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After years of delays, design challenges and costs overruns, the U.S Coast Guard (USCG) is finally set to begin the construction of the lead vessel in a class of new heavy polar icebreakers, the first to be built in the country in more than five decades.
The USCG and the Navy Integrated Program Office received approval on December 19 to begin building the first ship, which will be called Polar Sentinel. The USCG announced that the approval incorporates eight prototype fabrication assessment units (PFAUs) currently being built or planned.
“The PFA has prepared the government and the shipbuilder to begin construction of the PSC class, resulting in more precise, cost-effective and reliable construction processes,” said the Coast Guard in a statement.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reckons the ship will cost $1.9 billion, which is far above the original estimate when the USGC awarded the construction contract to VT Halter Marine in April 2019. VT Halter Marine was acquired by Bollinger Shipyards, and has since been renamed Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding.
The approval to start the construction of the lead vessel now means the USCG can embark on the much-delayed program. If all goes according to the revised plan, delivery of Polar Sentinel is scheduled for 2029, five years later than the original timeline provided by VT Halter.
Construction of the lead ship has been plagued by delays and cost overruns, and has left the U.S. lagging behind rivals China and Russia, which have both invested in a growing fleet of modern heavy icebreakers.
The program is technically challenging, and requires relearning skills that have not been exercised since Polar Star and Polar Sea were built in the 1970s. Construction is not straightforward: the hull plating of a heavy icebreaker has to be much thicker to enable it to endure thick ice. A special-purpose steel alloy also ensures the hull will be capable of remaining flexible even in extremely low temperatures. Deeper, more closely spaced structural stiffeners inside the hull will ensure the ship doesn’t crumple when it encounters large ice floes; this additional internal structure results in a highly compartmentalized interior belowdecks.
Polar Sentinel will be the lead ship in the PSC program, with the subsequent two ships averaging about $1.6 billion each. CBO has highlighted that given the estimates, the three-ship PSC program would cost $5.1 billion, about 60 percent more than the Coast Guard’s current estimate of $3.2 billion. Operating and supporting a force of three heavy icebreakers is expected to cost $12.4 billion between 2029 and 2063, when those ships would be in service. If the Coast Guard acquires more than three ships, operating costs would be higher and would continue for a longer period.
In the meantime, the USCG's icebreaker program must grapple with the challenges of aging tonnage until Polar Sentinel arrives. The 400-foot heavy icebreaker Polar Star was commissioned in 1976, while the 420-foot medium icebreaker Healy has been in operation since 2000. Just this week, the USCG completed the $125 million acquisition of commercial polar icebreaker Aiviq to provide bridging capacity and increase operational presence in the Arctic ahead of the PSC fleet deliveries.
The USCG contends that having more polar icebreakers is critical to guarantee year-round presence of at least one vessel in the east Arctic and another in the west Arctic, as well as the half-time presence of a ship in the Antarctic. This will enable the U.S. to counter the increasing economic and geopolitical competition in the Arctic from China and Russia.
Russia is facing increasing difficulties in recovering its position in the Mediterranean and the Levant, following the overthrow by President Bashar Al Assad in Syria by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
As was predictable, Russian claims to be negotiating a continuance of its basing in Syria with its new leaders proved to be bluster. Given the Russians’ long history of terror bombing of civilian targets during the civil war, its provision of asylum to the fleeing Assad family, and having accused the HTS leader Ahmed Al Sharaa of being a CIA spy, the Syrians saw no benefit in prolonging the Russian presence. HTS has now made it clear that it sees no continuing role in Syria for either Russia or Iran.
In the meantime, the Russians have pulled back from their positions in Syria’s interior, concentrating the forces remaining at their airbase at Khmeimim and at Tartus on Syria’s coast, off which the remnants of Russia’s Mediterranean flotilla still lingers. It has been somewhat surprising that the Russians have been able to execute this withdrawal unscathed and without interference, which must be considered a credit to the discipline applied to Syria’s various armed factions by the new HTS leadership.
The Russians are likely to have explored any possibility of keeping a presence in the Mediterranean area, in particular to service their interests in North Africa. The most likely option is in eastern Libya, in the area controlled by the renegade Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar. Nonetheless, at a time when its war maintenance reserves are severely depleted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russia’s military hardware marooned in Syria is a valuable and urgently needed resource that could have a major impact on the Ukrainian battlefield, a development which Ukraine would seriously wish to sabotage. To make the shift, helicopters, and high-value air defense units can be flown out, but armored vehicles, heavy equipment, and munition stockpiles need to be moved by sealift.
