06 Aug

An oilfield workhorse with pleasing lines

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized
By Brian Gauvin The 210-by-54-foot St. Louis is the eighth of 10 diesel-electric platform support vessels (PSVs) forming the fleet that launched Rigdon Marine Corp. of Houston into the oilfield service business. Guido Perla & Associates (GPA) of Seattle designed the vessels that were built at Bender Shipbuilding, Mobile, Ala.The Guido Perla 640 Class is ABS Classed DP-2, diesel-electric vessels.…
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06 Aug

Alma S.: Getting Traction

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized
Last spring the z-drive Alma S. joined the Bisso Towboat fleet. The boat also joined its sister vessel, Cecilia B. Slatten. Now 6 years old, Cecilia B. Slatten was the first tractor tug in what has become a growing fraternity of z-drives working on the lower Mississippi River.An increase in the inboard slant to the side bitts and bulwarks differentiates…
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06 Aug

Deck hand falls from rigging to his death aboard tall ship

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
An 18-year-old deck hand died in mid-July when he fell 30 feet from the rigging of the tall ship he was working aboard.Benjamin Southerland, from Concord, Mass., was working aboard the schooner Alabama off Martha's Vineyard with 15 people onboard. He suffered several injuries and was in cardiac arrest when rescuers arrived.Alabama, a 90-foot gaff-rigged schooner, is owned and operated…
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06 Aug

Seattle getting police boat and 2 fireboats

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized
Kvichak Marine of Seattle delivered a 37-foot, 8-inch multipurpose vessel, Patrol 2, to the Seattle Police Department. Patrol 2 follows Patrol 4, a similar 43-footer delivered to Seattle in 1998.The new boat will serve a dual function of law enforcement and firefighting, bringing significant firefighting capabilities to the inland waters of Lake Union, the Ship Canal and Lake Washington.According to…
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06 Aug

NTSB cites lack of stability test as factor in sinking of Lake George excursion boat

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
The excursion boat that sank in Lake George in 2005 with the loss of 20 lives was allowed to operate in an overloaded condition because the state of New York did not require stability tests after the vessel's structure was modified and because the state relied on outdated average pasenger weights for computing the safe-load limit, the National Transportation Safety…
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06 Aug

U.S. seeks an injunction against tax advisor

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News
The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a federal court to issue an injunction prohibiting Martin Kapp, a certified public accountant based in California, from advising his clients that they can claim on their income tax returns what has come to be known in the industry as "the mariner's deduction."Kapp has written about tax breaks for mariners in articles that…
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06 Aug

Tanker runs aground off New York City beach

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
Kristin Polling lies aground off Far Rockaway beach in New York City. Investigators are examining whether the single-hull coastal tanker strayed from the channel or whether shifting sands in East Rockaway Inlet contributed to the grounding. [Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard] The Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers are discussing ways to make New York's East Rockaway Inlet safer after…
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06 Aug

Federal court overturns Massachusetts law setting navigation rules aimed at oil spills

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News
A Massachusetts law establishing rules for vessels navigating in state waters has been struck down as unconstitutional by a federal court. Massachusetts passed the 2004 Massachusetts Oil Spill Prevention Act in response to the 2003 oil spill in Buzzards Bay. It occurred when a Bouchard Transportation Co. barge struck a rock ledge, spilling 98,000 gallons of oil. The state law…
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