MARINE ENGINEERS' BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION (AFL-CIO)
         "On Watch in Peace and War Since 1875"

MEBA TELEX TIMES           MAY 09, 2008

The Official Union Newsletter

NUMBER 19

In this issue...
CMES instructor honored...M.E.B.A. MSC ship to the rescue... Unions want repeal of domestic vessel tax...Gearing down, we grind to a halt with a bumper-to-bumper, gridlock edition congested with a pile-up of industry items. Hit the brakes on slow-moving, low-flow newsletters that'll leave you fuming and overheated. Those rear-ending idlers are going nowhere! We pull out all the stops, set the wheels in motion and get you out of a jam. Putting you in the fast lane, the Telex Times brings you up to speed!

CMES INSTRUCTOR TOM CANNON HONORED
At a ceremony in the Schools auditorium this morning, Calhoon M.E.B.A. Engineering School Instructor Tom Cannon was honored with the Maritime Administrations Merchant Marine Medal for Outstanding Achievement. Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton presented the rare award while lauding Toms impressive career. Tom holds an unlimited Chief Engineers license - Steam, Motor, Gas Turbine and Nuclear vessels. He was the Chief Engineer of such ships as the GTS ADM. WILLIAM M. CALLAGHAN with its revolutionary gas turbine technology and the N/S SAVANNAH, the worlds first and only commercial nuclear ship. Vice Admiral Albert Herberger, himself a former Maritime Administrator, pinned the medal on Brother Cannon. Admiral Herberger graduated with Tom from Kings Point (Class of 55) and the two were actually roommates there. M.E.B.A. President Don Keefe also directed some kind words at Tom during the ceremony that attracted many of the graduating students from the handful of classes that wrapped up this morning.

Tom has been an instructor at the School for over a dozen years and oversees the Steam Engineering and Ships Management courses and assists in the Gas Turbine Engineering and Upgrading Engineer Management Level classes.

NUCLEAR SHIP SAVANNAH IN BALTIMORE TO CONTINUE RESTORATION
The Maritime Administration announced that a $588,380 per year contract was awarded to the Canton Marine Terminals of Baltimore for layberthing of the National Historic Landmark vessel N.S. SAVANNAH. The contract with Canton Marine Terminals has four six-month option periods. Those option periods include an escalation in payment. M.E.B.A. crewed the ship in its heyday. The SAVANNAH is the worlds first nuclear-powered commercial ship. Recently, M.E.B.A. performed restoration work on the nuclear ship through our contracted company Keystone when the vessel was in Norfolk, VA.

The ship was transferred to Baltimore on Thursday. Coincidentally, CMES Instructor Tom Cannon, former Chief Engineer of the SAVANNAH was in Baltimore aboard the M.E.B.A.-crewed USNS COMFORT with his Steam Engineering class on a field trip. Tom saw the SAVANNAH being brought into the harbor and was photographed with his old ship in the background.

All nuclear fuel was removed from the SAVANNAH more than 30 years ago. The Maritime Administration plans to hold a public information meeting in the very near future. More information on the ship and plans for its decommissioning may be found at www.marad.dot.gov.

CUMMINGS APPLAUDS TWIC EXTENSION
The Chairman of the Transportation & Infrastructures Subcommittee on Coast Guard & Maritime Transportation issued a statement this week lauding the Homeland Security Departments extension of the TWIC compliance date. DHS pushed the effectiveness date for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program from Sept. 25, 2008 to April 15, 2009. However, the Department announced that those workers in facilities located in the Captain of the Port Zones of Boston, Northern New England, and Southeastern New England will need to comply with TWIC demands by October 15, 2008.

Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) pointed out that, The TWIC program is an essential component in protecting our nation from potential terror threats, and we must ensure that its implementation is conducted in the most efficient and effective manner. In light of the reported problems in the TWIC rollout thus far, I applaud the decision of DHS to extend the deadline for enrollment. When workers must pay to enroll in a program necessary for them to do their jobs and provide for their families, they have the right to expect reliable, efficient service with little to no interruption to their schedules.

It is my hope that this extended deadline will be supplemented by the provisions included in the Coast Guard Authorization Act to help improve the TWIC program. This legislation passed in the House by an overwhelming majority, and I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to quickly act on this legislation to enact these commonsense provisions into law.

