GT Green Technologies Secures £1.35 Million in Seed Equity Funding

Artist’s impression of a 20-meter AirWing unit to be installed on Carisbrooke Shipping’s general cargo vessel later this year. Courtesy of GT Green Technologies

PUBLISHED APR 15, 2024 9:58 AM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

[By: GT Green Technologies]

GT Green Technologies is a pioneering force in wind technology, dedicated to revolutionising commercial shipping with innovative Wind Assisted Propulsion (WAP) solutions. Their flagship product, AirWing™, represents a breakthrough in sustainable maritime technology which is set to reduce fuel costs, reduce carbon emissions, and help shipowners comply with stringent environmental regulations.

Funding Announcement

GT Green Technologies closed a £1.35 million seed equity round, led by OnePlanetCapital, an early-stage VC focused on businesses that impact climate change.  Alongside OnePlanetCapital, GT Green Technologies received strategic investments from Carisbrooke Shipping and John Good Group plc, plus financial backing from several notable climate focused angels, alongside a retail tranche with over 500 investors undertaken on crowdfunding platform, Seedrs.

The broad interest in the round reflects the growing interest in WAP for commercial shipping, and the early positive results the company has been able to demonstrate through testing and simulation.

This seed funding, in combination with a recent £3.7 million CMDC4 grant from the UK Department for Transport, will fund the manufacture, installation, and testing of the first AirWing™20 unit later this year. It will also facilitate the commercial rollout of both the 20m unit, and future 30m and 40m product iterations.

Will O’Malley, CFO at GT Green Technologies expressed excitement about the funding. “Closing this seed round enables us to accelerate execution of our exciting strategy. We are thrilled to have attracted a leading climate focused VC, alongside a consortium of high quality strategic and financial investors. The appeal of the round is evidence of the strength of our proposition and reflects our potential to make significant positive environmental change.”

Anthony Chant, director of OnePlanetCapital, said of the round; “GT Green Technologies is one of the most exciting investments we have made in the greentech space. The opportunity set for the company is enormous as the shipping industry reacts to new regulations, with the company’s WAP technology a potential game-changer in the sector.”

Thordon Delivers SXL Water Lubricated Rudder Bearing to Research Ship

The Ocean Endeavour in drydock where Thordon’s SXL rudder bearing was installed

PUBLISHED APR 15, 2024 9:48 AM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

[By: Thordon Bearings]

Thordon Bearings, the pioneer in water-lubricated bearings, secured a new order for a rudder bearing that was fitted to a 77.1m (253ft) research ship that frequently operates in ecologically sensitive marine environments. The order underscores the value of Thordon’s grease-free bearing and seal solutions in helping to keep oceans and seas clean.

The 38-year-old Ocean Endeavour, operated by the UK’s Gardline, a multi-disciplinary marine survey company which operates a fleet of 13 multi-role survey ships, was recently fitted with Thordon’s SXL rudder bearing at UK Docks Marine Services’ Teesside drydock. 

Bruntons Propellers, Thordon’s new authorized distributor in the UK, secured the order from the UK-based ship repair group, which operates drydocks and berths throughout the country.

Ocean Endeavour, which runs a pair of Ruston 8RKCM main engines driving a single four-bladed CP propeller, was previously fitted with a bronze rudder bearing. This required replacement due to age-related wear and tear, and bronze bearing replacement is expensive.

This kind of system also requires lubricating grease, which increases the risk of pollution with grease leaking into the ocean. Thordon’s water-lubricated SXL bearing, the far more cost-effective option, negates completely the need for grease.

Neil McDonald, Thordon Bearings’ Regional Manager, Northern Europe & Africa, said: “The lead time and price we offer for our SXL solutions are two major benefits for ship owners and the yards carrying out refit work. A like-for-like bronze bush replacement would have taken twelve weeks for the part to be delivered and would have been very expensive. We were able to get the SXL material to the yard in a matter of days and for significantly less. It’s also a better product!

“With UK Docks Marine specifying SXL we contribute to the vessel and Gardline’s ESG commitment and continued environmental performance. I would also like to emphasize the fast service and delivery provided by our new distributor, Bruntons Propellers.”