Hence the sighting in transit the Straits of Gibraltar on December 23 of two Ropucha Class landing ships (Alexander Otrakovsky (L031) and Alexander Shabalin (L110)) and the improved landing ship Ivan Gren (L135), in company with cargo vessels Sparta and Ursa Major often seen previously on the route to Tartus. Being shipped as deck cargo on the Ursa Major were two dockside cranes - not needed in well-equipped Tartus, but probably a necessity to build up one of the under-developed ports in Libya which the Russians may have contemplated adopting as their new Mediterranean base.
The Libyan option may have sunk when later on December 23, the Ursa Major foundered off Oran as a consequence apparently of an engine room explosion. If the evacuation convoy now needs to take the long route back to the Baltic instead, the Ukrainians are likely to be keenly and actively interested in preventing its safe arrival in Russia.
The Russian withdrawal from Syria also has implications for regional politics within the immediate neighborhood. Turkey is evidently keen to fill the vacuum left by the Russians, inspired by memories of Ottoman rule in the Levant and dreaming already of a revival of the Hejaz Railway destroyed by the Arab Revolt. However, autonomy of the Kurdish northeast of Syria is likely to prove an enduring obstacle to Turkish ambitions.
Elsewhere in the region, a realignment is in progress; for transactional purposes some countries have hitherto sought to treat the West and Russia as equals, and in their own best interests may now be seeking to distance themselves from those they had previously lauded as the best of friends.
A former Marine Corps jump-jet pilot who gave up his U.S. citizenship faces extradition to the United States, where he will answer charges that he trained Chinese military pilots how to take off and land from an aircraft carrier. He leaves behind a wife and six children in Australia, his adopted homeland.
According to his biography, Maj. Daniel Edmund Duggan (USMC, ret'd) is a former AV-8B Harrier II pilot who served for 13 years in the Marine Corps. At the time of his service in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Harrier was the USMC's primary fighter and close air support aircraft, and squadrons of AV-8Bs still regularly deploy today with Marine Amphibious Ready Groups aboard the U.S. Navy's big-deck amphibs.
According to an official biography from his former company, Duggan also served as an air combat instructor for the USMC. In retirement, he moved to Australia and founded a company called Top Gun Tasmania, which specialized in providing for-hire flights for the general public in military trainer aircraft. Duggan sold this company and moved to China in 2014, where he founded an aviation company called AVIBIZ Limited in Qingdao. Two years later, he renounced his U.S. citizenship at the U.S. embassy in Beijing.
Duggan returned to Australia and was arrested in October 2022, following a request from the U.S. government, and he was held without bail pending extradition hearings.
A federal indictment charges Duncan with conspiring to provide defense services to China without prior U.S. government authorization, despite a U.S. defense articles embargo on the Chinese government. The objective of the alleged conspiracy was to enable a South African consultancy to provide the PLA Navy with aircraft carrier takeoff and landing training.
In furtherance of this goal, the co-conspirators allegedly bought a T-2 Buckeye trainer from an American dealer, without informing the dealer of the intended Chinese end-user. Duggan had no part in this equipment transfer, but was hired to provide "evaluation of [Chinese] military pilot trainees, testing of naval aviation related equipment, and instruction on the tactics, techniques and procedures" for carrier takeoff and landing, according to federal prosecutors. The indictment alleges that he made multiple trips to China and was paid tens of thousands of dollars - wired through the U.S. financial services system - for military flight training and evaluation services over the course of 2011-12.
Duggan's co-conspirators included another former American fighter pilot who had served in the U.S. Navy, according to the indictment.
Duggan strenuously denies any wrongdoing and claims that he was only training civilian pilots in China. In court, he attempted to prevent the Australian government from sending him back to the U.S., asserting that the charges are politically motivated and that he could not be guaranteed a fair trial in U.S. courts. He lost the case, and a final personal appeal to Australia's attorney general was not successful. Despite a high-profile advocacy campaign organized by his family, he will be flown back to the U.S. to stand trial on charges of money laundering and arms trafficking. If convicted, he faces up to 60 years in prison, and his family's two homes in Australia may be subject to forfeiture.
On Monday evening, a small passenger vessel exploded and burned alongside the pier in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, killing one and injuring five.
