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SCA Weekly Report | January 23-27, 2023
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2023 SCA Winter Meeting
February 8-9, 2023
The Biltmore Hotel
Coral Gables, FL
The 2023 SCA Winter Membership Meeting will be held on February 8-9, 2023.The cost to attend the meeting is $575.
SCA Board and Committee Meetings will be held on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 and SCA Staff Reports, the Guest Speaker Panel Sessions, and golf tournament will be held on Thursday, February 9, 2023.
The cost to play in the golf tournament is $250 and the cost to rent clubs for the golf tournament is an additional $80.
Please note that groups for the golf tournament will be finalized by February 1, 2023. If you have any requests for your golf group, please email SCA staff before this date.
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Registration Now Open:
2023 National Ship Repair Industry Conference (NSRIC)
March 20-23, 2023
The Westin Crystal City
Arlington, VA
The 2023 National Ship Repair Industry Conference (NSRIC) will be held in-person on March 20-23, 2023.The cost to attend the meeting is $550.
NSRIC 2023 is only open to SCA members and Ship Repair Association Members, and is closed to the press.
Invited Government Speakers for Tuesday Include:
- Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Gilday
- Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti
- Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, Admiral Linda Fagan
- Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command, Vice Admiral William Galinis
- Commander, Naval Surface Forces, Vice Admiral Roy Kitchener
- Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, Rear Admiral Brendan McLane
- Commander, Regional Maintenance Center, Rear Admiral Eric Ver Hage
- Program Executive Officer for Ships, Rear Admiral Thomas Anderson
- Program Executive Officer for Aircraft Carriers, Rear Admiral James Downey
- Assistant Commandant for Engineering & Logistics, USCG, Rear Admiral Carola List
- Director of Acquisition Programs & Program Executive Officer, USCG, Rear Admiral Chad L. Jacoby
- Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Carlos Del Toro
- ASN RDA (Acting), Mr. Frederick J. Stefany
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A room block has been secured for this event at the Westin Crystal City. To book a room at the negotiated rate of $272/ night, click HERE.
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HASC Names Subcommittee Chairs
HASC Chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) named his slate of seven subcommittee chairs as the new Republican majority begins to organize committees. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) will chair the Tactical Air and Land Forces panel. Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS) will succeed Wittman atop the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee.
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) will lead the Strategic Forces subcommittee. And Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) will chair Readiness. Both were ranking members of those panels in the minority. Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) will chair the Military Personnel subcommittee. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) will chair the Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems panel. And Rep. Jack Bergman will lead the Intelligence and Special Operations panel.
In the Senate, the Democratic roster on the Senate Armed Services Committee will remain unchanged and will be led by Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI). That means one Republican vacancy will likely go unfilled to give Democrats a majority on the committee. (Ranking member Jim Inhofe resigned at the end of the Congress.)
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GAO – Columbia Class Submarine: Program Lacks Essential Schedule Insight Amid Continuing Construction Challenges
The Navy will take steps to improve its schedule risk oversight of the Columbia-class submarine program and the resulting risks to the nuclear shipbuilding enterprise, in line with advice from government auditors who warn that no risk analysis has been performed on the lead submarine's construction schedule.
A modified version of a sensitive Government Accountability Office report, first published in September and released publicly this week, says the Navy’s oversight and long-term planning fail to account for Columbia-class schedule risks, including risks shared with other acquisition priorities like the Virginia-class submarine program.
In a response accompanying the public report, the Defense Department largely concurred with six GAO recommendations, saying the Navy will conduct a review of schedule delivery risks for the lead submarine, perform schedule risk analysis for follow-on vessels, and ensure that the fiscal year 2024 30-year shipbuilding plan reflects shared risks between the Columbia and Virginia programs.
Editorial: The US Navy Needs Tankers: A Crisis in Capability
By Captain Stephen M. Carmel (CIMSEC) The Department of Defense is projected to need on the order of one hundred tankers of various sizes in the event of a serious conflict in the Pacific.1 The DoD currently has access it can count on – assured access – to less than ten. Not only does the U.S. lack the tonnage required to support a major conflict in the Pacific, it has no identifiable roadmap to obtain it.
