The crews of five US-flag containerships are among the thousands of mariners who are essentially being held hostage aboard their vessels because of the breakdown in the crew change process caused by Covid-19. The crews of the five ships–operating in the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and all participants in the Maritime […]

On behalf of the members of Masters, Mates & Pilots, MM&P President Don Marcus honors every mariner sailing under the US flag—as well as the seafarers of the world—in a Maritime Day address. “All mariners today are working under duress,” he says, “but they are keeping the supply lines open.”

With more than 150,000 seafarers around the world blocked aboard their ships—in some cases for more than a year–the pandemic-induced halt to crew change poses grave risks to shipmasters, mariners, employers, insurers, the environment and the general public. A coalition of industry leaders–including the International Maritime Organization, the International Transport Workers’ Federation and the International […]

Registered nurses protested outside the White House on May 7 over the continuing shortage of personal protective equipment for the health care workers fighting to save lives in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. CNN reported that the nurses—wearing surgical masks and standing six feet apart–stood outside the White House next to 88 pairs of […]

The International Transport Workers’ Federation is commending the world’s seafarers for “professionally and diligently doing their jobs during this unprecedented, uncertain time.” It says it is working with international organizations and governments to “restart” the crew change process so that mariners represented by ITF affiliate unions can return to their homes. “Despite the restrictions and […]

More than half the 50-person crew of the MSC fleet replenishment oiler USNS LEROY GRUMMAN has tested positive for Covid-19. The ship has been drydocked at Boston Ship Repair since January. All members of the crew have now been tested, according to Military Sealift Command management. The entire crew, including crewmembers who are infected and […]

Union Sisters and Brothers: Today is May Day: a historic day for labor, celebrating the sacrifice and burden that working people around the world carry in our society. Nothing could be more apparent on this particular day than the reality that workers are on the front lines bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. It […]

The Navy hospital ship USNS COMFORT has left New York. COMFORT will return to Norfolk, Va., for resupply and its regular post-deployment procedures. The Pentagon has said it will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to select another coastal city for future deployment. COMFORT, with MM&P licensed deck officers on board, had been moored […]

The risk of exposing frontline workers to Covid-19 outweighs the safety benefits of continued random drug and alcohol testing, transportation sector unions are telling the administration. Mariners and other frontline transportation workers are already at a heightened risk of contracting the virus due to the nature of their jobs, moving goods and passengers across the […]

Three MM&P members aboard North Ferry’s MASHOMACK saved a boater who had fallen off his skiff into Shelter Island Sound on Saturday just after sunset. On the run that departed Greenport for Shelter Island around 1930, the three-person crew–Jennifer Card Venth, James Cogan and Michael Mundy–saw a man fall from his skiff into the 47-degree […]