Monday, October 07, 2024

Exploring the Wrecks and Ammo Dumps of Norway's Largest Lake

Mjosa wreck — In autumn 2022, researchers collected a sonar image of what may be Lake Mjøsa’s oldest known shipwreck. (NTNU)

[By Mads Wang-Svendsen]

It took just eight years from U.S. President John F. Kennedy sharing his ambitions to put a man on the moon until Neil Armstrong stepped out of the Eagle spacecraft in 1969 and made history.

Experts in everything from medicine and biology to computer science and engineering were involved, and at its peak, NASA estimates that as many as 400,000 people contributed to making Kennedy’s vision a reality.

The first manned moon landing in history is therefore a good example of what can be achieved when expertise is mobilised across disciplines and work is focused over time.

This has led some people to ask why we don’t simply do the same when faced with major societal challenges like the current climate change and environmental crisis.

The answer probably lies in the fact that the challenges of our time differ significantly from the moon landing.

Many open-ended questions

“The moon landing had a very specific goal. As soon as the first humans set foot on the moon and were safely transported back to Earth, the mission was in many ways completed,” explains professor of applied ethics at NTNU, Siri Granum Carson.

She also points out that the moon landing was predominantly a technical achievement. Although it required contributions from a range of different disciplines, it was primarily a matter of technology.

This is not the case with the biggest challenges we face today: “When has sustainable management of a natural resource ever actually been achieved? What measures and initiatives are best suited for the transition to a low-emission society? And how do you get the people who will be affected in various ways by the development on board?” asks Carson.

These are open-ended and difficult questions. Questions that in many ways make the?challenges of our time far more complex than the moon landing.

“It is against this backdrop that we must try to understand Mission Mjøsa,” says Carson.

To what degree are the fish affected by pollutants? The project is broad and will study the entire ecosystem.

Has never been done in freshwater

Carson is acting head of one of the six research groups that make up Mission Mjøsa – a five-year research programme with an interdisciplinary approach that can in some ways be compared to the Apollo space programme.

Engineers and biologists are standing shoulder to shoulder with philosophers, social scientists and historians to ensure that Norway’s largest lake is safeguarded for future generations.

Mission Mjøsa has already received a lot of attention for its use of advanced ocean research technology that has never been used in fresh water before to map dumped ammunition.

For many years, it was believed to involve somewhere between 100 and 200 tonnes of ammunition. That was until NTNU, in collaboration with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, introduced Lake Mjøsa to the autonomous underwater vehicle Hugin. The underwater robot quickly discovered nearly 1000 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles – some ten to twenty times more than previously estimated.

Moreover, ammunition was not the only thing Hugin found. In the autumn of 2022, what may be Lake Mjøsa’s oldest known shipwreck appeared on Hugin’s sonar images, making international news headlines.

"The wreck, lying at a depth of 410 metres, was estimated to be as much as 700 years old, and video footage from remotely operated underwater drones has since confirmed that it is probably a very old ship of great cultural and historical interest.

And while efforts to date the wreck continue, a number of parallel research groups are now starting their work along the shores of Lake Mjøsa.

The underwater robot has found ammunition and explosives that have been dumped in Lake Mjøsa, in previously unknown sites. Photo: NTNU

Lake Mjøsa has it all

Lake Mjøsa is a highly exploited source of drinking water, a recreational resource, and a residential area for many people. However, we know surprisingly little about Norway’s largest lake. Even something as fundamental as how deep it is remains uncertain.

Lake Mjøsa also faces a long list of threats that will affect freshwater systems around the world in the future. Run-off from agriculture, blooms of harmful bacteria, and high levels of environmental toxins and microplastics are some of the best-known examples of these threats, but there are many more.

Terje Andreas Eikemo, professor of sociology at NTNU, believes this makes the lake an excellent starting point for understanding how we can ensure sustainable management of our water resources – not only in Innlandet County, but also globally.

“Lake Mjøsa has all the ingredients. By understanding this specific ecosystem, we will gain fundamental knowledge needed to protect freshwater systems elsewhere in the world in the future,” he says.

Everything is connected

When Eikemo talks about the Lake Mjøsa ecosystem, it is not just the wildlife in the area and their habitats he has in mind. As a sociologist, his role in Mission Mjøsa is primarily related to the people who live around and use the lake. He believes they have to be considered in context with the environment in which they live.

“We influence our surroundings and our surroundings influence us. This is something that is becoming increasingly clear. Our task now is to find out how we can live good lives while also taking care of the environment around us,” he says.

That is what the upcoming Mjøsa Study will contribute to:

“The initial goal is to understand how the local population uses and relates to the lake. Using a comprehensive survey, we aim to find out everything from how people perceive the water quality in Lake Mjøsa to whether they fish or swim in the lake.

The questions participants in the Mjøs Study will be asked are not only those of the researchers themselves – they have been formulated in consultation with representatives from the local community. This will help make the research more relevant,” explains Eikemo.

