At least 4 crewmembers on a cruise ship, that sustained damage during a journey to Antarctica, have been reported injured. The cruise vessel, the Silver Explorer operated by Silver Sea Cruises was returning to Argentina at the end of an 18-night trip to Antarctica when it ran into rough seas. There was damage to the ship, but none of the passen...

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The recent Carnival Triumph disaster, in which a massive cruise ship with thousands of passengers on board lost all power and was left floating in the ocean for more than 24 hours, has made headlines. However, this is not the first time that passengers have been inconvenienced at sea, when a fire broke out on board, cutting off all electricity. ...

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Maritime attorneys and environmental groups will not quickly forget last year's Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and the resulting spill. In New Zealand, the government is struggling to contain that country’s biggest oil spill, resulting after a maritime accident earlier this month. The Liberia-flagged Rena ran aground on October 5 about 22 km ...

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Maritime piracy has been a serious issue facing the global community and international industries for hundreds of years. No longer are the pirates seeking gold or treasure, though. Piracy in this decade target ships carrying oil or goods, and also crewmembers have been taken hostage. Global efforts to stem the tide of piracy have been met with ...

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The Air Accident Investigations Branch has completed its investigation into an offshore helicopter crash in the North Sea in March 2009 that killed 16 people, including 14 offshore workers and 2 pilots. The report blames the accident on the failure to identify a potential problem in the gearbox just one week before the crash. According to the r...

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A 27 year-old recreational diver went missing Sunday, July 24, 2011, off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.  The diver was part of a group aboard the dive charter vessel John Jack.  The dive group was exploring the wreckage of the Andrea Doria.   The Andrea Doria lies in about 200 feet of water.  It is an Italian luxury vessel which sank a...

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Before the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, seamen were subject to ill treatment, including abuse and atrocious working conditions. They had no legal protection against their employers, and injuries, illness or death at sea were just considered occupational hazards. Part of that 1920 law, the Jones Act, changed those circumstances, giving seamen sp...

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Divers searching the Costa Concordia discovered another body Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 16 in the Italian cruise ship disaster. At least six of the recovered bodies have yet to be identified, but are presumed to include some of the 17 people still unaccounted for. The luxury liner ran aground and capsized Jan. 13 just off the tiny isla...

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On May 8, 2010, the passenger ferry Andrew J. Barberi crashed into the St. George Terminal at Staten Island in New York. The accident resulted in serious injuries to dozens of passengers on board. The National Transportation Safety Board blames loss of propulsion control on the ferry for the accident.  The board also blames the accident on the ...

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Fall accidents are the most frequent cause of spinal cord injuries involving maritime workers. These are some of the most catastrophic injuries, and can lead to lifelong devastating consequences for the worker. These injuries are so catastrophic because there is no complete for spinal injury. However, there has been a lot of interesting new rese...

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A proposed sports arena is the subject of a lawsuit, as a union representing about 3,000 longshoremen says it would put freight movement to the Port of Seattle -- and their jobs -- in jeopardy. The longshoremen’s union is suing the city and county over the plans to build a $490 million sports arena with $200 million in public bonds near Port of...

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Three seamen have filed an $11.5 million lawsuit against their employer, Dredge Operators Inc., claiming they suffered brain and lung injuries after being exposed to epoxy and acid. The lawsuit was filed Aug. 3 in federal court in New Orleans. The men said they suffered brain injuries and permanent disabling injuries to their lungs and other bo...

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Three men are dead and two are still missing after they vanished during a clam digging trip southwest of Kalgin Island in Cook Inlet, Alaska. The Coast Guard began searching after it got a call Tuesday afternoon from Pacific Alaska Shellfish.  The commercial clamming employer told the Coast Guard that five of its maritime employees on board a c...

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If you have been injured in a maritime accident or perhaps been the victim of a crime while on a cruise, the matter of which court has jurisdiction will be particularly important to you.Jurisdiction concerns which court or courts have authority to hear a criminal or civil case, and this can be quite complex when it comes to maritime claims. A ma...

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The questions of liability for workers injured in a maritime environment and the jurisdictions of the courts that may properly hear such maritime claims is complicated by issues such as state versus federal jurisdiction and liability for injuries that arise in areas where state versus national versus international territorial waterways may not b...

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From commercial fishing vessel crew members to offshore oil rig workers, all kinds of maritime workers may be at risk of head and brain injuries.  These are some of the most serious injuries, and can leave a person with long lifelong consequences.  A new study confirms yet another one of those long-term effects of a brain injury.  The study sugg...

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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...

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The body of a shrimper, who disappeared after a maritime accident in Cocodrie, Louisiana has now been found. The accident occurred last week when a 25-foot shrimp boat collided with a aluminum hull vessel.  According to authorities, the accident occurred near the Houma Navigation Canal and Bayou Little Caillou. A seventy-three man on the shrimp...

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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...

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A pipeline fire was finally extinguished after burning in a Louisiana bayou since Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday. One man was critically burned and three others received minor injuries in the blaze, which began when a tug pushing a barge struck the gas pipeline. While the fire was out, the Coast Guard said minimal flaring was continu...

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A California man is the sole confirmed fatality in a deadly fishing boat accident off Baja California.  At least seven people are still missing.   The missing tourists were part of a fishing expedition in Mexico, when their vessel overturned in the early hours of Saturday morning.  The Mexican Navy and the US Coast Guard are continuing efforts t...

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An independent review panel looking at the deaths of four sailors during the April 28 Newport to Ensenada Race said the 37-foot sailboat Aegean ran aground on North Coronado Island. Initial reports suggested the sailboat has collided with a larger ship in the middle of the night. The U.S. Sailing Independent Review based its findings on informa...

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Investigators are looking into the cause of a Hong Kong ferry boat collision that left 38 people dead, including five children, earlier this week. A high-speed ferry and a boat loaded with more than 120 people crashed during a holiday weekend, and the smaller vessel sank quickly.The maritime accident, which occurred on a clear night, is Hong Kon...

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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...

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Maritime piracy around the world hit a five-year low in 2012, the International Maritime Bureau said Wednesday. The agency said 297 attacks were recorded in 2012, down from 439 in 2011.  Those attacks include 28 vessels hijacked, with 585 crewmembers taken hostage and six killed. The data was compiled by the group’s piracy reporting center in M...

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There are many laws, statutes and precedents that apply exclusively to maritime law. There are different regulations and compensation rules for sailors, dock workers, shipbuilders and others who work in port environments. Cargo ships and cruise ships are often owned by citizens of other countries or registered in other countries. This means that...

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The US Coast Guard has issued a marine safety alert, warning vessel owners that many DSC radio distress alerts lack appropriate location and identity information.   The Coast Guard’s new marine radio network is now operational across the country.  Rescue 21 will allow rescue centers to receive immediate distress alerts from DSC -capable VHF mar...

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The world's first clinical trial into the use of embryonic stem cells to treat spinal cord injury is continuing in California. Last week, another patient, the first from California, enlisted in the trial. This person has been paralyzed waist down, and is currently undergoing stem cell injection therapy at the Santa Clara Medical Valley Center. ...

