The Coast Guard published plans to implement a new inspection process for towing vessels last week.  In the 76th volume of the Federal Register released on August 11, the Coast Guard posted their proposed rules.  They plan to finalize the regulations in four public meetings this fall.  The new system will have two options for obtaining safety ce...

Read More >>

A Hercules Offshore liftboat that was struck by several waterspouts capsized in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana on Friday evening. Five crewmembers aboard the Starfish vessel were evacuated and rescued at sea shortly after the capsizing. They were treated for minor injuries at hospital in Houma, Louisiana, and released. The vessel, a 140-clas...

Read More >>

The international maritime community marked September 1 as World Maritime Day. This year, the focus was on eradicating piracy. According to the US Coast Guard, maritime piracy now costs the world economy between $7 billion and $12 billion a year. Staggering as those numbers are, the human costs of piracy are far greater.  This World Maritime Da...

Read More >>

More than two dozen passengers on a duck boat off California were rescued after a fire broke out on the vessel. According to the Coast Guard, it received a call over VHF-FM channel 16 on Saturday that a fire had broken out on the boat near McCovey Cove in California. The Coast Guard was able to reach the scene of the accident in the evening. Th...

Read More >>

Several crew members were reported injured after a vessel ran aground near the Sabine Jetties near Port Arthur, Texas, recently. According to the Coast Guard, its officers from Sector Houston-Galveston were asked to respond to the site of the grounded vessel. The MV Ms. Pearl ran aground on the west side of the Sabine Jetties. There were four c...

Read More >>

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday continued to search for six missing fishermen after receiving a mayday call Sunday from the captain of a sinking ship. The call to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Houston-Galveston operations center cam about 1:15 p.m. and said the boat was taking on water. The captain was unable to report the vessel’s exact location, but ...

Read More >>

The United States Coast Guard has released a Marine Safety Information Bulletin to provide guidance regarding the employment of non-American citizens on board US-flagged vessels. According to the guidance, vessel operators must be aware of the citizenship waiver limitations for vessels returning to the US after operating from a foreign port. Ac...

Read More >>

A crew member died after falling into the cargo bay of a cargo ship docked in the Houston Ship Channel on Thursday morning. The worker fell from the deck into the cargo hold about 12:30 a.m. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the ship was docked at Texas Terminal NO. 37 near Patrick’s Bayou. The man was pronounced dead after being rushed to Mem...

Read More >>

Royal Dutch Shell announced today after a series of delays and setbacks that it was holding off until next year in its efforts to drill into oil and gas deposits in the Arctic offshore. In the latest delay, the company’s high-tech dome, which is designed to contain oil should an underwater spill happen, was damaged during a test. Shell said it ...

Read More >>

U.S. Coast Guard crews rescued 14 people from life rafts and still are searching for the missing captain of the HMS Bounty, a replica 18-century sailing vessel made famous in Hollywood adventure films, including “Mutiny on the Bounty.” One crewmember was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead after the vessel rolled over in 18-foot waves f...

Read More >>

A body thought to be one of two workers missing after an explosion on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana was recovered late Saturday night, and the search for another missing worker was continuing. The two workers jumped off the platform into the Gulf of Mexico after the rig exploded Friday. The U.S. Coast Guard had suspended its search for ...

Read More >>

Three more dive boats have joined the search for a contractor still missing after an explosion Friday on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. The U.S. Coast Guard called off its search, but the company that owns the rig, Houston-based Black Elk Energy Company, continued to look for the missing worker.  One worker has been confirmed dead after...

Read More >>

The search has been halted for a contractor missing after an explosion on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. The worker had been missing since Friday.  Jerome Malagapo, of the Philippines, was an employee of Grand Isle Shipyard Inc. and was working as a contractor on the rig, owned by Houston-based Black Elk Energy. One worker was confirmed...

Read More >>

A Filipino oil worker died as a result of injuries sustained in the Nov. 16 explosion on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana, the second fatality in the incident. One man is still missing and three remain in serious condition after suffering major burns in the blast.  The U.S. Department of Interior has called on Black Elk Energy Offshore Ope...

Read More >>

A body recovered in the Gulf of Mexico may be the worker missing since an explosion on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana on Nov. 16. The Jefferson Parish coroner’s office will use dental records and possibly DNA to determine whether the body is Jerome Malagapo, a Filipino contractor. The body was spotted Monday by crewmembers of a supply ve...

Read More >>

More than 4,000 passengers and crewmembers were stranded after an engine fire left a Carnival cruise ship disabled in the Gulf of Mexico. The Carnival Triumph was moving around 150 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula when the fire broke out. The ship’s automatic fire extinguishing systems activated and contained the fire to the engine room, but the...

Read More >>

Passengers aboard the disabled Carnival cruise ship Triumph are struggling with dismal and deteriorating conditions, according to one passenger. The ship is being towed to a port in Alabama after a fire in the engine room left the Triumph disabled in the Gulf of Mexico. "Elderly and handicap are struggling, the smell is gross," said passenger A...

Read More >>

Conditions aboard the crippled Carnival Triumph are continuing to deteriorate as the vessel is towed toward port in Mobile, Ala., today. The cruise ship, which was stranded in the Gulf of Mexico after an engine room fire knocked out its four engines, is expected to arrive late tonight. The 900-foot-long vessel was expected to arrive in port earl...

Read More >>

After five days adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, the Carnival cruise ship Triumph finally came into port late Thursday night. It took several hours for the more than 4,200 passengers and crewmembers to disembark the stinking vessel, which was disabled after an engine-room fire Sunday while returning to Galveston on the third day of a four-day cruis...

Read More >>

A leak in a fuel oil return line was the cause of an engine-room fire that disabled a Carnival cruise ship last weekend, a U.S. Coast Guard official said Monday. The fire left the Triumph disabled in the Gulf of Mexico for five days and the 4,200 passengers and crew without power or working toilets. A spokesman from Carnival Cruise Lines said M...

Read More >>

A class-action lawsuit filed Feb. 18 in Florida claims Carnival Corp. was negligent for allowing the cruise ship Triumph to embark on a five-day cruise when it knew the vessel was prone to mechanical issues. The ship experienced an engine-room fire three days in and spent five days disabled in the Gulf of Mexico while tugboats towed it to port ...

Read More >>

Two chemical tankers collided in the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday about 70 miles south of Galveston, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials. Both vessels were en route to Houston at the time of the crash. The Chem Sea, a 385-foot tanker, and Bow Kiso, a 557-foot tanker, collided about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. The double-hulled Bow Kiso, a Panama...

Read More >>

The United States Coast Guard has completed investigations of violations on board a Royal Dutch Shell drill ship off the coast of Alaska, and has handed over its findings to the Department Of Justice. The investigation has found numerous safety violations on the Noble Discoverer. The inspections came to light only after the drilling season, whe...

Read More >>