#maritime environment

[aiolegalservices]

AIO's Maritime Legal Services: Safeguarding Your Assets and Maritime Operations

At AIO, our maritime legal services stand as a beacon of assurance for clients in the maritime, oil tanker and commercial vessel industry. With a comprehensive suite of services tailored to meet the diverse needs of our clients, we prioritise protection, compliance, and strategic counsel in every aspect of maritime law. One of our core strengths lies in our Charterparty Expertise. Meticulously…

[constructionsafetynetwork]

Safety in Maritime Construction Projects

Safety in maritime construction projects is a critical concern that encompasses unique environmental, logistical, and operational challenges. This article aims to shed light on the specific safety measures required in maritime construction, highlighting why it’s crucial to address these distinct aspects for the successful completion of projects. Unique Risks in Maritime Construction In maritime…

[dinosly]

Maritimes Against Climate Change Resistance March 3PM Saturday, March 15th 2025

Join Maritimes Against Climate Change on March 15th at 3PM at Bore Park to rally and make your voices heard. With recent times, Canada has to stand up and be the forefront of the fight against the Climate Crisis and the causes of climate change. Facebook link:

Email list to stay updated for future events:

[sdog1ablog]

PH: Sleeping Dog

[just2bruce]

Carbon Capture for ships - current state

Some people think carbon capture onboard is going to be important in meeting emissions goals for ships. There is some entrepreneurship, and some interest by large oil producers and purveyors. However, many problems remain to be solved. There is essentially no ‘supply chain’ to handle the liquefied carbon product the ships produce onboard from running the carbon capture equipment. Liquid CO2 has…

[muirneach]

why does the west coast get all the cool environmental jobs. they should invent the salmon coast field station of broughton british columbia but for guys who never wanna leave ontario

[t-jfh]

Whales euthanised after becoming re-stranded at Cheynes Beach, despite painstaking attempts to save them.

ABC News

[whattheabcxyz]

2025-01-13

Singapore

41-year-old China national working here arrested for urinating on Outram Park MRT escalator handrail

NCSS study finds child abuse victims have much higher risk of being abused by their spouses in adulthood

Fewer fresh poly grads secured full-time jobs in 2024, but more took home higher pay

LTA seeks solutions to improve road maintenance regime & road construction methods

New measures to protect complainants of sexual offences from improper questioning in court

Eligible lower-income households can apply for public transport vouchers from 14 Jan

Health

A look at Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease

Transport

Singapore: New bus service in Woodlands starts operations; latest under $900m enhancement scheme

Travel

Singapore: 18 flights bound for Changi/Seletar airports diverted since 10 Jan due to bad weather

Nature

^ Macaulay Library's best bird photos 2025

Environment

Heavy continuous rain expected from 15-18 Jan in multiple Malaysian states

Maritime

Malaysia-registered tanker sinks off Pedra Branca; all 8 crew members rescued

[waterandenergyrelief]

In a changing world that is facing multiple challenges, Water Engineering stands out as one of the main transforming tools for building a better world.

How to guide the hydro-environment community in this journey?

[nuadox]

Ships harness wind for voyage to a cleaner future

- By Gareth Willmer , Horizon -

There is no mistaking Cristina Aleixendri’s enthusiasm – and competence – when it comes to talking about how wind-assisted shipping is on the verge of making a planet-changing comeback.

Aleixendri founded a company called bound4blue with two fellow Spaniards in 2014 to develop sail technology inspired by their training in aeronautical engineering.

Dream come true

‘When we started, we were seen as crazy engineers for wanting to bring sails back to ships,’ she said. ‘But when we speak to shipowners today, they tell us we’ll go back to wind and it will never be abandoned.’

It’s easy to understand why. The shipping industry accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse-gas emissions and is trying to move away from heavy fuel oil, which is highly polluting.

‘Wind-propulsion technology will become a standard,’ said Aleixendri. ‘It started as a dream of mine. Now, I see it less as a dream and more of a reality.’

Not only has Barcelona-based bound4blue attracted growing interest from shipping firms in its wind-assisted propulsion system but Aleixendri has achieved significant personal recognition for her efforts.

In 2019, she made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for manufacturing and industry in Europe. The following year, Aleixendri won the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Woman Award recognising inspiring female entrepreneurs.

Wind in the sails

Now, bound4blue is coordinating an EU-funded sails project that borrows the company’s name and runs for two years through February 2024. There’s big room for growth in wind-assisted shipping.

As of September 2022, only 21 large commercial ships globally were equipped with the ability to harness wind energy, according to the International Windship Association. Though predicted to more than double to as many as 50 vessels this year, that’s still a drop in the ocean compared with the global fleet.

Wind energy is viable for a variety of vessels, including cargo carriers, tankers, ferries and cruise ships, according to Aleixendri.

‘It’s a massive market because there are more than 60 000 ships sailing worldwide that could benefit from such solutions,’ she said. ‘This is very nascent.’

