Government

Barge operators win key changes in ballast water regs

A vessel discharging ballast water. Photo: Maritime Environmental Resource Center.

After years of trying, the barge industry has finally won major changes in the way ballast water discharges from vessels are managed by the federal government and states.

Included in the “Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018” that passed the Senate and House in November is a provision that would end an overlapping patchwork of state and federal discharge regulations that has been costly and confusing to vessel owners. Operators argue that lack of a single, national standard has...

https://www.workboat.com/news/government/barge-operators-finally-win-changes-in-ballast-water-discharge-regulations/

Coast Guard, DHS launch two nanosatellites

The Coast Guard, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, launched two 6U CubeSats from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, as part of the Polar Scout project on Dec. 3. Photo courtesy of SpaceX.

Yesterday, the Coast Guard Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) Program launched two 6U CubeSats from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The launch, part of the Polar Scout project being done in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), will evaluate the effectiveness of space-based sensors in support of Arctic search and rescue missions. Knowledge gained from this demonstration will be used to inform satellite...

https://www.workboat.com/news/coast-guard-dhs-launched/

El Faro investigation made partners of safety board, deep ocean scientists

The wreck of the El Faro. NTSB photo.

The National Transportation Safety Board could not have determined what sank the El Faro with her crew of 33 had it not been for help from experts in deep ocean exploration, said Brian Curtis, director of the agency’s marine safety office, at the International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans Wednesday.

“We never found any personal items from the crew,” Curtis said of the Oct. 1, 2015 sinking of the 790’ ro/ro containership in Hurricane Joaquin. “We had no vessel, we had no survivors.”

All that the...

https://www.workboat.com/news/government/el-faro-investigation-made-partners-of-safety-board-deep-ocean-scientists/

Coast Guard commissions first California FRC

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Forrest Rednour mans the rail during the cutter’s commissioning ceremony, Nov. 8, 2018, in San Pedro, Calif. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Fireman Taylor Bacon

The Coast Guard commissioned the first California-based 154-foot fast response cutter in San Pedro on Thursday.

The Coast Guard cutter Forrest Rednour is the first of four Sentinel-class FRCs to be homeported at Base Los Angeles-Long Beach.

Three additional FRCs are scheduled to be commissioned by summer of 2019. While these ships will be based in San Pedro, they will operate throughout the 11th Coast Guard District, which includes all of California and international waters off of Mexico and...

https://www.workboat.com/news/government/coast-guard-commissions-first-california-frc/

NTSB releases ‘lessons learned’ from 2017 maritime accidents

The wreck of the El Faro. NTSB photo.

Maritime accident investigation reports for collisions, explosions, capsizings and allisions and the lessons learned from these accidents are detailed in the National Transportation Safety Board’s Safer Seas Digest 2017, released today.

The digest contains 41 marine accident reports for accidents involving fishing, offshore supply, cargo, passenger, tanker, towing and government vessels. This includes two Coast Guard cutters, four passenger vessels, and 14 towboats, barges and tugs. Reports in...

https://www.workboat.com/news/government/ntsb-releases-lessons-learned-from-2017-maritime-accidents/

Icebreakers carry on, as new funding remains uncertain

Scientists and engineers deploy an ice tethered profiler on the Arctic ice Sept. 30, 2018, about 350 miles northeast of Barrow, Alaska, from the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy. NyxoLyno Cangemi/Coast Guard photo.

The Coast Guard completed science missions with one of its remaining icebreakers while repairing the other this summer, as uncertainty continues over when the government will start building the first new polar ship in decades.

The crew of the 420’ medium icebreaker Healy completed their second mission of their Arctic West Summer 2018 deployment Oct. 18, returning to their Seattle homeport after studying stratified ocean dynamics in the Arctic (SODA) for the Office of Naval Research.

The project,...

https://www.workboat.com/news/government/icebreakers-carry-on-as-new-funding-remains-uncertain/

Federal audit knocks Coast Guard oversight of TWIC program

Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Fairchild, with the U.S. Coast Guard Incident Management Division, checks a port security guard's Transportation Worker Identification Credential  (TWIC) at Young Brothers in Honolulu. U.S. Coast Guard photo/PA3 Luke Clayton

Numerous shortcomings in the Coast Guard’s handling of the Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC) program could jeopardize security at many high-risk maritime facilities, according to a new audit by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.

“The Coast Guard needs to improve its oversight of the TWIC program to reduce the risk of transportation security incidents,” according to the Sept. 28 audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) that was sent to Rear Adm. John...

https://www.workboat.com/news/government/federal-audit-knocks-coast-guard-oversight-of-twic-program/

After Decades Of Failure I Am Confident Short Sea Shipping Will Return To The USA. Here’s Why Along With A Word Of Caution.

  Today’s episode of The REAL gCaptain Podcast was recorded in the wake of the Blue Highway Conference hosted by SUNY Maritime College.  We report on major work being done by MARAD and maritime industry stakeholders to defibrillate the once vibrant but now ailing near coastal and inland waterway...

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Gcaptain/~3/VrcayIBwk4U/

Coast Guard inland cutters next in building program

At 72 years in service, the cutter Smilax is the oldest vessel of the Coast Guard inland fleet. Coast Guard photo.

With $25 million added by Congress in the 2018 budget, the Coast Guard can move ahead with designing its new class of waterway commerce cutters to replace an aged inland fleet, Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz told members of Congress Wednesday.

“I’ve got ships in that fleet that are 72 years old,” said Schultz, referring to the 100’ cutter Smilax, during his first appearance as commandant before the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

Billed as an update on Coast Guard...

https://www.workboat.com/news/government/coast-guard-inland-cutters-next-in-building-program/

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