Marine Log

APRIL 30, 2013 — The U.S. Coast Guard Inspections and Compliance Directorate has issued Marine Safety Alert on the use of surge protective devices on board vessels that corrects an alert on this subject issued earlier this month and adds additional information.

Following is the text of the new alert:

DC Surge Protective Devices Onboard Vessels (correction with additional information)

We've all seen them and used them. Surge protective devices (SPDs), more commonly known as surge protectors or power strips help protect our expensive electronic devices from being damaged from excessive currents and allow us to simultaneously deliver power to multiple devices. This safety alert addresses the use of certain electrical protection devices onboard vessels and the inherent risks they may cause. Most commercially available SPDs are designed for use ashore and will interrupt only the hot conductor when a surge occurs. What does that mean for the ship owner/operator? It means that while these devices may provide protection in our homes and offices, these same devices may be a fire risk onboard vessels.

A marine casualty investigation of two separate stateroom fires onboard a U.S. Flag Container ship revealed that the sources of the fires were attributed to the use of SPDs plugged into a lighting circuit. It was discovered that a ground had developed on another circuit that was connected to the same distribution panel providing power to the staterooms. This ground created an imbalance of voltage between the two power conductors supplying the SPDs which caused excessive currents, overheating, and subsequently, a fire. In this instance, even if the SPDs automatically tripped as designed, only one power conductor would have been secured while the other would continue to provide power, possibly shorting to the device's ground wire and the structure of the vessel.

For shipboard applications, it is critical for a device to interrupt both power conductors.

 The Coast Guard recommends that vessel Owners, Operators, Class Society Surveyors, Insurers, and other inspection personnel examine the risks associated with the use of SPDs aboard their vessels, and if necessary ensure their organizations have policies and procedures relating to their use. Vessels should have defined procedures for checking the condition and grounding capabilities of personal/portable electrical equipment, and trained shipboard personnel should be assigned to check and approve all SPDs in use or brought on board for compatibility with the vessel's electrical distribution system prior to use. Routine checks of switchboard and distribution system 120 VAC ground detection systems are necessary to detect the presence of grounds that may cause similar circumstances with non-marine type SPDs. These recommendations are not mandated rather just an advisory based on lessons learned from the casualty.

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Additional Technical Information:

• This safety alert only applies to vessels with alternating current power systems and may be most likely applicable to larger industrial and commercial vessels. It relates to different manners in which power is generated, transformed and supplied throughout the vessel.
• There is no official Underwriters Laboratory standard for Marine Surge Protective Devices despite numerous retailers advertising "UL Marine 1449."

The recommendations on page one of this document remain. Ideally, if there is excessive use of power strips onboard there may be a need to consider the installation of additional permanent components such as distribution panels, breakers, cabling or receptacles. An SPD should be -

• only permitted for use onboard once approved by a trained crewmember,
• removed from service if it is hot to touch, 
• unplugged when not in use,
• regularly inspected for damage or wear,
• limited to one SPD per single duplex receptacle outlet and never daisy chained,
• prevented from use in excessively humid or moist environments,
• provided air circulation and not covered with carpet or other items, and
• checked to ensure that all plugs are fully engaged.

The primary concern of this alert is to ensure electrical protection devices such as SPDs operate correctly with the manner in which the 120 volt receptacle circuitry onboard the vessel is wired. Receptacle circuitry may be wired in Delta or WYE configurations.

Using a voltmeter, a marine electrical professional will note that a Delta wired circuit will read the voltage across the terminals as shown in the image on the right. The Delta configuration has two hot leads one at +/-60 VAC, the other at +/- 60 VAC, simultaneously to provide the 120 VAC potential.

Here lies the problem with inexpensive and older SPDs that only disconnect one "hot" terminal lead. The other "hot" terminal remains hot if the circuit breaker supplying the receptacle and SPD does not trip.

A marine electrical professional using a voltmeter on a WYE wired circuit will read voltage across the terminals as shown in the image on the left. For a WYE configuration 120 VAC is established between the hot terminal and the neutral terminal and the hot terminal and the ground terminal of the receptacle.

Owner / operators may wish to purchase equipment meeting MIL Performance Specification MIL-PZRF-32167A which incorporates ASTM F1507 (Standard Specifications for Surge Suppressors for Shipboard Use) and UL 1449 (Safety Standards for Surge Protective Devices). Further, for informational purpose only, US Navy and CG vessels use SPDs with the following National Supply Number (NSN) 6150-01-362-7192.

It should be noted that related issues (mismatches between Delta or WYE systems) have been reported with 120 VAC Uninterrupted Power Supplies purchased ashore and used onboard vessels. Such devices should be selected to match the power supply configuration.

