CSL Tacoma Calls at Port of Redwood City
The final in a series of five Canada Steamship Lines' (CSL) state-of-the-art, new Trillium Class self-unloading Panamax vessels, the 228-meter long CSL Tacoma, embarked on her maiden voyage from the Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China on Oct. 12, and is making her maiden cargo voyage to San Francisco Bay. She is scheduled to arrive at the Port of Redwood City at noon on Wednesday, November 6, with sand and gravel construction materials from an Eagle Rock Aggregates quarry in British Columbia.
WRDA to the Wise
May 15, 2013 was a very good day for the nation’s barge and towing operators, as well as shippers of grain, coal, chemicals, petroleum products, aggregate materials, and agri-input products. It was also a good day for our nation’s economy and for its consumers. The Senate passed, by a vote of 83-14, a long-overdue Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), last reauthorized in 2007. Six years may not seem like a long time to await action on Capitol Hill. But since 57% of the locks and dams on the nation’s inland waterways system have exceeded their economic design life expectancy of 50 years…
GE Capital Provides $16m in Marine Fleet Financing to the Dutra
GE Capital Corporate Finance provided $16 million in equipment financing to the Dutra Group, Inc. The funds refinance existing debt used to support the company’s marine fleet. Headquartered in San Rafael, CA, the Dutra Group focuses on dredging and marine construction along the west coast, and produces and distributes aggregate materials to support construction projects primarily in northern California. www.gecapital.com
Jobs Available Here!
The tragic near-sinking of the Costa Concordia in Italy has the world’s attention riveted on the safety of cruising, the condition of cruise ships, and the training and experience of cruise captains. That’s just the way things work: tragedy focuses attention and perhaps reform. We saw the same thing happen in Minneapolis in 2008 when the I-35 bridge collapsed and lives were lost. Bridge safety became a priority in Washington, DC and for the nation. And the Federal government provided the funding on an immediate basis to rebuild the bridge!
Ramora UK Wins Underwater Ordnance Disposal Contract
Ramora UK (www.ramorauk.com) a provider of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) training and support services, has signed a three-year deal with Kendall Brothers (Portsmouth) Limited (www.kendalls.co.uk) a UK aggregate producer. The contract with Kendall Brothers (Portsmouth) Limited provides the aggregate firm with a comprehensive EOD response service (which includes ordnance disposal and training services) to deal with the discovery of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) within aggregate materials. Kendall Brothers (Portsmouth) Limited operates two aggregate processing plants and a bagging operation in the UK and harvests materials from the sea.
WCI Chairman on Lower Miss. Dredging Emergency
“The inland waterways navigation system is the most important transportation asset in the United States and is vital to the economic well-being of this country. From the inception of this country, the Federal government has played a critical role in ensuring that the inland navigation system, including the Mississippi River, remains open to transport products such as grain, coal, steel, petroleum and aggregate materials. We urgently call on the Federal government today to take all necessary steps to provide funding for this national transportation asset and to allow the Lower Mississippi River to remain fully open for commerce. This year, we have seen unprecedented levels of high water on the Mississippi River carrying millions of tons of silt and debris to the mouth of the River.
WCI on Gate Failure at Greenup Locks & Dam
Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) President & CEO Cornel Martin has issued the following statement regarding the January 27, 2010 failure of the miter gate at the main lock chamber at Greenup Locks and Dam on the Ohio River near Huntington, W.V. As a result of this incident, the Ohio River was closed to navigation for several days. The main chamber will remain closed for at least up to eight weeks. The auxiliary lock is currently back in operation; however, as repairs progress on the main chamber additional closures of the auxiliary lock may occur. The failure of the miter gate arm and the decision to curtail lockages through the auxiliary…
Waterways Council on Lock & Dam Failure
Waterways Council, Inc. The failure of Markland’s main chamber miter gate is disturbing for many reasons, namely that the repair could take 90 days or longer to complete. This means that shippers, who rely on the inland waterways system to ship America’s building block commodities such as coal for electric power generation, grain to feed the world market, petroleum products for fuel, steel for construction, or aggregate materials for a myriad of uses, could face serious delays in transporting those cargoes. Consumers, who ultimately receive and benefit from the commodities shipped on the waterways, could incur higher costs and significant delays waiting for those goods. Waterways council, Inc.
AAPA Seminar to Focus on Shallow-Draft Ports
While seaports that handle ocean-going ships often garner headlines for their security and environmental programs, and cargo and passenger handling news, the role and benefits of the world’s vast inland waterway systems are not as well known. However, shallow-draft waterways and ports, which primarily accommodate towboats, barges, pleasure craft and touring vessels, are an integral part of a nation’s maritime system and serve as an economic and jobs generator. With its inaugural Shallow-Draft Ports seminar slated for the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Oct. 5-6, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) hopes to improve the maritime industry’s understanding of inland waterways and ports, and point out ways to better utilize them.
