It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, October 16, 2021
'MAYBE' TECH
Hydrogen Fuels Could Enable Up to 80% Cut in Ship Emission by 2050
IRENA's roadmap focuses on green hydrogen and advanced biofuels to meet climate goals
A rapid replacement of fossil fuels with renewable fuels based on green hydrogen along with advanced biofuels could enable to cut up to 80 percent of CO2 emissions by mid-century attributed to the international maritime sector. That is the assessment of a new report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), an intergovernmental agency focused on supporting countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future. By 2050,
Decarbonizing global shipping is one of the most challenging sectors to address - and despite raised ambitions - current plans fall short of what is needed,” says Francesco La Camera, Director-General of IRENA. “Our outlook clearly shows that cutting CO2 emissions in such a strategic, hard to abate sector, is technically feasible through green hydrogen fuels.”
IRENA’s new report, A Pathway to Decarbonize the Shipping Sector by 2050, outlines a roadmap for the global shipping sector to be in line with global climate goals. The organization says that renewable fuels should contribute at least 70 percent of the sector’s energy mix in 2050 to achieve climate goals.
‘‘Taking early action is critical’, La Camera added. “May this report encourage policymakers, ship owners and operators, port authorities, renewable energy developers and utilities to work together towards common climate goals and show their ambition to world leaders at the UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow.”
If the international shipping sector were a country, IRENA highlights that it would be the sixth- or seventh-largest CO2 emitter. IRENA’s decarbonization pathway is based on four key measures including indirect electrification by employing green hydrogen-based fuels, the inclusion of advanced biofuels, the improvement of vessels’ energy efficiency, and the reduction of sectoral activity due to systemic changes in global trade dynamics.
In the short term, IRENA believes that advanced biofuels will play a key role in cutting emissions, providing up to 10 percent of the sector’s total energy mix in 2050. In the medium and long-term green hydrogen-based fuels will be pivotal, making up 60 percent of the energy mix in 2050. E-methanol and e-ammonia are the most promising green hydrogen-based fuels says IRENA, with particularly e-ammonia set to be the backbone for the sector’s decarbonizing by 2050.
IRENA’s report highlights that e-ammonia could represent as much as 43 percent of the sector’s energy needs in 2050, which would imply the use of about 183 million tons of renewable ammonia for international shipping, a comparable amount to today’s ammonia global production.
IRENA’s report also finds that the production costs of alternative fuels and their availability will ultimately dictate the actual employment of renewable fuels.
Moving from nearly zero CO2 emissions to net-zero requires a 100 percent renewable energy mix by 2050. While renewable energy costs have been falling at an accelerated rate, further cost declines are needed for renewable energy-derived fuels to become the prime choice of propulsion. According to the report, climate goals and decarbonization ambition can be raised by adopting relevant and timely coordinated international policy measures. A realistic carbon levy will be critical, putting an adjustable carbon price on each fuel to prevent new fossil fuel investments and stranded assets.
Finally, the report calls on all stakeholders to develop broader business models and establish strategic partnerships involving energy-intensive industries, as well as power suppliers and the petrochemical sector. Stakeholders need to be fully mapped out and engaged, the various players need to work towards a common goal. Accordingly, governing bodies regulating the international shipping sector need to develop integral and participative planning exercises, establishing step-by-step actions for reaching zero emissions by 2050.
Ørsted to Build Offshore Wind Steel Fabrication Plant in Maryland
Steel fabrication plant will support Ørsted's wind farms in Maryland and New Jersey (Ørsted file photo)
Construction will begin this month on Maryland’s first offshore wind steel fabrication center with Denmark’s Ørsted agreeing to make a financial investment with Crystal Steel Fabricators in Federalsburg, Maryland. With this step, Ørsted has completed another commitment it made as part of agreement to develop Maryland’s offshore wind farm and which will also provide broader support in the installation of wind farms along the U.S. East Coast.
Crystal Steel will begin construction activity on the new facilities this month with the goal of suppling steel components that will be used to construct wind turbine foundations for Ørsted’s Mid-Atlantic projects, including the Skipjack Wind program in Maryland and Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 in New Jersey. As a result of the partnership with Ørsted, Crystal Steel will increase its workforce by nearly a third, hiring up to 50 new local welders, fitters, CNC machine operators, painters, and truck drivers.
