Marad Ready Reserve Force News

Crowley Maritime Corporation announced it has managed the first vessel acquisition under its contract to help recapitalize a sealift fleet with the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD).In 2021, Crowley was awarded a multi-year vessel acquisition and management (VAM) contract to help recapitalize MARAD's Ready Reserve Force (RRF). It is now spearheading the acquisition and conversion of two vehicle carriers from American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group in collaboration with Stena RoRo, Serco and LCE (Life Cycle Engineering).The first vessel to be acquired, Honor, will be followed by Freedom.

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s solutions group announced that it is reorganizing and establishing new leadership to better serve customers in need of engineering, project management and government services. Solutions is the company’s dedicated, full-service engineering, project management and government services team, reporting to Crowley’s Todd Busch, senior vice president and general manager, technical services. Jay Edgar, who is new to Crowley, has been appointed vice president and leader of the company’s newly formed engineering services team…

Maritime Administration Executive Director Joel Szabat joined federal, state and local officials and environmental groups to mark the completion of an agreement to remove 57 non-retention vessels from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet (SBRF) by September 30, 2017. The departure of the Cape Borda for recycling reaches the milestone two months ahead of schedule. “Our progress in Suisun Bay is the result of hard work and smart collaboration,” said the Maritime Administration’s Executive Director Joel Szabat. “There is perhaps no greater symbol of the maritime industry’s environmental progress than what has been accomplished here. In 2009, MARAD entered an agreement with local officials and environmental groups to expedite disposal of 57 non-retention SBRF vessels…

America is leading the global effort to end the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. And part of the Obama Administration's whole-of-government response has included some recent heavy lifting by two ships from the Maritime Administration's (MARAD) Ready Reserve Force, the M/V Cape Rise and the M/V Cape Wrath. Today, the volunteer civilian mariners crewing the Cape Rise and Cape Wrath are home for the holidays. Last month, the two vessels – the Cape Rise at the Port of Beaumont, Texas, and the Cape Wrath at the Port of Jacksonville, Fla.

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) has launched a virtual tour of the GTS Admiral W.M. Callaghan (T-AKR-1001), a MARAD Ready Reserve Force vessel currently berthed in Alameda, California. The online 360-degree photographic tour, available of the MARAD website, gives viewers the experience of walking around the vessel’s bridge, engine room and surrounding spaces and provides a window into our nation’s maritime heritage. Launched in 1967, the Admiral W.M. Callaghan is the first all-gas-turbine powered vessel with a roll-on/roll-off capability constructed for the U.S. Navy.

Crowley Maritime Corp. & subsidiary TITAN Salvage look back on their comprehensive work in response to Hurricane 'Sandy'. The storm devastated the U.S. Northeastern coast in late October 2012, and the companies were fully involved in support of relief organizations working in the areas hardest hit by 'Sandy'. The combined response efforts provided by Crowley and TITAN were extensive. Shortly after the storm, the S.S. Wright, a Crowley-managed, Maritime Administration (MARAD) Ready Reserve Force ship…

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced that the Department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) is sending five ships to assist with relief efforts in Haiti. Gopher State, Petersburg, Huakai, Cornhusker State and Cape May are being prepared to sail to the Caribbean Ocean from different parts of the United States. All are owned or controlled by MARAD, and will be crewed by civilian U.S. merchant mariners. “Sending these ships will help those on the front line of this effort save as many lives in Haiti as possible,” said Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. “Once again the U.S. Merchant Marine is answering the call for assistance, as it has done since our Nation began,” said Acting Maritime Administrator David T. Matsuda.

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are jointly requesting proposals for ballast water technology demonstration projects. Nearly $2.1 million, and/or the use of MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force ships as test platforms, will be made available for successful proposals. Interested parties may apply for funding, for use of a vessel, or both. Every day, large quantities of ballast water from areas all around the world are discharged from ships into the waters of the United States. In this ballast water are plants, animals, bacteria and pathogens that are not native to our nation’s ecosystems. Some of these organisms are microscopic; others may be large plants or free-swimming fish.

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) will conduct a demonstration of its Operation SafePort at Alameda Point, California on June 8. An Auxiliary Crane Ship (T-ACS) from the MARAD Ready Reserve Force (RRF) will be used to remove a simulated “suspect” container from a vessel. (HK Law).

The Training Ship Empire State left New Orleans on Friday, March 3, marking the end of an unprecedented six-month mission for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MarAd). Ten of the agency’s ships were activated to aid in recovery and relief efforts in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This marked the first time the ships of MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force were activated at the request of the Secretary of Transportation to deal with a domestic emergency, and the first time training ships provided by MARAD to State maritime academies were pressed into service to provide food and shelter. Six ships of the Ready Reserve Force: Cape Kennedy…