Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Triple-E Class Ship, Photo by John Konrad

Erly this month gCaptain was invited to DSME, the world’s second largest shipyard, for a behind-the-scenes tour of the world’s largest ship, the mighty Maersk Triple-E.

Maersk has the option to buy 20 of these impressive 400-meter (1,312′), 18,000 TEU vessels, but the first, the M/V Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, has already been launched with delivery scheduled for June 28th, 2013.

Until the naming ceremony vessel, Maersk will not comment on those big black letters painted on the bow and stern but we think it’s safe to say that the ship is named for Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, son of the Danish shipping magnate Arnold Peter Møller and his Kentucky-born wife Chastine Mc-Kinney. Mærsk Møller became a partner of father’s company in 1940, but soon fled to New York to escape the Nazi occupation of Denmark. That same year he married Emma Marie Neergaard Rasmussen, namesake for the the M/V Emma Maersk, the first of the company’s E-Class of container vessels.

Among Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller’s many accomplishments include his long tenure on IBM’s board of directors, a knighthood and a long and productive life. In fact, right up to his passing last year at the age of 98, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was often seen walking up the stairs to his office on the 6th floor of Maersk headquarters.

The name seems appropriate for this well built, larger than life, vessel.

Triple-E Class Shipyard Photos

Video Gallery – Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Timelapse Of Construction

Click here to view the embedded video.

Infographic

Maersk Infographic of Triple-E class vessel

Artist Rendition of M/V Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller

Artist rendition of Maersk Triple-E Class Vessel

The video opens in the slums of Eastleigh, a sprawling suburb of Nairobi in Kenya and home to ‘the fixer,’ a man who the UK’s Channel 4 claims has duped countless western journalists.

According to Channel 4 the “fixer” offers journalists the opportunity to interview real live pirates – for a fee of US $200. Touting his local knowledge, he promises to reach parts of the community a western journalist never could. He then follows an elaborate scheme to convince journalists that he is legitimate.

But it’s a scam, one that has fooled the readers of many top media organizations including Time magazine. Watch the video above for the full details.

Experts say these poolside lights, waterslides and giant movie screens aboard the Disney Fantasy distract parents. (Photo by Scott Smith)

The message comes nine days after a 4-year-old boy nearly drowned on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship and remains in a coma today facing possible long term brain damage. This is the second drowning incident the company faced in March (although the first was not aboard a ship), leaving parents questioning Disney’s policy of not having permanent lifeguards at their pools.

Witnesses say that the boy, with his family on a seven-day Western Caribbean cruise, was reported to be in distress at 3:30pm, about two hours before the ship’s scheduled departure. CPR and first aid were quickly administered by “emergency rescue workers” and rescue officials say the child had a pulse when he was transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital.The ship left port and continued on its Caribbean cruise 45 minutes after the near-drowning.

This is not the only high profile medical case for the vessel. On Saturday night, the ship headed back to Port Canaveral shortly after departure when two passengers with pre-existing conditions suffered medical emergencies on board. The ship later set sail again for a seven-day cruise.

Doctors say the 4-year-old boy remains in critical condition and may face extensive brain damage, but his parents remain optimistic. “We definitely feel your prayers and know that God is with us,” his parents wrote on CaringBridge, a site to share personal health news. “We have a battle to fight here!”

Yet the question remains whether or not this tragedy was preventable.

David Peikin, Director, Public Affairs Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) says that companies like Disney clearly inform passengers of the potential for danger. “Much like many hotels and resorts with swimming pools, cruise ships utilize conspicuous signage to make individuals aware that a full-time lifeguard is not on duty.” says Peikin.

But are signs effective at reminding distracted parents to keep a close watch on their children?

“Warning signs are not enough,” according to one cruise ship safety expert in an interview conducted by gCaptain. “Cruise ships are designed to distract and entertain passengers, but they also distract parents from monitoring children. Parents can’t be expected to be fully attentive to dangers facing their children in an environment filled with views of passing ships, food, alcohol, entertainment and, in the case of Disney, highly distracting movies played poolside.”

And parents need to be fully attentive when kids are in any pool. In gCaptain’s popular article, Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning, former US Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Mario Vittone tells us how easy it can be for even the most attentive parents to miss the signs of drowning. In the article, Vittone states “of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists drowning as the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 1 to 14 and the fifth leading cause of death for Americans of all ages. It is clear that the training of professional cruise ship medical teams has saved many lives including, hopefully, this child. But is a staff of medical professionals enough? Despite having professional medical staff available for emergency response, why are cruise ships not hiring professional lifeguards capable of recognizing the signs of a child drowning and preventing these tragedies?

