In recent weeks, you've seen an enormous spike in message traffic, information, policy changes, and exchanges coming in from all quarters as our fleet, our industry and the world at large try to minimize the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 and come to terms with the impact of the actions being taken as the result of this pandemic. I hope you won't mind one more message to say thank you.

AMO officers in all departments, sectors and trades have stepped up to face these challenges, and there have been and will continue to be many. The vast majority of AMO officers everywhere have responded with characteristic professionalism, patience and commitment to doing the job at hand and solving the problem at large. These qualities are precisely what make AMO officers the best at what they do and the most trusted in the U.S. merchant fleet, and these qualities make managing a very difficult situation significantly more possible.

For this, and for many other things, we thank you.

On each of your vessels, the number one priority is crew safety, and we are working with you, the operating companies, and fleet managers at Military Sealift Command and the Maritime Administration to keep embarked crews safe and healthy.

In fleets where it is possible, we've been doing all we can to keep crew changes and work rotations as routine as they can be under the circumstances. We are also doing our best to meet various operating company policies limiting or temporarily canceling crew changes, while at the same time working to ship reliefs as soon as possible for officers working under these policies who need to leave the vessel for personal or family emergencies. And we are, of course, doing all we can to connect AMO members on the beach waiting to return to work with available billets as soon as possible.

Your hard work and patient professionalism, and the efforts of all ashore, are producing results. To date, we're aware of only one embarked crew member testing positive for the virus on an AMO-contracted vessel. Crews throughout the contract-civilian fleet remain healthy, vessels in commercial trades continue operations through difficult and uncertain economic times, active vessels in the sealift fleet maintain a war-fighting posture, and ROS vessels remain crewed and ready for activation and deployment.

This is the job of the U.S. Merchant Marine, and AMO officers everywhere are doing the job well.

Shore-side, we are working with the clear understanding that this storm can only be weathered with dedicated effort and responsible decision-making, even if those decisions are unpopular in the moment. Grandstanding statements of menace are easy to put out, but have no positive impact in the real world. They will not change the reality on the deck plates as the maritime industry navigates the real and dangerous challenges presented by this global pandemic. If such political posturing were to result in No-Sail orders and ships going off-hire, everyone in the U.S. Merchant Marine would suffer as a result.

For AMO members, and for the U.S.-flag fleet in general, these challenges are materializing in several ways.

Managing contractors coming aboard on a day-to-day basis for maintenance, repairs and projects to keep vessels mission-ready remains a major challenge faced by many AMO members in this environment. I have spoken with several captains who are dealing with this and who have developed strategies for keeping their crews safe while ensuring the crucial work to keep their ships mission-ready can continue. I have also spoken with operating companies to ensure that protocols are being implemented for medical screening in these circumstances - and I'll say that this is starting to happen in earnest. Additionally, we currently have three vessels in major-shipyard status, which makes physical distancing practices and restriction-to-ship policies very challenging. Through it all, AMO members are working safe and getting the job done.

In Washington, D.C., we are working with USTRANSCOM and our Maritime Security Program operators to keep cargo operations moving as many aspects of non-essential government operations are postponed. In many cases, reduced government-impelled cargo loads can lead to reduced operations for MSP vessels and fewer jobs for AMO members.

We are working with our contracted cable ship fleet to implement crew changes - a particular challenge due to the sheer number of officers who have to rotate in and out during a regular crew change on each of these ships.

We are also facing additional challenges with rotating officers from ships in Diego Garcia and aboard shuttle vessels operating in the Persian Gulf region.

Across the board, airlines have reduced flight schedules and eliminated a lot of flights. Many nations and localities where AMO-contracted ships make port are simply not allowing non-residents to enter, and those that do are enforcing lengthy self-quarantine requirements.

These are only some of the challenges this pandemic and the necessary work to contain its spread have brought down upon us. We know all of these challenges are difficult, and in our world, most of all for merchant mariners - AMO members who were nearing the end of a months-long rotation when restrictions went into place, AMO members at home waiting to return to work well past the point they had expected to be.

As made clear by national edict, U.S. merchant mariners are essential personnel. Your well being and your work are essential now to the nation's ability to persevere in these difficult times, and to protect itself at home and abroad should the need arise. Your well being and work will be even more essential as this crisis begins to lift and America begins to recover and return to a more recognizable way of life.

Mike Finnigan
National Executive Vice President
American Maritime Officers