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)
Friday, August 16, 2024
South Africa Commissions New Tugs and Launches in Port Renewal Plan
New tugs being commissioned to improve operations in Durban (Transnet)
Transnet National Ports Authority, the government operator of South Africa’s ports, celebrated the commissioning of five new tugboats for the port of Durban on Thursday, August 15. The vessels, along with two launches received last week, are part of the renewal plan launched 12 months ago to improve operations and efficiency at the country’s ports.
South Africa’s main seaports have experienced long backlogs and delays with analysts highlighting the inefficiency in the operations which were plagued by a lack of investment. The ports including Durban, Cape Town, and Richards Bay, have ranked at the bottom of the World Bank’s annual report. The problems were highlighted a year ago when the government promised efforts to improve the operations.
The renewal plan provides for approximately $56 million in investment including for the acquisition of “reliable and fit-for-purpose” equipment. Transnet admitted that much of its fleet is outdated and reached the end of its operational lifespan.
Four new more powerful tugs were christened yesterday for Durban (Transnet)
Yesterday, officials gathered to celebrate the naming and commissioning of five new Damen ASD tugboats delivered by Damen Shipyards Cape Town. The first four vessels were delivered in June and had been undergoing outfitting and training. Three additional tugs are being delivered for a total of seven new vessels for port operations.
Five of the vessels are being placed in service in Durban, with the four named yesterday due to begin operations in the coming week. Two others will begin operations in the Port of East London in September. Transnet highlights the new vessels have a 60-ton bollard pull replacing older vessels with between 32 and 40-ton bollard pull capacity.
The new vessels have advanced hull designs and use modern, efficient diesel machinery. They are fitted with Azimuth Stern Drive and will be used for pilotage, towing, firefighting, marine search and rescue, and to combat waterside pollution.
Two new launches for operation at Cape Town (Transnet)
Last week, Transnet also commissioned two new launch boats built by Sandock Austral Shipyards for operation in Cape Town. These smaller vessels are critical for operations in confined sea channels and can assist with towing and pulling vessels. They will also be used to run mooring lines and assist in docking as well as with fishing and other smaller vessels.
Transnet reports it is 12 months into the 18-month renewal plan. With the commissioning of the new tugs, it now has a fleet of 38 tugboats operating at eight commercial ports. Fourteen of the tugs are being based in Durban with a focus on enhancing operations at South Africa’s largest seaport.
Video: Wreck of Torpedoed WWI Troop Ship Discovered off Greece
SS Arcadian going under after a torpedo hit. Men can be seen abandoning ship off the port side (Imperial War Museum)
A Greek diver and explorer has fulfilled a decades-long dream to find the wreck of a lost WWI troop transport, the SS Arcadian.
The Arcadian was built in 1899 at the Vickers yard in Barrow-in-Furness, and she was originally christened Ortona. The ship served the Pacific Steam Navigation Company's route from London to Australia for seven years, then entered service with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. She was retrofitted as a luxury cruise ship at Harland & Wolff in 1910 and renamed RMS Arcadian. At the time of her first cruise in 1912, she was the world's largest full-time cruise ship.
RMS Arcadian, seen here as RMS Ortona (Frederick Charles Gould)
In early 1915, as the UK prepared for an amphibious assault on Gallipoli, the British Admiralty chartered Arcadian for use as a command ship. She was soon repurposed as a troop ship for operations in the Mediterranean and served in that capacity for most of the war.
On April 15, 1917, Arcadian was under way from Greece to Alexandria, Egypt. Just as her crew and passengers were completing a lifeboat drill, she was attacked by the German U-boat UC-74. A single torpedo struck her engine room, and she went under in less than six minutes. The crew managed to lower four lifeboats away, and 1,056 people abandoned ship and survived. 279 lives were lost in the sinking, including many of the engineering crew and the galley crew.
