03
Mar
01
Mar
I have the hardest “easy” question anyone might ever ask you. Do you truly care about the financial health and well-being of your company? Yes, if your company falters or fails there will be other jobs around. But will those other jobs be as good as the one you have now? And would the demise of your present company be…
26
Feb
For longer than I have been in the business, the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has been “boom or bust.” For about five years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was an unprecedented boom in offshore jobs, fueled in large part by the oil embargo and oil crisis. Companies such as Otto Candies, Zapata and Tidewater were hiring academy…
12
Feb
When World War II started, the Merchant Marine was called on by President Roosevelt to help supply our troops that were fighting around the world. They were in every invasion from North Africa, Europe, and to the far reaches of the Pacific with the much needed supplies. The casualty rate was the highest of any service with 1 in…
04
Feb
Editor's Note: The following is a response to the "Mariner's Notebook" column by Capt. Kelly Sweeney in the December/January 2016 issue, "Flags of convenience are a disgrace to the maritime industry." Open Registries are not the enemy to the shipping community that Captain Sweeney would have you believe. The fact of the matter is yes, many shipping companies choose…
27
Jan
After getting an urgent phone call for an emergency relief position, I was making an unexpected airplane trip to catch a fish-processing ship working in the Bering Sea near the Arctic Circle. At Kotzebue, Alaska, the next-to-last stop during my long day of flying, our plane made a scheduled landing, giving me a chance to get out and stretch my…
22
Jan
Marine solutions providers are vital to maritime operators. They provide the technical expertise and assistance that vessel owners need to meet their business goals. Today’s marine solutions providers are more than just resellers of software solutions. They are the trusted partners that drive innovation and move the operator forward, leveraging the advantages of a cloud and mobile world. Current marine…
30
Nov
I had completed the academic requirements for graduation from California Maritime Academy and passed my third mate’s exam, so all I had to do was make sure there were no library fines and wait a week until the official graduation ceremony. In the meantime, I decided to attend a maritime symposium; I sat in the audience as a shipping company…
23
Oct
In Nguyen v. American Commercial Lines LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a judgment by the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denying American Commercial Lines’ (ACL) motion for summary judgment relating to claims made under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) by various fishermen and…
02
Oct
It was a cold, clear February day in 2014, and my wife and I were picking up our mail at the local post office. Sorting through the bills, ads and personal letters, an envelope addressed to me from the U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center (NMC) caught my eye. Not having to renew my merchant mariner credential (MMC) for a…