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)
Tuesday, September 07, 2021
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY
First 7th Fleet Guilty Plea in Long-Running “Fat Leonard” Fraud Case
Among the information passed to the contractor was details on the schedule of the USS Tarawa (US Navy file photo)
More than four years after the indictments were filed, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the first guilty plea by an officer in the Seventh Fleet in the Navy’s bribery and fraud scandal known as the “Fat Leonard” case. The largest fraud case in Navy history has resulted in federal charges against 34 Navy officials, defense contractors, and the Singapore-based Glen Defense Marine Asia owned by Leonard Francis, the defense contractor who plied them with luxury hotel stays, meals, entertainment, and prostitutes. So far, a total of 26 individuals have pleaded guilty.
The latest guilty plea came from retired Chief Warrant Officer Robert Gorsuch who on August 31 in federal court in the Southern District of California admitted to receiving more than $45,000 in bribes. Gorsuch served as the Seventh Fleet’s Flag Administration Officer from January 2005 to March 2008. In his position, Gorsuch provided administrative support to the Seventh Fleet Commander, department heads, and other senior officers of the Seventh Fleet staff. The incidents that he pled guilty to included parties in Manila, hotel stays in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Japan, and a dinner in Australia dating from 2007 and 2008.
“Mr. Gorsuch will be held fully accountable for accepting lavish gifts in exchange for, among other things, passing classified information to Mr. Francis and GDMA,” said NCIS Director Omar Lopez. Gorsuch, age 54, is facing a maximum penalty of fifteen years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
According to admissions in his plea agreement, Gorsuch sent Francis computer disks containing classified ship schedules for the Navy’s Seventh Fleet. Prosecutors documented emails between Gorsuch and Francis in 2007 and 2008 which among other details described the planned movements of the U.S.S. Tarawa and U.S.S. Hopper for December 17-21, 2007. Other emails showed Francis in 2008 requesting ship schedules and Gorsuch promising to reply with the information.
“Gorsuch essentially sold his honor for a few nights at the Shangri-La,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “Gorsuch sacrificed his integrity for so little and caused so much harm in the process. Today, Gorsuch has admitted his part in this scandal and will be held to account for his conduct.”
Investigators said the actions and information provided by Gorsuch and the other defendants helped Francis’ ship husbanding business win and maintain contracts with the U.S. Navy. They estimate that Francis’s company over billed the Navy by over $35 million.
Gorsuch was one of nine members of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet indicted in March 2017 for participating in a conspiracy with Francis. The remaining defendants, who are accused of trading military secrets and substantial influence for sex parties with prostitutes, extravagant dinners, and luxury travel, are scheduled for trial on November 1, 2021. They include U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless; Captains David Newland, James Dolan, Donald Hornbeck, and David Lausman; Colonel Enrico DeGuzman; Lt. Commander Stephen Shedd; and Commander Mario Herrera.
Industry Dialogue Helps Sustain Antarctica's Krill Fishery
As nations seek increased catches in the Southern Ocean, scientists are trying to track the impacts of fishing and climate change on this vital part of the Antarctic food chain
At the height of the Cold War, a hungry Soviet Union launched an unlikely strategy to reduce its reliance on grain imports from the West: the superpower despatched hundreds of fishing boats to Antarctica and told them to come back with krill.
Krill – small crustaceans related to the prawn and lobster – do not carry much meat on a single body. But added together, the world’s krill population weighs in at between 300 and 500 million tonnes. Beyond single-celled organisms like bacteria and viruses, the hundreds of trillions of krill in our oceans represent the greatest biomass of any wild animal on the planet.
With little competition, the Russian vessels netted as much of this bounty as they could carry and returned to the motherland, where Soviet scientists mashed up the protein-rich creatures into a nutritious paste called Okean. Citizens were expected to mix it into their vegetables and soups. British officials got hold of some in 1973 and reported its taste as “very pleasant”. But the idea never really caught on and, by the 1980s, the Soviets were turning much of the krill they caught into animal feed.
By the early 1990s, of course, the Soviet Union – and its appetite for Okean – were no more. Left undisturbed, the krill were free to swim and drift around Antarctic waters, where they help feed other kinds of life – they serve as an important prey species for the unique region’s penguins, seabirds, seals, fish and whales.
“I am a little bit frightened about the local effects of the increasing fishing effort because the fishery is nowadays very concentrated in space and time,” says Bettina Meyer, a krill researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany. “Due to the very high level of krill biomass that we currently have, and the krill management measures in place, we are not in big danger. But we do have to keep a very, very careful eye on it.”
