Food Aid News

On September 14, 2022, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I Committee), Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, held a hearing which indicated a potential revitalization, and new enforcement regime, of U.S.-flag requirements under the Cargo Preference Act of 1954 (the CPA). The hearing occurred on the heels of a Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report regarding the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) lack of COA enforcement, with significant recommendations to revamp oversight by the agency to ensure a growing…

On Thursday October 6, Captain Richard Phillips, author of A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, will discuss his encounter, his remarkable rescue and lessons learned, in an Ed Fouhy Speaker Series program presented by the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center. The program will begin at 7:00 PM at Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Admirals Hall, 101 Academy Drive, Buzzards Bay, MA.The now-famous hostage standoff began on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 when a small band of Somali pirates swung a ladder from their skiff onto the MV Maersk Alabama…

A ship carrying wheat from Ukraine to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa docked on Tuesday, the United Nations said, the first to make the journey since the Russian invasion six months ago.The vessel Brave Commander is carrying 23,000 tonnes of grain and will soon be followed by another carrying 7,000 tonnes.The total shipment, which will be unloaded in Djibouti and transported to Ethiopia, is enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month.That barely begins to alleviate the problems of Eastern Africa, where the United Nations' World Food Programme says extreme weather, surging food prices and conflict mean 82 million people need food aid across nine countries - Burundi…

Nearly four years into their odyssey at sea, the five-member crew of oil tanker MT Iba [ex-Titan Brave] is tantalizingly close to shore, yet still unable to set foot on dry land.Bleary-eyed and wearing tattered clothes, the men are exhausted from an ordeal that has kept them from their families and aboard the 5,000-tonne vessel long after its owner abandoned it in the Gulf.What started out as a regular seafaring job turned into what the men call a nightmare, when the tanker's owner, Alco Shipping, fell into financial trouble and stopped paying their salaries 32 months ago.The crew was left to fend for itself, relying on donations from charities they contacted for food and hygiene supplies.The tanker ran aground in Umm Al Quwain…

Wilhelmsen Ship Management (WSM) is crowdfunding to support Mission to Seafarers (MtS), one of the largest maritime charities serving merchant crews around the world in addressing the hardships faced by the affected seafarers.The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruption on crew change operations. The fallout effect of this has impacted approximately 150,000 seafarers onboard unable to be signed off and another 150,000 seafarers onshore unable to sign on. This disruption has impacted the affected seafarers’ welfare.

U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) arrived in Los Angeles, Friday to support the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts.While in Los Angeles, the ship will serve as a referral hospital for non-COVID-19 patients currently admitted to shore-based hospitals, and will provide a full spectrum of medical care to include general surgeries, critical care and ward care for adults. This will allow local health professionals to focus on treating COVID-19 patients and for shore-based hospitals to use their Intensive Care Units and ventilators for those patients.Operated by Military Sealift Command…

It is often difficult to push through the federal government morass to focus on the issues that actually matter to the inland operator. While 2020 inevitably will be a contentious year in American politics, it is critical to stay focused on the items that will have direct impact on the U.S. maritime industry. From a potential new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill to potential Jones Act challenges, 2020 will be an important year for inland operators to stay politically engaged.Work on WRDAJanuary marked the beginning of Congress’ work in earnest toward introducing a new WRDA bill.

Inland Dredging Company helps keep commerce flowing on America’s inland waterway system.Dyersburg, Tenn. based Inland Dredging Company completed dredging projects spanning eight states and across four U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Districts. Beginning in July and finishing in December (2019), Inland Dredging crews dredged ports and harbors along the Mighty Mississippi River, Ouachita River, Red River, Black Warrior River, Atchafalaya River, Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway, and the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway from Apalachicola to Morgan City.Richard Jackson…

MSC Cruises, the world’s largest privately owned cruise company and leading cruise line in Europe and South America, has announced today that to date it has raised more than €8 million for UNICEF thanks to the generous contributions of its guests. The funds raised are used to provide malnourished children with Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) such as Plumpy’ Nut and to date more than 6.5 million sachets of RUTF have been delivered to children in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia and Malawi. Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC Cruises’ Executive Chairman commented: “We are delighted to have reached this new contribution milestone, thanks to the generosity of our guests. As a family-run Company, we care deeply about the wellbeing of families around the world.

The Saudi-led military coalition fighting against the Houthi movement in Yemen said on Wednesday it would allow aid access through the port of Hodeidah and United Nations flights to Sanaa airport. The coalition closed all air, land and sea access to Yemen earlier this month following the interception of a missile fired towards the Saudi capital. It said it had to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran, seen by Riyadh as the movement's main backers. Aid agencies warned the move would worsen the humanitarian crisis in Yemen where the war has left an estimated seven million people facing famine. "The port of Hodeidah will be reopened to receive food aid and humanitarian relief…

Part II in a two-part series, continued from the January 2017 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News. Read Part I here. If reliance on the foreign commercial market is risky because of uncertain reliability, then what of U.S. Government ownership of a fleet of vessels? That has also been on the menu since the early 20th century. President Woodrow Wilson proposed in September 1914 that the U.S. Government acquire commercial cargo vessels. Congress disagreed, which delayed enactment of the President’s proposal until the Shipping Act, 1916. A compromise was struck to permit U.S. Government ownership as a war time measure – but all vessels so acquired had to be sold to private owners within five years of the end of the war.

