Posted:
May 6, 2015
By Paul Doell
National President
The April 18 christening and launch of TOTE Services' Isla Bella at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego was a momentous, memorable event on many levels.
This revolutionary vessel - sponsored by Mrs. Sophie Sacco, wife of Seafarers International Union President Michael Sacco - represents sustained employment in all licensed positions for members of American Maritime Officers in domestic trade.
The ship also represents continued employer contributions to AMO Plans - the health, retirement, vacation and training benefit funds that serve all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland AMO members and their families.
The Isla Bella is the first of two Marlin class containerships ordered by TOTE from NASSCO in 2012 and the 100th ship launched by the yard.
The Isla Bella will begin service between Florida and Puerto Rico two months ahead of schedule in September 2015. With its complement of AMO officers and SIU crew, the vessel will operate at the highest level of seagoing professionalism.
As the first ship of its kind anywhere in the world to be fueled by liquefied natural gas, the Isla Bella is an enduring testament to TOTE's innovative commitment to a cleaner environment. "The use of LNG as a marine fuel in the U.S. defines a major shift for the industry," the company said in a statement following the christening and launch. "By switching to LNG, TOTE is reducing nitrous oxide emissions by 98 percent, sulfur by 97 percent, carbon dioxide by 72 percent and particulate matter by 60 percent."
TOTE had already announced that it would convert its Orca class ships - the Midnight Sun and North Star, which operate between Tacoma, Washington and Anchorage, Alaska - to LNG propulsion systems in a project slated to begin later this year.
NASSCO President Fred Harris struck the same "green" theme in his remarks during the Isla Bella christening ceremony. The vessel "validates NASSCO's capability to break new ground in ship technology and lead in the design, construction and conversion of ships to take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of LNG," Harris said.
The Isla Bella and the Marlin class project also offer lasting witness to keen business savvy upstairs at TOTE and its parent company, Saltchuk Resources, and to the dedication and skill of the shipyard team at NASSCO. "We especially want to thank the hundreds of men and women who did the real work - the welding, the piping, the lifting, the planning, the electrical, the designing, the logistics, the painting and all the other work that went into making these ships a reality," said Saltchuk Chairman Mark Tabbutt.
In his remarks during the christening ceremony, California Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter - chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure - made an especially relevant and potent political point. The Marlin class project, he said, vindicates the Jones Act and its timeless value to the U.S. economy and to national security.
Enacted as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act holds all domestic waterborne commerce for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and staffed in the United States. The law applies to shipping services between and among U.S. points along the ocean and Gulf coasts, on the Great Lakes, in coastal and inland tug, tow and barge markets and between the U.S. mainland and the remote states and territories of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam.
The Jones Act today accounts for more than 500,000 private sector jobs at sea and ashore nationwide and multiple billions in private capital investment in U.S. vessels, U.S. shipyards and industries that provide goods and services to domestic shipping companies and U.S. shipbuilders.
Many Jones Act vessels - including TOTE's Marlin and Orca class ships - are capable of supporting U.S. armed forces deployed overseas during military emergencies, and the U.S. yards that build commercial tonnage for Jones Act service also build ships of various size and configuration for the U.S. Navy.
In addition, many of the civilian, private sector merchant mariners employed in Jones Act trades are qualified to serve aboard government-owned and chartered strategic sealift ships that keep American military personnel supplied and equipped during a distant war. An estimated 80 percent of the U.S. merchant mariners working in sealift service during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991 and in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States were working in or had started their seagoing careers in Jones Act markets.
In his remarks during the Isla Bella christening and launch, Gen. Paul Selva - commander of U.S. Transportation Command in the Department of Defense and an outspoken Jones Act advocate - lauded "the commitment of companies like TOTE to supporting the U.S. military and maritime sector that is really important to our national defense."
The public record is undeniable: the Jones Act works as intended, generating extraordinary public benefits at private expense. The Isla Bella is one indication of the law's merit, and the near horizon is bright with other examples: the arrival of the combination container-roll-on/roll-off ship Marjorie C for Pasha Hawaii; the second ship in the Marlin class; the construction of two combination container-RO/RO ships for Crowley at VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula, Mississippi; and about 20 product tankers under construction at or on order from NASSCO and Aker Philadelphia.
American Maritime Officers will fill the licensed jobs on all of these forthcoming dry cargo vessels and tankers, beginning later this year. As the Jones Act fleet expands, so will the unique, rewarding opportunities available to AMO engine and deck officers.
