficient total installed power, if the current drydocking and hull cleaning schedule were to be used. The simulations resulted in several late arrivals on one of the itineraries (but not for the reference vessel) in circumstances where

high levels of marine growth were factored in or when one or more engines were out of service and marine growth was moderate or high. This was despite the fact that the installed engine power was well in excess of the required power according to the “design” speed-power curve, the expected service load and the traditional 15% sea margin.

In addition, the eng ines proposed appeared to offer less potential to optimize fuel consumption because all of the engines were the same in the new ship while the reference vessel featured two engine sizes, allowing for more flexibility to adapt to variations in the power demand encountered. Further simulations of the new vessel with half of the engines replaced with larger engines showed improved fuel efficiency, lower EEOI values, and fewer late arrivals.

Ultimately, the analysis proved influential in the decision to increase the installed power and change the size and configuration of the engines used. Most significantly, it demonstrated the importance in the design stage of considering operational data from performance monitoring systems and the usefulness of voyage simulations to reflect real future operations of the vessel.

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November 2019 // Marine Log 37

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One Magazine, The Entire Market

Your lens into the Maritime World MARINE LOG offers coverage of the entire maritime market.

From blue to brown water, domestic to international news, vessel design, operation and construction in the commercial, naval and government sectors, Marine Log offers whole market coverage in one magazine.

TECH SPOTLIGHT

Deck machinery is key to the ability of high tunnel cat OMC to fulfill a broad range of tasks for the people of Chenega Bay, Alaska.

Deck Machinery: A Year of Advances

Photo Credit: Armstrong Marine USA

D

eck machinery. It’s an essential part of any vessel, large or small. While innovation in new and improved deck equipment, such as winches, capstans, windlasses, reels, cranes, etc., is an ongoing process, we rounded up a few highlights from the past year.

In December, Schoellhorn-Albrecht, St. Louis, Mo., announced that it had manufactured two replacement hydraulic vertical anchor windlasses for the M/V Narragansett, operated by the U.S. Navy.

Both the anchor windlass and hydraulic power unit (HPU) were retrofit replacements and had to be designed in accordance with ABS requirements and engineered to fit into space constraints from the older units. The bolt patterns, and space allocations were taken into account early on to allow for ease of installation.

A dedicated HPU and a hydraulic control circuit drive the anchor windlasses. Each anchor windlass was fabricated with a cast steel wildcat suitable for 2-inch anchor chain, a manual band-brake, a wildcat clutch, a Ø24inch warping head capstan for mooring lines, and a chain stripper.

The units contain a 30-hp. axial piston hydraulic motor, which provides a continuous

By Marine Log Staff chain pull of 27,500 pounds at 20-feet-perminute. The warping head capstan delivers 29,750 pounds of line pull at a line speed of 18-feet-per-minute.

The HPU for each windlass powers the vertical anchor windlass/capstan with a 30-hp. electric motor at 1,800 rpm. The HPU is controlled remotely with electric over hydraulic push button controls allowing for variable speed of the windlasses from 0-feet-per-minute to a maximum of 20-feet-per-minute.

Each HPU has the ability to be started locally or remotely, depending on the need by the crew to do maintenance or use it for anchoring/mooring, respectively. The HPUs were fabricated with a custom 60-gallon reservoir and a bolt-together skid that allowed for the unit to fit through a 30-inch square hatch.

Electric-Powered Winch Also in January, Danfoss Editron, Baltimore, Md., partnered with Kongsberg Evotec part of the Kongsberg Maritime group, to develop a fully electric-powered marine winch powered by the sophisticated Danfoss Editron electric drivetrain system.

The Editron drivetrain uses lightweight and compact, yet extremely powerful, reluctanceassisted permanent magnet motors. These save weight and space in the deck handling equipment.

The new electric solutions offer better area utilization in both newbuilds and retrofits as they save on weight and space compared to traditional hydraulic-powered winches and their associated piping and hydraulic power unit. Hydraulic winches are also less energy efficient than their electric counterparts, have higher noise levels and, according to Danfoss Editron, present a risk of oil spilling into the marine environment.