A photo taken Jan. 20, 2013 of the USS Guardian. The vessel has since been removed from the reef.

US Navy marine biologist Lee Shannon led a team of scientists who conducted a new assessment last week on the extent of damage caused by the recent grounding of the USS Guardian.

Using aerial photography, transect tape measurement, and Global Positioning System coordinates, the team estimated damage to the reef to be approximately 2,346 square meters (25,252 square feet), which is significantly less than the previous estimate of nearly 4,100 square meters. As a result, the Philippine government has sent the Navy a bill that totals 58.4 million Philippine pesos, or nearly US $1.5 million in fines.

“Using aerial imaging, the grounding zone was originally outlined with the ship’s length as the basis for computing the total damaged area. This image was later observed to be obliquely angled, thus artificially expanding the area plotted on mapping software,” said one official in a message posted to a Philippine government website.

The fines are considered light by some and are only a small percentage of the total cost of the salvage operation which cost American tax-payers $45 million, according to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

Tubbahata Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is considered to be the global center of marine biodiversity.  Research has shown that the reef contains no less than 600 fish species, 360 coral species, 11 shark species, 13 dolphin and whale species, and 100 birdspecies. The reefs also serve as a nesting ground for Hawksbill and Green sea turtles.

For an update on the salvage process visit gCaptain’s USS Guardian grounding page.

An early generation Wave Glider at sea collecting data for NOAA.

San Francisco – Liquid Robotics has released its latest unmanned, autonomous marine robot. Dubbed the Wave Glider SV3, it is the world’s first hybrid wave and solar propelled unmanned ocean robot.

The Wave Glider SV3 leverages the basic design principle of the highly successful Wave Glider SV2 platform. Introduced in 2009, the Wave Glider SV2 has since traveled more than 300,000 nautical miles globally, set a world record for longest distance traveled by an autonomous vehicle (land or sea), and has been deployed on hundreds of missions ranging from the Arctic to Australia, and from the Canary Islands to Loch Ness. And one SV2 made history in December when it successfully floated more than 9,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean.

With a price tag of $300,000, the updated SV3 can take photos and collect data on air temperature, winds, humidity, wind gusts, water temperature, water color, and water composition. ”Riding the advancements in consumer electronics, smartphone, tablet computing, and a new generation of extremely capable processors, we are now able to provide processing onboard” according to Roger Hine, inventor of the Wave Glider. ”With that computational power and the ability to tirelessly swim across vast oceans, the Wave Glider SV3 is a big step forward in unmanned monitoring and exploration.”

Most promising is, as Brian Lam has reported,  the Wave Glider’s simple design. A surfboard-sized float bobs on waves, big or small. That motion is transferred through a streamlined, 7-meter, rubber-and-steel cable to a submarine that cruises in the deeper, calmer waters. “Even in the rough open ocean, seven meters down there’s virtually no up and down wave motion,” Brager says. This translates to greater durability and longevity for the platform.

Wave Gliders are currently collecting data mostly for scientific research projects but they may be deployed in the future to monitor vessel movements via AIS or even help ships avoid pirate attacks.

Bertha cutter aboard the Jumbo Fairweather. Credit: WSDOT Flickr

Over the weekend the Seattle waterfront was lined with spectators welcoming a heavy lift ship offloading a hulking giant: Bertha, the five-story-tall, 6,700 ton, world record winning tunneling machine that will dig a $2 billion 4-lane automotive tunnel beneath downtown Seattle.

Jumbo Shipping’s heavylift vessel M/V Fairpartner carried the $80 million machine on a two week passage from Japan. “We’re entering a very exciting phase of the project,” said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. “This brings us one step closer to replacing the seismically vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct.”

Built in Osaka by Japanese firm Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Bertha is owned by Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP), the Washington State Department of Transportation’s contractor for the tunnel project. She was taken apart into 41 pieces, the largest weighing about 900 tons, before being loaded on the Fairpartner.

“Can’t see land yet, but even from here it smells delicious,” @BerthaDigsSR99 tweeted as she neared the Strait of Juan de Fuca last week. “Trying to convince the captain to stop for a quick bite, but he’s all business.”

