Professional Mariner – October/November 2026 – Page 2

Port safeguards struggle to keep pace with larger ships

The Dali allision that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and killed six people exposed a much larger, nationwide problem: As commercial vessels have grown larger and traffic patterns have changed, the systems used to assess and manage risks to port infrastructure have been slow to adapt. In early September, the U.S. Coast Guard released a report evaluating…

After the offshore wind vessel boom

The emergence of offshore wind off the U.S. East Coast and murmurings of nascent activity on the West Coast created a new market for American shipyards, vessel operators and mariners. But just as that industry began to take shape and new vessels hit the water, its future became deeply uncertain. A March report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)…

Aboard fireboat City of Portland IV, a lifeline for Portland and Casco Bay

As City of Portland IV left its berth at the Maine State Pier in Portland, Maine, at 0930 on a cloudless, freezing April morning for a routine training run through Casco Bay, the magnitude of the blaze it battled at the Custom House Wharf in December 2025 was clear from the cleanup job ongoing two docks away. The fire, which…

SAFETY ALERT: Coast Guard warns of aging fiberglass lifeboats

The U.S. Coast Guard is urging vessel owners and operators to pay closer attention to the condition of aging fiberglass lifeboats following a casualty in which a 23-year-old boat suffered a structural failure and unintentionally released while being lowered. In a Sept. 2 Safety Alert, the Coast Guard said that fiberglass supporting the lifeboat’s forward hook assembly failed during launch,…

Unauthorized blowtorch use cited in lethal explosion aboard NYC sludge vessel

A deadly 2025 explosion aboard a sludge boat in New York’s Hudson River was likely the result of unauthorized blowtorch use that ignited methane released from one of the vessel’s cargo holds, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Hunts Point, a nearly 289-foot-long liquid bulk cargo or “sludge” vessel, was docked at the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant…

Miscalculation leads to costly Louisiana bridge strike

The lead barge on the Josset tow was empty and sat high out of the water, partially obstructing the pilot’s view. It was a few hours before dawn in June 2024, and the 55-foot towboat was pushing three barges toward the Bayou Grosse Tête Bridge over the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The tow stretched nearly 700 feet. But as the lead…

Crane procedures, communication cited in $3.2 million casualty

Better planning, clearer procedures and the use of a signalman could have helped prevent an incident at the Port of Los Angeles that resulted in $3.2 million in damage. According to a National Transportation Safety Board report, on June 2, 2024, at about 1649 local time, the emissions control barge STAX 1 was capturing emissions from the containership Erving at…

Making the unseen visible

Woolpert Maritime combines hydrographic technology, maritime know-how and a get-it-done culture to map the underwater world and turn complex data into answers When nearly 90 shipping containers tumbled into the Port of Long Beach last year, hydrographer Woody Thomas left Woolpert Maritime’s San Rafael office and jumped on a flight to Southern California. By the end of the day, the…

A boatswain rolls with the changes of a long career

Cleaning the decks of a ship now requires far less labor than it once did, according to Glenn Christensen, a boatswain aboard the Pasha Hawaii ship George II, who was wrapping up his long maritime career when Professional Mariner sailed with him in November 2025. “Modern technology has made washing a lot easier,” Christensen said. “It doesn’t take 10 guys…

Jones Act waivers: Enough is enough

One November, I got a call from my friend JJ, who was sailing as chief mate on the 645-foot, 17,730-deadweight-ton U.S.-flag tanker Asphalt Commander, the only asphalt carrier in the U.S. fleet. He told me they needed a relief second mate for 50 days or so, and that the ship would be running between Corpus Christi, Texas, and different ports…