Rear Admiral News

Maritime Authority of Jamaica’s Director General, Rear Admiral (ret’d) Peter Brady, has retired, with the position being accepted by Bertrand Smith, formerly the MAJ’s Director of Legal Affairs.Brady has served in this role since the Maritime Authority’s inception in 1999.As Director General, he was primarily responsible for elevating Jamaica’s maritime status regionally and globally. He spearheaded several major initiatives by the MAJ including the development of Jamaica as a shipping hub with attendant services such as bunkering and drydocking…

The U.S. Coast Guard has rejected comments by a Chinese diplomat that its recent boardings of Chinese fishing boats in the Pacific Islands alongside local police are illegal, saying the joint patrols are at the behest of Pacific nations to protect coastal fisheries.Reuters reported last month that six Chinese fishing boats were found to be violating Vanuatu's fisheries law after being inspected by local police who were on board the first U.S. Coast Guard boat to patrol the waters of the Pacific Islands nation.China's Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong…

The U.S. state of Maryland has opened a temporary channel on the northbound side of the collapsed Baltimore bridge, allowing limited tug and barge traffic around the container ship stuck at the disaster site, Governor Wes Moore said on Monday."It will help us to get more vessels in the water around the site of the collapse," Moore told a news conference.The Port of Baltimore's shipping channel has been blocked since a fully loaded container ship lost power and collided with a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge last Tuesday…

Salvage crews worked to lift the first piece of Baltimore's collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge from the water on Saturday to allow barges and tugboats to access the disaster site, Maryland and U.S. officials said, the first step in a complex effort to reopen the city's blocked port.The steel truss bridge collapsed early on Tuesday morning, killing six road workers, when a massive container ship lost power and crashed into a support pylon. Much of the span crashed into the Patapsco River…

Rescuers have lost hope of finding more survivors of the Baltimore bridge collapse, the coast guard said, as efforts switched on Wednesday to looking for bodies of the missing and more answers to why a container ship smashed into the span.Search divers were expected to return near dawn to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of the bridge in Baltimore Harbor to search for six workers missing and now presumed dead.The disaster has forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S.

Search divers were expected to return near dawn on Wednesday to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of a bridge knocked down in Baltimore Harbor by a faltering cargo ship, leaving six workers missing and presumed dead.The disaster also forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, and created a traffic quagmire for Baltimore and the surrounding region.As the odds of their survival vanished, the search for the six workers was suspended on Tuesday evening…

Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crippled by a power loss rammed into the structure, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident, U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland…

(The Center Square) - The U.S. Coast Guard says it “will not enforce” a new California Air Resources Board regulation, citing “safety concerns.”The Coast Guard and business organizations oppose CARB's requirement that commercial harbor craft install diesel particulate filters (DPF) linked to a number of fires. Seventeen states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency for giving an exemption to California alone to enact its own air standards that, by power of its market size…

Austal USA welcomed Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti and Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps General Christopher Mahoney to the company’s Mobile, Ala. shipyard on March 4. They were joined by Senator Roger Wicker, Congressman Jerry Carl, and Rear Admiral Tom Anderson, Program Executive Officer Ships.The visitors witnessed Austal USA’s focus on innovation, adherence to proven processes, and continued investment in the company’s people and facilities to meet the emerging needs of the Navy and Marine Corps.

President Biden on Wednesday signed an Executive Order aiming to strengthen cybersecurity at U.S. ports amid growing threats to America's vital maritime supply chains.The directive bolsters the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to address maritime cyber threats, including through the creation of new standards to ensure the security of networks and systems throughout the nation’s marine transportation system (MTS), which supports $5.4 trillion in economic activity each year."Most critical infrastructure owners and operators have a list of safety regulations they have to comply with…

In this inaugural episode of View from the Helm, Rear Admiral (ret) Tim Gallaudet is interviewed by his daughter Laurel Gallaudet, currently a Masters student and an aspiring ocean communicator, as well as a contributing writer to Marine Technology Reporter. RAdm Gallaudet has a long and distinguished career, including 32 years in the Navy, serving of the Oceanographer of the Navy, and a stint as Acting and Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Two British Royal Navy mine-hunter vessels were involved in a collision in a port in Bahrain, the Royal Navy said.No one was injured in the accident which occurred in Bahrain Harbor on Friday, it said. An investigation into the incident has been opened.The Royal Navy is working with the U.S. Navy in the Gulf region in an effort to protect Red Sea shipping from an upsurge in attacks by Houthi forces based in Yemen.The Houthis say they acting in solidarity with the Palestinian group Hamas, which is locked in conflict with Israel in Gaza.

