WASHINGTON — U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen, is scheduled to speak at the National Press Club in Washington, as part of the press club’s distinguished speakers series, to outline the service’s goals and priorities for 2010 in his fourth and final State of the Coast Guard address on Feb. 12 at 12:30 p.m.

In this annual address, Allen will address the Coast Guard’s fiscal year 2011 anticipated budget impacts. He will also advocate for the need to recapitalize the service’s aging ships, aircraft and shore facilities to continue delivering superior services to the Nation and adapt to the maritime challenges of the 21st century.

Allen will discuss the Coast Guard’s recent response efforts in Haiti and highlight the ability of Coast Guard personnel to leverage interagency partnerships, quickly flow forces to vulnerable areas and take action without having to wait for external orders. A question and answer session will follow his remarks. Advance questions can be submitted to the iCommandant blog. He will then be available to meet with media in attendance for a question and answer session.

The luncheon is open to the public, reservations can be made by calling (202) 662-7501 or by e-mailing reservations@press.org.

This week’s interesting ship is NOAA’s new high-tech fisheries survey vessel, Bell M. Shimada.

Bell M. Shimada’s primary mission will be to study, monitor and collect data on a wide range of sea life and ocean conditions, primarily in U.S. waters from Washington state to southern California. The ship will also observe environmental conditions, conduct habitat assessments and survey marine mammal, sea turtle and marine bird populations.

The vessel is the fourth of a new class of ships designed to meet the NOAA Fisheries Service’s specific data collection requirements and the International Council for Exploration of the Seas’ new standards for a low acoustic signature.

Launched in September 2008, the 208-ft. Bell M. Shimada was built for NOAA by VT Halter Marine Inc., in Moss Point, Miss., as part of the NOAA’s fleet replacement strategy to provide world-class platforms for U.S. scientists.

Bell M. Shimada’s state-of-the-art design allows for quieter operation and movement of the vessel through the water, giving scientists the ability to study fish and marine mammals without significantly altering their behavior. The ship’s comprehensive environmental sampling capabilities will also enable researchers to gather a broad suite of marine life data with unprecedented accuracy.

We can’t help but be fans of mega yachts here at gCaptain.com and over the years have done a fair share of covering them on the blog.  Whether it’s the immense size of the private vessels or more likely the curiousity of the incomprehensible wealth that is required to be an owner of one.  This next yacht that was just recently unvieled by Belgium-based Emocean Yacht Design is set to break all the rules in terms of ammenities and size – if it get’s built that is.  CNN has the story:

Belgium-based Emocean Yacht Design recently unveiled plans for an extravagant new mega yacht, tentatively called Project 1000, that — if built — would be the world’s largest vessel of its type.

At a whopping 656 feet (nearly the length of two football fields), the ship would be 99 feet longer than the Eclipse, which became the largest private yacht on the water when Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich launched it last year. It would also cost in the range of $500 million to $900 million.

In addition to being massive, the futuristic design is replete with features that would impress even the most finicky mega yachtsman, including a 100-foot swimming pool and a health spa.

The plans call for a drive-in garage, two 98-foot day boats and a helipad with a hanger, so well-heeled skippers will be able to bring their other toys onboard.

The yacht, which would have a range of 6,500 nautical miles, comes standard with plenty of entertainment options to help pass the time on long voyages. There’s a nightclub, a casino and a dual-level cinema for film buffs who want a more authentic movie-going experience. (READ FULL ARTICLE)

In addition to all features listed above, Project 1000 has 10 VIP rooms, 22 guest suites and an owners deck.  According to Emocean, Project 1000, if purchased today, would take up to four years to build.  It’s just too bad we can’t wait that long for a new gCaptain headquarters.

Today, we are proud to announce that the gCaptain.com forum has reached 5,000 members!  With what started out in 2007 as a little known blog and forum for fellow professional mariners, gCaptain.com quickly grew to become one of the highest trafficked maritime websites and largest communities of maritime professionals on the web.  Today, gCaptain.com’s forum houses the collective knowledge of 5,000+ professionals working in the maritime industry and we could not be more happy with the way things are going.

To give you a run down of gCapatain.com’s current statistics, as of right now (February 3, 2010) gCaptain.com has:

• 5,008 forum members
• 3,288 forum threads
• 24,607 posts
• 1,769 blog posts
• 3,394 job listings

Just in the past 30 days, gCaptain.com has had:

• 160,571 unique visitors
• 483,268 pageviews
• Served 204 countries throughout the world

It’s truly ubelievable how far we have come over the past few years and we have gCaptain.com community members to thank.  THANK YOU!

In Search of Excellence

The International Dynamic Positioning Operators Association (IDPOA) is pleased to announce the launch of the inaugural International Dynamic Positioning (DP) Excellence Awards and invites mariners from across the world to nominate their shining stars of the Dynamic Positioning sector.