Just before 1800 hours, a blast rocked the quay at Lauderdale Marina, a dealership and fuel dock just north of Port Everglades. A 37-foot boat exploded violently when its engines fired up, startling passersby. Security camera video footage showed that the boat's main deck separated from the hull due to the force of the explosion.
"It was like a boom, kind of, and I turned around and the whole dock was already on fire," one witness told local station WSVN.
The explosion killed one passenger, identified as Quebec resident Sebastien Gauthier, 40. Gauthier went into the water in the blast, and his body was recovered by a dive team later in the evening.
??????????FLORIDA MARINA EXPLOSION LEAVES 1 DEAD, 5 HURT
— Shah Faisal AfRidi (@Sfaisalafridi) December 24, 2024
Yesterday’s boat explosion at Lauderdale Marina left one person dead and five hospitalized, three with severe injuries. The incident happened at a fuel station, quickly spreading to nearby boats and setting the dock ablaze.
A… pic.twitter.com/iMm1dzbuBi
The other five passengers of the boat survived the blast and were evacuated to Broward Health Medical Center for treatment, including three people with serious trauma injuries. The boat continued to burn and ignited a second vessel located nearby; both fires were extinguished, and the vessels will be hoisted out of the water for forensic examination.
An investigation into the cause of the explosion is under way, led by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. It is the second time this month that a boat has exploded at the Lauderdale Marina: the previous blast occurred during fueling, and one person was evacuated for treatment for burns.
[By: AST Reygar]
AST Reygar, a leading maritime solutions provider and part of AST Networks, is excited to announce the upcoming launch of a cutting-edge front-end dashboard for its award-winning vessel monitoring system, BareFLEET. Designed with user-friendliness at its core, this new software aims to enhance usability for operators across the maritime sector.
Set to go live early into 2025, the dashboard introduces intuitive features that provide vessel operators with actionable insights into fuel consumption, operational efficiency, engine alerts and overall fleet performance. This fosters valuable conversations around efficiency and best practises, helping operators make informed decisions to reduce their fuel consumption, operational costs, and environmental impact.
With system testing already underway, a trial phase set for December will allow select users to explore the platform, culminating in the official launch in January 2025.
“BareFLEET has always been recognised for its ability to deliver reliable, real-time vessel performance data,” said Daniel Clark, General Manager at AST Reygar . “With this new dashboard, we’re making that information more accessible and actionable for operators, supporting their drive towards greener, more efficient operations.”
The BareFLEET dashboard will be available to new and existing users, offering seamless integration with AST Reygar’s existing platform.
The owner and operator of a Greek product tanker along with two engineers working on the vessel have each pleaded guilty in the latest U.S. Coast Guard MARPOL violation case. The fines totaled more than $4.5 million for offenses including discharging oily waste into the U.S. territorial waters and trying to conceal the crime including falsifying records.
The U.S. Justice Department reported that the chemical tanker Kriti Ruby committed the offenses during port calls in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Port of Newark, New Jersey, in May and September 2022. Built in 2008, the 48,000 dwt Kriti Ruby is registered in Greece.
The owners of the vessel, Avin International, and operator Kriti Ruby Special Maritime Enterprises entered their guilty pleas on December 23. Both companies pleaded guilty to pollution, falsification of records, and obstruction of justice. The owner was ordered to pay $3,375,000 and the operator an additional $1,125,000 with both companies also to serve five-year probation. They will be subject to compliance plans and monitors.
The vessel reportedly discharged oily waste into the sea through its sewage system bypassing the required pollution prevention equipment. In addition to not recording the discharges, the USCG said the crew concealed most of the pumps and hoses used to conduct the bypass operations in a sealed cofferdam.
Kriti Ruby’s former chief engineer and second engineer were also sentenced after having previously pleaded guilty. Former chief engineer Konstantinos Atsalis not only admitted to falsifying the vessel’s oil record book but he also acknowledged that the vessel’s crew had knowingly bypassed required pollution prevention equipment by discharging oily waste from the vessel’s engine room through its sewage system into the sea. Additionally, he admitted that he directed crew members to hide equipment used to conduct these transfers. He was sentenced to time served and a $5,000 fine.
Sonny Bosito who had been the second engineer on the tanker also pleaded guilty to concealing the pollution by falsifying the records. He was sentenced to time served.
“Prioritizing profits over the environment by discharging oily waste into the sea and working to cover up that pollution is illegal,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “We are committed to enforcing the law and fighting against maritime pollution.”