In autumn 2022, researchers collected a sonar image of what may be Lake Mjøsa’s oldest known shipwreck. The wreck was located at a depth of 400 metres and is thought to be 700 years old.ds

Photo: NTNU

Giving the research legitimacy

A huge amount of money is currently being spent on research in Europe. In Norway, research and development funding accounts for approximately four per cent of the total national budget – a sum of approximately NOK 50 billion.

Siri Granum Carson believes it is also important to build legitimacy around research when investing such vast public resources.

“The societal benefit of the moon landing can certainly be debated. What characterises more targeted social missions like Mission Mjøsa is a desire to do something that there is broad consensus will benefit society as a whole. Citizen participation is one way to ensure that,” says Carson.

Including ordinary citizens in research has also proven to have other benefits.

Help from local fishermen

Jan Grimsrud Davidsen is a biologist at NTNU University Museum. Among other things, he is the head of a research group that studies the life of sea char in Greenland. He has now gathered a new group of researchers to conduct the same type of studies on trout in Lake Mjøsa.

“One of the goals is to find out whether trout use the entire lake to feed, or whether they only stick to certain parts,” explains Davidsen.

Due to high levels of pollutants such as PCBs and mercury, pregnant and breastfeeding women have long been warned against eating fish from Lake Mjøsa. By attaching electronic transmitters to fish and deploying listening buoys that record when they swim by, it will be possible to get an overview of how the fish move around the lake. In turn, this insight will provide more detailed knowledge about the health of Lake Mjøsa’s trout,” says Davidsen.

First of all, however, the fish need to be caught so they can be tagged.

“We have received great help from local fishing associations, and there is a lot of knowledge and experience to draw upon here. Mjøsa is not our lake, and we are completely dependent on the help of locals. We don’t know the lake the way they do,” says Davidsen.

He has led projects involving members of local populations before and believes that the effect is not only clear but also provides a glimmer of hope in a time when climate change denial, anti-vaccine movements, and scepticism towards science are on the rise:

“We see that participating in these types of projects gives local people a sense of ownership. By participating, they have a stake in the research, making it far easier for them to accept the findings down the line,” explains Davidsen.

Increased scientific understanding

Children and young people will also be involved in the research on the fish in Lake Mjøsa, and Davidsen points out that they are not just being invited to do ‘pretend research’. Their input will result in real scientific contributions.

“We are collaborating with the Vitensenteret Innlandet science centre and the museum Mjøsmuseet to take several school classes out on research field trips. Among other things, pupils will collect and study fish and benthos. Their findings will be included in NTNU’s scientific collections, where they will be available to researchers in the future.

Similar citizen science initiatives have been used in other contexts, such as the UN Decade of Ocean Science,” says Davidsen.

The mission consists of six research groups that will collectively ensure a broad and interdisciplinary approach to the complex issues Lake Mjøsa is facing. Among other things, the research will result in a ‘digital twin’ that will show the state of the lake at various points in time and simulate how it might develop.

“The starting point of Mission Mjøsa is that we are dealing with an ecosystem that has developed over time and in interaction with a variety of natural and human factors in the world. The participants will therefore gain knowledge about everything from climate change and biodiversity to history and technology. Most importantly, it will be able to give them a deeper understanding of how research is conducted and the work behind the knowledge that may one day develop into policies that affect them,” explains Carson.

And perhaps it is precisely this kind of understanding that future moon landings will demand of us.

This article appears courtesy of Gemini.no 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.

Turkish Seismic Vessel Heads to Somalia for Oil and Gas Exploration

Turkey has dispatched its seismic research vessel Oruc Reis to Somalia following the oil and gas cooperation deal signed early this year. This is the first intercontinental mission for the vessel since it was commissioned in 2017, significantly expanding Turkey’s exploration capabilities. In a ceremony to send off the vessel on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the exploration mission involves conducting seismic activities in three areas where Turkey secured licenses offshore Somalia. Each block covers an area of around 1930 square miles.

“The Somali region, which has been associated with conflict and instability for decades, will now be on a path to economic development following the discoveries by Oruc Reis,” added Erdogan.

The vessel is expected to reach Somali waters later this month. The seismic surveys will last seven months and the collected data will help in identifying potential drilling sites for oil and gas. In addition, Oruc Reis is being escorted by two Turkish naval frigates. Indeed, this is a watershed moment for Turkey’s influence and presence in the Horn of Africa.

The region is currently experiencing tension, especially with Ethiopia pushing for the Red Sea access through Somaliland, a break-away state of Somalia. This has seen Mogadishu intensify defense ties with countries such as Egypt and Turkey. Somalia’s defense deal with Turkey includes naval support, which means access to one of Africa’s vast coastlines. Somalia has the longest national coastline in Africa, extending to 1880 miles.

According to 2D seismic studies conducted by TGS in 2024, Somalia could have at least 30 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves across the 15 blocks initially offered by the government. With most of its energy resources unexplored, Somalia remains the final frontier for global oil and gas exploration.

