Ausmarine editorial – August 2008
Australia and New Zealand, it seems, have abundant resources of natural gas. Apparently natural gas in its compressed/liquified form can provide inexpensive, relatively non-polluting fuel for internal combustion engines.
Is there any reason, then, a fisherman asked recently, that it cannot be made generally available for Australia's fishing and work boats? A large percentage of cars and taxis use LPG instead of petrol to fuel their engines, particularly in Victoria. The reduction in performance is more than adequately offset by the reduction in fuel cost.
The Norwegians, who enjoy a similar abundance of natural gas as we do, have recently introduced a number of gas fuelled ferries. I understand that they are operating successfully and contributing through lower fuel costs and fewer nasty emmissions.
Apparently both diesel and petrol engines can be inexpensively converted to run on natural gas. Given the current price of diesel and our heightened environmental concerns, why are we not using gas in boats?
Bureaucratic witch hunt/blame game to follow Torres Strait tragedy
In our july issue Stuart Ballantyne rather ironically referred to the Coronial Inquiry into the sinking of the Immigration Department patrol boat 'Malu Sara' in Torres Strait. His column is written from the heart. One of his designs – that successfully survived a major cyclone after being abandoned – was the subject of a government inquiry not long before.
For a different view I refer readers to a report published in The Australian of June 28-29, page 2, on the same subject. The Coroner is yet to present his findings but from the evidence described in the report in The Australian, he will have some difficult decisions to make.
Whatever the outcome, it is clear that the whole tragic affair was a bureaucratic stuff-up from start to finish. I never expect much from most bureaucrats. They are rarely the brightest children in the class. In this case, though, the governments concerned seem to have scraped the bottom of the barrel.
The witch hunt and blame game that will inevitably follow the release of the Coroner's findings will undoubtedly be something to behold. There will certainly be many lessons to come from it. The first is that if you are a small and relatively inexperienced boatbuilder, you should seek some very good, highly experienced advice before building any kind of vessel for any branch of the Commonwealth Government or for state governments for that matter.
Wind power opportunities
There has been considerable debate recently over both the economic efficiency and environmental effects of wind power. The dramatic rise in the price of hydrocarbon sourced fuels has made us all far more conscious of the alternatives.
The wind power industry has done an impressive job, particularly more recently, of minimising the environmental objections to its activities. North-western Europe is an unusually environmentally conscious region. It is interesting that it has embraced wind power in a very significant way.
Now, even the "hyper-democracy" of the United States, after years of tedious debate, seems prepared to accept the reality of large scale wind power installations. It appears that big things are about to happen in the windier areas of New England, the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico.
Much of Australia and all of New Zealand are located in areas of reasonably reliable and strong winds. Wind power is a reality in both countries but in a limited way. It seems certain, though, that they will follow North America, Europe and Japan with large scale developments.
For fairly obvious reasons, many of these wind "farm" developments will be located offshore. This will, equally obviously, present a number of lucrative opportunities for owners and operators of construction and service vessels. As most of these modern windmills are very large, their associated construction vessels, in particular, will need to be appropriately substantial.
These boats will be similar in many ways to those currently operating in the offshore oil and gas industry. Combining that industry, wind farms and the fast developing mariculture sector, it appears the prospects for offshoreconstruction and service vessels are bright indeed.
