Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay

Today was the final Maritime Exchange board meeting of 2024! Naturally, the board and staff gathered at our go-to spot to celebrate. Thank you so much to our incredible board members for your service over the past year and longer. It was yet another interesting and eventful year, and here's to the many more that will come! #maritimedelriv #DelawareRiver #MaritimeTrade #industry #BoardOfDirectors

A salute to our veterans. Image text: Today, #VeteransDay2024, the Maritime Exchange joins the nation in recognizing and honoring the service of the many veterans of the U.S. military who have served and who continue to serve to the security of all Americans. Throughout history and today, the maritime industry has greatly benefited from the continued service of veterans—active, reserve and retired—including those within the membership and staff of the Maritime Exchange to whom we extend our deepest appreciation. ? On this and all days, we salute all veterans, their courage, and their sacrifices.

Yesterday, the Delaware River maritime community came together to celebrate one person - our very own president Lisa Himber! Lisa will retire at the end of the year, capping off over 36 years of service to our organization and our community (not to mention maritime communities across the country). Lisa's retirement party featured food, drinks, speeches, and more friends and loved ones than you can count. Yet another outpouring of love showing just how much Lisa is adored by those who know her and just how much she'll be missed by all after her retirement. Thank you Lisa, for all you've done and do for all of us!

#HappeningNow: As the Exchange hosts the National Association of Maritime Organizations' annual meeting, the organization wished a fond farewell to Lisa in anticipation of her retirement. As much as we'll miss our president after her retirement, and so will the broader Delaware River maritime community, it's amazing to see that Lisa has had a significant effect on the maritime community at the national level as well.

Friends of the Maritime Exchange, lend us your voices! As we approach our ??150th anniversary year??, the most important voices to hear are YOURS!!! Members now have the chance to be a part the Exchange 150th anniversary commemorations next year and the organization’s permanent archives going forward. Please share your thoughts as we approach this incredible milestone. Your words (and photos if you’d like!) will be featured in a social media post, on our website, or even in our quarterly publication, The Beacon. Since the community has kept the Maritime Exchange going for 150 years, it’s only right that yours are the words that will commemorate a century and a half of service. Please join our good friend @Dominic O’Brien who has submitted not one but *two* articles for use next year!?Others have sent short statements about why they belong to the Exchange or find their memberships valuable, and some have shared memories about their earliest interactions with the Exchange or stories of how the Exchange helped them in some way. All contributions are welcome. Feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments below or email [email protected] with the subject line “Reflections 150.” We can’t wait to celebrate with you! #maritimedelriv #MEX150 #membership #reflections #DelawareRiver

Delaware River 102 is LESS THAN ONE WEEK AWAY but there is still time to register! Join the Maritime Exchange for an enlightening half-day session exploring some of the less well-known aspects of maritime trade on the Delaware River. Speakers will cover topics including port dispatching, pilot operations, stevedore operations, LNG bunkering, port electrification, issues facing offshore wind, tugs and barges, marine construction, and fumigation. The event will be on October 15, 2024 at GEODIS in the Navy Yard Philadelphia Learn more about the event and register today at this link: https://lnkd.in/eeGMuGFD Edward A. Fitzgerald, LCB, CCS Cynthia A. Hudson HudsonAnalytix Paul Myhre David Cuff THE PILOTS ASSOCIATION FOR THE BAY AND RIVER DELAWARE John Rowan Delaware River Stevedores, Inc. Robert Butts Pivotal LNG Jonathan Atwood, MPE South Jersey Port Corporation Benjamin Cooper US Wind, Inc Bill Meekins The Vane Brothers Company Jeff Myers Agate Construction Co Inc. Shannon Sked- Ph.D., B.C.E. Western Pest Services #MaritimeDelRiv #MaritimeTrade #TradeEducation #Seminar #DelawareRiver

Local U.S. Customs and Border Protection honored Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay President Lisa Himber with a Certificate of Appreciation today at the semi-annual Maritime Operations Committee Meeting.?The Exchange-led committee brings industry and government together to address legislative, regulatory, and policy matters affecting Delaware River ship, cargo, and crew processing.? Donald Josey, Assistant Area Port Director, thanked Lisa on behalf of CBP for her efforts to champion cooperation and open dialog between industry and local federal agencies.?#delawareriver #maritime #cbp #maritimedelriv

??♀? Nominations for next year’s Unsung Heroes are now OPEN! ??♂? Do you know people who deserve recognition for the hard work they put into serving their customers and our port or always go above and beyond the call of duty? Now is the perfect opportunity to highlight these exemplary employees, co-workers, and colleagues by nominating them for Unsung Hero recognition.? Please email your nominees’ first and last names, job titles, and company names, up to three per member company, to [email protected] to be profiled in The Beacon, our quarterly publication. The rules are simple: Unsung Hero nominees must be Maritime Exchange members and be nominated by Exchange members. That’s it. We should also note that past recipients of industry awards are not eligible. All submissions for this cycle are due by December 31, 2024—don’t miss the chance to honor an extraordinary member of our community! Check out our amazing Heroes from 2024 SO FAR here: https://lnkd.in/eUAEcyp9 Patricia Spenillo Dominic O'Brien Linda Greene THE PILOTS ASSOCIATION FOR THE BAY AND RIVER DELAWARE PhilaPort (The Port of Philadelphia) PSA Penn Terminals LLC Delaware Bay and River Cooperative, Inc

The Maritime Exchange is pleased to officially #WelcomeAboard George E. McCarthy! Starting today, October 1, 2024, George has joined the team to begin a three-month orientation and transition period before taking over as president in January. George is a third-generation merchant mariner and naval officer with extensive ship, tug, and barge operations experience handling petroleum, bulk, containerized cargo, and vehicles. He also has diverse port knowledge resulting from his interactions with the various U.S. Gulf ports, as well as his various organizational interactions with maritime committees spill response groups, Customs, and USDA.?His skill set also includes interactions with numerous national agency committees, such as Coast Guard, National Safety Council, and others with a focus on establishing maritime information exchange policies between industry and government. His participation included testimony/presentation to the National Security Council's sub-committee for Maritime Domain Awareness and to the International Maritime Organization's sub-committee on the open sharing of commercial vessel automatic identification system information. George is also bilingual and multicultural. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then lived in Paris, France for eleven years due to his family's extensive U.S. diplomatic service. His father was a U.S. Maritime attaché to South America and then Europe, and his sister recently retired from a long career with the State Department after serving most recently as U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania. His education includes an MBA in Finance & International Trade from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. He has a Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation and a U.S. Coast Guard 3rd Officer Deck License from Texas A&M University in Galveston, Texas. He also has post master’s level diplomas in Joint Operations from Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia and in National Strategy & Policy from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. “I am both honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve as President of the Maritime Exchange. My deep family maritime heritage and own experience working in this dynamic shipping world of ours have me eagerly anticipating the chance to meet and work with all stakeholders of the Delaware River as we together, begin the Maritime Exchange’s next 150 years,” George said. #MaritimeDelRiv #NewHire #MaritimeTrade #DelawareRiver

?? Happy #WorldMaritimeDay to all! ?? Every year, the International Maritime Organization’s World Maritime Day celebrates seafarers and people across the maritime industry. This year’s theme is Navigating the future: safety first! Thank you to all of our wonderful member organizations for the work you do to keep our industry safe and help us build a thriving maritime community on the Delaware River! You can learn more about Maritime Day and the IMO’s Safety initiatives here: https://lnkd.in/etv6HyVk #maritimedelriv #imo #maritimesafety #maritimetrade