In a well researched article titled Mercenary Guards Jump Ship as Somali Pirates Remain Undeterred Bloomberg exposes private security efforts to protect ships in the region. What is not well researched however, is the title incident aboard the M/V Biscaglia. In last week's edition of Maritime Moday, Fred Fry posted the wired magazine article Sonic Blaster Firm Disputes … [Read more...]
Wakeup Call: The Road to STCW Compliance Starts to Get Bumpy…
Editorial Note: Being actively sailing mariners, the editorial team at gCaptain is concerned by recent changes to US Coast Guard policy on the licensing of mariners. We feel this is a topic of importance to mariners worldwide but questioned our ability to write on this issue objectively so we sent a note to someone we trust; Joe Keefe of The Maritime Executive. This article is … [Read more...]
Allision – Nautical Word of the Day
In covering the recent Cosco Busan incident (now the Overseas Reymar allision HERE) I have noticed most of the news articles have made a small error in terminology, not to mention the emails and comments to us saying that we chronically spell collision wrong. In describing the incident where the Cosco Busan hit the Bay Bridge many prominent news organizations referred to … [Read more...]
Are Rising Salaries Enough To Retain Mariners?
In another excellent article, Maritime Executive's managing editor Joseph Keefe is dead on with his assessment of salary (find the article HERE) and working condition improvements in this tight labor market. The following comment in response to a discussion with one Captain sums up the discord between shore side managers and shipboard personnel perfectly; Gathering that he was … [Read more...]