Antarctic krill
Several different species of krill are found across the world’s oceans, but the Antarctic variety (Euphausia superba) is by far the plumpest and so the most valuable catch. Often found in massive swarms, which can number millions of animals and stretch for several miles of ocean, Antarctic krill haven’t been routinely studied in all seasons over the years, and scientists don’t understand some key features of their life cycle. That can make it difficult to predict their numbers and distribution from year to year, as well as the impact of fishing them in the era of accelerating climate change.
Krill abundance in some regions is known to fluctuate greatly, but the reasons for this aren’t clear. Another issue not understood fully is population dynamics: how many mature krill need to spawn to provide enough offspring to keep numbers sufficiently high. Finally, little is known about where the young krill migrate to in their first year of life.
These uncertainties help to explain why researchers are cautious about judging the possible impact from the fishing industry, Meyer says.
“We have a lot of knowledge gaps,” she says. “When you compare for example the maps of distribution of the krill larvae to the distribution of the entire population, then it might be that only a small proportion is responsible for replenishing the entire population.”
In other words, although a relatively small proportion of krill are pulled from the Southern Ocean each year, if those catches happened to target breeding adults, then such fishing could have an oversized impact.
Officially that should not happen. The Antarctic krill fishery is well managed and branded as sustainable. And unlike some contested areas around the world, scientists, conservationists and the fishing industry there enjoy a largely co-operative and constructive relationship. “I think the relationship is very friendly and also very open,” Meyer says.
CCAMLR
Along with other species, the Antarctic krill fishery is managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), made up from a group of 26 nations (including the European Union) with an interest in the region. The commission monitors stocks, assesses the health of the fishery and sets limits on how much krill can be taken each year.
CCAMLR splits the waters surrounding Antarctica into three large areas. The limits on fishing are based on an estimate made in 2010 that krill stocks in one of these large areas – Area 48 on the Atlantic side of the continent – totalled 60.3 million tonnes. This allowed the commission to set an absolute cap on catches – called the “precautionary catch limit” – of 5.61 million tonnes each year. The actual annual take is nowhere near that figure. Fishing is only allowed in seven “sub-areas” and divisions, each of which have their own caps – added together, the total catch from each of these sub-areas cannot exceed 620,000 tonnes – the so-called “trigger level”. However, at present, fishing is only taking place in four of the sub-areas, all in Area 48. The most popular of these, sub-area 48.1 around the Antarctic peninsula, has an annual catch limit of just 155,000 tonnes.
Source: CCAMLR (Graphic: Manuel Bortoletti / China Dialogue Ocean)
In 2020, a total of 450,781 tonnes of krill were taken across the sector, a figure that has doubled in the last five years but is still comfortably below the trigger level. So, all is good? Not necessarily.
Fishery management strategies that permit what look like relatively low catch levels across large regions could still prove to be unsustainable, says Philip Trathan, head of conservation biology at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, the United Kingdom. “It matters where you take it from,” he says. “Say for the sake of argument you are allowed to take 100 tonnes from a defined area. That limit is set with an assumption you are going to take it evenly from across that area. But you’re not going to do that. You’re going to go to the areas where it’s most predictable and most profitable. And those are probably also the regions where the penguins, seals and whales go as well.”
In other words, the fishing industry could be taking their permitted and precautionary amounts of krill out of the mouths of predators that rely on them. That’s important because rises and falls in krill population from year to year, including those influenced by fishing, are believed to have a knock-on effect on the predators that eat them – notably penguins. A 2020 study of penguin colonies in the South Shetland islands, which lie about 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic peninsula, suggested a link between levels of krill fishing in surrounding waters and declining health of the birds.
Using decades of data going back to the 1980s, the research, led by George Watters at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in La Jolla, California, found that when local fishing catches of krill spiked, penguins took longer to find food and had fewer healthy chicks.
One problem with the current fishery management approach, Trathan says, is that it sets up an annual free-for-all that pits fishing vessel against fishing vessel to scoop up as much krill in the shortest time possible. For example, this year the cap for zone 48.1 was reached in early June, so the area is now closed until December. Such an “Olympic-style” management plan can force fishing activity into smaller areas and shorter fishing seasons.
Many scientists and conservation groups would like to see tighter controls on exactly where and when the krill can be caught. Those measures could include dividing the existing sub-areas into smaller zones, each of which would then be allocated its own (smaller) maximum take.
