Coast Guard Group News

For 20 years, I represented operators of OSVs, jack-ups, semi-submersibles, oil and gas production platforms, harbor tugs, towboats and barges in state and federal court personal injury litigation arising in the Gulf of Mexico, across the Great Lakes and on the inland waterways. For the last decade or so, I have been representing injured crew. In the case of a death or serious injury, sometimes there is little a vessel operator can do to prevent being sued. In my experience, though, many expensive lawsuits could have been avoided had the marine employer handled the situation differently.1.

U.S. Coast Guard Guidance Helps to Bring some Clarity to the Debate. In July 2015, the U.S. Coast Guard released Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular 01-15 (“NVIC”), titled Marine Casualty Reporting Procedures Guide with Associated Standard Interpretations. The purpose of the NVIC is to assist vessel owners and operators in understanding the marine casualty reporting requirements, which many in the industry think are about as clear as mud. Confusion as to what constitutes a marine casualty and what incidents need to be reported has persisted in the marine industry for years.

U.S. By Frederick B. Most commercial mariners and their vessel operating employers probably know that when certain significant vessel-related events occur, these must be reported to the U.S. Coast Guard. In my experience, however, there is widespread uncertainty in the marine industry about what must be reported and, more significantly, when. Many companies learn the hard way about these requirements and end up paying healthy fines — anywhere from several hundred to thousands of dollars — for failing to “immediately,” as the regulations require, report such events.

MarineNews spoke with Jim Stark, Executive Director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) about his background in the industry, current projects on the canal, issues facing GICA’s nearly 250 members and his goals for the organization. Can you describe your background and how you came to be Executive Director for GICA? I spent 28 years in the Coast Guard. I’m a commissioned officer and have served all over the country including a considerable amount of time on the Gulf Coast.

James Stark was named Executive Director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA), effective July 6, 2010. GICA’s mission is to ensure the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is maintained, operated and improved to provide the safest, most efficient, economical and environmentally-sound water transportation route in our nation. Stark most recently has been consulting on the response and recovery operations associated with the Deepwater Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He also served as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Assistant Administrator for Gulf Coast Recovery.

1910-Congress passed the Motorboat Act that required inspections on recreational and commercial motor boats over 40-feet in length. It was enforced by the Revenue Cutter Service. 1990- The 853-foot Norwegian tanker Mega Borg exploded near Galveston, Texas, killing two of her crew. Coast Guard  units consisting of 500 Coast Guardsmen fought the fires and cleaned up the resulting oil spill. The units included CGCs Buttonwood, Point Spencer, Steadfast, Valiant and Cushing. The Steadfast became the on-scene commander and maintained communications between the operations center at MSO Galveston and personnel fighting the fire. CGC Salvia worked with Navy skimmers seven miles from shore in the Sabine Pass area.

The crew of a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Houston rescued a woman who was injured when two boats collided 56 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, this morning. Kim Huong Dang was knocked unconscious aboard the Lucky Peter, an 88-foot shrimp boat, when it collided with the Peter Ronna, a 324-foot Russian freight ship, just after 7 a.m. The Lucky Peter called Coast Guard Group Galveston after the accident occurred and reported that all four people onboard had injuries and they were taking on water. Group Galveston coordinated Air Station Houston's crew to launch a rescue helicopter, Air Station Corpus Christi to launch a Falcon jet and Station Galveston to launch a rescue boat to the scene.

The Coast Guard will commission a new station in the port of Boston at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command in Boston's North End. Mayor Thomas M. Menino will serve as the keynote speaker. The commissioning ceremony formally signifies the establishment of the unit as an official independent Coast Guard Station. For Station Boston, it is a return to an official status the unit held until 1996, when a realignment of operational forces throughout the Coast Guard downsized the station to seasonal operation under the control of Coast Guard Station Pt. Allerton in Hull, Mass. Immediately following the tragic events of September 11th…

The Coast Guard responded to a vessel grounded at the mouth of the Columbia River earlier this week. The motor vessel Apollon was grounded at the mouth of the Columbia River. The vessel was refloated, no pollution, damage to the vessel or injuries to the 21-member crew are reported. Coast Guard Group/Air Station Astoria, OR. Marine Safety Office Portland and Station Cape Disappointment responded to the grounding of the motor vessel Apollon, a 623-ft wheat carrier. The vessel was aground in the vicinity of the Clatsop Spit, Oregon between buoys 12 and 14. The Peruvian-flagged vessel, which was bound for the Philippines, refloated itself and proceeded out to sea on its own power.

