Incident Photo of the Week – Horse Rescue

TITAN Salvage has added a new highlight to their resume – horse rescue experts. The team recently extracted seven prized horses, 260 tons of heavy fuel oil, and more from a grounded 4,454-gross ton cargo vessel before refloating her in São Miguel, Azores, off the coast of Portugal.

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Maritime Monday 194

Welcome to this 194th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find last week’s edition here »

SHIPS OUT OF WATER: There is something very impressive about the sheer size of ships which can only be appreciated when they are out of water. The ships themselves are often in unusual objects which are equally impressive, such as dry docks or floating docks or ship carriers. See More Ships Out of Water »

S.S. Earlham Victory at Pier 70 12-2009: The Pan American and the SS Earlham, both from Suisun Bay soon to depart to be scraped in Texas. For more information please see: pressroom.earlham.edu/articles |  More Photos »

BBC: Early Retirement for Survey Ship - HMS Roebuck will be retired from the fleet in 2010 – four years earlier than had been planned. It is one of four hydrographic ships currently based at the Plymouth port. Money saved by the cuts will go towards buying 22 new Chinook helicopters and other equipment for British troops serving in Afghanistan.

FRED FRY is just back from celebrating the holidays with his family in Finland and has a post about and pictures of the Cafe Ship KATHRINA »

TOWMASTERS PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Here’s something that’s been a rather rare sight in the last year or so… a more-or-less full box ship, in this case Hapag-Lloyd’s 4,890 TEU Rotterdam Express, coming into New York Harbor.

Swedish Coast Guard (Kustbevakning) KBV 002 Triton moored in Grand Harbour, Malta. You-Tube Video: Slipway launching KBV 002 Damen Shipyard Galati, Romania »

Back on the Homefront: (from sea) USCGC Escanaba weathers out the blizzard of 2009 in Cape Cod Bay, standing at the ready in case a mariner gets in trouble. Currently, snow is coming down sideways in the 35kt winds and below freezing temperatures.

Above, SN Dedengy (hometown Miami, FL) clears off snow accumulating on the decks. Meanwhile, below decks; the White Elephant Gift Swap is underway.  Among the gifts received were a puzzle, card games, Mighty-Mend It, and even a leopard Snuggie. (Now that’s the photo we want to see!)

Christmas Day on Aircraft Carrier USS Nimitz »

TOP STORY:  Kiss of Death

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Last chance for a fight… eLoran

USNO Master Clocks

To be frank the topic of eLoran, an upgrade of Loran-C that promises to add redundancy to to GPS systems, is a topic gCaptain has discussed passionately on numerous occasions but i feel that we are loosing headway… fast.

Our friends at Panbo, the marine electronics blog, tell us;

When I last reported on this issue in February, 2008, it seemed evident that the Coast Guard’s efforts to shed its Loran financial obligations were just that, and that many responsible parties wanted to see Loran perfected into an eLoran backup to GPS for all sorts of purposes besides marine navigation.  And it’s been going like that ever since.  Heck, here’s what the Independent Assessment Team (IAT) from the Institute for Defense Analyses reported to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last January (pdf here):

IAT Conclusions and Major Recommendation:

• Reasonable assurance of national PNT {Position, Navigation, Timing} availability is prudent and responsible policy, needed for ubiquitous, critical safety of life and national and economic security, as well as quality of life, applications dependent upon GPS-based PNT.

• eLoran is the only cost-effective backup for national needs; it is completely interoperable with and independent of GPS, with different propagation and failure mechanisms, plus significantly superior robustness to radio frequency interference and jamming. It is a seamless backup, and its use will deter threats to US national and economic security by disrupting (jamming) GPS reception.

• The US Government policy decision is needed to motivate users to equip and to demonstrate continued leadership internationally.  Thus, the IAT unanimously recommends that the U.S. Government complete the eLoran upgrade and commit to eLoran as the national backup to GPS for 20 years.

Thus, the IAT unanimously recommends that the U.S. Government complete the eLoran upgrade and commit to eLoran as the national backup to GPS for 20 years.

So if you believe, like me, in the importance of this upgrade to marine safety please CLICK HERE to read more then contact your representative, the Coast Guard Commandant and the Department of Homeland Security.

Forum Hacked

Note – The gCaptain forum was hacked by a Russian script Christmas morning. We are working to fix the problem but support is slow considering the holiday. Thanks for your support and please stby. -John

Announcing gTrax – AIS Vessel Tracking For The iPhone

In August of 2008 gCaptain forum member New3M made a brilliant suggestion for gCaptain to develop software for the iPhone. We loved the idea but wanted to make sure any software carrying the gCaptain name was of high quality and of use to mariners.

