It has been a bumpy road, but Sea Launch Co. has returned a rocket to space nearly a year after a very public explosion forced the company to scrap all of its 2007 launches.

The Long Beach-based company, which delivers commercial satellites to orbit from an ocean-based converted oil rig, launched the Boeing Co.-built Thuraya-3 mobile voice and data services satellite early Tuesday morning.

The company said the launch went off without any problems.

Sea Launch is a joint venture of Boeing, and Russian, Ukrainian and Norwegian companies.

This was the second attempt to send the satellite into orbit after strong ocean currents forced the company to cancel a November launch. The satellite, built in El Segundo for United Arab Emirates-based

Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co., was sent up by Sea Launch’s own Zenit-3SL rocket.

“We especially appreciate Thuraya’s continued trust and confidence in our launch team and we look forward to future opportunities to support the growth of their business,” said Sea Launch President Rob Peckham in a statement.

Analysts said the launch was an important one for Sea Launch, which suffered a disastrous mission failure in January 2007. During that attempt, the company’s rocket, which was carrying a telecommunications satellite and about 500 tons of rocket fuel, exploded just seconds after liftoff.

Dramatic video of the incident was broadcast on the Internet and quickly landed on YouTube, drawing nearly 1 million viewers.

The explosion caused about $30 million in damages.

Changing Course

A new regulation to aid U.S.-flagged cruise ships could upend the nearly half-billion dollar West Coast cruise industry.

The vast majority of lines offering Mexican and Hawaiian cruises operate foreign-flagged vessels exempting them from U.S. taxes and labor laws and U.S. cruise lines say they are being undercut by the foreign competition.

The proposed U.S. Customs and Border Protection rule would require foreign-flagged cruise lines to spend at least 48 hours docked at a foreign port during each cruise. Most cruise lines spend at best one day at ports of call, especially during the often short cruises that originate from the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

The onerous regulation is designed to encourage cruise companies that operate primarily in the United States to either pay U.S. taxes or move the bulk of their operations outside the country. But industry experts fear that the lines will simply cut the number of local cruises they offer.

Cruise lines operating out of Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego generate about $450 million in revenue annually.

Honolulu-based NCL America Inc. is the one company that operates U.S.-flagged ships along the West Coast. Executives said they are at a competitive disadvantage with other companies that can offer lower prices because they skirt U.S. taxes.

Shippers Go Green

The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports’ phased ban of the oldest and dirtiest diesel trucks is still almost a year away from kicking off, but the movement to replace polluting rigs is already gaining momentum in San Pedro Bay.

This month, two shipping giants announced they will convert their truck fleets to more environmentally friendly vehicles prior to the October deadline set by Los Angeles and Long Beach port officials.

Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd., a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Ltd., converted its entire Southern California truck fleet this month to rigs built in 1990 or later.

As part of their sweeping Clean Air Action Plan, the ports will restrict all pre-1990 trucks starting later this year. The phased program culminates in 2012 with a ban of all trucks not meeting 2007 emission standards.

In addition to Orient Overseas, MOL America, a subsidiary of global shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., announced that it would convert all of its local trucks to clean diesel technology. The company also joined the Coalition for Responsible Transportation, a rapidly growing group of retailers, shippers and trucking companies committed to reducing diesel emissions.

“MOL America recognizes that it has a responsibility to effectively provide stewardship over the natural resources and environmental concerns inherent in our business processes,” said MOL America Chief Executive Osamu Suzuki in a statement.

Airport Projects on Horizon

Airport officials last week gave the go-ahead to begin an $8.7 million environmental study of Los Angeles International Airport that could pave the way for the reconfiguration of the north runways and a major redesign of Terminals 1, 2 and 3, among other projects.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. will head up the study, which will begin in March.

Construction on airport projects, which include an automated people-mover and a new ground transportation system, likely would not begin until at least 2012, officials said.

Staff reporter Richard Clough can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 251, or at

[email protected]

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