But with Turkey’s entry into the sector, it is likely to trigger interest from other international oil and gas multinationals.Chevron, Eni and ExxonMobil were exploring in Somalia as early as 1950s but had to leave when civil war erupted in 1991.

Somalia passed regulations related to offshore oil and gas licensing in 2022. The law also included a revenue sharing framework between the companies and the government. Turkey already has a head start in Somalia oil and gas development, and it remains to be seen how Turkey will leverage this opportunity for its geopolitical interests in the Indian Ocean.

Operations Resume at U.S. East/Gulf Coast Ports After ILA Strike

containership Port of New York — Vessels are beginning to move to the docks and boxes discharged as U.S. ports restart operations (file photo)

Within hours of the tentative agreement on the wage portion of the International Longshoremen’s Association contract, ports along the U.S. East and Gulf Coast began implementing their predetermined restart plans following the strike. Experts differ on how long it will take to fully recover and the potential for a ripple effect around the globe, but a key hurdle has been cleared. The next challenge is the negotiations on thorny issues such as automation and benefits with the deadline extended to January 15, 2025.

“Closing all ports on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast – even for just three days – comes with severe consequences,” said well-known analyst Peter Sand of Xeneta. “We must now wait to see how quickly the returning workers are able and willing to deal with the huge backlog of ships waiting to offload thousands of containers carrying billions of dollars of goods.”

Sand believes the ripple effect of the strike will spread across global supply chains in the weeks to come. However, others believe it will clear quicker as most of the ports had suspended operations for just three of four days with some terminals opening this weekend and extended hours expected next week to help clear the backlog.

Counts vary but it is between 40 and 50 ships that were waiting offshore at the U.S. ports. Some vessels however were also holding overseas or in places such as the Bahamas. Xenteta notes that as many as 120 more vessels are sailing toward the U.S. ports.

CMA CGM issued an update to customers saying that vessels will be serviced on a “first come – first serve” basis at the terminals. Bethann Rooney, port director at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which oversees the third busiest port in the U.S. and the largest on the East Coast, said they had been in touch with local authorities and could prioritize vessels if there was a shortage of a commodity or manufacturing supplies. However, she said so far, no shortages have been identified to prioritize vessels.

Savannah, Georgia reported Friday morning that ships had already docked. They said cargo was moving and that operations would continue to scale up.

At New York and New Jersey, Rooney said 19 containerships were at anchor with a total of 35,000 TEU as well as four vehicle carriers and one specialty ship. She said the Coast Guard, the pilots, and the tugs were coordinating and that ships were beginning to come back to docks with 11 expected to move from the anchorage. New York – New Jersey will start discharging boxes at 7 p.m. Friday and will “go around the clock,” to move containers.

Rooney said there were 21,000 containers left on dock when the strike began Monday night and that they need to move as well as the 35,000 TEU now incoming. Two terminals will be open this weekend with the remainder back in service Monday morning. There were approximately 1,000 reefer boxes on dock but they do not expect any spoilage due to the short duration of the work stoppage.

“We should be able to recover very quickly,” Rooney told a media briefing noting that the NY-NJ port typically handles more than 400,000 boxes a month. She said the current volume is “less than one week of activity.” She also highlights the port has experience as it has been closed in the past for a few days due to winter storms and longer during Superstorm Sandy or after the 9/11 attack.

President Joe Biden and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su both issued statements highlighting that collective bargaining had worked. They applauded the efforts, quick agreement, and recognition of the vital contribution of the dockworkers.

Sources told CNN that the settlement is for $4 per hour in wages annually which amounts to about 10 percent increases for each of the six years of the contract. The total $24 increase is 62 percent for the life of the contract. They are saying the strike amounted to the difference between a $ 3-an-hour offer from USMX and a minimum of $4 set by the union.

The plan is that the two sides will return to the negotiating table to resolve the remaining issues with the Master Contract extended to January 15. They will still have to tackle the ILA demand for no automation. Asked about the current level of automation, Rooney said there is no full automation in the Port of New York and New Jersey currently.

USMX proposed continuing the current contract terms on automation. That calls for a committee including union representatives to review any request from the terminal operators for any automation systems.

Tentative Agreement in ILA Strike as Vessels Choose to “Wait it Out”

port of NY containership — Work is set to resume at the container and RoRo terminals after a tentative agreement on the wages for ILA members (CMA CGM file photo)

Late on the third day of the International Longshoremen’s Association strike that suspending operations at 36 U.S. East and Gulf Coast container and RoRo ports, a tentative agreement was reached settling the wage dispute but leaving the other elements open for negotiation. The agreement to restart port operations came as pressure continued to grow on both sides to resolve the dispute. Possibly encouraged by the rumors of movement, carriers let vessels pile up outside the ports.

