蓼食う虫も好き好き

Grounded Bulker Safely Refloated in Delaware River   The grounded self-unloader Algoma Verity has been refloated and safely moved to a nearby berth, the U.S. Coast Guard reported Sunday.  At about 1130 hours Sunday morning, Algoma Verity was refloated on a rising tide, and she is now moored at Tioga Marine Terminal in Philadelphia. Coast…

AI: Taking the Helm?   Imagine a world where every ship is piloted by an excellent captain, every hospital patient is attended to by an excellent doctor and every magazine article is written by an excellent author – and I don’t mean me, but rather an artificial intelligence (AI). Our world now features AIs that,…

Faced With Public Pressure, Russia Steps Up Kerch Strait Cleanup One month after two aging coastal tankers broke up near the Kerch Strait, their cargoes of heavy fuel oil continue to contaminate beaches in Crimea and Krasnodar, and Russian authorities have decided to ramp up the the response. Last month, the aging river-sea tanker Volgoneft…

Marine Science Nonprofit Elects “The Ocean” to Join its Board   [By Anna Turns] The ocean absorbs more than 90% of the atmosphere’s excess heat trapped by human-emitted greenhouse gases. It plays a vital role in mitigating the climate crisis and our health relies on that of the ocean. But often, it is simply considered a place to extract useful resources…

New Memorial Marks 50th Anniversary of Loss of Edmund Fitzgerald   The tragic loss of bulk carrier Edmund Fitzgerald is set to be permanently engraved in a marker, five decades after it sank with the loss of all hands.  On the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior, a group in…

China’s Opening Salvo Against Taiwan Will Likely Be a Partial Blockade   [By Jane Rickards] The West had better think carefully about how it would handle China imposing a nominally civil quarantine on Taiwan, because that’s the tactic that increasingly looks like an opening move for Beijing in taking control of the island. A quarantine, imposing…

Singapore Manages Response to Two Sinkings in One Weekend On Sunday, Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority rescued eight crewmembers from a sinking tanker just off Pedra Branca, a lighthouse installation at the eastern entrance to the Singapore Strait – the second sinking in two days in the Singaporean search and rescue zone.  At about 1540…

Iran’s Spy Ship Activity Extends Beyond the Red Sea   Two U.S. Treasury-sanctioned ships have been the focus of attention for the maritime community interested in Iranian spy ship activity.  But these are not the only Iranian ships involved in intelligence activity contributing to attacks on merchant shipping. Firstly the MV Saviz, and then the…

Bangladesh Could Lose Top Position in the Global Shipbreaking Market   With global ship demolition at record low levels, Bangladesh’s shipbreaking industry has reported that 2024 saw a massive drop in scrap ship imports. Only 144 ships were sent to Bangladesh last year for recycling, equivalent to 968,000 GT, the lowest since 2005. As the…

Future Development of Flettner Rotor Propulsion   Wind energy historically provided the basis for vessel propulsion, using sails and sometimes kites. During the 1920s, engineer Anton Flettner developed large cylinders spinning on a vertical axis to redirect a wind stream to produce vessel propulsion. There is scope to combine recent developments in multiple technologies with…

Affordable and Available LNG Dominated Dual-Fuel Vessel Orders in 2024   The shipping industry is looking for CO2-reducing alternatives to bunker fuel, and LNG has become the preferred alternative fuel of choice, according to data collected by DNV.  DNV’s annual review shows that the shipping industry is forging ahead. Last year, a total of 515 alternative-fuel…

Samskip and Value Maritime Win Funding for Compact Carbon-Capture System   Value Maritime has secured funding from the Dutch government to install a new version of its carbon-capture technology aboard another vessel owned by repeat customer Samskip. Samskip has experience with Value Maritime’s scrubber/carbon capture systems. It has installed units aboard the boxships Samskip Innovator…

Op-Ed: To Counter China, Trump Should Step Up His First-Term Approach   [By Yan C. Bennett] As in his first term, Donald Trump should continue a resolute approach toward China in his second term. This approach was and is grounded in the belief that a more assertive posture will deter China’s expansionist ambitions, reinforce US…

Grounded Self-Unloader in Delaware River Has Multiple Damaged Tanks   Salvors responding to the grounding of the self-unloader Algoma Verity have found that the vessel has damage to multiple tanks, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed Friday.  The Algoma Verity was northbound from the Port of Philadelphia when it went aground outside the main shipping channel…