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All crew members on an offshore oil platform operated by Petroleos Mexicano have been evacuated after a fire raged through the platform last week. There were approximately 213 workers on the KU-S platform in the Ku Maloob Zaap field in the Bay of Campeche. This is Mexico's largest oil producing field, and for several years now has been a source...

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Some of the more frequent injuries that maritime lawyers come across are fractures. Most often, these occur during falls on the same level or from a higher elevation. Fractures can also occur when a maritime worker is struck by flying debris, or a falling object. An accident involving heavy machinery can result in a broken bone. Workers can fall...

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Ever since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, maritime law attorneys have found Transocean and BP battling over liability and damages. A judge has ruled that Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, does not have to pay any compensatory damages arising out of the marine pollution that resulted after the disaste...

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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has laid much of the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil explosion last year on BP. However, Transocean, the owner of the rig, and Halliburton, which did much of the cementing work on the vessel, have not been spared blame either. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation an...

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An oil platform operated by Royal Dutch Shell in the North Sea has been partially evacuated after detection of a gas leak. There were a total of 76 crew members on the Gannett Alpha platform operated by Shell in the North Sea. Out of these, 48 members were evacuated, and returned to shore by helicopter. According to Shell, the problem came to l...

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A NATO ship fired at a fishing boat Wednesday off the coast of Somalia in response to attacks from shore and sea by suspected maritime pirates, officials said. The HNMlS Rotterdam, NATO’s flagship for counter-piracy operations, was preparing to inspect the smaller vessel when fighters aboard it launched their attack. The crew of the Rotterdam r...

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After three people were killed in a boat accident in California, investigators are trying to re-create the tragedy, and divers are searching for a recording device that had been mounted on the watercraft ridden by the victims.  The accident occurred in the Puddingstone Reservoir in Eastern Los Angeles County. The three women were on board on a ...

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An important piece of offshore safety legislation that would have clearly defined how drilling safety plans in US waters should progress, is currently left hanging after lawmakers disagreed over revenue sharing payments to states.  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was debating legislation that would enhance offshore drilling sa...

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In the future, offshore oil rigs may be safer because pipes are manufactured with safer materials, thanks to research at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology who are currently using car crash test software to predict pipe fractures. Offshore drilling pipes may be subjected to extreme pressure as they travel deep into the ocean, and require...

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Chevron Corp. officials said 2 workers were missing after a rig off Nigeria’s coast caught fire Monday. The company said that 152 workers had been found, but officials were still accounting for all those working on the offshore rig, which was exploring possible deep-water oil and gas fields. The cause of the fire was still under investigation,...

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Offshore safety regulators in the United Kingdom have made what offshore injury lawyers believe is a major mistake, under pressure from drilling companies. The Health and Safety Executive, which is responsible for safety regulations in the North Sea has lightened the rules for reporting of offshore oil and gas drilling accidents. The announceme...

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A crewman on a tugboat on the Intracoastal Waterway had to be airlifted after he suffered an injury on the tugboat. The Coast Guard conducted a medical evaluation of the injured crewmen. The accident occurred about five miles off Rockport. The crewmember suffered undisclosed injuries, and required medical assistance. The Coast Guard launched re...

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One sailor died and five others were rescued during a race off Southern California, authorities said Saturday. The crew radioed a mayday call Friday night when the the 32-foot Uncontrollable Urge lost steering capabilities. They also activated a feature on the boat that provided GPS coordinates and other information to authorities, but they dec...

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Offshore safety regulators in the UK are concerned about deteriorating equipment on oil rig in the North Sea after a leak from a Shell pipeline just off Aberdeen.  According to documents obtained by an offshore workers union, the Health and Safety Executive is concerned about the safety of these rigs. The Health and Safety Executive has sent no...

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Attacks against merchant ships off the coast of Somalia fell to a six-year low in the third quarter of the year with the increase of armed guards on vessels and naval patrols, the London-based International Maritime Bureau reported. There was one attack on a ship, compared to 36 in the same time period last year. There was a total of $1.3 billi...

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Five crewmembers were killed and three injured during a safety drill when a lifeboat from a cruise ship fell upside down into the sea earlier this month. The British-operated vessel was in port when the accident occurred, with about 1,400 passengers onboard. When emergency crews arrived on the scene, the small lifeboat could be seen capsized al...

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Globs of oil found on two Louisiana beaches after Hurrican Isaac has been confirmed as coming from the 2010 BP oil spill. Louisiana State University tested the oil, found on Elmer’s Island and Grand Isle, for state wildlife officials. It was found to match the biological fingerprint of the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spilled into...

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The Jones Act allows a maritime worker to file a claim against a vessel owner, if he has been injured by unsafe work conditions on a vessel. These claims are called unseaworthiness claims, and are filed only against the vessel owner, not the employer. However, in some cases, the vessel owner may be the employer of the worker, in which case, he m...

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A person may have a maritime law claim if they have been injured while working aboard a ship, but there are many other factors that must be considered.The ship’s nation of origin, where the ship was, and who owns the ship or who employs the worker are all things to be taken into consideration when deciding whether a maritime lawsuit is a viable ...

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A longshore worker who filed a claim under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act claiming negligence has had his claim rejected due to insufficient evidence. The man, who worked for a stevedoring company, alleged that he suffered injuries when he fell from a rope ladder on a vessel.  According to his claim, as he was going down the...

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The captain of a cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast Friday, leaving 6 dead, is being held by authorities for suspected manslaughter. A search of the ship was continuing Monday in rough seas for 16 people still unaccounted for. A prosecutor confirmed they also were investigating allegations that the captain abandoned...

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A maritime accident involving a cargo ship in Kentucky caused a partial bridge collapse last week. According to officials, the accident occurred near the US 68/KY 80 bridge over Kentucky Lake. The cargo ship, the MV Delta Mariner, struck the bridge in the late evening. The 30-foot vessel was carrying rocket components for Boeing at the time. Fo...

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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...

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If you have been injured in the course of work on a vessel, you may be wondering whether you need to consult a Jones Act lawyer. The answer, in most cases, is yes. The Jones Act is a federal law that provides a different system for workers compensation for those designated as “seamen.” The complexities of this maritime law are such that, even i...

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Documents, obtained from a suspected terrorist who was questioned by police in Berlin, reveal plans by the terrorist group Al Qaeda to attack cruise vessels. The documents, which have now been obtained by CNN, have been retrieved from the terrorist, an Austrian man, who was questioned by police. Investigators found digital storage devices and s...

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Oil and gas crews are getting back to work in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Isaac passed. The storm has reportedly caused only minor damage to rigs and platforms. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Monday that more than 58 percent of daily oil production and 39 percent of daily natural gas production in the Gulf is sti...

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An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed that pilot error caused a collision involving a chemical tanker and a container ship in the Houston Ship Channel last year. The accident occurred in the Houston Ship Channel in October 2011. The Greek-flagged tanker Elka Apollon was sailing outbound in the Houston Ship C...

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A worker on an offshore platform in the Gulf Of Mexico had to be airlifted after he suffered injuries in an accident.  According to the Coast Guard, the man was injured on a platform located about 55 miles southwest of Marsh Island. Crewmembers contacted the Coast Guard Sector New Orleans to alert them that a man on board had suffered serious f...