Crystal Steel’s workers will pre-fabricate, or manufacture, large-scale, steel components that are fundamental elements of the turbine foundations. These components, which range in size from 9 to 16 tons each and are as tall as 45 feet, will be used in the construction of the wind turbine foundation boat landings, ladders, internal and exterior platforms, railings, grating, and other items. Final assembly of these component parts will be completed locally for each project. For the Skipjack Wind program, components fabricated at Crystal Steel will be constructed at Tradepoint Atlantic, where Ørsted has invested in Maryland’s first offshore wind staging center.
“Maryland’s Eastern Shore is an outstanding location for expanding offshore wind’s domestic supply chain,” said David Hardy, CEO of Ørsted Offshore North America. “For decades, offshore wind steel fabrication jobs were located overseas, so we are particularly excited to bring these sustainable, good-paying jobs here to America as part of our buildout of a new 21st century American industry. As builder, owner, and operator of Skipjack Wind 1, we are deeply committed to investing in Maryland and the Eastern Shore for decades to come.”
Awarded by the Public Service Commission in 2017, Ørsted’s lease to develop Maryland’s offshore wind farm also included provisions for the creation of onshore facilities to act as staging for the wind farm during assembly as well as creation of support facilities for the operations. Ørsted also committed to an investment to develop the necessary steel fabrication operations for the wind farm in the state of Maryland.
Crystal Steel Fabricators purchased the facility located on the Delmarva Peninsula in Federalsburg, Maryland in 2016. The 96,000 sq. foot site provides structural steel fabrication with railway access, allowing us to receive extra-long raw materials. Current operations will be expanded to meet the demands from the wind farm industry.
This agreement marks Ørsted’s second economic commitment to Maryland’s Eastern Shore announced this month. Ørsted will also construct Maryland’s first offshore wind operations and maintenance facility in west Ocean City, in support of the Skipjack Wind program. The facility will serve as the wind turbine maintenance technicians, engineers, operations personnel, and other key roles.
Skipjack Wind 1 is a 120-megawatt offshore wind project under development 20 miles off the Maryland-Delaware coast. Commercial operations are expected to begin in the second half of 2026.
Longshoreman Survives 100-Foot Fall Into a Cargo Hold
[Brief] On Tuesday, New Orleans firefighters rescued a longshoreman who survived a 60-100 foot fall into the hold of a cargo ship.
At about 1730 hours Tuesday, New Orleans Emergency Medical Services and the New Orleans Fire Department were dispatched to a medical emergency at the port's Poland Avenue Wharf. A longshoreman who had been working on board the bulker St. George had reportedly tripped and fallen to the bottom of an open hold, which was about 60-100 feet down. Photos from the scene appear to show that the hold was partially filled with bundles of rebar.
Astonishingly, the longshoreman survived the fall. EMS personnel arrived first and bandaged the victim's injuries, Fire Capt. Scott Chapuis told local media, but it was up to the fire department to get him out. Several firemen descended into the hold with a Stokes litter and secured the victim with straps. When ready, they used the ship's crane to fly him out of the hold and deliver him to safety.
According to the fire department, the victim was conscious, alert and able to communicate with responders throughout this evolution. Despite the height of the fall - a distance that carries a very high rate of mortality - the only injury that was apparent at the scene was a broken arm. The victim was delivered to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Biden White House Nominates its First Maritime Administrator
On Thursday, the Biden administration announced the long-awaited nomination of its first Maritime Administrator, the director of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration.
The post is currently held in an acting capacity by Lucinda Lessley, a former House staffmember who served on the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transport and the Committee on Homeland Security. The previous Maritime Administrator, Adm. Mark "Buzz" Buzby, resigned in protest after January 6 insurrection at the capital. Lessley has served as acting administrator for nine months while the White House discussed options for a permanent appointment.
Biden's nominee is Rear Adm. Ann Phillips, a 31-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. In the early years of her career, she served aboard the dry stores auxiliary USS San Jose and the destroyer tender USS Cape Cod during operation Desert Storm. She served as the first commanding officer of the destroyer USS Mustin, then went on to command Destroyer Squadron 28 and (most recently) Expeditionary Strike Group Two, which includes all amphibious warfare vessels on the U.S. East Coast.
On shore, she served on the Chief of Naval Operations’ Climate Change Task Force, advising on ways to make the Navy's bases and forces more resilient to climate change. She later became Director of the Surface Warfare Division (OPNAV N86), part of the Navy's planning, programming and budgeting office.
