ADTECH Marine Systems

Alabama's historic Gee's Bend Ferry recently entered service after being converted from geared-diesel to become the first zero-emission, electric-powered passenger/car ferry in the United States. Owned by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) and operated by HMS Ferries, the 15-vehicle/132-passenger ferry runs on the Alabama River between Camden and Boykin, AL."As a first-of-its-kind vessel in North America, the Gee's Bend Ferry will have impact far beyond the State boarders. Successfully achieving United States Coast Guard approval of the vessel helps open this technology across the maritime industry," said Tim Aguirre, General Manager for HMS Ferries Alabama.

A plasma-burning machine cut the first steel plate that will be used to build Columbia (SSBN 826), the lead ballistic missile submarine. As Newport News continues its digital transformation, the event also marked the first class of submarines that will be built using fully digital blueprints.“Today is a historic day,” said Jason Ward, Newport News’ vice president for Columbia-class construction. “It has been a half century since Newport News Shipbuilding has constructed a ballistic submarine.

Dutch firm Heerema Marine Contractors and Singapore's Sembcorp Marine, on Thursday, showed off the world's largest crane vessel that can be used for the setup and decommissioning of offshore oil and gas facilities.The semi-submersible vessel, which cost Heerema about $1.5 billion, is equipped with two cranes that can reach a height of 220 metres, taller than the top of Singapore's iconic boat-shaped Marina Bay Sands hotel. The cranes have a combined lifting capacity of 20,000 tonnes, another industry record.The Sleipnir, named after Norse God Odin's eight-legged stallion, was built by Sembcorp Marine at its Singapore yard.

Norway on Jan. 1, 2026, will begin a ban on cruise ships powering through the Unesco-listed heritage fjords on anything but zero-emissions propulsion. For now, that means battery power, but few of the 190 cruise ship calls to these fjords are made with that kind of electro-chemical fuel on board. From now until 2026, you can still cruise the fjords on a closed-loop, or in-line, scrubber system, but few cruise ships have these installed. The new rules mean cruising elsewhere, finding suppliers of energy storage systems or accepting novel zero-emissions solutions.

As the global marine industry aggressively moves to reduce emissions from ships, and Norway in particular has thrown down the gauntlet of zero emission cruise ships in certain fjords along its scenic coast, Norwegian cruise ship operator Hurtigruten has signed a 7.5-year deal to buy liquefied biogas (LBG) made from dead fish and other organic waste to help power its vessels.Under the contract with Biokraft, Hurtigruten ships will start receiving near-daily supplies of LBG, with the first delivery taking place in 2020.The company last year said it would invest about $800 million to refit six vessels to partly run on the renewable fuel."Οur ships will literally be powered by nature.