© Matt Maldre - website

• Buildup of sand sinks Harbor ferry.

Tourists looking for a scenic shortcut between Westport and Ocean Shores this summer are out of luck. The buildup of sand and silt in the Ocean Shores Marina has caused the passenger ferry linking the two cities to close.

• Clipper Windpower to sell offshore wind turbine prototype to UK Crown Estate.

Clipper Windpower Plc has agreed to sell its prototype of the world’s largest offshore wind turbine to the UK Crown Estate as part of the United Kingdom government’s push to develop more offshore wind.

• German industry finds offshore wind energy targets unrealistic.

German utilities and wind turbine manufacturers have expressed concerns over the government’s offshore wind energy target capacity of 15,000MW by 2020, deeming it technologically and economically unrealistic.

• Dredger bottoms up for Lerwick Harbour.

Work will begin next week on the largest single capital project undertaken at Lerwick Harbour, with £12m being spent providing improved vessel access and deeper berths in the Shetland base.

© Robert Orr

Pictured above is the Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel / Icebreaker ‘Balder Viking’. The vessel, built in 2000, has a bollard pull of 200 tonnes! More info can be found at the website of Viking Supply Ships AS.

© Enrico Strocchi

The Maersk Endeavour is a harsh environment jack-up. It was built by rig RSV Gusto in 1982. Maersk Contractors sold the jackup in 2007. The buyer was Northern Offshore Ltd. Bermuda, a company controlled by a large number of foreign investors.

Maersk Contractors continued to operate the rigs on behalf of the new owners until the existing contracts with Maersk Oil & Gas expire in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

© Phil Hollman

The Kentish Flats wind farm is a key element of the British Government’s commitment to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide seeking to reverse the trends of climate change.

The Kentish Flats wind farm comprises 30 efficient wind turbines capable of producing up to 3 MW of electricity each, so that the total output of the wind farm could be up to 90 MW.

• Petrobras Reports Major Offshore Oil Find.

Brazil appears to have made its second major offshore oil strike in recent years, the latest good news for a country that could be on its way to becoming an important oil exporter.

• Dredging equipment in channel prompts distress calls.

What looked, from a distance, like the hull of an overturned boat prompted distress calls to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Muskegon station and local fire departments over the weekend.

• Trial run of ship through Sethu canal next week.

portion of the Sethusamudram ship channel may be ready for navigation, and a trial run of a fully-laden ship is likely to be held next week, the project head said on Monday.

The idea for Picture of the Day was ‘borrowed’ from gCaptain (sorry John ) and will have a clear focus on topics related to our business (towage, offshore, dredging, wind farms, etc.). Picture of the Day will not depend on reader submissions (although we welcome your suggestions).

Instead we will try to get our content for free, using pictures released under Creative Commons license for commercial use.

Today we present you with our very first Picture of the Day.

© Calum Davidson - website

When talking to people from the industry explaining what a tug is and what it does is never very difficult.

It gets a bit more difficult trying to explain tugs and towage to someone on ‘the outside’. Tugs exist in many forms but they all share a common goal, the art of towing an object.

As we all know pictures say more than a thousand words so we have made a small selection of images depicting a tug/towage.

Tug of War
Really, this sounds more menacing than it is. Tug of war, tug o’ war, or tug war, also known as rope pulling, is a sport that directly puts two teams against each other in a test of strength.

No Tug
No tug here, move along.

Aircraft Tug Vehicle
Used for pushing/pulling aircrafts.

Glider Tug
Aircraft used to tow glider.

© Tupperware Pilot

Tug Armade
Just a group of tugs.

Tug Vehicle
You say Tow Mater I say Tow Mato.

Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

• Soaring claim costs transform marine insurance market.

Hull claim insurance costs in 2007 have gone up 86% over five years, according to Norway’s Central Union of Marine Underwriters’ (CEFOR).

• Coast Guard Tug Crew, Boom Boat Save Kayakers.

The Coast Guard, a tug boat crew and a boom boat crew rescued two kayakers on April 13 after they capsized and were overtaken by water in the Delaware River.

• Salvage firm goes under.

Deep-sea salvage firm SubSea Resources has called off its battle for survival after the cash-strapped company said it was calling in administrators.