Jonathan Shaw, Managing Director, Bruntons Propellers, said: “We have hit the ground running as the new UK and Ireland distributor for Thordon Bearings.  As a major propeller supplier to owners and yards around the world we were approached by UK Docks Marine Services to find a new rudder bearing solution following the Ocean Endeavour’s return. A particular shout out goes to Celia Birnie, our UK & Ireland Sales Executive, who is working with Thordon to ensure the vessel maintains its schedule.”

The vessel returned to home port Great Yarmouth, UK, after carrying out seismic exploration surveys around the Northwest Coast of Australia.

McDonald added: “This order clearly demonstrates Thordon’s ability to ship the required repair items very quickly, to avoid any delays for the ship or inconvenience for passengers and crew,” said McDonald. “The SXL bearing is also easier to machine and fit, once on site, compared to conventional bronze bearings.”

The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.

 

Royal Navy to Deploy Advanced Laser Weapons by 2027

Courtesy Dstl / Royal Navy

PUBLISHED APR 12, 2024 4:29 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The U.S. Navy's surface warfare leaders have been frustrated with the slow pace of development of a laser air-defense system for shipboard service. The Houthi drone campaign in the Red Sea has shown the potential value of a system that could shoot down endless swarms of slow-moving targets at near-zero cost - but even after decades of R&D, such a system does not yet exist at deployable scale in the United States. In Britain, it does, and the Royal Navy will be getting laser air-defense weapons starting in 2027. 

The UK's DragonFire is a combined beam fiber laser in the 50 kW class, and was designed to defeat drones and mortar shells. Britain's ministry of defense spent a few humdred million dollars to develop it, a fraction of the multi-billion-dollar budget for U.S. laser weapons programs. 

"DragonFire shows the best of the UK at the forefront of military technology, and we will not delay in getting it in the hands of our military to face down the threats we’re facing," said UK defense minister Grant Shapps on Friday. 

DragonFire's makers claim to have cracked one of the biggest problems with laser weapons: the extended time period that the beam must be on target in order to burn through and defeat it. Conventional weapons hit instantaneously; laser weapons hit cumulatively. DragonFire is designed to reduce this challenge with a concentrated, combined beam.  

The Royal Navy was planning to deploy DragonFire from 2032, but it has moved up the timeline and will now begin installation in 2027. 

“We recognize this cutting-edge UK laser weapons technology as highly relevant and the need to accelerate it into service on board our ships at the earliest opportunity," said Captain Matt Ryder, Head of Above Water Battlespace in the Royal Navy’s Develop Directorate. “In the Southern Red Sea, we see a very relevant and current example of where laser weapons could provide an additional layer of defense to protect shipping, at a potentially much lower cost per shot."

 

Repurposing Harmful Fisheries Subsidies Could Reduce Poverty

iStock / Laura Ragsdale

PUBLISHED APR 14, 2024 1:24 PM BY CHINA DIALOGUE OCEAN

 

 

[By Louise Teh and Rashid Sumaila]

Each year, governments around the world give billions of dollars to their fishing sectors. These public funds – around $35.4 billion annually, according to 2018 estimates – pay for everything from building ports to research and development.

Some subsidies can be beneficial, for example by promoting conservation. Others are classified as harmful because they promote overcapacity (too many vessels chasing the same fish) and overfishing. Subsidizing fuel for long-distance fishing, for example, supports excessive fishing that overexploits both fish populations and fuel, the latter leading to more greenhouse gas emissions. Worryingly, harmful subsidies make up the bulk of fisheries subsidies.

Fishery subsidies currently perpetuate social injustice too. Over 90% of the world’s fishers work in the small-scale fishing sector, predominantly in developing countries where average income is below the World Bank’s extreme poverty threshold, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tuvalu. However, the majority of subsidies go to large, industrial fisheries – around 80% according to the most recent estimates.

This injustice is compounded by the fact that while harmful subsidies mainly originate from nations that score highly on the Human Development Index, in other words rich countries, they have a disproportionate impact on low or very-low HDI nations.