When the United States and 11 allies published a joint statement last week calling for an end to Houthi attacks from Yemen on Red Sea shipping, they hoped the implicit threat of force might at least reduce the intensity of fire on foreign vessels.Instead, Wednesday saw the largest single attack yet on foreign vessels, according to Western defence officials, launched seven days after the joint statement. It appeared a clear attempt to call the West's bluff, just as other tensions across the Middle East appear to be on the rise.In Iraq and Syria, U.S.

Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) announced a three-year pledge in the amount of $90,000 to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy as the US. shipping company continues to promote women to receive training to enter the maritime industry.OSG said its pledge will go to undergraduate and sea term scholarships and sponsorship of the Academy’s Women’s Network and Sea, Science and Leadership Career Exploration Program. Scholarship recipients will have ongoing interaction with OSG and the opportunity to become familiar with OSG’s business and fleet of vessels.

The US Coast Guard is continuing to assess a fire reported on the 410-foot general cargo vessel Genius Star XI off Dutch Harbor, Alaska.The vessel is carrying lithium-ion batteries, and the fire started on Christmas Day in cargo hold No. 1. The crew released carbon dioxide into the hold and sealed it over concerns of an explosion.The Coast Guard then diverted the vessel to Dutch Harbor while an HC-130 airplane from Air Station Kodiak and Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley (WMEC-39) were dispatched to assist.The Coast Guard confirmed there are no injuries to the 19 crewmembers.

This is the dawning of the age of AI and Big Data, huge agglomerations of new and transformative energy; almost self-generating, always strengthening and pulling at the reins, seeking to break free and run, a prospect both exciting and terrifying. That image can imply a human is holding the reins. How quaint: these days, AI itself may be holding the reins.In a review of innovation in 2023 – across any industrial or economic sector, not just maritime – AI looms large, a game-changer equivalent to IBM’s programming advances in the 1940s.

Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri held a steel cutting ceremony to mark the start of construction on a new Hydro-Oceanographic Ship (N.I.O.M.) for the Italian Navy.Scheduled for delivery from the integrated shipyard in Riva Trigoso-Muggiano in 2026, the new vessel is intended for mapping and scientific monitoring activities, as well as in support of the initiatives of the Hydrographic Institute, took place today at the Riva Trigoso shipyard.The ship will feature technologies to contain emissions…

Every day, nearly 60 fully loaded very large crude-oil carriers sail between the Persian Gulf and Chinese ports, carrying about half of the oil that powers the world's second-largest economy.As the vessels enter the South China Sea, they ply waters increasingly controlled by China's growing military, from the missile batteries and airfields at its bases on disputed islands to its stealthy Type 055 destroyers.But when crossing the Indian Ocean, joined by others headed to China from Africa and Brazil…

War risk insurance premiums edged up for Red Sea voyages after three vessels were attacked in the area on Sunday and fears grow over worsening perils for commercial shipping, maritime and insurance sources said on Monday.The incidents are the latest in a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since a brutal war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas broke out on Oct. 7.The three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters in the southern Red Sea, the U.S.

The Pentagon said it was aware of reports regarding attacks on an American warship and commercial vessels in the Red Sea on Sunday, as Yemen's Houthi group claimed drone and missile attacks on two Israeli vessels in the area."We're aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available," the Pentagon said.Yemen's Houthi movement said its navy had attacked two Israeli ships, Unity Explorer and Number 9…

The Portuguese Navy has contracted Damen Shipyards Group for the design, construction and outfitting of a multi-purpose vessel.The contract was signed by Director of Ships Rear Admiral Jorge Pires and Damen Shipyards Group CCO Jan Wim Dekker. The project follows a European tender process and is funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) that is part of NextGenerationEU (the economic recovery package to support EU member states affected by the COVID-19…

Seaspan Shipyards hosted a ceremonial keel laying event for the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) future HMCS Preserver.Scheduled for delivery in 2027, the vessel is the second of two Joint Support Ships being built by Seaspan as part of Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). Through incorporating lessons learned on the design and construction of JSS1, the second Joint Support Ship is tracking ahead of schedule and efficiencies are seen throughout the build process – from advancements in design and supply chain streamlining…

As Europe turns to renewable sources to diversify energy supplies away from Russian oil and gas, a peaceful marine scene conceals a billion-dollar security headache.Rising above the Baltic Sea less than 10 km (6 miles) off the coast of Denmark, 161 wind turbines spin slowly. They supply around 4% of the country's power, sent to shore through two cable connections.The turbines have no barriers or surveillance."Our technicians are only here until five o'clock in the afternoon, then they go home…