Mary Ann News

The United States’ vast network of navigable inland rivers is vital to the nation’s economy, serving as an aquatic superhighway for the efficient shipment of critical commodities like agricultural goods, energy products, building materials and industrial chemicals to destinations within the U.S. and to deepwater ports for export. The Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI), which advocates for a modern, efficient and well-maintained inland waterways, often describes the network as “the…

The U.S. has imposed a $2 million fine on the owner and operator of a bulk carrier that knowingly committed pollution crimes on the Mississippi River. Greek-based Empire Bulkers and related company Joanna Maritime were sentenced Thursday for committing "knowing and willful violations" of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and the Ports and Waterways Safety Act related to their role as the operator and owner of the bulk carrier Joanna.A March 2022 inspection of the…

Ohio-based Miller Boat Line has taken delivery of its newest passenger and vehicle ferry Mary Ann Market from Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding.The ferry left the Sturgeon Bay, Wis. shipyard on July 8 and arrived to her home port Put-in-Bay, on Ohio's South Bass Island, on July 10. The vessel is expected to enter service following its U.S. Coast Guard inspection later this month.The newbuild is named in honor of the company's late owner Mary Ann Market (1935-2010), "the backbone of the company", according to Jake Market, vice president at Miller Boat Line.

National Rivers Hall of Fame will honor marine towing industry veterans Peter Stephaich and Joseph H. Pyne during the Annual Waterways Symposium hosted by Waterways Council, Inc. in St. Louis, Mo., in November.Stephaich, the current Chairman and CEO of Blue Danube Incorporated and Campbell Transportation Company, Inc., and Pyne, Kirby Corporation’s former CEO, will receive the Hall's Achievement Award, given to individuals making significant contributions to America’s waterways and barge industry.Having served the river industry for over 30 years…

Mike Corrigan, the ubiquitous leader of Interferry, has a broad base of energy and maritime industry experience, including his stint as CEO of BC Ferries. Corrigan shares with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News his thoughts on a broad range of issues facing the ferry industry: COVID-19, emerging international regulations, and yes, maritime training and education initiatives throughout the world ferry industry.Looking back to your tenure atop BC Ferries, can you discuss this through a training and education lens?At BC Ferries, safety and training was an integral part of my role and passion.

Mary Ann Bucci has spent her entire career in many different aspects of the logistics profession, selling container space on international vessels for SeaLand Service, leasing railcar equipment for GE Railcar Services, and negotiated rail rate for Aristech Chemicals. Having spent the last 19 years advocating for the inland waterways system, specifically for the Port of Pittsburgh District, Bucci weighs in on some of the top issues and key projects underway at one of the nation’s busiest inland ports.Please describe the Port of Pittsburgh Commission’s role in supporting waterway commerce…

Miller Boat Line has ordered a new drive-on, drive-off passenger/vehicle ferry for delivery from Superior, Wis. builder Fraser Shipyards in fall 2019. The new ferry will be delivered from Lake Superior to Lake Erie and her new home port of Put-in-Bay, Ohio.The 140-foot-long, 38.5-foot-wide newbuild will be able to accommodate 26 standard sized vehicles or 600 passengers and will join Miller’s present fleet of four passenger/vehicle ferries, which operate between the peninsula of Catawba to Put-in-Bay (South Bass Island) and to Middle Bass Island…

Oceana, the largest international ocean advocacy organisation, has opened the organisation’s office in London to strengthen Oceana’s policy and research work to protect marine life and restore fish populations in the United Kingdom (UK).“Oceana is joining the marine conservation community in the UK at a turning point in public engagement and concern for the oceans. Now we need to move beyond conserving the oceans to actually restoring marine life and rebuilding fish populations,” said Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of Oceana in Europe."With Brexit around the corner, the next few years will be testing times for UK seas and fisheries.

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) announces its sixth annual international student design competition for a safe affordable ferry, seeking designs for a passenger vessel to traverse the iconic Pasig River of Metropolitan Manila. Metropolitan Manila, composed of 18 municipalities (including the City of Manila), is a flourishing vibrant joyous city with a total population of 24 million people. The metro area would benefit from a ferry system to relieve congestion. The City of Manila itself (population 1.8 million) has the distinction of being considered the most densely populated city on earth. Like many other modern cities Metro Manila is rediscovering its river for passenger transport.

Three of of Swiber Holdings vessels had been seized in an arrest moved by a syndicate of banks, reports Business Times. All three vessels were arrested at ASL Shipyard, the litigant in the arrest is United Overseas Bank (UOB), acting as security agent for the syndicate of banks that had extended financing to the vessel owner in relation to a sale and leaseback deal. The recent filing for liquidation by Swiber Holdings, an oil and gas business listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, sent jitters through the markets. Total claims received by struggling offshore engineering group Swiber Holdings stood at about US$288.8 million as at Dec 29, 2016, the group said in an update filed to the Singapore Exchange.

On June 2-3, 2016,  the Ferry Safety and Technology Conference will be held in downtown Manhattan. Throughout the world, the quickening pace of technological advances is impacting all sectors of the maritime business; ferries are no exception. The conference, now in its second year, will feature practical and affordable technologies already deployed in passenger transportation, or soon to be. Topics to be discussed will include Vessel Design; Landings – with a focus on their resiliency and Maritime Weather – with fresh information on timely fine scale marine weather detection. Information management and Communication applications will be center stage.