The history of DP is one of groundbreaking innovation and pioneering development and with the successful development of IDPOA comes the recognition of professionals working in this sector of shipping.  These awards recognize and celebrate excellence across the industry in categories which reflect the scope of this hugely specialized area:

•    DP Operator of the Year
•    Onboard Trainer/Mentor of the Year
•    Leader of the Year
•    Training Centre of the Year
•    Lecturer of the Year
•    Manufacturer of the Year
•    Innovation of the Year
•    DP Vessel of the Year
•    Investor in People Award
•    Outstanding Services to DP Award

As well as celebrating the success of individuals, the awards will honour and acknowledge developments in training, equipment and operations, which have opened up previously untapped maritime possibilities, and developments that have made the pursuit of the seemingly impossible, not just feasible but safe, clean and cost-effective.

IDPOA Executive Director Steven Jones said: [Continue Reading →]

One of two piers at the port serving the Haitian capital has reopened, and a gravel road was laid off of it, clearing a major route for aid to come into the city, officials sai.

Via CNN. read more HERE

gCaptain’s full coverage of Haiti earthquake HERE

Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. has introduced the HOS Centerline, a Jones Act qualified, 370′ multi-purpose support vessel (MPSV) to its fleet.  This HOS 370 design, with an 8,000+ deadweight-ton capacity represents the largest and most diverse DP-2 classed offshore supply vessel available today. The HOS Centerline is the only vessel in the world to have received certifications by the United States Coast Guard allowing operations as a supply vessel, industrial/construction vessel and as a petroleum and chemical tanker.

The HOS Centerline was added to Hornbeck’s fleet in February 2009 and achieved its multi-certifications under Subchapters “L’, “I”, “D” and “O” in October, 2009. Her sister-vessel, HOS Strongline will join the fleet in early 2010 and is expected to receive the same regulatory pedigree. Both vessels will be based at the company’s shore base facility, HOS Port, located in Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The company acquired the HOS Port facility and its heavy lift capabilities in order to accommodate its growing fleet of large dimension vessels, including the HOS Centerline and HOS Strongline. [Continue Reading →]

This is a reminder that the first ever Coast Guard Video of the Year competition is still open for voting. The final nominee was posted late last week and the voting will continue until the end of this week, January 8th.

I’d like to encourage gCaptain readers to go to the 2009 Coast Guard Video of the Year Nominees playlist on YouTube and vote for your favorite video. You can vote for all the videos, but should reserve their highest rating for the one(s) you like the most.

In order to vote, you must first sign-in to YouTube using your own user account, watch the videos in the playlist, and then cast a vote using the YouTube rating system of one to five stars directly below the video.

Votes will be accepted until January 8th and the USCG expects to announce the winners on the Coast Guard Compass blog early next week. The units with the top three videos will receive a Flip video camera to enhance their ability to capture and share imagery of their operations.

For more information about the contest and to see the compilation of the top 11 videos from 2009, READ HERE.

The interactive map, shown above, was released by the California State Water Resource Control Board and serves to inform the public by plotting the locations and details of any wastewater spills in California.  The State Water Resource Control Board tells us:

These interactive geographic information system (GIS) maps, updated nightly, plot all certified sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and Private Lateral Sewage Discharges from sanitary sewer collection systems (not including any spills from wastewater (sewage) treatment plants), reported by agencies into the state’s online California Integrated Water Quality System.  This includes the spill location, amount, source, and name of the responsible or reporting agency.

Thanks to gCaptain forum member Domer, for bringing this to gCaptain’s attention via the forum.  The map was accompanied by the following statement from Domer.

California now has a new google map that tracks spills in the San Francisco Bay. It’s mostly for wastewater but how long before this map starts plotting maritime oil spills worldwide? Considering the number of environmentalists out there maybe that should be included in the next version of gTrax ?

There’s a thought, Domer…

To view the SSO Incident Map go to: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/sso/sso_map/sso_pub.shtml.

Image above via Treehugger.com

Every year, the International Maritime Organization chooses a theme for its World Maritime Day, which is generally celebrated during the last week in September.  In 2009, the IMO chose “Climate Change” as the theme.  This year, 2010, will be named “Year of the Seafarer”.   In a message posted to their website, the IMO states:

The International Maritime Organization has decided to dedicate next year to you by choosing, as the theme for World Maritime Day, “2010: Year of the Seafarer”. Our intention is to pay tribute to you, the world’s 1.5 million seafarers – men and women from all over the globe – for the unique, and all too often over-looked, contribution you make to the wellbeing of all of us….

At IMO, we are ever-conscious of the important role you play in helping us achieve safe, secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans – the goals that we, as the United Nations specialized agency charged with the regulation of international shipping and as a member of the global maritime community, have set ourselves.

And so, we will celebrate next year’s World Maritime Day theme with much pride in your contribution to our objectives, to the facilitation of more than 90% of the world’s trade, and to sustainable human development.

You can read the full message from the IMO to the world’s seafarers, HERE.