INTRODUCTION. The Battle of Jutland to the British or Skagerrak to the Germans set the two largest fleets of World War I, the Grand Fleet of Great Britain and the High Seas Fleet of Imperial Germany, against each other on 31-May to 1-June-1916. It was the largest clash of capital ships in World War I. The battle involved over 100,000…
Introduction. France had fallen under the incessant firepower of the German blitzkrieg in 1940. The reasons for the sudden defeat of France are due to leadership failure at both military and political levels. The French army was poorly led and equipped with inferior arms and equipment. And to prevent the Axis powers from taking control of the French Marine Nationale’s…
Very large fuel tankers run on heavy fuel oil (HFO) mainly because of its low price but HFO emits a substantial amount of greenhouse gas (GHG). Cleaner ways of reducing emissions include shifting to alternative fuels like LNG, biogas, methanol, wind, hybrid-electric, fully electric, fuel cells, or by lowering speed. The Paris Agreement and agreements within the IMO mandate that…
The mega ships burn tons of fuel everyday to propel their engines and deliver their massive loads to different ports. Ship engines have been known to use low-grade fuel oil to lower the ship’s operating costs, since the share of fuel cost can reach between 30-50% of total operating costs of a ship. It is not a simple decision to…
The lockdown of the whole of Luzon, which includes Metro Manila, was announced on 16-March-2020. It was to control the movement of over 60 million people in the North of the Philippines to stop or hinder the spread of the deadly CoVID-19 pandemic. In all of January and February, the Philippine had a total of 3 infections and 1 death,…
Amidst the global economic standstill due to the pandemic, a tremendous glut in crude oil supply resulted, and consequently, oil prices plunged. This boded well for the oil tanker industry. But effective May 1, oil producing countries have begun to lower output to reduce the over supply of crude oil. As a result, the price of crude oil has doubled,…
According to CAI International, “Since the 1960’s, Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) has been the king of shipping fuels. A byproduct of crude oil, HFO expels 35,000 ppm into the environment and accounts for 8% of the sulfuric dioxide in the air. The arrival of the IMO 2020 fuel regulation in 2019 signaled a formal move toward alternatives to HFO like…
Two industry leaders, Jotun and Kongsberg Maritime, partnered to develop a robotic hull-cleaning device called the Jotun HullSkater designed to be carried onboard trips, and deployed regularly to scrub early-stage fouling. The HullSkater removes bacteria and biofilm from the hull before macro-fouling (e.g., barnacles) can take hold. Biofouling is a major contributor to fuel consumption and operating cost, and thus…
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) opened the South Harbor Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) medical treatment facility on April 21, earlier than expected. PPA fast-tracked the completion of the facility in its bid to boost the medical treatment capacity of the National Capital Region as well as its nearby cities and provinces, which has been lacking due to the increasing number…
A native of Manila, Commodore Carlos Leong Agustin AFP (Ret) graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, USA in 1960. He took Weapons Systems Engineering at the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA; Naval Staff Course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London, UK; NR course in National Security Management at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces,…
The Novel Coronavirus (CoVID-19) infection was first reported on 31-Dec-2019. The virus originated from Wuhan, China and quickly spread to coastal cities, and internationally. The South China Agricultural University reports their discovery of a 99% genetic match between CoVID-19 and a strain of the virus in pangolins. An earlier study published in Nature finds the probable origin of the virus…
The Sugbu Chinese Heritage Museum Foundation, Inc. (SCHMFI) is a formal institution based in Cebu City. It was created with the main task of building the first Chinese-Cebuano museum to showcase centuries of collaboration between the Chinese and Filipino people. The Foundation was established on September 2010, inspired by reflections during a Jesuit Chinese-Filipino Lay Apostolate conference that pointed to…
Natural gas, which took over millions of years of transformation of organic materials, such as plankton and algae, is made up of about 95% Methane, which is the cleanest fossil fuel. The combustion of natural gas mainly emits water vapor and tiny amounts of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Its CO2 emissions are 30%-50% lower than those produced by other combustible fuels, according…