Owner / operators who are not familiar with these issues or have remaining questions should consult their technical departments or a marine electrical professional. These recommendations are an advisory only and not mandatory.

Special thanks to personnel from FOSS Maritime, Keystone Shipping and the Philmont Group for sharing their insights and policy pertaining to this matter.

This document is provided for informational purposes only and does not relieve any domestic or international safety, operational or material requirement.

Developed by the Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis, United States Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC.

AUGUST 3, 2012 — Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (NASDAQ: GLDD) has signed a contract with shipbuilder Signal International, Inc. for the construction of a 15,000-cubic-yard-capacity trailing suction hopper barge and 14,000-horsepower tug. Together, the two units will function as an articulated tug and barge ("ATB") trailing suction hopper dredge that will be the largest hopper dredge in the United States.

Great Lakes has also contracted with BAE Systems in Mobile, Alabama to build two new high-capacity material dump scows for delivery in 2013 with an option to build two additional units also with delivery in 2013. The scows will be used primarily on capital deepening and coastal restoration work on the East and Gulf coasts. These two new scows, with an aggregate cost of approximately $17 million, will each have a carrying capacity of 7,700 cubic yards of dredged material.

Signal International will perform the detail design and construct the ATB dredge in Orange, Texas, based on a patent pending engineered design and performance specification provided by Great Lakes. The aggregate cost of the initial dredge is expected to be approximately $94 million.

Great Lakes' patent pending design for the dredge introduces a new concept for hopper dredging in both deep and shallow waters, providing extensive flexibility.

The new dredge, with a hopper capacity of 15,000 cubic yards, applies well-known and proven ATB technology to hopper dredging. Great Lakes says this enables it to "continue its leadership in the dredging industry as the low cost provider."

The dredge will feature two 36-inch suction pipes and will be able to dredge at depths of up to 125 feet. Even with a maximum load it will only have a draft of 28 feet, the best carrying-capacity-to-draft ratio in the U.S. dredging industry. The new dredge will be well-suited to multi-use applications. It will be deployed for channel deepening, maintenance dredging, beach nourishment, and coastal restoration projects with long distance transport capabilities.

The tug and barge hull form design was optimized at MARIN in the Netherlands.

The vessel features a proven Articouple interconnect system for the tug and barge. Its high-tech ATB design includes all of the latest innovations and developments in dredging technology.

MARIN's Senior Project Manager Klaas Kooiker said, "Having modeled and tested many of the world's modern hopper dredge hull forms, we were very pleased to see the Great Lakes ATB hull achieve similar speed and power results. We believe this is the first ATB hull to equal ship performance capabilities."

The ATB will be equipped with a direct high power pump-ashore installation, a hybrid power sharing configuration between the tug and barge, dynamic positioning and tracking, EPA Tier III compliant engines, and additional features designed to minimize the impact of its dredging process on the environment.

Great Lakes President of Dredging Operations Dave Simonelli said, "We have ownership and operating experience with tug-barge dredge combinations that dates back 40 years. ATB and hopper dredge technology have advanced greatly during that time. I am pleased that our in-house engineering team working in close cooperation with Offshore Tug and Barge Corporation were able to design a proprietary unit, for which a patent is pending, that will be able to achieve ship-like productivity and efficiency at an ATB's lower operating cost. Our dredge is a 'game changer' in the competitive hopper dredging marketplace and will bring important new capacity to the U.S. hopper dredge fleet. The favorable environmental and safety features of the design, including greater fuel efficiency, green overflow systems and automated processes, were important considerations. These features emphasize our focus on minimizing the impact of dredging on the environment and providing a safe work environment for our employees."

The recently enacted RESTORE act provides for funding to ensure the important Gulf Coast coastal and barrier island restoration is performed as expeditiously as possible. The Great Lakes dredge will be a key tool in performing the restoration of the eroded land mass in the Gulf Coast States. Additionally, the vessel's ability to cost-effectively deepen and maintain navigable waterways will bolster the United States' competitive position in world trade, as U.S. ports move forward with deepening plans to accommodate the larger vessels, which will sail through the expanded Panama Canal to be completed in 2015.

Great Lakes Chief Executive Officer Jon Berger said, "We are very excited about this investment in new equipment. As we analyze the future dredging market, U.S. Shipyard capability and the cost of capital, we feel the time is right for these new builds. In addition, the building of the ATB Hopper Dredge and two scows will add more than 250 jobs in the two shipyards. We were attracted to the favorable construction and operating cost economics of the dredge for the market growth ahead, underscoring our belief in the dredging market and commitment to innovation in our core business. We expect this unique hopper dredge to offer new economics to our customers in the domestic market, and possibly beyond. The investment in the two new high capacity material scows will further ready us for the worldwide market growth ahead. We have invested significant engineering effort into the proprietary, patent pending design of the hopper dredge for the future and believe our customers will be very pleased with the capability we are adding to the market. Great Lakes enjoys a legacy of superior innovation, engineering and execution, and this is a continuation of those attributes and our commitment to the dredging industry."

