MARAD Announces $500 Million in Funding for Port Infrastructure
As a part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for $500 million in Federal Fiscal Year 2024 funding through MARAD’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).Investments made under the PIDP focus on modernizing the Nation’s coastal and inland waterway ports as well as strengthening its supply chains and economic security for generations to come.
Canadian Coast Guard Awards Contract for Icebreaker Life Extension
Canada's Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Jean-Yves Duclos, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Diane Lebouthillier, announced a contract award following a competitive process, valued at approximately $44 million (including taxes) to Ocean Industries Inc. for the vessel life extension of the CCGS Griffon.Scheduled to take place from June 2025 to October 2026, the vessel life extension work entails refurbishing and repairing the main propulsion motors…
Great Lakes Towing Buys Historic Fireboat
The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT) announced it has acquired a 62-year-old fireboat from the city of Cleveland, Ohio.The vessel, Anthony J. Celebrezze, was constructed in 1961 by Paach Marine in Erie, Pa. and was used by the Cleveland Fire Department until it was replaced with a new vessel, Garret A. Morgan, in June 2023 and put up for auction.Auction data shows the vessel was sold on November 14 for just over $41,000, including a 12.5% buyer's premium.GLT said its Great Lakes Shipyard division is very familiar with the Anthony J.
St. Lawrence Seaway Reopens Following Tentative Deal to End Strike
The union representing St. Lawrence Seaway workers in eastern Canada said it reached a tentative labor agreement on Sunday, ending a week-long strike that shut down a key North American trade route linked to the Atlantic Ocean.The Unifor union, representing some 360 workers, said it agreed to a deal with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp (Seaway) that would cover engineering, maintenance, and other worker groups in Ontario and Quebec provinces.Other details of the agreement, which would need to be ratified by the workers, were not shared.
Canada's Seaway Strike Impacts 115 Vessels in Great Lakes Route
A strike in Canada's St. Lawrence Seaway entered its second day on Monday after workers walked off over a wage dispute, shutting down an important maritime trade route linking the Great Lakes to Montreal port and impacting about 115 vessels.Some 361 workers represented by the Unifor union went on strike on Sunday after failing to negotiate a new labor contract with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp (SLSMC), which along with a U.S. body operates the waterway linking the Great…
US Coast Guard Proposes 2024 Great Lakes Pilotage Rates
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has published a Proposed Rule in the Federal Register outlining U.S. Great Lakes pilotage rates for the 2024 shipping season.The new rates seek to generate revenue for each of the three U.S. Great Lakes pilot associations by implementing hourly charges for pilotage services according to geographic area. Pilotage rates are paid by vessel operators serving Great Lakes ports.The Coast Guard proposes to increase the overall cost of U.S. Great Lakes pilotage in 2024 compared to 2023 by $1.9 million or 5%.
LNG Barge Clean Canaveral Bunkers First Cargo Ship in Canaveral
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker barge Clean Canaveral completed its first barge-to-ship bunkering of a cargo vessel at Port Canaveral’s South Cargo Berth 4. JAX LNG, along with Polaris New Energy, handled the LNG refueling of the Damia Desgagnés on the ship’s inaugural call to Port Canaveral. The asphalt/bitumen tanker Damia Desgagnés completed her discharge of cargo and then JAX LNG proceeded with Desgagnés’s first barge-to-ship bunkering of LNG. The seafarers safely transferred approximately 400 cubic meters of LNG from North America’s largest LNG bunker barge…
Welland Canal Ship Traffic Resumes
Two-way marine traffic resumed Monday night on the Welland Canal in Ontario, Canada after a power outage on Sunday led to a temporary suspension of navigation.The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC), which manages and operates the Canadian assets of the St. Lawrence Seaway, said its maintenance personnel and contractors were able to restore service to Lock 1 by Monday afternoon and reopen Lock 7 by 10:30 p.m. that night.No one was harmed at any point during the outage or repair operations…
Ship Traffic Halted After Power Outage Hits Welland Canal
Vessel traffic through Ontario's Welland Canal has ceased after a power outage damaged equipment in two of its locks, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) said.The not-for-profit corporation, which manages and operates the Canadian assets of the St. Lawrence Seaway, said the outage occurred at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday, damaging hands-free mooring equipment in Locks 1 and 7. "SLSMC took immediate steps to ensure the safety of the public, personnel, vessels, infrastructure and the environment…
Jackie Q. Carter to Serve as Director at Port Milwaukee
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has selected Jackie Q. Carter to serve as Municipal Port Director. In this position, Carter will direct commercial and recreational operations at Port Milwaukee, oversee a staff of twenty people, and administer Foreign Trade Zone No. 41. The appointment is subject to Common Council approval.A lifelong resident of Milwaukee, Carter has worked in the local non-profit and public sector for more than 20 years. She most recently served as the Finance & Administration Officer for Port Milwaukee…
Operation Coal Shovel: US Coast Guard Kicks Off Great Lakes Icebreking
The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday commenced Operation Coal Shovel, a domestic icebreaking operation to maintain commercial vessel traffic from southern Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair, to the St. Clair / Detroit River system, and into Lake Erie and Lake Ontario including the St. Lawrence Seaway.U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers work together in these waterways as conditions worsen throughout the winter to ensure the ability to conduct search-and-rescue, exigent community service, and the facilitation of navigation to meet the reasonable demands of commerce.Both the U.S.
