Mexico Port News

Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman in international waters on Thursday, the U.S. Navy said, the latest in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels in sensitive Gulf waters since 2019.Iran's army said it had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman after it collided with an Iranian boat, injuring several crewmen, Iranian state media reported."Two members of the boat's crew are missing and several were injured due to the collision of the ship with the boat," an army statement said.The U.S.

A crew member aboard a Cuba-flagged oil tanker on its way from a Mexican shipyard to Venezuela was reported missing this week, according to a shipping report seen by Reuters, marking the second incident aboard the same vessel in about a year.Sailor Rafael Desiderio Martinez Alonso was not found last Sunday by the doctor onboard oil tanker Petion, which set sail on May 6 from Mexico's port of Veracruz bound for the Cardon terminal in Venezuela's western coast.The report by the tanker's shipping agency to Venezuelan port authorities about the incident said Martinez Alonso, who was one the tanker's fitters, is believed to have fallen into open waters because his shoes were found near the ship's gas plant.

Port Manatee says it has signed an agreement to keep Del Monte fruit coming into the Florida Gulf Coast port for as many as 20 more years. Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc., which has imported fruit into the deepwater Florida seaport since 1989, is now signed to a lease extension with Port Manatee through August 30, 2021, with options for three additional extensions of five years each. If all options are exercised, Del Monte will be doing business at Port Manatee until at least 2036.

A new study report projects cargo volume through Port Manatee will more than double over the next 10 years. The 2016 Port Manatee Master Plan Update, accepted June 16 by the Manatee County Port Authority, provides a strategic vision and framework for continued diverse growth of the port of Southwest Florida for the coming decade and beyond. “We are encouraged by the positive opportunities presented in the master plan update,” said Betsy Benac, chairwoman of the Manatee County Port Authority.

Port Manatee’s growth as a cargo gateway continues, with the Florida Gulf port reporting a 36 percent year-over-year increase in containerized cargo handled in the first half of its fiscal year. During the six-month period from Oct. 1, 2015, through March 31, 2016, Port Manatee docks saw moves of 12,653 twenty-foot-equivalent container units (TEU), up from 9,321 TEUs in the comparable year-earlier fiscal half. Import TEUs led the way, increasing 40 percent, to 7,398 TEUs from 5,291 TEUs.

The first three of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced Ship-to-Shore (STS) container cranes and two rail mounted cranes for the intermodal rail facility have been delivered to APM Terminals’ Lázaro Cárdenas (TEC2), now in the final stages of construction at Mexico’s second-largest container port. The terminal development milestone was commemorated by a ceremony held in Mexico’s capital city, attended by Mexico’s General Director of Promotion and Port Administration, Fernando Gamboa Rosas, as well as Maersk Group CEO Nils Smedegaard Andersen and other senior members of Mexico’s port and transportation sectors. “Lázaro Cárdenas TEC2 will be the most technologically advanced container terminal in Latin America…

Port Manatee is adding a 2-acre cargo pad to support storage of prilled sulphur, a new commodity for the Florida Gulf Coast port. Under an agreement signed Tuesday, June 16, with longtime port tenant Gulf Coast Bulk Equipment Inc., construction of the pad is slated to begin in September on the east side of Port Manatee. A Palmetto, Fla.-based stevedoring and marine terminal operations firm, Gulf Coast Bulk Equipment has been a Port Manatee tenant since 2008, handling fertilizers, salt, potash and other bulk cargos.

With the September call of the bulk carrier Sen Treasure, Port Manatee Scrap Metal Inc. is embarking upon exportation of scrap metal to Mexico from Port Manatee. The Sen Treasure departed Port Manatee bound for Veracruz on the evening of Sept. 10, after being loaded with more than 13,325 metric tons of material trucked from the Port Manatee Scrap Metal facility located less than 2 miles from the dock. The facility features a state-of-the-industry shredder system. “Port Manatee…

The Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) global family of companies, plans to enlarge its fleet and expand its terminal facilities in support of its customer base. The Chouest newbuild order book contains over 40 vessels, a vast majority to be constructed at its four U.S.-affiliate shipyards: North American Shipbuilding (Larose, LA), LaShip (Houma, LA), Gulf Ship (Gulfport, MS) and Tampa Ship (Tampa, FL), as well as its Brazilian shipyard, Navship. ECO’s worldwide fleet now approaches 250 highly specialized offshore service and support vessels.

The Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) global family of companies announced plans to enlarge its fleet and expand its terminal facilities in support of its customer base. The Chouest newbuild order book contains more than 40 vessels, a vast majority to be constructed at its four U.S.-affiliate shipyards: North American Shipbuilding (Larose, La.), LaShip (Houma, La.), Gulf Ship (Gulfport, Miss.) and Tampa Ship (Tampa, Fla.), as well as its Brazilian shipyard, Navship. ECO’s worldwide fleet now approaches 250 highly specialized offshore service and support vessels. The largest portion of the newbuild program contains 17 vessels, with options for an additional 20, in a new class of 312’ x 66’ x 26’ new generation, clean design, diesel-electric platform supply vessels (PSV).

RESOLVE Marine Group, Inc. (RESOLVE) has acquired the staff and assets of the Elliott Bay Design Group’s (EBDG) New Orleans, Louisiana office. The addition of former EBDG personnel in New Orleans expands  RESOLVE’s in-house engineering team, creating a new company and wholly owned subsidiary  RESOLVE Engineering Group, LLC. The Group will support RESOLVE’s  extensive worldwide operations while continuing to serve both former and  new clients as a full-service naval architecture and marine engineering group.

— Flying in National Guard Black Hawk helicopters 500 feet above the bayous and marshes along the Mississippi River delta last week, officials tried to show visiting state lawmakers the benefits of offshore drilling for oil and gas. The $70 billion industry employs more than 320,000 people in the state. Unemployment rates in some coastal parishes hover around 3.5 percent, compared to 5.5 percent nationally. And the oil industry supports both the only deep-sea oil port in the and a Gulf of Mexico port that handles more vessels than even the . While states on the east and west coasts debate whether to drill for offshore oil and natural gas…

Two of Mexico's chief oil export ports were closed on Tuesday, Reuters reported, because of strong winds and waves in parts of the Gulf of Mexico, port officials said. The port of Dos Bocas, located in the southeastern state of Tabasco, was shuttered as seas crested at 10 ft. and winds gusted at between nine and 12 mph, said an official at the port captain's office. The Pajaritos terminal, part of the Coatzacoalcos complex in eastern Veracruz state, was also closed as waves hit 10 ft. and winds ranged from 21 to 27 mph, said a port official. The Gulf-side port of Cayo Arcas in southeastern Campeche state and the Pacific Port of Salina Cruz were operating normally, said port officials and the Transport Ministry.

The U.S. Department of Transportation issued the following status report on ports affected by Hurricane Katrina: Port of New Orleans: Operational to 42 feet Port of Fourchon: Operation to 24 feet Port of Gulfport: Operational to 30 feet Port of Biloxi: Operational to 9 feet Port of Pascagoula: Operational to 36 feet Port of Mobile: Operational to 43 feet Port of Fourchon: Operational to 24 feet The Industrial Canal is open east of the Cowan/Lorraine bridge. All major interstate crude oil, refined product, and natural gas transmission pipelines are operating Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) operating at 75% capacity. Numerous reports of oil and gas leaks in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of these may be from pipelines. Damage assessments have not yet been conducted.