In a joint announcement Thursday evening, the ILA and the U.S. Maritime Alliance said the tentative agreement is on the wage portion of the Master Contract. They also agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025, so that they could return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues. Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume. Unconfirmed reports from Reuters said the tentative agreement is for an approximately 62 percent wage increase over the six-year term of the Master Contract.

Earlier in the day, both sides in the strike appeared surprised by the vitriolic response with massive negative media and social media responses and comments vilifying union leadership and the CEOs of the shipping companies. At the same time, the pressure continued to build from industry and political leaders. The Biden administration came out strongly in favor of the ILA pressing the employers represented by the U.S. Maritime Alliance to raise its wage offer.

With rumors swirling in the industry reporters asked President Joe Biden about what was being done. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su has said she is spending many hours on the telephone and in meetings with the ILA acknowledging she had been “opening doors.”

Biden on Thursday said without explaining he thought they were “making progress.” He said we would know “soon.” Biden in his public statements put pressure on the USMX to raise the wage offer and to recognize the vital contribution of the dockworkers.

The number of ships waiting continued to rise exponentially. From just three on Sunday, Everstream Analytics, a supply chain risk manager, said as of Thursday morning there were 54 vessels anchored. Savannah and New York are showing the highest numbers but it continues to grow. Everstream calculates that vessels are now waiting offshore at eight ports. The company said in its analysis that many seem to have decided to “wait it out” while warning the vessel backlog could double by the end of the week.

CMA CGM released a list of 11 vessels as of Thursday afternoon that it said were waiting. The carrier advised customers, “CMA CGM is closely monitoring the situation and working to mitigate impacts to cargo and operations by diverting cargo and vessels to alternate ports of discharge or discharging cargo at transshipment ports for temporary storage.”

Analytics firm Sea-Intelligence warned in the first week the capacity loss is at its highest (around 775,000 TEU) due to vessels already stuck on the East Coast plus the incoming vessels. Sea-Intelligence believes the number in the first week will top 60 vessels.

“The subsequent three weeks show a loss of around 443,000 TEU,” highlights Alan Murphy CEO of Sea-Intelligence. “Should the strike last four weeks, causing seven percent of the global fleet to be tied up along the U.S. East Coast, the overall impact on the supply and demand equation will be very significant.”

In addition to the strong public backlash to the strike, pressure is coming from manufacturers, importers, exporters, and other segments of U.S. business. A group of over 270 trade associations led by the National Retail Federation sent a new letter to the White House calling for intervention. They continue to warn of “devastating consequences” if there is not a quick resolution.

The media reporting had already caused a level of public anxiety. Despite analysts saying there would not be a significant near-term impact, there are reports of consumers beginning to panic buy and stockpile essentials.

“While the government hasn’t stepped in yet to force both sides to the table, if this strike spreads, they absolutely will have to do so,” warned Vidya Mani, an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, whose areas of expertise include supply chain risk management. She expected “moderate increases” to prices from a short-term strike “perhaps single-digit increases.” However, in her analysis, if the government does not intervene and the strike lasts longer than a month, “we will see some significant price increases on basic goods, close to 20 to 30 percent.”

Tonight's settlement however does not address the issue of automation. Harold Daggett, President of the ILA, has been adamant in his statements that the union would not accept any automation or even semi-automation. He cited the use of the auto gate system in Mobile as an example of the union losing jobs to automation. The employers represented by USMX proposed keeping the language from the prior contract limiting the use of automation.

Photos: World’s Largest Cruise Ship Leaves Assembly Dock for Outfitting

Star of the Seas cruise ship — Star of the Seas pulled from the assembly dock on September 27 (RCI)

The Star of the Seas, the second ship in Royal Caribbean International’s Icon Class left the dry dock last week after 19 months of work. The assembly phase of the massive cruise ship, which will be one of the largest in the world, was completed and she moved to interior outfitting ahead of her scheduled August 2025 maiden voyage.

The shipyard highlighted some of the final stages of the assembly including fitting the Azipod propulsion system. Also, the ship was “crowned” with a massive 367-ton dome. The largest glass and steel structure to be lifted onto a cruise ship, it requires days.

The process of floating and moving the ship which is 1,196 feet (364 meters) in length and will be over 248,600 gross tons requires an intricate process. She is being built at Meyer Turku in Finland and in tradition, the effort begins with the firing of a colonial cannon and suitably outfitted participants.

The vessel is nearly the full length of the assembly dry dock. The sea valves opened and it takes nearly nine hours and 92 million gallons of water to float the vessel. The valves were opened on September 25 and she was afloat for the first time. The forward gate of the massive dock was opened on September 27 and four tugs pulled the ship forward more than 1,100 feet to position her alongside the fitting out berth.

Opening the gate on September 27

Star of the Seas is the second ship of Royal’s Icon class and she will rival her sister ship as the world’s largest cruise ship. She is slightly behind schedule with the company in February delaying her entry into service by a few weeks to the end of August 2025. When she enters service, she will be sailing year-round from Port Canaveral, Florida.