One of the survivors, Thomas Threlfall, had survived the sinking of the Titanic exactly five years earlier, and he was grateful that he could abandon ship into the waters of the Aegean rather than the North Atlantic. "This time we had calm sea and warm weather, and you had a chance, but with the Titanic you died in the water almost as soon as you got in," he told media at the time.
The wreck of the Arcadian was lost to time until this year, when it was rediscovered by Greek researcher Kostas Thoctarides at a position off Sifnos, resting at a depth of about 500 feet. The vessel landed bow first and settled to the bottom in an upright position.
"The main feeling was excitement and a sense of satisfaction. For a long time we have been reading this thrilling story that has so many fascinating aspects," said Thoctarides. "For us it was a journey into the past and the history of the Arcadian, which is unknown to most people in Greece."
Serbia Begins Raising a Fleet of Sunken Nazi Patrol Boats From Danube
The government of Serbia has begun a large-scale salvage project to raise and remove a fleet of Nazi vessels that were scuttled in the Danube in the closing days of the Second World War, and contractors have brought the first of dozens of armed German patrol boats to the surface.
In August 1944, German forces were retreating from the Red Army across Eastern Europe. Russian forces had advanced as far as the Serbian-Romanian border, seizing the Iron Gates of the Danube upstream of Prahovo. This cut off the only escape route for the Kriegsmarine's Kampfgruppe Zieb, a flotilla of 200 German patrol vessels and support boats. The small fleet was in danger of being captured by Soviet troops, so the flotilla commander ordered all 200 hulls scuttled in the Danube.
When these Nazi boats were sent to rest on the bottom, they partially blocked the Danube, temporarily delaying the advance of Soviet riverine forces. Some were removed by the Russians later that year to open the navigational channel, and some were restored and reused in the fight. However, the vast majority remained in place for eight decades, embedded in sediment and slowly deteriorating. Their hulls and their munitions continue to threaten modern shipping on the Danube, and during recent summer droughts and low-water events, the fleet has occasionally resurfaced into public view.
To ensure safety of navigation on the Danube, Serbia has plans to remove dozens of these 80-year-old wrecks from the bottom. A crane barge hoisted the first one out of the water last week, according to Goran Vesic, Serbian Minister of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure, and 21 more will follow in the weeks to come. During a second phase, another 80 wrecks will be removed.
Courtesy Goran Vesic
"Every ship that is taken out undergoes a detailed inspection with the dismantling of the explosive devices that remained in them. It lasts ten days," said Vesic. "When this process is completed, we will allow the public to see part of the sunken Nazi fleet, which has been making navigation on this part of the Danube difficult for eight decades."
Photos taken of the first vessel reveal the substantial unexploded ordnance hazard aboard these wrecks. The boat came out of the water with intact wooden cases of cannon shells and other munitions.
A nearly-intact Mauser 98 rifle (right) was among the boat's cargo (Goran Vesic)
These include a mini-invasion of Nazi zombie films such as Shock Waves, Night of the Zombies, Zombie Lake and Oasis of the Zombies. ... The increased popularity ...
Efforts Underway to Restore Two Surviving Fletcher-class WWII Destroyers
USS Kidd is in dry dock till February 2025 for badly needed repairs (USS Kidd Veterans Museum)
Two of the surviving World War II era U.S. Fletcher-class destroyers are getting much-needed preservation work after years of service as museum ships. The USS Kidd entered dry dock this week after a long delay while in New York funding was announced for the repairs to the USS The Sullivans.
The Fletcher-class was the largest and most important destroyer class for the U.S. Navy during WWII with the U.S. building and commissioning 175 of the vessels in just three years from 1942 to 1944. Today, only three survive in the U.S., with only the Kidd in its original WWII wartime configuration, and one more sister ship is in Greece.
Both the Kidd and The Sullivans are in desperate need of repairs. The Sullivanssank at her berth in Buffalo, New York in April 2022. It required an extraordinary effort to right the ship from her list and make temporary repairs. The repairs need to be made permanent to ensure that she remains afloat. The USS Kidd is normally on display in Baton Rouge, Louisiana but her director told the Advocate newspaper if the repair effort had waited another year “she might have sunk right in the cradle.”
