After the successful launch of gCaptain’s new Maritime Jobs Board we are ready for the next big idea. The jobs section was built to help solve a problem, clear away the clutter of existing job platforms and equip gCaptain community members (the best mariners in the world!) with a tool to find jobs that excite and inspire. This article is written to announce the next idea… a product that will change the way you operate and manage ships. The product will be available for purchase at  third party retailers for a modest price and, a warning, Version 1.0 will be dead simple. Many of you will ask why a maritime publication would build a product and worry about our level of commitment in bringing you the best maritime news and ideas you enjoy every day on this blog. Once we announce the product you will likely have more questions like “What does this have to do with maritime publishing?”. While I can not talk about specifics I do want to help you understand what we do here at gCaptain and give you a broad outline on the future of this site.

The Secret

[Continue Reading →]

Introducing gCaptain’s Google Toolbar buttons.

How do you get them?

• Click on one of the images then…
• if you already have Google’s Toolbar installed then a small anchor button will be added to it.
• if you don’t have the Toolbar then you will be allowed to add it to your browser.

[Continue Reading →]

Google recently released a new product called Google Ad Planner which accurately gives website visitor comparison stats. Today they updated the figures and, although we have been ahead for some time, the distance between gCaptain and the more established maritime news outlets is starting to widen… considerably.

Many thanks to our loyal readers for making this happen. To be able and out perform the world’s oldest magazine in continuous print from a small office in California amazes us each and everyday. We have YOU to thank! So please continue to spread the word about gCaptain and, if visiting the Seatrade or CMA conference this month, be sure to say hello.

But this is just the start; we are hard at work on new features, articles and services, each requiring resources. If you are interested in investing in the future of gCaptain please give me a call at +1.805.456.8644.

-John

The deckies run of this blog is just about over since today we are joining maritime recruiters everywhere and posting the sign “Engineer Wanted”.

If you are an engineer looking for a few extra dollars and possesses both writing and Internet skills please contact us today.

Not sure you’re sold on the idea of joining the ranks of maritime bloggers? Give YOUblog a try, it’s the simplest way to get started.

-gCaptain

Have a great idea you’d like to share with the industry? Ever think to yourself , “I could do a better job than these gCaptain guys“? Now is your chance to prove your worth.

Created by gCaptain readers, the YOUblog forum features subjects of discussion that are of interest to our members. Anyone can contribute and the best submissions are promoted to the main gCaptain blog!

Here are some tips for creating the perfect blog post:

[Continue Reading →]

To help promote our friends at The Ugly Ship blog we are starting a contest for the ugliest ship. The top 5 contest winners, as voted on by our forum members, will receive a free gCaptain t-Shirt. Top prize will be a t-shirt and Starbucks gift card.

To get started visit The Ugly Ship Blog (or upload your own ugly ship photo) and find the most rusted, off colored, weirdest designed vessel on the high seas then post it on our forum contest thread.

2008 marked the first full year of operation here at gCaptain.com and the growth we saw was both amazing and unexpected. In 2008, we grew by over 136%, receiving over 780,000 visitors and over 2 million page views. We had visitors from all seven continents and welcomed visitors from every nation on earth with the exception of Chad, Mali, Brazzaville and Tajikistan. Our Forum has swelled to nearly 1000 active members who we cannot thank enough for their participation, humor and wealth of knowledge beyond anything that we can provide.

To say the least, this year has been a wild roller coaster ride, similar to most everyone else in the world. We have seen our share of ups and downs, but have been able to remain positive, ride the good and take the bad with a grain of salt. As some of you may know, we have been able to start running gCaptain.com full time from beautiful San Luis Obispo, CA, which has been a blessing. We even hired our first employee, Mike Schuler, bringing the gCaptain team to a whopping 3 full time employees. If anyone is interested in marketing their product or service online, Mike is an expert and can be contacted at +1-805-720-6268. We are excited to welcome him aboard!

.

