In this issue...
M.E.B.A. gets Keystone deck jobs...Members needed for Design Engineer jobs through Armada...Letter to Hill on unimpeded shore leave. Union gets new MSC ship...It's a trip! On a slippery slope of off-balance industry items, we wipe out the latest news and tumble head over heels into another spiraling issue. Taking a maritime plunge, we hurtle through an information tailspin and plummet end-over-end in a down-to-earth edition. You're sure to fall for the Telex Times!

M.E.B.A. WILL REPRESENT KEYSTONE DECK OFFICERS
M.E.B.A. is pleased to announce that it has reached final agreement with Chas. Kurz & Co., Inc., & Subsidiaries (the controlling parent of Keystone Shipping Co.) as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of the licensed deck officers employed aboard the company's commercial, ocean-going tanker vessels. The MOU is effective February 1, 2007. The agreement does not include Captains, although the Masters have the option of joining M.E.B.A. or remaining outside of the bargaining unit. Several Captains have already committed to the M.E.B.A. or expressed interest.

M.E.B.A. is confident in Keystone's ability to expand its tanker operations and we welcome the opportunity for continued growth with a company that we have had such a longstanding mutually beneficial relationship.

The agreement is the culmination of many months of discussions M.E.B.A. has had with the company. This effort was further enhanced by the stellar support, determination and professionalism exhibited by M.E.B.A. officials visiting the vessels while in port and our engineers sailing the vessels.

M.E.B.A. owes each and every one of them a debt of gratitude for a job well done and thanks to all the rank and file members for the valuable input they provided to the Union as well.

This agreement bodes well for the future expansion of both M.E.B.A. and Keystone and it is our sincerest desire that our newly recognized licensed deck officer brethren will enjoy the same fulfillment, stability and peace of mind that is the hallmark of M.E.B.A. as an institution.

M.E.B.A. DESIGN ENGINEERS NEEDED FOR NAVY CONSTRUCTION
Armada Companies is seeking Design Engineers for new U.S. Navy construction project(s). Naval Architectural and new construction experience is preferable. Employment would be in the Hampton Roads, VA area. Interested members should send resumes to James Freeman at James.Freeman@armada.com.

Armada Companies, LLC provides maritime technical staffing to the maritime and non-maritime engineering industries worldwide. M.E.B.A. has a collective bargaining agreement with ARMADA to supply marine engineers to third party organizations that do not hold collective bargaining agreements of their own with the Union.

LETTER TO THE HILL: MARINERS NEED UNIMPEDED ACCESS TO PORTS FOR SHORE LEAVE
The M.E.B.A., together with the other major maritime labor unions, sent a letter to Capitol Hill this week requesting the assistance of Senator Daniel Inouye, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The letter read in part, "Our organizations have received numerous reports of instances in which terminals and port facilities have denied access to crew members and their representatives, as well as cases in which access is conditioned on a payment of a fee by the crew member."

The letter continues, "Simply put, many U.S. port facilities and terminals have instituted cumbersome, inflexible access measures that have the practical effect of making it impossible for a crew member to leave and return to his ship while in port. In so doing, the men and women we represent are essentially treated as hostages, confined to their vessel without any reasonable opportunity to go ashore."

The letter concludes that although mariners have been subjected to rigorous background checks and certified by the United States Coast Guard, some ports impose severe restrictions or otherwise deny shore leave under the guise of "security".

NAVY SALVAGE VESSEL TRANSFERS TO MSC, CREWS UP WITH M.E.B.A. OFFICERS
The rescue and salvage ship USS SALVOR (ARS 52) was decommissioned and transferred to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) last week joining the long list of MSC Auxiliary and Special Mission ships crewed by the M.E.B.A.. The vessel was redesignated as USNS SALVOR (T-ARS 52).

The ship was designed for salvage of stranded vessels, rescue and assistance, recovery of submerged objects, and manned diving operations. Commissioned June 14, 1986, Salvor first arrived in Pearl Harbor on Nov. 1 of the same year, and has been patrolling and working in the Pacific for the past two decades. SALVOR will continue this mission with a crew of civilian mariners aboard.

The ship has undergone many modifications to prepare it for transfer to MSC; the platform will receive automation and control upgrades at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., to prepare for continued service with a smaller civilian crew.

M.E.B.A. SURVEY SHIP LOCATES BLACK BOX OF DOWNED AIRCRAFT
A Horizon Lines-managed Military Sealift Command ship powered by M.E.B.A. engineers has completed a grim mission in the waters off Northern Indonesia. The oceanographic survey ship USNS MARY SEARS was called onto the scene on January 9th to help locate the black box of an Indonesian airplane that disappeared in the area on New Year's Day. 102 people were aboard the plane. The ship was chosen for its advanced sonar equipment onboard that is used to map the ocean floor.