The cruise line bills her as having eight “neighborhoods,” each focusing on elements such as outdoor entertainment or families. It is a ship of superlatives including six of the fastest and tallest watersides on a cruise ship. Atop the ship is the AquaDome, a multipurpose entertainment space.

There will be more than 40 ways to dine and drink. She will have 20 decks (18 for the passengers) with over 2,800 passenger cabins. Double occupancy for passengers (based on two per cabin) will be over 5,600 passengers and a total passenger capacity with all berths of approximately 7,600. She will have 2,350 crewmembers.

Before she was floated on September 25

Like the Icon of the Seas, this ship is dual fuel designed to operate on liquified natural gas. Each ship has three Azipods and six engines. They are also using waste to heat recovery and air lubrication of the hull.

Star of the Seas will be sailing year-round from Port Canaveral, Florida alternating between itineraries to the Eastern and Western Caribbean. With the ship now out of the assembly dry dock the third ship of the Icon Class will start assembly due for delivery in 2026. Royal Caribbean Group in August 2024 also signed an order for a fourth ship of the class, due in 2027, and has options for two more sisters. The ships are reported to be costing as much as $2 billion a piece.

Fitting the massive 367-ton dome

Alongside the fitting out dock where she will remain till sea trials in the summer of 2025 and then delivery

Sailing Cargo Ships Show Success of BIO-UV Group & Piriou Group Partnership

[By: BIO-UV Group]

France-based water treatment pioneer BIO-UV Group has secured an agreement with shipbuilder Piriou Group to supply its BIO-SEA ballast water treatment technology to a further six wind-powered cargo ships building for French operator TOWT (TransOceanic Wind Transport).

The new deal follows an initial 2022 contract to supply BIO-SEA systems to the first two vessels in the series, both of which – Anemos (Greek for wind) and Artemis (Zeus’s daughter, the Greek goddess of nature) – have now been delivered. The six sisters are scheduled to follow in 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Like Anemos and Artemis, each of the new 81m long vessels will be fitted with a D-2 compliant low flow L03-0090 BIO-SEA system in a split skid arrangement to treat ballast water flow rates of 90m3/hour.

Due to machinery space constraints and a small system footprint, the BIO-SEA unit will include a Hydac filtration system designed to optimize ballast holding times.

Maxime Dedeurwaerder, Solutions Sales Director for EMEA at BIO-UV Group, said: “This new order is a direct result of the seamless, on-time production, delivery, factory acceptance tests, and commissioning of the Anemos and Artemis installations.

“Wind-powered ships such as these modern, Piriou-designed schooners go to show how shipping can substantially reduce its impact on the marine environment. A BIO-SEA BWTS can reduce a ship’s environmental footprint even further by preventing the migration of invasive species in the most effective way possible. As our UV lamps and reactors have low power consumption, a BIO-SEA unit can also help towards decarbonization.”

Guillaume Le Grand, President of TOWT-TransOceanic Wind Transport, added: “For the A-class sailing cargo ships, we wanted the most compact, effective, and environmentally safe ballast water treatment solution available. The Piriou Group has a long history of successful cooperation with BIO-UV Group, so the decision to install BIO-SEA was easy, especially given the limited space available onboard.”

Designed to transport 1100t palleted cargoes of Belco coffee and cocoa, and 135 225-litre barrels of wine and spirits across the Atlantic using the sail as the primary means of propulsion, the Anemos vessel features 3000m2 of fore-and-aft sails on a pair of 52m tall carbon fibre masts.

Maximum speed under sail is 16kts, reducing CO2 emissions by 90%, compared to a similar sized cargo vessel. With eight ships, TOWT said it will contribute to saving around 40,000t of CO2 by transporting around 200,000t of goods.

BIO-UV Group CEO Laurent-Emmanuel Migeon said: “Both these Piriou-designed wind-powered ships mark a decisive step in the development of sustainable navigation. BIO-UV Group is committed to working with shipowners and shipyards that are pushing the boundaries of innovation and design to build a new generation of ships that respect the marine ecosystem.”

Sailing cargo ships particularly suit the ultra-compact, easy-to-use BIO-SEA L series due to their low flow rate ballasting requirements, ranging from 13 to 120m3/h. System components are delivered all-inclusive and can be supplied in various configurations, such as modular, split skid or full skid versions, allowing maximum adaptability for onboard system integration.

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

Poor Communication Blamed for Bulker Accident in New Zealand

Wisdom Line carrier — Crewmember was injured due to poor communication during a dangerous operation

Lack of proper communication caused a crew member to be seriously injured while preparing securing gear to load a cargo of logs on bulk carrier Poavosa Brave outside Tauranga Harbour, New Zealand in June 2023, the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) determined.

TAIC released its final report on its investigation into the serious injuries that caused the hospitalization of a Chinese seafarer aboard the mid-size handy bulk carrier on June 23, 2023. The investigation established that the accident happened because the people involved didn't know what each other was doing, mainly due to failure to communicate and to follow the operator’s safety management system.