Algoma Acquires Two Product Tankers
Canadian shipping company Algoma Central Corporation on Thursday announced it has acquired two 18,894 dwt product tankers. Built in 2007, the sister ships were purchased to prepare for the coming replacement of two older vessels in the company’s Algoma Product Tankers fleet.“The vessels are high quality additions to our Product Tanker fleet,” said Gregg Ruhl, President and CEO of Algoma, “and mark an important step in our on-going fleet renewal journey, which is expanding to include renewal within our tanker fleet.
Jones Act Waiver Mess
Potential energy shortages in the U.S. northeast this winter have led to arguments that the U.S. Jones Act should be waived. These arguments rarely, however, grapple with what exactly it takes to waive the Jones Act. This is not blameworthy because the Jones Act waiver standard has been a mess. For decades the standard for granting a waiver was interpreted in way as to make it all but meaningless, and now the standard is so strict that waivers are all but forbidden.Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920, the so called “Jones Act,” is a “if this, then that” kind of law.
Volumes Rising on Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Seaway System
Shipping across the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway system topped 4.2 million tons in October, led by strong gains in grain as well as potash, salt and other dry bulk cargos. Overall grain shipments reached 1.5 million tons, a reflection of the strong late harvest in various regions of the Great Lakes.“It’s great to see these positive numbers for the late harvesting of grain in the U.S. and Canada,” said Bruce Burrows, President & CEO of the Chamber of Marine Commerce. “The…
Maritime Risk Symposium: Full Program Released
The 2022 Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS), scheduled to be held Nov. 15-17, 2022, hosted by Argonne National Laboratory at the Argonne campus in Lemont, Illinois, recently unveiled the full conference program, packed with experts with insights on the challenges facing the inland waterway systems.Click here to read the fulll program for MRS 2022MRS is an annual international event focused on risks involving the global maritime transportation system (MTS). For the MRS, the U.S. Coast Guard partners with the sponsor…
Tindall-Schlicht Named Seaway Administrator
The White House announced President Biden's appointment of former Milwaukee port director, Adam Tindall-Schlicht, as the next Administrator of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS). Tindall-Schlicht resigned his position at Port Milwaukee on October 19.An agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the GLS is responsible for operation of U.S. portions of the St. Lawrence Seaway. It works in partnership with it's Canadian counterpart to maintain a safe…
Great Lakes Winter Supply Chain – A Cause for Concern
As the temperatures start their annual decline on the Great Lakes, an icy chill is in the air. Shipping companies across the lakes are rushing to get final loads of critical raw materials from the northern lakes to the manufacturing facilities on the lower lakes. The gales of November began blowing in October this year, tightening the constraint on the remaining days before the large navigational lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. will close for the season and shipping virtually halts.While high winds and seas can only be avoided, ice can be effectively managed by the U.S.
Ballast Water Management is Reducing the Flow of Invasive Species into the Great Lakes
Freshwater ecosystems are threatened by a host of environmental stressors from human activities. Among the most insidious and impactful of these is invasion by non-native species.Over the past two centuries, established populations of nearly 190 non-native species of invertebrates, fishes, plants and microbes have been discovered in the Great Lakes basin. They were introduced through several sources and pathways including canals, pet release, bait bucket dumping, aquaculture escapes…
Discovering the Largest Shipwrecks in the St. Lawrence River
Of all the rivers in the world, the St. Lawrence River is undeniably one of the most challenging for mariners.This water highway is at some spots as narrow as a large river and, at others, as wide as a small sea. It has played a vital role over the last three centuries as an important artery for trade, communication, transportation and settlement. And since 1959, the year the St. Lawrence Seaway was inaugurated, it has been a gateway to the heart of the continent.The first European explorers who sailed the St. Lawrence discovered it was not easy to master: it was long, but never calm.
New Loading Equipment Delivered to Port Milwaukee
New loading equipment was recently delivered to Port Milwaukee for The DeLong Co., Inc. agricultural maritime export facility.The Made in America ship loader traveled more than 1,500 miles by barge from New Orleans, up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Jones Island. This equipment is capable of loading 40,000 bushel/1100 ton per hour onto both vessels and barges.The ship loader, which is currently being installed on Jones Island, will serve as the heart of DeLong’s loading…
MARAD to Study Low Carbon Fuels on the Great Lakes
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced the launch of a study exploring low carbon options for shipping on the Great LakesThe research group will be led by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), in partnership with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and the Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers (GSGP).Over a period of 16 months, researchers will assess alternative fuels and power options in the region and will develop a detailed profile of Great Lakes fleets, ports and fueling infrastructure.
Maritime Risk Symposium 2022: The Importance of Inland Systems to the MTS
The 2022 Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS) is scheduled to be held Nov. 15-17, 2022, hosted by Argonne National Laboratory at the Argonne campus in Lemont, Illinois. MRS is an annual international event focused on risks involving the global maritime transportation system (MTS). For the MRS, the U.S. Coast Guard partners with the sponsor, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and the hosting agency. MRS began in 2011 and has grown in size, scope and interest. The MRS event will be followed by the U.S.
Inside the St. Lawrence Seaway's Growing Economic Importance
The St. Lawrence Seaway is made up of a broad network of interconnected infrastructures. Channels, canals, port facilities and fleets illustrate the connections between transportation equipment, industrial production and the artificial, human-made environment.This valuable infrastructure represents significant capital investments that have already been amortized. The maintenance, modernization and adaptation of the sea-river network make it possible to meet the demands for capacity, fluidity and reliability imposed by the transport industry.From their position as supply chain nodes, the St.