Foreign Waterborne

USCG Detains Ship with Iraqi Crew

The U.S. Coast Guard detained the 880-ft. oil tanker, Aldawha, in Delaware Bay because two crewmembers are Iraqi nationals. The Coast Guard Captain of the Port in Philadelphia ordered the Qatar-flagged M/V Aldawha to remain at anchor last Wednesday evening upon determining through Advance Notice of Arrival screening that two crewmembers aboard the U.S. bound ship are Iraqi nationals. A Coast Guard boarding team boarded the ship and completed an inspection of the ship. As of Friday, the ship remains under positive control of an armed Coast Guard boarding team and officials from the Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an investigation into the status of the crew is ongoing. Under Operation Liberty Shield, the Coast Guard is screening and tracking all foreign flagged ship arrivals and increasing port security boardings of ships before they arrive in U.S. ports. The Coast Guard has also increased both waterborne and airborne patrols of U.S. ports and waterways since the DHS threat level was elevated to Orange last week.

Cruise Traffic Up at Port Everglades

Cruise travel from Broward County's Port Everglades increased by 13.5 percent this past fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2001 through Sept. 30, 2002), greatly contributing to the Port's overall $9.7 million increase in operating revenue. A record 3.5 million passengers sailed to and from Port Everglades in the past fiscal year representing a 12.9 percent increase over the previous year. Cruise revenue increased by 26 percent from $20.4 million in FY2001 to $25.6 million

ISPS/MTSA Update

The U.S. Coast Guard has collected the following nationwide compliance data on both the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS) and Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA). ISPS compliance numbers Total foreign vessel arrivals: 232 Number of foreign vessels (included above) inspected and approved before July 1: 151 Number of foreign vessels inspected in port: 52 Number of foreign vessels inspected at sea: 3

Waterborne Freight in the UK

The latest (2007) annual National Statistics on waterborne freight in the UK produced by the Department for Transport, according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority, shows that: •    Traffic on UK domestic waters accounted for 5 per cent (126 million tonnes) of all goods lifted in the UK, and 20 per cent (51 billion tonne-kilometres) of all goods moved in 2007. •    Over the decade to 2007

New Navy Contracts

Seaward Marine Services, Inc., Fairfax, Va., was awarded a $9,096,597 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-09-D-4219) on Nov. 13, 2009, for waterborne hull cleaning and associated services to support the director of ocean engineering, supervisor of salvage and diving. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide hull cleaning, hull inspection and other related ship husbandry services on the underwater portion of Navy, Coast Guard

Westports (Malaysia) Designated a 'Safe & Secure Port'

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recognizes Westports for its security measures in the loading US-bound containerized maritime cargo. After the 9/11 attacks the United States instituted various initiatives to increase the layers of security, improve monitoring at points of entry, and strengthen information sharing both internally and globally, and the US Dept of Homeland Security is empowered to introduce measures designed to protect Americans from the threat of a terrorist attack

Garfitt Joins Elliott Bay Design Group

Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group announces the addition of John Garfitt to its marine engineering team. John has over 10 years of marine engineering experience and has worked on projects all over the world. As a senior marine engineer, John is involved in the Repower Study for the M/V COLUMBIA and will be lending his expertise to the Pierce County Waterborne Transportation Study. John is a licensed professional engineer in Canada and is currently working toward his U.S. license

PIERS Trade Horizons Reports on Imports

The global recession began to hammer waterborne commerce during the second half of 2008, according to the latest containerized import-export statistics from PIERS Trade Horizons. The just-released numbers dash any lingering hopes that demand from emergent economies for U.S. exports would provide a silver lining in an otherwise darkening outlook. PIERS Trade Horizons reports that U.S. imports, which had been declining since the start of 2008, plunged 10

Task Force Opposes Repeal of Jones Act

The Maritime Cabotage Task Force stated that it opposes legislation to repeal the Jones Act, saying that all the McCain bill would do is put more Americans out of work. “The McCain bill proposes to eliminate the very American industry that is helping to clean up the spill - an industry that supports 500,000 U.S. jobs - and outsource that work to foreign workers and foreign companies registered in nations like Liberia and the Marshall Islands that operate outside of American law

Passenger Vessel Association Opposes Bill Allowing Foreign-Flagged Ships to Compete with U.S. Passenger Vessels

Alexandria, VA:The Board of Directors of the Passenger Vessel Association (PVA) yesterday unanimously voted to oppose enactment of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow foreign-flagged passenger vessels to directly compete with their American-flagged counterparts.   The PVA Board action reaffirmed support of the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) which reserves the commercial carriage of passengers between U.S. ports for vessels that are U.S.-flagged, U.S