When unsustainable practices are carried out by industrial fleets, the sheer scale of the resulting damage depletes the fish populations that are crucial to coastal, small-scale fisheries. Therefore, subsidizing industrial fleets can contribute to harming marine ecosystems, human livelihoods, food security and the socioeconomic well-being of coastal fishing communities.

These low-HDI nations already tend to have low management capacity and a larger number of vulnerable fish populations, and may also face pressure from the distant-water fleets of a handful of rich governments.

Progress and setbacks at international level

Despite widespread recognition that harmful fisheries subsidies must be removed to ensure sustainable fisheries, efforts to counter this situation are stalling. The most recent international negotiations on such subsidies, held in February 2024 under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), were a major disappointment.

In 2022, WTO members took the historic step of agreeing to prohibit subsidies that facilitate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the exploitation of overfished populations, and fishing on the high seas. By contrast, this year’s negotiations failed to produce a second set of broader rules to ban subsidies that contribute more generally to overcapacity and overfishing.

In addition to this setback, the 2022 agreement has only been ratified by 71 WTO members as of March 2024; to come into force, it requires 110. So, many governments continue to subsidize the overexploitation of our oceans and the injustices this produces.

A fairer way forward

Our group at the University of British Columbia has been studying both the amount and the effects of different types of fisheries subsidies since the early 2000s. Recently, we looked at the 30 least developed coastal countries and asked: how much current poverty among fishers could be eliminated by redirecting harmful subsidies?

We found that the average income of fishers in these 30 countries fell far below the World Bank’s extreme poverty benchmark of USD 1.90 per person per day. Put simply, the average fisher does not have enough money to support their basic living needs. This risks the well-being of their household and community.

The fisheries world finds itself in a situation where governments are subsidizing environmentally damaging fishing practices, while coastal fishing communities are living in abject poverty: the latter is bearing the brunt of resource overexploitation.

Clearly, governments are not putting the public’s money in the right place. Would it not make sense if, instead of funding overfishing, governments put those same funds towards alleviating fishers’ poverty?

Our work shows it would cost approximately USD 2.65 billion per year to eliminate extreme poverty among fishers in the world’s 30 least-developed coastal nations. Together, these 30 countries provided USD 850 million in harmful fisheries subsidies in 2018. But in 11 of these countries, the amount spent on harmful fisheries subsidies would also be enough to lift their fishers out of extreme poverty. This implies these nations hold in their own hands the means to begin mitigating this situation.

The right thing to do

Redirecting harmful fisheries subsidies towards alleviating poverty in coastal fishing communities is worth considering because it could achieve a double benefit: to both biodiversity and human society. It could even be a way to bypass the WTO’s stalled negotiations; and no one country would be at a disadvantage, because each would simply be redirecting state subsidies.

In terms of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, such redirections would contribute directly to several: goal 14.6, the (overdue) target of eliminating many harmful fisheries subsidies by 2020; goal 1, zero poverty; and goal 2, zero hunger.

Many details need to be ironed out before this change could be implemented. What mechanism could be used to transfer money, and who would be eligible to receive it, are just two of the critical questions.

Nonetheless, there are numerous pre-existing national and international social assistance programs that could serve as a model. The argument for a basic income, which centers on the same principle of providing a minimum level of income to a subset of a country’s total population, has gained momentum in recent years – especially since the Covid-19 pandemic began. For instance, Spain and Togo provided a minimum income level to poor and vulnerable people in response to pandemic-induced economic turmoil.

Ending harmful subsidies could do more than end the damage of unsustainable fishing practices. It could also lift fishers out of extreme poverty and bring about social, human health and environmental gains.

Louise Teh is a research associate at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, part of the University of British Columbia.

Rashid Sumaila is a professor at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, at the University of British Columbia.

This article appears courtesy of China Dialogue Ocean and may be found in its original form here. 

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

 

Fire Breaks Out Aboard Ship at Harland & Wolff

Courtesy Harland & Wolff

PUBLISHED APR 12, 2024 7:44 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

On Thursday, a fire broke out aboard a vessel under repair at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, prompting an evacuation. 