As 2023 dawned, the entry into force of new regulations by the International Maritime Organization on energy efficiency and carbon emissions is also expected to spur growth.

‘I think it’s the right moment to invest in wind propulsion – it’s a very sweet spot for us,’ said Aleixendri, who is her company’s chief operating officer and earned a Master of Sciences degree in aerospace engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

Suction fan

Bound4blue has developed what’s called an autonomous suction-based sail, which looks nothing like a traditional one. It has the appearance of a cylinder-shaped tower that rises from the ship’s deck.

Traditional sails work by ‘‘catching the wind’’. The wind creates a higher-pressure area behind the sail compared to its other side. This difference in pressure generates a force that propels the ship forward, known as “lift”.

By contrast, bound4blue's ‘‘eSAIL’’ contains a suction fan to draw air inside the tower as wind flows around it, creating stronger lift to power the boat.

This results in six or seven times the lift of a conventional rigid sail and could reduce fuel consumption by up to 40% if combined with better vessel design and adjustments in routes to take advantage of prevailing winds, according to Aleixendri. The eSAIL is best suited for the types of windy conditions found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, she said – though its use is by no means exclusive to those routes.

Emission savings will vary, depending on the general wind conditions on different routes. For example, bound4blue estimates that a merchant ship sailing the 25 000 kilometres from southern Brazil to north-eastern China could save 26% on fuel and emissions.

While it’s still early days, some first movers have already reported savings of 15%. Bound4blue has also signed a range of deals with shipping firms including Japan’s Marubeni and French-owned Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

‘We have more demand than we can supply today, so we’re very happy about how it’s going,’ said Aleixendri.

While new technology has previously been seen as risky to install on ships, wind-assisted options like bound4blue’s are starting to make economic sense and can pay for themselves in fuel savings within five years, she said.

‘In the end, wind propulsion is providing free, renewable energy that you don’t have to store or invest in infrastructure to supply,’ said Aleixendri.

Vessel design

Amid the promise of wind-based options, a challenge arises: ensuring they are properly implemented to achieve their full performance potential or preventing negative knock-on effects on how a ship runs.

So another EU-funded project, OPTIWISE, is investigating how the overall design of vessels can be adjusted to optimise wind-assisted propulsion.

Better attuning ships to the technology can help improve sailing efficiency and emission savings, according to Rogier Eggers, who leads the three-year project running through May 2025. 

Design modifications could also help overcome some of the potential negative consequences of installing sails on ships. Doing so may, for instance, create an obstacle for passing under objects like cranes in ports or even affect ships in such a way that they struggle to stay on course.

‘That’s simply not acceptable, so it’s required to look at the shape of the hull and appendages such as rudders to make sure that you get the ship in balance,’ said Eggers, a senior project manager at Dutch maritime research institute MARIN.

Over the next couple of years, OPTIWISE plans to use scale models of ships several metres in length to test wind systems and the effects of technological improvements in various sea conditions. The project also intends to employ computer-based voyage simulations and machine learning.

Innovations could deliver savings of well over 30% in carbon emissions, maybe even reaching as much as 50%, if effectively delivered, according to Eggers.

Blast from the past

If wind technologies can be successfully integrated, methods like suction sails, wing sails and cylindrical spinning rotor sails being produced by partners in OPTIWISE could gain real traction, he said.

Adoption of such rotor sails would resurrect a wind-based technology invented a century ago by Anton Flettner, a German engineer. It failed to become widely adopted as a result of the growing popularity of diesel fuel at the time.

‘Several suppliers have been pretty active with wind technology and have been getting increased interest from the shipping market for installations,’ said Eggers. ‘Before, there was a big reluctance to put such things on ships, but devices like Flettner rotors, suction sails and wing sails are now gradually being trusted by the industry.’

This transition promises to set the maritime sector on a course towards slashing emissions.

‘We are at the start with shipping in moving towards a zero-emission future,’ said Eggers. ‘The number of ships equipped now with wind propulsion is still tiny compared to the world fleet, but the hope is that we will soon be seeing hundreds of ships being equipped per year.’

This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine.

--

Header image: Largest suction sail in the world being installed at a shipyard. © bound4blue, 2021.

Read Also 

Unmanned ‘ghost’ ships are coming

[sdog1ablog]

Ph: Sleeping Dog

[stackslip]

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced today that it has ceased operations of its rescue vessel, Geo Barents, which had been operational since June 2021. MSF is suspending all search and rescue efforts until further notice, with the intention of restarting again next year with a new ship. Italian laws and policies have made it impossible to continue with the current operational model. MSF will begin the process of evaluating different operational models to respond to the needs of migrants in this challenging environment. MSF reaffirms its solid commitment to people on the move, especially those taking the dangerous journey across the Central Mediterranean Sea, a route where over 31,000 people have died or gone missing since 2014. “MSF will be back as soon as possible to conduct search and rescue operations on one of the deadliest migration routes in the world,” said Juan Matias Gil, MSF search and rescue representative. “We will come back to bear witness and speak out against the violations committed against people on the move by EU members states, particularly by Italy, and the other actors in the area.”  (...) In the past two years, Geo Barents faced four sanctions by the Italian authorities, imposing a total of 160 days of detention in port. These punitive measures came under the Piantedosi Decree, a law that was introduced by the Italian government in the beginning of 2023 that limits the operations of non-governmental (NGO) rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea and undermines the maritime historical humanitarian and legal duty to save lives at sea. This month, Italy further intensified the sanctions by making it easier and faster to confiscate humanitarian search and rescue vessels.

