For the fifth consecutive year, the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office and Hampton Roads Maritime Association are sponsoring a safety seminar for crewmembers on commercial tugs. This year's seminar will be held at the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Thursday, May 30 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Recent major accidents involving towing vessels highlight the importance of this unique effort to prevent accidents. The Seminar includes lessons learned from significant accidents. The agenda is modified each year to address new or developing trends. This year's seminar includes a session on navigation in reduced visibility as a result of two collisions last year that occurred in fog. One of those collisions resulted in the deaths of
four mariners after the Norfolk-based tug Swift sank in the Elk River near the southern end of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in Maryland.
The safety seminar is the only one of its kind in the U.S. During the eight hour day attendees participate in classroom exercises, listen to presentations by subject matter experts and are given the opportunity to participate in hands-on training like fighting fires, firing distress signals or learning how to put on a survival suit and board a life raft.
The Coast Guard and Hampton Roads Maritime Association invite anyone presently working in the towing industry to attend. Reservations can be made by e-mail to ledoux@msohamptonroads.uscg.mil, by calling (757) 441-3276 or by fax to
(757) 441-3279.