The problems came to out during a USCG expanded Port State inspection in September 2022 in Newark. The tanker was cited for deficiencies including blockages in the oil discharge monitoring and control system and the oil filtering equipment. At the time, USCG also reported the oil record book as missing. The Kriti Ruby received a seven-day detention. The vessel was also cited for five additional deficiencies on a subsequent USCG inspection in November 2022 in Philadelphia.
Vineyard Wind, an affiliate of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, confirmed in a brief statement that it is shelving the proposed Vineyard Wind 2 project in response to Connecticut’s decision not to proceed in awarding wind projects after the recent New England tri-state solicitation. The project had been selected by Massachusetts and is in a later stage of permitting at the federal level.
“With Connecticut’s decision today (December 20) not to purchase the remaining 400 MW, we are unable to contract the project’s full 1200 MW at this time. We look forward to advancing this project and participating in future solicitations,” Vineyard Offshore wrote in its response.
Connecticut along with Massachusetts and Rhode Island launched the first multi-state coordinated solicitation earlier this year saying it was in response to the changing market conditions and challenges faced by offshore developers. They provided the opportunity for projects to bid either multi-state or individually.
Massachusetts and Rhode Island announced in September that they had selected three projects with a total projected capacity of 2.9 GW. The two states will share SouthCoast Wind (which received federal approvals last week) while Massachusetts also selected New England Wind 1 with 791 MW of capacity. It also said it would take 800 MW from the 1,200 MW Vineyard Wind 1 project. It implied it would be sharing the project with another state.
Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut’s regulators announced Friday that they were proceeding with solar power but decided not to take up any offshore wind in the current round. Lamont generally referenced cost considerations for power while saying the state was not ruling out offshore wind power in the future.
CIP won the lease area which is approximately 29 miles south of Nantucket in a 2018 lease auction. The project has advanced with its Construction draft and Operations Plan on file at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. In March 2024, BOEM included Vineyard Wind 2 in its announcement for an environmental impact statement to advance New England’s offshore wind projects. The hearings have been completed and BOEM is working on its report and the EIS.
Vineyard Offshore CEO Alicia Barton said in September 2024, “We look forward to Connecticut’s forthcoming decision on the remainder of the procurement so that we can begin to deliver important economic and climate benefits to the region.”
Vineyard Offshore is in a joint venture partnership to develop Vineyard Wind 1, which is under construction. It holds the Vineyard Northeast lease off the coast of Massachusetts which is where the second project would be located, as well as Vineyard Mid-Atlantic which includes Excelsior Wind in the New York Bight. It also has a lease area off the coast of Humboldt County in Northern California.
Predictive maritime intelligence company Windward, which harnessed the power of AI to create a unique platform, has agreed to a buyout by U.S.-based FTV Capital Group, a growth equity investment firm. Both companies are highlighting it as the next step in the evolution of Windward as it expands from its strong base in the maritime sector to related industries.
Under the terms of the agreement, which is being conducted as a “reverse triangular merger under Israeli Companies Law,” FTV’s subsidiaries will acquire the company in a deal valued at £216 million ($271 million) or 215 pence per share. The companies highlighted that it represents a nearly 100 premium to the six and 12-month weighted average stock price and nearly 50 percent over the most recent closing price. It is a nearly 40 percent premium to the Initial Public Offering Price in December 2021.
Windward was started in 2011 by two partners after their service in the Israeli Navy. The platform focuses on providing insights on ships at sea and risk management intelligence. The company promotes that its technology provides a 360-degree view of the maritime ecosystem to help customers make real-time, predictive intelligence-driven decisions.
The Fund group says it believes Windward is a highly attractive business with a strong management team and strategy. It views the acquisition as “an attractive opportunity to increase exposure to the growing maritime compliance and supply chain end market.”
“Fund sees an opportunity to accelerate Windward's continued expansion from its current market position within the maritime sector, into a broader supply chain analytics provider and plans to support the development of Windward's future product roadmap under private ownership,” the companies write in the announcement. They look to use the acquisition as an opportunity for enhanced data and AI-led insights across the ecosystem.
“The company's attractive subscription revenue model demonstrates strong operating leverage and margin expansion,” said Jerome Hershey, Principal of Fund. Through the acquisition, they look to support Windward in the next stage of its development. FTV reports it has access to the capital necessary to accelerate Windward’s strategic plan.
