Every day, the world uses around one hundred million barrels of oil. The term “big oil” is used pejoratively to describe the industry’s lobbying power. But is big always better? This week, we look at both the biggest and the best, and the biggest and the worst of the oil industry. Big finds:...
Commercial Mariner – Featured
COLUMN | Like trouble over bridged water [Tug Times]
O say can you see by the dawn’s early light A ship that blacked out, and a bridge no longer in sight (With apologies to Francis Scott Key) I have no desire to trivialise the recent events in Baltimore, because people died and that is a terrible tragedy for their families. We can only be […]
The post
REMINISCENCES | Frank Goto and the United Fishing Agency
The United Fishing Agency is one of the best things that has ever happened to Hawaii’s seafood industry. It is also one of the best things that ever happened to me. Without doubt it completed my education in ichthyology and marine biology. Not only that, it was indirectly responsible insert for me...
OPINION | FONOPs send a message – but they don’t speak for themselves
The Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) program run by the US Department of Defense has become a symbol of China-US naval competition and of the West’s advocacy for a rules-based order. Operational assertions are thrust into the limelight whenever China responds to one. And barely any US...
LETTERS | Baltimore bridge collapse could have been avoided
The recent bridge collapse incident in Baltimore in the US state of Maryland was a tragedy that I believe could and should have been avoided. The bridge was built in 1977 and as can be seen from media footage, it can hardly be described as robust although it was probably adequate in the 1970s. Dali...
COLUMN | Reaping what you sow: McDermott, Seatrium, Gunvor and Trafigura [Offshore Accounts]
It seems appropriate to get all biblical this week, just after Easter. When Saint Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians that “a man reaps what he sows,” he probably wasn’t thinking about corruption in the oil and gas industry two millennia later. But the last month has seen no less than four...
COLUMN | Quick updates: PSVs changing hands; subsea newbuilds; Guyana booming; rigs fixing higher [Offshore Accounts]
Money is being made in offshore once again, but tragically lives are also being lost unnecessarily. Earlier this week, we examined how Perenco’s dysfunctional safety culture in Gabon, leading to six people dead or lost in an explosion. This is a sad backdrop for an industry booming at last. Stop...
COLUMN | US Army vessels in the vanguard of Gaza relief effort [Naval Gazing]
The US Army is usually perceived as being an exclusively land-based force. Few realise that the service incorporates a 135-vessel-strong maritime contingent under the auspices of the US Army Transportation Command. This fleet features a very wide range of vessels, including landing craft, support ships, maintenance vessels, and small raiding craft. It supports amphibious warfare […]
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BOOK REVIEW | BP Shipping Pictorial: The Golden Years 1945-1975
Don’t be fooled by the word “pictorial” in its title. While it does include some first-rate pictures, this book is much more than that. It describes very fully three of the most interesting and intense decades in tanker, indeed ship, development in all of maritime history. Focused on just one ship...
AWARDS 2023 | Best RIB Pilot Boat – Aldebaran – Naiad Design (Whiskey Project Group)
Best RIB Pilot Boat – Aldebaran – Naiad Design (Whiskey Project Group) New Zealand-based Naiad Design (part of the Whiskey Project Group) is renowned globally for its, usually, aluminium-hulled rigid inflatable boats that are used for patrol, rescue, assault, tourist and pilotage, among other...