Page 6: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2, 2010)

6 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

EDITOR’S NOTE

T he tragic explosion and loss of Transocean's

Deepwater Horizon last month, and subse- quent efforts to use ROVs to help stop the out- flow of oil from the well, which is situated more than 5,000 feet below the surface, serve as an unwelcome wake-up call regarding the inherent challenges and dangers that walk hand-in-hand with the advent of deepwater oil and gas drilling.

The events call to mind one of my favorite movies,

Apollo 13, which documents the heroic recovery from sure disaster in outer space. At the time of Apollo 13’s mission, ‘space shots’ had become routine – much as space shuttle missions had become routine in the run up to the Challenger disaster – with world attention coming only with crisis and looming disaster at hand. Similarly, some have come to expect that working safely and efficiently in such deep waters is guaranteed. While technical inno- vation in the subsea sector does indeed sport an enviable safety and efficiency record, rest assured there is nothing routine about working in the world’s deep- est waters.

Pundits of expanding oil and gas production around the coastal U.S. were quick to jump on the bandwagon, using the Deepwater Horizon misfortune as a tool to stop progress in discovering and recovering additional domestic sources of oil and gas. While the volume will undoubtedly grow louder, particularly as the

Minerals Management Service embarks on its "road show" of public forums to discuss the Obama Administrations recent expansion of Offshore Oil and Gas drilling sites, it will be incumbent upon those most intimately involved in this business: from the oil and gas majors, to the vessel and rig operators, down to the system and equipment suppliers, large and small, to respond in kind.

This man-made tragedy was prefaced with a natural one, when a volcanic eruption in Iceland brought air traffic to a virtual standstill in and around Eu- rope. These events serve many purposes, first and foremost as a stark reminder of exactly who (Mother Nature) is in charge. It also served as a means to high- light the value of ship and boat transportation in the modern world. With today’s always-online, instant-gratification society, transport on ship and boats may seem an antiquated concept. However, as every reader of this publication surely knows, the water transportation system globally is as vitally important to the overall health and well-being of the world as any other industry. Greg Knowler, who

Blogs on MaritimeProfessional.com and this month provided to us our cover story on “Slow Steaming” (page 30), wrote a fascinating piece last month that ties the Icelandic volcanic eruption with port and harbor security in the United

States! To read an excerpt, turn to page 48, and for the full story log onto www.MaritimeProfessional.com and look for Knowler’s contribution.

Finally, I am particularly pleased to announce that Joe Keefe has joined our staff as the leading commentator on MaritimeProfessional.com. Many of you know Joe, who has been the editor of the Maritime Executive magazine for more than a dozen years, as an insightful maritime journalist who brings a unique persepective to all that he writes. I look forward to working with Joe as we ex- pand our membership level of MaritimeProfessional far above and beyond the current level of 6,000.

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