Foreword

Welcome to my wheelhouse, the subsection of my website dedicated to my interest, work, and passion for the commercial marine industry and for all things shipping. If you are interested in the navy or military aspect of the marine industry, there are plenty of other sites and forums dedicated to those topics; I however am committed to sharing information specifically about the worldwide commercial shipping and marine transport industry.

I joined the marine industry in 2019, and being able to interact with my biggest interest in an impactful way has changed my life completely. I never would have pictured myself becoming a ship's watchkeeping officer back when I was still in highschool- it's incredible how life can change just like that! Mariners have always been a prideful type and there are many unique longstanding traditions and terminology within the industry that go unheard of until joining a vessel. Marine transport moves about 80% of the worlds goods; but the average person has no concept of what ships actually do- and to no fault of their own either, because marine work is so niche and incredibly varied ship-to-ship. I myself am a coastal mariner within the passenger and cargo transport sector, which means my work keeps me largely inshore practicing coastal pilotage in narrow channels. In terms of other general work, there is passenger transport (cruise ships, ferries, water taxis), cargo transport (containers, bulkers, tankers, barges, ROROs), construction and maintence (dredges, buoy tenders, tugs, offshore supply) as well as hovercrafts, search and rescue, fishing, submarines, icebreakers, scientfic research, sailing and pleasurecraft (yachts and other privately owned vessels), as well as other far more obscure vessels doing all manner of work. More about ships and their work can be read on wikipedia. There are also a lot of misconceptions about shipping, which usually flare up and contibute to the spread of disinformation any time a major maritime disaster takes place. I can say nothing better about seafaring than what dieselduck has written about the industry, tradition, and general practice in layman's terms.

I hope you can enjoy the information I share here, though take it with a grain of salt as I'm certainly no seasoned seadog... Thanks for visiting!