The M.E.B.A. ship was successful in its mission and picked up signals from the flight data recorder of the Boeing 737. Authorities noted that, "During the search of the projected crash site of Adam Air Flight 574, the MARY SEARS, using a Towed Pinger Locator, detected pingers on the same frequency of the black boxes associated with the missing airplane."

They said that in a subsequent sweeping of the ocean floor around the pinger location, the MARY SEARS detected heavy debris scattered over a wide area. The ship was said to have completed her task and is set to sail back to its previous location in the Western Pacific today.

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES REORGANIZE
Now that the House of Representatives has moved past the "100 Hour Agenda" of the Democrats, the committees that handle the bulk of the hearings and drafting legislation took time to organize itself. One interesting committee change was brought about by California Congressman George Miller who decided to redub the "Committee on Education and the Workforce" to the "Committee on Education and Labor." Republicans made the switch from "Labor" to "Workforce" when they took over the House in 1994.

The House Committee on Homeland Security had major changes in its subcommittee structure. The Committee reorganized with six new
subcommittees replacing the six subcommittees of the 109th Congress. The new subcommittees are Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism; Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response; Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology; Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment; Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight; and Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection.

Over on the Senate side, where traditions die harder, there were minor changes. For instance the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine was augmented to be the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security.

NUCLEAR SHIP SAVANNAH WILL BE TOWED ON MONDAY FOR DECOMMISSIONING
The National Historic Landmark vessel, the NS SAVANNAH, which was the United States' first and only nuclear-powered commercial ship, is on the move. The ship which was crewed by M.E.B.A. officers during her heyday, will be towed on Monday from Colonna's shipyard in Norfolk, VA, to a Maritime Administration facility at Pier 23, Newport News, VA. The SAVANNAH will remain there, undergoing routine maintenance, until a contract for drydocking is awarded. MarAd has begun preparations for decommissioning the ship's nuclear reactor. All fuel was removed more than 30 years ago.

CRS REPORT WANTS CONGRESS TO PRIORITIZE FIGHT AGAINST MARITIME TERRORISM
The Congressional Research Service (CRS), the public policy research arm of the U.S. Congress put out a report on maritime security last week offering advice on the need to more clearly address and prioritize the threats faced. The CRS points out that maritime terrorism could take the form of a plethora of scenarios and that nuclear devices placed in containers or attacks on LNG ships are probably over-emphasized. There are far more potential attack scenarios than likely ones, they say, and far more than could be meaningfully addressed with limited counter-terrorism resources.

Such focus could be a detriment to effectively combating the highest threats since differing priorities set by port officials, grant officials, and legislators lead to differing allocations of port security resources and levels of protection against specific types of attacks.

The CRS concludes that clear perspectives on the nature and likelihood of specific types of maritime terrorist attacks are essential for prioritizing the nation's maritime anti-terrorism activities. They call on Congress to better assess how the various elements of U.S. maritime security fit together in the nation's overall strategy to protect the public from terrorist attacks. "Without such a comprehensive perspective on terrorist threats, security analysts may have difficulty identifying which assets to protect and how well to protect them with the limited security resources available. Reviewing how these security priorities and activities fit together to achieve common goals could be an oversight challenge for Congress."

MARAD LAUNCHES FREIGHT FINANCING PROGRAM, WEBSITE
The Maritime Administration, with the Export-Import Bank, has developed a program to provide added incentives for the commercial public to ship their United States export cargo on U.S.-flag vessels.

Under this program, the Ex-Im Bank provides guaranteed working capital loans for transportation-related cost associated with the export move that is carried on a U.S.-flag vessel. Such transportation costs could include ocean freight, marine insurance, export packing, trucking, railroad or other costs related to the logistics involved in the export of commercial cargo. These loans offer an incentive to use U.S.-flag vessels while concurrently improving cash flow for exporters, the freight forwarding industry and U.S.-flag carriers.

A more detailed description of the program, plus instructions on applying for the working capital loans, is available on the World Wide Web at http://marad.dot.gov/offices/cargo/TFF.htm.

NEXT REGULAR MONTHLY MEETINGS
Monday February 5 - Boston, Seattle;
Tuesday, February 6 - Baltimore, Houston, Jacksonville, San Francisco;
Wednesday, February 7 - Calhoon M.E.B.A. School, Charleston, New Orleans, Portland;
Thursday, February 8 - Los Angeles, New York, Norfolk, Tampa;
Friday, February 9 - Honolulu.