Maybe; maybe not. Allegretti also correctly points out that only continued, vigorous advocacy on behalf of protecting cabotage will prevent detractors from chipping away at what’s left of it.

The initial BPA Worldwide Brand Report for Maritime Professional magazine and online community has been accomplished. You should care. Here’s why:

Good enough, too much or not enough? It all depends on who you talk to.

Proactive and practical planning can help alleviate the pain from the regulatory burden which continues to shift its considerable burden to the smaller boat markets.

Maritime Labor has some interesting choices looming large in the porthole.

Hint: It’s not the Costa Concordia grounding.

WCI Meetings in Washington highlight shortfalls in waterways infrastructure funding while red tape prevents critical industry input through Inland Waterways User Board.

Coast Guard’s new weight calculations for passenger vessels and ferries merely reflect a supersized general population and similar moves elsewhere.

Or not...

Strange course lines – and the reasons for charting them – are not the exclusive domain of cruise liners. The latest high-profile disaster therefore signals the beginning of a new era in shore-based oversight of mariners. And, that’s not speculation.

Costa Concordia disaster fallout will eventually reach far beyond today’s lurid headlines.

Industry and Scientists chart the way forward during two days of substantive discussions at Duke University in Durham, NC. Solutions, strategies and emerging technologies all on the table as oceanographic research vessel operators look for ways to minimize their environmental footprint while enhancing their financial position to continue important missions. A rare partnership begins to yield fruit.

The latest from inside the beltway is anything but comforting and shows far from good fiscal form. Is it the beginning of the end for the massive security program known simply as TWIC?

Creating an elite maritime academy typically takes time, but Marad plows on with a bone in its teeth. Last week’s GMATS announcement could just be the tip of the iceberg. Who and/or what is next?

DOT cites GAO recommendations in a troubling decision that leaves 30+ employees out in the cold, the federal merchant marine academy without continuing education and the domestic U.S. waterfront and labor wondering what the U.S. Maritime Administration might have in store for them next.

Two announcements from two different federal agencies emanate from last week. One might matter; the other, not so much.

Domestic Port Security as it relates to visiting mariners remains nothing more than a charade, intended to make the general public feel a little bit better. Reader response to my first column tells how and why.

The two are rarely seen in the same sentence anymore. And, (partly) because of it, the brain drain from the global mariner pool will continue unabated. But, there’s much more to the broken equation than that…

The wonders of technology at sea, and ashore.

Domestic maritime industry and its many advocates are becoming increasingly vocal about what matters most: infrastructure, jobs and the economy.

SITREP: the Plot Thickens at DOT and Marad

Inland agenda for the coming year is complicated, controversial and anything but comforting for operators of brown water tonnage.

Fostering a culture of blame at sea.

The dedication of the Maritime Environmental Research Center’s (MERC) barge-based Mobile Test Platform coincided perfectly with the latest meeting of the Great Lakes Ballast Water Collaborative Meeting at Baltimore, MD’s inner harbor on Tuesday. What transpired there shed new light on both the coming battles and the developing collaboration in the world of BWT technologies.

The EXXON VALDEZ and COSCO BUSAN incidents both served, in the end, to improve safety and increase regulatory oversight of various aspects of marine transportation. Eventually – and like it or not – the fallout from Deepwater Horizon will do the same.

Surface Transportation and FAA get billions in extension deal. Maritime funding is still out in the cold. DOT and Marad? Absent as usual from the docks.

Only if we allow it to happen...

Three kinds, a bipartisan effort; all failures.

At a time when every federal penny (seemingly) should count, the U.S. Department of Justice is embarking on an ill-advised, potentially expensive and ultimately counterproductive legal action against the U.S. Coast Guard’s primary shipbuilding contractor. Go figure…

Federal spending priorities reflect both the importance of domestic seaports and the maritime industry itself. At the same time, the continued abject neglect of the waterfront in the face of massive infrastructure spending is undeniable. This week, check out YOUR world, by the numbers…