It’s Good News Monday!
This Monday we talk about:
COVID Relief Fund for Seafarers Hits $1 Million Goal
Power transfer vessel proposed to bring offshore electricity ashore
World’s Oldest Ship Moved To Grand Egyptian Museum
Tech File: A Resident Eyeball ROV
Renewed energy
“A mariner gets his temperature checked after his ship arrives in port. Image via IMO”. Image from gCaptain.
The Seafarers International Relief Fund (SIRF) has hit $1.17 million after only a few months of fundraising. The money will provide relief to seafarers and their families who have been impacted by COVID-19. The SIRF was launched in May 2021 due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in India, but prior approximately 200,000 seafarers had already been affected by the pandemic. Substantial donations from NYK Line, TK Foundation, and others have made this possible. Everyone at SIRF is grateful to have surpassed $1 million in only three months and said all of the money raised will go to seafarers.
“The Power Transfer Vessel would be loaded with high-capacity batteries, charged using electricity from offshore windfarms (source: PowerX)”. Image from Riviera.
PowerX, a newly formed Japanese company, has a new way to bring offshore power to shore without export cables: a power transfer vessel. Submarine cables can be expensive and have an environmental impact, as well as be susceptible to natural disasters. The power transfer vessels will run on electricity and the first Power ARK 100 should be completed by 2025 when it will carry about 200 MW of power, enough to power 22,000 Japanese homes for a day. The expected range of the ships is 300km unless supplemented by biodiesel engines.
“King Khufu's solar boat is displayed at a museum on the northern side of Khufu's Great Pyramid, in Giza, Egypt, August 31, 2016. Picture taken before it was moved to Egypt's Grand Museum. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo”. Image from gCaptain.
King Khufu’s Boat is a 4600 year-old vessel that is the oldest and largest wooden ship ever discovered. It is known as Solar Boat, and has just been moved from its original location next to the Giza pyramids to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) nearby. “‘The aim of the transportation project is to protect and preserve the biggest and oldest organic artifact made of wood in the history of humanity for the future generations,’ the tourism and antiquities ministry said in a statement.” The 20 ton, 42 meter long vessel was moved in a metal cage on a remote control vehicle brought in specifically for this operation. The Grand Egyptian Museum is expected to have over 100,000 artifacts when it opens.
“The ARV-i combines underwater vehicle, photography and robotics technology from Boxfish Research and underwater power and communications from Transmark Subsea. Image courtesy Boxfish & Transmark”. Image from Offshore Engineer.
Boxfish Research and Transmark Subsea are working together on a resident observation system ROV, called ARV-i. The ROV is expected to spend up to 12 months deployed, recharging at a subsea docking station and charged by batteries. The fully autonomous vehicle has “an array of up to six machine vision cameras and one live 4K navigation camera, and it can deliver 17,000 lumens of lighting for high quality observation underwater.” The ROV can also be piloted remotely over with a digital twin plus optical sensors. It’s well suited to underwater observations and inspections for energy, oil and gas, offshore wind, or aquaculture.
The Future of hydrogen interview with Louise Jacobsen Plutt. Image from bp.
Bp interviews Louise Jacobsen Plutt, the new head of their hydrogen and CCUS business. The landscape in hydrogen is changing rapidly as the UK government is driving for 5 gigawatts of hydrogen by 2030. H2Teeside in the UK will be working on blue hydrogen - hydrogen made from natural gas with CO2 capture - to supply up to 20% of the government’s goal. Bp is also working on green hydrogen made from completely renewable sources, and plans to use each where it makes the most sense. Bp sees hydrogen as 5-15% of global demand for energy. Check out the original article on the bp blog for more information including all the hydrogen projects across Europe. If you want to learn more about hydrogen, check out our recent article Is hydrogen the next fuel in shipping?.
Smile, it’s Good News Monday! :-)
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