Offloading crews must work around regular port activities, so there could be periods of inactivity or times when the Fairpartner has to leave her spot at the terminal to make room for an incoming cargo ship. Bertha is expected to start drilling operations this summer and will be completed late next year. The tunnel is expected to open to traffic in early 2016.

Click HERE to read the original gCaptain article with more photos and infographics.

Time Lapse Video Of The Load Out

Click here to view the embedded video.

US Navy photo of a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock.

Yesterday the US Navy commissioned its newest landing transport dock ship, USS Arlington (LPD 24). Arlington honors the 184 victims who died when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the first responders from Arlington County, VA.

Arlington is the eighth ship of the San Antoni0-class of landing platform docks (LPD) and will serve as an effective sea-based platform for Marines, projecting power ashore through the mobility triad of high speed landing craft air cushioned vehicles, expeditionary fighting vehicles and the Osprey MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft.

In a statement at the commissioning, the vessel’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Darren W. Nelson, said “Ever present, are the 184 victims and their families, who perished on Sept. 11, 2001. Wherever we go and whatever we do, we will honor them and the first responders as we carry these special folks with us, in heart and in mind as is our credo, with ‘Strength, Honor and Fortitude’.”

Arlington will be an important element of future expeditionary strike and amphibious ready groups, supporting improved warfighting capabilities, including an advanced command-and-control suite, increased lift-capability in vehicle and cargo-carrying capacity and advanced ship-survivability features.

Arlington’s sister ships have already served as flagships for anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and have provided humanitarian assistance and foreign disaster relief operations.

Five ships from the San Antonio class have already been commissioned, including USS San Antonio (LPD 17), USS New Orleans (LPD 18), USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19), USS Green Bay (LPD 20), USS New York (LPD 21) and USS San Diego (LPD 22).

Video of the ship being prepared for commissioning:

Erik Finnstrom, senior vice president, Exploration, Statoil North America

BP refrained today from bidding on any new oil-drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) following the US government’s recent decision to prevent the oil giant from accepting new government contracts.

Citing a “lack of business integrity” as witnessed during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued the contract suspension against BP   in November until the company can “provide sufficient evidence to EPA demonstrating that it meets Federal business standards.”

BP’s failure to bid may have resulted in lower leasing costs for BP’s competitors, not to mention shows the company’s lack of confidence that it can meet the EPA’s criteria within the 90 days that it takes for the Department of the Interior to review and accept bids on new leases.

In a press announcement Statoil claims to have won 15 new leases in Wednesday’s government lease sale. With this addition, Statoil will control the right to drill or produce over 340 leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

Statoil also made the highest bid, at $81.8 million, in a joint bid with Samson Offshore LLC.

“We are pleased with today’s outcome,” says Erik Finnstrom, Statoil senior vice president of Exploration for Statoil in North America. “This addition of leases allows us to further build upon our broad-based strategy for exploration in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and further upgrades our core position in this prolific and proven basin.”

Statoil is partner in three GoM producing fields and seven fields under development. The company plans to drill two to three wells within the next 12 months in the GoM as operator, while also participating in an additional one to two wells drilled by its partners.

“The lease additions underscore our commitment to increased investment in North America, which we see as a core region for long-term growth. ” Finnstrom says.

52 companies in total bid Wednesday on 320 GoM oil and gas tracs in water depths ranging from 9 to more than 11,115 feet and the sale raised a total of $1.2 billion.

“The protection of the environment is of great importance, but we must balance the measures we take with the economic impact of these measures. At present shipping finance has virtually dried up. This is not just for new ships but also for the investments needed to continue operating existing ships in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner,” he pointed out.

Speaking during a key debate on The Regulatory Environment, Mr Morooka questioned: “If a shipping company is already sinking in debt, how is it going to pay for the retrofitting of expensive new ballast water treatment systems that will be required in the next few years, at an estimated cost of between one and five million dollars per ship?”

He pointed out that investing in environmental measures such as exhaust gas cleaning systems and ‘green’ technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, as well as installing ballast water treatment systems and the use of distillate fuels, could cost the shipping industry “hundreds of billions”. “How will ship operators manage all these additional costs rising so high that they have a dramatic impact on world trade or force cargo back onto roads or to other, less carbon-efficient modes of transport?”

