Seafarers Log
Pick up any issue of our union’s newspaper or read it online, and you’ll get a good sampling of what we’re all about. This month is no exception. We’re reporting on new tonnage both for our private- and federal-sector mariners. We’ve got a feature on one of our military support…
Seafarers Log
Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI), an independent center for mariner advocacy and research, has released its full report – “Cabotage Laws of the World” – on the findings of their global cabotage study. The study, commissioned by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), provides the first independent analysis of maritime cabotage…
Seafarers Log
The SIU-affiliated Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education in mid-September hosted a regular meeting of the U.S. Transportation Command’s (USTRANSCOM) executive working group on the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA). In addition to conducting their regular meeting, committee members toured the Piney Point, Maryland campus, visiting with students,…
Seafarers Log
A recent ceremony in Texas signaled upcoming new jobs for SIU members. Seafarers-contracted Pasha Hawaii on Sept. 25 announced that the first steel plates had been cut four days earlier for the M/V George III, the first of two containerships being built for the company by Brownsville, Texas-based Keppel AmFELS.…
Seafarers Log
Construction officially is underway on a new class of fleet replenishment oilers. General Dynamics NASSCO on Sept. 20 hosted a steel-cutting ceremony in San Diego for the USNS John Lewis, which will be crewed by members of the SIU Government Services Division. The Lewis is the lead vessel in a new class of…
Seafarers Log
SIU Vice President Government Services Division Kermett Mangram, 64, has called an end to his career with the union. He retired effective Aug. 31 following 40 years of dedicated service. Mangram is only the second person to hold the Vice President Government Services Division post, which was created in 1985…
Seafarers Log
Now that the facts about cabotage laws around the world have been revealed, it’s time to capitalize by growing those regulations and strengthening them. SIU Secretary-Treasurer David Heindel delivered that message Sept. 27 in Bergen, Norway, where he was a featured speaker at the Norwegian Seafarers’ Union (NSU) congress. Heindel…
Seafarers Log
Kathleen “Kate” Hunt last month was appointed by the SIU’s executive board as vice president of the SIU’s Government Services Division. She succeeds former SIU Vice President Kermett Mangram who retired from the post effective August 31. Hunt assumes her new duties after serving as National Director of the SIU-affiliated…
Seafarers Log
Charlie Stewart, a longtime official with the National Maritime Union (NMU), passed away Aug. 26 at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was 84. Stewart joined the NMU in in 1959, sailing in all three departments aboard tankers, freighters and passenger vessels. He became involved in all phases of…
Seafarers Log
SIU Government Services Division mariners aboard the Military Sealift Command-operated (MSC) USNS Wally Schirra recently put their rescue training to use, as the vessel came across five Filipino fishermen on the remnants of an adrift and damaged boat in the South China Sea. On Oct. 8, the CIVMAR-crewed Schirra was conducting a routine mission…