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Is commercial shipping your field? Are you, or have you been involved? Why not tell us all about it?
Tugs, pilots, cargo ships, passenger liners, cruise ships, marine oil rigs, any kind of vessel. We're just as interested in the ships of yesteryear as in modern vessels. Ever wonder where a ship, or shipmate, you used to know is now? Write in and ask and let's see if anybody knows. Don't worry about whether you're brilliant at writing or not, we can help out with editing. Long or short, all your letters will be welcome.

Before we go any further,  let us briefly introduce the rest of the commercial shipping section...
Carrying On takes us into the world of cargo shipping, from the schooner traders still plying their trade in the islands to the supertankers which measure their decks in acres.
Digging Deep will have us venture into the field of exploitation of natural resources, such as oil, from beneath the sea.  
Fishy Business is our commercial fishing page.
Tugs Barge In here we'll take an interest in the work of those who service the larger vessels.

The ship on the left is the cargo carrier  'Admiral Bay', seen here in Port Elizabeth, Bequia, largest of the islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, on a run from Barbados. 
Most of sea transport in the region appears to be done using ships similar to this one. 
Watching a typical unloading on an island one may see the most unlikely combinations of goods being put ashore and taken aboard. 

What, we wonder, is the strangest ever cargo mix our readers have come across...?
If you are involved in a commercial shipping venture of any kind, or ever have been, whether as an owner, client or employee, we'd love to hear all about it. We'd love to see any pictures you care to show us, too.
If you have any good stories, we'd love to read them, whether they're adventures, dramas or amusing anecdotes, so long as they involve some kind of commercial shipping. If you're wondering whether any of your old colleagues are reading this, and where they might be now, why not write a piece about the times you've shared and see whether they send in their version of events?!

Meanwhile...we have a true story for you, a tale of disaster with a happier ending than might have been expected...read  'A Friendly Spy' about a container ship caught out in 30' swells on a stormy, rain-lashed night...