According to the shipbuilder, the fire broke out in a tank space and shoreside firefighters were called in. All personnel were safely evacuated, and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire has already been determined as "accidental," but an investigation is still ongoing, Harland and Wolff said in a statement. 

"Harland and Wolff takes safety of all personnel as the most important priority," the shipbuilder added. 

Harland & Wolff was once the builder of some of the world's most iconic vessels, including the ill-fated Titanic. Like so many Western shipbuilders, it came under heavy competitive pressure from Asia in the 1990s and 2000s, and its business declined, but it has been on a turnaround trajectory since it was acquired out of bankruptcy in 2019. It has picked up new government business, like a $66 million project to revive the former Royal Navy mine-hunting vessel HMS Quorn for export to Romania. It recently partnered with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia on a successful bid to supply three dry stores auxiliaries to the Royal Navy, a contract worth a staggering $2 billion. 

It also has an expanding portfolio of small commercial projects, like a contract to build a fleet of garbage barges for waste-management firm Cory Group - its first newbuilds in two decades. The ship-repair side of its business is also thriving with contracts for ferry, cruise, defense and offshore operators.

 

Spice and Vice

Europe’s Age of Discovery had a little bit of everything – and something for us, too.

iStock

PUBLISHED APR 12, 2024 9:42 PM BY ERIK KRAVETS

 

(Article originally published in Jan/Feb 2024 edition.)

 

Gather ‘round for a story about German bankers, Dutch rebels, Spanish and Portuguese royals, Asian sultanates and English pirates. Such a cast of actors was surely destined for leading roles in one of the most exciting episodes in the history of shipping: the Age of Discovery.

First, what was being discovered? Eratosthenes had already proved Earth was a sphere in 240 BCE. He had even fixed its diameter by calculating from the shadow of a stick in the ground at noon. Moreover, territories “found” or “claimed” by explorers were already merrily lived in by locals. What of the Fountain of Youth or El Dorado? Well, we’re all still trying to find those two.

What was discovered, then? It distills down to two pillars of civilization: money and law. From the European perspective, thanks to a few reckless sailors, both took a leap into the unknown.

Spice Routes

The ancient Silk Road had, for hundreds of years, been Europe’s way to import Asian spices. The Roman capital, Constantinople, was in the middle of a winding caravan route that led to China through the sands of the Middle East and the mountains of Afghanistan.

With the capture of Constantinople in 1453 by Ottomans, the Silk Road had a new gatekeeper. Some suggest Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror’s taxes were so high that it led to ocean shipping doing what it does best: finding a workaround. Others thought it was just easier to go by water than to walk.

Pindar once sang, “Mortals love potent gold more than all the names of wealth,” and thus the royals of Europe and their hirelings set out to reforge the world’s commercial map.

Portugal had negotiated exclusive right to the eastbound ocean routes to Asia in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), and that right became valuable when Vasco da Gama bypassed the Silk Road by navigating around the African Cape in 1497. The Moluccas, located in distant southeast Asia and known simply as the Spice Islands, were transformed into a Portuguese trading post. All this was made possible by the caravel, the lateen sail, the compass and advanced cartography.

Meanwhile, Spanish treasure fleets had siphoned off Aztec and Incan loot from South America. Eager to acquire new sources of funding, Spain looked west. In 1520, on a royal commission, Ferdinand Magellan sailed around South America – and the world! – and returned to Europe with 26 tons of cloves and cinnamon in his hold. Even that was enough to turn a profit!

In the following decades, Spain carried spices from Asia to Europe through Mexico. The competition irritated the Portuguese, but what could they do? Portugal was up against a European superpower. The Spanish Hapsburgs encompassed Germany, Austria and Hungary along with parts of Italy and France. They had also inherited the Netherlands in 1482.

Trade Wars

But for all of Spain’s dominance and success, the sea dogs were nipping at her heels.

The Protestant Dutch, who resented the Catholic Spanish, rebelled in 1566. And England’s Queen Elizabeth began issuing letters of marque to privateers like John Hawkins and Francis Drake, who slaved and bartered their way along the West African coast and raided the Spanish Main.

