HIJOS DE J. BARRERAS, S.A.

With your first steps as a cadet onto the Maritime Academy campus, your first union dues payment or first line thrown ashore from the tug, you are lectured on the importance of the “Jones Act”. A constant reminder throughout a US Seafarer’s career of commitment, loyalty and support for the legislation. All in the name of National Security, US Job protection and the advancement of the US Flag Merchant Marine. It is a massive and expensive lobbying effort witnessed throughout generations at sea. The effort has been historically successful. That said, there are times when history does not repeat itself.

We are at the one-year since the Francis Scott Key (FSK) Bridge collapsed over the Patapsco River’s Fort McHenry Channel in Baltimore, Maryland.  Nearly 100 percent of the wreckage and debris removal was conducted by the Jones Act private sector U.S. maritime industry.  The FSK collapsed at about 1:28 a.m. local time on March 26, 2025 after the container ship MV DALI lost power and collided with one of bridge’s support piers.  Six construction workers died in the collapse, while two other workers survived the fall into the freezing water. The search and rescue efforts began immediately after the bridge collapsed with first responders racing to the FSK bridge area to look for survivors.

Russia said on Tuesday the U.S. had agreed to help it lift restrictions on food, fertilizer and shipping companies in exchange for agreeing to a maritime security deal in the Black Sea.The United States further said it had also agreed with Russia and Ukraine to implement a ban on military strikes on each other's energy installations.If implemented, the deals would represent the clearest progress yet towards a wider ceasefire that Washington sees as a stepping stone towards peace talks to bring an end to Russia's three-year-old war in Ukraine.

A Trump administration proposal aimed at reviving the U.S. shipbuilding industry may backfire by imposing steep fees on China-linked vessels—penalties that industry leaders say would hurt American ship operators and ports rather than help them, industry executives said at U.S. Trade Representative hearings on Monday.At issue are proposed, stacking fees on China-built vessels that could top $3 million per U.S. port call. The Trump administration says the fees would curb China's growing commercial and military dominance on the high seas and promote domestically built vessels. U.S. steelworker unions, U.S.

Belgian oil tanker group CMB.TECH has signed an agreement with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and MOL Chemical Tankers (MOLCT) for nine ammonia-powered vessels.The vessels will be among the world's first ammonia-powered Newcastlemax bulk carriers and chemical tankers.  The delivery of these ships is expected between 2026 and 2029.The landmark agreement between MOL/MOLCT, and CMB.TECH involves nine ammonia-powered ships.Three ammonia-fitted 210.000 dwt Newcastlemax bulk carriers, currently on order at Qingdao Beihai Shipyard, will be jointly owned by CMB.TECH and MOL and chartered to MOL for a period of 12 years each.