Taft News

Crowley has appointed Clay Heil as vice president of global government relations, where he will lead the company’s full spectrum of government advocacy across all of the company’s business interests and activities.Based in Washington, D.C., Heil will spearhead Crowley’s engagement with federal, state and local government partners and elected officials on policy and regulatory matters that support the company’s strategic growth. Heil joins Crowley with more than 25 years of legislative and legal experience. In Congress, he worked in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S.

On August 11, 2022, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging seven defendants with running a criminal enterprise dedicated to extorting and misleading shipping companies into paying fees for the loading and unloading of cargo at the Port of San Juan—Piers 9, 10, and 11—under the threat of strikes and blockades on the part of union members of the ILA-1740 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) and under false representations…

PTL Marine announces the hiring of Mohamed Tounkara as Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Manager - West Coast and Donnie Lowe as Operations Manager - Seattle. With decades of combined experience, both Tounkara and Lowe possess an extensive skillset from past roles ranging from Fortune 100 companies to Main Street entrepreneurial businesses. PTL Marine continues its flurry of recent hiring as it shores up operations in major West Coast ports including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

U.S. oil export terminal operator Moda Midstream LLC said on Thursday it has begun to enhance its Moda Ingleside Energy Center (MIEC) in Ingleside, Texas, to allow the docking of larger-sized vessels.Moda has begun structural enhancements and dredging to Berth 5 and improvements to Berth 4, which will allow for the docking of Suezmax class vessels and Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), respectively, the company said in a statement.The company said it was evaluating construction of an additional pipeline called the Moda Ingleside Express Pipeline…

Dynagas LNG Partners LP has entered into an agreement with Dynagas Holding Ltd to purchase 100% of the ownership interests in the entity that owns and operates the Lena River, a 2013 built 155,000 cubic meter ice class liquefied natural gas carrier, and the related time charter contract with Gazprom Global LNG Limited, for an aggregate purchase price of $240.0 million. The closing of the Lena River acquisition is expected to take place on or before December 31, 2015 and is subject to customary closing conditions. The Lena River is currently operating under the Gazprom Charter, which has an initial term of five years and expires in October 2018.

Senate bill aims to mitigate impact of labor disputes at America’s ports. In a letter sent today, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) welcomed the introduction of the Protecting Orderly and Responsible Transit of Shipments (PORTS) Act in the U.S Senate. The bill, sponsored by Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO), would amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to provide state governors a mechanism under federal law to mitigate the destructive impact of port labor disputes on the economy at both the state and federal level. Specifically, the legislation would authorize a governor from a state where a port labor dispute is causing economic harm to form a board of inquiry and start the Taft Hartley process.

LOS ANGELES, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Cabinet secretaries joined congressional leaders, three governors and a big-city mayor on Wednesday in pushing shipping lines and the dockworkers' union to settle a contract dispute that has led to months of turmoil and cargo backups at 29 West Coast ports. Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker weighed in as emissaries of President Barack Obama, who has come under rising political pressure to intervene in a conflict that has reverberated through the trans-Pacific commercial supply chain and could, by some estimates, cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars. Worsening cargo congestion that the union and shippers blame on each other has slowed freight traffic since October at the ports, which handle nearly half of all U.S.

U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez on Tuesday urged shipping company executives and union leaders for 20,000 dockworkers to settle a contract dispute that has led to months of clogged cargo traffic and other disruptions at 29 West Coast ports. Perez was sent to join the talks in San Francisco by President Barack Obama, who has come under mounting pressure to intervene in the labor conflict that has rippled through the commercial supply chain across the Pacific and by some estimates could ultimately cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars. His arrival came as several of the busiest West Coast ports, closed to incoming cargo freighters during the three-day holiday weekend, reopened in full for about nine hours on Tuesday, then suspended vessel loading and unloading again for the night.

Clogged ports along the U.S. West Coast reopened to cargo vessels on Friday after a daylong closure, but shippers planned to re-impose a partial shutdown through the holiday weekend barring a settlement in stalled labor talks with the dockworkers union. The shipping companies and terminal operators planned to halt loading and unloading of container ships again starting Friday night and keep the suspension in place through Monday, the Presidents Day holiday, unless contract negotiators clinch a breakthrough deal. Negotiators for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, representing 20,000 dockworkers, met at union headquarters in San Francisco on Thursday with officials from management's bargaining agent…

U.S. West Coast port operations resumed in full on Monday after shipping companies halted loading and unloading of freighters for the weekend, citing chronic cargo backups that shippers and dockworkers have blamed on each other during months of labor tensions. But a planned resumption of federally mediated contract talks was pushed back until Wednesday without explanation, even as the White House joined retailers and manufacturers in urging the sides to redouble efforts to settle a dispute that has rippled through the U.S. commercial supply chain. Shippers and terminal operators announced last week they would suspend cargo crane operations for container vessels at the ports on Saturday and Sunday because of mounting congestion that they said had brought the docks to virtual gridlock.

Chicago’s Christmas Ship Committee, Coast Guard set for 15th anniversary of re-enactment, delivery of 1,200 Christmas trees for deserving families. The Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, serving once again as this year’s “Christmas Ship” and loaded with more than 1,200 Christmas trees, is returning to Chicago for a two-day event re-enacting what was an annual Chicago tradition in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A welcoming for the Mackinaw, by the Chicago Christmas Ship Committee, is scheduled for Friday at 8 a.m.