USNS KANAWHA RESCUES DHOW CREW IN GULF OF ADEN
Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS KANAWHA, crewed with M.E.B.A. engineers, assisted the crew of a ship in distress in the Gulf of Aden on May 4. Dunia, a 15-meter dhow with a crew of 10, experienced a serious engine problem, leaving it unable to operate at sea. KANAWHA, which was nearby, responded. KANAWHA engineers went aboard the dhow to troubleshoot the problem. Once they determined repairs would need to be completed ashore, Combined Task Force 150 sent their nearest ship, USS SHOUP, to tow the dhow toward Yemeni territorial waters, close to Al Mukala, where a tugboat was waiting to bring the small boat pierside. The dhow arrived in Yemeni territorial waters May 6. KANAWHA and SHOUP also provided the dhow's crew with food, water and medical support during the two days.

NAVY/MSC PREPARED TO ASSIST BURMA VICTIMS; AFL-CIO SETS UP RELIEF FUND
The U.S. has made an initial aid contribution but is preparing to extend further aid to the people of Burma (Myanmar) following a devastating cyclone that may have claimed as much as 100,000 lives. On May 2 and 3, a cyclone called Nargis ripped through the tiny, impoverished country. Besides the dead, villages are decimated and millions are homeless. The Navy has three ships in the Gulf of Thailand standing by along with their Military Sealift Command support vessels crewed with M.E.B.A. engineers. MSC recently sent a hospital ship (USNS MERCY) on a four-month humanitarian mission close to the region. However, there was no word as yet if that vessel would alter its mission in light of the devastating news from Burma.

The AFL-CIO Solidarity Center has launched an online relief fund, with contributions going to the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma so it can distribute clothing, medicine and non-perishable food for Burmese workers and their families. Visit https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=25739 to contribute.

The Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) has issued an urgent plea to the global union movement for aid in launching rescue, relief and rehabilitation work for victims of the storm. The cyclone was the worst to hit Asia in almost 20 years, according to weather experts. FTUB, a partner of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, plans to use relief fund contributions to distribute clothing, medicine, and non-perishable food for displaced workers and their families, build temporary shelters and assist in providing needed counseling and health clinics.

UNIONS URGE REPEAL OF DOMESTIC VESSEL TAX
Fees imposed upon U.S.-flag vessels making multiple stops at American ports are impeding the competitiveness of the domestic maritime industry vis-à-vis other modes of transportation, according to several maritime unions. Union presidents Don Keefe (M.E.B.A.), Tim Brown (MM&P), Mike Sacco (SIU), Tom Bethel (AMO), Gunnar Lundeberg (SUP) and Anthony Poplawski, (MFOW) are supporting H.R. 1499, a bill to correct this situation.

Introduced by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt the waterborne transportation of cargo between American ports from the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT). Under present practice, the HMT is imposed on cargo entering a U.S. port from an overseas market. The tax is assessed again on the same cargo when it moves by water on U.S.-flag vessels along our coasts to other American ports. In a letter to Congress, the union presidents observed, This application of the HMT which results in the dual or multiple taxation of waterborne cargo does not apply to cargo moving domestically by truck or rail. Consequently, this application of the HMT discourages the transportation of domestic cargo by water and impedes the development of a U.S. short sea shipping and marine highway system and should be eliminated.

The presidents stressed that waterborne movements of cargo are cost-effective, efficient and environmentally sound. Moreover, a short sea transportation network will offer shippers another means to transport the ever-increasing volumes of imported cargo expected to move in interstate commerce between American ports in coming years.

In remarks promoting the measure, Rep. Cummings contrasted the benefits of eliminating HMT fees on U.S.-flag carriers as opposed to its cost. He cited a reported by the Congressional Budget Office that stated the H.R. 1499 would reduce revenues by less than $500,000 over 10 years.

In addition, the letter was also signed by the Transportation Institute, American Maritime Officers Service, American Maritime Congress and the Maritime Institute for Research and Industrial Development (MIRAID).

HALLS OK FRC REPORT
A report drafted by a rank and file committee that examined Union finances for 2007 was approved by members at the regular meetings this week. Thanks go to this years Financial Review Committee that worked hard during three days in April. The FRC consisted of Claude Pfeffer (Baltimore), Travis Ellis (Houston), Ed Lee (New Orleans), Frank Dalrymple (New York/New Jersey), Christian Yuhas (Oakland/San Francisco) and Claudia Cimini (Seattle).