Soon, struggling Spain defaulted on its debts and abandoned its army in the field without pay. The Dutch seized their opportunity and declared the Republic of the Netherlands in 1579. The economic hopes of this new country were pinned on its capital, Antwerp. Goods from around the world were cleared through Antwerp, but the Portuguese role was especially significant. Since 1501, Antwerp had been Portugal’s clearinghouse for Northern European spice sales.

The Dutch Republic was victorious in battle but could be hurt economically. Specifically, Spain was maneuvering to absorb its chief rival, Portugal. Enough Portuguese nobles were frustrated by a succession crisis, in which three grandchildren of King Manuel I had all laid claim to the throne, that they were willing to trade sovereignty for stability.

The last forces loyal to the Portuguese monarchy were crushed at the Battle of Alcantara near Lisbon. Dom Antonio, who had been made king of Portugal just 33 days earlier, fled with his crown jewels into French exile.

For the Dutch, this turn meant all sea spice routes into Europe were under the control of the Hapsburgs, with whom they were at war. Having neutralized Portugal, and having recovered its finances, Spain resumed hostilities in the Netherlands. 1584 saw Antwerp under siege. The city was sacked and reduced in population by over half.

In 1591, the Portuguese redirected their custom to the Fuggers, a German family banking syndicate, and to “in-house” Spanish and Italian firms operating out of Hamburg to distribute spices throughout Central Europe. To the delight of the Hanseatic merchants on the Elbe River, the Dutch had been shut out.

Just as Spain and Portugal reacted to the fall of Constantinople, the Dutch looked for an alternative when their old suppliers came under strain. They sent Frederik de Houtman to Java in 1595 to make a bargain with the Bantamese locals, who were persuaded by local Portuguese agents to jack up their prices so high that the Dutch opted to raid Portuguese ships instead.

De Houtman returned to the Netherlands with stolen spices and a big profit, but not until after skirmishing with locals, bombarding the city of Banten and killing a Maduran prince. Did this chaos hurt? He proved the Dutch could do damage and still finish off their annual books in black ink.

The English, sensing an opportunity, formed the East India Company on December 31, 1600 under the auspices of a royal charter granted by Queen Elizabeth. The Netherlands wasted little time, birthing the United East India Company (VOC), better known as the Dutch East India Company, in 1602. The game was afoot.

Modern Innovations

Imagine a simpler world – without stock exchanges, corporate governance or angry shareholders. Many of these innovations originate with the Dutch East India Company.

Famously, it held the world’s first initial public offering. The VOC charter stated in Article 10 that all “residents of these lands may buy shares in this Company,” with no minimum or maximum. These were held in a registry and could be bought or sold by the shareholders in a stock market. What’s more, shareholders’ liability was limited to the capital they had committed to the VOC.

For all its innovations in company law, the VOC also made a contribution to maritime law that is broadly valid to this very day: Without fast communications, decentralization was necessary to sustain operations straddling far-away continents. Ship captains were deemed “agents” of the VOC, which is a legal fiction still found in many Continental statutes. For example, the German Commercial Code states that the captain is an “agent of the owner” and the Dutch Civil Code includes numerous provisions affording the captain a similar authority.

The English East India Company, though it relied heavily its royal charter, also made contributions to the understanding of legal personhood – meaning a corporation should be treated as a self-sufficient, self-contained entity with its own rights and duties. And by its operations in multiple countries and its exercise of quasi-sovereign powers, e.g., by instigating its own military conflicts with local powers or by minting its own coinage, it afforded the English legal system its first stress test against the kaleidoscopic problems posed by multinational corporations.

As excellent as the VOC’s legal innovations were, its commercial legacy is mixed and its reputation deeply marbled by behavior that today would be considered totally wrong. Further, as awestruck as Europeans were by the profits from trading with Asia, from the Asian perspective trade with Europe was only a small fraction of their overall commerce.

The markets of China, Japan, Arabia, India, Java and Malaysia were already part of a vast network to which Portugal and Spain and then, subsequently, the Netherlands and England had just gained access. What made this moment different from before was that the middlemen had been cut out.