Ports on the U.S. West Coast are currently suffering from chronic congestion, but are there deeper issues affecting their performance? Drewry’s new report Container Terminal Capacity and Performance Benchmarks compares capacity and performance benchmarks for 500 terminals worldwide that help to explain some of the underlying factors hindering ports in North America. The severe congestion currently affecting U.S. West Coast ports is a consequence of a “perfect storm” of factors working together, Drewry said.

The ongoing risk of a strike or work slowdown at West Coast ports may already be diverting cargo to other distribution methods and setting the stage for broader economic impacts, Fitch Ratings says. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) workers are currently working without a contract and could strike at any time. However, Fitch notes that recent negotiations between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) are said to be amicable, and cargo has been moving through West Coast ports without incident since the expiration of the previous contract on June 30.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) informs it has urged maritime management and the union representing dockworkers along the U.S. West Coast ports to expedite pending contract negotiations and reach agreement on a new deal well in advance of the expiration of the current contract this summer. NRF believes expedited negotiations would strengthen the supply chain and provide shippers and retailers the certainty they need to utilize the West Coast ports during the holiday shipping period, which begins in July.

Two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus were sentenced today in federal court in Newark, N.J., to pay a $10.4 million penalty for felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Jersey and Delaware, the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Coast Guard announced. Columbia Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH (CSM-D), a German corporation, and Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd.

NRF Calls on President Obama to Immediately Intervene to Prevent Port Strike. The National Retail Federation has issued the following statement from NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold on the breakdown of contract negotiations between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd.: “It is extremely disheartening to learn that the two sides failed to reach an agreement during today’s negotiations. NRF urges both sides to remain at the table until a deal is reached. “It is imperative that both sides verbally announce their intentions to return to the negotiations. A coast-wide port shutdown would have a significant impact across all businesses and industries that rely on the ports, particularly retail.

NRF: East and Gulf Coast Strike Would Have Devastating Implications for the Retail Industry. The National Retail Federation today sent a letter to President Obama to express the retail industry’s growing concern if a contract agreement isn’t reached between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. The two sides have been in negotiations, with the assistance of federal mediators, for the past few months with little demonstrable progress. The concern for a coast-wide strike is ever increasing. While another round of talks is scheduled for this week, the contract deadline – December 29 – is quickly approaching.

Award dinner is January 25, 2012 at Marriott Marquis Hotel in NYC. Joseph C. Curto, President of the New York Shipping Association (NYSA) has been chosen by the New York/New Jersey Foreign Freight Forwarders and Brokers Association, Inc. to receive the 2012 Person of the Year Award. The prestigious award will be presented during the 95th annual dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on January 25, 2012. Attracting nearly 800 guests every year, this event is one of the most prominent international transportation functions in the United States. “Mr.

1912- President Taft recommended abolishing Revenue Cutter Service. His actions led to the creation of the Coast Guard by merging the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life-Saving Service on 28 January 1915. 1933- Navy airship USS Akron crashed off the Barnegat Lightship. The search employed over 20 Coast Guard vessels under Navy supervision. 1972- On 4 April 1972 BMC (later BMCM) Thomas D. McAdams became the first Coast Guardsmen to receive the new Coxswain insignia. Then-Commandant ADM Chester Bender presented the insignia to Chief McAdams at a ceremony at the Coast Guard's Small Boat School in Ilwaco, WA, where McAdams was the OIC. 1977-The Coast Guard designated its first female Coast Guard aviator, Janna Lambine. She was Coast Guard Aviator #1812.

While the U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry outperformed the U.S. economy between 1992 and 2001, this period witnessed the construction of barely a dozen large ocean going vessels for our U.S. domestic trades with an aggregate cost of not much more than $500 million. In contrast, U. S. national transportation needs for the current decade will require the construction of four to five dozen such commercial vessels which, taken together with the building of smaller vessels to meet our other domestic needs, will involve shipbuilding contracts in excess of $6 to $7 billion. The majority of this work is federally mandated by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, or involves the replacement of vessels in our U.S. non-contiguous trades that have reached the end of their useful lives.

Local and state dignitaries convened on the Monmouth County waterfront to take part in the christening of the Gladding-Hearn built M/V Seastreak New Jersey, a 141-ft. (42.9-m), 400 passenger high speed catamaran which will provide daily commuter service from Atlantic Highlands, and Highlands, N.J., to Pier 11 (Wall Street) and East 34th Street in Manhattan. According to Geoffrey Ede of SeaStreak America, Inc., Seastreak New Jersey and its sister ship Seastreak New York are the fastest diesel powered ferries in the New York Harbor today with service speeds of approximately 45 mph. Our outstanding commuter service into New York will…

Every four years the excursion vessel segment of the commercial marine industry stages one of the largest festivals in the United States, yet except for the vessels that participate in it, little is known about this event. It overshadows the Workboat Show but receives little attention in the marine press. From an attendance standpoint, if this event were the World Series of Baseball, the Workboat Show would be T-ball for five-year olds. The event is called Tall Stacks and is held on the Ohio River every four year in Cincinnati, Ohio. The 2003 event was the fifth such Tall Stacks event and was attended by over 800,000 people during a five-day period in mid-October.

By Jeanne M. Over the last ten or so years, criminal prosecutions have become commonplace in the maritime industry. The most common prosecutions stem from environmental violations, but often also include charges of false statements, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. Over the last several years, however, a new trend has begun - that of prosecutions under the Seaman's Manslaughter Statute. These prosecutions have come to the fore because of the Staten Island Ferry incident, which occurred in 2003, where the Seaman's Manslaughter Statute was used to extract guilty pleas from the pilot and a shoreside official. History of the Seaman's Manslaughter Statute.