AMO fleet grows by four ships

AMO fleet grows by four ships

New jobs aboard trailership, cableship, chemical carrier, special mission vessel

      Four more ships are joining the American Maritime Officers fleet in the very near future, expanding the union's job base and providing a range of new opportunities for members and applicants to work in the domestic and international commercial trades and for the federal government.
      A new trailership, the MV North Star, was to have been christened June 14 for Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE). The North Star, one of two new trailerships to be manned by AMO, will be operated by Interocean Ugland Management for TOTE in the Jones Act trades between Washington State and Alaska.
      USCS Chemical Pioneer LLC May 6 purchased the Chemical Pioneer from Dow Chemical. The 688-foot chemical carrier, equipped with 48 independent cargo tanks, will be operated by USCS Chemical Chartering LLC and manned in all licensed positions by AMO.
      Maersk Line Ltd. was recently awarded the operating charter for the special mission vessel USNS Observation Island. The 564-foot Observation Island had been manned by civil service mariners and its addition to the AMO fleet expands the national job base for American contract civilian merchant mariners.
      The cable laying ship CS Tyco Decisive was christened May 30 in Baltimore, Md., and set sail from Baltimore Harbor June 1 on her first job. The Decisive, Tyco's fourth Reliance Class newbuild to be manned in all licensed positions by AMO, will operate from Baltimore Harbor along with the CS Tyco Reliance.
      "We're extremely pleased with the continued expansion of the union's job base and the addition of ships to the U.S. merchant fleet," said AMO National Executive Vice President Thomas Bethel. "Our success in securing work aboard these commercial and government vessels speaks volumes about AMO's credibility and leadership in both the public and private sectors of U.S. shipping. Our role will continue to grow as more and more employers avail themselves of the opportunity to work with the skilled officers represented by AMO."
      The North Star and its sistership, the MV Midnight Sun, are the first commercial dry cargo vessels to be built in the U.S. in 10 years. They are each 840 feet long and were built by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego, Calif., with the latest marine technologies and propulsion systems. The ships have earned the company three awards for their environmentally safe designs. AMO members manned the Midnight Sun in April and the union represents the licensed officers currently working aboard three other TOTE vessels operated by Interocean Ugland Management in the Jones Act trades, the Northern Lights, Westward Venture and Great Land.
      The Chemical Pioneer is currently operated by Marine Transport Corp. and the engineering officers working aboard the ship are represented by another maritime officers' union. USCS Chemical Chartering LLC is scheduled to begin operating the Chemical Pioneer July 1 and the ship will then be manned in all licensed positions by AMO members. The Chemical Pioneer will operate in the Jones Act coastwise trades along the east and gulf coasts.
      The USNS Observation Island, a missile range instrumentation ship, supports U.S. military weapons test programs and monitors compliance with strategic arms treaties. The ship was built as a mariner class merchant ship and was originally launched in August 1953. It was acquired by the Navy in September 1956 for use as a fleet ballistic missile test ship, and was kept in reserve as a Maritime Administration asset from 1972 until 1977. In August 1977, the Observation Island was re-acquired by the U.S. Navy and transferred to Military Sealift Command.
      The Tyco Decisive, like the other ships in the Reliance Class, is designed for maintenance and installation of submarine cable. The other three new Tyco cableships manned in all licensed positions by AMO are the CS Tyco Reliance, CS Tyco Responder and CS Tyco Dependable. The ships operate from different ports in the Atlantic, Pacific and Caribbean and are dispatched around the world to repair and install analog and fiber optic submarine cable. Tyco expects to take delivery of final vessel in the Reliance Class, the CS Tyco Durable, in July.

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