Heard @ Headquarters Archive

Crowley announces ‘green’ initiative (7/2)

Seafarers-contracted Crowley recently issued the following news release, which also may be accessed on the company’s web site by clicking HERE

Crowley and the Port of Los Angeles Partner to Cut Fuel Consumption and Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions

(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.; June 30, 2009) Crowley tugboats used for ship assist and escort operations in the Port of Los Angeles have begun using newly installed shore-side electrical power when not on the job to cut fuel consumption and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Previously, the tugs tied up at the dock needed to run their generators to provide electrical power.

Crowley and the Port of Los Angeles completed this environmentally friendly initiative, also known as cold ironing, at Berth 86 this month. The port paid to run electrical power to the dock, and Crowley purchased and installed the electrical connections to the boats and transformers to take the voltage from 440 volts to 220 volts.

Overall, Crowley expects to conserve fuel used by the generators daily in its Los Angeles operations, and consequently reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 486,180 pounds in the first year. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, each gallon of diesel fuel produces approximately 22.2 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Crowley already has cold ironing capabilities in Seattle, Jacksonville, Pennsauken and Puerto Rico.

“We are very pleased to be a part of this important green initiative with the Port of Los Angeles,” said Frosty Leonard, Crowley director of marine operations in California. “Using shore-side power is not only the environmentally friendly thing to do, it’s just good business.”

As an added benefit, Leonard said shore-side power eliminates the constant noise from the engines that disrupts the crews' rest periods and provides engineers a quieter engine room in which to work.

Jacksonville-based Crowley Holdings Inc., a holding company of the 117-year-old Crowley Maritime Corporation, is a privately held family and employee-owned company that provides diversified transportation and logistics services in domestic and international markets by means of six operating lines of business: Puerto Rico/Caribbean Liner Services, Latin America Liner Services, Logistics Services, Petroleum Services, Marine Services and Technical Services. Offered within these operating lines of business are the following services: liner container shipping, logistics, contract towing and transportation; ship assist and escort; energy support; salvage and emergency response; vessel management; vessel construction and naval architecture; government services, and petroleum and chemical transportation, distribution and sales. Additional information about Crowley its subsidiaries and business units may be found on the Internet at www.crowley.com.

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The Great Lakes Maritime Task Force (www.glmtf.org) has issued the following news release, dated June 30. The SIU is a member of the task force.

New Soo Lock Will Be Investment in America

TOLEDO, OH – A second Poe-sized lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan will be a significant investment in America’s future, and an outstanding return on taxpayers’ dollars was the message delivered today by a shipping industry official at ceremonies marking groundbreaking for the coffer dams that are the first step toward construction of the lock. This project creates “the economic equivalent of a small automobile plant,” said James H.I. Weakley, 1st Vice President of Great Lakes Maritime Task Force, the largest coalition ever to promote waterborne commerce on the Great Lakes. The project also provides “national security benefits and economic stability for our mining, manufacturing and power-producing heartland,” declared Weakley, who is also President of Lake Carriers’ Association, the trade association representing U.S.-Flag vessel operators on the Great Lakes.

The Soo Locks connect Lake Superior to the lower four Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. Cargo movement through the locks typically tops 80 million tons a year. The major cargos are iron ore for steel production, coal for power generation, and grain for overseas export via the Seaway.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considers the Soo Locks the “single point of failure that could cripple Great Lakes shipping. Seventy percent of U.S.-Flag carrying capacity is restricted to the Poe Lock. If that chamber was incapacitated for even a short period of time, shipping on the Lakes would come to a virtual standstill.

Weakley noted Great Lakes shipping saves its customers $3.6 billion a year in transportation costs compared to the land-based modes. “In order to save the American consumer almost $4 billion, we have to maintain and protect the system. Over the past 15 years, proposed Federal budgets spent 50 cents for each ton of cargo moved on the Great Lakes, so the return on each dollar invested is nearly $41. Due to industry’s contributions, taxpayers fund only 3 cents per ton of cargo. Therefore, the American consumer sees a benefit of nearly $590 for each taxpayer dollar spent on the Great Lakes Navigation System.”

First authorized in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, the second Poe-sized Lock was again authorized in 2007, this time at full Federal expense. The lock is projected to cost $490 million and take as much as 10 years to build. Funding for construction of the lock itself still needs to be secured.

Weakley thanked legislators who have played leading roles in advancing the lock project, including Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN), Rep. Dave Obey (D-WI), and Michigan Senators Carl Levin (D) and Debbie Stabenow (D).

Weakley stressed the economic recovery will not be complete until this project is and urged Great Lakes interests to get the lock funded. “It took hard work and commitment to get here. It will take Midwest might and tenacity to go the distance.”

Founded in 1992, Great Lakes Maritime Task Force promotes domestic and international shipping on the Great Lakes. It is the largest coalition to ever speak for the Great Lakes shipping community and draws its membership from both labor and management representing U.S.-Flag vessel operators, shipboard and longshore unions, port authorities, cargo shippers, terminal operators, shipyards and other Great Lakes interests. Its goals include restoring adequate funding for dredging of Great Lakes deep-draft ports and waterways, construction of a second Poe-sized lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; protecting the Jones Act and other U.S. maritime cabotage laws and regulations; maximizing the Lakes overseas trade; and opposing exports and increased diversions of Great Lakes water.