Most Popular Blog Posts of 2008

5. 5 Most Ambitious Bridge Designs of Today

4. The Ten Largest Container Shipping Companies Visualized

3. Disaster At Sea - Photos of Maritime Destruction

2. Exclusive - Shellbacked iPod Touch Video

1. The Emma Maersk’ s Wartsila-Sulzer Super Engine

Special mention goes out to Fred Fry of Maritime Monday fame. Through his hard work this featured segment has become a must read for mariners and shipping industry executives each and every week. Many readers have commented that they wouldn’t know how to start the week off without it. You can also find Fred online HERE.
.

Most Discussed Forum Topics

5. Favorite Maritime Movie?

4. Songs About the Sea and Sailors

3. Animal Planet Whale Wars

2. MSC Commercial Cruise

1. Best Captain’s Quotes

.

Top Videos Of The Year

5. M/V Fedra Beached Near Gibraltar

4. Wartsila-Sulzer Super Engine - The Emma Maersk’ s Power Plant

3. Golden Shellback - The Boxed Set

2. 2007’s Top 10 Rescue at Sea Videos (2008 Post HERE)

1. Windoc Incident - Story Behind YouTube’s Most Chilling Video

.

Top Maritime Technology Stories

5. US Coast Guard Embraces Social Media

4. Fuel Cells For Ships

3. Google Plans Floating Server Farm

2. How One Ship Crashed The Internet For 75 Million People

1. Fixed Rate Broadband Nearing Global Coverage

.

Top News Items Of The Year

5. Mariner Shortage and regulator’s persistent efforts to further the problem

(Booby Prizes go to… USCG, S Korea, Ship Owners - Twice, among others)

4. Cosco Busan Fall Out

3. Financial Crisis Hits Shipping

2. Piracy

1. Record Year For Ship Causalities (The list speaks for itself)

.

Things to look for in 2009

The gCaptain team does not always see eye to eye but one thing we are all in agreement with is that 2009 is going to be a very big year with new features being launched in the coming weeks.

New Forum Platform
Yvon Chouinard, owner and founder of Patagonia, has always said that if you want to increase your business improve your product. With this in mind we are in the process of converting the entire gCaptain forum onto a new platform known as vBulletin. This platform is widely used around the web and will add a number of new features to the forum that should make our 1000 users quite happy. If that’s not enough to convince you, consider this… with the forum recieving over 2500 pageviews daily it recently surpassed the blog as our most popular section. Many thanks to our community of supporters!

New Job Board
After years of using the current online maritime job boards we have had enough! In early 2009 gCaptain will be publicly launching our new cutting edge job board. Like all of our other gCaptain.com features, our Job Board will be 100% free. Free to post jobs and free to find jobs. If you are interested in becoming a bate tester for the new gCaptain Job Board please contact us.

Another Redesign
We are sure your asking… Wasn’t this blog just redesigned a few months ago? Yes and thanks for noticing but usability, design and search engine optimization are critically important to us. We even launched a new business unit this year to provide these services to clients. We think all the information provided on this site should be easily accessible to new and veteran readers alike.

Stay tuned!

Finally…

In a short 18 months of operation this website has grown beyond our hopes and dreams. We have you to thank so if we can repay the favor please don’t hesitate to contact us.

.
LINK To Discoverer.

Following the successful redesign of our blog we re-focused our efforts on Discoverer. The feature was never intended to be complicated and with a little getting used to, past visitors like Richard Adams have used it to receive all their maritime news in one spot:

Despite the praise we’ve received discoverer has lapsed behind the work we have accomplished elsewhere on the site. Today that changed. The new discoverer contains the same breaking news headlines you’ve grown to depend on but takes one step forward by providing more sources, on an even easier to use platform. Here’s what is new:

• A New Look
• Headlines Broken Down By Site
• More Information Sources
• Easy Reload Button
• Navigation Flash Page

We hope you like the work we have done and we look forward to your input. If you have a suggestion, either in page design or content, please be sure to leave a comment below otherwise get started with our instructional vidcast LINK.

-John

Survey: