Professional Mariner – August 2022

Women take the helm at U.S. Coast Guard, Maritime Administration

The U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) are both under new leadership. President Joe Biden instated Adm. Linda Fagan as Coast Guard commandant during a change-of-command ceremony on June 1 in Washington. About three weeks earlier, the U.S. Senate confirmed retired Navy Rear Adm. Ann Phillips as MarAd administrator. Fagan is the first woman to lead any…

Report: Offshore wind towers interfere with marine radar

Maritime vessel operators need to be aware of new and heightened concerns about how offshore wind (OSW) towers can interfere with and degrade radar systems. Mariners can be impacted on at least two fronts, one being interference with marine vessel radar. According to a report released earlier this year by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), wind towers undercut…

Foss tugboat crews rescue man floating on the Columbia River

Crews aboard the Foss Maritime tugboats Betsy L. and P.J. Brix were preparing a barge tow on the Columbia River, just up from the Bonneville Dam, when someone on board spotted what they thought was unusual debris floating downriver. Capt. Eric Braden aboard the towboat P.J. Brix and his counterpart Capt. Dane Howard on Betsy L. initially thought it…

Bisso Towboat crews keep exports humming at Louisiana grain terminal

The Zen-Noh Grain Corp. (ZGC) export elevator near Convent, La., is one of the busiest on the Lower Mississippi River. It runs around the clock loading American grain into ships heading overseas. Bisso Towboat Co. of Luling, La., and its three azimuthing stern drive (ASD) tugboats positioned just upriver, play a key role in keeping the terminal running efficiently. Day…

Schoolchildren rescued from burning tour boat off Norfolk

Dozens of children from a local school were among the 106 passengers and crew rescued from a tour boat that caught fire while underway off Norfolk, Va. The fire aboard the 167-foot Spirit of Norfolk started at about noon on June 7 while the vessel was sailing on the Elizabeth River near Naval Station Norfolk. Another tour boat, Victory Rover,…

Texas ferry passenger rescued after jumping overboard

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man who jumped overboard from a vehicle ferry operating near Galveston, Texas. The 265-foot ferry Gibb Gilchrist was traveling between Galveston and Port Bolivar, Texas, on May 2 at about 1130 when the unidentified man leapt overboard, according to Danny Perez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation, which operates the vessel. Crew…

Fire in scrap metal barge contained off Delaware coast

A barge containing scrap metal caught fire and burned in Delaware Bay for more than a day. Two weeks later, the vessel was towed to its original destination in Camden, N.J. Crewmembers aboard the 3,200-hp tugboat Daisy Mae reported a fire on the barge they were guiding, CMT Y NOT 6, at about 0100 on May 23. The vessels were…

Locked and overloaded

The Soo Lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., is the busiest lock system in the world by cargo tonnage. It’s known as the “Linchpin of the Lakes” for its importance to Great Lakes maritime commerce. After a lengthy wait for Congressional funding, there is now money to build a new lock chamber. Once complete, sometime around 2030, the new…

Perilous travels through icy waters

Editor’s Note: Wind Fire & Ice was published by Lyons Press on Oct. 1, 2021. The following is an excerpt published with approval from the author and publisher. Shackleton’s expedition was privately funded, its goal, to be the first to traverse the Antarctic continent. Although called the “Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition,” neither the British government nor the Crown officially supported it.…

Western Great Lakes Pilots Association debuts new pilot boats

The 2022 Great Lakes shipping season is seeing some new boats plying the St. Mary’s River, which separates the western corner of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Canada. The Western Great Lakes Pilots Association (WGLPA) of Brimley, Mich., has added two vessels to its fleet of St. Mary’s River-based pilot boats, which numbers six vessels. Pilotage District 3 on the Great…