Ports of Stockholm is investing in the environment by building onshore power connection facilities for cruise ships at two city centre quays. This environmental initiative will result in significantly lower air pollution emissions in Stockholm and the Baltic Sea.

The groundbreaking ceremony to begin building onshore power connections for cruise ships took place during the World Water Week 2022. Building the facilities at Stadsgården quay berths 167 and 160 makes Ports of Stockholm the first port in Sweden to offer cruise ships onshore power connection.

“We are now taking a huge next step towards being an international class sustainable cruise destination. Onshore power connection for cruise ships in the city centre is an important joint environmental initiative that Ports of Stockholm is part of, together with other Baltic Sea ports,” explains Joakim Larsson, City Commissioner responsible for Ports of Stockholm.

The environmental initiative is a collaboration with other Baltic Sea ports. It will result in significantly lower emissions of carbon dioxide and air pollutant particles from the cruise ships in Stockholm and the Baltic Sea area. Ports of Stockholm is working with the ports in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Helsinki to enable cruise ships and shipping companies to connect to onshore power of a common international standard in all of the different ports. This will encourage more shipping companies to make the major investments in equipment that the ships need to connect to onshore power.

“It feels really good that we will also be able to connect cruise ships to onshore power next season. This will be the first facility of its kind in Sweden, and one of only a few in Europe. The cruise passengers are very important to Stockholm financially, and generate over 1,000 jobs in the region,” says Thomas Andersson, CEO Ports of Stockholm.

The work to equip the two city centre quays with onshore power connections will be completed, respectively, in 2023 and 2024. These cruise quay-berths are two of Ports of Stockholm’s most visited. It is estimated that at least 45 percent of the cruise ship calls will be able to connect to onshore power when the facilities are in place.

The total reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will be at least 6,000 tonnes each year as a result of connecting to onshore power. This environmental investment for cruise ships in Stockholm is a top priority and has been awarded grant funding from both the EU and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leap program.

Facts international cruises Stockholm
In 2019 just over 656,000 cruise passengers and an additional 240,000 crew members visited Stockholm. Collectively they spent more than EUR 57 million on hotel rooms, food, sightseeing excursions, shopping etc. In addition, the cruise shipping companies spent a total of EUR 25 million on harbour dues, pilotage dues and fairway dues in Stockholm. The cruise industry therefore contributes hugely to the Stockholm region, generating a total economic effect of almost EUR 176 million and creating around 1,100 jobs. Stockholm is a popular cruise destination and the majority of cruise passengers state that they are very satisfied with their visit.

Source: https://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/port-of-stockholm-to-build-swedens-first-cruise-ship-onshore-power-connection-facilities/

Jeffersonville, Ind.-headquartered marine transportation company American Commercial Barge Line (ACBL) is expected to operate Hydrogen One, a first-of-its-kind towboat that will run on emissions-reducing methanol-to-hydrogen generator technology—without diesel propulsion.

The groundbreaking vessel is being developed by Louisiana-based Maritime Partners, the U.S.’ largest lessor of marine equipment, and will be built by Intracoastal Iron Works in Bourg, La. for launch in 2023 as the maritime industry continues to plot its course toward cleaner vessel operations.

“Our industry must be diligent and innovative to keep our standing as the most efficient mode of cargo transportation for our customer base,” ACBL’s CEO, Mike Ellis told Marine News. “We are excited to be a key player in developing a more sustainable reduced carbon footprint supply chain for our customers and all of our stakeholders through our partnership with Maritime Partners on this project.”

Hydrogen One’s propulsion system, which relies on e1 Marine’s reformer technology to essentially convert bunkered methanol into pure hydrogen on demand, will emit no nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur oxide (SOx) or particulate matter (PM) pollution. The hydrogen will run through fuel cells, creating electricity for the vessel’s motors, which drive dual L-drive azimuth thrusters

While pure hydrogen can be difficult to carry in quantity and get distance, methanol—which is readily available and routinely carried on U.S. inland waterways—is very similar to fueling conventional diesel, said Mike Complita, principal in charge and VP of strategic expansion at Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG), the Seattle-based firm that designed the vessel.