[tropicana-on-the-walkway]

And they can prohibit diving in that area because In 2006 when a diver found bodies in the wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the Canadian government made it illegal to dive because it was a gravesite.

Oh and One more thing. I think it's fucked up anyone can just go and explore the titanic wreckage. Because it's not just a wreckage it's a graveyard. A massive graveyard in the middle of the ocean. Out of the 1500 that died onboard only 337 bodies were found. But you don't find bodies you find shoes , because everything else like cloth and metal and flesh and bone has just been deteriorated and eaten away by the water and the creatures and the bacteria.

[pmamtraveller]

JOAQUÍN BÁRBARA Y BALZA - SHIPWRECKED, 1896

The painting captures the sombre aftermath of a shipwreck. Central to the composition are two deceased shipwreck survivors laid out in a boat, surrounded by fishing nets and other marine equipment. There's also a lone sailor, still alive, who is navigating the boat. His expression and posture convey a sense of loss and mourning over the fate of his companions. The environment around the boat suggests a calm, perhaps post-storm sea, with no immediate signs of rescue or land nearby.

Though specific details about Bárbara y Balza's personal encounters with the sea or shipwrecks are not well-documented, his time in Rome, a city with a rich maritime history and proximity to the Mediterranean, might have exposed him to stories, images, or even direct observations of the sea's harsh realities. Bárbara y Balza would also have studied the works of great masters who painted similar themes. Artists like Théodore Géricault ("The Raft of the Medusa") and J.M.W. Turner, known for his stormy seascapes, might have influenced him in terms of composition, color use, and the emotional impact of sea tragedies.

Joaquín Bárbara y Balza was in Rome as part of a scholarship or pension from the Spanish government. This was a common practice at the time where promising artists were sent abroad, particularly to Rome, to further their studies and artistic development in one of the cultural capitals of the world. His time in Rome was crucial for his artistic growth, providing him with the resources, environment, and inspiration needed to advance his skills and reputation.

[t-jfh]

Australia gains reprieve on threat to Great Barrier Reef World Heritage status.

By Mike Foley

The Age - August 1, 2023

Great Barrier Reef escapes 'in danger' recommendation ahead of UNESCO World Heritage decision

By the Specialist Reporting Team's Leonie Thorne, Penny Timms, Emilia Terzon and Evan Young

ABC News - 1 August 2023

Great Barrier Reef's first mass bleaching during La Niña season halts coral recovery.

AAP Australian Associated Press

ABC News - 9 August 2023

YouTube video >> Recovery has paused on the Great Barrier Reef - Marine Scientist Dr. Mike Emslie: AIMS (Australian Institute of Marine Science) annual summary update for 2023 [9 August 2023 / 3mins.+44secs.]:

Dr Mike Emslie says the Great Barrier Reef's recovery has paused.

Climate Change is the greatest threat to the Reef

In-water monitoring hard coral cover across the Great Barrier Reef remains at similar levels to that recorded in 2022, with small decreases in the Northern, Central and Southern regions.

AIMS' Annual Summary Report on Coral Reef Condition for 2022/23 (published 9th August 2023) found that while some reefs continued to recover, their increased hard coral cover was offset by coral loss on other reefs.

Most reefs underwent little change in coral cover.

The pauses in recovery in the Northern and Central regions were due in part to the 2022 mass coral bleaching event. Low numbers of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish and a cyclone in January 2022 also contributed to coral loss in the Northern region.

Continued crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and coral disease kept coral cover similar to last year's levels in the Southern region, with bleaching playing less of a role.

Read the report: https://www.aims.gov.au/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/gbr-condition-summary-2022-23

More about the AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program: https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/monitoring-and-discovery/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/long-term-monitoring-program

YouTube video >> Monitoring the Great Barrier Reef - AIMS Coral Reef Ecologist Kate Osborne [25 July 2022 / 3mins.+52secs.]:

Monitoring the Great Barrier Reef

Not only is the Great Barrier Reef big, it is also diverse and dynamic.

For more than 35 years, the Australian Institute of Marine Science's Long-Term Monitoring Program (LTMP) has been dedicated to measuring its coral reef habitats to understand how surveyed reefs are responding to disturbances, such as severe cyclones, outbreaks of coral eating starfish and coral bleaching.

The LTMP provides an invaluable record of change on coral communities across the Great Barrier Reef.

To learn more, visit: https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/monitoring-and-discovery/monitoring-great-barrier-reef