Kidd
Launched from the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry-dock Company in New Jersey the Kidd was the U.S. Navy’s 661 first destroyed (her designation is D-661) and she was part of a record-breaking three-ship launch completed in just 14 minutes on February 28, 1943. She was named after Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd, Sr. who was killed aboard the USS Arizona during the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The Kidd went on to distinguished service earning eight battle stars during World War II and four additional for service in Korea. She, however, was decommissioned in 1964 and would have eventually gone to scrap except she was left largely intact, and instead, she was designated to become a museum ship. She arrived in Baton Rouge in 1982 and opened the following year as part of the USS Kidd Veterans Museum. (Read her full history online.)
The display in Baton Rouge is unique because of the water level changes during the year on the Mississippi River. The Kidd was placed in a specially designed cradle. Half the year she is afloat and then as the river level falls, she sits on dry dock blocks. The arrangement however after 40 years has caused damage to the hull. Getting her out of the cradle was a challenge due to the water level, and they had to remove four feet of her rudder.
USS Kidd in dry dock -- note the cut to her rudder (USS Kidd Veterans Museum)
The ship was stuck in Baton Rouge in 2023 due to a drought and finally moved to the ThomaSea shipyard in Houma, Louisiana in April. She had been undergoing some dockside work waiting for the dry dock where she was moved on August 13 in a 7-hour process. The full project is projected to cost $11 million for major repairs and renovation including the hull, repainting, installation of a new sewage system, and repairs to the cradle. The Kidd should leave the dry dock in February but will have to wait till possibly May 2025 and a sufficient water level to return to Baton Rouge and her cradle.
The Sullivans
Shortly after the Kidd should return to her museum, The Sullivans is expected to leave Buffalo in September 2025 for a dry dock in Lake Erie where she along with the submarine USS Croaker are scheduled for repairs. Both ships should return to Buffalo in the spring of 2026.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced this week that the state is providing $10 million toward the restoration project for the Kidd and a submarine which is expected to total nearly $21 million. Additional local, state, and federal funding for $11 million has also been committed to the project.
The Sullivans Dewatering after she sunk in 2022
The Sullivans (D-537) is unique as she is the only U.S. Navy vessel named for multiple people, five brothers who famously died together aboard the USS Juneau in November 1942. The destroyer was commissioned in their honor in April 1943 and was decommissioned in 1965 with 11 battle stars. She was moved to Buffalo for display in 1977. (Read her full history online.)
New York’s funding will also go to the restoration work on the USS Croaker, one of 77 Gato-class submarines constructed during World War II. Commissioned in 1944, she conducted six war patrols in the Pacific theater and remained active till being decommissioned in 1971. She was placed on display alongside The Sullivans in 1988, but the Croaker is not in her original World War II configuration. She was converted to a “hunter-killer” submarine with added sonar, radar, and quieting capabilities to combat the Russian threat during the Cold War.
The Sullivans is part of a multi-ship display in Buffalo (NY State)
These projects come after a flurry of other high-profile restorations this year in the United States. The battleships USS Texas and USS New Jersey each completed extensive dry dockings. The John W. Brown, one of only two remaining, fully operational WWII “Liberty ships,” is spending July and August in a dry dock in Norfolk, Virginia. After she arrived, it was discovered that she required more extensive hull repairs. The hull work was completed this week, and she is scheduled to leave the dry dock next week and later will return to her berth in Baltimore.
John W. Brown nearing completion of her overhaul in Virginia -- SS John W. Brown (Project Liberty Ship)/Facebook
WWIII
After Run-In With PLA Fighter, Manila's S. China Sea Deal May Be Reviewed
PLA fighter launches a flare near a Philippine military aircraft over Scarborough Shoal, August 8 (AFP)
After a Chinese fighter released flares in front of a Philippine patrol plane at Scarborough Shoal last week, Manila says that its recent de-escalation agreement with Beijing could be up for review.
