US Shipbuilding and the Jones Act

Last month, I had the chance to sit down with 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl for a piece on the moribund state of US commercial shipbuilding. That story, “Turning the Ship Around,” aired last weekend, and having now seen it, I’d like to offer a few thoughts.

The segment opens with Stahl describing the US commercial shipbuilding industry as “nearly extinct.” The numbers back her up. As she points out, US shipyards produce around three ships per year. That’s less than what South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha produces in a month. But even that may be too charitable. Three is the US average over the last 25 years. This decade, US shipyards are on track to average roughly one per year.

But that’s just oceangoing cargo ships. Widening the aperture to include other vessel types does little to improve the picture. The most recent data show that the United States, the world’s second-largest manufacturing country, accounts for just 0.04 percent of global commercial shipbuilding output—good enough for 19th place. Over the past decade, the US has averaged 0.24 percent of global output. And it’s trending down.

South Korean firm Hanwha, however, says it will reverse the matter. According to the CEO of its Philly Shipyard, which the company purchased in 2024 for $100 million, the yard is set to transform into a 21st-century enterprise...

Read the rest here.

What Really Happened to the USS Maine?

Harland & Wolff is bankrupt

RMS Adriatic of 1907

The company that revolutionized the design of passenger ships in the 1870s and would go on to build some of the most famous vessels in history, including one that was in her time, the largest and most luxurious ocean liner ever seen, is reportedly now insolvent.

150 Years Ago: The wreck of the SS Atlantic

First Class Staterooms on the Titanic

Some video recreations of various first class staterooms on the Titanic based on surviving images as also of her near identical sister ship, Olympic, and builder's plans.

Marine Insurance Firms Brace for a Wave of Claims

More than $3 billion of insurance is in place for liability claims against the owner of the grounded container ship Ever Given, officials with its insurance program said Friday.

It is unclear whether that will be enough to cover losses that are likely to be claimed by some of the more than 200 ships in the canal as of Friday, plus the owners of the cargo they are carrying, if the vessel continues to block the Suez Canal, industry executives said.

Cargo-delivery delays are where a lot of the economic damage would be expected if the critical waterway doesn’t soon open up again to traffic. Delayed shipments could result in manufacturers’ not receiving parts needed for assembly lines or retailers’ not getting spring merchandise in time to stock shelves. At the same time, shipowners who anticipated using their vessels for other cargo loads lose that opportunity as they sit in the canal.

Some ship and cargo owners could end up filing claims with both their own insurers and Ever Given’s insurer—and ultimately suing the container ship’s owner—to receive compensation.

A total of $3.1 billion of liability coverage is available to the ship’s owner, Japan-based Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., through a longstanding shipping-industry program that relies on 13 so-called Protection & Indemnity Clubs, said Nick Shaw, chief executive of the international association of those clubs, which are not-for-profit mutual insurers.

A spokesman for the Club in the U.K., to which Ever Given belongs, said by email, “P&I insurance would cover the shipowner’s legal liability to the cargo owners.”

Read the rest here.

Clearly nobody paid any attention to the bumper sticker on the ship's stern...

The end of an era

Harland and Wolff, one of Britain's last and most famous ship building companies is bankrupt.

Kaiser Bill's Yacht

100 Years Ago: Canada's worst marine disaster

On the night of May 28-29, 1914 Canada suffered the worst marine disaster in its history when the ocean liner Empress of Ireland, outbound from Montreal to Liverpool, was rammed by a Norwegian coal ship in heavy fog on the St. Lawrence River. The damage was so extreme that the Empress sank in just 15 minutes taking more than a thousand passengers and crew with her. Among the dead were a large contingent from the Salvation Army on their way to Britain and the vast majority of the women and children on board.

The circumstances surrounding the accident remain highly controversial to this day.

Quote of the day...

"After fighting the sea and its terrors for thousands of years, man has at last succeeded in conquering the sea, this wildest and most unruly of nature's children. Against the modern iron or steel ship, which is equipped with every measure of protection that science and engineering can devise, the sea is almost powerless. Smaller vessels and sailing craft still feel its fury occasionally, it is true, but the enormous ships of the present day forge their way through the oceans at high speeds.

...The accounts of the dangers of ocean trips in former times, the primitive and unhealthy accommodations, and insufficient catering on board ships of earlier periods are very disquieting to intending travelers. This has now, however, all been done away with so that the modern steamers of today have so many safety devices, and the perfection of the instruments for the navigation of the ship, and the reliability of the charts, the number of light houses, have been brought to so perfect a standard that a voyage on a modern steamer entails less danger than a journey by train.

 -The Scientific American Handbook of Travel (1910 edition) pgs 2-3

SOS: America's flagship is in danger

Philadelphia (CNN) -- For me, touring the SS United States felt kind of like I was exploring my grandmother's attic for the first time, not knowing what I'd find.

The ship offers lots of room for surprises. It stretches the length of New York's Chrysler Building and is 100 feet longer than the Titanic.

Its legendary decks were the site of untold stories, where movie stars rubbed shoulders with famous musicians and kings.

And it's fast. On its first voyage, the SS United States set a trans-Atlantic speed record -- three days, 10 hours and 42 minutes -- a feat that has never been surpassed.

