Maritime Vessels Directory

Eastern Shipbuilding Group on Monday commenced construction of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Ingham (WMSM-917), the third hull of the Heritage Class Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program.The occasion was observed by leaders of the U.S. Coast Guard Project Resident Office at ESG’s Allanton Shipyard where the first steel plates were cut by ESG personnel in the 103,000-square-foot steel and aluminum processing facility and transferred to the Nelson Street Shipyard for assembly and construction.This milestone is yet another signal of growing momentum in the OPC program. The lead OPC, USCGC Argus, is nearly fully assembled and remains on schedule and on budget.

The Baltic Exchange's main dry bulk sea freight index extended its rally on Tuesday, rising about 5% to its highest in 13 years, steered by strong gains in capesize rates, and helped by demand for smaller vessels.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize vessels, jumped 245 points, or 5.2%, to 4,962, its highest since September 2008.The capesize index advanced 722 points, or 9.5%, to 8,322, hitting its highest in 13 years.Average daily earnings for capesizes, which transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $5,983 to $69,013.

On September 18, Portland Port held the official naming ceremony of the newest tug to enter the fleet, the Rupert Best.It was announced earlier this year that the new tug would be arriving at Portland Port following its construction in 2019. The tug was built in Turkey to a Robert Allen design, the Sanmar Sirapinar class ‘RAmparts 2200’ azimuth stern drive tug will improve and help support the port’s ability to welcome larger vessels.The multimillion-dollar tug entered service earlier this year shortly after the passing of Commander Best. However, COVID-19 restrictions forced any naming ceremony to be postponed until it was safe to hold.

The University of Houston’s College of Technology will host the 12th Annual Maritime Risk Symposium, a virtual event, in collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences from November 1-5, 2021.The Maritime Risk Symposium is an annual conference in which government and maritime industry leaders, port representatives, researchers, and solution providers convene to examine current and emerging threats to maritime security.RegistrationRegistration for this year’s virtual Maritime Risk Symposium has been reduced to $50 per person. Registrants will receive a personalized code to participate in conference sessions.

Elcome International on Tuesday announced that its Sri Lanka office, International Marine Services, has become an authorized sales and service provider of Koden Electronics products.Dubai-based Elcome, which has been a Koden distributor in UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia and India for more than 30 years, is now also providing field service and onboard support for Koden products from its Sri Lanka office inside the Port of Colombo.Headquartered in Japan, Koden offers a broad-based marine electronics product line including IMO-compliant and non-IMO radars, GPS, echosounders, chart plotters, sonars and AIS transceivers for offshore support vessels, towboats, fishing boats and other commercial vessels.