Poavosa Brave is a Panama-registered bulker operated by Wisdom Marine International. The 28,367 dwt bulker built in 2018 by Imabari Shipbuilding Company, Japan, had arrived in Tauranga four days earlier where the crew was required to prepare the vessel for a full cargo consignment of logs. Part of the tasks included using one of the on board cranes to erect sets of collapsible stanchions on the main deck.

At 0700 on June 23, the bosun went to the bridge for a routine morning meeting with the master and the chief officer. The master told the bosun that the weather and sea conditions were not suitable for the crew to use the crane to pull up the collapsible stanchions and that the job could be done after the vessel was alongside the berth.

At 1330, the bosun, three seafarers, and one ordinary seaman went out on deck, to the starboard side of number 5 hatch to pull up the stanchions. The bosun thought that the weather had eased and wanted to take the opportunity to train the crew. The bosun briefed the crew about how the stanchions would be pulled up. After going through the work plan step-by-step, the bosun went up to the driver’s cab to operate the crane.

The investigation established that at 1345, all the stanchions at the starboard side of number 5 hatch were upright and secured. Five minutes later the chief officer, who had heard the crane running, came out on deck to tell the crew to stop the work. However, the stanchions were already upright and secured and the final task was to unhook the stanchion pull wire.

According to the investigation, the bosun’s work plan was for the crew to unhook the pull wire after the crane hook was landed and stable on the deck next to number 5 hatch. However, the bosun mis-landed the hook on top of number 5 hatch. As the bosun started to reposition the hook from the hatch top to the deck, the chief officer told the crew to go up to the hatch top to unhook the pull wire. Critically, there was no communication between the chief officer and the bosun.

As the bosun repositioned the crane hook and as the seafarers began to climb up to the hatch top, the vessel started to roll due to the bad weather, causing the suspended crane block to swing. Two seafarers were able to run away but the third, who had climbed further up the hatch coaming, could not manage. He was struck by the hook, leading to serious injuries. There was no damage to the vessel.

“Accidents happen when people don't communicate. In doing unauthorized work and not telling responsible officers, the bosun short-cut the abilities and authorities of the master and the chief officer to assess the safety of planned work,” said TAIC in the report.

The investigation established that it was very unlikely for the accident to have occurred if the bosun had communicated intentions to erect the stanchions to the chief officer and the master because it would have allowed the responsible and authorized officers to either prohibit the work or establish a safe system of work that was known to all relevant participants in the activity.

FLOATING BOMB

UK Terminals “Reticent” to Handle Bulker Ruby Due to Media Speculation

bulker anchored — Ruby remains anchored off the UK with the owners contending terminals are reticent to handle the ship due to the rampant media speculation (file photo)

The owners of the bulker Ruby which has garnered worldwide attention due to the coverage of its cargo of 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate for fertilizer issued its first public statement thanking the UK authorities and lashing out against the sensational media coverage. The ship's owners, registered in Malta, and the managers, based in the UAE, said they are “still hopeful” that a solution can be found to assist in the current predicament in a safe manner.

Ruby (37,000 dwt) registered in Malta has been the focus of endless speculation since the cargo ship first drew attention in Norway. Media coverage after the ship docked in Tromsø, Norway as a port of refuge after being damaged in an Arctic storm contributed to the ship being ordered to leave the port and anchor in a remote part of Norway. When she later attempted to sail to Lithuania, media attention again contributed to her being turned away from ports and restricted again over fears of the potentially explosive nature of her cargo. For the past week, the ship has been anchored in a waiting area off the Thames, outside UK territorial waters.

“The media speculation has had a negative prejudicial effect on the vessel’s ability to undergo, what would be considered, routine operations to transfer the cargo of ammonium nitrate to another vessel, so the Ruby can undergo repairs, following a grounding incident shortly after leaving Kandalaksha (Russia),” writers a spokesperson for the owners and managers of the vessel.

Two French NGOs for the environment and maritime affairs are also responding to the speculation calling for cooperation between the Russian producer of the cargo, the shipowner, Great Britain, and the European states to “find the optimal solution.”

Everyone is highlighting that it is a normal cargo and properly stored. The maritime agencies in Norway and Sweden had said there was minimal danger in its current state. The NGOs point out that it is the base material for fertilizer and not intended for explosives as the material that was stored in Beirut originally was. They said there are no signs of thermal degradation of the Ruby’s cargo.

The owner’s representative further highlights the vessel adheres to all international regulations. They said that it is fully insured by a recognized international Hull & Machinery insurer, as well as an International Group P&I Club. It is classed by DNV and its flag is administered by Malta.

“The vessel has now been anchored for over a week off the UK while the owners, managers, P&I Club, insurers, and UK authorities, including SOSREP and the UK MCA, work hard to find a solution to get the vessel into port. Unfortunately, due to the media speculation that has surrounded this vessel, port terminals in the UK are reticent to take the vessel in,” the representative contends.

