December 8th, 2007 ·
We are thrilled to announce a new endeavor from the editors of gCaptain and leadership gurus at Sea Fever Consulting…
A Maritime podcast; Messing About In Ships.
Starting today, gCaptain’s own Captain John Konrad and our friend Peter Mello of Sea-Fever.org will be producing a weekly podcast about all things related to ships. Many of you may be familiar with Kenneth Graham’s 1908 classic children’s book, The Wind in the Willows in which Ratty declares to Mole:
“There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats“
Well, we may have grown up a bit but we still agree with Ratty; only now we mess about in slightly larger and more complicated vessels.
Each week we’ll explore stories that appear in gCaptain’s great Discoverer news section of their website. We also will select a blog or podcast for a weekly feature we call New Media Port of Call. We have plans to interview maritime professionals, authors, educators, regulators and others about issues that affect the maritime industry today and into the future. Finally, each episode will close with a selection music from the Podsafe Music Network for your enjoyment.
What we are most excited about is you taking an active role in shaping this project. We have set up a Messing About In Ships blog where the show notes and links from each episode will appear and we encourage you to comment there. Also consider recording a short audio comment, attach it as an MP3 file to an email and send it to podcast@messingaboutinships.com and we will find a way to integrate it into the program.
You can also add Messing About In Ships to:
Visit MessingAroundInShips.com for show notes and more details.
Messing About In Ships Episode 01:
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Tags: · boating, boats, Maritime, merchant_marine, ocean, podcast, Radio, radio_show, shipping_industry, Ships
November 9th, 2007 ·
Announcing gCaptain’s newest feature…
Tags: · boats, gCaptain, jobs, Maritime, maritime_employment, maritime_jobs, shipping_industry, Ships
November 4th, 2007 ·
Photo By James Rajotte for The New York Times
The New York Times has an interesting article on the desperate situation in the Great Lakes. Rainfall shortages have caused unusually declining water levels in the countries largest lakes. Low levels are bad news for ships designed and built with a draft meeting operational needs and having tight Under Keel Clearances. The problem is causing each ship to take on less cargo thus increasing the number of ships needed to satisfy the regions transportation need.
The NYTimes continues;
“What we need is some rain,” said Mr. Daniels, director of the Port of Oswego Authority, one of a dozen public port agencies on the United States side of the Great Lakes. “The more we lose water, the less cargo the ships that travel in the Great Lakes can carry, and each time that happens, shipping companies lose money,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s people like you and I who are going to pay the price.”
Water levels in the Great Lakes are falling; Lake Ontario, for example, is about seven inches below where it was a year ago. And for every inch of water that the lakes lose, the ships that ferry bulk materials across them must lighten their loads by 270 tons — or 540,000 pounds — or risk running aground, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association, a trade group for United States-flag cargo companies.
As a result, more ships are needed, adding millions of dollars to shipping companies’ operating costs, experts in maritime commerce estimate.
“When a ship leaves a dock, and it’s not filled to capacity, it’s the same as a plane leaving an airport with empty seats: It cuts into their earning capacity,” said Richard D. Stewart, a co-director of the Transportation and Logistics Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
“Because it’s mostly raw materials we’re talking about, the average consumer may see an increase in pennies in the price they pay for, say, a new car or washing machine,” Dr. Stewart said. For major manufacturers or firms managing big projects, however, the increase in transportation costs “is much more significant,” he said. Continue Reading…
The upside for us mariners could possible be more jobs the downside… increased pressure on the Jones Act.
Tags: · bulk_cargo, cargo, Environment, great_lakes, shipping, shipping_industry, under_keel_clearance, water_levels, Weather
