Maritime Safety News Archives - Page 146 of 259

20 years ago this Saturday, hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center in Manhattan and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. killing nearly 3,000 people. A fourth plane would have hit yet another target if the brave passengers on board had not forced it down on a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks shook America, and they set the stage for two decades of war in the Middle East.

At 0846 and 0903 hours on that fateful day, two Boeing 767 jetliners struck the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan. Following evacuation orders, survivors streamed down the buildings’ stairwells and out into the streets. At 0959, the South Tower collapsed, and the North Tower followed at 1028.

As first responders rushed to the scene, Mayor Rudy Giuliani ordered an evacuation of Lower Manhattan, and thousands attempted to flee to safety. Many headed out on foot to Brooklyn or Midtown, but hundreds of thousands were trapped down by the waterfront, cut off by a giant cloud of toxic smoke and dust.

Dan Croce, a former Coast Guard officer, was working in Lower Manhattan that morning. When the second plane hit, he realized that a huge number of people would need to be evacuated by water. He made a call to USCG Activities New York and told the chief warrant officer who answered the phone that they would need a boatlift. That is exactly what happened: Under the leadership of Lt. Mike Day, local Coast Guard units marshalled a force of volunteer mariners to pick up survivors and carry them across the harbor to safety.

“I looked out the window and saw the Pilot Boat New York heading towards Upper Bay and the Battery, leading a fleet of tugs and other small boats in what appeared to be a ‘V’ formation. I thought with tears in my eyes that they got my message and help was on the way!” Croce recalled in a recent interview.

That boatlift picked up countless survivors from the water’s edge near Wall Street and delivered them to safety in New Jersey. The flotilla quickly grew to include five cutters, 12 Coast Guard patrol boats and over 100 civilian vessels. Altogether, some 800 mariners rescued about 500,000 people from the waterfront. It was the largest waterborne evacuation of all time – even larger than the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II – and for days afterwards, many of these mariners kept going, bringing supplies and fuel to the responders at ground zero.

To honor their heroism and to remember the fallen, a group of American maritime organizations held a vessel procession past Lower Manhattan on Friday. The event was organized by the American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the Navy League, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, the Sandy Hook Pilots and many others. With Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in attendance, dozens of tugs, ferries and other vessels joined the procession – including vessels that were present on the day of the attacks.

“Within minutes of the call for help, American maritime vessels of all shapes and sizes responded selflessly and ensured that the events on that fateful day were not even worse. The American Maritime Partnership remembers and mourns all Americans lost that day, and expresses its deepest gratitude to the men and women of American Maritime for their selfless response and service,” said AMP in a statement.

Legacy of change

The legacy of 9/11 and the Lower Manhattan boatlift can be seen in dozens of large-scale changes enacted over the past two decades, like the creation of the Department of Homeland Security; the swift enactment of the IMO International Ship and Port Facility Security Code; the launch of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSSTs); and even the design of vessels that serve the New York harbor. The new ferries and fireboats that the city has purchased over the last decade are built to handle mass evacuations and shoreside firefighting, according to Eastern Shipbuilding Group, the yard behind the city’s new Ollis-class ferries.

On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. we remember and honor the victims – the 2,977 people who died, the 6,000 who were injured, and the thousands of first responders and civilians who suffered health effects from Ground Zero dust – but we also celebrate the heroism of mariners at their best. Knowing the risks, the men and women of New York’s working waterfront answered the call, and they saved countless lives.

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https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/9-11-remembering-the-heroes-of-the-lower-manhattan-boatlift

Israeli container shipping company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd announced on Wednesday that it has exercised its option to long-term charter five additional 7,000 TEU liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel newbuilds from containership lessor Seaspan Corporation.

Under the initial deal announced in July, ZIM has already entered into long-term charter agreements for ten 7,000 TEU LNG vessels scheduled to be delivered from the fourth quarter of 2023 into 2024. The option announced today, which ZIM revealed to be worth more than $750 million, brings the total number of vessels chartered under this transaction to 15.