Phillips retired from the Navy in 2014 and pursued an MBA at the College of William and Mary. In her current role, she serves as Special Assistant to the Governor of Virginia for Coastal Adaptation and Protection, working to address the impact of sea level rise and coastal flooding across the state. This portfolio includes the development of Virginia’s first Coastal Resilience Master Plan.
If confirmed by the Senate, Rear Adm. Phillips will have an active roster of projects to address upon taking office as Maritime Administrator. First, MARAD is working hard to address a long-running pattern of alleged sexual misconduct in its Sea Year program, the onboard training program run by MARAD's U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Her office will also have to work to boost the real-world readiness of the Ready Reserve Force, MARAD's component of the government-owned sealift fleet. And like her predecessor, Rear Adm. Phillips will have to address the slow decline of the U.S. maritime workforce, which is essential to crewing American sealift ships in time of war.
[Video] Fire Damages Russian Coal Export Terminal Supplying China
Vanino Bulk Terminal supplies coal to China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (SUEK file photo)
A fire at one of Russia’s leading coal terminals has forced the suspension of the loading of coal while the terminal operator works to assess the full extent of the damage. The terminal located along Russia’s southeastern coast is a large source of coal for China, which was already reporting shortages, as well as supplying Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
According to reports from the Administration of the Vaninsky district in eastern Russia, a fire broke out on the coal conveyors on October 11 at the terminal located in Vannino. Several of the loading belts were reportedly heavily damaged, although they were able to contain the fire to the belts, not damaging the coal terminal, or spreading to the storage. The Administration posted video of the fire on social media.
The terminal, which is one of the largest in Russia, has a capacity to handle 24 million mt of coal annually loading Capesize bulkers. Media reports indicate that the terminal operator, the Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) notified customers that it was declaring a force majeure due to the fire. No timeline was provided for when the terminal might resume loading operations.
The terminal, which opened in 2008, has shipped more than 150 million tons of coal since it began operations. SUEK reports that it is one of the most technologically advanced terminals employing a broad range of technologies to automate the operations while reducing the environmental impact. Dust suppression equipment is deployed around the coal depot, systems to wash the transshipped coal, and industrial vacuum machines to clean the coal port. Coal dust is highly explosive when suspended in air and notoriously flammable.
SUEK announced plans in 2019 to undertake a four-year project to double the size of the terminal’s operations. Built to handle 12 million tons, after a previous upgrade it can handle 24 million tons and according to SUEK under certain conditions can operate up to rates of 30 million tons. The current expansion, which was due to be completed by 2023, will increase the annual capacity to approximately 40 million tons. They are adding a second pier to have the capacity to load up to four ships at one time as well as the construction of a triple car dumper, and additional coal storage. They are also introducing advanced re-loaders.
Industry analysts noted that other terminals in the region are continuing to function although total output is expected to be reduced until the Vanino Bulk Terminal can return to service.
Ethiopia's Mega-Dam is About to Reshape the Water Politics of the Nile
A US Geological Survey image shows green farmland marking a distinct boundary between the Nile floodplain and the surrounding harsh desert (USGS)
Amid an increasingly bitter war and an impending famine in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, there is still, perhaps, one issue that unites Ethiopians, no matter their political views: that their country has the absolute right to develop and use its hydroelectric potential on the Blue Nile (or as the river is named in Ethiopia, the Abay). And that potential is on the cusp of being realized.
For the past decade, the second most populous country in Africa has been building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), about 25 miles from the border with Sudan. The dam is a strand of continuity between Ethiopia’s ousted political regime, which started the construction and now finds itself fighting the federal government over Tigray, and the post-2018 government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who recently won a commanding majority and his first five year term in office. Once complete, the GERD will be capable of producing as many as 6,450 megawatts (MW) of electricity, ranking it as one of the world’s largest dams and by far Africa’s largest dam by electricity production. To put the GERD in perspective, only five dams outside of China have greater installed production capacity.
Sudan and Uganda have both built large Nile dams in recent years, and there are numerous older dams on the Sudanese portion of the Blue Nile. Until now, the Nile’s largest dam was at Aswan, Egypt (installed capacity of 2,100 MW). Completed in 1970, it transformed Egypt by ending the Nile’s seasonal floods, creating hundreds of thousands of acres of newly arable, irrigated land, and bringing electricity to millions of Egyptians. It was also built without consulting upstream countries, drawing on antiquated colonial treaties to which Ethiopia, which escaped colonialization, was never a party.