Integrating electric components into the winches allows them to be controlled remotely, making them more responsive to commands and providing functionality with tailored applications that can give direct upsides to operation safety and cost. This drives further efficiencies by lowering fuel costs and associated CO2 emissions when compared to hydraulic designs.

JonRie’s Level Wind Motor According to Brandon Durar, president of JonRie InterTech LLC, Manahawkin, N.J., the company’s most recent innovation is its independent hagglunds drive JonRie Series 240 Escort Winch, a level wind with a render block.

The level wind motor will freewheel when not spooling and render when overloaded. Its compact design includes a diamond shaft that was designed with long-pitch lead to allow the November 2019 // Marine Log 39

TECH SPOTLIGHT diamond shaft carriage to rotate and slide to an unloaded position under extreme loads.

Its extra-wide carriage and offset chute accommodates eye splices, and its liner is fabricated with stainless steel. The level was recently used on the newest Bisso ASD, the Andrew S, which will be showcased at the Workboat Show in early December.

In January, we reported that JonRie was selected to supply the deck equipment for the U.S. Navy’s next generation Yard Tugs (YT-808 Class).

The 3,600 hp. Robert Allan Ltd.-designed

Z-Tech 4500 tugs will be 90 feet in length. On the bow of each tug will be a JonRie Series 210 Heavy Duty Hawser Winch complete with JonRie’s standard render block. The winch will have the capacity to spool 600 feet of 7-inch Hawser, a line pull of 20,000 pounds, line speed of 175 feet-per-minute, and a brake capacity of 300,000 pounds. On the stern of the tug will be a Series 421 Heavy Duty Capstan with a 100,000-pound bollard capacity. The capstan boasts a line pull of 15,000 pounds and a line speed of 30 feet-per-minute.

Elastec Boom Reels

Elastec boom reels are built for safe and controlled deployment.

Also busy with deck work jobs is Carmi, Ill.based Elastec. The company manufactures reel systems for storage, deployment and retrieval of containment boom, water hoses, hydraulic hoses, nets and other products.

Oil containment boom reels are the fastest and most efficient means for storage, deployment and recovery of longer lengths of boom.

Elastec produces a range of reels according to the capacity and model of boom to be stored. The boom reel is hydraulically powered to assist in the deployment and retrieval of boom. The controls also allow the reel to freewheel for rapid deployment. The manual brake controls reel speed and can be locked in different positions to control drag on the reel.

Unique Cat Deck Features More recently, Armstrong Marine USA, Port Angeles, Wash., delivered the 46- by 15-foot high-tunnel catamaran OMC to the people of Chenega Bay, Alaska. What makes this cat unique is its deck machinery. The vessel allows for cargo transport with its 16 recessed tie-downs on the forward working deck and a hydraulic drop-bow door with hinged extension. The landing craft is also outfitted with two side-boarding doors, engine guards, a removable tow-post at the extended T-transom, a rooftop dinghy storage rack, a Kinematics anchor winch, and Rigid Industries - LED Lighting deck lights.

As a landing craft with full bow-picker function for gillnet operations, OMC is the first of its kind. Armstrong’s design, paired with a Kinematics Marine Equipment gillnet reel and bow roller, are well suited for the tribe’s fishing.

A davit with pinch hauler, also from Kinematics, supplements the fishing package.

The vessel is named in honor of “Old Man Charley” Charles William Selanoff Sr., the last Chief on Chenega Island prior to a 1964 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the tribe’s village.

OMC immediately entered service upon arrival in Alaska’s Prince William Sound region in early June.

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Newsmakers

Seaspan Appoints MacLeod to New Vice President Role Seaspan Shipyards, North Vancouver, B.C., has appointed AMY MACLEOD as its new vice president, corporate affairs and external communications. Based in Ottawa, MacLeod will be responsible for developing, managing and maintaining strategic public relations and external communications plans and tactics to support Seaspan Shipyards’ business and marketing objectives.

