Merchant Mariners
Laser gun fired from US navy ship
(BBC) A high-energy laser (HEL)
fired from a US warship off the California coast has ignited a nearby
boat. Video courtesy of the US Office of Naval Research. The US Navy has fired a laser gun from one of its ships for the first time. Researchers used the high-energy laser (HEL) to disable a boat by setting fire to its engines off the coast of California. Similar systems had previously been tested on land, however
moist sea air presented an extra challenge as it reduces a beam's power. READ MORE
Post to TwitterSan Anselmo man presumed dead in tugboat mishap
The Coast Guard stopped looking for the man early Sunday morning, after an 8 1/2-hour search that included a helicopter and several boats and covered 44 square miles. READ MORE
Atlantic Oil Spill Threatens Endangered Penguins
(NPR) Thousands of endangered penguins have been coated with oil after a
cargo ship ran aground and broke up on a remote British South Atlantic
territory, officials and conservationists said Tuesday. The shipwreck also threatens the lobster fishery that provides a livelihood to one of the world's most isolated communities. The
Malta-registered MS Olivia was grounded on Nightingale Island in the
Tristan da Cunha chain last week. The ship had been traveling from
Brazil to Singapore and contained 1,500 metric tons (1,650 tons) of
crude oil and a cargo of 60,000 metric tons (66,000 tons) of soya beans.
Ships entering U.S. to face new ballast water rules
(Reuters) To keep new invasive species
out of U.S. waters such as the Great Lakes, the United States
must enact stricter rules on treating ship ballast water under
a settlement reached on Tuesday with environmental groups. Under the agreement, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency will settle on new rules by November that will go into
effect in December 2013 to give shippers the chance to comply,
conservation groups said. READ MOREOil Tanker Rates Doubling on Lower Speeds
(Bloomberg) Supertanker owners are coping with
the second-highest fuel costs on record by sailing ships at the
slowest speeds in at least three years, reducing vessel supply
and bolstering charter rates. The carriers, each bigger than the Chrysler Building, moved
at an average of 10.7 knots last month, about a knot slower than
a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The drop
cuts the fleet’s capacity by 9 percent, according to Pareto
Securities AS, an Oslo-based investment bank. Frontline Ltd.,
A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, Overseas Shipholding Group Inc.Tug's mate on phone at time of deadly duck accident, NTSB report says
(Philly.com) The tugboat mate in last summer's deadly duck-boat accident was
talking to family members on his cell phone about his son's
life-threatening emergency moments before the July 7 crash, according to
an investigative report released Monday. The report from the National Transportation Safety Board said Matt
Devlin, first mate on the tug Caribbean Sea, made or received 21
cell-phone calls during the 21/2 hours leading up to the accident. READ MORE
Boat Exhaust Fumes Harming West Coast Killer Whales
(Epoch Times) Just 87 orcas remain in the southern gulf between Seattle and Vancouver. Engine exhaust from boats may be having significant adverse health
effects on endangered killer whales off the West Coast, a Canadian
zoologist has found. A two-and-a-half year study by Cara
Lachmuth suggests that the orcas may be struggling with carbon monoxide
emissions five times higher than those found 100 meters (328 feet)
from Los Angeles freeways. READ MORE
35% Fuel Savings in Store for World's Largest Kite-Powered Ship
(Clean Technica) Agribiz giant Cargill is planning to test a giant kite on a “handysize” shipping vessel later this year, making it the largest kite-powered ship in the world.
The use of wind power is expected to cut the ship’s use of low grade
bunker fuel by up to 35%, depending on wind and weather conditions. If
the demonstration project proves successful, it could lead to a radical
improvement in the shipping industry’s ability to rein in its greenhouse
gas emissions. READ MOREPortsmouth Tug Captain and Crew Rescue Fishing Boat off Cape Ann
(Portsmouth Patch) The crew of the Viking tugboat had a busy Sunday morning.
Under the direction of Portsmouth resident Capt. Mike Littlefield, they
helped rescue a fishing vessel during a gale. The vessel, the Meridian out of New Bedford, MA, was in distress off Cape Ann in the nothern section of Massachusetts Bay. READ MOREICE dive unit in Miami targets drug smuggler ships
(DailyBreeze.com) A team of elite divers donned wetsuits
and air tanks and descended into the murky waters beneath the 498-foot
container ship M/V Seaboard Pride, on a mission in the dark to search
for an unusual stowaway: drugs. The seven members of the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement dive team, formed in 2004 and the only one of its kind in
the U.S., were searching for large metal boxes that Latin American
cocaine traffickers sometimes weld or clamp onto freighters and even
cruise ships to smuggle drugs. The boxes also could be used to hide
terrorist bombs or weapons. READ MORE