The actual enforcement of MARPOL Annex VI is now closer to reality with the recent passage of a bill in the U.S. Senate.  Annex VI concerns the prevention of air pollution from ships.  The U.S. has already ratified MARPOL Annex VI, but has yet to define how it would enforce it from the federal level.  [...]

The American Maritime Officers (AMO) union is now offering a possible solution to what was previously a catch 22 for many officers trying to get their PIC/DL endorsement to work aboard tank vessels.  The union has set up a somewhat formal observers program, to give officers 90 days to work aboard a tanker, while receiving a [...]

The International Maritime Bureau brings us the Live World Piracy Map.  This is an interesting tool, that gives us an overall picture of where piracy attacks are occuring, and some details about each attack that has been reported.  You can find the map here. 

The decomissioned U.S. Navy guided missle cruiser USS Horne will be departing San Francisco for the last time tomorrow.   It appears the USS Horne is headed for the bottom of the Pacific, somewhere off Hawaii, to be sunk by her very own U.S. Armed Forces as part of an exercise.  More info on this fine [...]

The Supreme Court granted a generous break for ExxonMobile  by slashing the punitive damages against the company stemming from the Exxon Valdez spill from $2.5 billion to a $500 million.  More from the NY Times.