One Sea, an industry alliance that aims to lead the way towards an operating autonomous maritime ecosystem by 2025, has appointed RIKU-PEKKA HÄGG as chairman of its management board. Hägg will oversee One Sea while retaining his current role as vice president, ship design and integrated solutions sales at Wärtsilä, where he oversees smart and autonomous ship strategy

Longtime National Waterways Conference Inc. President AMY LARSON will step down at the end of the year. JULIE UFNER (pictured) will take over as president and CEO. Previously, Ufner held several other positions in Washington, D.C., since beginning her career with U.S. House of Representatives member Phil English (Pa.) who served on the Ways and Means Committee.

The Carlyle Group and private equity firm Stellex Capital Management have appointed JIM MARCOTULI as CEO the shipyard group nearly created by the acquisition of Vigor Industrial LLC and and MHI Holdings LLC.

Jacksonville, Fla.-headquartered TOTE LLC has promoted KAREN GASKILL to the newly created role of vice president of human resources for three of its four operating companies: TOTE Services, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico and TOTE Resources.

LAURA TABOR MARTIN, director of sales and business development at Conley Marine Services, Harvey, La., was named to the executive board of the Greater New Orleans Port Safety Council as membership chairperson.

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November 2019 // Marine Log 41

TECH NEWS

Alfa-Laval Boiler

Expertise Eases the Path to LNG-Fueled Propulsion Alfa Laval’s technologies— especially in the area of boilers—are enabling vessels to deal with boil-off gas (BOG), a critical step in making the shift to LNG-fueled propulsion.

To use LNG as fuel, vessels must be able to manage B O G, the evaporated gas that can increase tank pressure. Alfa Laval’s Gas Combustion Unit (GCU) safely burns BOG in compliance with the International code for Gas as Cargo.

Wh e n i t c o m e s t o using LNG for propulsion under the International code for Gas as Fuel, Alfa Laval is also managing BOG with dual-fuel Alfa Laval Aalborg boilers— tipping the balance in LNG’s favor for a far larger number of vessels.

When an LNG fuel tank is incorporated into a vessel, the pressure created by BOG must be kept at a level that avoids ventilation to atmosphere via the safety valve. Re-liquefaction of the gas is possible, but doing this on board adds considerable complexity and

cost for most vessels. Likewise, burning the gas in auxiliary engines or gensets requires pressurization, which demands a redundant expensive compression train.

“On some vessels, you can use a Type C tank to allow pressure to accumulate,” says Markus Tauriainen, manager-exhaust and combustion system sales at Alfa Laval.

“But what most vessels need is a safe solution for burning off the gas at low pressure. That can be a GCU on LNG carriers, but the best and most economical solut ion for vesse ls using LNG as fuel is usually a dual-fuel boiler.”

A b o i l e r, e i t h e r f o r producing steam or for heating thermal oil or water, is equipment that v e s s e l s n e e d a ny w a y.

Since an Aalborg dualfuel boiler can be fired w ith LNG, it can take on the additional safety function of BOG management.

“Boilers are a compact, simple and highly affordable way to handle BOG,” Tauriainen says. “As strange as it may sound, our Aalborg dual-fuel boilers have been the enabler for LNG propulsion in many, many projects.”

Boilers are a compact, simple and highly affordable way to handle BOG.

42 Marine Log // November 2019

Ferry’s “Underwater Wings” Convert Wave Energy into Propulsive Thrust A Faroe Isl ands ferry, M /F Teistin, is the first ship in the world to be fitted with retractable bow foils from Trondheim, Norway-based Wavefoil AS. It has been known for over 150 years that vessels with wings— or foils—in the bow can be partly or solely propelled by wave energy. The foils generate lift when the vessel is moving up and down in waves, and the lift typically has a forward thrust component larger than the drag.