The GERD, in a sense, offers Ethiopia an Aswan moment. It promises to provide power to millions of poor Ethiopians; only 47 per cent of the country’s 115 million people are currently connected to the grid. The dam could make Ethiopia a clean energy hub, providing cheap power to growing economies across the region. But much has changed since 1970. Then, Egypt had just 27 million people, Ethiopia 22 million, and Sudan 8 million. In 2020, Egypt’s population had reached 102 million, Ethiopia’s 115 million, and Sudan’s 44 million. But Ethiopia’s future population growth promises to be the most explosive, doubling by 2050 to more than 200 million; Egypt is projected to grow to 160 million, and Sudan to 80 million. Even if population growth slows significantly, the amount of available water will clearly not increase on a per capita basis.
In effect, Egypt’s concerns about the GERD are a preview of the downstream country’s present and future econo-hydrological challenges. More than 80 per cent of the Nile water that reaches Egypt comes from the Blue Nile and the Ethiopian highlands. In its objections to the GERD, Egypt has cast the issue as a national existential crisis. In the GERD dispute, questions of emotion and identity have been ignored in favour of material and technical arguments about water security. Competing conceptions of state identity and entitlement make technical compromises over the dam’s operation much harder to reach. Still, more than 80 per cent of Egypt’s water is consumed by agriculture, an increasing amount of which is destined for export rather than local needs. What the GERD risks for Egypt is upsetting the national expectation that the country will be ever fertile, defying the desert.
In September, Ethiopia announced that the GERD would begin to produce power in the coming months. Dam construction continues despite an impasse in the trilateral negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. For now, heavy rainfall and high seasonal flows on the river have averted a crisis, allowing the dam to fill without significant downstream consequences. But for several years, the characterisation of the dispute has changed little; wrangling over the dam has proceeded as if the day of completion would never come. The GERD is almost a fait accompli; now, more water flows into the reservoir each day than can physically exit the dam wall. Negotiations, therefore, are no longer about a hypothetical change on the river; change is already here.
Due to its scale, the case of the GERD could be an important example of how to approach, or not approach, future transboundary water management in an increasingly water scarce world. More than 260 watersheds cross the borders of two or more countries, and approximately 40 per cent of the world's population lives in transboundary river and lake basins. While not all transboundary watersheds are shared by countries at loggerheads, imperatives for regional cooperation may still not trump national interests. In Ethiopia, despite a war, a worsening economy, and growing international pressure, the GERD is an indisputable priority and a point of national pride; for some, it is even a cause to support the Abiy government. Given its present difficulties, the rhetoric of an Ethiopian renaissance may be overstated, but despite the challenges, Ethiopia’s development ambitions remain very real.
Aly Verjee is a political analyst. A fellow of the Rift Valley Institute, he was a visiting expert and then senior advisor to the Africa Center at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC. Previously, he was deputy and then acting chief of staff to the former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae, the chair of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission overseeing the 2015 peace agreement in South Sudan.
This article appears courtesy of The Lowy Interpreter and may be found in its original form here.
Can Indonesia Become a Fisheries Leader Again?
With the former fisheries minister jailed for corruption, Indonesia has the chance to resume a hard line on illegal fishing
Fishing boats on the shore, Java, Indonesia (Adam Cohn / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
This July, Indonesia’s former fisheries minister Edhy Prabowo was sentenced to five years in prison after a court found him guilty of accepting bribes to lift a ban on the export of lobster larvae.
The decision by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was widely praised by environmentalists and fisheries organisations. But the case remains a sign that Indonesia has fallen away from its position as an exemplar of sustainable oceans policy.
Edhy’s sentencing came a little more than two years after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo unexpectedly appointed him instead of sticking with incumbent fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti. Susi had become popular in Indonesia thanks to her hard line on illegal fishing, which included blowing up culpable vessels. Entering at the beginning of Jokowi’s second term, Edhy undid several of Susi’s policies as the president pushed for a greater focus on GDP growth over long-term sustainable practices.
“It’s the same president, but a different direction,” said Arifsyah Nasution, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace Indonesia, on the changes since Jokowi’s 2019 re-election. “We’ve had several major setbacks, and still we don’t have any progressive direction from the current government.”
