Reprinted from past issues of the Seafarers LOG.1945
NEW YORK, May 14 – Victory in Europe will have no immediate effect on shipping, and any future falling off will be gradual, government authorities said today. The demand for space to move personnel and cargoes will continue, and a natural increase in transport to the Pacific was developing, that will require all the tonnage that can be spared from the Atlantic.
It was announced recently that Europe would require some 12 million tons of food alone in the next year. This was more than a third of the total dry cargo export from this country in the last peace year, 1939. Not only will cargo ships be needed, but personnel transport requirements will increase rather than diminish, it was said. The War Department will be depending upon merchant shipping, including SIU-manned vessels, to move millions of men from Europe to the Pacific theatre, to ship out fresh troops, to return home from the battlefields discharged and furloughed servicemen and the wounded.
1965
The 12th biennial convention of the Seafarers International Union of North America was conducted in Washington from May 26 through June 1. The highlight of the convention’s first day came when AFL-CIO President George Meany pledged that the federation would go “down the line” and support maritime labor’s fight to preserve American ships, manned by American seamen at American wage levels. He laid the responsibility for the decline of U.S. maritime at the door of the Departments of Agriculture, Defense and State, whose policies weaken rather than help American shipping.
Senators Vance Hartke, Ted Kennedy and Daniel Inouye also called for a stronger American-flag merchant fleet in speeches before the convention.
1977
A new age in American merchant shipping will be born in the weeks ahead at a sprawling shipyard in the old New England town of Quincy, Mass. where SIU members will crew up the first liquefied natural gas carrier ever built in the Western Hemisphere. This incredible ship, named after the zodiac sign Aquarius, marks the advent of a new breed of U.S.-flag sailing vessel and a new trend in merchant shipping that may someday change the entire makeup of the American merchant fleet.
The 936-foot Aquarius is the first of 12 U.S.-flag LNG tankers scheduled to be built at the General Dynamics Shipyard in Quincy. She has a 25-year charter to haul liquefied natural gas from Indonesia to Osaka, Japan.
1997
The SIU’s newest hall officially opened on May 20 when President Michael Sacco and Executive Vice President John Fay toured the facility in Anchorage, then attended a shore-side reception to launch the union’s newest initiative in Alaska.
“We are opening this hall in Anchorage to show how committed the SIU is to Alaska and its growing maritime industry,” Sacco noted. “With this facility, we can help members and their families who live in this state with any questions they may have concerning their benefits. This hall will also help us in another way—recruiting young Alaskans who want to join the SIU and the U.S. Merchant Marine.”
Printer Friendly Page