Without enough fuel, the most advanced capabilities and ships – even nuclear-powered aircraft carriers need aviation fuel – will hardly be available for use. This is a crisis in capability that requires urgent and effective action. There is little time to get a solution in place if speculation that conflict with China could happen this decade proves true. Thankfully, this is a problem that can have a timely and affordable solution. However, the U.S. needs to move past conventional thinking and long-established policies that brought us to this current state. Read more HERE.
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Maine’s Floating Wind Turbine Research Project Clears BOEM Hurdle
Maine’s efforts to launch an innovative research project to advance the use of floating offshore wind turbines took a step forward at the end of last week. The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a ruling moving the project a step closer to its offshore lease - meaning it can proceed to an environmental review.
Fifteen months ago, the State of Maine applied for a small, distant offshore lease that would be used as the test site for the New England Aqua Ventus project. They are seeking to test the University of Maine's patented floating offshore wind technology. A prototype wind turbine has already been built and tested in near-shore waters. Under the proposal to BOEM, the research area would involve 15.2 square miles in the deep ocean 29 miles from the nearest mainland point of Cape Small, and 45 miles from Portland, Maine.
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Russia’s New Nuclear Submarine Sails to the Arctic
Russian navy’s newest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine Generalissimo Suvorov is on its way to a temporary base for the Northern Fleet in the Arctic, the TASS news agency reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified defense source.
“Recently, the submarine cruiser Generalissimo Suvorov has started moving from Severodvinsk, where it was located at the Sevmash shipyard, to a temporary base for the Northern Fleet,” the state agency cited its source as saying.
The strategic submarine was officially included into the Russian navy at the end of 2022 by President Vladimir Putin. It is set to eventually join and bolster the Russian Pacific Fleet’s force of nuclear-powered submarines and to be moved to the Rybachiy submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the summer. The submarine is the sixth vessel of the Russian Borei-class smaller and stealthier submarines, Russian agencies have reported, a class of submarines that is replacing the country’s previous generations of ballistic missile submarines. It carries up to 16 nuclear-tipped Russian Bulava missiles, each capable of carrying more than one nuclear warhead.
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HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding Grants $100,000 in STEM Awards
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division awarded $100,000 in grants to 26 STEM-related initiatives from schools and educational organizations located in Mississippi and Alabama. The STEM awards are currently distributed on an annual basis and are used to further the education of science, technology, engineering and math.
“The impact of STEM education is seen every day at our shipyard, whether it’s in our shipbuilder’s critical thinking skills or their passion for innovation. STEM plays a vital role in our success,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said. “As we continue to develop our next generation of shipbuilders, we are committed to providing educators with the tools and resources they need to expand their STEM programs, while also establishing a strong awareness and interest in STEM.”
In the past decade, Ingalls has awarded more than $1.1 million for teacher training and projects.
St. Johns Ship Building Lays Keel for Second CTV in Atlantic Wind Transfers Series
St. Johns Ship Building held a keel laying ceremony last week for the second of the series of aluminum offshore wind crew transfer vessels (CTVs). The crew transfer vessels will service U.S. offshore wind projects for construction, operations, and maintenance. Atlantic Wind Transfers announced the orders with St. Johns Ship Building in August, revealing that the first two vessels are expected to be delivered in the summer of 2023 and January 2024, with four further builds in the pipeline. Construction for the first vessel kicked off in September.
The aluminum catamarans have the capacity to transport 24 personnel to and from wind turbines for construction, operations, and maintenance operations. The CTVs will be Jones Act-compliant, certified under United States Coast Guard (USCG) Subchapter L, and able to operate at any offshore wind farm in the U.S. under the safety and inspection standards of the U.S. Coast Guard.
West Coast Ports Bear the Brunt as Inbound Containers Drop Off
U.S. container ports experienced the largest contraction of inbound containers ever in the final months of 2022 as a slowdown in global trade continues to hammer ports volumes. In his latest monthly U.S. ports report, industry veteran John McCown reports that inbound containers to the ten largest U.S. ports dropped 16.5% year-over-year in December.
December marked West Coast ports’ fifth straight month of double digit percentage declines as cargo volumes continue to shift east over fears of possible labor unrest on the West Coast. For comparison, East and Gulf Coast ports saw only a 14.2% volume decline in December—marking the second straight monthly drop after consecutive monthly gains throughout much of the pandemic.
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If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the SCA staff.
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