Maritime Vessels Directory

This month, listen in as Sean Fernstrum weighs in on how his firm arrived at its enviable market position, what comes next, and why.Sean Fernstrum is a third-generation owner of R.W Fernstrum & Company. He graduated from Michigan Technological University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Scientific and Technical Communications. After college, he came home to Menominee, Michigan and began working as a Technical Writer at R.W. Fernstrum & Company. He has been President of the company for the last 8 years.

Pella Sietas, a shipbuilding company in Neuenfelde, Hamburg, has secured a EUR100 million ($111Mln) order from Russian authorities for a new icebreaker described as the biggest ever built in Germany.The new icebreaker, "Eisbrecher7", with a length of 120m, a width of 27.5m and a draught of 8.5m, is the largest single order in Pella Sieta's company history.  The icebreaker is part of the Russian fleet modernization program which, as a special vessel, not only keeps sea routes clear but also provides pilot service for large ships in ice, towing ships and other floating structures. It also offers the possibility of fire fighting, sea rescue and deck cargo transport.

The U.S. Navy’s newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) was christened Saturday during a ceremony at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division.The second aircraft carrier in the Ford Class, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is also the second aircraft carrier built by Newport News Shipbuilding named for JFK. Like its forerunner CVN 78, Kennedy is a truly electric aircraft carrier, with many of the systems powered by steam on Nimitz-class carriers now powered by electricity.

Anyone who has been around the Offshore Oil and Gas or the Marine industries for long has heard of plans for mining various minerals located on or just below the seafloor. In fact, when Howard Hughes built the Glomar Explorer in 1972, the cover story for its true mission – recovering a Soviet submarine - was that the rig would be used to mine manganese nodules from the deep ocean floor.  This cover story was so effective that it had the unintended consequence of stirring great interest in ocean mining among offshore companies and the general public.In the years since, there has been a great deal of research and exploration in this field.

The offshore wind industry in the United States is growing exponentially, with multiple projects in the development stages off of the Atlantic coast. The total megawatt capacity of U.S. offshore wind farms is anticipated to reach 22,000 by 2030 and 43,000 by 2050. To support this growth, U.S. Department of Energy reports estimate over 40,000 new jobs will be created by 2030.The new jobs anticipated to support the offshore wind industry include a wide range of types, including engineers, trade workers, surveyors, scientists, technicians, managers, and seafarers. Wind turbine technician has been one of the fastest growing occupations in the United States in recent years.