Edhy was replaced by Sakti Wahyu Trenggono in December 2020, shortly after the KPK announced its case against him. The new fisheries minister has made some positive moves, but it remains to be seen if he’ll return to the more dramatic, effective and popular policies of Susi.
From sustainable management to prioritizing the economy
Indonesia has more than 17,500 islands and the ocean makes up more than three-quarters of its territory. The fisheries sector is central to the economy, providing $27 billion in gross domestic product, supporting seven million jobs, and supplying more than half of the country’s animal-based protein intake.
Despite being the world’s largest archipelago nation, Indonesia had played a relatively small role in global fisheries and ocean policymaking. That changed when Jokowi picked Susi to be his first fisheries minister in 2014. Relatively unknown but with extensive experience of fisheries, she soon made waves globally with her decisive action on behalf of Indonesian fishers.
During her five years at the head of the ministry, Susi took a hard-handed approach, most visibly through her policy of seizing and sinking foreign vessels fishing illegally in Indonesian waters. She also made public the country’s boat-tracking data, and pushed to reduce environmentally dangerous fishing practices by small-scale fishers.
“She was willing to take on the power elite when it came to the large-scale commercial fishing industry that was detrimental to both the fishing communities and fisheries resources,” said Sally Yozell, director of the Environmental Security programme at the Stimson Center in Washington DC.
Susi proposed the lobster larvae export ban in 2016. Lobster aquaculture in countries like Vietnam and China depends on imports of larvae and juveniles. They are first caught in Indonesian waters before being transported and grown in submerged cages abroad, and then sold as adults often at a large profit.
Indonesia is one of a few countries able to export large numbers of lobster larvae, and their stocks had been depleted by exploitation prior to the ban. It was also hoped that limiting exports would encourage lobster farming domestically, providing income for coastal communities.
Along with her boat-scuttling policies, she introduced policies to stem the use of environmentally harmful fishing methods such as bottom trawl nets, which scrape the ocean floor and damage coral reef ecosystems and bottom-dwelling species. The health of fisheries duly improved, with studies showing an increase in biomass in Indonesian waters and a reduction in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Under Edhy, the boat destruction stopped, bottom trawl nets returned and data-sharing with the non-profit Global Fishing Watch (GFW) ended.
Since the departure of Susi in 2019, there have been several leadership and staff changes in the fisheries ministry, said Ko-Jung Lo, GFW’s regional manager for Asia. “The renewal of our agreement with the ministry was delayed because of these changes and, as a result, Indonesia suspended its Vessel Monitoring System data feed to our map.”
Uncertain future
Not everyone was happy about Susi’s policies. She had opponents in the capital, Jakarta, and among business interests. This, along with a shift towards more economy-minded decision-making, is believed to have led to her replacement.
“Globally, almost everyone was disappointed to see someone who was working to manage the fisheries sustainably, in a country that is the world’s second largest producer of seafood, be replaced,” said Yozell. “She was really trying to balance sustainably managing fisheries with the economic needs of the fishing industry.”
Since taking over, the current fisheries minister, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, has shown more willingness to engage with civil society, and has been in contact with Susi, according to Arifsyah. In June, he brought back the ban on exporting lobster larvae, and the following month, he reimposed bans on destructive purse seine and bottom trawl fishing. There are concerns, though, about the ministry potentially giving licences to foreign fishing boats to operate in Indonesia.
Bustar Maitar, CEO of Indonesian NGO EcoNusa, said that reducing the number of permits given to foreign fishing boats “will surely provide larger space to small fishers”. He added: “The Indonesian native fishers therefore could catch fish in Indonesian waters.”
Also of concern is Indonesia’s Omnibus Law on Job Creation, a 1,028-page bill that became law late last year. The broadest amending of Indonesia’s legal code in decades, it modified or annulled 79 different laws that govern land use, environmental impacts, infrastructure and much more. It has the potential to speed up the implementation of environmentally harmful development projects such as ports, coal plants and land reclamation – without proper local consultation or environmental impact analysis.
“We’re concerned that the omnibus law will result in more conflicts on the ground, because the environment and coastal communities will be deprioritised,” said Arifsyah.
Despite the uncertainty at the fisheries ministry, GFW is focusing on working with local governments and organisations, especially on a challenge that Susi wasn’t able to address during her first term – managing small-scale vessels.
