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SOS – Are Boomers To Blame For The Shipping And Supply Chain Crisis?
Rouge waves and rough waters are ahead for shipping, globalization, and logistics but are boomers to blame for our woes? Captain John Konrad says yes.
John Konrad
Captain John Konrad is the founder and CEO of gCaptain, one of the world’s most-read maritime news websites, and a member of the Pentagon Press Corps. He holds a USCG Master Unlimited license and earned an MBA from Marist College. John studied naval architecture at the U.S. Naval Academy before graduating from SUNY Maritime College with a degree in Marine Transportation. He is also a Y Combinator Startup School alumnus. His decade at sea included service aboard Military Sealift Command-operated ships, crude-oil supertankers running to Valdez, and dynamically positioned drillships supporting deepwater projects. In industry leadership roles, he participated in major offshore exploration and drilling campaigns, including the KG-D6 discovery with Reliance Industries and world record-setting deepwater work with Chevron. On April 20, 2010, John had finished overseeing the $750 million Deep Ocean Ascension newbuild project for BP when the Deepwater Horizon exploded. His seven years at Transocean and personal ties to members of the Horizon crew drove him to investigate the disaster, resulting in Fire on the Horizon (HarperCollins, 2011). In 2025, he co-authored Returning from Ebb Tide: Renewing the United States Commercial Maritime Enterprise for Marine Corps University Press. John has contributed to publications including Forbes, CIMSEC, Lloyd’s List, and the U.S. Coast Guard Compass, and has appeared on outlets including NPR and the BBC. He has also consulted for major newsrooms and public institutions on maritime reporting and offshore industry topics. His reporting draws on primary documents, official maritime records, and on-the-record sources cultivated over two decades in the industry. He is an Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute and a member of the Council of American Master Mariners and the Navy League of the United States. His work has been recognized with the U.S. Navy Combined Maritime Forces Naval Support Award and SUNY Maritime’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award.
Thursday, October 27, 2022
News
Grain Giant Warns Globalization Is Over
by John Konrad (gCaptain) Yesteray – on the heels of China President Xi’s consolidation of power, nuclear warnings from Russia, and droughts
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Environment
Exxon Sets Sail On Massive Houston Ship Channel Carbon Capture Project
by John Konrad (gCaptain) Snaking along the Gulf of Mexico’s seabed are thousands of pipes sending oil and gas from the myriad of oil, rigs and platforms to
Friday, October 21, 2022
News
Shots Fired In Jones Act Debate
by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) Shots were fired this week when a newly released US Maritime Administration (MARAD) document from 2020 showed that a
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Navy
New Report Says US Navy Capacity Is “Very Weak”
By Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) US Congressman Mike Gallagher, a Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered a stark warning to
Navy
Navy Expands Commercial Ship Protection Partnership
The US Navy announced they are expanding partnerships with nations in the Indian and Pacific Oceans to protect shipping under the International Maritime
Monday, October 17, 2022
Commercial Fishing
Climate Change Decimates Alaska Snow Crab Fishery
by John Konrad (gCaptain) The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said this week that it had canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea for the
Thursday, October 13, 2022
Environment
ABS Chairman Says Maritime Security is Pressuring Decarbonization Efforts
During the keynote speech at this week’s Shipping Insight conference in Connecticut, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki discussed
Monday, October 10, 2022
Incidents
Subsea Power Cable ‘Failure’ Was A False Alarm
by John Konrad (gCaptain) A subsea power cable is now online after an earlier outage caused a complete blackout on a small Danish island. The cable is located
Friday, October 7, 2022
Incidents
Midshipman X2 – US Ship Captain Is Accused Of Rape
by John Konrad (gCaptain) It’s been over a year since Midshipman X, US Merchant Marine Academy student Hope Hicks, took the brave step of sharing her
Thursday, September 8, 2022
Incidents
Greenpeace Stops Russian LNG At Swedish Port
Today, Greenpeace blocked the LNG tanker Coral Energy from unloading Russian natural gas at a Finnish state-owned terminal, Gasum, in
Ports
1st LNG Tanker Docks At New Dutch Floating Terminal
by John Konrad (gCaptain) Two FSRUs (Floating Storage Regasification Units) arrived this week at the Dutch port of Eemshaven’s new terminal and has
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Lifesaving Incidents
Apple Announces EPIRB-Like Satellite SOS Feature
by John Konrad (gCaptain) Today at a launch event in California, Apple announced they built emergency satellite communication it’s calling
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Navy
Solomon Islands Exempts Australia, NZ From US Navy Ship Ban
By Kirsty Needham (Reuters) – Navy vessels from Australia and New Zealand will be exempt from a temporary ban on foreign ships entering the ports of the
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Marine Weather
Storm Ends The Calmest North Atlantic Summer Since World War II
Was this summer the calm before the big storm? by John Konrad (gCaptain) As Super Typhoon Hinnamnor is bearing down on Japan, the North Atlantic Ocean has
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Grounding Incidents
UPDATE – UK Carrier HMS Prince Of Wales Incident
UPDATE: Today the Royal Navy news site Navy Lookout provided the following comments: “The reason HMS Prince of Wales could not begin her planned deployment
Monday, August 29, 2022
Ports
Grain Is Gushing Out Of The Great Lakes This Year
The St. Lawrence Seaway transported 514,000 tonnes of grain out of the Great Lakes between March 22 to the end of July this year. This represents a 37%
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Incidents
Watch: Could The Ukraine Grain Deal With Russia Fail?
by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) According to The Economist the absolute levels of global hunger in 2022 could be the highest ever, as an exceptional set of
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
News
English Channel Migrants Are Still Crossing In Record Numbers
by John Konrad (gCaptain) The UK Ministry of Defense confirmed on Tuesday that 3,683 people tried to cross the English Channel in July. In just one day last
Monday, August 1, 2022
News
Inflation Hits Oil Tanker Newbuild Prices Hard
Crude oil tanker owners’ shares are up today on news that increasing newbuild rates are driving up the value of existing fleets and could prevent the
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