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Francesco Schettino, former captain of the Costa Concordia, faced survivors of the fatal cruise ship crash as proceedings began in determining whether he would stand trial for allegations of manslaughter and abandoning ship. Six crewmembers, including Schettino, are under investigation, as well as three workers in Costa’s crisis unit.  Schetti...

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Last Friday, a U.S. judge gave the final approval to BP’s settlement with individuals and businesses who lost money and property as a result of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that followed the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The settlement addressed only issues of economic and property damage claims and did not separate medical benefits s...

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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has been strongly focused on increasing offshore worker safety and preventing accidents like the Gulf of Mexico BP explosion last year.  The agency has had its work cut out for it, as it struggles to deal with years of ineptitude, negligence and inappropriate relationships between...

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A commercial diver who was working 242 feet underwater in the North Sea survived for 38 minutes on just his emergency air tank after his air supply line was snagged and severed. The diver, Chris Lemons, had fallen unconscious by the time colleagues found him and pulled him to safety. He was revived and made a full recovery after decompression t...

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The search for missing passengers off the Italian coast amid the wreckage of the Costa Concordia was suspended Wednesday after the ship shifted on the rocks, making the situation too dangerous for rescue workers. Since the luxury liner crashed into rocks and capsized Friday, 11 people have been confirmed dead, and 23 are still missing. Salvage ...

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The Centers for Disease Control cited enough violations during a surprise inspection to give the cruise ship Veendam a failing grade, an uncommon occurrence in the industry. Holland America, which owns the vessel, said the score was an “aberration.” Inspectors noted multiple sanitation violations during the Aug. 19 visit, including a fly on the...

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Thirteen crewmembers from a fishing vessel are missing after the ship collided with a large cargo ship off the northeast coast of Japan. The vessels collided about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Japanese coast guard rescue planes were deployed to search for survivors. Of the fishing boat’s crew, nine were rescued by a nearby vessel, and 13 still are missing...

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The U.S. Coast Guard today halted the search for a cruise ship passenger who reportedly fell overboard into the Atlantic, 47 miles east of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Sunday night. Another passenger aboard the Allure of the Seas cruise ship, as well as a surveillance camera, witnessed the 21-year-old woman from Bartlett, Tenn., falling overboard....

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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 ...

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The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final findings after an investigation into the 2009 boating accident in the San Diego Bay that killed a young boy.  According to the report, the accident was the result of excessive speeds by the Coast Guard boat involved in the accident as well as lack of oversight by the Coast Guard. T...

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A container ship capsized Monday evening in strong winds off the east coast of China, killing at least 11 crewmembers. Two crewmembers are still missing. Officials said two rescue vessels and a helicopter were searching for the missing crewmembers Tuesday. One man lost consciousness and was rescued by helicopter. The vessel was on its way from...

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A local barge company has been cited for 40 safety violations following an April flash fire that left two employees dead at its Freeport facility. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration cited Texas Barge & Boat Inc. with one willful and 39 serious violations, as well as penalties of about $220,000, after inspectors investigated the i...

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A fire on a pair of Mobile River barges that sparked explosions and left three workers injured has been put out, according to the U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday. The workers, who were getting the barges ready for reloading at the time of the initial explosion on Wednesday night, sustained severe burn injuries, Mobile fire officials said. The work...

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Six oil workers were rescued after they were stranded for three days post Tropical Storm Nate in the Gulf of Mexico. The seventh worker, who had been rescued, died in the hospital. Out of the ten workers who were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico, two died and their bodies have been recovered. Search efforts for a missing crewmember are still on. ...

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A number of recent maritime incidents have had maritime lawyers concerned about increased access to technology on vessels, and the accident risks from this. In one incident, reported by the London P & I Club in its Stoploss Bulletin, a recent pollution-incident was caused by a duty officer's distraction.  The officer was apparently trying to ma...

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Passengers on a Cougar helicopter that was ferrying offshore workers to St. John's suffered a nasty shock last week, when the helicopter suffered serious problems and barely avoided a crash. The helicopter had just taken off from the Sea Rose Floating Production, Storage and Offloading facility when it experienced a sudden increase in pitch.  T...

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In 2011, there was a decline in the number of pirate attacks reported across the world, including the Somali Coastline where most of these incidents occur annually. However, according to the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Center, the decline has been slight, and maritime piracy lawyers must continue their concern over piracy off ...

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The Justice Department on Thursday announced that a settlement of $1.4 billion had been reached with Transocean for civil and criminal claims concerning the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blowout in 2010. An explosion at the oil rig, owned by driller Transocean, left 11 men dead and millions of gallons of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.  Transo...

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A report by Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency reveals that an offshore oil leak near a Chevron well in 2011 could have been prevented and was larger than previously estimated. Previous estimates put the leak at 110,000 gallons, which Chevron says it sticks by. But the Brazilian agency says about 155,000 gallons leaked into the ocean. The repor...

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A fuel tank exploded and caught fire close to a cruise ship in the North Mole Cruise Line terminal of the British territory of Gibraltar on Tuesday, injuring at least two people.  The diesel fuel tank was used to refuel ships, and was located extremely close to the giant Royal Caribbean cruise ship the Independence of the Seas.  This type of fi...

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BP on Saturday completed a subsea mission to determine whether the Deepwater Horizon site is again leaking oil, the U.S. Coast Guard announced today, but the results of the search have yet to be released.  As of Friday, no leak had been found, according to the Coast Guard’s on-scene coordinator, Capt. Duke Walker. Walker said the remotely opera...

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A Shell Oil drilling ship lost its mooring in Alaska’s Dutch Harbor last week, drifting dangerously close to shore. Despite witness claims, inspections by divers show no evidence that the ship ran aground.  The 571-foot Noble Discoverer is part of the Shell fleet getting ready for exploratory drilling in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi and Bea...

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In spite of all the attention on the maritime piracy menace and increased patrolling along the Somali coastline, there has been a record increase in pirate attacks reported from around the globe this year.  According to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, there were a record 142 attacks during the fi...

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The National Transportation Safety Board has released the results of an investigation into a maritime accident in the Sabine-Neches Canal last year that resulted in thousands of gallons of oil being spilled into the water.  The accident occurred in January 2010, and involved a collision between the tank ship Eagle Otome the cargo vessel Gulf Ar...

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A crewmember on an offshore supply vessel that ran aground at the Galveston North Jetty last week, sustained injuries, and had to be taken to the hospital. The accident occurred at the Galveston Jetties over the weekend when the offshore supply vessel, the Ashton T ran aground. The 94-foot vessel was carrying about 1,600 gallons of diesel fuel a...

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In our maritime law practice, we pride ourselves on using the latest technologies, gadgetry and tools to win our clients’ cases.  It turns out that these toys can do more than just speed up research, help brainstorming and facilitate instant communication.  They can also help maritime workers who have suffered a brain injury, cope with their mem...

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Rescue operations again were suspended Friday after the stricken Costa Concordia shifted in choppy seas off the Italian coast, increasing concerns about a possible fuel leak. Eleven people have been confirmed dead and at least 22 are still missing after the cruise liner struck rocks and capsized off the coast of the tiny island of Giglio. Also...