Some countries have gone further and backed the establishment of new marine protected areas, including one around the Antarctic peninsula, which could lead to stricter controls and even outright bans on krill fishing in the most sensitive regions.
Keen to avoid such regulation, the krill fishers have taken steps to show they can manage the threat themselves. In December last year, an industry group called the Association of Responsible Krill Harvesting Companies voluntarily suspended fishing close to three penguin colonies on the Antarctic peninsula for 12 months. This adds to a series of existing buffer zones the industry has established around penguin colonies in which local krill fishing is halted during the incubation and chick-rearing season.
CCAMLR is due to discuss possible new restrictions in November, but Trathan, who sits on the commission’s scientific advisory group, says it’s unlikely much progress will be made. “I think it’s a tall order and it sort of depends on the process as well as the science, making sure that we’ve got enough time to discuss it in the detail that is needed.”
The current focus is on keeping the existing protection in place. The management system that divides the trigger-level catch limit between the seven sub-areas and divisions is due to expire this year. If not renewed, fishers would technically be able to take up to 620,000 tonnes of krill from wherever they liked: including the sensitive waters around the peninsula.
Who fishes?
Krill fishing is currently dominated by Norway. Helped by technology that continuously pumps the contents of submerged nets onboard, Norwegian vessels bagged almost 250,000 tonnes last year, which is more than double its nearest competitor. Chile, South Korea and Ukraine also take significant amounts of krill. An important new player is China. The country landed almost 120,000 tonnes of krill last year (up from 41,000 in 2018 and 50,000 in 2019).
“[Krill fishing] fits with the Chinese policy to develop its distant water fishing fleet,” says Nengye Liu, director of the Centre for Environmental Law at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. The gap between the number of krill allowed to be caught and the number actually caught is of interest to Chinese policymakers as having potential to grow or even just maintain that fleet."
Climate change
As nations target increased krill catches in coming years, scientists are anxious about another possible pressure on stocks. A cold-water species, researchers aren’t sure how the crustaceans will manage as the waters around Antarctica steadily warm.
“Change will happen, but it will happen slowly, so maybe they will be able to adapt. We don’t know,” says Katharina Michael, a krill researcher at the University of Oldenburg in Germany.
To try to find out, Michael and her colleagues caught krill off the Antarctic coast and put them in giant tanks filled with different temperature seawater for eight months. They found that krill responded differently when the water was 3.5C or higher: their metabolism significantly increased, they used more oxygen and they grew to be significantly smaller.
“There is an increased energy demand, which may have implications for long-term processes. So, energy might be taken away from growth and reproduction,” Michael says. “We don’t know that yet. We have to investigate. But there is something going on.” Water temperature in krill habitats changes a lot with the seasons and weather, but currently range from -1.8C to 5.5C.
The Alfred Wegener Institute’s Meyer says the possible effects of warmer temperatures on krill body size is something that should be closely monitored in the future, along with other important information such as the distribution and density of krill stocks.
To gather real-world data, Meyer hopes to take advantage of the currently good relations between krill researchers and krill fishers. With limited slots available aboard scientific research ships and field stations, Meyer hopes that more fishing vessels could help, either by hosting scientists or by taking samples themselves.
With more reliable measurements, the management system could be made more responsive, with catch limits tightened or relaxed from year to year to match the real-world state of the fishery. “What CCAMLR needs to find is a way to reduce the risks to predators like penguins, seals and whales, while recognising that fishing is allowed,” Trathan says. “But ultimately the more krill you take out the more likely you are to see an effect.”
David Adam is a freelance journalist based near London.
This article appears courtesy of China Dialogue Ocean and may be found in its original form here.
'MAYBE' TECH
Uniper and Port of Rotterdam Move Ahead With Green Hydrogen Plant
The recently-built coal fired powerplant at Uniper's Maasvlakte site (Uniper)
The energy company Uniper has signed an MOU with the Port of Rotterdam Authority for developing the production of green hydrogen at Uniper's current location at Maasvlakte. The project builds on the findings of a feasibility study announced in February, and it aligns with regional infrastructure planning to meet the demands of Rotterdam's booming petrochemical industry.
Uniper says that the MOU marks a major milestone in the development of the hydrogen value chain in the Rijnmond region. No less than half of all Dutch hydrogen projects that qualify as Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) are developed in Rotterdam, and the Uniper project is on the Dutch IPCEI shortlist as well.
