Jeff Davis News

Earlier this year, 30-year Port Houston veteran Jeff Davis announced his retirement as Chief Port Operations Officer. The port's Executive Director Roger Guenther has subsequently announced the promotion of two long-term, well-regarded members of Port Houston’s executive leadership team to vital roles to ensure sustained operations and exceptional service.Ryan Mariacher, a 20-year employee and formerly Director of Container Terminal Operations, was promoted to Chief Port Operations Officer.

A U.S. Navy warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, the first such challenge to Beijing in the strategic waterway since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the USS Dewey traveled close to the Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which China has territorial disputes with its neighbors. China said its warships had warned the U.S. ship and it lodged "stern representations" with the United States. China said it remained resolutely opposed to so-called freedom of navigation operations. The U.S.

A U.S. Navy destroyer fired three warning shots at four Iranian fast-attack vessels near the Strait of Hormuz after they closed in at high speed and disregarded repeated requests to slow down, U.S. officials said on Monday. The incident, which occurred on Sunday and was first reported by Reuters, comes as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office on Jan. 20. In September, Trump vowed that any Iranian vessels that harassed the U.S. "This was an unsafe and unprofessional interaction, and that is due to the fact that they were approaching at a high level of speed with weapons manned and disregarding repeated warnings," Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a briefing.

A Chinese warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by a U.S. oceanographic vessel in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday. The drone was taken on Dec. 15, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), officials said. "The UUV was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea," one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's a sovereign immune vessel, clearly marked in English not to be removed from the water - that it was U.S. property," the official said.

The United States is seeing growing indications that Iran-allied Houthi rebels, despite denials, were responsible for Sunday's attack on a Navy destroyer off the Yemen coast, U.S. officials told Reuters. The rebels appeared to use small skiffs as spotters to help direct a missile attack on the warship, said U.S. officials, who are not authorized to speak publicly because the investigation is ongoing. The United States is also investigating the possibility that a radar station under Houthi control in Yemen might have also "painted" the USS Mason…

China's foreign ministry said on Saturday a U.S. warship that sailed near an artificial island claimed by Beijing and several other nations has violated Chinese law by entering its territorial waters. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims. "The American warship has violated relevant Chinese laws by entering Chinese territorial waters without prior permission, and the Chinese side has taken relevant measures including monitoring and admonishments," China's foreign ministry said in a statement.

A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of an island claimed by China in the South China Sea on Saturday, in an operation the Pentagon said was designed to challenge efforts to restrict freedom of navigation. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said no ships from China's military were in the vicinity of the USS Curtis Wilbur when it carried out the operation near Triton Island in the Paracel Islands. "This operation challenged attempts by the three claimants - China, Taiwan and Vietnam - to restrict navigation rights and freedoms," Davis said. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Louise Ireland)

In 2013, a U.S. guided-missile ship veered sharply to avoid a Chinese navy vessel that tried to block its path in the disputed South China Sea, according to the U.S. account. They are the types of risky encounters that Beijing and Washington have sought to avoid by stepping up efforts to implement a web of military communications agreements. But the protocols in place are mostly non-binding, contain exceptions, and at times are interpreted differently by the two sides, highlighting the risk of an unwanted escalation of tensions as the United States asserts its naval power more forcefully to counter China's maritime claims. Washington…

Five Chinese Navy ships are sailing in international waters in the Bering Sea off Alaska coast, coinciding with President Barack Obama’s visit to the the U.S. state. US defence officials have spotted three Chinese combat ships, a supply vessel and an amphibious ship moving toward the Aleutian Islands which is split between Russian and US control, according to the Wall Street Journal. Its for the first time the U.S. military has seen them in the area. The U.S. has been tracking the flotilla – made up of three combat ships, a resupply ship and an amphibious ship – for days. The Pentagon has not detected any threatening activity from the Chinese navy vessels in the Bering Sea, the White House said.

Five Chinese Navy ships are sailing in international waters in the Bering Sea off Alaska, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, in an apparent first for China's military that came as U.S. President Barack Obama toured the U.S. state. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said it was the first time the United States had observed Chinese Navy ships in the Bering Sea. "We respect the freedom of all nations to operate military vessels in international waters in accordance with international law," Davis said. The appearance of the ships is an example of the expanding reach of China's navy and overlapped with a three-day visit by Obama to Alaska as part of his efforts to raise awareness about climate change. Two U.S.

The Port of New Orleans and CN signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will see the parties develop greater supply chain efficiencies aimed at drawing more container traffic through the Port to North American markets. “We and our Port of New Orleans gateway partners have a mutual interest in ensuring the competitive and efficient movement of container goods through the gateway and growing its market share,” said JJ Ruest, CN’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Today, Gov. Bobby Jindal and IT Minerals LLC CEO Jose Domene announced a $4.5 million capital investment by the company in Louisiana, where IT Minerals will establish an importing, processing and exporting facility at the Port of New Orleans for minerals sourced from Mexico and other countries. The project will create 12 new direct jobs with an average annual salary of $34,000 a year, plus benefits. LED estimates the project will result in an additional 28 new indirect jobs, for a total of 40 new jobs in the Southeast Region. IT Minerals is a manufacturer of lightweight aggregates and fillers for polymer-based products; construction products; and insulation, filtration, textile, cryogenic, horticulture and gardening products. Gov.

Research Winches for R/V Maria S. Seven special winches were supplied by Hatlapa in December 2003 after being tested and demonstrated in the factory. These winches are intended for the new research vessel Maria S. Merian, which will support the vessel Polarstern during operations in the Arctic. Hatlapa has escorted this project for five years, during which time the design of the winches was formed in close cooperation with the order principal BAW (Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau) and the shipyard Krögerwerft in Rendsburg. One specialty is the combination of friction and storage winch for handling the very long and relatively thin measuring cables. The advantage is that the sensitive and expensive research ropes can be spooled on the storage winch free from load.

Australian and U.S. Navy escort ships demonstrated combined fire support in defense of an expeditionary strike group and ground forces ashore during Talisman Saber 2007 (TS07), which was conducted from June 18 through July 3. Two U.S. Navy destroyers, a cruiser, and three Royal Australian Navy frigates completed anti-submarine, surface and air defense exercises followed by simulated fire-support when U.S. Marines and Australian soldiers launched from the ships to the training area to engage a simulated enemy. Talisman Saber 2007 is a joint and combined biennial exercise between Australia and the United States designed to prepare both nations in crisis action planning and the execution of contingency operations, thus improving interoperability and combat readiness.