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Seafarers were among those who participated June 25 in a massive rally for health care reform in Washington, D.C. Photos from the rally appear below.

During the demonstration, Arlene Holt Baker, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, stated, "When Congress finishes its work on national health care reform, voters will be asking one question of their elected officials: 'Does this mean I will be able to get high quality health care for myself and my family at a price we can afford?' The answer, my sisters and brothers, had better be 'yes.'

"Health care just for the wealthy will not do. Health care without strong cost controls will not work. And health care without a quality public plan option to lower costs is totally unacceptable."

Other speakers included Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Pennsylvania Rep. Allyson Schwartz, former Gov. Howard Dean, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and actress Edie Falco.

Overall, an estimated 10,000 individuals showed up for the rally.

For more information about the demonstration, visit the AFL-CIO blog at http://blog.aflcio.org/

The following news item was released June 24 by the U.S. Military Sealift Command about the crew of the USNS Amelia Earhart laying a wreath at sea in honor of the ship's namesake. The site of the wreath laying was in the area in which the famous aviator was thought to disappear in 1937. Unlicensed mariners aboard the Earhart are represented by the SIU's Government Services Division.

USNS Amelia Earhart’s crew honors ship’s namesake at Howland Island

Military Sealift Command dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Amelia Earhart paused its maiden MSC mission Tuesday to pay respect to the ship’s namesake at the site where the famed aviator disappeared July 2, 1937. As the sun began to set over Howland Island in the Central Pacific Ocean, the ship’s crew took a quiet moment to hold a wreath laying ceremony in the area where Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan are believed to have perished during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

“Despite all of her accomplishments, Amelia Earhart was known as a very private person,” said Capt. John Pope, Earhart’s civil service master, of the aviator who was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying solo across the Atlantic Ocean. “There was something very dignified about her modesty, and I think our simple remembrance would be just her style.”

Earhart, which was accepted into the MSC fleet in October 2008, passed Howland Island while en route to deliver more than 600 pallets of equipment, medical supplies and food to MSC dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Richard E. Byrd as it prepares to deploy on humanitarian assistance mission Pacific Partnership 2009.

During the mission planning, Earhart’s crew discovered that their course would bring them within 70 miles of Howland Island, and a slight course change provided the ship with this rare opportunity.

“It’s amazing how this all came together,” said civil service mariner Michelle Stark, Earhart’s second mate and navigator. “Howland Island is remote. People work for years sailing the Pacific and never come close to passing by it. Here we are on our first mission, on the ship named after Amelia Earhart, going right by where she was last seen.”

Earhart is the sixth of eight ships in the Lewis and Clark-class of underway replenishment ships that deliver ammunition, provisions, stores, spare parts, potable water and petroleum products to the Navy's underway carrier and expeditionary strike groups. The capability allows combatant ships to stay at sea, on station and in combat ready for extended periods of time. Earhart has a crew of 124 civil service mariners and 11 sailors who provide operational support and supply coordination.

MSC operates approximately 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.

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The following news release has been issued by the office of U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.). It is available on the congressman’s web site by clicking HERE

LoBiondo Introduces Legislation Permitting Mariners to Defend Their Vessels during Pirate Attacks

Protects Mariners from Liability in U.S. Courts for Defensive Actions

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Coast Guard & Maritime Transportation Ranking Member Frank A. LoBiondo (NJ-02) has introduced legislation to provide immunity to U.S. merchant mariners who wound or kill pirates while responding to a pirate attack. H.R. 2984, the “U.S. Mariner and Vessel Protection Act,” was introduced in response to the recent hijacking of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates, during which the pirates kidnapped the ship’s captain.

“Our merchant marine fleet is increasingly under attack from unlawful individuals and rogue groups that seek to disrupt commerce, seize U.S. and foreign crews, and instill fear on international waters. It is only appropriate that our fleets be legally allowed to defend themselves from these violent encounters,” said LoBiondo. “This common-sense legislation is a necessary step in empowering U.S.-flagged vessels to fully protect their crews and cargo.”

The bill directs the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to certify firearms training for merchant mariners on U.S.-flagged merchant vessels. Any trained mariner using force and the owner, operator or master of said vessels would be exempt from liability in U.S. courts as a result of that use of force. It would also authorize the deployment of Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSST) to ride aboard and defend U.S. flagged vessels transiting pirate-infested waters. MSST are specially trained USCG personnel fully equipped in advanced weapons and other equipment that are capable of rapid deployment to successfully conduct antiterrorism operations, vertical insertions, and tactical ship operations.

The bill would further direct the United States to negotiate international agreements through the International Maritime Organization to provide similar exemptions from liability in other countries for the use of force by mariners and vessel owners, operators and masters as well as to ensure armed U.S. crews can enter foreign ports.

Cosponsoring LoBiondo’s “U.S. Mariner and Vessel Protection Act” are Representatives Howard Coble (NC-06), Don Young (Alaska-at-large) and John Mica (FL-07), the Republican Leader of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “I commend Congressman LoBiondo for writing this bill to provide common sense protections for our mariners to freely defend their ships from pirates bent on killing, stealing and crippling worldwide commerce,” commented Mica.

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