MM&P Talks Training, Captain Phillips, and Maritime Security Program

Published Oct 2, 2013 4:22 PM by The Maritime Executive

Training played a pivotal role in the way Captain Richard Phillips handled his ship being taken over by Somali pirates in 2009.

Seafarer requirements are becoming more stringent, and the demand for qualified mariners is increasing. Built in the 1970s, the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) has become a center for advanced merchant ship studies. Funded by the industry and operated both by shipping companies and the seamen's union, the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P), it has become a one-stop shop for basic operations training and, increasingly, anti-terror and anti-piracy training - using full-scale simulation technology.

Captain Phillips publicly stated that the training he received at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and at MITAGS was instrumental. Proper training lays a foundation for mariners to easily evolve and adapt to different circumstances onboard vessels.

Additionally, threatened cuts to the Maritime Security Program (MSP) would damage our national security by severely compromising America's ability to respond in case of war or other national emergency, says MM&P officials. They are working to educate members of Congress and the public on this issue through a variety of channels, including interviews in national and regional publications such as USA Today, NPR and, most recently, The Baltimore Sun.

The most recent article, by journalist Kevin Rector, appeared in the Sept. 27 issue of The Baltimore Sun. The piece takes its cue from the upcoming release of "Captain Phillips," the Hollywood blockbuster that chronicles the story of the MAERSK ALABAMA and the dramatic rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips off the Horn of Africa in 2009. In describing how federal budget-cutting and partisan gridlock has threatened the survival of our industry, MM&P President Don Marcus told the Sun that "what the Somali pirates couldn't take away, Congress could."

“MSP has seen its budget slashed in the past two years," Rector writes. "The program sustains a commercially viable, U.S.-flagged shipping fleet that is required to serve the government during war and other times of need." In the article, he reports that civilian-owned ships delivered 95 percent of the nation's war supplies to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as "aid packages around the world: MAERSK ALABAMA was delivering food aid to Kenya when it was hijacked," he notes.

The U.S. Maritime Administration also just notified MM&P that 20 ships – including 10 Maersk Line containerships, like the one Captain Phillips was on – are at risk of elimination, due to fiscal uncertainty.

Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski is cited by the Sun as one of the strongest voices in Congress in support of MSP. She has slammed the potential cuts as a threat to national security that will cost the government more in the end by forcing the Navy to replicate MSP sealift capability and intermodal logistics systems on its own. The Sun quotes a March 2013 letter from ranking Democrats on the Armed Services Committee, including Reps. Elijah Cummings and Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, which put the likely cost to the government of replicating just the vessel capacity provided by the MSP dry cargo vessels at $13 billion. "Sequestration is punishing a program that is saving the government money," MM&P Secretary-Treasurer Steve Werse told the Sun.

Source: MM&P Wheelhouse Weekly