MANTA

The Manta's show up about halfway into the video They are the yellow vehicles. JMS is at the MACC (Multi-Agency Craft Conference) this week. If you don’t know, MACC is a Navy Surface Warfare get-together on the Amphibious Base Little Creak, Norfolk. Where the military gets to talk directly and informally with privately industry. Tell them what they would very much like…
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Survival training for pilots

One of the important skills of those who fly in aircraft over water is training to escape from the aircraft should it land in water and capsize. This type of training may be of value to ship pilots when they consider that three pilot boats capsized in 2006 alone, requiring underwater egress. I recently attended the underwater egress course of…
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IAMU to meet in San Francisco this Fall

This fall (October 19-21) the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU) will meet in San Francisco for its 9th Annual General Assembly under the theme, Common Seas, Common Shores – The New Maritime Community.The IAMU (www.iamu-edu.org) was first established in November of 1999 by seven universities representing the five continents of the world and with a shared recognition of the…
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Flaws in TWIC rollout could hurt mariners and the entire industry

  After years of delays, the rules for obtaining a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) were finally established by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Safety Administration in 2007. Nationally, as of Sept. 25, 2008, the TWIC card will be required for anyone who is allowed unescorted access to a marine terminal or a secure area of a vessel.…
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USCG proposed Medical NVIC

The Coast Guard is now moving its proposed Medical Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) toward final approval within the Department of Homeland Security. The Medical NVIC could have a significant impact on American mariners in all sectors, and has to the potential to prevent some mariners from receiving Coast Guard documentation, and to require many mariners to seek medical…
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Masters, Mates & Pilots letter to the Coast Guard

[The following is an excerpt from a letter Captain Timothy A. Brown wrote to Thad Allen, USCG Commandant, on behalf of the Masters, Mates & Pilots. Captain Brown is the president of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots.]Criminalization: The growing tendency to criminalize seafarers in the wake of maritime accidents is a matter of increasing concern to the entire international maritime…
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