Uncategorized – Professional Mariner

12 Aug

Shippers join relief effort for fire-ravaged Maui town

Rich MillerMaritime News, UncategorizedPorts, shipping

(KAHULUI, Maui) — Cargo carriers are prioritizing relief shipments to Maui after wildfires devastated the town of Lahaina earlier this week, leaving thousands homeless. The Port of Kahului is fully operational, according to a report by Supply Chain Dive, and inter-island freight and transport company Young Brothers noted in an Aug. 9 operations update that it is focusing its efforts…

10 Aug

Three rescued as push tug sinks off North Myrtle Beach

Rich MillerCasualty News, UncategorizedTugboats and towing, U.S. Coast Guard

(NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.) — U.S. Coast Guard and partner agency crews continue to respond to a 59-foot push tug that sank Tuesday night approximately 3 miles off North Myrtle Beach. Horry County Fire Rescue personnel rescued the three crewmembers aboard the tug, the name of which has not been disclosed. The vessel is currently in 30 feet of water…

24 Jul

Report touts economic power of Great Lakes-Seaway System

Rich MillerMaritime News, UncategorizedGreat Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System, shipping

(WASHINGTON) — At a virtual press conference Friday featuring U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, a binational public-private coalition of maritime organizations released a new economic impact study of shipping on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. The eight-month project was conducted by Martin Associates of Lancaster, Pa., a national leader in economic analysis…

20 Jun

Army Corps launches Lower Miss. management study

Rich MillerMaritime News, Uncategorizedbrownwater, Tugboats and towing

(NEW ORLEANS) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, has launched the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study, a five-year, $25 million study that will deliver recommendations for effective and practical management of the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of the study is to identify recommendations for the comprehensive…

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…