The feasibility study shows that the Uniper location on Maasvlakte is ideal for large-scale production of green hydrogen using power generated by offshore wind farms. The plant will be connected to the future HyTransport.RTM hydrogen pipeline, which will link to the rest of the port, the national hydrogen infrastructure and the Delta Corridor pipeline bundle. The latter will deliver hydrogen to chemical plant clusters in Moerdijk, Geleen and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Uniper's Maasvlakte site is currently home to a modern coal fired power plant, which just opened in 2016. The Dutch Coal Prohibition Act will force the plant to close by January 1, 2030, far before the end of its expected commercial life, and Uniper says that a conversion of the facility to a different fuel is not realistic. The company has been seeking compensation from the Dutch government for the loss of its investment in the plant, and it has filed a lawsuit to challenge the Act's legitimacy. Over the longer term, it says that it is planning to green its business and achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.
“The industry has to go through a massive change in making its business processes more sustainable,” said Allard Castelein, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority. “Hydrogen will play a central role in this process. We are working with partners towards the introduction of a large-scale hydrogen network across the port complex, making Rotterdam an international hub for hydrogen production and import and for the transit of hydrogen to other countries in Northwestern Europe."
Industrial hydrogen is primarily produced from natural gas, resulting in CO2 emissions that amount to 19 million tonnes per year in the Netherlands. Industry in the Rotterdam area consumes about 40 percent of the nation's total hydrogen output, so the transition from grey hydrogen to green hydrogen in Rotterdam's petchem industry could be a significant step towards carbon neutrality.
The plant's initial target is for 100MW of electrolysis capacity, with a future capacity increase to 500MW. After a nine-month engineering and design study, the project will be bid out for an EPC contractor. Uniper plans to seek financial support from government agencies and from other partners in the hydrogen value chain, with an aim to make a final investment decision next year.
“There is a host of opportunities, not only for Uniper but also for other players in the chain. Together we can use sustainable hydrogen to reduce CO2 levels in Rotterdam significantly," said Axel Wietfeld, CEO of Uniper Hydrogen.
HMM and Unions Reach Agreement After Tense Negotiations
Demonstrations had begun aboard HMM ships in port before the agreement (HMM file photo)
The management of HMM and its unions reached an agreement Thursday mid-day, September 2, in Korea after tense negotiations to avert a crippling strike against Korea’s largest shipping line. The talks dragged on for 77 days including threats of mass resignations by seafarers and on Wednesday saw protests and solidarity actions.
After nearly nine hours of talks on Wednesday, the two sides remained far apart despite efforts by the government and the state-run Korea Development Bank, HMM’s largest debt investor, to find a settlement. Experts warned that strike could be devastating to the Korean economy as HMM accounts for the majority of Korea’s overseas trade and imports. There were also fears of wider repercussions for global container shipping which already faces backlogs and congestion.
In mid-August after three rounds of negotiations, including mediation by the National Labor Relations Commission, the seafarer’s union and the company remained at an impasse. The union said all of its members were prepared to submit their resignations to HMM. The situation became more complicated on August 30, when the union representing the shoreside employees also voted to strike. Reports indicate that as many as 755 unionized office employees were prepared to also walk off the job.
The talks lasted for nearly 18 hours on Wednesday and Thursday led by the CEO of HMM before the agreement was reached. Terms include an approximate eight percent wage increase retroactive to the first of the year as well as 650 percent productivity and incentive bonuses paid within the year. Both the crew and office workers will also get an average nearly three percent cost of living increase. Both sides also agreed to form a committee to restore wage competitiveness and prepare a performance-based pay system.
As the talks dragged on, Haewon union members staged a “placard and picket demonstration” aboard the HMM vessels Hyundai Brave and HMM Rotterdam. Further, on Wednesday night, the National Shipping Labor Union Council and other Korean shipping lines also staged a solidarity demonstration. Korean ships docked in the Pusan port all sounded their horns in unison to support Haewon. The union also announced that it would conduct an eight-hour demonstration on Thursday morning aboard the HMM Gdansko, timed to coincide with the resumption of the talks.
Union leaders said they were not satisfied with the terms but decided to proceed not to cause hardship for the Korean public. They noted the growing concern across Korea. HMM officials apologized to the Korean public. "With this wage negotiation as an opportunity, labor and management will work together to complete the reconstruction of the shipping industry,” HMM said in its announcement of the agreement.
