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NEWS MARK YOUR CALENDAR! PGM adds new vessel to their fleet. The Ocean Crescent is a sister ship to the heavy lift/project-cargo ships Ocean Charger, Ocean Atlas and Ocean Titan operated by PGM for Intermarine Inc. "We're excited by the continued growth of the U.S.-flag fleet under the management of Pacific-Gulf Marine," said the AMO national president. "The continued success of PGM's U.S.-flag operations with Intermarine reflects in a very positive way on U.S.-flag commercial shipping and establishes an expanding source of new work for AMO officers." The Ocean Crescent was re-flagged in July in Houston, Texas. The ship will be engaged in the international trades, moving commercial, U.S. military and government-impelled cargoes. The Ocean Atlas and Ocean Titan are operated by PGM in the Maritime Security Program fleet. The Ocean Charger operates in international trades, moving project cargoes for commercial and government clients. Each of the 8,000 DWT heavy lift sister ships is 393 feet long and equipped with two 200-ton electro-hydraulic deck cranes, bringing valuable capabilities to the U.S.-flag fleet. Ready Reserve Force Ship S/S Keystone State provides training platform for the U.S. Navy On board the PGM managed RRF ship S/S Keystone State, Naval Cargo Handling Battalion # 3 trained onboard for two consecutive weeks in July 2010. The U.S. Navy has combat Battalions that are tasked to be able to handle cargo operations in a war zone. These units must train on a regular basis to ensure our troops have working knowledge of cargo systems and remain ready and mission capable. During cargo evolutions, a special visit was made by Admiral Wolfe and Commodore Daniel Pionk. In a moment that exemplifies strong team work and patriotism, both the U.S. Navy and crew members from the PGM managed RRF vessels the S/S Grand Canyon State, S/S Gem State and S/S Keystone State stopped to take this group photo just before Admiral Wolfe addressed all hands on a job well done! PGM crew members are proud to support our troops in any way they can. Another Successful Training Conference PGM hosted the 2009 Officer’s Training Conference the first week of May (May 04 – May 08). The Training Conference was held at the St. Louis Hotel in the historic French Quarter. This year’s theme was “Effective Planning: Without it…Everything is a Priority.” More than 20 senior officers and RRF Group Managers attended the conference.
Following are the recipients of 2008 Awards: 2008 Green Ship Award was presented to the M/V OCEAN ATLAS. Captain Josh Osborne accepted the award on behalf of his fellow officers and crewmembers. 2008 Performance Award was presented to the S/S KEYSTONE STATE. Chief Mate Andrew Diamond accepted the award on behalf of his fellow officers and crewmembers. 2008 Safety Award was presented to the S/S GRAND CANYON STATE. Chief Engineer Ross Shimel accepted the award on behalf of his fellow officers and crewmembers.
The next two days consisted of various training sessions, including: NS5 with Mike Johnson (NS5 Consultant); Root Cause Analysis by Dale Sirois; Contract Monitoring: Safety, Environmental and Safety Concerns by Dave Coleman (RRF Group 16 Manager); and Green Procurement (Barbara Hotard & C/M Mark Jahn). The officers also had an opportunity to meet with AMO Plan’s Executive Director Steve Nickerson and AMO Vice President Robert Kiefer.
Social Awareness Training was given on the last day of the conference by local labor attorney Tommy McGoey. After this, commercial officers met with Intermarine’s attending representative, while RRF Officers were trained by Phil Rapp on Marad’s Security Clearance. The 2009 Officer’s Training Conference ended with a picture ceremony for some, while others reminisced about the productive sessions and the enjoyable setting for our conference. |
The
conference kicked off Monday with a Welcome Theme Presentation
by Dale Sirois, followed by a session on Continual Improvement
by Dan Smith. A Roundtable discussion focused on PGM’s
Quality Objectives and involved all the attending vessel officers. The
annual awards presentation was made by Todd Johnson. 
The
awards ceremony was followed by Ethics Training, conducted by Todd
Johnson. At
1700, the officers adjourned to Monday Night Social Hour. This
informal gathering allowed conference attendees and PGM personnel
to meet and visit in the courtyard of the St. Louis Hotel.
Thursday’s
session focused on Environmental Training. The
instructor was Scott Glover of Maritime Institute of Training and
Graduate Studies (MITAGS). He covered a wide variety of topics
from Environmental Aspects of Ship Operations to Environmental Criminal
and Civil Liabilities. The training ended with a Vessel General
Permit presentation by Muj Asdulla, an open board discussion of
the new VGP Regulations and its impact on PGM. At 1800, officers
adjourned to Embers Restaurant on Bourbon St where attendees were
able to mingle with the shoreside staff and their families. All
attendees had an enjoyable time with bead throwing, mingling and
dining. 