Free Republic

A United Nations agency told countries to “strongly discourage” merchant ship crews from acquiring firearms to defend against piracy, despite 90 sailors being held hostage by Somali pirates. Piracy rose in 2025, according to the annual report from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) released in June, with 171 incidents of successful or attempted attacks on the high seas. However, the agency, tied to the United Nations, took a hard position against potential targets of pirate attacks using firearms to defend themselves, referring to a circular released in June 2015, in a press release issued days after Somali pirates seized an...

“Huge Problem”: The Pentagon’s Rapid Wartime Response Cargo Ships Are Trapped in Baltimore After Bridge CollapseBy Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge • Mar. 29, 2024(ZeroHedge)—Two high-speed military cargo ships are stuck in the Port of Baltimore following Tuesday morning’s collapse of the 1.6-mile-long Francis Scott Key Bridge. The major US East Coast port has been paralyzed for several days as the bridge collapse prevents inbound and outbound vessel traffic along the harbor’s channel. Using the automatic identification system, or AIS, data that tracks commercial vessels, three bulk carriers, two general cargo ships, one vehicle carrier, one tanker, and four Ready Reserve...

It’s not every day you find a government document calling for Cato Institute employees to be charged with treason, but as a new article in The Dispatch details, here we are: "In March 2020, a maritime shipping advisory panel offered a simple suggestion to the government: Charge all past and current members of two libertarian think tanks with treason. "It is certainly not the first time a bunch of libertarians angered members of a bureaucratic panel. But this backlash stemmed from criticism of the Jones Act, a century‐​old law that imposes requirements for shipping between American ports." Haley Byrd Wilt’s...

Over the many years of reporting maritime news, the idea that China could militarize its commercial maritime fleet has been dismissed by most of the shipping community, but a new report published by the US Naval War College shows that this is not only a possibility but has already been accomplished. This report comes weeks after a CSIS report detailed how China militarized its commercial shipyards.

Who Will Be The Next MARAD Chief? John Konrad Total Views: 212 June 23, 2021 Share this article by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) Last November, Forbes published a series of articles claiming that the most critical nomination Biden will make for the future of our ocean, climate, and society is that of the US Maritime Administrator. Seven months later, the White House has failed to make that appointment, but several candidates have emerged including a popular and young minority female with high ambition. Could she become the Lina Khan of the maritime industry? Or will she run into trouble for...

During a meeting of the Conference Committee that is attempting to draft a unified U.S. port and maritime security bill, it was proposed that a Port Security Fee be assessed to fund various port security initiatives. Fees on international cargo shipments would, under the scheme floated by Senator Hollings (D-SC), be $15 per regular TEU $20 per TEU containing HazMat $4 per vehicle $4 per passenger $.30 per metric ton of crude oil $.45 per metric ton of petroleum product $.50 per metric ton of chemical product $.60 per metric ton of liquid gases (LNG/LPG) $.02 per metric ton of...