The two sides recently reached an agreement to de-escalate tensions at Second Thomas Shoal, a frequent flashpoint in the Spratly Islands. It sits within the Philippines' internationally-recognized exclusive economic zone and within China's unilateral "nine-dash line" sovereignty zone, which was dismissed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague in 2016.
Beijing and Manila have released different interpretations of the terms of their new de-escalation agreement - in particular, the degree of control that China may exert over navigation in Philippine waters. The Philippine Coast Guard's main spokesman, Cmdre. Jay Tarriela, said last month that "the Philippines did not and will not seek permission from the PRC" for missions to and from Philippine outposts.
After just one resupply mission under the agreement, its future appears uncertain. This week, Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa Lazaro told Reuters that the deal applied only to Second Thomas Shoal, and it could be re-evaluated if needed. "The review will be there. When that will be is subject to further discussion," she said.
Her comments followed just days after Manila protested a run-in between a Chinese jet and a Philippine patrol plane at Scarborough Shoal, another contested reef within the Philippine EEZ. Video obtained by the Philippine Inquirer shows that the jet released multiple flares near the patrol plane's path, forcing the pilot to change course.
On Sunday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. denounced the run-in as “unjustified, illegal and reckless.” Manila has made a formal diplomatic complaint about the encounter to the Chinese embassy, adding to a list of more than 100 previously filed protests.
In a related development Wednesday, Chinese state media has accused the Philippines of attempting to "occupy" Sabina Shoal, another reef in the Philippine EEZ just east of Second Thomas Shoal. The Philippine Coast Guard has stationed a cutter at Sabina Shoal for months, and state-owned Chinese outlet Global Times said Wednesday that the PCG will soon make a "vile attempt" to install "a forward deployment base in the form of a semi-permanent floating platform."
This "platform" will consist of a second PCG cutter anchored alongside the one that is already present at Sabina Shoal, according to Global Times. If accurate, the tactic would be a small-scale adaptation of the rafting system used by the Chinese maritime militia's trawlers, which often accumulate in anchored groups in contested areas of the Spratly Islands.
"China has repeatedly stated that it will not allow the Philippines to wantonly occupy [Sabina Shoal], so of course China will not allow the Philippines to deploy another large coast guard ship to anchor . . . and increase the scale of the floating platform," Yang Xiao, a South China Sea specialist at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.
USCG Polar Icebreaker Healy Returns to Seattle After Fire Suspends Mission
Healy arriving back in Seattle today after a fire suspended her 2024 mission (USCG)
The U.S. Coast Guard’s polar icebreaker Healy returned to Seattle prematurely on August 16, approximately two months into her 2024 mission after having suffered a fire. The Coast Guard's statement is downplaying the incident saying that no one was injured, and the return is out of “an abundance of caution.”
The vessel deployed on June 13 on her mission which was planned for three stages. She was in the first phase, which called for her to operate in the Pacific and the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, and conduct a broad-scale survey of the boundary current system from the Bering Strait to the western Canadian Arctic.
The fire occurred the Coast Guard is confirming on July 25 while in the vicinity of Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. The report says that the Healy’s crew and contractors restored power to the affected motor, but the cutter returned to Seattle to “ensure all redundant systems are fully operational before returning to the Arctic.”
In a written statement, Capt. Michele Schallip, Healy’s commanding officer said, “While transiting to a collection site, we suffered a fire on a transformer. I am immensely proud of the crew for quickly extinguishing the fire and limiting damage to that equipment.”
The Coast Guard is emphasizing that the Healy’s crew and embarked researchers conducted more than 150 conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) casts to investigate the circulation and properties of the water, monitored for signs of harmful algal blooms, and collected observations on marine mammals and birds in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. Additionally, two subsurface moorings were deployed that are equipped with multiple sensors collecting oceanographic data on the physical, chemical, and biological state of the Arctic Ocean.