“Methanol, in my opinion, is probably the safest alternative fuel to transfer to the vessel beyond diesel and biodiesel,” Complita said. “You bunker it from a truck or a terminal through a hose. It does not take any special permitting, unlike hydrogen and ammonia and some other alternative fuels.”

RIX Industries has been tapped to manufacture Hyrdogen One’s M18 reformers and PowerCell Sweden AB will supply the PowerCellution Marine System 200 fuel cells. The vessel will also be equipped with batteries that provide additional power when needed, both while underway and for hotel power.

Equipped with ABB’s electrical power distribution and automation technology, Hydrogen One will be able to perform at standard operational speeds for up to 550 miles before it needs to refuel. It will meet the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) 2030 goals, which target 40% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to 2008. The vessel will also meet all requirements of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Subchapter M regulations.

Once Hydrogen One is completed, ACBL will likely use the towboat to move petroleum products in and around Louisiana and Texas. Increasingly, barging customers are seeking ways to remove emissions from their supply chains.

“This project aligns with our strategy and ESG goals and initiatives,” Ellis said. “We have to find more sustainable solutions to meet our customer demands.”

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/acbl-operate-maritime-partners-innovative-499081

The ship’s remains are considered the Dolphins, a beach near Argentina’s Puerto Madryn. Tree ring data taken from the Timbers of a 19th-century vessel discovered in Argentina highlight that the ship was a Whaler based in Rhode Island. It was last seen to be sailing more than 150 years back. The remains — exposed on a beach close to Puerto Madryn, a city almost 700 miles the south of Buenos Aires — seem like that of the Dolphin per research published in Dendrochronology.

Ignacio Mundo, the research’s lead author and a leading dendrochronologist associated with IANIGLA-CONICET, an Argentinian lab, mentioned that he could not confirm with 100% certainty. Still, analysis of the tree rings seems to indicate that this may be the vessel.

The vessel was first found in 2004 on the shores of Puerto Madryn, and several years later, the remains — the remnants of the vessel’s ribs and some of the hull — were first excavated. Speculations that the vessel was the Dolphin have been making rounds for a decade, but the recent research group considers that the tree ring data confirms it.

Tree rings benefit dating events, be it volcanic eruptions Thu colonialism in North America. They are used for encoding climatologically, like with droughts, and of course, tell time, as a tree starts growing one ring for each year it has lived.

Some wood samples were collected (a nicer way of mentioning that they were removed using a chainsaw) from the wreck. Then, they were cross-referenced with the North American Drought Atlas. The atlas has tree ring samples from almost 30,000 trees dating back more than 2,000 years.

The comparison confirmed that the wreck’s ribs were made with white oak, and the hull and the wooden nails were made with black locust and yellow pine, respectively. All three types of trees grow in the eastern part of the US. The dating of wood showed that some of these trees first began growing in 1679, and the latest oaks were cut in 1849, just a year before the construction of Dolphin started.

The details appear to line up. However, there’s no smoking gun for the wreck’s identity. It was a not-so-common story for the Discovery this year of the wrecked vessel carrying the Shackleton expedition. In that case, “Endurance” is emblazoned on the stern, over a century after the ship had sunk to the Weddell Sea’s bottom.

Reference: Gizmodo, Tridentofcnc

More than 14 months after the X-Press Pearl was lost nearly 10 nautical miles off Colombo, Sri Lanka the clean-up continues with additional insurance compensation being paid out to the country to be used to compensate fishermen that lost their work due to the wreck. At the same, the government is continuing its legal claims while reporting it expects it will be years before all the cleanup is completed.

