This deployment marks the first time the ship has reached full operational capacity, using all operating rooms and beds, since it was delivered to the Navy in 1987.

Most of the nation will return to daylight saving time at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 14, when clocks will be set ahead one hour, providing an additional hour of daylight in the evening. Under law, daylight saving time is observed from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, with the nation returning to standard time starting Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010. Prior to legislation that took effect in 2007, daylight saving time was observed from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. Federal law does not require any area to observe daylight time, but those that do must follow the starting and ending dates set by the law. No resetting of clocks is required for those parts of the country not observing daylight time: Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.

The Conservancy's S.O.S. (Save Our Ship) campaign is trying to escalate a groundswell of support to save the ship from the scrapheap. Conservancy Board President Susan Gibbs, whose grandfather, William Francis Gibbs designed the ‘Big U" said, "There's a reason why this ship is still with us. She absolutely must be saved for future generations."

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman this week encouraged the sleep research and healthcare community to continue their efforts to educate transportation policy makers of the dangers of fatigue in all modes of transportation. Speaking before the annual conference of the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, D.C., Chairman Hersman remarked that fatigue has been a concern for the Board since the creation of the agency in 1967 and it has been an issue on the Board's Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements since the list was established in 1990. "The work of the National Sleep Foundation and other organizations and individuals is critical to improving transportation safety policy," said Chairman Hersman. "The NTSB is interested and willing to partner with you in developing a greater awareness of fatigue."

Hersman highlighted a number of accident investigations across all transportation modes that included fatigue as the probable cause or a contributing factor to accidents. As a result, the Board has made safety recommendations that range from deploying fatigue detection systems to reduce the occurrence of accidents to installing electronic on-board recorders that collect and maintain hours of service data on vehicle operators.

"We can't always prove fatigue as a cause of an accident, but the frequency with which we now routinely document the presence of fatigue-related factors in transportation operations is alarming," Hersman stated. She noted that while there are still no definitive tools to conclusively identify the degree to which a person is fatigued, the major challenge is to ensure that all those in transportation report to work rested and fit for duty – for their own safety and for the safety of those they are transporting.

Since the mid-1980s the Coast Guard has employed the use of Traveling Examination Teams (TETs) to provide qualified mariners located in regions of considerable distance from an REC, the ability to take required examinations without having to travel. This long-standing practice continues today. Outlined below are the steps necessary to request a TET:

1. A TET request is appropriate whenever a group of at least 20 applicants in one remote area have been determined to be fully qualified for examination, e.g. ‘Approved to Test’. A remote area is one that is more than 150 miles from the nearest REC.

2. Submit a written TET request to: Commanding Officer; United States Coast Guard; National Maritime Center (NMC-11); 100 Forbes Drive; Martinsburg, WV 25404; Attn: TET REQUEST. You can also e-mail them at D05-DG-NMCTETRequest@uscg.mil.

3. All TET requests must be received at least twenty (20) business days prior to the requested examination date and shall include a complete list of qualified applicants (first name, middle name, last name and mariner reference number).

4. All TET requests submitted shall also include signed a Letter of Undertaking (LOU) see enclosure 1 sample LOU. Title 46 United States Code 7504 authorizes the reimbursement of Coast Guard expenses incurred in conducting credentialing services at a location other than an REC. Accordingly, before services can be scheduled this office must be assured that the Coast Guard will be reimbursed for the expenses incurred e.g. travel and subsistence expenses.

With continued health care debate, scandals, and resignations garnering the majority of political attention in Washington D.C., M.E.B.A. legislative staff has taken the opportunity to get back to the core issues surrounding the industry. At the top of the list, along with the Maritime Security Program and Short Sea Shipping, are P.L. 480 and the Food for Peace program. M.E.B.A. continues to work with other maritime interests as well as commodity groups to ensure that Members of Congress and the Administration understand the importance of in-kind food aid. In the coming months, M.E.B.A. staff will be approaching elected officials with a completed study outlining the economic importance of the program – a key tool to solidify support for the issue.

