Adam Smith News

Russian missiles hit Ukraine's southern port of Odesa on Saturday, the Ukrainian military said, threatening a deal signed just a day earlier to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports and ease global food shortages caused by the war.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike blatant "barbarism" showing Moscow could not be trusted to implement the deal. However, public broadcaster Suspilne quoted the Ukrainian military as saying the missiles had not caused significant…

In an extraordinary reversal, the U.S. Navy has recommended reinstating the fired captain of the coronavirus-hit aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, whose crew hailed him as their hero for risking his job to safeguard their lives, officials said on Friday.The Navy’s leadership made the recommendation to reinstate Captain Brett Crozier to Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday, just three weeks after Crozier was relieved of command after the leak of a letter he wrote calling on the Navy for stronger measures to protect the crew…

U.S. President Donald Trump said he may get involved in a deepening crisis in the Navy after its top civilian on Monday ridiculed a revered former commander whose letter pleading for help for his coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier was leaked to the public.In a surprise speech to crew members of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt that was meant to be a private address, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly defended his decision to relieve Captain Brett Crozier of his command…

The United States on Friday announced the deployment of 1,500 troops to the Middle East, describing it as an effort to bolster defenses against Iran as it accused the country's Revolutionary Guards of direct responsibility for this month's tanker attacks.President Donald Trump's administration also invoked the threat from Iran to declare a national security-related emergency that would clear the sale of billions of dollars' worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries without required congressional approval.The actions were the latest by the Trump administration as it highlights what it sees as a threat of potential attack by Iran…

Globalization is the driving force of container shipping, as ever more goods are transported across the world’s oceans in steel boxes on ever-larger container ships. But container shipping is also what made globalization possible in the first place. The principle of division of labor is nothing new to us today. In 1776, the economist Adam Smith, a formative thinker of the free market economy, elucidated this concept in his book, The Wealth of Nations. The operative principle is that the employees of a company divide up different tasks and thereby increase their productivity.

In trying to make sense of the global, mobile maritime industry, there is no better ‘go to’ than Shashi N. Kumar, Ph.D., Master Mariner, Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow, Emeritus Professor of International Business & Logistics, Academic Dean, United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA). Last month we met with Dr. Kumar in his office to put emerging global maritime trends in perspective. “The views expressed in this article are Dr. Kumar’s own and not those of the U.S. The World: When you look at the global shipping market, what do you see and why?

Independent multi-discipline subsea engineering and training firm Jee Ltd. has completed a contract with Decom North Sea (DNS), the representative body for the decommissioning industry, to identify methods of salvage and re-use options for concrete subsea mattresses. The aim of the project, which commenced in February 2015 and saw Jee partner with DNS and Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS), was to identify new solutions for subsea mattress removal which would work without diver interventions during the lift procedure, resulting in improved safety and reduced costs.

Following the signing of a landmark agreement with the Iraq Ministry for Oil to help the war-torn country develop the skills and training necessary to exploit its hydrocarbon resources, OPITO will welcome a senior delegation from Iraq on a fact-finding mission. The delegation, made up of five senior figures from Iraq’s Ministry for Oil and the deans of the four oil technical institutes in Basrah, Kirkuk, Baghdad and Tikrit, is visiting Scotland for four days this week. The delegates will learn about Aberdeen-headquartered OPITO's MIST (Minimum Industry Safety Training) initiative…

Sean Eagan recently joined the Port of Tacoma as State Government Affairs Manager with responsibility to represent the interests of the Port and its customers to the State Legislature. Before joining the Port, Eagan worked eight years on the district staff of Washington Congressman Adam Smith, most recently serving as Deputy District Director. He also served as the Congressman's grassroots representative to constituent groups in the following areas: Higher education, small business, agriculture, seniors, health care, housing, law enforcement, the financial services industry, military and veterans, education and children, civil rights and minorities, foreign affairs, and locally elected officials.