A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Savannah rescued two boaters at 1:45 p.m. after they were forced to jump into the water when their vessel caught fire seven miles southeast of Tybee Island, Ga., today. Rescue coordinators from Coast Guard Group Charleston, S.C., diverted the helicopter crew, which was returning from a previous missions in Charleston and also launched a small boat from Station Tybee, Ga., to respond to the vessel fire. Wallace Thomas Jr, and Thomas Wright were located immediately by the Savannah helicopter crew. Both boaters were forced to abandon ship to avoid flames which had completely engulfed their 30 foot recreationaal boat. Each of the survivors were hoisted by the Coast Guard air crew and taken to Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah.

A helicopter crew from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Houston medevaced a man from a cruise ship Sunday at about 11:30 p.m., 55 miles south of Galveston, Texas. The doctor aboard the cruise ship Elation recommended the evacuation of Byron Boehme, 53, from San Antonio, Texas, who fractured his leg falling down two flights of stairs on the way to the restroom. Coast Guard Group Galveston watchstanders dispatched the rescue helicopter crew after they were contacted by the Elation. The helicopter arrived on scene and hoisted Boehme and took him to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in stable condition.

John McKay, United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Rear Adm. Jeffrey M. Garrett, Commander, Thirteenth Coast Guard District, and Russell Barker, Special Agent in Charge of the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Northwest Region, announced that today, the Honorable Franklin D. Burgess, United States District Judge of the Western Washington District of Washington, sentenced JAMES GARRETT BALDWIN, age 31, of Aberdeen, Wash., in Federal District Court to twelve months and one day's imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release for one count of Communicating a False Distress Message to the United States Coast Guard. The court also ordered Baldwin to pay $194,587 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard rescued a fisherman from the Gulf of Mexico today after he fell off the shrimp boat Kelly T approximately nine miles southwest of Sabine, Texas. A watchstander from Coast Guard Group Galveston, Texas, received a report at 10:52 a.m. that a crewman on the Kelly T was missing, as well as one of the boat's life rings. The watch stander immediately launched a rescue boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Sabine and an HH-65B Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Houston to search for the man. The helicopter crew arrived on scene at 11:40 a.m. and began their search pattern. At 12:03 a.m., the helicopter crew spotted the fisherman and the rescue boatcrew recovered him from the water. He is reported to be in good health.

President Bush today nominated Vice Admiral Thomas H. Collins, 55, to be the 22nd Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, the Coast Guard’s Service Secretary, praised the President’s nomination, saying, “Admiral Collins reflects the best leadership traits of the dedicated men and women of the United States Coast Guard. He is the right person to lead the modern Coast Guard through today’s challenges to tomorrow’s promise of a safer, more secure American coastline and maritime transportation system. “Tom Collins brings a combination of scholarly intelligence, practical experience at sea, and Washington policy expertise to the critical job of commandant at a time when the Coast Guard is facing a host of new missions,” Secretary Mineta said.

As part of the Coast Guard’s ongoing port security mission, extra Coast Guard boats and people will be providing armed escort and enforcing the Naval Vessel Protection Zone (NVPZ) surrounding the USS Roosevelt Battle Group during its return to Hampton Roads Wednesday morning. “We’re very proud of what our Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Marines are doing overseas to protect our homeland,” Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Brendan McPherson said. More than 150 Coast Guard men and women from Coast Guard Group Hampton Roads, the Marine Safety Office and a number of local boats and cutters, including the 210-foot cutter Diligence from Wilmington, N.C., will be conducting a channel clearing operation from 6:15 to 8:35 Wednesday morning.

Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Syracuse (NE&SS-Syracuse) will assist the U.S. Coast Guard with a significantly large upgrade to its Search and Rescue (SAR) capabilities under an eight-month design and demonstration contract awarded to the company. The contract, valued at $2.8 million and one of three awarded to the industry, is the first phase of the National Distress and Response System (NDRS) Modernization Program. The contract includes a $5.7 million option for an additional seven-month follow-on contract to complete the design and provide an extensive prototype demonstration. The NDRS Modernization Program…

The newest Coast Guard vessel in Hawaii, the 87-ft. (26.5 m) patrol boat Kittiwake, was designed to venture out on the sea when the strength of other ships has failed, when the mystery of that ship and crew's limits has been solved. To the men and women of the 14th Coast Guard District and the hundreds of sailors the new vessel will rescue in the future, the arrival of the Kittiwake is a beautiful sight. Kittiwake was officially commissioned on June 30 during a ceremony held at Coast Guard Search and Rescue Detachment Kauai in Nawiliwili Harbor. Bollinger Shipyards built the $3.5 million Marine Protector Class Coastal Patrol Boat in Lockport, La. to replace the Coast Guard Cutter Point Evans, a Vietnam War-era, 82-ft.

In 1904 a boiler onboard the steamship vessel General Slocum exploded, killing 1,000 people in the ensuing blaze. Even though the conditions that existed on the General Slocum would no longer be a factor on modern ships, safety at sea is still a relevant concern today. This summer, cruise ships, whale watching cruises, passenger ferries, dinner cruises and chartered fishing vessels will transit Cape Cod waterways with millions of visitors, leaving rescuers in the region faced with an enormous number of potential victims should a maritime disaster, like the fire on the General Slocum, occur. Surprisingly, to many firefighters and Coast Guardsmen alike…

Commander Scott B. To a Navy officer who has made an outstanding contribution to the high standards of leadership traditional in the naval service. Admiral Claude V. Senior Chief Aviation Hospital Corpsman Roger M. To a Navy enlisted person who, by traditional performance of duty, has demonstrated outstanding leadership and the professional competence required by his or her rank. Admiral Claude V. Master-At-Arms First Class Christopher D. To a Navy enlisted person who, by traditional performance of duty, has demonstrated outstanding leadership and the professional competence required by his or her rank. Lieutenant Kelly T. To a woman…

Coast Guard crews from Alabama and Florida are searching this morning for three boaters approximately three to five nautical miles north of Dog Island in St. George Sound, off the coast of Carrabelle, Fla. an 87-ft. patrol boat, the Coast Guard Cutter Bonito, from Pensacola, Fla., are searching for the boaters. About 6 p.m. Tuesday, Coast Guard Group Mobile received a distress call from a boater on the pleasure craft Sun Bird. Guard his boat was taking on water. After five minutes, the boater said his radio was getting wet, and he couldn't take it anymore. the area of the distressed boaters. A rescue boat from Station Panama City was also sent to assist with the search. vessel and aircraft and a vessel from Sea Tow, a commercial salvage company, also responded.

A commissioning ceremony for the Pacific Northwest’s third and newest Marine Protector Class Cutter is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday, at Coast Guard Group Port Angeles, in Port Angeles, Wash. The Coast Guard Cutter Wahoo, an 87-ft. patrol boat, will assume the primary missions of search and rescue, law enforcement, and homeland security in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. It is equipped with advanced state-of-the-art navigational technology, a fast small boat rear-launch system, and 25-knot capacity. U.S. Senator Patty Murray, who was instrumental in bringing the cutter Wahoo to Puget Sound, will be the keynote speaker. Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas J. Johnson is assuming the position of Officer in Charge of the Wahoo.

Captain Patrick B. Trapp will relieve Captain Robert R. O'Brien, Jr. as Commander of Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads on April 21 at Nauticus. The Commander of Sector Hampton Roads is responsible for the Coast Guard's port safety and security, search and rescue, law enforcement, aids to navigation, marine environmental protection, and commercial vessel safety missions. The Commander exercises federal authority granted by law and regulation as Captain of the Port, Officer in Charge Marine Inspection, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, and Federal On-Scene Coordinator. The area of responsibility for the Sector includes nearly all of Virginia and the Atlantic Coast of Maryland.

Montco Offshore is the beneficiary of the latest innovative newbuild from the Bollinger Shipyards stable. The companies are touting the new L/B Myrtle, a 137.5 ft. unit, as a giant leap forward in the evolution of liftboats. The unit is outfitted with 245-ft. legs and the self-propelled floating platform has the ability to work in water depths to 180 ft. with a 15-ft. air gap while lifting a total of 850 KIPS of variable load. The feature that separates this liftboat from others, however, is that it is equipped with a bowthruster and controllable pitch (CP) propellers for greater maneuverability and pinpoint positioning of the huge legs with oversized pads on the ocean bottom.