As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Washington’s Centers of Excellence were created two decades ago with one simple goal: to bridge the connection between education and industry - helping colleges grow enrollment and build workforce pipelines for critical sectors.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Angus King (I-ME) are doubling down on their bipartisan effort to fortify the backbone of America’s coastal economy. On June 6, the two reintroduced the Working Waterfronts Act, a bill designed to boost shoreside infrastructure, maritime workforce development, and economic resiliency in fishing communities from Alaska to Maine. Originally introduced in February 2024, the legislation included more than a dozen provisions aimed at building capacity across the blue economy while helping fishermen and seafood processors face down the mounting challenges of climate change and shifting fisheries dynamics.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. The Around the Americas Expedition is a 14-month voyage, starting in May 2025, that will circumnavigate North and South America aboard the 48-foot sailboat, One Ocean.

The mission focuses on scientific research, education, and community outreach to raise awareness about ocean health. Building on Captain Mark Schrader’s original 2009–2010 journey, the expedition will compare oceanic changes over the past 15 years.

Go to this link for more information, and to follow the expedition through June 2026! https://oneislandoneocean.com/

Click here to follow the blog: https://oneislandoneocean.com/blog

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Global insurer Allianz Commercial warns the Morning Midas fire is the latest example of an underling safety problem facing seafarers. Captain Rahul Khanna, Global Head of Marine Risk Consulting, Allianz Commercial said in its latest Safety and Shipping Review fires on container ships and car carriers remain a major concern for insurers.  “While regulatory changes are in progress, we cannot say this is a risk that is under control,” said Captain Khanna. “This is still very much a live issue and one that will only get worse [with electrification].”

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. The Oregon pink shrimp industry is getting a much-needed boost from the federal government this spring after another round of international trade disruptions threatened to sideline the start of the 2025 season. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will purchase $16 million worth of Oregon pink shrimp through a program aimed at stabilizing domestic food producers during economic hardship, according to an article by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).

The federal buy comes after processors along the Oregon Coast opted to delay the start of the Pacific pink shrimp season in early April, pushing back operations by at least two weeks due to ongoing uncertainty in overseas markets.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Gov. Bob Ferguson is currently weighing bids from two shipbuilders to construct badly needed boats for Washington State Ferries. But this moment is more than just deciding on a contract. It’s the governor’s best chance to stake out a long-term strategy that revives a fleet weakened by years of executive and legislative neglect.  The state system needs at least one shipyard as an enduring partner to build up to 16 new vessels, as called for in WSF’s long-range plan. Establishing a steady rhythm of regular vessel construction over more than a decade is the only way Washington’s ferry system can emerge from a crisis that has broken its network of marine highways.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. The recently released Women in Maritime Survey 2024, jointly published by IMO and the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA), showed that, at sea, women remain vastly underrepresented, accounting for just 1% of the total number of seafarers employed. With a worldwide shortage of seafarers, a number of leading ship operators are working to change that situation — including leading dry bulk operator Oldendorff Carriers. The Lübeck, Germany, headquartered company reports that nearly 125 female seafarers from 17 nationalities are now serving onboard its vessels across 13 ranks.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Brix Marine, Port Angeles, Wash., is wrapping-up an order for two aluminum 46'x15'7" tour boats for Blue and Gold Fleet, San Francisco. In addition to each boat’s 49 passengers, the vessels carry two-person crews. The boats’ hull skins are made of 5086 alloy aluminum while the yellow Naiad D-shaped, outer foam collars are made of heavy-duty Erez with a double black PVC rub strip. Main propulsion for each tour boat comes from four COX CXO300 4.4-liter, twin turbo V8 diesel electric outboards with stainless steel props. The mains are connected to a Seastar Optimus quad outboard steering system.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Brett Snow is a burly kind of guy with a hang-loose demeanor. He looks like someone who started his boatbuilding career by learning how to weld — as he did. He’s friendly, he’s relaxed, he’s informative. Until recently, I had never met him, even though he and his crew have been turning out a steady stream of small workboats for years in the Seattle area. Snow & Company built its 100th boat after moving into the former home of Kvichak on the Lake Washington Ship Canal, where it now employs about 80, including two in-house naval architects. A Snow-built catamaran research boat RV Resilience was a WorkBoat Significant Boat last year. The former Kvichak facility seems like a perfect place for Snow. There’s a large, covered, waterside building with offices and a big shop — maybe big enough to build a 100-footer inside.

After interviewing Neepaporn Boungjaktha, I had to sit still for a while. It wasn’t just admiration I was feeling—it was something deeper. A quiet unraveling. Her story brought up memories of my own journey, the ones I rarely take the time to reflect back on. Stories of sacrifice, of navigating systems without a map, of trying to hold grace and grit in the same hand.

She calls it “being a fist in a white glove.”

