Admiralty, Boating Accidents, Cruise Industry, Marine, Marine Accidents, Ships/Yachts
LCDR MICHAEL D. RUSSELL, U.S. COAST GUARD (RET)
POB 580128
HOUSTON, TX 77258-0128
+(01)281.326.3191
Email: MRUSS6@AOL.COM
Maritime safety consultant with over 34 years’ experience in several facets of maritime safety enforcement and management in the United States Coast Guard and the marine industry. Never "dauberted" as an expert witness.
January 1995 to Present:
Maritime Consultant
Turnaround Maritime Services, Houston, Texas, USA
Since 1995 has provided advice & recommendations concerning litigation of maritime, boating & offshore incidents. Other services provided include marine casualty investigations, vessel inspections, cargo surveys, Coast Guard liaison, vetting, company & personnel audits, dock safety operations, Marine Safety Advisor, Pollution & Safety Advisor, American Bureau of Shipping Record reviews & towboat safety programs as well as training in all these areas. Clients include ship owners, operators, charterers, law firms, training centers, ports, investigation firms & towboat companies. Have interfaced with the USCG, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, OSHA, EPA, & other state & federal agencies. Accomplishments include:
•Retained as a consultant for a submarine shuttle incident in the U. S.
Virgin Islands
•Served as oil company representative aboard propane ship inaugurating all
buoy berth in Tuxpan, Mexico
•Retained as a consultant for an injury with a winch on a drill ship
•Provided expert report for litigation involving an allision of a
motorboat with a platform
•Provided expert testimony for a collision between a motorboat & a jet ski
•Retained as a consultant for a collision between a motorboat & a tow
•Retained as a consultant for a pollution incident involving a moored
barge that surged
•Retained as a consultant for an injury on a moored barge that surged
•Provided expert report for litigation involving a tow striking a moored
unlit barge
•Retained as a consultant for litigation involving an injured crewmember
on a towboat
•Provided expert report for litigation involving a tow striking a
petroleum coke loader
•ServeD as internal auditor for MARSEC (Maritime Security) for a towboat
company
•Consulted by MSNBC concerning the fatalities on the ETHAN ALLEN on Lake
George, New York
•General Average Surveyor for the refloating of the grounded tankship
BALTIC CAPTAIN I
•Recertified as an Oil Companies International Marine Forum SIRE Barge &
Tug Inspector
•Provided expert report concerning the fatalities from a tow ramming the
Queen Isabella Causeway Bridge
•Consulted on the revision of a Pollution & Safety Advisor manual update
for ExxonMobil cargoes
•Inspected & evaluated a potential lay berth at the Port of Beaumont, Texas
•Evaluated an inland towboat company for use by a major shipping company
•Served as a Marine Safety Advisor aboard tankships discharging crude oil
off Nicaragua
•Served as a Pollution & Safety Advisor off Cayman Islands on behalf of
client’s affiliate
•Served as a Marine Safety Advisor in Bermuda to evaluate LPG ship
compatibility with berth
•Served as an auditor for Pollution & Safety Advisors of inland waters &
seagoing vessels
•Provided safety instruction to inland & coastal marine berth operators
•Provided ship & dock screening services to marine terminals & ship
operators
•Provided marine casualty investigation services to the Port of Houston
Authority
•Provided expert testimony concerning the fatalities on the MISS MAJESTIC
on Lake Hamilton, Arkansas
•Provided damage survey of dredge CALIFORNIA
•Provided investigation consultation concerning contaminated cargo on a
tankship in Ecuador
•Served as Safety Director for a towing company
•Provided expert report on liability concerning injury of a deckhand on a
barge
•Provided investigation consultation concerning death of contract workers
onboard a tankship
•Provided Pollution & Safety Advisor in-port services aboard 400+
tankships at terminals transferring over 76,000,000+ barrels of crude oil
& chemicals with no water pollution
•Provided investigation consultation on injury of crewman on pipe laying
barge
•Provided investigation consultation concerning a barge tow colliding
with another tow
•Provided investigation consultation & deposition concerning death of
tankerman
•Investigated illness of contract worker on an offshore platform
•Provided investigation consultation concerning a contract worker injury
on an airboat
•Investigated capsizing & sinking of crane barges
•Documented damages to steel products during unloading
•Conducted loading survey of break bulk cargo of offshore platform blowout
preventers
•Conducted loading survey of freight ship break bulk cargo of bags of resin
•Conducted surveillance of allegedly injured complainant proving no
physical restrictions
•Provided expert testimony on federal regulations
•Provided expert testimony on state regulations
•Worked with container ship operator reducing personal injury/illness
claims
•Provided investigation consultation concerning collision of barge tow &
motorboat
•Investigated stevedore concerning his fall from gangway
•Investigated seized offshore oil well & found incorrect additive mixed in
with drilling mud
•Investigated “wetted” plywood cargo for ship owner
•Investigated vessel striking unlit offshore structure
•Investigated gas well tool string lost down hole
•Prepared chemical tanker to successfully pass U.S. Coast Guard inspection
Barges, Towboats, Tugs, Tankships, Passenger Vessels, Cruise Ships, Jet Skis, Cargo Transfer, Dock Operations, Maritime Security, Marine pollution Prevention, Aids to Navigation, Code of Federal Regulations, U. S. Coast Guard Policies & Procedures, Navigation "Rules of the Road", Marine Safety.