'Isla Bella' launch, christening significant on many levels
By Paul Doell
National President
The April 18 christening and launch of TOTE Services' Isla Bella at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego was a momentous, memorable event on many levels.
This revolutionary vessel - sponsored by Mrs. Sophie Sacco, wife of Seafarers International Union President Michael Sacco - represents sustained employment in all licensed positions for members of American Maritime Officers in domestic trade.
The ship also represents continued employer contributions to AMO Plans - the health, retirement, vacation and training benefit funds that serve all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland AMO members and their families.
The Isla Bella is the first of two Marlin class containerships ordered by TOTE from NASSCO in 2012 and the 100th ship launched by the yard.
The Isla Bella will begin service between Florida and Puerto Rico two months ahead of schedule in September 2015. With its complement of AMO officers and SIU crew, the vessel will operate at the highest level of seagoing professionalism.
As the first ship of its kind anywhere in the world to be fueled by liquefied natural gas, the Isla Bella is an enduring testament to TOTE's innovative commitment to a cleaner environment. "The use of LNG as a marine fuel in the U.S. defines a major shift for the industry," the company said in a statement following the christening and launch. "By switching to LNG, TOTE is reducing nitrous oxide emissions by 98 percent, sulfur by 97 percent, carbon dioxide by 72 percent and particulate matter by 60 percent."
TOTE had already announced that it would convert its Orca class ships - the Midnight Sun and North Star, which operate between Tacoma, Washington and Anchorage, Alaska - to LNG propulsion systems in a project slated to begin later this year.
NASSCO President Fred Harris struck the same "green" theme in his remarks during the Isla Bella christening ceremony. The vessel "validates NASSCO's capability to break new ground in ship technology and lead in the design, construction and conversion of ships to take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of LNG," Harris said.
The Isla Bella and the Marlin class project also offer lasting witness to keen business savvy upstairs at TOTE and its parent company, Saltchuk Resources, and to the dedication and skill of the shipyard team at NASSCO. "We especially want to thank the hundreds of men and women who did the real work - the welding, the piping, the lifting, the planning, the electrical, the designing, the logistics, the painting and all the other work that went into making these ships a reality," said Saltchuk Chairman Mark Tabbutt.
In his remarks during the christening ceremony, California Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter - chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure - made an especially relevant and potent political point. The Marlin class project, he said, vindicates the Jones Act and its timeless value to the U.S. economy and to national security.
Enacted as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act holds all domestic waterborne commerce for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and staffed in the United States. The law applies to shipping services between and among U.S. points along the ocean and Gulf coasts, on the Great Lakes, in coastal and inland tug, tow and barge markets and between the U.S. mainland and the remote states and territories of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam.
The Jones Act today accounts for more than 500,000 private sector jobs at sea and ashore nationwide and multiple billions in private capital investment in U.S. vessels, U.S. shipyards and industries that provide goods and services to domestic shipping companies and U.S. shipbuilders.
Many Jones Act vessels - including TOTE's Marlin and Orca class ships - are capable of supporting U.S. armed forces deployed overseas during military emergencies, and the U.S. yards that build commercial tonnage for Jones Act service also build ships of various size and configuration for the U.S. Navy.
In addition, many of the civilian, private sector merchant mariners employed in Jones Act trades are qualified to serve aboard government-owned and chartered strategic sealift ships that keep American military personnel supplied and equipped during a distant war. An estimated 80 percent of the U.S. merchant mariners working in sealift service during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991 and in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States were working in or had started their seagoing careers in Jones Act markets.
In his remarks during the Isla Bella christening and launch, Gen. Paul Selva - commander of U.S. Transportation Command in the Department of Defense and an outspoken Jones Act advocate - lauded "the commitment of companies like TOTE to supporting the U.S. military and maritime sector that is really important to our national defense."
The public record is undeniable: the Jones Act works as intended, generating extraordinary public benefits at private expense. The Isla Bella is one indication of the law's merit, and the near horizon is bright with other examples: the arrival of the combination container-roll-on/roll-off ship Marjorie C for Pasha Hawaii; the second ship in the Marlin class; the construction of two combination container-RO/RO ships for Crowley at VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula, Mississippi; and about 20 product tankers under construction at or on order from NASSCO and Aker Philadelphia.
American Maritime Officers will fill the licensed jobs on all of these forthcoming dry cargo vessels and tankers, beginning later this year. As the Jones Act fleet expands, so will the unique, rewarding opportunities available to AMO engine and deck officers.