Leaving the Arctic means that the U.S. does not have a presence in the region during the critical research period while other countries are active there. The U.S. currently only has the Healy which is now 25 years old and the Polar Star which has been in service for 48 years and currently is undergoing a life extension overhaul. Construction of the next generation of polar icebreakers is significantly over budget and delayed and the USCG is moving toward acquiring and activating a commercial vessel, but it will not be in service till 2026.
Speaking in Washington, D.C. Coast Guard Admiral Kevin Lundy confirmed that the age of the Healy could make repairs difficult. He said that the equipment is “antiquated,” and that replacement parts were not readily available.
It is not the first time the Healy has suffered a life-threatening fire. In July 2020, she caught fire while 60 nautical miles off Seward, Alaska on her way to the Arctic. It was an electrical fire which was extinguished in 30 minutes, but one of her motors was badly damaged. She spent the winter of 2020-201 in dry dock receiving a new motor that had been built for her in 1999 and stored for over 20 years.
The Healy is designed to break 4.5 feet of ice continuously at three knots and can operate in temperatures as low as -50 degrees Fahrenheit. The USCG has not indicated if she can resume her mission. She was scheduled to embark 20 early career polar scientists and their mentors on a Polar Chief Scientist Training Cruise in the second portion of her 2024 mission and finally to support the Global Ocean Ship-Based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP), which aims to make the first ever single ship, single season, high-resolution transect of hydrographic observations across the Arctic basin.
U.S. Coast Guard Closes In on Purchase of Icebreaker Aiviq
The U.S. Coast Guard is closing in on the purchase of the privately-owned icebreaker Aiviq, and has formally confirmed that the vessel will be homeported in Juneau.
Aiviq was built in 2012 as an icebreaking anchor-handler, and she initially supported Shell's Arctic offshore drilling program. During a tow in Gulf of Alaska weather conditions in December 2012, she encountered seas of 20-30 feet and lost power in all engines due to water in fuel contamination. An after-accident inquiry found that this was likely caused by immersion of the low-freeboard stern and seawater infiltration through tank vents. Her tow, a unique ice-class drill rig, ran aground and was ultimately scrapped, and Shell suspended its Arctic drilling ambitions.
Aiviq was little-used for many years after the casualty, but has more recently operated as a charter vessel for Antarctic research. The owner has been open to leasing or selling the vessel to a government user since at least 2016, but the U.S. Coast Guard initially resisted, citing concerns over Aiviq's commercial design. Seven years later, facing rising maintenance challenges aboard its two active icebreakers, the Coast Guard received $125 million from Congress to buy the Aiviq as an interim solution.
After an 18-month period of vessel modifications, the Coast Guard plans to use Aiviq as a medium icebreaker for government service in Alaska and the far north. The vessel will take pressure off medium icebreaker USCGC Healy - which recently suffered a shipboard fire - and will fill in until the long-delayed delivery of the Coast Guard's new heavy icebreaker series, the Polar Security Cutters.
“As we continue to build the Polar Security Cutters, acquiring a commercially available polar icebreaker will enable the Coast Guard to increase our national presence in the Arctic, and homeporting this cutter in Alaska demonstrates the service’s steadfast commitment to the region," said Adm. Kevin Lunday, Coast Guard vice commandant.
The Aiviq's new homeport assignment will bring jobs and development to Juneau. The Coast Guard will bring in about 190 crewmembers for the vessel, and provisioning and maintenance will create economic activity. The service has already acquired a 2.4 acre plot of waterfront land from NOAA, and is expected to spend millions of dollars on building a homeport pier complex, with support from Alaska's congressional delegation.
Ferries to Demonstrate First Green Corridor Operating for a Week on Biogas
Already eco-friendly, the deluxe ferry Viking Glory and her running mate Viking Grace will demonstrate the Baltic green corridor sailing for one week using only biogas (Viking Line)
Viking Line, the Baltic ferry operator based in Finland, plans to demonstrate the future Baltic Green Corridor with special operations between Turku, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden later this month. For one week, two of the company’s ferries will operate using only liquified biogas resulting in a 90 percent reduction in harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
“This is a historic moment for us, the Baltic Sea, and maritime transport,” said Viking Line’s Sustainability Manager, Dani Lindberg. “Scheduled service has never before been powered solely by biofuel. We have invested 450 million euros in our climate-smart vessels Viking Grace and Viking Glory, and one of their most important features is that they can run on LNG, biofuel, and future synthetic fuels produced from renewable energy.”
