Category Archives: Merchant Marine

Navy Opens Up Military Deep-water Pier to Merchant Ships to Ease California Cargo Crisis

Navy Opens Up Military Deep-water Pier to Merchant Ships to Ease California Cargo Crisis

The Navy in partnership with the Oxnard Harbor District (OHD) is providing resources onboard Port Hueneme in direct support of decreasing port congestion in Los Angeles County and reducing the national supply-chain shortage on Nov. 22, 2021. US Navy Photo

With Southern California seaports overburdened by commercial ships and pandemic and supply-driven delays in moving cargo, the Navy agreed to allow cargo-carrying vessels to use one of its military wharves at Port Hueneme, Calif. Read More

NTSB 2020 Digest of Maritime Accident Investigations

NTSB 2020 Digest of Maritime Accident Investigations

The following is the National Transportation Safety Board recently released Safer Seas Digest 2020 that summarizes major maritime accidents and lessons learned including the 2017 collision of USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) off Japan and the collision of then-under construction USS Delbert Black (DDG-119). Read More

Threats to Merchant Ships Growing; Mariners Face Pirates, Lethal Drones

Threats to Merchant Ships Growing; Mariners Face Pirates, Lethal Drones

USS Lassen (DDG-82) escorts the merchant vessel Tomahawk through the Strait of Hormuz on Nov. 18, 2019. US Navy Photo

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Electronic spoofing, jammed communications and navigation systems, armed drone attacks and pirates are challenges American crews on U.S.- flagged ships in the Ready Reserve Force and Military Sealift Command already face, a panel of maritime experts said Wednesday. Read More

COVID-19 Pandemic Shows Mariners Are Essential Workers, Experts Say

COVID-19 Pandemic Shows Mariners Are Essential Workers, Experts Say

Daniel Murphy, a deck cadet with United States Merchants Marine, supervises as cargo is transported into the Green Cove with equipment being sent to the Distribution Management Office Yermo, Calif., on July 6 at Naha Port in Okinawa, Japan. MSC Photo

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted why mariners – from ferry crews to masters of Triple E-class container ships – are “essential workers,” while questioning future shipbuilding and threatening the survival of smaller shipping companies, two experts in maritime commerce told USNI News. Read More

Experts: Maritime Industry Remains Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks

Experts: Maritime Industry Remains Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks

A crew aboard Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco’s Forward Operating Base Point Mugu MH-65 Dolphin helicopter conducts an overflight near an anchorage site off the coast of Los Angeles, Calif., on April 23, 2020. US Coast Guard Photo

While handling 90 percent of the global economy daily, maritime industry ashore and afloat remains increasingly vulnerable to cyber disruptions and attacks from “neerdowells and bad actors” that threaten financial markets and the country’s national security, the head of the Maritime Administration said last week. Read More