Despite its flaws, the VOC’s legacy has endured. In 2006, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Balkenende, advocated for a revival of the “VOC mentality” – a mentality that would, presumably, at this point be more than four centuries old and which he associated with optimism, resilience and risk-taking. The comment drew its share of criticism, of course.

The English East India Company, meanwhile, has found its own weird afterlife as a London-based luxury goods brand.

From the Age of Discovery to Self-Discovery

Wrestling with these contradictions and curiosities will keep historians busy. Anything as complex as the Age of Discovery will inevitably undergo its own process of exploration – with moral questions, facts and interpretations always emerging.

It’s up to each of us to decide whether to remain open to the many inspirations history can offer or simply accept that the East India Company should maybe be just a cute place on New Bond Street where we can buy that fancy new purse.

Who knows? Perhaps what you just read will launch your own Age of Discovery.

“Be what you are, once you have learned what that is,” to quote Pindar again. 

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

 

EU Funds Project to Help Autonomous Systems Handle Imminent Danger

Ingrid Bouwer Utne (Photo: Ole Martin Wold)

PUBLISHED APR 14, 2024 1:28 PM BY GEMINI NEWS

 

 

[By Steinar Brandslet] 

Human beings are generally good at understanding when something is dangerous. This is an advantage that evolution has honed. People who don’t perceive danger are more often weeded out of the gene pool when faced with life’s challenges.

Robots and autonomous systems are not as good as humans when it comes to understanding risk and collaborating, which needs to be improved. This will be an advantage for the people monitoring the robots and for feeling safe onboard autonomous ships.

The European Research Council (ERC) has allocated $2.6 million to NTNU professor Ingrid Bouwer Utne and the BREACH project through an ERC Advanced Grant. This type of grant provides a large sum of money to selected researchers who have conducted outstanding research for over ten years. BREACH stands for ‘Breaching the boundaries of safety and intelligence in autonomous systems with risk-based rationality’.

“Sensing danger is important, but understanding situations and making decisions are not sufficiently integrated into robots and autonomous systems. One of the innovative things about this project is that we are going to work on risk and situational awareness for both robots and human operators in parallel. Robots need to be designed to assess risk, but these assessments should also be available to operators, so they know what the robots are ‘thinking’,” says Professor Bouwer Utne.

The professor conducts research and teaches at the Department of Marine Technology. She is part of the Marine Energy Systems and Autonomics research group, which in turn belongs to the Fjordlab section of the Norwegian Ocean Technology Centre.

Providing increased safety in many areas

As robots and autonomous systems take over more of the day-to-day operations in different areas, it also affects the people whose job it is to operate and monitor them.

“Our work will contribute to safer types of transport, more advanced mapping, inspection and monitoring of oceans and land, and more trust in autonomous systems in society,” says the professor.

If machines are to contribute more to making different decisions, this also challenges the situational understanding of the people operating and monitoring the systems.

“The BREACH project will link risk assessments to control algorithms and artificial intelligence. This will support the decisions that both autonomous systems and human operators will make,” says Professor Bouwer Utne.

The results will help autonomous systems become better at assessing risk in collaboration with human operators.

Funding research excellence

“This is an innovative and unique application of risk science that requires new theory and methods. The project is the result of several years of research work connected to the NTNU AMOS Centre of Excellence,” says Professor Bouwer Utne.

AMOS, which stands for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems, was discontinued last year. BREACH is a multidisciplinary project in which risk science plays a key role. However, the work also includes topics related to cybernetics, artificial intelligence and interaction between humans and machines.

“I am very happy and grateful that the grant application was successful. ERC Advanced Grants are really hard to get, and the application process has been demanding. The funding is recognition of the project and a vote of confidence in me as a researcher and project manager,” says Professor Bouwer Utne.

She is really looking forward to getting started on the work.

“At the Department of Marine Technology, we are proud of what Ingrid has achieved and the recognition that comes with an ERC Advanced Grant, but we are most pleased with the opportunity it provides to develop safer autonomous marine and maritime systems – for the benefit of society and European industry,” says Head of Department Sverre Steen.