They also have a stabilizing effect, improving onboard comfor t. What dif ferentiates the patent-pending Wavefoil solution is that the foils can be retracted into the ship’s hull. This, it says, is crucial for such foils to be a commercial success, promising a 5 to 15% fuel savings.

Wavefoil says that the bow foils mean that Teistin has been par tly powered by the waves of the North Atlantic Ocean, transporting thousands of passengers between Gamlarætt, Skopun and Hestur in the Faroe Islands since September 25.

The area is exposed to heavy seas, and the installation was considered a success after its initial three weeks of trouble-free operation.

Wavefoil developed and pro duced the company’s first full-scale foil module with funding from NTNU Discovery, the Research Council of Nor way, Innovation Nor way and Climate-KIC, as well as private capital.

“With the installation on Teistin. we first and foremost intend to demonstrate that the retraction mechanism is dependable, and that the system is easy to use for the crew,” says Audun Yrke, technical manager for Wavefoil.

Photo Credit: Alfa Laval (top); Wavefoil (bottom)

Alfa Laval Aalborg OL dual-fuel boiler in Alfa Laval Test and Training Center

Gulf Coast Suppliers

Karl Senner Diversifies Focus Kenner, La.-headquartered Karl Senner LLC is a longtime Gulf Coast marine propulsion sytem supplier. Like other suppliers in the region (see pages 31 and 32), Senner has had to broaden its market focus in light of the downturn in the OSV market. Among the product lines it supplies and services are Reintjes power train solutions, Steerprop azimuth propulsors (pictured) and electronic power design (EPD) diesel-electric and marine hybrid power systems.

The OSV market has historically been a significant market segment for Karl Senner, says the company, but adds that “fortunately we have a diversified focus on other maritime markets as well. When the OSV market declined, other marine markets picked up. This is not a the first time our company has endured market volatility like this. We run a conservative business, focused on a diverse customer base. This strategy helps mitigate risks of the negative effects of a particular market segment downturn.”

Between Reintjes and Steerprop, Karl Senner has a unique range of products extending through a wide range of horsepower (400 to 30,000 hp.) that allow the company to focus on an array of vessel types and applications from heavy duty workboats to high-speed vessels. “We try to provide consistent focus on all of our applicable markets,” it says.

Since the drop in the OSV market, tugboats, inland transportation, ATBs, ferries, government vessels and fishing vessels have kept Karl Senner’s order intake strong.

“Our primary customers,” it says, “are those who appreciate the long-term partnership we offer through our perpetual commitment to superior service, and unmatched parts availability.

Looking to the future, Senner says that, “without mentioning any specific projects, we have seen a growing interest from multiple market segments in diesel-electric and hybrid technology. While this is not new technology in marine, it is certainly new to certain marine markets. Karl Senner has supplied propulsion equipment on over 155 diesel-electric vessels. Diesel-electric technology in particular is an existing technology that can be applied to new applications.”

With its many years in business, Karl Senner has an ever-growing and aging installed base.

“Since our founding,” says Senner, “we have always invested heavily in parts and service for our customers and partners. We pride ourselves as a service-oriented company, continually servicing customers from all markets and bringing added value with our tremendous team of service technicians and unmatched parts availability. The KS Parts and Service departments remain diligent in focusing on maximizing uptime and minimize unnecessary OPEX expenditures through collaborated efforts with our customer base directly. We aim to always exceed customer expectations for expected and unexpected service needs.”

Despite the downturn in the OSV market, Karl Senner continues to grow by focusing on all vessel types, big and small. The company says it has no control over what happens to different market segments, so it always hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

“We remain prepared to support the needs of all of our customers and market segments, while keeping a forward-thinking mentality to adapt to changing market conditions or technologies,” says Senner, adding that “growing interests in new technologies, and emerging markets are showing promising outlooks for the future.”