The containership X-Press Pearl caught fire while anchored off Colombo in May 2021. The fire burned for nearly two weeks and when salvage teams attempted to tow the vessel out to deep water it sunk, contributing to the largest environmental disaster in Sri Lanka’s history. Millions of pounds of nurdles, a small plastic pellet used in the production of plastic, were dumped into the ocean and washed up on the country’s beaches.

Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda of Sri Lanka reported that it has received the third and largest interim payment from the insurance company. The payment recently sent to the ministry totaled approximately $2.5 million. They had previously received two interim payments, each valued at just under $1 million. To date, the insurance company has provided a total of nearly $3.6 million in interim payments. The ministry reports they are being dispersed to more than 15,000 fishermen that are unable able to fish in four western regions of the country.

Speaking about the clean-up, the ministry said it has spent more than $260,000 on the beach clean-up to date and expects it will continue for years. The Marine Environment Protection Agency reports that it continues to consult with other agencies and receive legal advice on the process. So far, they have removed more than 1,600 metric tons of nurdles and chemicals released from the ship, all of which is being stored while they continue to receive legal advice on the country’s damage claims.

The plastic pollution and other chemicals continue to spread with the ministry saying the clean-up remains very complex. Part of the challenge stems from the range of pollutants involved, which includes oil, hazardous chemicals, and plastics, as well as the lack of clarity regarding the nature and status of a substantial part of the vessel’s cargo. Clearance of the wreck will only be the first step in the clean-up.

Work to remove sections of the X-Press Pearl is due to resume later this year after the current monsoon season. Starting late last year, loose debris was being removed while a survey was completed of the seafloor and the first stage of the wreck removal began. The salvage team reported the vessel has cracked midships, which resulted in a change to the salvage plan. They were attaching lifting wires under the hull earlier this year and working to remove the accommodation block.

The next phase of the salvage project will focus on splitting the wreck entirely into two sections and preparing for the lifting of each section. The goal is to lift the wreck with a lifting barge for removal in early 2023. The sections, cargo remaining aboard, and any other cargo and debris will be recovered from the bottom with a goal of completing the project by September 2023. The owners of the ship, X-Press Feeders, contracted with Shanghai Salvage Company for the removal of the wreck, and all the debris will be properly treated and recycled.
Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/sri-lanka-receives-2-5m-in-interim-compensation-for-x-press-pearl

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. Navy warships sailed through international waters in the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, the first such operation since a visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi enraged China which regards the island as its territory.

The U.S. Navy, confirming a Reuters report, said cruisers Chancellorsville and Antietam were carrying out the ongoing operation. Such operations usually take eight to 12 hours to complete and are closely monitored by China’s military.

In recent years U.S. warships, and on occasion those from allied nations such as Britain and Canada, have routinely sailed through the strait, drawing the ire of China which claims Taiwan against the objections of its democratically elected government.

Pelosi’s Taiwan trip in early August infuriated China which saw it as a U.S. attempt to interfere in its internal affairs. China subsequently launched military drills near the island which have since continued.

“These (U.S.) ships transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” the U.S. Navy said.

The operation demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and the U.S. military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows, the navy said.

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said it was following the ships and warning them.

“Troops in the theater remain on high alert and are ready to thwart any provocation at any time,” it added in a statement.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said the ships were sailing in a southerly direction and that its forces were observing but that “the situation was as normal.”

The narrow Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists, who established the People’s Republic of China.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was followed around a week later by a group of five other U.S. lawmakers, with China’s military responding by carrying out more exercises near the island.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, a U.S. lawmaker on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services committees, arrived in Taiwan on Thursday on the third visit by a U.S. dignitary this month, defying pressure from China to halt the trips.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to keep tension between Washington and Beijing from boiling over into conflict, reiterating that congressional trips are routine.

The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

China has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.

Taiwan says the People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island and so has no claim to it, and that only Taiwan’s 23 million people can decide their future.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei and Kevin Yao in Beijing; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

Source:https://gcaptain.com/u-s-warships-transit-taiwan-strait-first-since-pelosi-visit/