RELIEF SHIPS

MarAd Seeks to Designate Ships for Relief

According to reports, the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) is seeking to designate one or more vessels as relief ships for rescue operations during disasters. Speaking on the sidelines of the API Tanker Conference 2006, Varshney said that MarAd and the U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC) should collaborate to make this idea materialize. This was suggested in the aftermath of the hurricane season in the U.S. Gulf Coast last year, which raised several questions about contingency plans for disasters and logistics problems. Source: Reuters

Navy Honored by Mississippi Legislature for Katrina Work

The Mississippi state legislature has honored Mississippi Gulf Coast-based Navy commands for their service to their communities in the Hurricane Katrina evacuation and relief effort. State Sen. Scottie Cuevas of Pass Christian, Miss., presented the concurrent resolution April 25 to Rear Adm. Timothy McGee, commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. McGee’s command is based at Stennis Space Center on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Norfolk Ships Deploy to Support Relief Efforts

Three amphibious ships and a rescue and salvage ship based in Hampton Roads are getting underway Aug. 31 and heading for the Gulf of Mexico to support relief operations along the U.S. Gulf Coast following widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. The multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) and the amphibious transport dock USS Shreveport (LPD 12), both based at Naval Station Norfolk; the dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46) and the rescue and salvage ship USS

Carnival Cruise Lines To Raise $1.5 Million For American Red Cross Relief Efforts

Carnival Cruise Lines will donate $50 for each stateroom sold over the next 30 days to the American Red Cross to aid in relief efforts associated with the recent terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. The $50 per cabin donation is expected to generate approximately $1.5 million for the American Red Cross, continuing Carnival's decade-long association with the world's foremost relief organization. Carnival, like other companies throughout the world

Crowley Aid with Relief Efforts

Crowley Maritime Corporation's liner services group partnered with the American Red Cross last week to donate ocean transportation services for five container loads of disaster supplies to the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. As three islands that have certainly seen their share of Atlantic hurricanes, they were earmarked by the Red Cross to receive disaster relief items ahead of any storms or other natural disasters that might come their way.

Satcom for Tsunami Relief Through IMO

IMO's efforts to assist in the wider United Nations campaign to bring relief and reconstruction to the regions devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami received a major boost today (10 January 2005) when the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) announced that, in co-operation with Inmarsat, it will make available up to 1000 digital land-mobile satellite communication terminals, free of charge, to the Secretary-General of IMO

SOUTHCOM Diverts Navy Ship to Support Hurricane Relief

U.S. Southern Command diverted the USS WASP (LHD 1) from an international maritime exercise in Panama to the coast of Nicaragua today to assist with disaster relief efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Felix. The redeployment of the U.S. Navy amphibious ship was directed in response to a request for international assistance from the government of Nicaragua and in close coordination with the U.S. Department of State and

MOL Helps Typhoon Victims in Luzon

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. President Akimitsu Ashida announced a donation of $40,000 to relief efforts for the victims of Typhoon Ketsana that struck the Philippines at the end of September. The company expressed its heartfelt sympathy for the disaster victims, and said it hopes they can return to normal life as soon as possible. MOL is making the donation through Manila-based Magsaysay-Mitsui O.S.K. Marine, Inc., which provides recruitment and training of seafarers

USS Ashland Loads Supplies for Haiti

Amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) moored at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Feb. 1-2 to on load food, water and supplies for the Haiti relief effort. Ashland took on more than 200 pallets of supplies, including more than 35 cases of bottled water, approximately 10,000 meals-ready-to-eat (MREs), baby food, baby diapers, mail for service members in Haiti and essential maintenance parts for U.S. ships providing the relief efforts in the area.

USNS Comfort Completes Haiti Mission

Hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) has completed its mission departed the Joint Task Force-Haiti area of operations. Over the course of seven weeks, the ship's U.S military and civilian medical personnel treated 871 patients, receiving at the height of the recovery effort one patient every six to nine minutes. But now, thanks to more field hospitals ashore and fewer patients in need of specialized care, the ship has not had patients on board for more than a week.