“With this option exercise, we are securing ZIM’s core fleet needed to serve our operations and meet our customers’ growing needs, while continuing to maintain our operational agility, said Eli Glickman, ZIM president and CEO. “This transaction demonstrates our deep commitment to the environment and to reducing our carbon footprint. We continue to invest the resources necessary to be an industry leader and to prepare ourselves for the cleaner future of our industry.”

Seaspan said it will strike a deal with a “major shipyard” to construct the five additional containerships for an aggregate purchase price near $530 million. Due for delivery during the fourth quarter of 2024, the five vessels will operate on 12-year minimum charters totaling approximately $900 million of gross contracted cash flow, Seaspan said.

Bing Chen, chairman, president and CEO of Seaspan, said, “We continue to create value for our customers through differentiated services, operational excellence and the ability to implement solutions tailored to our customers’ changing requirements. The exercise of this option, with valuable vessel deliveries at competitive pricing, highlights the continued quality growth for both companies. The advanced design of these vessels demonstrates Seaspan and ZIM’s leadership in ESG initiatives and a more sustainable industry. With strong customer interest in this vessel size, we consider this category to be the natural successor to the aging global fleet of conventional vessels between 4,000 and 9,000 TEU.”

Seaspan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Corp., has grown its fleet dramatically over recent months amid continued high demand and vessel shortages in the container shipping sector. Since December 2020, the company has announced 60 newbuild orders for vessels ranging from 7,000 TEU to 24,000 TEU in addition to four secondhand vessel acquisitions.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/zim-opts-five-lngfueled-containerships-490300

Metals miner Nornickel said it will participate in the design and building of Russia’s first dual-fuel liquefied natural gas (LNG) and diesel icebreaker to prepare for more capacity in the environmentally sensitive Arctic region.

Russia, which has a fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, has long considered LNG-powered icebreaking ships to develop the Northeast Sea Route into an international shipping lane from Arctic waters.

Nornickel, the world’s largest palladium and nickel producer, said on Friday it will team up with Rosatom, the state operator of the route, and the shipbuilding arm of Russian oil giant Rosneft for the project.

They plan to design and build the new icebreaker to escort ships carrying Nornickel’s cargo to and from its Arctic assets. Icebreakers are currently needed to clear a channel from November to June to allow ships to pass.

Russian state nuclear energy firm Rosatom said in July that it was again looking into the possibility of building LNG-powered icebreakers but was yet to disclose any partners.

Rosatom’s previous plan, signed as an agreement of understanding in 2018, included gas producer Novatek, which has several LNG projects in the Arctic.

Russia Won’t Restrict Other Countries Using Northern Sea Route

“The turnover of the Arctic ports of Dudinka and Murmansk is growing,” Nornickel said in a statement.

The LNG icebreaker will replace its older vessel, which is due to be decommissioned in 2027–2029. The company will be investing heavily in higher production and improved environmental performance in 2022-2025.

Nornickel, which is producing gas for its own needs, is also making a bet on LNG-powered technology as it sees the fuel as less harmful to the environment than diesel, which has a higher CO2 footprint and is difficult to store.

Nornickel paid $2 billion for environmental damage caused by the leakage of 21,000 tonnes of diesel into rivers and subsoil from a storage tank at its power plant in 2020.

The spill was Russia’s worst environmental disaster in the Arctic this century.

There is no estimate of the cost of the icebreaker project as of yet, Nornickel said, adding that a draft contract for construction would be ready by mid-2022.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/russia-gearing-first-lngfueled-icebreaker-490364

The world’s largest containership, Ever Ace, made its first transit through the Suez Canal on Saturday, during a voyage from China to the Netherlands.

The hulking vessel is 400 meters long and 61.5 meters wide with a 15-meter draft, and it can carry on board up to 23,992 TEUs, overtaking HMM Algazeras as the world’s largest box ship in terms of overall capacity.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it took “all necessary measures and procedures” to ensure safe passage for the record-setting vessel, providing a group of senior pilots and accompanying tugs for assistance, in addition to the real-time follow-up from the main traffic office and guidance stations along the canal.

