shipping – Professional Mariner

11 Jun

Lakes to receive ‘historic’ funding for navigation work

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsGreat Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System, shipping, Towboats and towing, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

(WASHINGTON) — In late May, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its final navigation work plan for fiscal year 2025. The plan outlines resources that will be used for dredging, structure maintenance, and other priorities at every port in the United States. A summary/funding analysis of Great Lakes provisions can be found here. Amounts shown in black are spending…

05 Jun

Mississippi River’s value in spotlight at FreightWeekSTL

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towingbrownwater, shipping

(ST. LOUIS) — The outlook for commodities and the barge industry was front and center Thursday during a virtual FreightWeekSTL panel session hosted by the St. Louis Regional Freightway. Ken Eriksen, managing member and strategic adviser at Polaris Analytics & Consulting, highlighted the economic value of the Mississippi River Ship Channel and its significance to the freight industry and the…

05 Jun

Crew rescued as vehicle carrier burns off Alaska

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime Newscasualties, shipping, U.S. Coast Guard

UPDATE: (KODIAK, Alaska) — The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing its response to a vessel fire approximately 340 miles southwest of Adak, Alaska, on Friday. A Coast Guard HC-130J Super Hercules air crew from Air Station Kodiak conducted an overflight of the cargo ship Morning Midas on Wednesday and observed the vessel was still on fire. Currently, there are no…

03 Jun

DNV: Aging fleet drives surge in casualty incidents

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime Newscasualties, safety, shipping

(HOVIK, Norway) — According to DNV’s latest report, "Maritime Safety Trends 2014-2024 – Preparing for Future Risks," the number of maritime safety incidents increased by 42 percent between 2018 and 2024, while during the same period the global fleet grew by just 10 percent. Driven mainly by an aging fleet and machine damage/failure, the findings highlight the risks connected with…

30 May

PORTS sensors to boost safety for Honolulu mariners

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsNavigation, safety, shipping

(WASHINGTON) — The Physical Oceanographic Real-time System, or PORTS, is now operational at Pearl Harbor-Honolulu, Hawaii. Installed by the National Ocean Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), data from the new publicly available observation system advances NOAA’s ability to better serve Hawaii’s coastal communities and secure maritime safety in the Pacific islands. Pearl Harbor-Honolulu PORTS is…

16 May

Grain paces increase in Seaway cargoes through April

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsGreat Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System, Ports, shipping

(OTTAWA, Ontario) — The first tonnage statistics for 2025 have been reported by the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., and thus far the 67th navigation season is showing a year-over-year increase in overall traffic. As of the end of April, total traffic reached 4.5 million tonnes, representing a 3.7 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024. Grain and…

16 May

Long Beach braces for double-digit cargo decline

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsPorts, shipping

(LONG BEACH, Calif.) — Following its strongest April on record and 11 consecutive months of cargo increases, the Port of Long Beach is preparing for a double-digit decline for shipments in May due to tariffs – and retaliatory tariffs – that were paused earlier this month. Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 867,493 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in April, up 15.6…

13 May

Coast Guard refines reflag rules to boost U.S. fleet

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsMarAd, Merchant marine, Regulation, shipping

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Coast Guard has streamlined the process for foreign ships to be certificated under the American Registry without compromising safety. By doing so, the Coast Guard has consolidated the reflag process under a single program based on international standards. Benefits include: • Reducing pre-inspection plan review and national equivalency process. • Avoiding schedule delays and minimizing modification…

12 May

Crowley’s second Avance-class boxship enters service

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsLNG, shipbuilding, shipping

(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — Copan, the second vessel in Crowley’s Avance-class fleet of LNG-powered containerships, has begun its inaugural commercial operations from the Port of Jacksonville, further expanding the company’s capacity and enhancing speed of ocean shipping for the Caribbean Basin. Named for one of the most important archaeological sites of the Mayan civilization in Honduras, Copan was specifically designed to…

08 May

Trump nominates former Maersk exec to lead MarAd

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsLicensing and training, MarAd, shipping

(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has nominated Stephen Carmel, a former executive with Maersk Line Ltd., to head the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd), FreightWaves reported. Carmel replaces Capt. Brent Sadler, a Navy veteran who had been tapped in March to lead the agency but had yet to undergo a nomination hearing in the Senate. No reason was given as to…