Editor's Note

Your standard "It was a good year/It was a bad year" round-up falls well short of summarizing the events of 2001, and their effects on the immediate and long-term future in our industry. Simply put, there are no words to describe the horrific events that transpired on September 11 in New York and Washington, D.C., but three months later, it is increasingly easy to see the fundamental and far-reaching impacts the events have had — and will continue to have — on the maritime industry.

Safety and security, ever the mantra of the International Maritime Organization and quality ship and boat owners around the world, take on a more serious and urgent tone. The collective voice of experts inside and outside of the maritime industry grows continually louder in its warning of potentially perilous shortcomings in the maritime security net. The trick: ensuring that the ships and boats that serve to facilitate the free flow of business do not become the weapon of choice in the hands of international terrorists.

International, national, regional and local organizations are all busy making plans aimed at ensuring the security of the transportation of goods via the coastal and inland waterways. Striking a rational balance between security and cost will be a constant struggle, though the terrorist strikes are still too fresh for any owners to speak out about cost, at least publically.

Despite a dearth of answers to date, this much is sure: owning and operating vessels, from tugboats to tankers, has just gotten more expensive, and it is likely to increase even further.

Similarly, opportunities are abundant for the companies that design, build and outfit vessels, as budgets to build vessels to protect the massive U.S. coastline have been increased.

While the events of September 11 are surely a world event, it has hit home — Maritime Reporter’s backyard — with incredible force. Through all of the destruction, pain and loss, however, innumerable positive stories have resulted, including the reaction of the New York maritime community in response to the rescue and clean up effort. Writer Don Sutherland takes MR readers on a photo essay through lower Manhattan, beginning on page 40.