The Suez Canal, which gained international attention when the 20,000 TEU containership Ever Given ran aground and blocked the vital trade artery for six days in March, has accelerated plans to widen and deepen stretches of the waterway amid the growing size and number of ultra large container vessels operating globally.

The head of the SCA, Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie, said the canal is taking proactive steps and upgrading its navigational service as it aims to keep pace with these developments.

He said the world’s largest containership crossing the Suez Canal on its first cruise reflects the navigation community’s confidence in the canal’s ability to receive and accommodate current and future generations of mega ships.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/worlds-largest-containership-ever-ace-490305

A private dive team will try to locate the source of a suspected oil spill spotted in the Bay Marchand area of the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, after Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc in the region this week, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Saturday.

U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite images, first reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday, showed a miles-long brownish-black slick spreading in coastal waters about two miles off Port Fourchon, Louisiana, an oil and gas hub.

The images appeared to show the slick drifting more than a dozen miles (19 kilometers) eastward along the Gulf coast, the AP said.

Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast, hit Louisiana about a week ago before moving northeast and causing intense flooding that killed dozens in New York and other northeastern states.

A Coast Guard spokesman said Talos Energy had hired Clean Gulf Associates to respond to the suspected spill and contracted the private dive team to locate the source of the slick.

The AP quoted the energy company as saying it believes it is not responsible for the oil in the water.

Members of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit’s prevention department and the Gulf Strike Team were monitoring reports and NOAA satellite imagery to determine the scope of the discharge, the spokesman said.

Once the source had been identified, the Coast Guard and partnering agencies would work on a recovery and source control plan, he added.

He said Clean Gulf Associates has put skimmers and a containment boom in the area to mitigate any further environmental impact.

The Bay Marchand spill was one of several reported environmental hazards that authorities were responding to in Louisiana and the Gulf following Hurricane Ida.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it had dispatched a surveillance aircraft to an area in Louisiana hard hit by Ida that includes a refinery where an apparent oil spill was reported.

The aircraft dispatched from Texas was going to gather data on a Phillips 66 refinery and other priority sites.

Phillips 66 had said flooding had occurred at its Alliance Refinery and a sheen of unknown origin in some flooded areas of the refinery had been discovered.

U.S. Gulf Coast energy companies on Saturday got a boost from the reopening https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-offshore-oil-recovery-begins-with-ports-refineries-restarting-2021-09-04 of ports and restart of oil refineries shut by Ida, but damage to key facilities still crimped oil production.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru and Andrea Shalal and Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell and William Mallard)

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/divers-try-locate-oil-spill-source-us-490374

Leading shipping associations have proposed creating a global levy on carbon emissions from ships to help speed up the industry’s efforts to go greener.

With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions and the sector is under growing pressure to get cleaner.

For the first time, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and Intercargo jointly proposed a levy based on mandatory contributions by ships trading globally, exceeding 5,000 gross tonnage, for each tonne of CO2 emitted.

The money collected would go into a climate fund that would be used to deploy bunkering infrastructure in ports around the world to supply cleaner fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia, according to the proposal.

“What shipping needs is a truly global market-based measure like this that will reduce the price gap between zero-carbon fuels and conventional fuels,” ICS Secretary General Guy Platten said.

The proposal was submitted on Friday to the UN’s shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

An IMO spokesperson said all proposals were welcome and would be up for discussion later this year, adding that “proposals on market-based measures are in line with the initial IMO GHG (greenhouse gas) strategy”.

The IMO will hold an intersessional working group meeting scheduled for late October, ahead of a late-November session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, which will address issues including carbon-reduction efforts.

The European Commission in July proposed adding shipping to the bloc’s carbon market, targeting an industry that had for more than a decade avoided the EU’s system of pollution charges.

The ICS said “piecemeal” approaches such as the EU’s proposal would significantly complicate “the conduct of maritime trade”. (Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/shipping-industry-proposes-levy-490376