We woke up this morning to an emails asking what our best post of 2007 was? While we’ll leave that for you to decide, here are our the most posts received the most traffic:
“A Mariner’s Perspective” with Master Mariner Captain Kelly Sweeney, monthly contributor to Professional Mariner magazine and author of From the Bridge: Authentic Modern Sea Stories presents some maritime issues in 2008;
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First, let me state that this article is neither FOR nor AGAINST Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) in the USA. Its purpose is to understand what it is and how the vessels crew and Land-Based Firefighters and first responders can deal with emergencies. Opponents of LNG have come up with many false statements about the dangers of LNG while the LNG industry may lead us to believe there is absolutely no danger in handling LNG. We as firefighters (marine or land-based) and as the mariners who work with the LNG vessels must look at this issue in a more unbiased view. Anything is dangerous if used improperly. Even water has been found to be the culprit of many devastating oil tanker explosions when used under pressure to clean the vessels tanks. The static electric charge the water builds up can create a spark which can rip apart a huge oil tanker. We have also seen that water has caused many vessels to capsize and sink when too much of it has accumulated aboard a ship during firefighting operations.
My company, Marine Firefighting Inc., has been involved in providing informational seminars to the tug boat crews who have the task of escorting some of the large LNG ships into US waters. The tug boats being used are specially designed for this task. Each is equipped with state of the art firefighting equipment. MFI has been providing the familiarization with this new firefighting equipment and also familiarization with the properties of the LNG they will be working with.
Much controversy surrounds the Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) industry in the United States. A good deal of the criticism comes from the “Not in my back yard” syndrome. Most of us realize that our energy needs will soon outpace our supplies. With new emerging economies such as China and India the world’s existing oil reserves are going to be drawn upon much more than at any time in our history. LNG has been presented as one of the answers of bridging the eminent energy gap between users and suppliers. However, no one wants to live next door to an LNG plant.
What is LNG? Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) is a colorless, odorless, liquid which is natural gas in a liquid form. Previously, the world’s large supplies of natural gas have not been available to areas remote from these gas wells. The cost of shipping natural gas in its gaseous state was simply too expensive. Liquefying natural gas reduces its volume 600 times (see diagram left.). Because of this reduction in volume it became profitable to export natural gas in its liquid form (LNG). The process of liquefying natural gas differs from the liquefying of other gasses. The main difference is that LNG does not require pressurization to keep this gas in a liquid state as is the case with Liquid Petroleum Gases (LPG) such as Propane. (Marine transport of Propane may use refrigeration to reduce its pressure during transit.) LNG is formed by subjecting natural gas to extremely cold temperatures. At minus 260 degrees F (-161°C ) the gas becomes a liquid at atmospheric pressure. Liquids at these temperatures are considered “Cryogenic”.1 [Continue Reading →]
Here are gCaptain editor’s Top 10 upcoming picks of the week from gCaptain’s Maritime News Discoverer. Please Vote on the ones you like to have them published.
Saved from the Angry Atlantic gCaptain and myself have reported heavily on the rescue of the s/v Sean Seamour II and we are please to report that the US Coast Guard Crew that resc read more »
Speed limit exemption for winged ships Winged ships (WIGS) are one step closer to serving Juneau travelers after the Juneau Assembly this week adopted an amendment to add “wing in ground e read more »
The 433 ft long “Beluga SkySails” in an undated image. Turning ocean winds into gold while cutting greenhouse emissions in the process might sound like some sort of alchemy for the 21st century. The ship will make its maiden voyage in January across the Atlantic to Venezuela, up to Boston and back to Europe. It will be pulled by a giant computer-guided $725,000 kite tethered to the mast.
Earlier this week I received a request from our friend Ben Ellison at Panbo to poll our readers on the use of AIS. He was especially concerned with the upcoming release of AIS-B, vessel tracking system for boaters, and how the watch officers of large ships expected to process the increasingly large amounts of data on their radar screens. You can read that post HERE.
While writing the post I was curious about the other side of the equation namely, what do experienced boaters think about us? To answer my questions I contacted our friend Richard Rodriguez of BitterEnd blog, an experienced vessel assist Captain on one of nation’s busiest inland waterways; the Puget Sound. Here is his reply;
1) What should ships worry about when interacting with boats?
That most boats have no clue as to how to interact with ships. In the Licensing Courses I teach, I used to be surprised when folks indicated that they didn’t know ships do not guard channel 16. Ships should be afraid, very afraid, as most boats don’t have a clue, as to what to do or how to do it when they encounter a ship. Easily 1/3 of the boats I tow in the season, can’t give their Lat/Long, even though the have a GPS, let alone know about what to do related to ships. Boats usually run the other way;expect the unexpected.
2) Top 10 things I wish ships did to make boating safer?
1. Call a Securité, on channel 16, to announce a departure from norm.
2. Slowed down, when transiting congested waterways.
3. Occasionally use channel 16 when unsure of a boat’s action.
4. - 10. I’ll let readers fill in the blanks in the comment section.
3) Top 5 close calls I’ve had with ships. 1. Hiding out in the Sep Zone as I was waked by ships on either side of me.
2. Being in restricted visibility with out a radar, before I knew the rules and almost hitting a CG Cutter off the Columbia Bar.
3. Attempting to beat a 900′ USNS RoRo across the lanes. - I lost. 4. - 5. I’ll let readers fill in the blanks in the comment section.
4) Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range… how to tell if a boater is unable to get out of the way.
CBDR - now there’s a concept. Joe Blow thinks that if he bumps the throttle a few hundred RPM’s that he can beat you across the VTS lanes. He has no idea that you’re pumping 20+ kts, five to seven miles away when he starts across the (1.25 nm) lanes at 5.5 kts.
5) Lessons learned from my years boating the Puget Sound.
Conditions change - be prepared for the worst case scenario. Always have a plan B and a plan C.
Practice, practice, practice. Can you navigate with traditional tools? If you’re a sailor - can you make it to your slip under sail? When was the last time you did a man overboard drill?
By all means remember that S**T HAPPENS. If you think that something is about to happen, it is “Deemed to Exist.” Don’t put your head in the sand and boldly keep going.
We have already proclaimed our love of AIS, the technology that helps watchkeepers identify surrounding vessel traffic, but currently this technology only lets us track large ships. This is about to change. Panbo reports that the USCG has asked the FCC to expedite approval of AIS-B systems for use on boats.
What is AIS-B? The U.S. Coast Guard says;
Class B (AIS) is nearly identical to the Class A, except the Class B:
Has a reporting rate less than a Class A (e.g. every 30 sec. when under 14 knots, as opposed to every 10 sec. for Class A)
Does not transmit the vessel’s IMO number or call sign
Does not transmit ETA or destination
Does not transmit navigational status
Is only required to receive, not transmit, text safety messages
Is only required to receive, not transmit, application identifiers (binary messages)
Does not transmit rate of turn information
Does not transmit maximum present static draught
Got that?
You may have picked up on some Class B chatter over at Navagear or at Panbo questioning how effective these units will be in helping ships avoid small boats. Well Ben Ellison, electronics editor at Power & Motoryacht, Sail Magazine and Panbo.com has some questions for the ProMariner readers of gCaptain. He writes;
The bigger question is how much are they using AIS on their bridges?
Do they have good AIS target displays?
Are the displays getting too crowded as is, i.e. would there be a temptation to filter out Class B targets if they proliferate?
So with the goal of safer inland waterways for all we ask all professional mariners to answer the following poll questions then add your answers to Ben’s questions in our comments section.
presents some maritime issues in 2008;
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