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The captain of a Malta-flagged cargo ship was charged with negligent operation of a vessel last week, after he was found operating a vessel with several times above the allowed limit of alcohol in his system. The captain of the MV Laconia was arrested after the Coast Guard inspected the vessel, and found him under the influence of alcohol. Earl...

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The Chief Officer of a cargo ship which ran aground on the southern coast of the Island of Bute last year has been fined. The accident has been linked to the Chief Officer falling asleep at the wheel. The accident occurred on July 2, 2012, when the cargo ship Coastal Isle was on its way from Belfast to Greenock. Fortunately, there were no injur...

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Every Jones Act seaman is eligible for maintenance and cure payments after an injury. These payments do not depend on whether the employer or the worker was responsible for the injury.  Maintenance payments are meant to cover the seaman's living expenses during the injury. These payments should cover rent, groceries, utility expenses, travel co...

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Soon, maritime workers who suffer severe or multiple fractures in a workplace accident may have access to a much quicker treatment using ultrasound. Doctors in Scotland have successfully experimented with a new technology using ultrasound to treat fractures. The techniques have been used at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The technique involves us...

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The pilot who was navigating an 810-foot tanker through the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel in 2010 was tired and suffering from a sleep disorder, while the second pilot was reading a newspaper, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report. Federal investigators said Tuesday that these factors, in conjunction with lax regulations, cont...

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A sightseeing vessel ran aground in Alaska’s Glacier Bay, filling the vessel with water. Seventy-six people were rescued, but none were seriously injured, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. The boat was stabilized after the accident, and there were no signs of spills or other pollution. Most of the passengers were transferred to a Holland America...

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The U.S. Coast Guard has ordered an investigation into why the tall ship HMS Bounty set sail and sank as Hurricane Sandy headed for the northeast last week. The search for the ship’s missing captain also has been called off."We'll be looking into anything that may have caused the incident or contributed to it, communications, records, schematics...

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Efforts to clean up an oil spill continued today after the collision of a Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier and a Korean-registered Liquefied Petroleum Gas carrier at the Temasek Fairway outside Singapore. No one was injured and port operations were not affected by the incident, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. The shi...

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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...

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The maritime lawyers at our firm are no strangers to Transocean's sorry safety record. Now, offshore petroleum safety regulators in Norway have also criticized the company for its frequent violations of regulations.  The Norway Petroleum Safety Authority has ordered Transocean improve its maintenance oversight. The order came after an audit, ca...

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A man who was at the controls of a powerboat that crashed into a sailboat off Hull, Massachusetts, has been arrested and charged with operating a boat while drunk. The accident which occurred over the weekend resulted in the death of a female passenger in the powerboat.  She was thrown out of the boat on impact.  Police at the scene found signs...

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The International Chamber Of Commerce International Maritime Bureau’s latest global piracy report has both good and bad news for maritime lawyers. The bad news is that pirate attacks continued to rise this year to record levels. The good news however, is that more and more vessels are being successful in thwarting pirate attacks. According to t...

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No crewmembers have been reported injured in a maritime accident involving a Transocean oil rig and a supply vessel off the coast of Newfoundland. According to offshore safety regulators, the collision involved the offshore drilling rig GSF Grand Banks, owned by Transocean Ltd. and working for Husky Energy Inc., off the Newfoundland coastline. ...

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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...

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Transocean has released its investigative report into the Gulf Of Mexico oil rig explosion last April.  Not surprisingly to maritime lawyers, the company has chosen to place the blame for the explosion on BP. According to the Transocean press release, soon after the Deepwater Horizon explosion last year, the company commissioned an internal inv...

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A Coast Guard helicopter crew medically evacuated a man from a tanker in the Gulf of Mexico on Feb. 3 after he was struck by a crane while working on deck. The 435-foot Stolt Flamenco was about 50 miles southeast of the Texas-Mexico border when the Filipino man was struck and lost feeling in the lower half of his body. The Coast Guard Sector Co...

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A worker on an oil rig owned by Brazil's national oil and gas agency has been killed in a fall accident. According to Brazilian state-controlled Petrobras, the accident occurred last week on the PUB-03 oil rig, which is located in the Rio Grande do Norte in the northeastern part of the country. The worker and two of his colleagues fell on the d...

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The man involved in a deadly shooting at a beauty salon in California which killed 8 people, reportedly suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought on by a maritime accident he had been involved in. The man used to be a maritime worker, and had worked on tugboats, barges and fishing vessels. In 2007, he was severely injured in an accid...

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Maritime piracy has existed nearly as long as maritime shipping and commerce. Knowing a little about the history of prosecuting pirates and how international law has evolved can help a maritime lawyer in cases involving victims of this crime.Crime Against CommerceIn the past, maritime traditions quickly developed to give jurisdiction to any nati...

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a shipbuilder for safety violations that contributed to the death of one worker last August. The company Jeffboat LLC is one of the country's largest inland ship builders. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched inspections of the company's barge building facilities,...

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A seaman his filed suit in a New Orleans federal court, claiming he sustained disabling injuries from a fall after slipping on a vessel’s wooden floor. The Jones Act lawsuit accuses Big R Towing Inc. of negligence for failing to maintain the vessel and her appurtenances in a safe and reasonable state of repair.  The lawsuit also claims the defe...

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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 ...

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The British government has finally agreed to allow British-flagged vessels to carry armed guards to protect them from pirate attacks. Prime Minister Mr. David Cameron announced that he was allowing this measure in order to protect vessels from pirate attacks, especially off the coast of Somalia. According to the British government, no vessel th...

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Researchers in Hawaii have confirmed that a massive floating island of tsunami debris from Japan is likely to hit the Hawaiian coast by the year 2013. Researchers are currently conducting more studies to more accurately predict exactly when the debris is likely to hit shore. In September, a Russian ship sailing in the Pacific Ocean found the ts...

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When it comes to the use of personal flotation devices, most crabbers agree that these devices can be the only thing that saves their lives if they're unlucky enough to fall overboard. However, many crabbers avoid wearing personal flotation devices because these are seen as uncomfortable. The National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health...

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A Shell oil rig that ran aground on an Alaskan island last week during stormy weather finally reached safe harbor Monday. The rig, which was pulled from a towing ship last week and grounded on the shore of Sitkalidak Island, will be checked out to determine its seaworthiness. No signs of breaches were found on the Kulluk’s fuel tanks. The drill...

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In the wake of the Costa Concordia cruise ship tragedy, attention has been focused on what seems to be the despicable behavior of the captain, Francesco Schettino. He currently faces charges of manslaughter in the tragedy that has confirmed to have killed more than 11 people. However, it is his behavior in abandoning his vessel while passengers ...

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GULF OF MEXICO — Air and sea search teams continued Saturday to hunt for 10 oil workers missing in the Gulf of Mexico after they abandoned a disabled research vessel. Five helicopters, a fixed-wing airplane and two vessels searched for the men in Mexico, said Brenda Taquino, spokesperson for Houston-based Geokinetics. Geokinetics contracted the...

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A crew member on a freighter had to be airlifted by a Coast Guard helicopter after he suffered injuries on the vessel last week. The vessel was located just about 50 miles off the coast of Trinidad, California.  Crew members on the 700-foot MV Caribbean contacted the Coast Guard to report that one of their coworkers had been severely injured af...