American Seafoods Company Fights Giant Jones Act Penalties
The Bahamas-flagged reefer Wellington Star arrives at Bayside, Canada on a voyage from Alaska, 2019. A terminal manager told local media that 90 percent of the discharged cargo is usually delivered to the U.S. (Kloosterboer)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has stirred up a storm in the Alaska pollock fishery by issuing Jones Act penalty notices totaling about S350 million. Ac cording to a lawsuit filed by an affiliate of catcher-processor giant American Seafoods Company (ASC), the fines could raise the price of pollock and even lead to shortages in the eastern U.S., the region affected by the enforcement action.
Through the operations of its Alaska Reefer Management affiliate, American Seafoods routinely delivers Alaskan fish to customers on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard using chartered foreign-flag vessels. These ships are loaded in Dutch Harbor, then transit through the Panama Canal and around the East Coast to the port of Bayside, Canada. At Bayside, the cargo is offloaded into truck trailers for delivery to the Eastern United States. About 90 percent of the fish offloaded at Bayside is delivered to markets in the U.S., manager Manny Estrada told the St. Croix Courier in 2018.
A typical voyage from Dutch Harbor to Bayside: the trackline of the reefer Wellington Star in September 2019 (Pole Star)
If the trucks carrying this fish drove directly into Maine, the whole arrangement would be prohibited by the Jones Act, which bans the use of foreign vessels to transport goods between U.S. points. However, the Jones Act contains an obscure historical exception for cargo that makes part of its transit on a registered Canadian rail line, known as the "third proviso."
To meet the terms of this little-known exemption, each truckload of fish at the Bayside terminal is driven up a ramp and onto the sole train of the "Bayside Canadian Railway" - a 100-foot stretch of track with two rail cars and no destination (left, courtesy Kloosterboer). A small shunt engine pulls the train to the far end, nearer to the office of the Bayside Port Corporation, then pushes it back to the ramp again. Having completed this Canadian rail journey, the truck drives back down the ramp, out to Route 127 and across the border to make its delivery in the Eastern United States.
Videos of the rail line have been removed from the terminal operator's social media site, but a 3D street-level view may be found here.
While the train and track may be small, the railway is properly certified and registered as a Canadian rail line with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, noted attorneys for American Reefer Management (ARM) and terminal operator Kloosterboer International Forwarding (KIF). The arrangement has been in place and running for 20 years, and it has always been duly noted on customs paperwork, according to the filing.
CBP has previously ruled that similar arrangements using short-distance Canadian rail transport are acceptable. However, in mid-August, the agency began issuing multi-million-dollar penalties to Bayside's operators and users for unspecified Jones Act violations. The 170-plus notices include nearly $25 million in fines for KIF and an additional $325 million in fines for other participants, including ASC subsidiaries.
Five shipowners who served the route have received penalty notices totaling $65 million, and they have notified ARM that they hold it responsible, according to the filing. Two importers and nine trucking companies whose vehicles passed over the Bayside Canadian Railway may also be on the hook for $95 million.
According to the suit, the total size of the fines is more than twice the annual value of all the frozen Alaskan seafood that passes over the Bayside facility's docks. ARM and KIF say that the fines and the threat of further regulatory action have shut down the shipping route, and that some truckers will not pick up the product that is already in storage at Bayside for fear of further penalties.
"This unjustifiable agency overreach is crippling and threatens to destroy plaintiffs’ businesses, along with an entire supply chain transporting frozen seafood from Alaska to the eastern United States through Bayside," attorneys for ARM and KIF said. "Moreover, the penalty notices are threatening hundreds of jobs in Alaska and throughout the U.S. in the frozen seafood shipping industry, and unless they are withdrawn, will likely result in higher prices and shortages of frozen seafood across the eastern United States."
CBP has declined to comment about the details of the case, citing ongoing litigation.
American Seafoods started as a Norwegian-owned operator in 1988, and it became majority-U.S.-owned after the passage of the American Fisheries Act in 1998. It uses six U.S-built, foreign-modified catcher processor vessels in in its U.S. fishing operations.
Cargotec Takes Decarbonization One Step Further With Fossil-Free Steel
Machinery supplier Cargotec announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with SSAB to introduce fossil-free steel in the cargo handling industry. The two firms will start looking at how to incorporate SSAB’s fossil-free steel into Cargotec’s cargo handling equipment.
The move has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of Cargotec's customers, and for the cargo transport sector, it advances the shared project of decarbonization one step further - beyond just the transition to zero-carbon fuels.