Fast forward to the summer of this year and the crew here at gCaptain decided that the best way to move forward on a high quality application was to make the development of the app a team effort. With this in mind we teamed up with the professional maritime data providers at MIS Development and the programing team at Refresh Media to create gTrax, Vessel Tracking For The iPhone.

What is gTrax?

gTrax harnesses MIS’s network of redundant secure, Automatic Information System (AIS), antennas to gather information directly from commercial ships and boats underway in the harbor. Once processed through MIS’s server the information is pushed out to your iPhone and the location of each ship is plotted on the app’s built in google map.

The vessel’s location is just the start. Each ship is color coded according to it’s speed and oriented by course giving you an accurate “heads-up” view of the marine traffic around you. Clicking on the vessel brings additional information including the ship’s destination, job function, navigational status and more.

Advanced sorting capabilities allow you to sort by the vessel’s name and function. For example, if you want to find the exact location of a ferry, you can select to view only “Passenger” vessels. If you know the name of a specific ferry simply type it in and the map will automatically center on the boat’s current location.

You can sort ships by type including:
- Cargo of Tanker (Large Commercials Ships)
- Passenger (Ferry’s & Cruise Ships)
- Law Enforcement (Coast Guard & Police)
- Oil Spill Response
- Fishing Boats
- Plus 14 other categories.

In addition the app tracks Super-yachts, Sailing Ships and Pleasure Boats equipped with AIS-B transmitters.

Read More…

We are really excited about this application and I personally want to thank the myriad of people who made this possible including Steve Gordon, Moses Calouro, Doug Pine, the MAREX team, our forum members and, of course, Mike Schuler. It would not have been possible without the gCaptain community’s support.

So without any further delay please visit the iTunes store and download gTrax.  then be sure to rate it 5 stars to personally thank all who where involved! To help kick-start the app… every forum member that writes a review of the application (good or bad but this week only) on the iTunes store will be sent a FREE gCaptain t-shirt and $5 Starbucks card as our thanks for supporting gCaptain. Just copy and past your review of the app in the comments below and Mike will contact you for your address.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

J. Ray Acquires 50% stake in NO102

J. Ray McDermott, a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc. announced today the completion of a vessel transaction with Oceanteam for the subsea construction vessel, North Ocean 102 (“NO102″) and a new build vessel, North Ocean 105 (“NO105″).

Under the terms of the transaction, J. Ray will have an approximately fifty percent ownership stake in the NO102 vessel owning company and a seventy-five percent ownership stake in the NO105 vessel owning company – and will partner with Oceanteam to construct the new build NO105. J. Ray has agreed to charter the vessels for five years from these respective companies, after which, J. Ray will have the option to purchase Oceanteam’s shares in both vessel owning companies.

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Island Offshore orders two PSV’s at STX Europe

STX Europe has entered into new contracts with Island Offshore, an affiliate of Edison Chouest Offshore for, the building of two Platform Supply Vessels. The vessels will be built at STX Europe in Brevik, and are based on the same design as Island Commander and Island Chieftain delivered from STX Europe earlier this year. The vessels are scheduled for delivery in Q4 2011 and Q1 2012. The total value of the contracts amounts to approximately NOK 800 million.

The vessels are of Rolls-Royce UT 776 CD design, and will be number five and six in this series delivered from STX Europe to Island Offshore.

The vessels are scheduled for delivery in Q4 2011 and Q1 2012. The hulls will be built at STX Europe in Romania, and outfitted at STX Europe in Norway.

Technical Information:

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US Navy Oceanographic Survey Ship

ST Engineering announced today that its US shipyard, VT Halter Marine, has been awarded a contract worth US$87m  to build an enhanced version of a T-AGS 60 Class oceanographic survey ship for the U.S. Navy. Construction of the new ship, T-AGS 66, will begin at Halter Moss Point in 1H2010 with delivery scheduled in 2013. VT Halter Marine is the US operation of ST Engineering’s marine arm, ST Marine.

The all-steel vessel is about 107.6 metres long, with a beam of 17.68 metres, a 5.48-metre draft and permanent accommodation for 67 persons. The T-AGS 60 Class design eliminated conventional reduction gears and long propeller shafts to free up space for oceanographic uses. Its dynamic positioning controls thrust direction provides unparalleled ship control and maneuverability to permit precise position keeping and track line following. In addition to various enhancements of its equipment and electronics systems, the T-AGS 66 will be fitted with an 18′ x 18′ moonpool for through hull launch and retrieval of scientific research equipment.

