Patricia Keefe News

Management software: vendors, consultants, class strive to provide turnkey service. Unless you’ve been lost at sea for the last few years, you know about Subchapter M. You know the June publication of the U.S. Coast Guard’s regulations for ensuring minimum safety standards on tows and tugs, which will extend inspection requirements to the majority of these vessels for the first time, moved the long-awaited, and in some cases, dreaded program from the haze of eventually out into the cold light of day.

The hallmarks of a successful vessel operator are the same whether they are carrying liquid, physical or human cargo: A laser focus on safety, a twin commitment to customers and crew, and the vision to embrace and invest in the future. However obvious the bar, it is not easy to meet. “I don’t think there is any magic formula,” says Rob Grune, senior vice president and general manager, petroleum services, Crowley Marine Solutions. “The difference is that everything we work on regards providing a high quality of service to customers, pays off. In a rising market, it’s easy to do well.

Bluetide Communications’ Access Management Portal (AMP) application for wireless network management is changing the way workboat operators manage data, crew and costs. Thousands of miles, and weeks or months out at sea, the next best thing to physically being there, is an electronic connection home, and today, mariners increasingly are reluctant to board vessels without access to some form of it. Internet access and cheap global roaming SIM cards top the list of desired amenities in recent surveys of seafarers.

As February is our traditional cruise shipping edition, naturally we’ve selected a fishing boat and two crabs for the cover. But as many of you may already know, that’s not just any fishing boat, rather it is the Cornelia Marie, its owner Josh Harris and captain Casey McManus, stars on the hit cable television show ‘Deadliest Catch’ which provides an up close and personal look at the rigors of catching crab in the Alaskan Bering Sea. While fishing vessel coverage is not our tradition, I couldn’t resist on this one as it is primarily a coatings story.

With age comes perspective, and in my 20 plus years reporting on this industry I have seen my fair share of regulation that has served to ‘raise the hackles’ of ship owners. It is quite simple really; new regulation often means new procedure, new design, new equipment and new costs. With the possible exception of the new rules in the wake of the Exxon Valdez which mandated double hulls on tankers, the Ballast Water Management System issue is the most acrimonious debate I have witnessed.

It is not often that I break out the tux for my editorial picture, but this special edition dictates. I know that I should argue that all of our editions are special, but this one in particular, I must admit, stands out in a number of ways. In fact, all of 2014 has been somewhat ‘special,’ as the domestic maritime business has rebounded with a vigor, driven in no small part by an unprecedented energy boom in the U.S. that looks like it will make the country energy independent by 2020.

The August “Shipbuilding Annual” is one of my favorites to research and produce every year, but even more so when this edition coincides with the SMM exhibition in Hamburg, Germany, which is the largest, best shipbuilding fair in the world. Early next month more than 50,000 visitors from around the world will walk through the halls of the Hamburg Messe und Congress, for meetings, conferences and social occasions for sure, but first and foremost for a glimpse of the new and emerging technologies for the maritime industry.

When the time comes to pull an edition together, sometimes the content simply takes on a life of its own, as is the case with the July 2014 edition and the proliferation of ‘gas’ throughout. While the advent of gas and all that this little word encompasses is hardly breaking news, to put it in context we literally are in the infancy of a historic course correction that will last generations. Following up on last month’s interview with Edward Scott, COO of Excelerate Energy (www.marinelink.com/news/excelerate-energy-year371540.aspx) this month Patricia Keefe…

Having sat in this seat for more two decades I am sometimes asked if I’m tired of the job and ready to move along. (Thankfully, though, that question has never come from my boss.) Unequivocally the answer is “no.” While the maritime industry is often erroneously labeled as conservative and behind the technological times, it is in fact a vibrant and multi-faceted transport niche, a literal cast of characters with a liberal mix of international, national and local interests, power, innovation, money and greed.

Ebeneezer Scrooge would be proud. This is our annual United States Coast Guard edition, and it could best be dubbed the “Christmas Carol” edition as we examine USCG Past, USCG Present and USCG Future. First looking back (but not too far back), and in step with our continued celebration of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News’ 75th Anniversary, Patricia Keefe takes an insightful look at the times, tribulations, leadership and legacy of Thad Allen, past Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

I must admit that exploring the historical nature of our business is one of my favorite endeavors, and this month we are pleased to continue our series of articles in celebration of our 75th anniversary. Patricia Keefe again graces our pages with her overview of the creation and fate of what is arguably the greatest if not most famous ship in the history of U.S. shipbuilding, the passenger liner SS United States. The SS United States is one of those ships that  has intricately interwoven itself into the culture of this industry…

The design and construction of WWII Liberty cargo ships revolutionized shipbuilding by overhauling the blueprint process and standardizing on commonality of parts, welding, pre-fabrication and assembly line construction. Give me Liberty, or give me death!” a rallying cry of the Revolutionary War, got a second act in World War II. “Built by the mile and chopped off by the yard,” Roosevelt promised the no-frills Liberties would form a “bridge of ships” across the Atlantic. And they did. An exaggeration perhaps, but in truth, the Liberty wasn’t much to write home about.

This year Maritime Reporter & Engineering News celebrates its 75th Anniversary. Founded by  in 1939, the publication today reigns as the largest audited publication serving the global maritime industry, with a circulation of more than 35,000. While the publication, with its signature size and booming red logo, easily remains our most recognizable brand, unlike 1939 when it was the stand-alone information product of the company, today it is surrounded by a family of four print and more than a dozen online and electronic editorial products that cover everything on the commercial maritime…