ATB DREDGE

DUMP SCOW

OCTOBER 19, 2012 — Shell yesterday celebrated the cutting of first steel at Samsung Heavy Industries' Geoje shipyard in South Korea for the substrucure of what will be the largest offshore floating facility ever built: The Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility.

When completed, the Prelude FLNG facility will be 488 m long and 74 m wide.When fully equipped and with its cargo tanks full, it will weigh more than 600,000 tonnes. There will be over 3,000 km of electrical and instrumentation cables on the FLNG facility, the distance from Barcelona to Moscow.

The Prelude FLNG facility will be deployed in Australian waters over 200 kilometers from the nearest point on the coast. It will produce gas at sea, turn it into LNG and then transfer it directly to the ships that will transport it to customers

Shell's Projects & Technology Director Matthias Bichsel commented: "We are cutting 7.6 tonnes of steel for the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility, but in total, more than 260,000 tonnes of steel will be fabricated and assembled for the facility. That's around five times the amount of steel used to build the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

"Making FLNG a reality is no simple feat," Matthias continued. "Shell is uniquely positioned to make it a success given our commercial capability; our LNG, offshore, deepwater and marine technology; and our proven ability to successfully deliver megaprojects."

An expert team from Shell will manage the multi-year construction of the FLNG facility to ensure the Prelude project's critical dimensions of safety, quality, cost and schedule are delivered. Strategic partners Technip and Samsung Heavy Industries (the Technip Samsung Consortium) along with SBM and hundreds of suppliers and contractors around the world are all contributing knowledge, skills and equipment to help make the project a success. At peak levels, around 5,000 people will be working on the construction of the FLNG facility in South Korea; and another 1,000 will build the turret mooring system, subsea and wells equipment in other locations across the globe.

In the lead up to the facility being ready to start production, a number of actions will take place, such as drilling the production wells, installation of subsea flowlines and risers and mooring chains to prepare for the arrival of the FLNG facility.

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JANUARY 30, 2012 — Crowley Maritime Corporation christened its newest tanker, Florida, today at the Aker Philadelphia Shipyard and will soon put the 330,000-barrel ship to use in the U.S. Gulf for a major energy customer. This U.S.-flag vessel is the second of two American built, operated and crewed tankers Crowley purchased last year from Aker Philadelphia.  

More than 100 guests, including Chairman, President and CEO Tom Crowley; friends and employees from Crowley; representatives from the customer, shipyard, and labor along with other industry dignitaries, gathered to celebrate the vessel's christening, which was performed by Nina Glende Johnsen, the wife of Aker Philadelphia President and CEO Kristian Rokke.

The Florida, which will provide 50 American seagoing and shore-side jobs, will soon be placed into service delivering domestic oil to U.S.-based refineries.  The tanker Pennsylvania, which was purchased from Aker and delivered in September, is currently at work in the U.S. Gulf.

"Adding these new tankers to our fleet allows us to continue providing our customers with diverse and modern equipment to transport their petroleum and chemical products in a safe and reliable manner," said Mr. Crowley. "I recall that one of my grandfather's missions for the company included making investments that would not only help the company grow, but also provide jobs for people, which is something we have carried on to this day, and why we continue to support the Jones Act and our U.S. shipbuilding partners, including Aker."

Both tankers are capable of carrying 330,000 barrels of petroleum products and chemicals. The Veteran Class design is based on the well proven as-built Athenian Class 46,000 DWT product tanker from Hyundai Mipo Dockyards. The standard design was changed to conform to U.S. registry and U.S. coastwise trade requirements.

The U.S.-flag vessels are the 13th and 14th in the Veteran Class built by the shipbuilder.
This proven design provides Crowley customers with ABS-classed vessels that have been thoroughly tested and refined for performance and reliability.

With a length of 183.2 meters, a breadth of 32.2 meters, and a depth of 18.8 meters, the tankers come in at 45,800 deadweight tons on a draft of 12.2 m.

Powered by the first Tier II large-bore, two stroke engines, MAN-B&W 6S50MCs, the speed of the Pennsylvania and the Florida is expected to average 14.5+ knots.

In addition to being double hulled with segregated ballast systems, safety features also include water and CO2 firefighting systems, as well as a foam water spray system.