Typical missions of the T-AGS 60 Class ships may include: oceanographic sampling and data collection of surface, midwater and ocean floor parameters; the launching, recovering, and towing of scientific packages both tethered and autonomous including the handling, monitoring, and servicing of remotely operated vehicles; shipboard oceanographic data processing and sample analysis; and precise navigation, track line maneuvering, and station keeping to support deep ocean and coastal surveys.

VT Halter Marine is the leading designer and builder of specialised oceanographic ships for the U.S. Navy and has experience in building the previous six ships of the T-AGS 60 Class; T-AGOS 13 through T-AGOS 18 ocean surveillance ships; a T-AGOS 23 Class SWATH ocean surveillance ship: T-AGS 51 and T-AGS 52 hydrographic survey ships; oceanographic survey ships AGOR 23, 24 and 25; and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) AGOR Ronald H. Brown as well as four fisheries survey vessels (FSVs) for NOAA.

T-AGS 60 Class ships are designed and constructed to provide multi-purpose oceanographic capabilities for the Oceanographer of the Navy. Physical, chemical and biological oceanography; multi-discipline environmental investigations; ocean engineering and marine acoustics; marine geology and geophysics; and bathymetric, gravimetric, and magnetometric surveying are performed from T-AGS 60 Class ships using the latest in oceanographic surveying equipment and other instrument packages with the ability to process and analyse the data onboard using the latest computer technology.

“VT Halter Marine is pleased to be given the opportunity to continue our long standing partnership with the U.S. Navy and this contract is a testament to our track record of designing and constructing quality T-AGS oceanographic vessels for the U.S. Navy.”

Company or Organisation Portrait:
VT Halter Marine, the marine operations of VT Systems, is based in Pascagoula, Mississippi and is a leader in the design and construction of medium-sized ships in the United States. VT Halter Marine designs, builds and repairs a wide variety of ocean-going vessels such as patrol vessels, oil recovery vessels, oil cargo vessels, ferries, logistic support vessels and survey vessels. Please visitwww.vthaltermarine.com.

ST Marine (Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd) is the marine arm of ST Engineering, it provides turnkey building, repair and conversion services for a wide spectrum of naval and commercial vessels. In shipbuilding, it has the proven capabilities to provide turnkey solutions from concept definition to detailed design, construction, on-board system installation and integration, testing, commissioning to through-life support. It has also established a track record in providing high engineering content shiprepair and ship conversion services for a worldwide clientele. Please visit www.stengg.com.

ST Engineering (Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd) is an integrated engineering group providing solutions and services in the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors. Headquartered in Singapore, the Group reported revenues of $5.34b in FY2008 and ranks among the largest companies listed on the Singapore Exchange. ST Engineering has more than 20,000 employees worldwide, and over 100 subsidiaries and associated companies in 24 countries and 42 cities. Please visit www.stengg.com.

Good Read on Port of L.A. Pilot Boat Operators

The Los Angeles Times today published a good article to their website on Port of Los Angeles pilot boat operators.  The article follows “a salty pair” of veteran’s, Mark Hansen and Martin Maher, who have sailed a combined 1.5 million miles, as they speak about the job, the dangers, achievements and early retirement.

It’s chilly and hard to see at 4 a.m. as Martin Maher throttles up his turbocharged work boat against the swells. He is set to rendezvous with a Chinese container ship three miles beyond the Port of Los Angeles breakwater.

His mission: Deliver a port pilot to guide the incoming container ship through the labyrinth of narrow channels and turn basins in the nation’s busiest harbor complex.

Scanning the horizon with an unblinking squint, Maher spins the Stephen M. White’s 36-inch chrome wheel to swing around to the side of the Chinese ship, longer than three football fields. With carefully synchronized tweaks of the throttle, he matches the speed of the larger craft and sidles next to its massive hull.

As the vessels travel inches apart at 10 mph, the port pilot steps off the deck of Maher’s 15-ton boat and climbs up a 20-foot rope ladder to board the 66,000-ton container ship.

“Job done,” Maher said, heading back to his San Pedro berth in the sprawling industrial empire of flaming refinery towers, gleaming cruise ships, 400-foot-tall cranes and mountains of scrap metal.

Click HERE to read the full article from the L.A. Times.

Another good read on ship pilots can be found at Smithsonian.com in an article titled Steering Ships Through a Treacherous Waterway, about Colombia River bar pilots.

Above image via Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Incident Photo of The Week – F/V Cape Elizabeth

This weeks incident photos were submitted to gCaptain by Doug Pine via the gCaptain Forum. The images show the F/V Cape Elizabeth ablaze after a fire broke out in the galley while fishing in the Western Pacific Ocean.  All those on board were safely evacuated however the fire quickly consumed the entire vessel causing it to sink.

Hear what people are saying about this incident on the gCaptain Forum HERE.

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