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. The American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) has announced that Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School in Massachusetts has earned accreditation through the Marine Trades Accreditation Program (MTAP), becoming the first high school in the nation to receive this distinction. Meanwhile, The Landing School in Arundel, Maine, has successfully renewed its MTAP. Launched in 2022, MTAP was developed by the ABYC Foundation to ensure secondary and post-secondary marine service technology programs align with industry needs. Accreditation is awarded to programs that demonstrate consistent and reliable instruction on industry-recognized topics and techniques.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. With approval from the Danish Emergency Management Agency, Denmark’s national pilotage service provider DanPilot is now initiating a test program for remote pilotage. It is partnering with ship data collection and AI-based analysis specialist Danelec to launch the program.

After six years of development by Danpilot and Danelec, the test program —the first of its kind in the world— will allow pilots to guide ships from land, using advanced data transmitted directly from the vessels.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Recycling end-of-life composite boats or the production waste from composite boat building has been a subject of interest at IBEX and Professional BoatBuilder during the past decade. As with many emerging materials and processes, we started with experimental projects and proof-of-concept prototypes including the promising potential for composites made from thermoplastic resin to be recycled.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy announced the formation of a public-private partnership and funding for an effort to build the world’s largest liquid hydrogen carrier. The government views it as a key opportunity where South Korea’s shipbuilders can develop a leadership position building on its current strategy of focusing on high-value ships. “Liquefied hydrogen carriers are an area with high technical difficulty and very high initial technology development risk, so it is important for the government to play a leading role in securing a new source for Korean-shipbuilding,” said an official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announcing the new project. “We will actively support the early acquisition of large-scale liquefied hydrogen carrier technology by organizing related laws and systems so that the technology we have developed can become a global standard.”

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. The Trump administration has nominated Stephen Carmel, a former executive with Maersk Line Ltd., to head the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd), FreightWaves reported.

Carmel replaces Capt. Brent Sadler, a Navy veteran who had been tapped in March to lead the agency but had yet to undergo a nomination hearing in the Senate. No reason was given as to why Sadler’s nomination was withdrawn. Carmel is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and currently serves as president of U.S. Marine Management LLC. Previously he was senior vice president, maritime services at Maersk Line Ltd., the U.S. subsidiary of Denmark-based liner shipping company Maersk. Carmel is also a licensed deep sea ship’s master and was a vessel captain.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at rebuilding the U.S. shipbuilding industry. Rebuild? Tier II shipbuilders have been producing aluminum and steel military and commercial workboats for decades, while a few Tier I shipyards have been building mostly warships. The order calls for federal investment in American shipyards and the maritime workforce and outlines a new Maritime Action Plan to be coordinated by the Maritime Administration. The plan includes the establishment of a Maritime Security Trust Fund, shipbuilding tax incentives, and the launch of strategic commercial fleet programs.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Maersk confirmed that a salvage tug left Europe yesterday, May 4, bound for its stricken containership Maersk Sana which continues to drift in the Atlantic off Bermuda. The vessel which has already been disabled for a week has “a little over a week’s time” to wait for the towage vessel to arrive. The 102,000 dwt vessel is “safely adrift at sea,” Maersk said in response to an inquiry. The company reports the ship which was built in 2004 and is registered in Singapore has electric power and is able to operate its thruster to maneuver if necessary.  The ship was disabled after a fire and possible engine room explosion on April 28 while approximately 354 nautical miles east of Bermuda.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. State regulators in Washington have approved a new line marking rule for traps used in the state’s Dungeness crab fishery in the hopes of reducing the risk vertical lines pose to whales. “These proposed regulations are instrumental in advancing conservation efforts around whale entanglements,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Coastal Marine Fisheries Whale Entanglement coordinator Megan Hintz said in February, when the changes were first proposed.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. When it comes to running a shipyard, navigating regulations and compliance can sometimes feel more complicated than navigating open water. One area that continues to challenge even the most seasoned operators is the United States Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (USL&H). Misunderstandings abound, and the stakes for non-compliance are high—ranging from hefty fines to operational shutdowns.

As part of our Career Connect Washington Maritime Sector ongoing work, we actively track, document, and inform about emerging technologies and trends. Pacific Northwest ferry and excursion vessel operator FRS Clipper Inc., Seattle, announced it has ordered a new whale watching boat for scheduled delivery next year. The 103.4'x32' high-speed aluminum catamaran was designed by One2Three Naval Architects, Sydney, Australia, and it will be built by Mavrik Marine Inc., La Conner, Wash. The USCG Subchapter T vessel will have capacity for up to 150 passengers plus a crew of four to eight. “Our current vessel, the much beloved San Juan Clipper, is nearing retirement and needed a replacement,” FRS Clipper CEO Mark Collins told WorkBoat. “The new vessel will replace the SJC in May 2026, making two round trips per day during prime times.