U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Morgan City

05/21/2025

At MSU Morgan City, our inspectors regularly conduct non-destructive testing (NDT) on inspected commercial vessels.

Among the six primary non-destructive testing (NDT) methods, pictured is a “vacuum box non-destructive test”. Commonly used for inspecting welds on tanks, bulkheads, and other structures where leak detection is critical, the vacuum box is used to locate leaks in welded joints or other sealed areas by creating a vacuum around the test area and applying a soap solution where bubbles form at the surface to indicate the presence of a leak.

Leaks can lead to hazardous situations, including pollution spills, explosions, the release of toxic chemicals, and fires.

The more you know!

04/26/2025

Darken Ship! Do you know what that means?

Towards the end of an inspection, inspectors will have a vessel go “darken ship” and drop power. When a ship drops power, essential items such as navigation equipment and emergency egress lighting shall be on an immediate back-up source of power.

By going darken ship at the end of an inspection, M.I.’s can physically verify that all emergency lighting, VHF Radios and GPS are operable in case of an emergency.

04/15/2025

🚨Underway Drills Alert!!🚨

Why do we observe commercial vessel safety drills?

To ensure that the crew and vessel are safe to operate! Underway Drills help the Coast Guard evaluate the operational readiness of the vessel. These drills simulate real-life emergency scenarios such as fire, flooding, man overboard, & abandon ship situations.

Shown in the pictures are our Marine Inspectors overseeing a vessel’s man overboard and abandon ship drill. Overall, we are assessing the crews proficiency and ability to properly respond to an emergency situation and don the appropriate lifesaving equipment.

With being knowledgeable on the proper procedures during an emergency, we can safeguard the maximum wellbeing of our mariners at sea!

04/10/2025

As Marine Inspectors in the coast guard, we oversee stability tests conducted on vessels!

Pictured is a small passenger vessel less than 65ft. Overseeing the testing being conducted ensures a second pair of eyes is verifying that the correct measurements are being taken and can correct any steps that may have been missed.

A simplified stability test (SST) for a vessel is a method to assess its stability by physically placing weights on board to simulate the total weight of passengers, crew, and cargo, then moving the weight to induce a heel and measuring the resulting angle to ensure it stays within acceptable limits. This effectively tests the vessel's ability to right itself under load without exceeding critical heel angles;

A U.S. Coast Guard witnessed Simplified Stability Test (SST) Results generally remain applicable to the vessel for its entire life in service as long as its structural characteristics and weight distribution remain unchanged.

02/14/2025

12/25/2024

From us to you, we wish you a…

12/19/2024

12/19/2024

Used by all levels of Government, Non-Government Organizations, and Private Sector Organizations, an Incident Command System (ICS) creates an organized structure that integrates personnel, equipment, procedures, communications, and facilities to respond to emergencies (ex. Hurricanes). ICS provides a common framework for personnel from different organizations to work together effectively while utilizing these 5 factors: Command, Operations, Logistics, Planning, and Admin/Finance.

In addition to our normal everyday qualifications our personnel strive for, we also work on qualifications geared towards ICS.

Thank-you U.S. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans for coming out to train our personnel for ICS!