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Five more bodies were found Tuesday, bringing the total dead to 11 after the Costa Concordia hit rocks and capsized Friday off the Italian coast. The search for missing continued as navy explosives experts blasted a hole in the vessel’s hull to provide access to search-and-rescue teams. The ship’s captain was still in jail as investigators cont...

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While assisting in running pipeline on a platform off the coast of Mexico in 2010, a 40-year-old welder was injured when his hand was caught in a snatch pulley. The man suffered partial severing to 8 fingers and an injury to his right shoulder. The incident occurred when the worker was securing a cable that ran through a 36-inch pipeline. Witho...

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A British Petroleum executive is defending a report on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in federal court in New Orleans today. Mark Bly was in charge of the company’s investigation into the explosion that killed 11 people and sent millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s the fourth day of testimony. The civil trial ...

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For maritime workers, the risk of on-the-job injury is higher than in many other occupations. Knowing your rights is important, and there are a host of errors many workers make when filing maritime claims after being hurt.Whether you have been injured already or are just looking to become informed about your legal rights, knowing these common mi...

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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 ...

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A coalition of environmental groups from five states filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court claiming the Environmental Protection Agency rules on chemical dispersants used in oil spill cleanups do not adhere to clean water standards. The lawsuit says the EPA has not published regulations on acceptable use of such dispersants in response to oil...

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A Shell oil rig that ran aground last week has been cited by the U.S. EPA for violating nine conditions of its air-quality permit while drilling in the waters off Alaska, according to a letter issued by the agency Thursday. The findings are the latest in a string of setbacks for the company’s much-debated $5 billion Arctic drilling plans. The K...

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Commercial divers can suffer serious injuries or even die as a result of employer negligence. However, not all commercial divers may be eligible for Jones Act seaman status, which means that they may not be eligible to file a lawsuit under the Act.The very first condition that a commercial diver must satisfy is that he must meet the requirements...

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A maritime accident involving two barges on the Mississippi River led to an oil spill, and caused a portion of the river to be closed down recently. The accident occurred on the Mississippi River about 50 miles from New Orleans. The accident involved a construction barge that was being towed by the tugboat Alydar and the tank barge, which was b...

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If you have sustained a maritime injury, knowing where to turn can be quite difficult. This is especially true for individuals who are not familiar with maritime injuries, as trying to learn more about this type of injury and how it might affect you can be easier said than done.The most important thing after suffering an injury is to have a stro...

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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...

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Maritime piracy lawyers know attacks are on the rise in the Gulf of Guinea off Togo, as evidenced by the seizure of a Greek-run oil tanker, the MT Energy Centurion.  Pirates stole 3,000 tons of fuel from the ship then released it, officials said. They also took jewelry and money from the crew. The pirates escaped Thursday in a lifeboat taken fr...

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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...

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A man caught beneath a crane while working at the Houston Ship Channel on Tuesday night died after being rushed to the hospital. The man was working at the Barbours Cut Terminal when he was caught beneath a crane that started to move, said Joe Trevino, vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association. The man’s legs were severed ...

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A 15-year-old passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship has alleged that she was sexually assaulted by two fellow passengers on a cruise line this Christmas.  The two male passengers, including a 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy, are being accused of luring the young girl to a private room, where they allegedly raped her. The incident occ...

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  Salvage divers have been searching the waters for answers after the Gulf of Mexico vessel collision last week.  It has now been confirmed that on Saturday, the divers located the body of Lindsey A. Tucker, the cook aboard the commercial fishing vessel Sandy Point.  The body was found in the cabin of the sunken pogy boat.  The two other crew m...

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The cruise line company that operated the Costa Concordia, the cruise vessel that partially sank off the Italian coast killing 32 people, has now launched a new cruise ship.  The Costa Fascinosa cost $530 million to build, and weighs more than 140,000 tons. The launch of the ship comes just months after the Costa Concordia disaster. The Costa C...

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Two students nearly drowned this morning during a training exercise at The Ocean Corporation commercial diving school in Houston. The two were rushed by helicopter to Memorial Hermann - The Texas Medical Center, but their conditions were not released. The incident occurred about 10 a.m. in an indoor tank used for training underwater welding and...

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Seven crew members, including six Russians and one Estonian, were kidnapped from an offshore support vessel off the coast of Nigeria after it was boarded by gunmen. Bourbon Offshore, the owner of the attacked vessel, confirmed that nine other crewmembers were still aboard the Bourbon Liberty 249 and in good health. The Paris-based company is in...

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A Brazilian court has barred several employees of Chevron and Transocean from leaving the country, even as law enforcement officers in the country prepare to file criminal charges against them. The charges are related to an offshore spill involving the company. Last week, the Brazilian Navy reported that a new oil sheen was detected at the oilf...

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Tug boat pilot, Matthew Devlin, pled guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge on Monday, August 1, 2011.  Two tourists died from the accident on July 7, 2010, when a barge crashed into a duck boat that was stalled in the Delaware River.  The operator did not receive notice that the duck boat was stopped in his path because he had turned his ...

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A 94-foot ship carrying about 1,650 gallons of diesel fuel ran aground Friday on the North Jetty in Galveston.The incident did not cause damage to the fuel tanks, and crews were working to remove the vessel without causing a spill. One crew member aboard the M/V Ashton T suffered a minor injury and was taken to an area hospital, authorities said...

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One of the factors that ultimately contributed to the deadly Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion last year was the lack of adequate inspection and oversight by the federal administration.  Currently, lone inspectors are sent for inspections of oil rigs.  That could soon change, with the federal administration announcing that from now on, teams o...

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Frustrated at the continuing growth of piracy especially in the Indian Ocean region, shipping industry groups have asked the United Nations to step in and create an armed military force.  Four shipping industry associations, including the International Chamber of Shipping, InterCargo, BIMCO and INTERTANKO have written a letter to the United Nat...

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A crane operator was fortunate to escape without serious injuries in an accident on a barge on Muskegon Lake, Michigan.  The crane tipped over, trapping the operator underneath.  The 38-year-old operator had been using the crane for lifting when it suddenly tipped over.  A steel beam crashed through the cabin of the crane, trapping the operator ...

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Both cruise ship crew members and passengers may be eligible for damages in the event of an accident or injury on a vessel. However, the laws governing compensation for crewmembers are different from those for passengers. Passengers on a cruise vessel could suffer fall accidents, or accidents in the swimming pool or other amusement facilities o...

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A scientific panel is recommending that U.S. offshore drilling companies take a more systematic approach to offshore safety in order to prevent a disaster like the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last year.  The recommendations were made by the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. In a new report, the two ag...

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If you are one of the tens of millions of Americans living with a medical implant such as an artificial joint or surgical mesh, you probably assumed the device was well-tested for safety. In most cases, you’d be wrong. According to Consumer Reports, most medical implants and other high-risk devices aren’t safety tested before hitting the market...

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A fire on a Norwegian cruise ship led to the deaths of two crewmembers, and evacuation of passengers on board.   The incident occurred last week, on the MS Nordly. The ship was sailing with 260 people on board, including crewmembers.  The fire broke out in the engine room and quickly spread.  Once it became clear that the fire was out of contro...