“We are committed to protecting the environment but I do not believe that shipowners should shy away from asking these challenging questions,” Mr Masamichi said.

“While our regulators have a responsibility to balance the interests of shipowners with the need to protect the environment and the interests of wider society, they also need to be pragmatic and to have an understanding of the impact that their actions are having on the industry’s own long-term sustainability. Otherwise there is a danger of creating an industry in which investors will not want to invest,” he warned.

U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Cassandra Thompson

Private security firms are proving that armed security teams are an effective means of protecting individual ships but is it the only option?

In 2012 the number of successful pirate seizures fell from a 2009 figure of 38 to 21 according to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) command in Bahrain, but another statistic published by the group highlights a more troubling trend.

In an official press release, CMF states:

“The number of attacks, including attempts to seize a vessel, within the HRA has increased from 145 in 2009 to 183 last year.”

In short, we are no closer to solving the problem, which has only become more complicated since 2009 when Vice Admiral Robert Moeller, former deputy of U.S. Africa Command, referred to piracy near Somalia as a “a very, very complex situation”.

Since that time the global cost of piracy has steadily increase with current estimates exceeding $7 billion per year as new resources continue to flood the region. Some experts however, conclude that the addition of coalition warships, diplomatic working groups and private security firms, increases complexity and further confuses ship owners looking for simple solutions.

For this reason, the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Liaison Office (MARLO) recently announced that improving communication and coordination between stakeholders is a top priority for the US Navy. In recent press release, MARLO has stated the need to “coordinate political, military, and other efforts” in the region and to continue its mission to “promote cooperation between the U.S. Navy and the commercial maritime community.”

With real time naval intelligence, thousands of Combined Maritime Force (CMF) sailors and dozens of warships available to protect commercial ships transiting Somali waters, MARLO has a lot of firepower at its disposal.  To be effective, they need the help and support of ship owners and operators.

In a short phone survey of readers, gCaptain found only a small percentage of ship operators admitted to taking advantage of naval support, many were unaware of programs (e.g. public intelligence reports, convoys, etc) and, most surprisingly, some were not aware that naval officers are available at MARLO and CMF to answer their questions. All were confused with some of the options available to them.

“Private security teams have proven successful in preventing pirates from taking hostages but they are not the only resources available to ship owners.” said Joe Allen, CEO of Six Maritime, an American private security company based in San Diego.

Six Maritime has taken a unique position in its fight against pirates. Co-Founded by the former head of Research and Development Acquisitions Department at Undersea Naval Special Warfare Group, the company has former Navy SEALS ready to board ships but the company is uniquely focused on helping ships assure they don’t have to utilize weapons at sea.

“We have highly trained, combat proven, veterans providing armed security for our clients’ assets, but the first order of business when our teams board a client vessel isn’t to set up how they are going to fire their weapons at attacking pirates.” Said Allen. “The first thing they set about doing is making sure the emergency communications procedures are ready so the ship is able to utilize all the resources available to it.”

Allen agrees with MARLO on the need to improve communication and coordination between ships and military assets in the region. As a former Navy surface warfare officer himself, Allen knows first-hand that naval support has limited effectiveness unless it is preceded by a close working relationship between ships and naval assets in the region.

“The Navy will respond to Mayday calls but too often they respond blindly which limits the amount of help they can provide,” says Allen. “If a ship wants to be safe and well defended it must help the Navy respond not just during but before an incident takes place.”

With most ships operating with less than two dozen people, a handful of which being English speaking officers trained in maritime security procedures, how will sailors find the time to communicate with naval assets?

Allen and his partners at Six Maritime believe they have the solution. Using a model designed to produce Six Sigma results of success, the company has trained its operators in the use of lethal weapons to a level surpassed by none, but they also place significant emphasis on filing reports, communicating with naval assets and early detection and monitoring of ongoing threats.

“We are looking at meeting the needs of shipowners and, in pirate waters, there is a need to provide more than weapons. There is a need to communicate, coordinate, transmit reports and help our clients understand the other assets available to them. Assets, like naval air support, which our clients don’t need to pay for.”

Six Maritime is sponsoring a series of lectures titled “Pirate attack! What naval assets are available to help you and how do you get their help?” This brief presentation from Six Maritime will teach owners and operators how to engage Navy assets and what to expect after they are engaged. The first lecture will be held at noon on Tuesday March 19th at the Shipping 2013 conference in Stamford Connecticut.