(Marine Log) TTB 2023 attendees will have the chance to visit USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park on March 8 to wrap up the conference in Mobile, Ala.

Attendees who register for the tour will board the USS Alabama battleship and explore 12 decks. The tour will include a look down inside the oldest submarine on public display, the USS Drum. Other features of the tour include a 26-foot Motor Surf Launch, a 41-foot UTB, and a Vietnam-era river patrol boat.

Throughout the park are historic aircrafts—an A-12 Blackbird spy plane, OS2U Kingfisher, F-86L Sabre jet, a B-52 bomber, and a flight simulator.

Limited space is available as we explore America’s most unique military attraction.

Transportation to and from the park will be provided.

“TTB is an opportunity to participate in a dialogue with the entire tug, towboat and barge industry’s leadership on key strategic challenges, issues, trends, lessons learned, and new project and technological developments,” says Marine Log Editor-in-Chief Heather Ervin. “We are excited to return to Mobile after a successful TTB 2022 there last

(Marine Log) Over the years, Furuno USA has done an exceptional job of listening to its customers — including adding a smaller 9-inch display to its NavNet TZtouch3 line of multi-function displays (MFDs) . Now, Furuno is responding to customer requests at the other end of the spectrum with the introduction of two new, extra-large 22-inch and 24-inch models. Aptly named TZtouchXL, these super-wide, full-HD (1920×1080 FHD resolution) MFDs include all of the features that have made NavNet TZtouch3 successful.

The TZT22X and TZT24X deliver all of the features that make NavNet TZtouch3 easy to operate. Additionally, the large screens can be split to display six different windows. The edge-swipe feature makes it simple and intuitive for users to find what they need. Swipe from the left to view or hide navigation data, from the right to see all shortcuts, from the bottom to view layer options with new organizational tools, or swipe down from the top to easily access customized Quick Pages. A single tap selects most options, so the user is never more than a

The Coast Guard is responding to a tugboat that ran aground near the South Texas Gateway refinery in Corpus Christi.

Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received a call at 4 p.m. Sunday, from the agent of G&H Towing stating that the tug Mark E. Keubler had run aground outside the channel near the South Texas Gateway refinery and was taking on water.

Watchstanders issued a safety marine information broadcast and directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station Port Aransas 45-foot Response Boat–Medium crew to assist with de-watering.

Once on scene, the RB–M crew began assisting with de-watering efforts.

The Coast Guard says that “before running aground there was reportedly a collision between the tug boat Mark E. Keubler and the bulk carrier Nisalah.” [This is probably, in fact, the 319,287 dwt Saudi-flag crude oil tanker Nisala].

Responders did not observe any signs of pollution and there were no reported injuries.

The Coast Guard currently has pollution responders on scene monitoring salvage operations.

Source: https://www.marinelog.com/news/uscg-responds-to-tugboat-grounding/

The Association of Maryland Pilots has ordered its fifth Chesapeake Class launch from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, Somerset, Mass. Delivery is scheduled for early 2024.

With a deep-V hull designed by Ray Hunt Design, the new all-aluminum launch measures 52.6 feet in overall length, with a 16.8 foot beam and a 4.8 foot draft.

The vessel is powered by twin Volvo Penta D16, EPA Tier 3-certified diesel engines, each producing 641 bhp at 1,800 rpm and is expected to reach a top speed of over 26 knots, The engines will turn 5-bladed Bruntons NiBrAl propellers via ZF500-1-A gear boxes.

The launch will be equipped with a Northern Lights 12 kW genset.

A Humphree interceptor trim control system, with automatic trim optimization, will be installed at the transom.

The wheelhouse, with a small trunk, is being installed amidships on a flush deck. With electrically heated, forward-leaning front windows, it is outfitted with five NorSap shock-mitigating reclining seats, a baggage rack and three weathertight doors.

The forecastle will include a porta-potty, split upholstered settee/bunk, a tool box

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District officially welcomed its newest hydrographic survey vessel, the Beeman, with a dedication and christening ceremony in Newport, Oregon, Jan. 11.

