American Maritime Officers (AMO) members will soon have additional employment opportunities following Federated Maritime’s successful award of a contract with the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) for charter of the medium-range tanker Allied Atlantic. Federated Crewing, an affiliate of Federated Maritime and a contracted company of AMO, will provide the vessel’s crew, with all licensed officer positions filled by AMO members.
The Allied Atlantic, formerly known as Nord Olympia, was built in 2018 and will be reflagged into the U.S. registry later this summer before entering service under its MSC charter in September. The tanker will support U.S. government sealift operations in the Far East.
The Allied Atlantic is the second vessel added to the U.S.-flag fleet by Federated Maritime since 2024, with vessel management provided by Federated Maritime and crewing services provided by Federated Crewing. The first was the heavy-lift vessel Allied Brooklyn. All licensed officer positions aboard both vessels are filled by AMO members.
“We are honored to have been selected by Military Sealift Command to provide the Allied Atlantic in support of this important mission,” said Peter Fortier, CEO of Federated Maritime. “This award reflects the confidence MSC has placed in our organization and our ability to deliver safe, reliable, and efficient vessel management. We are equally proud to continue our partnership with Federated Crewing and American Maritime Officers, whose highly skilled and professional mariners are essential to the success of every operation. Bringing another modern vessel into the U.S.-flag fleet is good for our company, good for American mariners, and good for our nation’s maritime readiness.”
“AMO appreciates our working relationship with Federated Maritime,” said the AMO National President. “We’re looking forward to these new jobs for AMO members and we look forward to growing with Federated as they expand their fleet. Congratulations on the Allied Atlantic award.”
The addition of the Allied Atlantic also represents another positive step for the U.S.-flag fleet. Over the past year, AMO has advocated for increased movement of Defense Logistics Agency cargoes aboard U.S.-flag vessels under cargo preference laws. Continued growth in government cargoes carried by U.S.-flag vessels will strengthen the nation’s sealift capability while creating additional employment opportunities for American merchant mariners.
The following press release was issued by the Lake Carriers’ Association on July 2.
Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes increased 4.5 percent from June of last year to 5.1 million tons. Shipments were a near match to the month’s 5-year average.
Year-to-date, the iron ore trade stands at 17.3 million tons, an increase of 4.2 percent compared to 2025. Iron shipments are below their 5-year average by 4.6 percent for the first six months of the year.
Since 1880, Lake Carriers’ has represented the U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet, which today can move more than 90 million tons of cargos annually that are the foundation of American industry, infrastructure, and power: iron ore, stone, coal, cement, and other dry bulk materials such as grain, salt, and sand. More information is available at www.lcaships.com.
American maritime Officers members working aboard the SLNC Severn in June included Third Mate Sonja Jaturarat, Second Mate Ben Carroll and Chief Mate Gustavo Martinez. With them is Seafarers International Union AB M. Collins.
AMO members working in the Engine Department of the SLNC Severn included Chief Engineer Alexandr Koroteyev, First Assistant Engineer Roy Corvino, Second A.E. Jadon Peters and Third A.E. Vincent Trabanco-Lopez.
The SLNC Severn is a bulk carrier registered in the Maritime Security Program operated by Argent Marine Operations Inc. for Bold Ocean and is manned in all licensed positions by AMO.
Maine Maritime Academy graduates and cadets onboard ARC Integrity during a recent port call to Bremerhaven, Germany included American Maritime Officers members Captain Andy Perri, Chief Mate Alice Steinquist, First Engineer Eric Lobmeyr Von Hohenleiten and cadets Matthew Gagin and Asa Stoykovich.
Other AMO members working aboard ARC Integrity in June included Captain Andy Perri, Chief Mate Alice Steinquist, Second Mate Ian McClintok, First Engineer Eric Lobmeyer Von Hohenleiten, Second Assistant Enginner Archie Eldridge and Third Assistant Engineer Grace Magee. With them is MSCEURAF Deputy Surface Operations Jennifer Senner-Ceco (who remains an active member of AMO).
The AMO-led crew of the ARC Integrity pose for a portrait while at a stop in Germany.
The following press release was issued by American Maritime Partnership.
Navigistics Consulting, a Maritime industry consulting and market analysis firm, examined the real-world effects of the current (150-day) blanket Jones Act waiver – put in place by the Trump Administration – on the U.S. economy, energy security, and domestic maritime workforce.
The findings add new weight to growing calls from American mariners, labor groups, and maritime industry advocates urging the Administration to end the waiver and restore an America-first maritime policy that prioritizes U.S.-flagged vessels, U.S. carriers, and U.S. mariners.
An analysis of the report can be viewed here: https://www.americanmaritimepartnership.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Navigistics-Analysis-Overview.pdf.
Key findings from the report include:
* No Military Necessity – Of the 78 waiver voyages documented in the U.S. Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) June 1 report, not one met the only legal standard required to justify a Jones Act waiver. Every movement involved commercial-grade materials incompatible with DoD fuel requirements.
