The Gulfport Fire Department helped the U.S. Coast Guard put out a fire aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Brant while moored in Gulfport, Mississippi on Wednesday. The Coast Guard reported earlier that at approximately 5 a.m., two Coast Guard members who were aboard the cutter noticed the fire in the port-aft area of the vessel and took initial actions to put out the fire using … [Read more...]
Insurers Tighten Net on Illegal Fishing
By Alister Doyle OSLO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - A coalition of insurance firms agreed on Friday to crack down on pirate fishing by banning coverage for trawlers whose illegal catches are worth at least $10 billion a year. Firms would deny insurance for vessels on a European Union blacklist of ships involved in illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing around the world. … [Read more...]
El Faro MBI Report – Heavy On Blame, Light On Penalty
by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) Today the United States Coast Guard issued the Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) report on the S.S. El Faro. The 189 page report reveals serious failures by Tote managers, USCG personnel and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) but recommended few penalties against them. Some marine experts assumed the report would recommend that Tote be … [Read more...]
Metal Shark Building Four 350-Passenger Vessels and an Additional 150-Passenger Vessel for NYC Ferry
Louisiana-based shipbuilder Metal Shark is once again building multiple high-speed aluminum catamaran passenger vessels for the NYC Ferry Service Operated by Hornblower. In early August, Metal Shark received orders from Hornblower for four 97’ x 28’, 350-passenger USCG Subchapter K vessels, which are a new and larger platform than the fleet of 150-passenger vessels NYC Ferry … [Read more...]
WATCH: Three Rescued from Overturned Vessel in Puerto Rico
A helicopter crew with the British Royal Navy has rescued a woman and two children from their overturned vessel which had grounded near Vieques, Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria. A U.S. Coast Guard search plane located the capsized vessel, named Ferrel, with three people on top at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Thursday following a 24-hour search. A fourth person, an adult … [Read more...]
Captain Has License Suspended for Failing to Avoid a Collision While Navigating Through Crowd
The captain of a Portland river cruise has had his Merchant Mariners Credential suspended for navigating his vessel through a crowd of watercraft attending an event on the Willamette River on August 1, 2015. An administrative judge with the Coast Guard ruled Tuesday that Lowell Gillespie Jr., the captain of the Portland Spirit, had violated Rule 8 of the Inland Navigation … [Read more...]
Searchers Locate FV Destination Wreck in Bering Sea
Searchers have located that the wreck of the missing fishing vessel Destination which sank in the Bering Sea in February with the loss of all six crew members. The Destination and its six crew members were lost February 11, 2017, while fishing for Opilio crab (snow crab) northwest of St. George, Alaska, a small and remote island in the Bering Sea with a population … [Read more...]