FTV reports it has raised over $6 billion in committed capital. It focuses on investments in high-growth companies in the enterprise technology and services and financial technology and services sectors.
"This marks an exciting next step in the evolution of Windward, providing the opportunity to build upon our first mover advantage in maritime generative AI through accelerated innovation and greater market reach,” said Ami Daniel, Chief Executive Officer of Windward and one of its founders.
Completion of the acquisition requires the approval by a simple majority of Windward shareholders and the structure of the deal means it does not require regulatory approval. The companies anticipate the acquisition will be completed by the end of Q1 2025.
The Greek authorities are confirming reports that a tanker laden with Russian oil collided with a cargo ship this morning, December 24, in the area of the Kafireas Strait, south of Karystos. The circumstances of the incident are unclear at this time, but the reports indicate the crews were not injured, and both ships sustained minor damage.
The identity of the tanker was not supplied, but reports stated it is loaded with a cargo of over 131,000 tons of crude coming from Novorossiysk, Russia. It seems to indicate a Suezmax size tanker which is common among the so-called shadow fleet. The registry of the vessel and the nationalities of the 26 crewmembers were not reported.
Greek authorities are saying the tanker was reporting that it was bound for the port of Castellón, Spain. Greece over the past few months has made efforts to disrupt ship-to-ship oil transfers that the tankers transporting Russian oil were carrying out in Greek waters. However, it has remained a hotspot for the shadow tanker fleet.
The cargo ship, which was involved in the incident, is reported to been sailing empty from Italy to Constanta, Romania. A crew of 22 was aboard.
The officials referenced “adverse weather conditions” saying that the two vessels were unable to anchor off Karystos due to conditions and had been directed to proceed to Piraeus. The Greek authorities it is believed will detain the vessels for an inspection and investigation into the circumstances of the collision.
The damage is believed to be minor and above the waterline on both vessels. There are no reports of an oil spill or other forms of pollution at this time.
Incidents involving the shadow fleet remain one of the main concerns of the international community. Earlier this month, Baltic nations and the UK announced a new program to inspect tankers transiting the region. They will ask to see documentation and proof of insurance, and tankers that fail to comply could be added to future sanctions. The EU and the UK each recently increased the number of sanctioned tankers in the latest effort to crack down on the Russian oil trade and enforce the G7 price cap on Russian crude.
[By: Eastern Shipbuilding Group]
Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. (ESG) is pleased to announce the successful delivery of the LONG ISLAND (ESG Hull 228), a newly constructed passenger and auto ferry, to the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, a subsidiary of McAllister Towing. The vessel, designed to provide seamless transportation between Bridgeport, CT, and Port Jefferson, NY, across Long Island Sound, is the latest addition to the company’s fleet.
“This delivery is a proud moment for our team,” said Joey D’Isernia, CEO and Chairman of Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. “It represents our strong partnership with McAllister Towing and our dedication to enhancing the infrastructure for Long Island’s residents and visitors. The LONG ISLAND will be a critical asset, delivering safe, reliable service and embodying our commitment to quality and innovation.”
The LONG ISLAND, measuring 302 feet in length, is engineered to accommodate both vehicles and passengers with state-of-the-art features, including EPA Tier IV-compliant main engines, increased crew capacity, and an upgraded furnishings package. This ferry joins two other Eastern-built vessels in the fleet: P.T. BARNUM (1999) and GRAND REPUBLIC (2003), solidifying ESG’s longstanding relationship with McAllister Towing, which has commissioned over a dozen vessels from ESG.
Buckley McAllister, the President of the ferry company, said “P.T. Barnum, the founder of the ferry, once said that the noblest art is that of making others happy. All of those who have worked to make the ferry service what it is today can be very proud of their role helping drivers on the I-95 and Long Island Expressway. Eastern Shipbuilding has provided our company with over a dozen high quality vessels and transformed the maritime services we can offer. We are very thankful to Eastern Shipbuilding and the D’Isernia family for the happiness this new vessel will bring to our employees and customers for generations to come.”
The addition of the LONG ISLAND ferry will enable a consistent three-vessel schedule during peak travel periods, enhancing the capacity and reliability of service across Long Island Sound. This delivery marks another successful chapter in ESG’s commitment to building high-quality, resilient vessels for customers across the U.S.
VESSEL SPECS:
Ferry LONG ISLAND – Hull 228
Customer – Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company
Type – Auto & Passenger Ferry
Length – 302 ft
Delivery – 2024
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