* U.S. Ships Were Available and Ready – American vessels were available for 86.5% of qualifying voyages. The waiver wasn’t a necessity, it was a choice that bypassed a ready and willing U.S. fleet.
* The Waiver Is Handing Cargo to China – Foreign-flag vessels built in China (23.1%) and under Chinese control (18.5%) are now moving American domestic cargo that U.S. ships were available to carry – opening domestic shipping lanes to foreign competitors at a moment of heightened national security concern.
* Gas Prices Haven’t Moved – An 11-week analysis found no credible evidence of price relief at the pump. In several routes, Jones Act vessels were actually cheaper than their foreign-flag counterparts. Meanwhile, only ~6.5% of U.S. gasoline is transported on vessels. American consumers are paying the price for a policy that isn’t delivering what was promised.
* America Was Exporting Fuel During the Alleged Shortage – While the waiver was justified as a response to domestic supply strain, the U.S. exported approximately 731 million barrels of petroleum – with crude, diesel, and jet fuel all up from prior years. Refiners were making commercial choices, not responding to a crisis.
The report draws on MARAD data covering 659 commodities and 78 voyages during the waiver’s opening weeks.
“This analysis confirms what American mariners have been saying for months: this waiver is not delivering for consumers, it is not justified by military necessity, and its handing American cargo to foreign fleets at the expense of U.S. shipyards, U.S. carriers, and the American workforce we depend on for national security,” said Jennifer Carpenter, President of the American Maritime Partnership. “Every day this waiver continues, we are trading away decades of investment in our domestic maritime industrial base for a policy that the data shows isn’t achieving its stated purpose. It’s time to end the waver and recommit to the America first policy that puts the U.S. mariners and U.S. vessels first.”
With the waiver’s current extension set to expire on August 17, American mariners, labor groups, and maritime advocates are urging Congress and the Administration to let the waiver expire and ensure it is not extended again.
The American Maritime Partnership (AMP) is the voice of the U.S. domestic maritime industry. More than 45,000 American vessels built in American shipyards, crewed by American mariners, and owned by American companies, operate in our waters 24-hours a day, seven days a week. This commerce sustains nearly 650,000 American jobs, $41.6 billion in labor compensation, and more than $154.8 billion in annual economic output. Learn more by visiting www.americanmaritimepartnership.com.
The following letter was sent to President Donald Trump on June 30.
Dear Mr. President:
We appreciate your longstanding support and attention to the challenges facing our domestic shipping industry. We write to respectfully request that the current Jones Act waiver be allowed to expire as scheduled on August 16, 2026, and encourage you to utilize alternative policy tools to address fuel and fertilizer costs while preserving the strength of the American maritime industry.
As you outlined in your visionary Maritime Action Plan (MAP), a strong maritime industrial base is essential to the nation’s economic and national security, particularly as the United States works to reinforce its global strategic position. Your acknowledgement in the MAP that less than one percent of new commercial ships are built in the United States underscores the importance of protecting durable domestic maritime policy and safeguarding against foreign encroachment in our nation’s waterways.
Our nation’s strongest shield against foreign exploitation of American waterways is the Jones Act, which requires vessels transporting cargo between U.S. ports to be American-built, American-owned, American-crewed, and American-flagged. As with similar laws governing other modes of transportation, the Jones Act ensures that domestic waterborne commerce is conducted by U.S. vessels and mariners rather than by heavily subsidized foreign competitors. Over time, it has helped sustain a safe and reliable commercial fleet, supporting hundreds of thousands of well-paying American maritime jobs and moving more than 760 million tons of domestic cargo each year, including agricultural products, petroleum, steel, coal, and other essential commodities.
At the same time, the domestic maritime industry is deeply concerned about the length, scope, and possible extension of the current Jones Act waiver, which was issued in part to address increases in fuel and fertilizer prices. In practice, foreign-flagged vessels have operated under the waiver even in circumstances where U.S.-flagged vessels were available, creating understandable concern about the effect on American jobs, manufacturing, and investment. According to data from the Maritime Administration, approximately 95 percent of completed waiver voyages primarily benefit foreign maritime operators that do not pay U.S. taxes or comply with U.S. immigration laws.
In short, the Jones Act waiver has become a loophole exploited by adversarial countries to erode America’s maritime dominance. For these reasons, we respectfully request that you allow the waiver to expire on August 16, 2026.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter. We stand ready to support your continued efforts to strengthen American economic and maritime dominance.
