Redefining Domain Awareness for the New Normal

We’ve Taken Our Eyes off the Ball. Jones Act issues are clouding the cleanup effort in the U.S. Gulf at the worst possible moment. The drama is less than helpful and the side battles meaningless.

MARAD Chief David Matsuda, in his July 14 2010 testimony to the House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces, outlines what is next for domestic maritime affairs. In a laundry list of as many as ten items on the plate of DOT’s maritime modal arm, shortsea shipping ranks all but dead last in terms of MARAD’s priority list.

Long awaited by the global maritime industry and much feared by American educators in particular, the newly adopted additions to the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) code for Seafarers are here. Last Week’s 2nd Annual International Maritime eLearning Conference brought the enhanced STCW code – and the blended, eLearning techniques that will allow it to be implemented – under the harsh glare of collective scrutiny. By week’s end, conference attendees had every reason to be cautiously optimistic. More importantly, a cogent way forward had been defined for both issues.