Archaeologists of the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) have discovered a new ship burial site –by sheer luck– using new georadar technology that dates the find back to the Viking or Merovingian eras. The remains of the ship are located just below the surface within what was once a burial mound, making the ship most likely a Viking…
Marlink has unveiled BridgeLink, a technology agnostic solutions portfolio designed to interconnect onboard Operational Technology (OT) within a standardized data structure. BridgeLink addresses compatibility and interfacing challenges by providing an open, technology agnostic platform for unifying onboard equipment and sensors with network infrastructure and satellite IP connectivity, so that data from any system can be accessed, collected and shared in…
E.U.’s offshore wind goals are achievable. The E.U. Commission’s goals for attaining 230GW-450GW of offshore wind by 2050 are achievable provided the right investments in electricity grids, and the European Governments take the right approach to maritime spatial planning. Such is the conclusion of the WindEurope Report, Our Energy, Our Future. The goal of 450GW offshore wind is…
The Cebu Port Authority (CPA) was created through the enactment of Republic Act No. 7621 signed on 26-June-1992 to specifically administer all ports located in Cebu Province, thus, effectively separating these ports from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA). On 01-January-1996, CPA began operations and officially took over all Cebu ports. The territorial jurisdiction of the CPA includes all ports, seas,…
A seven-meter (23-foot) long, wind-powered unmanned surface vehicle (USV) called a Saildrone has become the first unmanned system to circumnavigate Antarctica. The vehicle, known as SD 1020, was equipped with a suite of climate-grade sensors, and collected data in previously unchartered waters, enabling new key insights into ocean and climate processes. The 196-day mission was launched from Southport in Bluff,…
STADT is an awarded technology leader and has been in the power electronics business for more than 30 years. Through its extensive experience, focus on sustainable products and development of the patented STADT Lean Drive technology for electric propulsion of today, there have been major steps. Hallvard L. Slettevoll founded STADT in 1985 in a family barn in his hometown…
The French Naval Group has launched SNA Suffren, the first of 6 nuclear submarines for the French Navy. The black steel submarine was launched at a ceremony in the northern port of Cherbourg on 12-July-2019. SNA Suffren, the first of the Barracuda-class series, is a highly complex vessel that was built using a modular system. They are designed to replace…
The Philippine Port Authority (PPA) Port Management Office of Agusan (PMO-AGS) was formerly called Port Management Unit (PMU) Masao. Later, PMU-Masao was renamed PMO-Nasipit, which covered Baseport Nasipit, and two government ports: Terminal Management Offices (TMO) Butuan and Masao. HISTORY. The recorded history of Nasipit, which is a natural cove, can be traced to as early as 1880 when it…
Russia’s Sevmash Shipyard launched the special-purpose submarine Belgorod (KS-139) at Severodvinsk in a restricted ceremony held on 23-April-2019. The Kremlin hid most of Belgorod from public view during the launch. Belgorod started construction in July 1992 and was initially to be part of the Project 949AM submarines, also known as the Oscar II-class guided missile submarine. In 2012, the decision…
The City of Dipolog is the capital of Zamboanga del Norte, which is the largest province of the Zamboanga Peninsula region by land area, covering 7,301 sq. km. located in northwestern Mindanao. The City of Dapitan is the place where the Spaniards exiled Jose Rizal, our national hero, for his revolutionary ways, making Dapitan a shrine-city. Since 1993, the Port…
The Earth has five major wind zones: (1) polar easterlies, (2) westerlies, (3) horse latitudes, (4) trade winds, and (5) doldrums. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA): “Early commerce to the Americas relied on the trade winds —the prevailing easterly winds that circle the Earth near the equator. Known to sailors around the world, the trade winds…
Purse Seiner vessels of a South Korean company, Silla Co. Ltd, is found compliant with Friend of the Sea’s sustainability criteria, following third party certification audit. Six Silla purse seiner vessels catching mainly Skipjack and Yellowfin Tuna in the Western Central Pacific have been approved according to international certification sustainability requirements. The certified Tuna does not come from overfished stock….