The privately owned U.S.-flag foreign trading fleet, which is an essential component of U.S. sealift capability, stands on the edge of a precipice. The fleet – roughly stable in terms of cargo carrying capacity from 2000 to 2012 – has declined from 106 vessels in 2012 to 78 vessels at October 30, 2016 primarily because of a substantial decline in available U.S. Government-reserved cargo. The size of the fleet has reached a point where the viability of the U.S.-flag industry involved in foreign trade – including its trained mariners…

Syria's state grain buying agency Hoboob struck a deal to purchase one million tonnes of Russian wheat from political ally Russia, covering the needs of government-controlled areas for a year. The Damascus government subsidises bread for the areas it controls ensuring the supply of flat loaves that are a staple for Syrian people. Syria often buys wheat from Russia but this was an unusually large amount for a cheap price. The source said it should cover the government's needs for this year until the next local wheat buying season in 2017. A Syrian government source close to the matter told Reuters Hoboob purchased the wheat at 150 euros ($168) a tonne, on a cost and freight basis, and shipment would be for a year after opening up the letter of credit.

A ship carrying enough U.N. food aid to feed 180,000 people for a month docked at the Yemeni port of Aden on Tuesday, having waited for almost four weeks, a World Food Programme spokesman said. Aden and the other southern provinces of Yemen have been largely inaccessible to U.N. food aid, and around 13 million people - over half the population - are thought to be in a situation of "critical" or "emergency" food insecurity. "It's the first WFP chartered ship to berth in the port since the conflict erupted in late March," spokesman Peter Smerdon said. Last week WFP negotiated the entry of a convoy of food trucks into Aden province, but said docking a ship was impossible because of fighting raging around the port area.

After three months of operating with the European Union Naval Force, a maritime protection team from Serbia handed over its World Food Program (WFP) vessel protection duties to Croatia. The handover ceremony took place on December 28, 2014, in Djibouti. The Serbian team has spent the past three months embarked in WFP vessel, MV MSM Douro, providing protection at sea from pirate attacks along the Somali coast. Members of the Croatian Forces will be embarked in MV MSM Douro for up to four months. Since the EU Naval Force began protecting WFP vessels in 2009, none have been attacked or pirated.

Following its usual summer break over August 2014, Congress came back from its five-week summer recess and spent a whopping eight days or so back in session before recessing once again, approximately a week early, to hit the campaign trail for the November elections. This essentially means that including the summer recess, Congress will have been in session for a total of about eight days between the end of July and the middle of November 2014. No wonder why Congress has not been able to accomplish much this year, to date.

New York Harbor Tug Boat Captains and Crews, Staten Island Ferry Workers, Circle Line and Other Tourist Boat Crews Vote to Join New Union. New York-area watermen who operate tugboats, dredges, tourist boats and ferries, members of Staten Island-based Local 333, have voted by an overwhelming margin to support a merger between Local 333 and the Maryland-based International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots. By a more than 2 to 1 margin, 1,300 New York and New Jersey mariners voted to affiliate with the larger national union of deck officers who serve on ocean-going ships…

Uniting with the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots will bring added clout, resources and training to local mariners and open the door to opportunities beyond the East Coast, the union said. Ballots are arriving in the mail this week at the homes of 1,300 area mariners for an election to decide whether local watermen will join a large national union of deck officers who serve on ocean-going ships, and which also represents captains and crews on inland waterways beyond New York Harbor. Ballots will be tabulated and results announced in mid-November.

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.

Seattle's Foss Maritime, a company that has evolved from a single rowboat into one of the world's leading marine transportation and harbor services companies, informs that it celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. The company was founded in Tacoma, Washington by Thea Foss in 1889, and now serves customers around the world, operating over 130 vessels and employing 1,500 people. "We have great and strong traditions here at Foss, and the hard work and creative thinking of our employees has propelled us to where we are today," said Paul Stevens, Foss president and CEO. Over the past 125 years, Foss Maritime has grown out of its humble beginnings into a global company that offers a wide range of marine services.

On Wednesday, December 11, Spanish EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) ship ESPS Tornado completed a three-day escort of a World Food Program (WFP) chartered vessel. The WFP ship was escorted by ESPS Tornado from Mombasa to the port of Kismayo in Somalia. During the escort, members of the Spanish Navy crew remained on constant look-out, with the ship’s helicopter ready to launch at short notice to help deter any pirate attack. During the first day of the escort, ESPS Tornado’s Executive Officer and the Boarding Officer visited the WFP vessel to meet the ship’s captain and his crew.

The Royal Navy’s amphibious aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious arrived in the Philippines on 25 November, 2013, after a short stop in Singapore to load up 500 tonnes of humanitarian aid under the direction of the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Teams of personnel have been working 24-hours-a-day in her hangar to sort and pack the much needed supplies, ready for distribution ashore, and the flight deck has been operating constantly since the 23,000-tonne ship arrived.

'CNS Mianyang' takes over escort duties of a World Food Programme (WFP) aid ship from Italian warship 'ITS Zeffiro'. The Italian warship had been escorting the WFP vessel since she entered the pirate High Risk Area in the Western Indian Ocean a few days earlier. At an agreed location, CNS Mianyang took over the duty to escort through the Gulf of Aden to Djibouti. The WFP ship being due to arrive in the African port shortly. Speaking about the cooperation between the European Union and the Chinese Navy…