Brooke Marine Ltd.

The most complex cruise ship lengthening ever undertaken is clipping along at Fincantieri’s Palermo yard.The final welding cut to Windstar Cruises’ Star Breeze was completed and  the ship’s 25.6-meter/84-foot prefabricated midsection was glided into place between the two halves in the drydock, an operation that took just half an hour.Overnight, Shipyard crews at Fincantieri Palermo had carefully split the ship, pulling the 4,000-ton bow forward centimeter by centimeter while a new 25.6-meter midsection waited on shiny black rollers at the far end of the 370-meter pit.

Born and raised on the water by entrepreneurial parents, Basjan Faber knew from a young age that his future and fate was in maritime, specifically ship design. Today the CEO leads a vibrant, diverse and fast-growing naval architecture firm that he co-founded with partners in 2007. Headquartered in Amsterdam, C-Job has a unique approach to its business and is expanding its international footprint, as Maritime Reporter & Engineering News discovered when we visited with him in The Netherlands last month.“I have always been inspired by ships, and I knew by the end of grammar school that I wanted to be a naval architect.

America’s first offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) barge has been launched for owner Q-LNG Transport, Mississippi shipbuilder VT Halter Marine announced on Wednesday.The Q-LNG 4000 barge, designed to carry 4,000 cubic meters of LNG, with dimensions of 324’ x 64’ x 32’.6”, will be operated as part of an articulated tug and barge (ATB) unit designed to meet the requirements of American Bureau of Shipbuilding (ABS) and the International Gas Carrier code as an LNG bunkering barge.Its tug, the Q-Ocean Services, is scheduled to launch late October. The tug will have 5,100 horsepower, powered by two GE 6L250 MDC EPA Tier 4 main engines, with Wartsila Z-drives, and dimensions of 128’ x 42’ x 21’.

AET, a petroleum tanker owner and operator, has named its newest vessels, two of the world's first LNG Dual-Fuel Dynamic Positioning Shuttle Tankers (DPSTs). The vessels, the cleanest DPSTs ever built, will emit 40-48% less carbon than equivalent vessels built in 2008, meeting the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) target of reducing carbon (CO2) emissions by 40% against 2008 baselines by 2030, and halving CO2 emissions by 2050.These LNG Dual-Fuel DPSTs also emit 85% less SOx, 98% less NOx, 98% less particulate matter and 93% less black carbon particulates than DPSTs burning conventional fuel.

An interview with Ian Sage, director for marine operations, NATO Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation, La Spezia, Italy.NATO’s 3,100-ton, 305-foot research vessel NRV Alliance has been a leading platform for underwater acoustics research to the benefit of NATO navies.  The ship operated with a civilian crew under the German flag for many years for the NATO SACLANT Center, later renamed the NATO Undersea Research Center, and now known as the NATO Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation.  Now Alliance flies a new flag, and has a broader mission.