“I am proud that we are paving the way in the cargo handling industry through commitment to using fossil-free steel and have this unique opportunity to work with a forerunner in fossil-free steel development. This is an important step towards our vision of becoming a leader in sustainable cargo flow,” said Mika Vehviläinen, CEO of Cargotec.
Steel and steel components are the main contributors for the CO2 footprint of Cargotec’s value chain upstream emissions, which account for over a third of the firm's total lifecycle emissions. total emissions (including emissions from its own operations, emissions from its supply chain and emissions from the use of its products). Fossil-free steel has a significantly lower environmental impact and contributes towards a carbon neutral value chain.
SSAB's HYBRIT fossil-free iron production system replaces coking coal with clean hydrogen and electricity. It produces sponge iron, a raw intermediate product that can be incorporated into the melt at any steel mill. When fossil-free iron is used to feed a steel mill powered by renewable energy, the result is fossil-free steel. A demonstration-scale plant is scheduled for its first operations in 2025-6, and the company wants to convert completely to the new process by 2045. According to SSAB, the technology's importance will only increase in the future as steel demand is projected to rise. Early adopters include Volvo Group and Mercedes-Benz, which are working on incorporating fossil-free steel into vehicle components.
IN THE KNOW Video Podcast 33: Bo Cerup-Simonsen on Decarbonization
In this episode of The Maritime Executive's video podcast, editor-in-chief Tony Munoz spoke with Bo Cerup-Simonsen, the CEO of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, about the industry's green transition and the need to collaborate on decarbonization.
The shift to new fuels will be an industry-wide effort, and it will require commitment from OEMs, shipowners, charterers, bunker suppliers and ports. The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center's mission is to bring shipping stakeholders together to "facilitate the kind of work and collaboration that no individual company can do, no matter how large that company is," Cerup-Simonsen says.
With Maersk Line's recent order for methanol-powered container ships, new signs of movement at IMO, and a solid pipeline of research sponsored by the Center's partners, Cerup-Simonsen is optimistic about the industry's prospects for achieving its climate goals. There is a lot to do - like bringing down the cost of green fuel, improving ship efficiency, and getting the right carbon regulations in place - but the work is under way. "First movers are really going to be critically important here," he says. "The fact that we're seeing companies start to invest and move forward . . . is very strongly indicating that we have industry leaders that are going to move ahead."
For all the details, watch the video of their conversation below.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.
Australia’s New Antarctic Research Vessel Delivered
Nuyina departing the Netherlands for her first voyage to Australia (Damen)
The world’s newest and one of the most advanced Antarctic research vessels completed construction and commenced her delivery run from Northern Europe to Australia last week. The new ASRV (Antarctic Supply Research Vessel) Nuyina, (a Tasmanian Aboriginal word for southern lights) sailed from Damen Vlissingen in the Netherlands for a seven-week voyage to Hobart, Tasmania, where she will be commissioned.
Along with other new research vessels, including the UK’s Sir David Attenborough, the Nuyina joins an elite class of next generation vessels. Her mission will include the resupply of Antarctic stations and research campaigns, scientific research, icebreaking, transport, disaster relief, evacuation, and patrol duties.
“It’s a monumental occasion,” added Gerry O’Doherty, Master of ASRV Nuyina. “It’s been custom designed and built for the Australian Antarctic Program and it’s really special. It’s day one of a thirty or possibly forty-year lifespan! We're going to be able to do so much with it, and I just want to wish all those scientists and crew who will be working on it all the best for the future. Everyone involved in this project can take great pride in their contribution to the development of a vessel that has set a new world benchmark in polar science capability.”
Measuring 525 feet in length, and displacing 24,000 tons, the Nuyina represents a A$1.9 billion (US$1.4 billion) commitment to the country’s ongoing Antarctic research. She replaces an older vessel that was retired before the 2021 research season. The new vessel has a range of 16,000 nautical miles operating at 12 knots and an ice-breaking capability of 1.65 meters at 3 knots.
The vessel is designed to accommodate a crew of 32 plus up to 116 on the research team and will carry a doctor on missions lasting up to 90 days. The design incorporates innovative systems to reduce the environmental impact of the ASRV Nuyina. On board research facilities include science laboratories and offices, a wet well and ultra-pure seawater systems, plus meteorological and air chemistry labs. Accommodations for the crew and researchers also include a dining area, lounges, a theater, a fitness center, and yoga and medical suites.
