Middlebrook: The Seaway at 60 – more vital than ever
03 Apr

Middlebrook: The Seaway at 60 – more vital than ever

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News
2019 marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the bi-national waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes and the heartland of America. How fitting that in this anniversary year, we can talk about the bright future of the Great Lakes Seaway System – North America’s “Fourth Sea Coast,” while celebrating its historic…
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29 Mar

Nautical terms pepper discourse of old salts and landlubbers alike

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner
It was the English cleric and author Charles C. Colton who wrote, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” If that’s the case, then merchant mariners should be very flattered these days because throughout every strata of American society there is a fascination with all things nautical. People who have no connection to the sea now regularly use our maritime…
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31 Jan

‘Don’t let the bedbugs bite’ tall order on an unsanitary ship

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner
After a long day of flying to Tampa, Fla., from Seattle, I paid the cab driver and grabbed my gear, having finally arrived at the shipyard where the 890-foot crude oil tanker to which the company had assigned me was finishing up a nearly two-month yard period. Heading up to “D” deck, where the third mate’s room was open, I…
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30 Nov

Toasts of New Year’s past: Ship horns, sky fire and a bit of ‘bubbly’

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner
In a few short days, New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world will take place, with different cultures noting the turn of the year in their own unique ways. In Denmark, tradition calls for standing on a chair and jumping off it at the stroke of midnight, literally jumping into the new year for good luck. In Peru, people mark…
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31 Aug

Streamlined process provides happier ending for third tale of the TWIC

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner
It was a cool Sunday evening in March, and my wife and I were enjoying the fire blazing in the wood stove. As she read the latest Alexander McCall Smith novel, I decided that it was a good time to check over my professional paperwork. I brought out my old laptop and pulled up the “Licensing/Documentation Spreadsheet” that I’d set…
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31 Jul

‘Regulatory reform’ first shot in new attack on US maritime industry

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner
Imagine this scenario: Our ports are filled with Bolivian- and Cypriot-registered ships running U.S. domestic coastwise cargo, many of them “rust buckets” crewed by minimally trained mariners and operated by unscrupulous vessel owners. Since “the repeal,” there have been Costa Concordia cruise ship and Sanchi oil tanker type disasters, resulting in dead American passengers and untold ecological devastation along our…
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Buzby: All hail Inouye, the largest Jones Act containership ever built
03 Jul

Buzby: All hail Inouye, the largest Jones Act containership ever built

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News
I was honored to be present in South Philadelphia on June 30 to witness the christening of the largest containership ever built in the United States. It was built by Philly Shipyard for shipping company Matson Inc. and was named for the former Hawaii senator, war hero, and long-standing maritime champion Daniel K. Inouye. At a time when the U.S.…
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