As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. To construct the Navy’s planned Golden Fleet, U.S. naval shipbuilders must hire a quarter million people over the next decade, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said Tuesday. Developing that workforce is key to the service’s plan to expand shipbuilding in parallel with new manufacturing techniques, Phelan said at the Surface Navy Association’s national symposium, as he emphasized the need for more vocational education and fair wages. “Systems don’t build ships. People do,” Phelan said. “A quarter of the shipyard workforce is retirement eligible within five years. Over the next decade, shipbuilders and suppliers will need to hire roughly 250,000 skilled workers to meet demand. That means apprenticeships, vocational training, accelerated pipelines and partnerships with local communities. It also means paying fair wages … consistent build schedules so shipyard workers can have lifetime careers. AI and automation do not replace the workforce.”

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. The U.S. Department of Labor has announced the award of nearly $14 million in funding to support the development of programs aimed at reinvigorating and rebuilding the U.S. maritime industry and shipbuilding workforce. Administered by the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the department awarded $8 million to Pennsylvania’s Delaware County Community College and $5.8 million to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy to advance the next generation of American shipbuilders through hands-on, cutting-edge training programs developed in conjunction with international partners.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Officials gathered on January 7 at the Port of Portland, Oregon, to mark what they are calling a fresh start for a reborn container shipping terminal. The only one in the state, the small facility known for years as Terminal 6, had faced an imminent closure due to mounting financial losses and the lack of an operator. Oregon’s Governor Tina Kotek intervened to save the operation while highlighting its critical contribution to the state’s economy and local businesses. The state committed to providing $40 million to bridge the operations while a new operator was located. It also committed to infrastructure improvements for a port that is located far upriver from the ocean.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. 2025 was a challenging year for the maritime industry’s decarbonization efforts. Reports at the beginning of the year highlighted that despite an acceleration in the industry’s engagement in low-carbon clean technologies, international shipping emissions were said to have largely returned to 2008 levels. Positive signals came early in January with the introduction of FuelEU Maritime (FEUM), which represents one of the most comprehensive pieces of regional emissions legislation to date, and which seeks to incentivize the integration of low-carbon alternative fuels. FEUM was quickly followed by the unveiling of the IMO’s proposed Net Zero Framework, which represented a watershed moment in unifying previously fragmented regional emissions regulation in place of one codified global framework.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Fluid Motion announced a multiyear financing agreement wherein Yamaha Financial Services becomes the exclusive provider of dealer inventory finance and the preferred provider of retail finance for Fluid Motion in the United States and Canada. Fluid Motion is the manufacturer for Ranger Tugs, Cutwater Boats and Solara Boats. The partnership is effective Feb. 1.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Seaspan’s production-ready icebreaker design will be built in Finland and Louisiana as Washington races to counter Russian and Chinese activity in the High North. Canada’s Seaspan Shipyards has signed agreements with Bollinger Shipyards and Finland’s Rauma Marine Constructions to provide its production-ready Multi-Purpose Icebreaker (MPI) design for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Arctic Security Cutter (ASC) program, forming an unprecedented North American–Nordic shipbuilding partnership that aims to deliver up to six cutters by the end of the decade. Announced today in North Vancouver, the deals make Seaspan’s MPI design — developed in partnership with Finland’s Aker Arctic Technology under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy — the foundation for rapidly expanding the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaking fleet as Washington moves to counter growing Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. As the maritime industry continues to expand, innovate, and welcome a more diverse workforce, we’re proud to present our 2025 list of Top Women in Maritime—now in its sixth year of celebrating the leaders shaping the future of our industry. This year’s honorees represent a remarkable group of 20 women from around the world, each nominated by Marine Log readers. Their backgrounds span vessel operations, shoreside management, engineering, policy, technology, and more. What unites them is their impact: each has made meaningful, measurable contributions to the maritime sector.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. The U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) announced on Monday that it will take on oversight of deepwater port licensing from the U.S. Coast Guard. This change will streamline environmental reviews, accelerate license approvals, and lower domestic energy costs. “The Deepwater Port Program is a key pillar of President Trump’s energy dominance strategy. With this change, we’ll soon accelerate project approvals so the nation can safely utilize more of its abundant natural resources, create more high-paying jobs, and lower energy costs for American families,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. “MarAd is excited and proud to lead the Deepwater Port Program. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with our partners at the U.S. Coast Guard to make this process more efficient and fuel our energy economy for years to come,” said MarAd Administrator Steve Carmel.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Collisions between marine vessels and vessel impacts with stationary structures, like offshore oil platforms and depleted wellheads, are becoming increasingly common. These incidents come with a cost – including the financial burden of lost goods and potential loss of life. Ocean engineering researchers at Texas A&M University are developing a smarter system to combat these incidents and their costs. By combining raw radar imaging data with advanced machine learning, researchers have created SMART-SEA, a system that gives seafarers real-time guidance on how and when to maneuver their vessel. To design a practical system for seafarers, researchers conducted a focus group with Texas A&M at Galveston faculty members, many of whom are former seafarers. Researchers also collaborated with industry experts, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard. Their experience assisted researchers in defining practical decision-making skills – like when to yield and how far to turn – and implementing them into the SMART-SEA system.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Dakota Creek Industries, Inc. is now accepting applications for its Marine Trades Apprenticeship Program. This paid program combines hands-on, on-the-job training in a working shipyard with structured classroom instruction, creating a direct pathway into long-term, family-wage maritime careers. Apprentices work alongside experienced journey-level tradespeople on active vessel repair and maintenance projects, developing technical skills, safety awareness, and real-world problem-solving abilities in the marine trades.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Capt. Stephen Carmel was confirmed late Thursday as the new administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration. Carmel was confirmed by the Senate in a 53-43 yea-nay vote. President Donald Trump nominated Carmel to serve as the next administrator back in May of this year. Carmel will fill a position that has been vacant since Rear Adm. (Ret.) Ann C. Phillips resigned in January.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Launch Your Maritime Career — For Free! The Youth Marine Foundation is offering free maritime workforce training through the WAVE Seafarer Readiness Program, funded by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