Sincerely,
James Comer, Chairman, House Oversight Committee
Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House
Steve Scalise, House Majority Leader
Sam Graves, Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann, Member of Congress
Randy K. Weber, Sr., Member of Congress
Aaron Bean, Member of Congress
John H. Rutherford, Member of Congress
Robert J. Wittman, Member of Congress
Jen A. Kiggans, Member of Congress
Andy Harris, M.D., Member of Congress
Christopher H. Smith, Member of Congress
Nicole Malliotakis, Member of Congress
Michael V. Lawler, Member of Congress
Nick LaLota, Member of Congress
Mary E. Miller, Member of Congress
Andrew R. Garbarino, Member of Congress
Michael Guest, Member of Congress
Clay Higgins, Member of Congress
Julia Letlow, Ph.D., Member of Congress
Mike Rogers, Member of Congress
Robert B. Aderholt, Member of Congress
Dale W. Strong, Member of Congress
David Kustoff, Member of Congress
Brett Guthrie, Member of Congress
Andy Barr, Member of Congress
Carol D. Miller, Member of Congress
Kat Cammack, Member of Congress
Mark B. Messmer, Member of Congress
Eric A. “Rick” Crawford, Member of Congress
Daniel Webster, Member of Congress
Brian Babin, D.D.S., Member of Congress
David Rouzer, Member of Congress
Mike Bost, Member of Congress
Brian J. Mast, Member of Congress
Pete Stauber, Member of Congress
Tim Burchett, Member of Congress
Jefferson Van Drew, Member of Congress
Mike Ezell, Member of Congress
Jefferson Shreve, Member of Congress
David J. Taylor, Member of Congress
Jimmy Patronis, Member of Congress
Jack Bergman, Member of Congress
Mike Collins, Member of Congress
Harold Rogers, Member of Congress
Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S., Member of Congress
Erin Houchin, Member of Congress
Max L. Miller, Member of Congress
David P. Joyce, Member of Congress
Darin LaHood, Member of Congress
Scott DesJarlais, M.D., Member of Congress
Thomas H. Kean, Jr., Member of Congress
The AMO monthly membership meeting originally scheduled for September 9 will now be held on Wednesday, September 2 due to scheduling conflicts. The meeting on September 2 will begin at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time at AMO headquarters in Dania Beach, Fla. in the second-floor auditorium.
Graeme Holman, director of operations at STAR Center, shows off the engine simulator to cadets from Maine Maritime and Texas A&M Maritime academies.
More than 50 cadets from Maine Maritime Academy and Texas A&M University Maritime Academy visited Port Everglades during their summer cruise on TS State of Maine in June and made a pit stop at STAR Center to get a glimpse of their potential futures with American Maritime Officers.
Union and STAR Center officials hosted the group in two days of tours of the world-renowned training facilities and the union headquarters in Dania Beach, Fla. Cadets, many of them juniors and seniors, were amazed at the advanced technology and training options at STAR Center and that it is a free of charge benefit included with active AMO membership.
“Sometimes we take for granted just how much of an advantage STAR Center is for us and the training we have access to,” said AMO East Coast Boarding Representative Marissa Cap, who helped set up the tours. “We have world-class facilities that produce world-class mariners and that really resonates when young people get to see that.”
The visit comes on the heels of a successful recruiting season at maritime academy graduations across the country for AMO, where many of the 1,250 graduating cadets have chosen to join AMO.
AMO Rep. Marissa Cap and Dispatcher Roy Emrick greet cadets at Port Everglades on their way to tour STAR Center in June.
AMO Boarding Rep. Marissa Cap welcomes cadets and explains the benefits of joining AMO, including free access to the world-renowned STAR Center training facility.
Director of Engineering Allen Howard demonstrates all the fun “toys” and equipment AMO members get to learn on in the STAR Center machine shop.
Cadets were amazed to learn that STAR Center and AMO members have access to train on their own shooting range and fire fields.
TS State of Maine visited Port Everglades during the summer cruise session in June.
MV Pacific Collector returns to the West Coast from another successful voyage in May before a scheduled shipyard period. American Maritime Officers members aboard the Tote Services vessel included (L-R) Deck Dept: Trevor Cardin, Brandon Swick, Sean Furlanic, Mylan Jarrett and John Stencil. With them is AMO West Coast Boarding Representative Alex Butler.
Engine Dept: Clive Steward, Trenton Silvers, Olin Johnson, Ryan Smith and Calvin Fear.
Tanker Torm Thunder, here in Singapore, is a chemical product tanker operated by Eco-tanker Crew Management for Fairwater Tanker Management and is enlisted in the Tanker Security Program, providing reliable fuel services for the U.S. military around the world. All licensed officers on the vessel are represented by American Maritime Officers.
Captain Aaron Findley and Chief Engineer Robert Ring take a moment to smile for the camera on the Torm Thunder.
Third Assistant Engineer Dave Reilly and an AB making sure items are secure on the deck of Torm Thunder.
Second A.E. Mitch Farley enjoys a brisk ride to shore while the Thunder sits at anchor in Singapore.
Second Mate Kenny Hallis shows a Kings Point cadet how it’s done on the bridge of the Torm Thunder.
Chief Engineer Josh Elwell tests his size up against the Thunder at drydock.
Class is in session as First A. E. Jonny Ware and Third A.E. Hunter Brown talk over engine systems in front of an attentive TECH Program Apprentice and Kings Point cadet riding aboard the Torm Thunder.
TECH Program Apprentice Emily Whitlow picked up valuable, hands-on knowledge on the Torm Thunder in Singapore.
TECH Apprentice Rob White
Views don’t get much better than this one from the Torm Thunder leaving the Far East.
We stand corrected! Breathtaking views are the norm for the U.S. Merchant Marine.