PCCI, Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a contract by the Department of Transportation/U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) to provide a new, revised and certified crane load chart for the self-propelled crane barge “MARY ANN”. PCCI’s naval architects and marine engineers specialize in stability and heavy lift operations.  The new crane load chart is being prepared to allow the barge to maintain OSHA certification following replacement of the original stack tower/wheelhouse structure.

Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) informs that its Chairman, Andres Alcantar, recently visited the San Jacinto College maritime training center to present a $368,173 Skills Development Fund grant for maritime job training. The TWC Skills Development Fund grant will fund training for 195 mariners from Buffalo Marine Services, G&H Towing Co., Higman Barge Lines Inc., and J.A.M. Distributing. Since the start of the San Jacinto College maritime program in 2010, approximately 2,500 U.S. Coast Guard certificates have been awarded to mariners. TWC explains that having a local maritime training center saves companies travel expenses. In the past, mariners were sent out of state for similar training.

Along the way, ATBs gain speed, efficiency, safety – and popularity. Operators of articulated tugs and barges, or ATBs, say they like the maneuverability, weather reliability, stability, speed of these units, and the manner in which the tug pushes the barge. As a marine transportation concept, they can also simply be described as versatile. ATBs move petroleum, chemicals, coal, grain, containerized cargo and rail cars for customers on the U.S. coasts, rivers, the Great Lakes and overseas. As a result, demand for articulated units expanded in the last two decades with new technology.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the June 2012 allision between bulk carriers Mary Ann Hudson and Star Grip was the pilot’s ineffective handling of the Mary Ann Hudson and his ineffective use of the two tug boats to maneuver the vessel around the Star Grip’s crane arms, which were extending into the navigable waterway. On June 6, 2012, at 0530 central daylight time, the underway bulk carrier Mary Ann Hudson collided with the moored bulk carrier Star Grip while the Mary Ann Hudson was being moved from City Dock 21 to City Dock 29.

Cubic Global Tracking Solutions Supports DoD With Generation II Satellite Enabled Tracking & Intrusion Detection Devices. Container Tracking & Monitoring Solution Provides Logistics Intelligence and Intrusion Detection. Cubic Global Tracking Solutions, the asset visibility solutions provider of Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB), is tracking and monitoring containers for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) with Generation II Satellite Enabled Tracking & Intrusion Detection (GEN II SETID) tags. Cubic's Container Tracking & Monitoring Solution employs Cubic's Global Sentinel devices, which the DoD refers to as GEN II SETID tags. These devices provide situational awareness…

1928-On 9 March 1928 a pulling surfboat with nine men aboard, under the command of Boatswain's Mate First Class William Cashman, got underway from the Manomet Life-Saving to go to the rescue of the steamer Robert E. Lee. The Lee had grounded on Mary Ann Rocks in a heavy gale. While returning to the station the surfboat capsized due to extremely heavy seas, spilling all nine men into the water. Six were rescued but "Captain" Cashman, Surfman Frank W. Griswold, and Surfman Edward R. Stark perished in the line of duty in the freezing water. During the on-going search and rescue operations all 236 passengers and crew from the Robert E. Lee were saved. 1944- The U-225 torpedoed and sank the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Leopold(DE-319) off Iceland.

On September 1, 2010, Washburn & Doughty Associates, Inc. delivered the Mary Ann Moran, a 121 ft x 36 ft x 18 ft Intercon Tug, to Moran Towing Corporation. Designed by Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering Corp., Mary Ann Moran is the fourth vessel built by Washburn & Doughty to this design and delivered to Moran Towing. According to the vessel’s captain, Mr. Jake Jarrell, “I can say that this boat is by far one of the best vessels I have ever had the pleasure of working on in over 30 years in the industry.

The National Waterways Conference will hold its annual meeting in New Orleans at the Hilton Riverside Hotel on September 4-6 where some 350 business, civic and waterways leaders are expected to attend. Donald T. (Boysie) Bollinger, chairman and chief executive officer of Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., and Richard R. Calhoun, vice president of Cargill, Inc., and chairman of the National Grain and Feed Assn., will be the main speakers at the event. According to conference chairman, J. Ron Brinson of the Port of New Orleans, Bollinger of Lockport La., will address the opening luncheon. Bollinger Shipyards, one of the nation's largest builders of boats and barges, operates 20 shipyards from Mississippi to Texas. Calhoun, of Minneapolis, will speak at the closing luncheon.

Mid America Shipyards LLC out of Ft. Smith, Ark. announced that after opening its doors in December 2009 it has delivered its first vessel, a truckable tug boat, the Mary Ann, to the Chicago area. Currently Mid America Shipyards has contracts to build two more 660 hp vessels that will be delivered in April.

On March 26, Crowley Maritime Corporation christened the eighth of 10 new 185,000-barrel Articulated Tug-Barge (ATB) tank vessels that the company will take delivery of by 2011. The vessels christened were the tug Achievement and barge 650-8. Sure to be no stranger to the Tampa waterfront, the vessel is scheduled to visit the port once a week as it carries petroleum products for Marathon Oil Corporation. The vessel joins other Crowley owned and or managed vessels - ATB Pride/650-7 and tankers Coast Range…