The vessel was built by Workskiff Inc. of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., and is based on the yard’s 32-foot Commander model with a Furuno USA navigation system and survey package add-on.

The survey station accommodates two monitors with an HD monitor at the helm. Included are ac and DC power outlets for a 3,000-watt AC pure sine wave interior with mitigating shock seating. The exterior is equipped with a slide and swivel server rack, a galley for hot and fresh water, and a black water holding tank. A single beam through hull transducer sits on the bottom of the craft while a universal survey mount sits on the gunwale for over-the-side sonar deployment.

The Beeman, whose name honors the legacy of Ogden Beeman, chief of the Portland District’s Waterways Navigation Branch from 1960-1967, replaces and continues the work of the district’s aging vessel, the Patterson, which surveyed Oregon’s coastal

Boston-based Sea Machines Robotics Inc. has installed its new AI-ris computer vision product onboard a 270-foot U.S. Coast Guard Famous-class Medium Endurance Cutter ahead of an upcoming deployment.

AI-ris uses artificial intelligence to identify and track visual targets of interest. Installation on the cutter was made possible under an ongoing Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Sea Machines Robotics and the USCG Research and Development Center in an effort to evaluate how computer vision systems can be utilized for autonomous navigation, collision avoidance, and target detection. The deployment of AI-ris provides the USCG a new tool for maritime domain awareness and allows Sea Machines to refine its computer vision technology with feedback from the USCG across a range of environmental conditions and operational scenarios.

The collaboration between Sea Machines and the U.S. Coast Guard began in 2020 following the USCG Research and Development Center selecting the Sea Machines’ SM300 remote command and autonomy product for its 29-foot research vessel.

“The close collaboration between Sea Machines and the United States Coast Guard Research and Development

A little fun bit of news coming out of Louisiana as C&C Marine and Repair LLC, Belle Chasse, La., celebrates the holidays with its second annual Christmas light display. This year’s display is prominently located near the company’s main office.

The new display includes a 5,000 horsepower inland towboat, the M/V Kent Furlong, being pulled by Santa’s 20-foot-tall reindeer and led by Rudolph. Also new to this year’s display is a 10-foot Santa steering the reindeer from the boat’s pilot house.

“We received so much positive feedback last year from the community, that I knew that this had to become an annual tradition,” says C&C Marine and Repair’s owner Tony Cibilich. The display is outfitted with nearly a mile of Christmas lights and includes the two 30-foot fabricated Christmas trees, with a 5-foot star on top.

“Our hope is to add a new attraction to the display each year,” says C&C Project Manager Ben Sasso. The display was erected after the Thanksgiving holiday and will stay at its current location until after New Year’s.

“We

The Department of the Interior today announced results from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s wind energy auction for five leases offshore California. The lease sale represents the third major offshore wind lease sale this year and the first ever for the Pacific region. Today’s sale drew competitive high bids from five companies totaling $757.1 million, well exceeding the first lease sales that were held in the Atlantic.

Provisional Winner                                 Lease Area                         Acres                         High Bid
RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, LLC          OCS-P 0561                      63,338                      $157,700,000
California North Floating, LLC                OCS-P 0562                      69,031       

Americraft Marine, a maritime subsidiary of the Logothetis family’s Libra Group, is expanding investment in its Palatka. Fla., based shipyard, St Johns Ship Building, to increase capacity for construction of Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) and other offshore wind related vessels.

In addition to previous commitments from Americraft to its subsidiary, which it acquired earlier this year, the shipyard has also received the final approval of a MARAD grant modification. The investment along with the matching grant will provide for additional equipment and fabrication infrastructure specifically aimed at assisting in the expansion of the yard for the concurrent construction of multiple CTVs, supporting the U.S. offshore wind industry.

St Johns Ship Building currently has multiple Jones Act compliant CTVs under construction with four scheduled deliveries in 2023.

Source: https://www.marinelog.com/offshore/offshore-wind/st-johns-shipbuilding-to-ramp-up-ctv-construction-capability/