November 2019 // Marine Log 43

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Tugs, Towboats & Barges

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November 2019 // Marine Log 47

SAFETY FIRST

A

few months ago, I and my co-author Capt. Emil Muccin published a two-part series discussing the dangers of bridge fatigue [Marine Log, February and March 2019]. Recently, the Shipowners P&I Club published a report echoing many of the same sentiments that we highlighted. Among them, the frequency of alarms and the inability to differentiate between them was among the dangers underscored by Shipowners Club.

Of the noted concerns, the frequency of alarms and the inability to differentiate between them was indicated. It’s important to reiterate the importance of the IMO Code on Alerts and Indicators, which sets out recommendations to assist in tackling this problem. Unfortunately, this code has not received much attention by owners or equipment manufacturers. And alarm fatigue is not the only concern on the bridge.

According to the Coast Guard Incident Investigation reporting page, the 5,600 hp.

UTV Lexington operated by Tennessee Valley Towing was transiting from Cairo, Ill., to Paducah, Ky., with 15 empty coal barges when the pilot of the vessel fell asleep and pushed the three leading barges into the bank. The master of the vessel discovered that they were pushed in when he came up to relieve the pilot. He administered an alcohol test to the pilot, who was then removed from the vessel and replaced. The Coast Guard investigation determined the igniting event was the grounding of the barges at Mile 968.4 on the Ohio River. It is unknown why the pilot fell asleep.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s 2019-2020 Most Wanted List, 48 Marine Log // November 2019

fatigue related accidents are at the top of the list. The good news is that we can work on solving the fatigue factor in this industry.

Medical conditions, poor health, and poor sleeping patterns can cause fatigue.

Although the drum has been beaten and the horns sounded on this topic, it is evident that the industry will not consider increasing crew size to relieve its current staff when tired. The industry answer has been to further automate. Integration of bridge technology, which was supposed

The good news is that we can work on solving the fatigue factor in this industry.

to reduce accidents, has the potential to make accidents even worse. During my days investigating accidents, I came across a report about an offshore supply vessel running headlong into a stationary platform.

Worse yet, the bridge team watch members did not discover that they were in danger until it was too late.

The bridge team was not able to deactivate the autopilot, because they were not aware of how the controls worked on the bridge wings.

Even though they believed that they had deactivated it on the main bridge, control had

already been transferred to the bridge wing where deactivation should have taken place.

This lack of understanding of the technology cost the company millions of dollars, and fatigue was a factor in this incident.

When investigating incidents where the concern of fatigue is a factor, the first thing that an investigator looks at is the hours of work and rest in a vessel’s logbook. Although this logbook is usually kept up to date, it is impossible to track how much time the crew actually sleeps when off watch. What the logbook will tell you is the amount of hours crew had on versus what they have off. In some instances, logbooks have even been falsified.

So how can fatigue factors be reduced? A quick perusal through the IMO guidelines on Fatigue Mitigation and Management can shed some light. Fatigue impairs health, reaction time and judgement. These are well known symptoms and the causes are many.

Medical conditions, poor physical condition, jet lag, excessive workload, boring/repetitive work, ship movement and noise/vibration are among some of the causes of fatigue. A properly balanced diet, good exercise regimen, eating at appropriate hours to time sugar and caffeine intake away from rest hours, adjusting the stateroom to make it dark and a comfortable all help. The guidelines suggest crew have a pre-sleep routine such as yoga or meditation.

Bridge fatigue can be managed by making alarms easier to differentiate. Having sufficient red lighting on the bridge for the tasks to be conducted so as to reduce the need for white lights, reducing lights in general at night to keep eyes adjusted to the outside darkness, having fatigue mating on the bridge to take the stress of off watchstanders’ feet for hours on end are just a few examples of how we can improve bridge fatigue.

The fact of the matter is that it’s a 24/7 job whether you are brown water or blue water. If we can’t reduce the workload by adding more crew to assist, we must assist the crew in dealing with the schedule that they have onboard.

We may never see a zero fatigue-related accident year, but we can certainly strive toward it.

Matthew Bonvento A licensed deck officer and Assistant Professor of Nautical Science

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ PrinceOfLove

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