The grant will fund four PhD positions and two post doc positions, and the project will run over a period of five years.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

 

Two Dozen Runaway Barges Force Bridge Closures in Pittsburgh

Barges wedged against the upstream side of the Emsworth Dam (Courtesy USACE)

PUBLISHED APR 14, 2024 2:12 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

On Saturday, a large-scale barge breakaway forced the temporary closure of two bridges on the Ohio River. The bridges were undamaged and reopened shortly after, authorities said. 

The Pittsburgh area experienced an unusually heavy rainfall event on Friday night, lifting the Ohio River and creating stronger currents. 26 barges broke away from a fleeting area and drifted downstream, damaging two marinas and piling up against the Emsworth Lock and Dam. 

Pittsburgh's West End Bridge was closed to traffic as a precaution, and the Brunot Island rail bridge was temporarily taken out of service. Both have reopened, according to barge operator Campbell Transportation. 

One private small-boat marina was hit and sustained "extensive damage," according to local authorities. A second marina was also hit and lost about 90 boat slips, according to the Pittsburgh Trib. 

Courtesy USACE

25 of the barges have been relocated. Nine were pressed up against the Emsworth dam, four made it past the dam, and one has sunk. Out of the 26 loose barges, all but three were loaded with dry bulk cargoes, including coal and fertilizer.

The U.S. Coast Guard is the lead agency for the response and the follow-up investigation. The cause of the breakaway is not currently known, but river currents were unusually high at the time of the casualty.  

Barge breakaways are a routine occurrence on the inland waterways, but rarely result in serious damage to bridge infrastructure; taken individually, each barge has a minute fraction of the displacement of a modern container ship like the Dali, the 10,000 TEU boxship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month. Many inland bridges have also been upgraded with protective infrastructure to defend against the foreseeable risk of a barge tow strike. 

 

FBI Boards Dali to Start Court-Authorized Criminal Investigation

Three weeks after the allision, the FBI is now aboard the vessel for a criminal investigation (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District)

PUBLISHED APR 15, 2024 11:39 AM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

Investigators for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) boarded the containership Dali early on Monday morning, April 15, to open a criminal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the catastrophic events that caused the collapse of the Francisco Scott Key Bridge and the loss of six workers on the bridge. The move came as Baltimore reported it has hired legal counsel and lawyers representing three of the road workers also said they were pursuing legal efforts. At the same time, the ship’s owners and managers have filed efforts to limit their liability and share salvage costs with the cargo owners.

Several teams of investigators were seen going aboard the vessel as first reported this morning by the Washington Post. They said the vessel was boarded shortly after daylight with three small boats going alongside and at least two teams were seen climbing the ladders onto the ship.

In response to media inquiries, the FBI issued a brief statement saying it was “presently aboard the cargo ship Dali conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity.”

The teams are looking at the vessel’s condition before it left the dock with rumors that the crew knew the vessel had “serious systems problems,” according to the Washington Post report. The U.S. Coast Guard previously confirmed the ship had been undergoing what they termed “routine maintenance” while it was docked in Baltimore.

The National Transportation Safety Board last week said it was pursuing its investigation focusing on the vessel’s electrical power system. NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy told a Senate panel last week they were looking at the electrical systems and in particular mentioned the circuit breakers. This came after a media report said tests by the fuel supplier showed the fuel sourced in New York for the vessel met specs.

The NTSB is continuing with its investigation and the U.S. Coast Guard has also commenced its Marine Board of Investigation looking into the causes of the incident. The Washington Post reported that the FBI’s criminal investigation will take precedence and citing unnamed sources they said the USCG would suspend evidence collection while the FBI was conducting its efforts.

News of the criminal investigation came as the City of Baltimore also announced it was taking legal steps to proactively and aggressively address the situation. Baltimore reported it has retained two external legal firms to work on the case.

The City said it will, “launch legal action to hold the wrongdoers responsible and to mitigate the immediate and long-term harm caused to Baltimore City residents. Through this engagement, the City of Baltimore will take decisive action to hold responsible all entities accountable for the Key Bridge tragedy, including the owner, charterer, manager/operator, and the manufacturer of the M/V Dali, as well as any other potentially liable third parties.”

