Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd.

Members of Congress have joined state and local leaders in urging California officials to hasten COVID-19 vaccinations for workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's two busiest, hit hard by pandemic workforce disruptions and surging imports.As of Wednesday, 27 arriving container ships stood anchored off the twin ports complex waiting for berths to clear at terminals piled high with cargo from previous shipments, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.The bottlenecks are comparable to those last seen in 2014-2015 at the height of a months-long longshore contract dispute at 29 U.S. West Coast ports, said Kip Louttit, executive director of the exchange.

The developer of the first major U.S. offshore wind farm said on Wednesday it will soon apply for a federal permit from President Joe Biden's administration, after former President Donald Trump's government abruptly canceled its initial application last month.Vineyard Wind will resubmit its construction plan to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management "very very soon," Avangrid Inc CEO Dennis Arriola said in an interview, without specifying an exact date. "We believe that the pause button is going to come off and we're going to continue right where we were," he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced America's return to the international Paris Agreement to fight climate change, the centerpiece of a raft of day-one executive orders aimed at restoring U.S. leadership in combating global warming.The announcements also included a sweeping order to review all of former President Donald Trump's actions weakening climate change protections, the revocation of a vital permit for TC Energy's Keystone XL oil pipeline project from Canada, and a moratorium on oil and gas leasing activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that Trump's administration had recently opened to development.

Classification society ABS informs it has granted approval in principle (AIP) to solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology developed by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME).Granting of AIP follows two joint development projects between ABS and DSME, the latest to develop SOFC technology to replace at least one of three diesel generators typically on board a very large crude carrier (VLCC).ABS said it is now working with DSME on future research and development areas to be carried out during detailed design and testing of the SOFC technology.

Finnish marine equipment manufacturer Wärtsilä said it signed a framework agreement with Carnival Corporation covering the supply and installation of Wärtsilä’s waste water and dry waste treatment systems for up to 32 vessels across many of global cruise ship operator’s brands. Wärtsilä said its Membrane Bioreactor waste water treatment plants for handling of black and grey waste water surpass the most demanding standards currently set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for sewage discharge, including paragraph 4.2 of MEPC 227 (64), which applies to special areas.