Here’s a quick round-up of the latest maritime industry newsletters and reports you should be paying very careful attention to…..
As always, the National Mariners Association’s Capt. Richard Block continues to inform and educate all working mariners about important news and events going on in our world. Newsletters #66 – December 2009 & #67 – January 2010 are now available. Two brand new reports are required reading for every mariner. First up is R-205, Report to Congress: Outstanding Failures to Protect the Safety, Health and Welfare of 126,000 Limited-Tonnage Merchant Mariners, from January 1st. Then comes R-207 – Revision 1, Training & Posting Lookouts, issued on January 20th.
If you are a working mariner you should be a member of the National Mariners Association (NMA). Why? Because they’re looking out for your interests. If you are a licensed master, mate, pilot, apprentice mate or steersman of towing vessels then you should also belong to the Master of Towing Vessels Association. We’re more specifically focused on towing industry issues, as you can imagine, but there is still a lot of overlap. We work very closely with the NMA and we strongly encourage all of our members to join them as well. Membership in both contributes directly towards the representation of your interests with the Coast Guard and Congress, and we’re always looking for members who think that they have something to offer and want to involve themselves in this worthy and necessary endeavor.
For those so inclined, the MTVA now has a Facebook page that presently numbers 261 fans and growing steadily. A great big mahalo to newly-elected executive board vice chairman Capt. Doug Pine for taking on this important communications duty. We are a full freakin’ decade into the 21st century, after all…..
We also have the freshly-released U.S. Coast Guard – International Maritime Organization Winter 2010 eNewsletter. Of particular interest to mariners are the sections on the 41st Session of the Subcommittee on STCW (page #8) and the 55th Session of the Subcommittee on Safety of Navigation (page #10). Check ’em out.
From the industry trade associations we have newsletters from the American Waterways Operators, Vol. 67, No. 1 (1/15/10) and Vol. 67, No. 2 (1/29/10), and the Offshore Marine Service Association’s January 2010 issue.
Although I sometimes fall behind a bit, there is a running compilation of all of these newsletters kept on our Maritime Industry Newsletters sub-page for those who might want to do some historical research and/or gain a better grasp of the issues we face. Read on…..
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