Maersk, which was the time charter of the Dali, and MSC which shares routes through the 2M Alliance, reported on Friday that they had been notified that the vessel’s owners have declared General Average. The move will let Grace Ocean which owns the Dali and Synergy Marine which manages the vessel share the costs of the salvage with the cargo shippers. 

“No indication is communicated so far as when and where their vessel will be berthed and discharged, but this decision indicates that the owners expect the salvage operations to result in high extraordinary costs for which they expect contribution from all salvaged parties under General Average,” MSC wrote in a customer alert.

The salvage operations both to remove the wreckage of the bridge and to release the Dali are continuing. As of April 11, the Unified Command reported that approximately 38 containers have been removed. The removal of these containers they said is a critical step required to safely move the Dali and eventually fully re-open the Fort McHenry Channel. Removing containers will allow for safe access to then remove the pieces of the Key Bridge that lie across the ship’s bow, taking weight off the ship and ultimately enabling the ship’s movement.

East Coast's Biggest Crane Barge Hoists Giant Piece of Baltimore Bridge

Courtesy USACE

PUBLISHED APR 14, 2024 6:56 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

For the first time, contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have brought in the East Coast's biggest crane barge to remove a section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The large section of the main span was located in the federal navigation channel, and removing it will help advance the work to clear a "limited access channel" for smaller merchant ships. 

The barge, the Chesapeake 1000, is operated by Donjon Marine and was originally built for in-yard operations at Sun Shipbuilding in the 1970s. (It has a unique Cold War history.) It was upgraded from 800 short tons to 1000 short tons in capacity in the middle of its career, and it can lift more than any other floating crane on the East Coast. So far, it has been on standby while smaller cranes handled pieces up to several hundred tonnes in size, but Sunday's big lift speeded up the process by removing a large chunk at once. 

Images courtesy USACE

The wreckage below the water is a tangled mess, and many of the steel members are under extreme tension. The debris is partially embedded in the soft silt on the bottom, making cutting impossible. The unified command plans to use a mechanical grab and mechanical shears to pull out pieces of this wreckage with minimal risk to personnel. 

All of the wrecked material is being transported to a five-acre site at Tradepoint Atlantic, a multipurpose terminal located seaward of the bridge. There, a team of workers with torches and heavy equipment are cutting each section into small pieces for recycling. Tradepoint EVP Aaron Tomarchio told the Virginia Pilot that the process is like "eating an elephant."

The task is substantial, but the Army Corps is confident that it can get the limited access channel cleared by the end of the month and the full navigation channel reopened by the end of May. The main limiting factor on speed of completion is the safety of the workforce, and the serious hazards that they have to contend with above and below the waterline. 

Courtesy USCG

The Army Corps is working with the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Diving and Salvage to oversee dive operations, which are being carried out by an all-contractor dive team. (No military personnel are involved below the water.)  Rick Benoit, a diving specialist with USACE's emergency response division, says that the clearance operation below the water is beyond hazardous. 

“It may sound dramatic but given the wreckage field created by the collapsed bridge the environment divers are working in and the dangers posed to them is like cleaning the site of 9/11 with blinders on," said Benoit. 

It would be difficult to design a more hazardous work environment. The water temperature is cold enough to induce hypothermia after an hour, even in diving gear, so each dive is limited to 45 minutes. Visibility is near zero, about one or two feet, and bright lamps can't be used because the suspended solids just reflect the light back. An unstable tangle of jagged steel, heavy concrete and pointy rebar awaits in the murk, ready to crush, trap or impale the unwary. The rebar doesn't show up on sonar, so divers find it by touch or by sight. Even the bottom is hazardous: divers can sink into the soft silt, where more sharp debris might be waiting. 

Courtesy USACE

“I guarantee every diver down there has that on their mind, but they can’t be afraid—they can’t stop going into work—because the work has to be done,” Benoit said. 

The possibility of finding human remains adds another level of complexity. If remains are found, state police and public safety divers would take charge of the recovery effort.