This program prepares socially and economically disadvantaged adult jobseekers to enter careers in Washington State Ferries and the maritime industry — one of Washington’s fastest-growing, high-paying fields.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. The National Waterways Foundation (NWF) has commissioned and released a study conducted by the Center for Ports and Waterways, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, titled “Evaluating Employment by Inland Waterways Operators.”

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Aluminum shipbuilder All American Marine Inc., Bellingham, Wash., on Wednesday hosted a keel-laying ceremony to mark the official start of construction on a series of new battery-electric vessels for San Francisco Bay Ferry. All American was awarded a $46 million contract in December 2024 to construct three of the 150-passenger vessels for San Francisco Bay Ferry, with an option for a fourth vessel.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. A new industry report reveals how nuclear propulsion creates competitive advantage for both operators and charterers through superior economics and performance. Nuclear-powered containerships have the potential to eliminate bunker costs, cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and deliver faster transit times, while maintaining safety and economic competitiveness. The findings are drawn from a new Lloyd’s Register and LucidCatalyst report for Seaspan Corporation Pte. Ltd. The report examines the technical, economic, and regulatory potential of integrating small modular reactors (SMRs) into the containership fleet. LucidCatalyst performed a comprehensive analysis of the costs and benefits for Seaspan's business model and collaboratively developed requirements that, if met, would create significant value.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Alaska's commercial fishing industry, facing lower prices for its harvest and rising costs, saw a loss of 443 harvesting jobs in 2024—a fifth straight year of employment loss, state labor officials said. That 7.6% job decline was similar to the previous year's 7.8% job loss, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development noted in the November issue of Alaska Economic Trends. Seafood harvesting in Alaska has lost over a third of its total jobs in the past decade, with fishing employment down every year of the last 10 except for 2019. That includes the summer peak, which has fallen about 30%, from 24,600 jobs in July 2014 to 17,400 in July 2024.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Washington Maritime Blue is a Seattle-based NGO with a $3 million budget and a number of focus areas, including renewable energy, maritime decarbonization, sustainable fishing, community engagement, and maritime workforce development. Dontay Proctor-Mills, who handles community engagement for Maritime Blue, hosted a presentation on workforce development during the 2025 Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle, with speakers from partner organizations, such as Sea Potential. According to Ebony Welborn, co-founder of Sea Potential, the organization works towards creating opportunities for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) youth, ages 12–18. “We want to raise awareness about marine jobs,” said Welborn. “But to do that, we have to heal things like water-related trauma and negative intergenerational stories about the water.”

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Check out the most recent blog from One Island, One Blog.

We left Culebra with Antigua on the horizon and a clean plan: slip past the island, push out to the windward side of the Caribbean chain, and begin our long run south toward Uruguay. The trades had other plans. Predicted 15–17 knots became a relentless 20+ from the E/SE, gusting over 30. The seas were steep, the motion violent, and every mile felt disappointing. One Ocean was taking a pounding. So were we and the forecast said it would stay like this for weeks. I ran the numbers again and again—calculations, plots, models, Commanders’ Weather—all pointing to the same truth: we were fighting a losing battle.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Washington State Ferries (WSF) has selected Stemmann-Technik GmbH, Schüttorf, Germany, to provide automated charging systems for its new hybrid electric ferries. Capable of delivering up to 15 MW at 12.47 kV, the rapid charging systems will be the largest in North America, according to WSF vessel project engineer Ali Khurshid, who announced the news on social media. WSF — the nation’s largest ferry system — has converted one existing vessel, the Wenatchee, to hybrid-electric power and has ordered new hybrid ferries from Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, Fla., for delivery starting in 2028. These vessels will operate using onboard battery systems and, once shore power becomes available, plug-in charging systems that require shoreside infrastructure upgrades.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Mavrik Marine Inc., La Conner, Wash., announced it has been chosen to construct a new series of high-speed passenger ferries for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District, operator of the Golden Gate Ferry system. The new catamaran ferries, which are being built as part of the agency’s eight-vessel Liwa-class ferry replacement program, will operate on San Francisco Bay, where the district conducts about 20,000 crossings annually, moving approximately 2 million passengers.