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Royal Dutch Shell is trying to defend its offshore safety record, after attacks by environmental safety groups over a leak from a Shell platform in the North Sea. Shell has confirmed that it has managed to plug the leak from its Gannet Alpha platform which is located just 112 miles off Aberdeen, Scotland.  The leak resulted in more than 200 ton...

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Maritime accidents are a special type of case. A person’s right to a maritime claim for an injury that occurred at sea can vary by the status of the person, whether the injured person is a passenger or a crewmember of the vessel on which the injury occurred.The legal issues involving accidents covered by maritime law can be totally different fro...

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Noble Corporation is continuing investigations into an accident at the Jurong Shipyard that injured more than 80 workers in December. The company now says that it has conducted an inspection of the Noble Regina Allen jack up which tilted on December 3, injuring several workers. The inspection has not revealed any damage to the legs, jacking syst...

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An offshore worker on an oil and gas platform off the coast of Louisiana was killed in an accident  when he fell through a deck opening earlier this week.  The accident occurred at about 4 AM on Monday.  According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy to Management, Regulation and Enforcement, the man was working on a natural gas producing platform t...

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Over the past few years, as fishing vessels, cargo ships and other types of vessels avoid any travel in the Indian Ocean because of the threat of pirate attacks, it is not just the global economy that has suffered.  Collection of scientific data which has traditionally depended on the movement of vessels in these waters has also been impacted. ...

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An investigation by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement says that a number of violations and deficiencies contributed to the fire on an offshore platform off the coast of Louisiana last year.  According to the investigation, one of the reasons for the fire was the collapse of a tube inside a piece of equipment that ...

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The Christmas holiday cruise season will soon get underway, and thousands of vacationers across the country will set off on a dream vacation on the sea. It is the right time for passengers to understand that there are dangers on a cruise vacation that they may not always be aware of.  MSNBC has a timely report on an increasing number of inciden...

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Alabama is suing the federal government over changes to how it calculates royalties from offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The state is attempting to block the changes, which could cost it at least $7.5 million. The lawsuit has been combined with a similar complaint from Louisiana; both cases are pending in federal court in Washington, D....

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Seven crew members have been reported dead in a tugboat explosion tragedy off the coast of Qatar. The accident occurred one week ago, when an offshore LNG buoy terminal exploded. The crewmembers were conducting maintenance work on the buoy at the time of the explosion.  According to some sources, only one of the crew members on the tugboat esca...

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The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday located two men on a shrimping boat who had been reported missing. Manuel Gallardo Castillo and Faulsto Gomez Jr. left Brownsville on Thursday, heading for Tampico, Mexico. Coast Guard searchers found the men about 1 a.m. Sunday, a day after they were reported missing. The Mexican navy also was dispatched to help...

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The problem of Somali piracy is a complicated one, and includes a number of issues, from socio-economic collapse to tribal rivalries that need to be taken into consideration. The British Prime Minister recently hosted an international conference on Somali piracy.  The conference included representatives from more than 40 countries and internati...

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Barely a few weeks after the deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster, passengers on another cruise vessel have been traumatized by a cruise ship accident.  According to Costa Cruises, a fire recently broke out in the engine room of the Costa Allegra. Cruise officials insist that the fire was contained and extinguished quickly. The fire did ...

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The international community has intensified efforts to prevent pirate attacks, and it is not surprising to see that pirates have been changing tactics to keep pace too. Typically, pirate attacks slump during the monsoon season. However, this year, the International Maritime Bureau has issued a statement warning seamen and shipping companies of ...

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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...

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Australian unions have raised an outcry over the treatment of a large group of crewmembers on board two vessels, who are reportedly severely ill, and are being forced by their employers to continue working. The Australian Manufacturers Workers Union is calling attention towards the poor working conditions and ill-treatment of workers on the 2 v...

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The man killed in an offshore crane accident on Tuesday has been identified as  20-year-old Brandon Noland.  The Katy resident died at the platform where he was working that morning after a crane collapsed and hit him.  The autopsy released by the medical examiner's office stated that he died of blunt-force trauma from a crushing injury. By fol...

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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...

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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...

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Despite underwater inspections at the site of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP has failed to identify the source of a persistent oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico, officials announced Tuesday. Recent inspections confirmed that the Macondo well is secure, both BP and the U.S. Coast Guard said. The well, which blew out in 2010 and poured mi...

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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...

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The Death on the High Seas Act is a set of maritime laws that provides compensation for family members of seamen killed in international waters. Under the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), survivors of a seaman, who is killed at least three miles off US waters due to negligence, may be eligible for compensation. However, there are certain res...

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The U.S. Coast Guard had to undertake a medical evacuation of a containership crewmember, who suffered a serious injury on the vessel. The man was a crew member on the 855-foot Antigua and Barbados-flagged vessel Mare Phoenicium. The 62-year-old man had suffered a severed finger on his left hand. There is no information about how the injury occu...

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Close to a dozen people, including crew members and passengers, have been confirmed dead in the deadly Costa Concordia cruise line accident last week. While people have been seeing horrific images of the overturned vessel and the rescue operations, the New York Times is drawing attention to what maritime lawyers know is a serious problem - the l...

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The families of 39 crewmembers of the Russian oil rig which collapsed and sank off the coast of Russia last week, are coming to terms with the fact that their loved ones will never be found. Mixed with sorrow is also anger that company officials went ahead with what was possibly a suicidal towing mission. The Kolskaya oil and gas drilling platf...

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The International Maritime Organization has released data to mark 12 months of battling piracy. According to the statistics, the number of vessels held captive by Somali pirate gangs has dropped from 33 ships in February to 13 at the beginning of December. Further, the number of seamen being held captive by Somali pirates has dropped from 733 in...

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The maritime lawyers of Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P. have handled all types of offshore injury cases in our 47 years of practice.  And, in our experience, some of the most traumatic injuries occur with amputations or partial-amputations.   Obviously, losing a limb or part of a limb is devastating to any person.  But to the men ...

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A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer collided with a Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker Sunday near the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The crash occurred about 1 a.m. local time. The cause of the incident is under investigation, but the Navy said it was “not combat related.” No one was injured, and no spills or leakages were re...

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A final set of federal safety regulations were issued last week for offshore drilling. The rules are a fine-tuning of the emergency measures enacted after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. The rules deal with how wells are designed and the testing of the cement and barriers that are used to secure them. The go...

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Whether you work as a seaman, dockworker or offshore laborer, if you’ve been injured during the course of your marine industry job then you likely have rights under maritime law. Depending on your occupation, your injury claim is subject to different requirements and compensation rules. Qualified maritime lawyers can help you determine which la...

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A crew member has been reported killed in a deadly fire that raged through a tugboat near Prince Edward Point, Ontario. According to earlier news reports, the man, a chief engineer on the vessel, had sustained serious injuries. He has now succumbed to those injuries. At the time of the accident, there were six people on the vessel, including th...

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A judge has handed plaintiffs, who sustained losses during the BP oil rig explosion last year, a huge victory.  He has ruled that BP can indeed be sued for punitive damages.  According to Judge Carl Barbier plaintiffs are allowed under maritime law to make a claim for punitive damages. BP, Transocean and other defendants have insisted that puni...

