Taking your children or grandchildren for a ride on the Merry-Go Round may be a pleasant past memory. With that memory, we are asking to think about your choice of the best horse as you board the platform. A decision resting upon what you want out of the ride. Now consider that selection to the current state of US shipbuilding.
Many claim to have ‘saltwater in their veins,’ but all you have to do is walk into the corner office of John McDonald, the new Chairman and CEO of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), to see that him saying “I was born into maritime” is not hyperbole. The first thing that greets you is a Dusan Kadlec nighttime painting of the Brooklyn Bridge
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to explore legal questions arising from the fraught history of U.S.-Cuban relations when it considers the scope of a 1996 law that lets U.S. nationals seek compensation for property confiscated by the communist-led Cuban government.The justices hear arguments on Monday in two cases centered on the federal law called the Helms-Burton Act, one involving U.S.
In December of 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard announced the award of two contracts to build up to six Arctic Security Cutter (ASC) icebreakers. The announcement declaring the vessels would be built between the United States and Finland in a major step forward for America’s national security in the Arctic region. The decision process encompassed more than the security of the Arctic passage.
Maritime 2026 opened with a bang between the announcement of Battleships, Venezuela, shadow fleets and yes, U.S. shipbuilding. The commercial building issue may come down to strategic patience or the adaptability to evolve through new technology while ignoring historic, old tactics.
The White House has ordered U.S. military forces to focus almost exclusively on enforcing a "quarantine" of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, a U.S. official told Reuters, indicating Washington is currently more interested in using economic rather than military means to pressure Caracas.
On October 28, 2025 U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries, convened the Senate hearing “Sea Change: Reviving Commercial Shipbuilding”. This hearing examined how to modernize and accelerate U.S.
We are well into the discussions advising shipbuilders and operators how the U.S. will create a renaissance of the maritime industry. Federal Legislation, Executive Orders, and new foreign partnerships driving the promise of commercial competitiveness with the leading global shipbuilders. Most of the shipbuilding rhetoric indicates the domestic markets will be left to survive on their own.
Dating back to the year 1786, Thomas Jefferson wrote to a member of the Continental Congress on the importance of free press keeping government in check. He was quoted as saying if he had a choice between “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to choose the latter.
With all the Legislative fanfare, Executive Orders, Committee meetings, lobbying efforts and media announcements concerning American Shipbuilding, Naval Warfare and Maritime Dominance, it is no surprise that the result of the uproar is shear confusion within the maritime industrial base (MIB).
Taylor Marine Construction, Inc. announced the startup of Taylor Marine Shipyard, a new Gulf Coast commercial vessel repair and haul-out facility positioned on Dickinson Bayou, immediately adjacent to the Houston Ship Channel near Lights 45 and 46. The shipyard is scheduled to place its 660-ton Marine Travelift into full commercial service in August 2026.
Nearly 500 maritime and transportation industry leaders gathered on the evening of Wednesday, May 20, at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers for the sold-out 32nd International Maritime Hall of Fame Awards dinner hosted by the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey (MAPONY/NJ).