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Success in Piney Point The successful reopening of our affiliated school in Piney Point, Maryland, is a great example of hard work, teamwork and dedication paying dividends. From a distance, it may look easy, but it took a substantial amount of planning and ongoing commitment to get the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and…

Virtually no part of life in 2020 has been spared from the ongoing uncertainties stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the SIU-affiliated school in Piney Point, Maryland, is no exception. Nevertheless, the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education (PHC) successfully reopened in early August and, as of mid-October, was operating without a single…

Every year, SIU Safety Directors and other team members from various ports gather to share knowledge and experience, as well as receive information about the latest safety trends and regulations from SIU and Paul Hall Center officials. This year, however, the safety team met virtually, through three days of video conferences with subject matter experts,…

SIU-contracted Maersk Line, Limited (MLL) recently celebrated a significant safety milestone. As of Sept. 12, 2020, the company’s entire internationally trading “blue” fleet had gone 12 months without a single lost-time incident (defined as necessitating an injured mariner to miss a day’s work for recovery). “This is a major achievement and credit goes to all…

A new bill passed in late September by the U.S. House of Representatives includes a key amendment supporting America’s freight cabotage law. The amendment supporting the Jones Act was introduced by U.S. Rep. John Garamendi (D-California) to the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act (H.R. 4447). The House on Sept. 24 passed the bill, 220-185.…

The conference agreement for the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) almost certainly won’t be finalized until after Election Day, but dozens of members of Congress have spoken out for the completed bill to include provisions for a new U.S. Tanker Security Program. Such an arrangement would be similar to the U.S. Maritime…

Seafarers-contracted TOTE Maritime on Oct. 1, conducted a “Celebration of Life” ceremony for the families of the crew of the El Faro tragedy. This year’s ceremony took place at the park at Dame’s Point in Jacksonville, Florida, and was live-streamed to those who wished to observe the fifth anniversary of the accident. The memorial began…

Fifty years have passed since Georg Kenny joined the SIU, but he doesn’t need prompts to recall his feelings from that time. “I was down on my luck, and a few guys in the neighborhood (in Brooklyn,…

Editor’s note: This is the seventh installment from a 1951 booklet titled “The Seafarers in World War II.” Penned by the late SIU historian John Bunker, the publication recapped SIU members’service in the War. More than 1,200 SIU members lost their lives to wartime service in the U.S. Merchant Marine. Earlier segments are available on…