Maran Gas Maritime Inc.

Despite the escalating COVID-19 crisis unfolding across the sub-continent, ship recycling markets have remained remain firm.India has been hardest hit by this second wave of COVID-19, and the country is now recording over 400,000 new daily cases and more than 4,000 deaths. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey are also recording increasing cases. Bangladesh has extended its nationwide lockdown for another week, while the worst hit states in India are putting their own measures in place, in the absence of a government mandated nationwide lockdown.

The IMO’s MARPOL Annex IV is being revised to confirm the lifetime performance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). This may finally bring about grey water regulation – a necessity that is long overdue.Black Water and Grey WaterA ship’s sewage (black water) is collected from toilets, urinals and hospitals. The IMO’s MARPOL Annex IV prohibits its discharge, except when treated by an STP or discharged at > 12nm from the nearest land. A ship’s grey water, collected from showers, wash basins, laundries, and galleys, is not regulated.Grey water has more pollutants (measured as BOD or COD) and hence greater environmental impact than black water (Table 1) [1-4].

Bureau Veritas (BV) said it has been working with GILLS PTE LTD in Singapore to assess the performance of its air lubrication system designed to improve ship efficiency and decrease fuel burn by reducing the drag of an underwater hull.  GILLS, which stands for gas injected liquid lubrication systems, deploys NACA profiles to create self-generating micro-bubbles for ‘turbulent modulation’ which has a ‘hull-tightening’ effect, reducing drag and energy requirements. The self-generating nature of micro-bubble clouds with no requirement for air-compression and additional energy requirements is one of the features of the GILLS system.

Superior Industries, a U.S.-based manufacturer and global supplier of bulk material processing and handling systems, recently developed a new model TeleStacker Conveyor for loading dry bulk cargo ships. This multipurpose, highly mobile conveyor incorporates truck unloading and ship loading capabilities into a single machine.“Since expanding our TeleStacker Conveyor to marine-based applications in the early 2000s, we’ve collected hundreds of data points, design preferences and functional requirements from operators and engineers,” said Scott Gulan, sales manager at Superior.

The U.S. Navy commissioned its newest Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ship USS Miguel Keith (ESB 5) Saturday, at Naval Air Station North Island, Coronado, Calif.Built by General Dynamics NASSCO, the 785-foot USS Miguel Keith is the third ESB variant of the Expeditionary Transfer Dock platform (ESD). Expeditionary Mobile Base was previously known as Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) in the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) program. ESBs are highly flexible platforms that provide logistics movement from sea to shore supporting a broad range of military operations. The ESB variant is designed around four core capabilities: aviation, berthing, equipment staging area, and command and control.