HOSPITAL SHIP ON 4-MONTH HUMANITARIAN MISSION
Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS MERCY left San Diego last week, beginning Pacific Partnership 2008 - a four-month humanitarian and civic-assistance mission to the Republic of the Philippines, Vietnam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. Pacific Partnership is a mission that will take medical, dental, veterinary, engineering and civic assistance to Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific to build on relationships that have been developed during previous similar missions, such as the 2004 tsunami relief efforts, MERCYs 2006 deployment and USS PELELIU's 2007 mission. M.E.B.A. officers prowl the MERCYs engine room. The ship was deployed before the cyclone tragedy occurred in Burma. It is not clear whether its mission will be altered or if the MSC will deploy other vessels to help alleviate Burmese suffering.

"MERCY is a fully operational, completely modern hospital that can go anywhere in the world, wherever and whenever there is a need," said the ship's civil service master Capt. Robert Wiley. "Every time we take this ship out, we get smarter about how to use it. We'll be doing things this time that we didn't even think were possible a few years ago."

Throughout the 2008 Pacific Partnership mission, the 894-foot-long MERCY will serve as a platform from which U.S. and foreign militaries and nongovernmental organizations will coordinate and carry out humanitarian and civic activities in each country.

RECORD FUEL PRICES PLACING STRESS ON GLOBAL SHIPPING
Shipping lines worldwide are struggling as crude oil prices topped an unprecedented $119 per barrel last week, in turn pushing marine bunker fuel prices up past $552 per ton a $26 per ton increase since the end of March alone. Bunker prices have risen 87% since the beginning of 2007. Fuel costs represent as much as 50-60% of total ship operating costs, depending on the type of ship and service. The World Shipping Council pointed out that ocean carriers are required to recover these costs to maintain levels of service, meaning the price of shipping goods will continue to face upward pressures.

With the cost of bunker fuel at $552 per ton, and fuel consumption at 217 tons per day, a single 28-day round trip voyage for a container vessel with a capacity of 7,650 TEUs would produce a fuel bill of $3,353,952. This number could be greater for a number of reasons, such as if the voyage were more than 14 days, or if the vessel were smaller and less fuel efficient per container, or if schedule delays required the vessel to speed up to stay on schedule. Recovery of fuel cost from cargo customers is a challenge when one considers that vessel capacity utilization is not 100%, that trades are not evenly balanced (some exports may utilize only half of a vessels capacity), that different trades and commodities can handle different levels of rates, and that fuel prices continue to rise. If a cargo shipper pays less than its share of the fuel cost, it can only mean that other shippers must pay more, and/or the carrier fails to recover its operating cost, which is not a sustainable business scenario. If extended to a single weekly service using five vessels, it would create an annual fuel bill to the carrier of about $220 million.

Approximately 1,500 ocean-going liner vessels, mostly containerships, make more than 26,000 U.S. port calls each year, providing American importers and exporters with efficient transportation services to and from roughly 175 countries. Today, U.S. commerce is served by more than 125 weekly container services. The annual fuel cost for the services is tens of billions of dollars and continues to rise substantially. How carriers seek to obtain recovery of these rapidly rising fuel costs in the current market is a matter for commercial negotiations, but the significance and the magnitude and the consequences of the challenge continue to grow.

Carriers have been responding to the high cost of fuel by utilizing a range of operational adjustments. Beginning in early 2007, most container lines began restructuring their operations to address fuel price trends. Among other measures, many have redeployed ships among global trade lanes to optimize utilization; consolidated services through multi-carrier alliances; consolidated routes to serve more locations with fewer ships; slowed sailing speeds to conserve fuel where possible within schedule; improved monitoring of hull and propeller conditions to reduce resistance and improve efficiency and adopted container transloading, street turns and other strategies to cut inland fuel costs.

CG CUTTER OFFICER GUILTY OF LYING ABOUT ILLEGAL OIL DISCHARGE
David G. Williams, a Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer and the Main Propulsion Assistant for the Coast Guard Cutter RUSH, pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court in Hawaii to one count of making a false statement.

Williams was indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 8, 2007, for lying to investigators about his knowledge of the direct overboard discharge of bilge wastes through the ships deep sink into the Honolulu Harbor. As the Main Propulsion Assistant, he oversaw the maintenance of the main diesel engines and other machinery in the engine room of the RUSH, a 378-foot high endurance cutter stationed in Honolulu.

According to the plea agreement, on or about March 8, 2006, Williams had knowledge of the direct discharge of bilge wastes into Honolulu Harbor. The engineering department personnel engaged in an unusual and abnormal operation and configuration of engine room equipment to pump bilge wastes from the aft bilge to the deep sink and overboard into Honolulu Harbor, thereby bypassing the oily water separator system. Less than a week later, the State of Hawaii's Department of Health received an anonymous complaint stating that the crew of the RUSH was ordered to pump approximately 2,000 gallons of bilge waste into Honolulu Harbor. On May 1, 2006, investigators from the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service received confirmation from Main Propulsion Division personnel who personally participated that bilge wastes had indeed been discharged through the deep sink and into Honolulu Harbor. Investigators obtained various documents from the RUSH, including engineering and ships logs, tank level sounding sheets, and a pneumatic pump. When interviewed by investigators from the CGIS, Williams denied knowledge of personnel discharging bilge waste to the deep sink and stated that he was not aware of the pumping of bilge wastes to bypass the ships OWS system. Sentencing has been set for Aug. 19, 2008. Williams faces a statutory maximum of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, plus a term of supervised release of up to 3 years.

EGYPTIAN COMPANY GUILTY OF OIL DUMPING
The National Navigation Company (NNC) pleaded guilty and was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon for 15 felony charges, the Justice Department announced. The company, based in Cairo, Egypt, admitted to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and making false statements to federal officials.

The case arose from an investigation of a bulk cargo vessel named the M/V WADI AL ARISH. U.S. Coast Guard inspectors found evidence of illegal dumping of waste oil during a routine inspection in November 2007. Law enforcement agents from the Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a fleet-wide investigation, boarding vessels and interviewing dozens of crew members at multiple ports in the Pacific Northwest and along the Gulf Coast. The investigation uncovered evidence of violations aboard six vessels in NNCs fleet. Crews on these vessels dumped thousands of gallons of waste oil, including sludge, in oceans around the world and falsified official ship records, including the Oil Record Book, a required log, to cover up the dumping. The multi-district prosecution was initiated in Oregon and also included charges filed in Seattle and New Orleans that were consolidated in Oregon. At the hearing in Oregon, NNC pleaded guilty to one felony count from the Eastern District of Louisiana, two felony counts from the Western District of Washington and twelve felony counts in Oregon. The charges stem from dates that the six vessels visited ports in each of these jurisdictions.

The court sentenced NNC to pay a total monetary penalty of $7.25 million the largest ever for a case involving the falsification of ship logs to conceal deliberate pollution from ships in the Pacific Northwest. They were also placed on a four-year probation and must implement a stringent fleet-wide environmental compliance program.

CAR & BIKE SHOW BENEFITING MEMORIAL IS COMING UP
The M.E.B.A. Merchant Marine Memorial Foundation is having a Car & Bike Show that will take place at the School on May 24, 2008 from 10 a.m.5 p.m. There will be raffles, food, live music, and trophies for winning contestants all for a $5 admission fee for those not entering a car or motorcycle in the show.

If you are showing in the event, there will be a $15 Registration Fee for a Car, $10 for a Motorcycle. All proceeds go to the M.E.B.A. Merchant Marine Memorial Foundation, Inc. to help with further maintenance on the Memorial. Registration begins at 10 am on that day with the judging beginning at noon. A band will rock out the show starting at 1 p.m. The Burn Out begins at 2 p.m. with the raffle and door prizes at 3 p.m. If you want to register or just plain donate or need to ask about vending opportunities, please contact Jessica Milligan at (410) 822-9600, ext. 306 or jmilligan@mebaschool.org.  Checks should be payable to MMMMF, Inc, P.O. Box 2443, Easton, MD 21601. Visit the Memorial section of the Schools website (www.mebaschool.org).

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETINGS
Monday, June 2 Boston, Jacksonville, Seattle;
Tuesday, June 3 Baltimore, Houston, San Francisco;
Wednesday, June 4 Calhoon School, Charleston, New Orleans, Portland;
Thursday, June 5 L.A., New York, Norfolk, Tampa;
Friday, June 6 Honolulu.

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