gCaptain
U.S. maritime industry trade
Background
gCaptain was founded in 2007 by John A. Konrad V, a SUNY Maritime College graduate holding a U.S. Coast Guard Master Unlimited license, who bootstrapped the site alongside his brother Tim drawing on experience running a ski-industry blog under the name Unofficial Networks. It grew into what it describes as the world's most-visited maritime and offshore industry news website, reaching hundreds of thousands of unique visitors monthly. The site built an early community through forums, job boards, and social media, filling a gap between print trade journals and working mariners. Konrad is a member of the Pentagon Press Corps and has contributed to Forbes, Lloyd's List, and CIMSEC, and co-authored the 2011 book Fire on the Horizon about the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Funding has always been a mix of advertising and, more recently, reader subscriptions through the gCaptain Club, launched to support original reporting and investigations. The outlet covers shipping markets, maritime law, port policy, offshore energy, and naval affairs from a professional-mariner and industry perspective. Its coverage of Trump administration maritime policy—including the 2026 White House Maritime Action Plan and U.S.-China port fee disputes—has been analytical and industry-focused, supportive of the broad goal of rebuilding U.S. maritime capacity while critically examining delays, contradictions, and gaps between policy ambition and industrial execution.
Sources
- About Us – gCaptain
- Founder & CEO – John Konrad
- Introducing the gCaptain Club
- Trump Unveils White House Maritime Action Plan to Restore U.S. Seapower – gCaptain
- USTR Moves to Suspend Port Fees Targeting China – gCaptain
- gCaptain – Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding
- gCaptain: Contact Information, Journalists, and Overview – Muck Rack
- Spire Maritime Interviews gCaptain Founder John Konrad
Profile compiled 2026-08-13; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.