The ship received temporary repairs while in Norway, and they said the assessment determined the vessel’s strength and stability were sufficient to proceed to a repair yard, on the condition of tug assistance throughout. However, it is not capable of making the Atlantic crossing to Brazil which they state was the destination of the cargo. The Canary Islands, which was declared and picked up in the media, they report was a planned waypoint for fuel and provisions.

They continue to search for a solution while the two NGOS, Mor Glaz and Robin des Bois, said this situation highlights a broader problem for the transport of dangerous cargoes. They note there are 19 crewmembers, mostly Syrians, also caught in this situation while appealing for a favorable outcome before it becomes a true emergency.

At Least One Carrier and Two Subs Affected by Newport News Weld Defects

The carrier USS George Washington during her five-year-long shipyard period at Newport News, 2017-2023 (USN file image)

The U.S. Navy has identified three vessels affected by faulty welding work at Huntington Ingalls Newport News (HII), and has concluded that the faults have no operational impact.

So far, the vessels with known weld defects are the carrier USS George Washington, attack sub USS Hyman G. Rickover and attack sub USS New Jersey. All three vessels are reportedly safe for continued duty.

News broke last week that certain Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) workers at Newport News had deviated from procedure when welding on U.S. Navy ships and submarines. The faulty work was intentional and "some welders knowingly circumvented certain welding procedures," but it is believed that it was not malicious, HII said. The shipbuilder self-reported the incident to the Navy and the Department of Justice, and an investigation into the circumstances is under way.

None of the questionable welding work was on components that affect operations or safety, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told the House and Senate armed services committees in a letter Thursday. The fault came down to "welders who did not follow welding procedures properly," and Naval Sea Systems Command has determined that the ships are still safe to operate, he confirmed.

The Navy is still assessing another 23 vessels that were recently repaired or are currently in construction to see if there may have been any other ships affected. Del Toro added that "the Navy is evaluating all legal options."

HII is cooperating with the investigation and continues to evaluate the impact of these workers' deficient welding practices. "We immediately put together a team made up of both internal and independent engineering and quality subject matter experts to determine the root causes, bound the issue and put in place immediate short-term corrective actions as we work through longer-term solutions," said HII Newport News President Jennifer Boykin in a statement last week.

Scientists Hitchhike With Fishermen & Merchant Ships to Reach the Ocean

A fisher attaching a temperature and depth sensor to his fishing net in Ghana (Ocean Data Network, Environmental Defense Fund, Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean, and the University of Ghana)

[By Daniel Cressey]

Doing science at sea is expensive.

A billion dollars might not be enough to buy a state-of-the-art vessel. Actually running a research ship can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars a day or more, before factoring in submersible trips to the depths or helicopter flights to remote ice floes.

These costs limit the number of hours researchers can spend at sea, and where they can go to gather data on fisheries, climate change, weather and a host of other issues with trillion-dollar consequences. This leaves data on much of the ocean patchy, especially in less wealthy parts of the world.

So scientists are increasingly looking at cheaper options for getting essential and fundamental information including temperature, salinity and depth: so-called “vessels of opportunity”. By piggybacking their work on ships that are already plying the ocean, they can fill some of the huge existing gaps in marine data at a fraction of the cost of hiring a research vessel.

Cold, far away and very, very expensive

One of the most difficult places to work is Antarctica.

Research vessels must first navigate the Southern Ocean’s complex politics and permit systems before they can even hope to navigate its icy waters.

So when one team wanted to hunt for colossal squid in the far south, they found a cheaper option: cruise ships that carry tourists to Antarctica in increasing numbers.

“Research vessels are about $100,000 a day, sometimes it can be like $22 a second to operate. And it takes so much coordination to just get all the partners involved … to grant this vessel permission,” says Myrah Graham, a marine scientist at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.

“But the tourism boats already have permission, and they’re already going there.” As well as saving on costs, boarding cruise ships can be greener – Graham’s team estimate that avoiding using their own vessel saved about 417 kilos of CO2 per researcher involved per day.

Cruise ships are not without their difficulties. Researchers have no control over where they go, what times they can drop equipment into the sea, and they must shift equipment around guests getting on and off. While those hunting huge squid may want to target little-studied dark ocean areas, tourists are understandably keener on shores that teem with penguins.

But Graham says her trip was “definitely a success” – the team made 36 camera deployments in a little-studied region and even captured footage of what may be a colossal squid. If true, this would be the first footage of the animal in its natural habitat.

“But also we’re just seeing these areas of the seafloor for the first time,” she says.

“Especially with climate change changing things at the poles four times faster [than in other regions], having this baseline knowledge of what’s there right now will allow us to potentially in the future monitor and see what changes are occurring on the seafloor.”

On the highways of the seas

While there are only around 100 ocean-going research vessels and a few hundred cruise ships, there are over 50,000 commercial vessels at sea.

One is the CMV Oleander. Every week the freighter travels between New Jersey on the east coast of the United States and Bermuda. Since 1992 it has collected data on the Gulf Stream with every journey.

