Uncategorized – Professional Mariner

28 Feb

U.S. Great Lakes pilotage costs to rise 16 percent in 2023

Rich MillerMaritime News, UncategorizedPilots, shipping, U.S. Coast Guard

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Coast Guard has published a final rule in the Federal Register outlining U.S. Great Lakes pilotage rates for the 2023 shipping season. The service proposes to increase the overall cost by $5.17 million or 16 percent compared to 2022. In 2023, the Coast Guard is proposing a total workforce of 56 fully registered pilots and six…

08 Dec

Alaska Marine Highway comes back from the brink

Casey ConleyMaritime News, Uncategorized

Story By Alan Earls When the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMH) vessel M/V Matanuska returned to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, late in the evening on June 20, 2022, it marked the end of a three-year service interruption to a port that had once been a key southern terminus. The immediate cause of the interruption had been new border crossing…

06 Nov

Shell signs agreement to acquire ECL business of PANOLIN

Casey ConleyIndustry News, Uncategorized

Wholly-owned subsidiaries of Shell have entered into agreements to acquire the Environmentally Considerate Lubricants (ECLs) business of the PANOLIN Group. The transaction includes the PANOLIN brand, ECL product formulations, intellectual property, technical expertise and technology, international customer base and portfolio of products – for hydraulics, gears, universal tractor transmission oils, biodegradable engine oils (HDEO), turbine oils, chainsaw oils and greases…

27 Jul

Maritime high schools can prepare the next generation of mariners

Kelly SweeneyUncategorized

Back when I was a kid, my dad would tell me what it was like working in the merchant marine. He sailed as an able seaman and boatswain, and I loved hearing his tales of working on a tanker off Venezuela, a stick ship in Africa and a freighter in Alaska. After dad retired, one of his friends who’d heard…

20 Jun

Biden signs bill targeting ocean shipping costs

Rich MillerMaritime News, Uncategorizedshipping

(WASHINGTON) — On Thursday, President Joe Biden, joined at the White House by Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act into law. In August 2021, Garamendi introduced the act with Johnson to provide the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) with the regulatory power to support…

30 Nov

Human error, insufficient training cited in Golden Ray capsizing

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

The vehicle carrier Golden Ray capsized in St. Simons Sound due to a crucial vessel stability miscalculation and inadequate training and safety procedures, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded. Investigators said the chief officer entered incorrect ballast levels into a shipboard computer, indicating the vessel had more water than it actually did. As a result, Golden Ray’s center of gravity was “significantly higher” than calculated. “Golden Ray capsized because it did not possess enough righting…

11 Nov

November 2021 Shipbuilding News

Professional Mariner StaffShipbuilding Newsletter, Uncategorized

Bay Shipbuilding launches new Great Lakes freighter Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and The Interlake Steamship Co. celebrated the launch of Mark W. Barker, the first new U.S.-built Great Lakes freighter in nearly 40 years. The 639-by-78-foot, River-class self-unloading ship is slated for completion next year. It will operate within the Great Lakes and carry raw materials such as salt, iron ore and…

31 Oct

Man charged after pipe bombs are found on Ohio River towboats

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Tugboats & Towing, Uncategorized

(CHARLESTON, W.Va.) — An Ohio man has been charged in a federal criminal complaint with possession of one or more unregistered destructive devices found aboard towboats on the Ohio River. According to the criminal complaint filed Oct. 28, law enforcement officers recovered suspected destructive devices from two towboats on Oct. 21 and Oct. 25. The complaint alleges that Nathaniel Blayn…

04 Oct

Survivors offer emotional testimony during Seacor Power hearings

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Uncategorized

A U.S. Coast Guard hearing this month into the April 13 capsizing of the Seacor Power in the Gulf of Mexico cast a spotlight on how a fierce storm caught a seasoned crew off guard, while communication and equipment problems complicated the response. The Marine Board of Investigation hearing into the catastrophic wreck off the Louisiana coast was held over…

31 Aug

NTSB cites poor communication, erratic steering in Sabine Pass collision

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized

The mate piloting an outbound offshore supply vessel in Sabine Pass steered erratically and ignored crew warnings in the minutes before a collision with an articulated tug-barge (ATB), federal investigators said. The mate helming the supply boat tested positive for alcohol after the incident, although authorities could not say conclusively that he was impaired during the accident voyage. The 167-foot…