According to Damen Shipyards Group, which was responsible for the vessel’s construction, the project was a multi-national effort involving the Australian Antarctic Division, the vessel operator Serco, Danish concept designers Knud E. Hansen, Damen’s engineering and detailed design teams in the Netherlands, and the construction team at Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania. In total, over 120 Dutch companies were involved in the project as well as a range of Australian companies.
Pacesetters of WWII: The First Female Physicians in the U.S. Navy
In 1917, at the height of World War I, the American Women’s Hospital Service (AWHS) began advocating for changes to allow female physicians to receive military commissions after they were excluded from service in the reserves of the armed forces. In 1939, the possibility that another war might engulf their country prompted female physicians to rally again for the right to serve. In December 1941, the director of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) sent resolutions to President Franklin D. Roosevelt asking that female physicians be admitted on an equal basis with men in the Medical Reserve Corps of the Army and Navy.
On 30 July 1942, President Roosevelt formally authorized the creation of the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Naval Reserve, known as the WAVES (Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service). Women were allowed to join their own branch of the reserves; however, there were restrictions. For example, they were restricted to duty within the continental United States. The establishment of the WAVES allowed female physicians to be assigned to the care of the women who served, but these commissions were within an auxiliary force rather than as part of the service.
In 1942 and 1943, Dr. Emily D. Barringer, president of the AMWA, served as the chair on a special committee to lobby Congress specifically for the appointment of female physicians and surgeons to the Medical Corps of the Army and the Navy. In April 1943, the Sparkman Johnson Act was passed to allow women to receive temporary commissions in the Navy, Army, and Public Health Service. During the remaining years of World War II, fifty-seven women received temporary commissions in the U.S. Naval Medical Corps.
Lieutenant (j.g.) Cornelia J. Gaskill, Lieutenant (j.g.) Achsa M. Bean, and Lieutenant Commander Hulda E. Thelander were the first three women to receive their commissions in the U.S. Navy.
Lieutenant (j.g.) Cornelia Jane Gaskill
Dr. Cornelia Jane Gaskill received her commission as a Lieutenant (j.g.) in the Women’s Reserve on 1 September 1942. She was a 1937 graduate of Cornell University School of Medicine.
In same month that she applied to the Women’s Reserve, she married to First Lieutenant William H. Sternberg in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Despite the restrictions on married women serving in the Women’s Reserve, she remained on active duty because her husband was a military physician in the U.S. Army Medical Corps rather than the U.S. Navy.
Upon accepting her commission in the auxiliary service, Lieutenant Gaskill left her practice in New York City to begin her training. In January 1943, Lieutenant Gaskill began her indoctrination course at Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
As a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics, she was based with a group of reserve officer candidates at Mount Holyoke College, where she served as the physician for all 350 girls in training at the college. She left the service in 1944 following her assignment to the school, and after the war, she joined the faculty at Tulane Medical School in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Lieutenant Commander Achsa Mabel Bean
Achsa M. Bean graduated from the University of Maine in 1922 and attended medical school at the University of Rochester. She was one of three women in her class when she graduated in 1936. Prior to the start of World War II, she was hired at Vassar College.
When war broke out, she volunteered for the American Red Cross at the age of 42, responding to a request from the British Emergency Medical Service. In February 1942, she left for England with her friend, Barbara Stimson, to serve overseas. Her service in England and her full commission as a major in the Royal Army Medical Corps were cited in 1943 by Dr. Emily Barringer in her advocacy for the appointment of female physicians and surgeons in the armed forces of the United States.
When Dr. Bean returned to the United States in the fall of 1942, she wrote of her satisfaction with her experience in England and her contributions to the war effort overseas. In a letter to Dr. Esther Lovejoy, past president of the Medical Women’s International Association and director of the American Women's Hospital Service (AWHS), expressing appreciation for her experience overseas and her hope that she could be of service to her own country.
In an interview with the Vassar College newspaper, she said she joined because “I couldn’t stand us – that is, America as a whole, because we were so untouched by the war, and complained so much.” After her experiences in London, she refused to stand on the sidelines, and she spoke often of an increased sense of social responsibility.
After being granted a commission as a major in the Royal Army Medical Corps while serving in England, Dr. Bean refused to accept anything less than a commission as an officer. She wrote of her experience overseas as proof that female physicians were capable of standing side-by-side with their male counterparts. Upon accepting an internship at the National Naval Medical Center in 1943, the newly appointed Lieutenant (j.g.) Bean was careful to distinguish that she had “not joined the WAVES,” but she had received a “lieutenantship in the United States Naval Reserve.”