M.E.B.A. legislative staff has been working closely with Overseas Shipholding Group to advocate for the American Shipping and Reinvestment Act. If passed, this legislation would rectify an anomaly in the Jobs Act passed in 2004 which allowed companies with foreign subsidiaries to reinvest their foreign earnings in their American operations. This bill would allow OSG to continue to invest in tanker vessels and grow the size of their U.S.-flag fleet. M.E.B.A. is hopeful that this, along with other maritime proposals, will be included in a job creation bill currently being discussed.

Finally, M.E.B.A. staff has begun the initial stages of working with Capitol Hill staff in order to prepare for a Transportation and Infrastructure hearing to be held later this month on the state of the industry. Congressmen Cummings and LoBiondo will hear testimony from labor, among others, to gather ideas on how to maintain, rebuild, and grow the industry. This hearing should prove to be very important as legislative leaders prepare their jobs legislation.

Bills to revitalize the Great Lakes were introduced in both House and Senate this week. The Senate’s "Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act" was introduced by Sens. Carl Levin, (D-MI); George Voinovich, (R-OH); Amy Klobuchar, (D-MN); Sherrod Brown, (D-OH); Al Franken, (D-MN); Debbie Stabenow, (D-MI); and Richard Durbin, (D-IL). The companion bill in the House, called the "Great Lakes Ecosystem Restoration Act" was introduced by Reps. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), John Dingell (D-MI), and Mark Kirk (R-IL) to introduce.

This bipartisan legislation builds upon President Obama’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by authorizing a funding level of $475 million for FY10-FY14. The legislation aims to address toxic substances, invasive species, near source health, nonpoint source pollution, habitat restoration, and wildlife preservation.

Among other things, the bills would create two advisory groups reporting to EPA, including federal agencies, states, tribes, local government leaders and observers; Authorize the Federal Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, created in 2004 by Executive Order, to allow federal agencies to continue to coordinate efforts; Reauthorize the Great Lakes National Programs Office for five years. This office would be housed within the EPA and be the central point of contact for all Great Lakes issues; and Reauthorize the Great Lakes Legacy Program, which has successfully removed contaminated sediment from Areas of Concern around the United States for five years.

The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center, led by meteorologist and hurricane forecaster Joe Bastardi, is calling for a much more active 2010 hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin with above-normal threats on the U.S. coastline. "This year has the chance to be an extreme season," said Bastardi. "It is certainly much more like 2008 than 2009 as far as the overall threat to the United States' East and Gulf coasts."

Bastardi is forecasting seven landfalls. He says five will be hurricanes and two or three of the hurricanes will be major landfalls for the U.S. He is calling for 16 to 18 tropical storms in total, 15 of which would be in the western Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico and therefore a threat to land. In a typical season, there are about 11 named storms of which two to three impact the coast of the United States.

There are a number of physical drivers that have Bastardi concerned for this upcoming hurricane season. These include: The rapidly weakening El Niño; Warmer ocean temperatures in the typical Atlantic tropical breeding grounds compared to last year. (Tropical storms draw energy from warm water.); Weakening trade winds which reduce the amount of dry air injected into the tropics from Africa; and Higher humidity levels which provides additional upward motion in the air and fuels tropical storm development.

Bastardi was correct with last year's hurricane forecast. The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season was a year far below the average, with eleven tropical depressions forming and only nine of those becoming tropical storms, the lowest number of named tropical storms or hurricanes since the 1997 season.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1 and continues through November 30. These dates were selected because 97 percent of hurricane activity occurs during this six month period.

Liberty Maritime is seeking résumés from Chief Engineers interested in sailing for the company. Interested individuals should send their particulars including a résumé via e-mail to personnel@libertymar.com.  You may also contact Nina Timonina at (516) 488-8800 with any specific questions about these opportunities.

Monday, April 5 – Boston; Jacksonville; Seattle;
Tuesday, April 6 – Baltimore/Calhoon School@CMES, Houston, San Francisco (Oakland);
Wednesday, April 7 – Charleston, New Orleans;
Thursday, April 8 – L.A. (Wilmington), New York (New Jersey), Norfolk, Tampa;
Friday, April 9 – Honolulu.