The company is involved in the efforts to develop a green sea corridor in the Baltic targeting the routes between Turku and Stockholm as well as between Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia. While these efforts are ongoing and the supply of biogas is yet to be expanded, Viking Line plans to kick off a special celebration for Baltic Sea Day by demonstrating the world’s first green corridor.
From August 29 to September 4, Viking Glory (built in 2022 and 65,000 gross tons) and Viking Grace (built in 2013 and 57,500 gross tons) will only be operating on LBG. The vessels are equipped to run on sustainable fuel and have run on it for limited periods instead of their normal LNG fuel. Viking explains that while biogas is already a part of its fuel mix today, availability and the price put a damper on it currently. According to the company, when it is available it currently costs twice as much as LNG.
The biogas for the special week will be supplied by Gasum. It will be made in Europe entirely of food and agricultural waste and fully certified. The vessels make an approximate 11-hour trip between the two destinations as well as offering passengers the option of a 24-hour cruise. Viking estimates a week of biogas operations will generate about 2,600 fewer tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. They equate that to the annual average carbon dioxide footprint of 270 Finns.
Viking drew attention a year ago when it began offering passengers and cargo shippers the option of paying a surcharge for their travel to be with biofuel. The base fee for a passenger adds SEK 26 (approximately $2.50) to the fare. Viking reports when it began highlighting the option on its booking system the number of trips using biofuel increased 500 percent.
Viking Line, the Ports of Stockholm, and the Port of Turku signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2024 formalizing the efforts to launch the green corridor. Efforts will phase in with the goal for the corridor to be 100 percent carbon-neutral by 2035.
Renewable energy giant Ørsted further highlighted the problems in the nascent sustainable fuel market for the shipping industry highlighting that it was unable to secure a contract at a reasonable for the offtake from its pioneering plant. The company surprised investors by reporting today that it has decided to defer the program known as FlagshipONE, which was under construction and due to begin production in 2025.
FlagshipONE was hailed as a game-changer in 2022 when Ørsted acquired the project while it was in the design phase from Swedish e-fuels company Liquid Wind. Expected to produce around 50,000 tonnes annually of e-methanol the project was using wind power in northern Sweden along with biogenic carbon from the nearby forestry industry. It was to use renewable energy and captured biogenic carbon dioxide in production while sharing steam, process water, and cooling water with a nearby plant and returning excess heat from production into the regional heating system.
“The liquid e-fuel market in Europe is developing slower than expected, and we have taken the strategic decision to de-prioritize our efforts within the market and cease the development of FlagshipONE,” Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted announced during the company’s half-yearly results announcement.
FlagshipONE's construction began in May 2023 with reports saying the company was expected to invest $175 million in the development of the pilot project. They said at the time it would signal a new era in green shipping.
Nipper said the company however was unable to secure long-term contracts for the e-methanol at a “viable price.” Based on this, Ørsted reports it has shut down the project and is taking an impairment charge of over $220 million this quarter related to ceasing execution of FlagshipONE.
“We will continue our focus and development efforts within renewable hydrogen, which is essential for decarbonizing key industries in Europe and closer to our core business,” Nipper told investors.
There continue to be discussions across the shipping industry and regulators about the challenges of developing a supply of sustainable fuels for the industry. One of the big concerns is the anticipated high prices far above traditional fuels with repeated calls for establishing surcharges and funds to help bridge the gap and build demand for the new fuels. Maersk, a strong proponent of methanol, recently admitted continuing challenges and confirmed it was looking at other biofuels and LNG as it moves forward this year with a fleet renewal effort for as many as 50 to 60 ships.