Dr. Bean was aware that women were not yet allowed to enroll in the Naval Medical Corps, but she was hopeful that the change was coming when she reported for duty at Bethesda on 14 February 1943. She was initially put in charge of the dispensary at the Women’s Naval Training School, Hunter College, in the Bronx, New York City. In an interview with the Poughkeepsie Journal, Lieutenant Bean was excited to serve her country, but hopeful that legislation would soon be passed to allow women to serve overseas. In 1944, she was promoted to lieutenant commander and sent to Pearl Harbor to serve as senior medical officer of the Women’s Naval Reserve for the 14th Naval District.
After her discharge in December 1945, Dr. Bean returned to her position as a professor of hygiene at Vassar College. She often gave talks on campus to increase student awareness of the toll that the war had taken on people all over the world. She was a strong advocate for the American Red Cross, often writing articles for the campus newspaper about the importance of this organization to show student awareness for global health concerns. In June 1946, she became the Vassar College physician. She continued to travel often to observe different clinics and hospital operations in New York and overseas, and share her own experiences until her retirement.
Commander Hulda Evelyn Thelander
Hulda E. Thelander was born to Swedish immigrants in Little Falls, Minnesota. She graduated from University of Minnesota with her undergraduate degree and completed her medical training at the same institution. She worked as a medical missionary to China from 1926 to 1927 before returning to the United States. After her return, she established her practice at the Children’s Hospital in San Francisco before the outbreak of World War II.
When Dr. Thelander was commissioned on 29 March 1944 as a lieutenant commander, she was the first female physician to receive a commission with a rank higher than lieutenant. Although her specialty was pediatrics, her experience in contagious diseases and her medical degree were in demand.
Dr. Thelander was assigned to report for service with the U.S. Marine Corps in San Francisco on 29 March 1944. In an interview many years later at the University of California, she said that "it was a strange feeling to don a uniform and walk down the streets of your home town and be saluted . . . I rather liked my uniform." Lieutenant Commander Thelander gave lectures to the women assigned to the Marines in the bases on the West Coast about what she called the “Birds, Bees, and Wolves” in an effort to prevent further increases in pregnant women in service. After the end of the war, she was honorably discharged in 5 December 1945.
After the war, Dr. Thelander continued to serve in the reserves as a consultant to female veterans until her retirement in 1953. She went back to a successful career as a pediatrician and became an authority on birth defects. In 1951, she became Chief of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in San Francisco. She taught at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Stanford Medical School.
She continued to expand her understanding of the field of medicine and her education as an advocate for women’s rights. In 1952, she joined another female doctor, Dr. Helen B. Weyrauch, in a study of 230 female physicians, both married and unmarried, to assess their contributions to the field. They found that women who were married had two jobs, and their primary job was not their role as a physician.
Among the awards she received for her tireless efforts, Dr. Thelander was honored with the International Humanitarian Award for her work with children with debilitating disorders. In 1968, she received an honorary doctorate of law degree (L.L.D) from the University of California at Berkeley. Before her retirement from her civilian career, she served as the director for the Child Development Center, Children’s Hospital of San Francisco.
Kati A. Engel is an editor and writer with NHHC's Communication and Outreach Division.
This article appears courtesy of NHHC and is reproduced here in an abbreviated form. The original may be found here.
To meet the terms of this little-known exemption, each truckload of fish at the Bayside terminal is driven up a ramp and onto the sole train of the "Bayside Canadian Railway" - a 100-foot stretch of track with two rail cars and no destination (left, courtesy Kloosterboer). A small shunt engine pulls the train to the far end, nearer to the office of the Bayside Port Corporation, then pushes it back to the ramp again. Having completed this Canadian rail journey, the truck drives back down the ramp, out to Route 127 and across the border to make its delivery in the Eastern United States.
Dr. Cornelia Jane Gaskill received her commission as a Lieutenant (j.g.) in the Women’s Reserve on 1 September 1942. She was a 1937 graduate of Cornell University School of Medicine. 
Achsa M. Bean graduated from the University of Maine in 1922 and attended medical school at the University of Rochester. She was one of three women in her class when she graduated in 1936. Prior to the start of World War II, she was hired at Vassar College. 
Hulda E. Thelander was born to Swedish immigrants in Little Falls, Minnesota. She graduated from University of Minnesota with her undergraduate degree and completed her medical training at the same institution. She worked as a medical missionary to China from 1926 to 1927 before returning to the United States. After her return, she established her practice at the Children’s Hospital in San Francisco before the outbreak of World War II.