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In rare cases, a maritime worker may have his rights to maintenance and cure denied because of undesirable behavior like alcohol or drug use. In a classic example of such a case, a worker who filed a lawsuit against Omega Protein Inc. has had his claim rejected. The man was a worker on board the company's fishing vessel, and sustained injuries ...

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The European Council on Monday approved launching a civilian mission to support anti-piracy efforts in the Horn of Africa and Western Indian Ocean. Maritime piracy lawyers know these waters as some of the most dangerous for pirate activity. The two-year mission, EUCAP Nestor, aims to train and equip coast guard services and improve maritime sec...

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A judge’s approval of $7.8 billion class-action lawsuit against BP for damages from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is being appealed by more than 10,000 individuals and businesses. The company agreed in March to a settlement of an estimated $7.8 billion for most private plaintiff’s claims of economic loss, property damage and injuries stemmi...

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A bill introduced in the US House of Representatives would require rescue boats to be stationed within three nautical miles of offshore oil and gas drilling rigs.  The measure has been sponsored by Louisiana Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia. According to him, the proposal aims to find a common sense approach to the safety problems facing the offs...

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Commercial divers can suffer serious injuries or even die as a result of employer negligence. However, not all commercial divers may be eligible for Jones Act seaman status, which means that they may not be eligible to file a lawsuit under the Act.The very first condition that a commercial diver must satisfy is that he must meet the requirements...

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The submerged wreckage of the fishing vessel Foxy Lady II, reported missing with two crew members in December, was found by the U.S. Coast Guard off the Massachusetts coast. The two missing crewmembers, Captain Wallace Gray Jr. and Wayne Young, were not found. After receiving multiple reports of fishing vessels becoming entangled by an underwat...

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According to the International Maritime Pilots Association, a ship pilot was killed recently during a fall accident on a vessel. The 58-year-old pilot was on a vessel that was sailing on the River Elbe. At the time of the accident, the pilot was attempting to board the boat. He had been standing on a ladder, when he slipped and fell into the wat...

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The International Maritime Bureau reported just one attempted attack by Somali pirates between July and September, a large decline from 36 in the same timeframe last year. According to Captain Bruce Legge, director of operations for the multinational Combine Maritime Forces, the drop is largely due to CMF’s coordinated anti-piracy efforts with t...

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Families of seamen killed in the course of work may have legal recourse under U.S. maritime laws. The circumstances will determine which laws you are able to file claims under.  If your loved one was killed at sea while working, an experienced maritime lawyer can help determine your rights and assist you in deciding whether to file a claim. Wh...

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Investigations into the death of a chief engineer on an Australian cruise vessel during a routine drill, have focused on a lot of flaws in the systems in place on the vessel, the Oceanic Discoverer. According to investigations, the crew member died after he suffered crushing injuries when he was trapped in a watertight door. In March 2009, the ...

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All crew members on a Transocean semisubmersible rig off Ghana are reported to be uninjured after reports of water on board.  The water ingress on the Transocean Marianas came to light when the crew members were getting ready to move location.  According to Transocean, the rig was not drilling at the time.  However, all 108 nonessential personne...

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Police have managed to identify the man who was killed in a barge accident in New Jersey recently. The man was killed when he was pinned under a barge under Route 35 on the Sayreville side of the Morgan Bridge. The deceased was a US Marine veteran.  There are few details about how this accident occurred. Some reports have indicated that the man...

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Russian authorities are promising tough action against a riverboat operator after a deadly boat accident in the Volga River that has left more than 100 people dead.     The boat capsized on Sunday.  73 people have been confirmed dead.  Dozens more, including children are still missing.  Hopes for more survivors have been dimming.   The dead ...

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Six crewmembers on a fishing vessel had to be rescued after their fishing boat sank off Catalina Island last week.  According to the Coast Guard, the fishing vessel, the Midnight Star, ha 6 members on board, when it sank for unknown reasons near Eagle Rock.     Four fishermen were able to leave the boat in a stiff.  Two of the crewmembers fell ...

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BP is beginning the fifth day of a subsea mission, under U.S. Coast Guard supervision, to search for possible oil leaks from the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to reports. The oil rig explosion in 2010 killed 11 workers and leaked more than 7 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over three months before it was finall...

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Electricity is an integral part of the modern workplace, and therefore, workers in all kinds of industries may be exposed to electrical injuries. However, maritime workers may be at an especially high risk of serious electrocutions or electrical injuries, because they work in an environment that constantly brings electricity in contact with wate...

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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...

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The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week in a case focusing on whether a houseboat qualifies as a “vessel” under federal maritime laws. Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach centers on a Florida man’s houseboat, which until being sold at auction and destroyed was attached to a dock and unable to navigate on water without being towed...

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A female Houston port worker had a lucky escape, after she fell inside the hull of a vessel last week.  The maritime accident occurred in the Port of Houston.  The woman apparently fell into the cargo hold.  Emergency rescue personnel, including firefighters from the Houston Fire Department were summoned to the scene.   A total of 15 fire resc...

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The use of separate MRI and PET scans to detect brain injury could soon be a thing of the past. The National Institutes of Health Clinical Center has begun using a device that combines both MRI and PET scans. The MRI scan can be used to look for abnormalities in the body, while the PET scan gives information about metabolic activity in the abnor...

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A tugboat pilot convicted in the July 2010 crash of a barge and tour boat that left two Hungarian tourists dead said in a deposition that the collision could have been avoided if he had been at his post. Matt Devlin, who is serving a one-year sentence for the maritime equivalent of involuntary manslaughter, was on a cellphone for a family emerg...

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A crane collapsed while loading equipment onto a work boat, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement report.  On Tuesday, August 16, 2011, the boom hoist cable failed, killing one worker on the site in the Gulf of Mexico.  The platform, owned by Energy Resource Technology, is now the site of an investigation...

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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...

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As maritime attorneys, we know that surgery after a spinal cord injury can help management of pain in such patients.  However, new research out of the UK suggests that surgery after an injury can also benefit the patient by dramatically lowering his death risks.  According to the data presented at a conference of the British Geriatrics Society,...

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Recently, the nation, and in fact the world, watched transfixed as news channels carried hour-by-hour coverage of the ordeal of passengers on the Carnival Triumph, as it floated helplessly on the water. A fire had disabled the engines, and the ship was left with thousands of passengers and crewmembers on board, and no power and no water supply. ...

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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 ...

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The cruise industry has been working hard on developing stronger safety standards in the wake of the deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship accident off the Italian coast. The world’s largest cruise industry group has now announced that it is implementing new rules that will achieve substantial improvements in safety standards. Cruise Lines Interna...

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According to a report by NPR, fishing continued to be the deadliest occupation for workers in the United States, accounting for 121.2 fatalities for every 100,000 workers in 2011. According to statistics by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fishing continues to remain the most dangerous occupation in the country, even though the number of fisherm...

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Japanese researchers have successfully used stem cells derived from tooth pulp to treat damaged spinal cord cells. The research has been conducted on rats, and clinical trials on humans are still a long way off, but the results have been encouraging enough for researchers to be optimistic about the results in humans, too. The stem cells were e...

