April Editorial Highlights

Editorial Highlights
  
Industry Signals
Fastest workboat in the Gulf: Gulf Craft has built an unconventional crew boat for Seacor Marine. The 165-foot catamaran with waterjet propulsion will have a top speed of 42 knots, making it the fastest workboat in the Gulf of Mexico. By Larry Pearson

Great Lakes traffic report: The United States and Canada have completed a joint report on the future of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. The report maintains that this inland waterway has significant growth potential if the locks and channels are properly maintained and developed. By Richard Aichele

NTSB pushes USCG on mariner fatigue regs: The National Transportation Safety Board is pushing the Coast Guard to adopt more rigorous rules to ensure that mariners get enough rest. The NTSB says that current efforts by the Coast Guard to address the fatigue issue are inadequate.
By Leah Flumerfelt

LNG terminal at risk: A proposal to build an LNG terminal in Fall River, Mass. is in serious jeopardy because of Coast Guard concerns about the safety of the route tankers would have to navigate to reach the terminal. Ships would have to make two sharp turns to pass through two bridges that are only about 1,100 feet apart. By Jim Austin

Maritime Training expands to high schools: To address the current shortage of trained mariners, industry leaders are trying to encourage the creation of maritime training programs in secondary schools. By John Snyder

American Tugboat Review update: Tugboat companies are trying to mitigate the dramatic rise in fuel costs by converting some of their vessels to bunker fuel.

By Greg Walsh

Training — Simulators move forward again: Today’s simulators do a great job of recreating weather conditions, the handling characteristics of specific vessels and the defining features of ports and waterways around the world. Now efforts are being made to capture the operational characteristics of two crucial elements in most towing operations: winches and their lines. By David Tyler
 
Centerspread
New tug for E.N. Bisso: E.N. Bisso’s newest tug is a 4,000-hp z-drive built by Eastern Shipbuilding in Florida. Called Josephine Ann, the assist tug will operate on the lower Mississippi River. By Brian Gauvin

Maritime Casualties
Casualties on the Mississippi, the Savannah River, in the Gulf and in Alaska and Massachusetts. Full coverage.

Correspondence
War pay: It is a widely believed myth that when a mariner’s ship was sunk or when the mariner was taken prisoner during World War II, his pay stopped. Not true, according to a historian. By Charles Dana Gibson

The human element: Human error is a factor in about four-fifths of maritime accidents. There are lessons to be learned on how to reduce these mistakes by looking at other industries. By Geoff Gill

Feature 
Elegant charter operation — Pacific Yellowfin: The 114-foot Pacific Yellowfin has humble origins. It began life in 1943 working for the U.S. Army as a small cargo vessel. Today it is a charter vessel that offers its guests elegant accomodations and international cuisine as it cruises along British Columbia’s dramatic isle-studded waterways.

By Alan Haig-Brown

Column
A Mariner’s Notebook: Capt. Kelly Sweeney says we should support efforts to move cargo off of highways and railroads and onto vessels but not by weakening the provisions of the Jones Act.


  
 
April 2008 Professional Mariner
 
Important Dates:
Feb 7, 2008
Deadline for ad space reservations

 

Feb 15, 2008

Deadline for advertising materials
 
Feb. 18, 2008
Editorial deadline
for May 2008 issue

 
Other Dates:
March 7, 2008
May issue advertising deadline
 
April 7, 2008
June/July issue
advertising deadline
 
April 23, 2008
American
Tugboat Review
advertising deadline 
 
Professional Mariner’s Web site is now accepting business directory listings, email advertising and press releases.
To learn more, visit the site or call:
Alex Agnew
207-772-2466
ext. 219

By Professional Mariner Staff