Seven U.S.-flagged ships operated under government charter and manned in all licensed positions by American Maritime Officers were among those participating in Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery efforts as American Maritime Officer neared press time.
The American Maritime Officers and Seafarers International Union members aboard the U.S.-flagged roll-on/roll-off ship PVT Franklin J. Phillips Aug. 23 were awarded the Jones F. Devlin Award from the Chamber of Shipping of America for continued safe operation.
American Maritime Officers will continue to man Military Sealift Command's fleet of eight fast sealift ships in all licensed positions under a new charter awarded to Maersk Line Limited, of Norfolk, Va.
Domestic maritime interests reacted cautiously to the Bush administration's emergency suspension of the Jones Act in coastal energy trades after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities.
A dwindling number of qualified merchant mariners could jeopardize U.S. sealift strategy in a long war, the Maritime Administration warned in August.
Maritrans Inc. announced Sept. 6 that it had ordered three articulated tug-barge units from Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. in Mobile and Tampa.
The U.S.-flagged deep-sea fleet under American Maritime Officers contract soon will expand by four ships.
Merchant mariners employed directly by the federal government should be exempt from new workforce classification and oversight rules in the Department of Defense.
Three Ready Reserve Force vessels manned in all licensed positions by American Maritime Officers delivered more than 850 containers of cargo for a combined U.S. military exercise, the main portions of which took place Aug. 5 to 20 at Naval Magazine Indian Island in Port Hadlock, Wash.