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Independent salvage divers have been working for days to recover the remains of the three missing crewmembers of Omega Protein’s Sandy Point commercial fishing vessel.  Media reports this morning indicate that the bodies of 48 year-old Rhoderick Watkins of Moss Point, 65-year old Thomas L. Moore of Havelock, North Carolina, and 58 year-old Lind...

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Russian transportation city officials are blaming errors made by the captain as the reason for the sinking of an Indonesia-flagged vessel in the Sea of Okhotsk. Russia's Far East transport department says that one of the main reasons for the capsizing of the Ginga was the violations of safety regulations by the captain of the vessel. The Ginga ...

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Two vessels collided near the Texas City Dike on Tuesday morning, shutting down a portion of the Houston Ship Channel. Both boats were deep-draft motor vessels, said a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson. No injuries, damage or pollution were reported as a result of the accident, which happened just after 8 a.m. The vessels were anchored where the c...

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The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that BP is suspended from entering into new contracts with the United States government for its actions during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  "EPA is taking this action due to BP's lack of business integrity as demonstrated by the company's conduct wi...

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Hip-hop singer Sean Kingston has been stabilized and moved to the intensive care unit at a hospital after crashing his watercraft into a Miami Beach bridge, his publicist said today.  The vessel was later identified by People Magazine as a jet ski.   Kingston and a female passenger were injured when the watercraft hit the Palm Island Bridge ar...

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Investigations into a tanker accident, in which a tanker struck a part of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, are ongoing. The Overseas Reymar scraped out part of the tower support of the bridge in January. A 30-foot section of the fender of the tower was damaged. The United States Coast Guard released a statement in which it has said that of...

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An elderly woman died and seven other people were rescued after their boat capsized in the Florida Keys last weekend. The 8 people were on a 22-foot pleasure craft and were out on a fishing trip, when a large wave swamped their boat.  Three of the men, who could not swim and were not wearing personal flotation devices, held on to the side of th...

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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...

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A certain class of maritime workers qualifies for injury compensation under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. These workers include shipyard and ship building workers, longshoremen, dockworkers, port crane operators, and stevedores.  When these workers are injured, they are automatically eligible for compensation under the Act...

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After a law passed last September, Texas boaters born on or after Sept. 1, 1993 were required to have boater safety education when operating personal watercraft, vessels with 15 or more horsepower or wind-powered vessels longer than 14 feet. Until recently, the boater had to pay out of pocket for such a course, which started at about $20. Howeve...

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The trial over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill is set to begin this morning in New Orleans before a federal judge, with no jury. Attempts to reach a settlement over the weekend failed, but legal experts expect that one will be reached, at least with the U.S. Department of Justice, within the next few months.  Eleven men were ...

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A French-owned oil tanker, reported missing with 17 crewmembers on Sunday off the Ivory Coast, is thought to have been hijacked by pirates. The suspected pirate attack is the latest in the Gulf of Guinea region. The Luxembourg-flagged tanker was reported missing after the owners lost contact with it. Its last known location was 70 nautical mile...

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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...

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A huge fire that began Tuesday night as a tug pushing a barge in a remote Louisiana bayou struck a liquefied natural gas pipeline in shallow water could keep burning until Thursday or later. Four people were injured in the accident; three were treated and released, while one was taken to a Baton Rouge burn unit in critical condition. Pipeline o...

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Distracted operation of a vessel may involve more than cell phones and texting devices as maritime lawyers often see. The captain of a British ferry that crashed into a French fishing vessel in March this year was distracted by, among other things, a discussion of the way actress Halle Berry looked like in the movie, “Catwoman.” According to an...

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A new study finds that up to 30% of the American workforce is sleep deprived. Maritime attorneys believe that the situation is not much different on water. Seamen are at a high risk of suffering injuries when they are forced to work continuously without sufficient breaks.  The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates th...

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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...

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Two BP workers have been charged in the deaths of 11 people in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, the highest-ranking BP employees aboard the Deepwater Horizon when the explosion occurred, have been charged with manslaughter, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. They are accuse...

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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Alaska Pacific Office recently conducted a survey of the best types of personal flotation devices for fishermen. The survey included fishermen, trawlers, longliners and gillnetters. The researchers found that fishermen in different types of work may prefer different types of flotation d...

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced the publication of a final rule for shipyard worker safety.  The final rule has been published in the May 2 Federal Register, and is meant to be an update to earlier shipyard regulations that have been left unchanged for decades. Shipyard worker safety rules were established back...

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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...

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The pilot at the helm of a tugboat-barge formation that crashed into a Ride-the-Ducks amphibious tourist boat in the Delaware River last year killing two Hungarian tourists, has been sentenced to one year in prison. An investigation report by the National Transportation Safety Board had found that the pilot, Matthew Devlin had been distracted b...

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Maritime law is a broad, and particularly complex, area of law that can cover a range of issues. Whatever your specific need, selecting your maritime lawyer will be critical to the success of your claim or transaction. Here are some important issues to consider when meeting a potential maritime attorney for the first time:1. What is Their Specif...

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The former head of the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said last week that an increase in “complacency” since the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening the changes in safety regulations and government oversight that resulted from the incident.  Michael Bromwich, speaking at a National Press Club ev...

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Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony said last week that maritime piracy was a major threat to the region and that India would increase the fight against these attacks. In an address to the Heads of Asian Coast Guard Agencies Meeting, he stressed the need for increased regional cooperation. The meeting was attended by representatives from 18 nat...

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Commercial shipping came to a standstill on the Mississippi River on Tuesday after a barge struck an auxiliary lock’s gate near Granite City, Ill. The barge jam, at one of the river’s busiest points, could last into the week, the Army Corps of Engineers said. Corps crews were determining how the damaged auxiliary lock would be fixed, and a spok...

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BP has agreed to plead guilty to felony charges, as well as pay $4.5 billion in penalties, in relation to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that left 11 workers dead and resulted in a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The oil giant announced it would plead guilty to 11 felony counts of “misconduct or neglect of ships officers” in ...

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The International Maritime Bureau on Monday reported a 54 percent drop in maritime piracy in the first six months of the year. The group attributed the decline to anti-piracy operations by international navies off Somalia, increased vigilance, and the use of armed guards by private ships. The new numbers show that 177 attacks were reported worl...

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Royal Dutch Shell is trying to defend its offshore safety record, after attacks by environmental safety groups over a leak from a Shell platform in the North Sea. Shell has confirmed that it has managed to plug the leak from its Gannet Alpha platform, which is located just 112 miles off Aberdeen, Scotland. The leak resulted in more than 200 ton...

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Although preliminary work began Sunday on an exploratory drill 70 miles off the coast of Alaska, a giant block of floating ice was delaying any further work from continuing. A Royal Dutch Shell petroleum drill ship had begun the first drilling in U.S. Chukchi waters since 1991 but was forced to stop after only hours and move away to wait for an...

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When a person who has suffered a head injury comes into consistent, close contact with the chemical herbicide paraquat, he has a heightened risk of developing Parkinson's disease. According to research conducted by scientists at the University of California Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, both head injury and paraquat on their own...

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The Jones Act is a maritime law that essentially serves as a worker's compensation statute for the high seas. The rules of a Jones Act claim are not exactly like worker's compensation, but can also provide additional benefits based on the conditions surrounding any particular injury claim.Any possible litigant should prepare for the initial cons...

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