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Breaking news from Massachusetts Maritime Academy. During the graduation speech yesterday a MARAD administrator announced a deal was made with two terminal owners requiring that LNG ships visiting Boston have at least one quarter of its crew be comprised of U.S. mariners.

The Boston Globe informs us:

Sean T. Connaughton, a US Maritime administrator, said the deal negotiated by his agency would make available to Americans thousands of lucrative jobs in the gas shipping industry, which is currently dominated by foreign crews.

“There’s obviously a great deal of public concern about the security of LNG vessels, and one way to deal with that is to have Americans aboard those ships,” Connaughton said before commencement exercises at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy yesterday.

American officers on the ships will have to be licensed by the Coast Guard and pass a drug test and a detailed background check.

Connaughton said the agreement was negotiated this spring with Excelerate Energy and Suez Energy.

Governor Deval Patrick and a majority of the Massachusetts Senate had written to the federal agency asking that Americans be placed on the ships, Connaughton said. Read More…

While the news is good it only applies to two terminals at this time. They are, however, the first two so we can be optimistic that a precedent has been set and other terminal operators will follow.

Updates:

Response to LNG Crewing Agreement Post

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