Cruise disaster could have larger lessons
I noticed an article from Melissa Bert, a USCG captain, that asks some interesting questions about Costa Concordia, current safety regs and training procedures. Continue reading
Balancing size and safety.
AS WE approach the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this coming April, passengership safety remains an important issue. Continue reading
Does industry lack integrity when it comes to dangerous cargo safety?
Shipping industry conspicuously silent about Vinalines Queen death toll Continue reading
The changing face of flag authorities
QUALITY and performance standards are, in these times of economic woe, often more important to the struggling shipowner and operator than back in the days when money grew on trees — or seemed to.
“Value is where you find it,” one owner recently remarked. “Particularly operational value. I have to run my ships. I need professional knowledge to do that. Knowledge — or skill — costs money. Competent professional skills must be two things: available and affordable.”
A great but little-noted change that has taken place in the last few years has been loss of seasoned, competent professional talent. Perhaps because of its expense, shipboard and shoreside establishments are becoming leaner.
There is less experience, at any price it seems, to be found on board ship; less… Continue reading
Another hazardous cargo, another sinking
On Christmas day, the bulk carrier Vinalines Queen, carrying a cargo of nickel ore from Morowali, Indonesia, to China, went missing. The ship and its crew of 22 must now be considered lost. Continue reading
Symbols of maritime decline
Our government’s present inability to land a cargo of gasoline in a U.S.-flag vessel in icebound Nome, Alaska, symbolizes the shortage of foresight of our maritime policy makers. We are unable to provide a U.S.-flag ice-strengthened tanker to lift cargo between points in the United States (within Alaska), and will apparently have to secure the services of a Russian vessel instead. Continue reading