Ørsted’s decision to cease the methanol project comes as the company continues to execute a revised strategy after recording significant charges in 2023 including the ending of two planned large offshore windfarm projects in the U.S. It took further charges this quarter revising the value of the leases but reversed a charge for the Sunrise Wind project in the U.S. which it has decided to move forward after it was successful in its rebid with New York State.
In a further development which Nipped called “frustrating and unsatisfactory,” the company cited further problems in the “early stage” U.S. offshore wind energy market. While saying Ørsted’s portfolio overall is performing well, he said they are now experiencing delays related to Revolution Wind, a 704 MW project that has started construction offshore between Connecticut and Rhode Island.
“Despite encouraging progress on our U.S. offshore wind project Revolution Wind, the construction of the onshore substation for the project has been delayed,” Nipper announced today. “This means that we have pushed the commercial operation date from 2025 into 2026, which led to an impairment.”
The company recorded a nearly $309 million impairment charge due to the delays at Revolution Wind as part of an overall impairment charge of $470 million this quarter for all parts of its business. Reuters quotes Nipper as saying that it is no longer a supply chain problem in the U.SD. wind sector but a specific challenge with substation. He said offshore work at Revolution Wind was “going according to plan.”
Overall, he told investors that Ørsted’s operations are performing well and particularly the earnings from its offshore wind farms. He highlighted that it was maintaining EBITDA guidance for the full year, and increasing earnings expectations for Ørsted’s offshore wind business.
Royal Navy’s Auxiliary Officers and Ratings Trade Ships for Picket Lines
Nautilus union members hit the picket line for the first time ever against the Royal Navy's Auxiliary (Nautilus)
The ongoing pay dispute between two of the UK’s leading unions and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary continues to escalate with Nautilus International highlighting the first strike in the history of its members. The union is staging a one-day strike on August 15 followed by a second one-day strike by compatriot union RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) tomorrow August 16.
The dispute has been dragging on for months since the government awarded the officers and crew of the RFA a 4.5 percent pay increase for 2023/2024. The unions demanded more citing the rate of inflation in the UK but made no headway with either the prior government or the new government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The new Armed Forces Minister in the Labour Government, Luke Pollard, promised a review but according to the unions, no new proposals have been put forth. The Minister confirmed that the RFA would be included in the broader Defense Review which was announced at the end of July. The Ministry however in the meantime has also demanded that the union members call off their actions against the RFA.
According to the press office of the RMT, there have “only been vague commitments to settling the dispute.” The RMT told members on August 1 to stand down and not to turn out for any duty on that day in the first-ever strike. Members were told to ensure the safety of the ship including moorings and gangways, but not to perform any tasks. The RMT is repeating the call tomorrow.
“Our members are fed up,” said Nautilus director of organizing Martyn Gray. “For too long, the RFA, the Royal Navy, and the Ministry of Defence have relied on the goodwill of our members to carry out essential operations…The key message from our members is simple. They are overworked, underpaid, and undervalued.”
The two unions aligned their efforts. Both say it is a long-term systemic problem that has not been addressed through a succession of governments. In real terms, they contend the latest 4.5 percent pay increase represents a pay cut of over 30 percent since 2010.
Today, Nautilus members were reported to be stopping work on vessels in the Far East, the Mediterranean, and those in and around the UK. Picket lines were set up near the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead as well as in Portsmouth and Portland.
The current 24-hour stoppages are a further escalation of the efforts that began earlier in the year with what is known in the UK as “action short of a strike.” This is things such as refusing overtime or non-regular shift work. The unions emphasize that ships and personnel are never being put in danger by their actions.
Nautilus officials said they moved to the strike because the UK government still has not yet presented a pathway forward. They plan to continue the work slowdowns and will consider additional strikes if the Ministry of Defence does not respond with a meaningful offer for members of the two unions.
RMS Arcadian, seen here as RMS Ortona (Frederick Charles Gould)
Courtesy Goran Vesic