“Small-scale fisheries are a vital source of nutrition and income for many communities in Indonesia. Yet nearly all small-scale fishing, which makes up almost 90 percent of Indonesia’s fishing sector, is unmonitored and unreported,” said Lo. “With more affordable tracking technology and better monitoring data, we would like to support Indonesia’s small-scale fisheries sector [in] efforts to promote legal, reported and regulated fishing activity.”
Arifsyah hopes that Sakti, and President Jokowi, turn back to the model implemented under Susi, which also means playing an active role in global conferences and negotiations.
“Let’s bring back Indonesia’s leadership in the international forum,” said Arifsyah. “Share the challenges, and be proactive in commitments around saving the ocean and ending human trafficking. That is something that we hope the current minister takes forward.”
Nithin Coca is a Southeast Asia based freelance journalist who covers development, environment, and sustainability. His feature and news pieces have appeared in global media outlets including Al Jazeera, Quartz, Engadget, Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, Vice, and several regional publications in Asia and the United States.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.
STATE CAPITALI$M IS STILL CAPITALI$M
Chinese Shipyard Closes Due to Lack of Profitability
Hospital ship Global Mercy in 2020 at the Tianjin shipyard (Mercy Ships)
One of China’s mid-sized shipbuilders, Tianjin Xingang Ship Heavy Industry, announced that it will stop all operations as of the end of October. The disbanding of the company comes despite the recent resurgence in shipbuilding orders and China’s overall leadership in the industry.
The Shanghai International Maritime Information Research Center reported that the shipyard is shutting down for the second time in its history due to heavy financial debts. They reported that insufficient profits from shipyard operations in recent years led to the decision to cease operations. The shipyard announced that it has discharged its labor contracts with employees and will stop all of its operations and production by the end of the month.
Tianjin Xinjiang had relocated its operations in 2017 focusing both on new ship construction up to 500,000 tons and ship repair for ships up to 300,000 tons. It had a capacity to build ships up to about 1,000 feet in length.
In operation since 1940, the shipyard had previously been reorganized about twenty years ago. It filed for bankruptcy in 2000 but completed a restructuring of the operations the following year.
Tianjin completed construction to the 39,000 gross ton Global Mercy for Stena RoRo in June 2021. The vessel, which is the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, will begin operations in 2022 for Mercy Ships. First steel for the vessel was cut in 2015 with the floating out taking place at the beginning of 2020. Especially design for Mercy Ships, it is being billed as the most technologically advanced ship of its kind. It has six operating rooms, 200 beds, a laboratory, general outpatient clinics, and eye and dental clinics. The total area of the hospital department is more than 75,000 square feet.
The shipyard also completed the construction of two 210,000 dwt bulk carriers built for COSCO Shipping Bulk Transportation Co. The vessels, each of which measures 984 feet in length, were delivered in May and June 2021, promoted as a new generation of a large bulk carrier. The shipyard said the vessels’ design incorporated “intelligence, green, environmental protection, energy-saving, and reliable” technology.
The reports indicate that Tiajin’s operations will likely be divided up going to other parts of the Chinese state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, which has also been undergoing a reorganization to improve results. Tianjin's shipbuilding business is expected to be taken over by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry while the ship repair business will become part of Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding. The reports did not include any details on the size of the shipyard’s orderbook.
U.S. Coast Guard Locates Wreck of Famed Cutter USRC Bear
As a steamship, commissioned warship, Revenue Cutter and Coast Guard Cutter, Bear served for nearly nine decades in icy waters
The former USRC / USS / USCGC / SS Bear going down off Nova Scotia, 1963 (USCG)
The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have identified the location of the lost Coast Guard cutter Bear, one of the most significant vessels in the history of U.S. Arctic exploration.
The seal hunting steamship Bear was built at Dundee Shipyard in Scotland in 1874, and she served the first ten years of her life in the Newfoundland sealing fleet. Her wooden hull was stout and heavy, with three layers of six-inch planking and an iron-plated bow for service in ice. In 1884, the U.S. Navy purchased her and put her immediately into service in the search for the lost Greely Expedition, an ill-fated U.S. Army mission to Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. Bear and three other vessels retrieved the seven survivors of the mission at Cape Sabine.
After this mission, the U.S. Navy transferred USS Bear to the U.S. Treasury for service in the Alaskan Arctic. She would serve the U.S. Coast Guard (and its predecessors) for the next 41 years. In the Alaskan Patrol, she was the sole federal presence in a far-flung frontier, ferrying government officials; holding trials; enforcing the law; conducting search and rescue; providing medical care; and taking soundings to improve safety of navigation.