Ships have been gathering weather data – what happens above the surface – for many years, but Oleander does something far rarer. It was built with a sensor called an ‘Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler’ fitted to it, allowing it to measure currents – what is happening below the surface.

Since 1992, the freighter Oleander has collected data on the Gulf Stream every week as it travels between New Jersey and Bermuda. Commercial ships make repeat visits to the same ocean locations – a luxury research vessels often cannot afford (Image: Oceanography Magazine, CC BY)

Research vessel time is so precious that repeat visits to locations may be rare. The Oleander project offers something different and valuable: the ability to gather data on the same patch of sea over and over.

“These ships go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth on the same line. They revisit the same ocean over and over and over again. So you start to build up a database and inventory catalogue of the various states that the ocean can take along that line,” says Tom Rossby, a retired University of Rhode Island professor who was instrumental in instrumenting the Oleander.

Some of those involved in the Oleander work are now steering Science Research on Commercial Ships (Science RoCS), one of several programmes around the world looking to increase the opportunistic use of ships by researchers. Science RoCS wants to build links between the shipping industry and science communities, linking up scientists with instruments and people with ships, enabling repeated measurements on a vast scale in areas rarely visited by research ships.

“There are so many other instruments now that could go on these vessels, including instruments that measure the partial pressure of carbon dioxide. [That’s] really important for understanding what’s happening with the carbon system and the ocean and the atmosphere,” says Alison Macdonald, an oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the US.

Go fish (for science)

While there are tens of thousands of merchant vessels plying the ocean, there are millions of fishing boats.

As well as data gathered in the course of fishing – such as details of what is caught and where – these boats are increasingly being enlisted to measure things specifically for scientists. In the United States, more than 100 boats that work off the coast of New England have been rigged to measure temperature and oxygen levels via sensors attached to lobster pots. New Zealand has gone even further. The Te Tiro Moana (Eyes on the Ocean in M?ori) programme now involves 200 vessels, over a third of the country’s fishing fleet.

Cooper Van Vranken is founder and CEO of Ocean Data Network which leads the Fishing Vessel Ocean Observing Network (FVON). He works to match existing sensors with fishing boats, managing and distributing the data generated. “What’s unique about fishing vessels is the opportunity to collect that subsurface data because the traps are already going down. It turns out we have way more subsurface data out in the open ocean than we do in close to shore … where the fishing takes place,” he says.

Cooper’s dream is to create a vastly bigger, globe-spanning network measuring temperature, salinity and other important ocean information, under the banner of the FVON. In a recent research paper, he and others wrote that “the global fishing industry represents a vast opportunity to create a paradigm shift in how ocean data are collected.”

The past year has been a busy one. FVON joined the umbrella body for ocean data gathering, the Global Ocean Observing System, and earned a mention in a white paper for the UN on the need to expand ocean observing.

Cooper told Dialogue Earth that there were probably 2 million fishing vessels around the world that could be harnessed and currently nearing 1,000 were already being utilised for data collection.

“Where we want to be is 10,000 vessels. That would fundamentally change ocean observing and oceanography and coastal resilience,” he says.

Setting sail for science

Fishing boats and freighters travel routes determined by what pays. But some vessels sail where their owners please: private yachts.

Several programmes are now attempting to harness yachts to gather a dizzying variety of ocean information. Yachts for Science is one of them. It has previously put a manta ray researcher on a cruise in the Maldives and helped a scientist studying black coral to work off a super yacht in Indonesian waters.

“If we are to collect all of the data that are needed across the ocean, then we just can’t do that off the fleet of current research vessels,” says Lucy Woodall, who oversees the scientific work of the programme.

The key thing for her organisation is matchmaking between researchers with projects they want to do, and yacht owners who will be in the right place to help them.

Acknowledging the privilege of being able to be on a ship, any ship, is something that is important to Woodall, a marine conservation and policy researcher at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

“That’s a privilege that most scientists who are interested in the marine space don’t have, because either their country doesn’t have a vessel or a platform appropriate, or they are not in an institution where they can easily access it,” she says.

A lot of ocean data is biased towards the waters of Global North countries, or areas they are interested in. Vessels of opportunity could help fill many of these gaps for areas governed by countries that lack well-funded national research ships and universities.

“I’ve personally done research off everything from paddle boards to the most amazing, really kitted-out research ship. Any platform that floats is useful,” says Woodall.

If the hopes of those behind these and other vessels of opportunity programmes are realised, one day research at sea will not be so expensive, because nearly every ship will have the ability to do research.

Daniel Cressey is ocean editor at Dialogue Earth. Based in London, he worked as a journalist for two decades at publications including Nature and Research Professional News before joining Dialogue Earth in 2024. He has degrees in chemistry, history of science and journalism. His areas of interest at Dialogue Earth include fisheries; marine conservation and protected areas; plastic and other marine pollution; climate change and ocean acidification; and ocean governance and justice.

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