Read the rest here.

The last and only truly American transatlantic super ocean liner may be heading for the scrap yard.

Enough already!

The political abuse of an ancient tradition needs to stop. And yes, both sides have done it over the last decade but its getting ridiculous. We need to reinstate the rule that Navy ships will only be named after deceased persons and there should be a five year waiting period from their death before they can be considered for the honor. (I'd waive the five year wait for Medal of Honor recipients.)

Do you hate flying as much as I do?

Do you long for a more civilized way of getting from point A to point B? If so, this will probably make you sick.

The above is a sailing roster for May and June indicating steamship line,ships and their ports of call as well as sailing dates. It would likely have been posted on a travel board in a hotel or similar venue. The year is not stated but based on the names of ships and other clues I have a high degree of confidence that it is from the spring of 1924. You may have to play around with the right click function on your mouse to see it full sized or try clicking here.

See here for a travel guide (full text with photos) from 1910.

Remember the Maine!

On this date in 1898 the USS Maine exploded in Havana Cuba, then a Spanish colony, killing 266 sailors and marines. Americans quickly blamed Spain for the ship's destruction and despite resistance from President McKinley war was declared on April 25th. It is now almost universally accepted that the ship's destruction was accidental.

On this date in 1975

The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

14 Rescued 1 Injured 1 Missing as Famous Sailing Vessel is Wrecked

Searchers on Monday evening found one of two missing crew members of the stricken ship HMS Bounty, which sank off the coast of North Carolina after it was caught in Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Claudene Christian, 42, was pulled from the water unresponsive and was being transported to Elizabeth City Hospital, the Coast Guard said. Crews continue searching for the remaining missing person, identified as the ill-fated ship's captain, Robin Walbridge, 63.

Earlier Monday, two Coast Guard helicopters rescued 14 people from life rafts after they were forced to abandon ship.

Read the rest here.

The Sad Fate of an American Historic Relic

The USS Williamsburg, the official yacht of President Harry Truman has all but rusted into oblivion sitting in Italy. It is for sale, though I fear it is now beyond viable restoration for anything less than nine figures. See here for a short history with some wonderful photos of the old girl in her prime.

139 Years Ago Today

Before the Titanic, there was the wreck of the RMS Atlantic, also a White Star liner (second of the Oceanic class).

The Atlantic was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast in 1870, and was the second ship built for the newly born White Star Line. She was powered by a steam engine producing 600 horsepower driving a single propeller, along with four masts rigged for sail. She sailed for New York on her maiden voyage on 8 June 1871.

Disaster

On 20 March 1873 the Atlantic departed on her 19th voyage from Liverpool with 952 people on board, of whom 835 were passengers. En route, the crew decided to make port at Halifax, Nova Scotia to replenish coal for the boilers.

During the approach to Halifax on the evening of March 31 the captain and 3rd officer were on the bridge until midnight, while the Atlantic made her way through a storm, proceeding at 12 knots (22 km/h) for the entrance of Halifax harbour, experiencing intermittent visibility and heavy seas. Unbeknownst to the crew or passengers, the Atlantic was approximately 12½ miles (20 km) off-course to the west of Halifax Harbour. Officers failed to take soundings, post a masthead lookout, reduce speed or wake the captain as they approached the unfamiliar coast. They somehow did not spot the Sambro Lighthouse, the large landfall lighthouse which warns mariners of the rocky shoals to the west of the harbour entrance.

At 2:00 a.m. local time on 1 April 1873, the Atlantic struck an underwater rock called Marr's Head 50 metres from Meagher's Island, Nova Scotia. Lifeboats were lowered by the crew but were all washed away or smashed as the ship quickly filled with water and flipped on its side. Survivors were forced to swim or climb ropes first to a wave-swept rock and then to a barren shore. Residents of the tiny fishing village of Lower Prospect and Terence Bay soon arrived to rescue and shelter the survivors, but 535 people died, leaving only 371 survivors.[1] The ship's manifest indicates that of the 952 aboard, 156 were women and 189 were children on board (including two who had been born during the voyage). All women and all children perished except for one twelve-year-old boy, John Hindley. Ten crew members were lost, while 131 survived.[2] This was the worst civilian loss of life in the Northern Atlantic until the wreck of La Bourgogne on 2 July 1898. The Canadian government inquiry concluded with the statement, "the conduct of Captain Williams in the management of his ship during the twelve or fourteen hours preceding the disaster, was so gravely at variance with what ought to have been the conduct of a man placed in his responsible position".

Read the rest here.

Quote of the day...

'There are three things I like about Italian ships. First, their cuisine, which is unsurpassed. Second, their service, which is quite superb. And then - in time of emergency - there is none of this nonsense about women and children first.'

- Sir Winston Churchill when once asked why he had booked on an Italian liner when the RMS Queen Elizabeth was available.

Source.

Cruise liner captain Francesco Schettino says he abandoned ship by accident

The cruise liner captain accused of abandoning ship after he grounded it off the coast of Italy Friday now says he only left because he slipped and tripped into a lifeboat while helping passengers evacuate the ship.

Read the rest here.

Pathetic.