Revenue Cutter Bear, center, assisting SS Corwin in ice at Nome, Alaska (USCG)
Under the command of her most famous C/O, Capt. "Hell Roaring" Mike Healy, the ship and her crew also helped introduce reindeer to Alaska, providing a new source of food for native tribes. The Bear also played a high-profile role in the famous Overland Rescue of 1897, when Bear's crew rescued the crews of eight icebound whaling ships near Point Barrow - driving a herd of the same reindeer with them to provide the survivors with food and transport.
She continued her work in the Arctic until 1926, when she retired to Oakland and became a museum ship. Not one to sit idle for long, she was purchased and put back into service for the Byrd Expedition to Antarctica in 1931, then recommissioned into the Navy in 1939 - just in time to get ready for WWII. In the Second World War, she served in the Greenland Patrol in the northeast Atlantic until 1944, when she was replaced by a more modern vessel.
In 1948, Bear was resold into commercial sealing service once more, but the market for seal fur was not what it once was, and she lay idle at berth for many years. In 1962, she was resold and refitted for use as a floating restaurant. While under tow to Philadelphia, her new commercial home port, she went down in a storm about 100 nm off the coast of Nova Scotia. One of her masts collapsed in the gale and punched through the hull, sending her below.
Her location was lost to the world until 2019, when a new Coast Guard vessel of the same name - the medium-endurance cutter USCGC Bear - located two possible targets for the wreck site during a sonar survey. U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA researchers returned to the area earlier this year on the USCG buoy tender Sycamore, bringing a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with high-resolution underwater video cameras. Despite challenging conditions on site, the team managed to obtain footage that positively identified the wreck as the Bear.
“Several elements were fundamental considerations for the identification,” said NOAA maritime heritage coordinator Joe Hoyt at a news conference this week. "It was within a few miles of where we expected it to be. The consistency and general dimensions in the layout of the vessel, the lack of an engine, but evidence of engineering space consistent with the historic record. It had an engine that had been [removed] prior to its loss."
In addition, video of the wreck's forefoot - the very bottom of the bow - showed five iron bow staples matching the appearance of the Bear's construction, as documented by period photos of shipyard repairs. The ROV search also found a large iron casting believed to be Bear's propeller post.
Iron bow staples on USRC Bear in a period shipyard photograph (above) and on the wreck (below) (NOAA)
Testing to Begin on the Tallest, Most Powerful Wind Turbine Ever Built
When installed the new 15 MW wind turbine is expected to be the tallest and most powerful to date (Vestas)
Testing on what is expected to become once installed the tallest and most powerful offshore wind turbine in the world is due to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022. Developed by Vestas, the V236-15 MW will stand over 900 feet with a production output of 80 GWh/year. It is likely to become a stepping stone, as plans for 16 MW wind turbines have already been announced.
Vestas has decided to install the V236-15 MW offshore prototype wind turbine at the Østerild National test center for large wind turbines in Western Jutland, Denmark. The installation of the prototype turbine will take place in the second half of 2022 and its first kWh is planned for the fourth quarter of that year. The prototype will be installed onshore to facilitate easy access for testing before installation, and the main prototype components will have already undergone thorough testing and verification at Vestas' test facilities.
The prototype development work has already progressed across Vestas’ R&D and production sites in Denmark. The blade molds have been developed at Vestas’ blade factory in Lem and the 380-foot prototype blades will begin manufacturing later this year at Vestas’ offshore blade factory in Nakskov. The nacelle will be developed and assembled at the offshore nacelle factory in Odense. All large components will be preassembled and transported to Østerild, where the installation will take place.
With a swept area exceeding 43,000 m2, the V236-15.0 MW is on track to become the next step in the growth of offshore wind power generation. Producing around 80 GWh/year, it will generate enough power for around 20,000 households and displace more than 38,000 tons of CO2. According to Vestas, the V235-15.0 MW is designed to be part of larger installations reducing the number of turbines at the park level.
Launched in February 2021, Vestas reports that the new turbine has its first pre-selected tenderer status with the 900 MW He Dreiht project in Germany.
The turbine may be a stepping stone, as wind turbines continue to grow in size. Several manufacturers have discussed 16MW turbines or larger. Chinese wind turbine manufacturer MingYang Smart Energy in August 2021 announced plans for the first 16MW unit which they said would also be available as a prototype in 2022.
