Local Transportation News

A 300-acre property along the Mississippi River in Herculaneum, Missouri recently received Port District zoning making way for redevelopment as an intermodal transportation hub and industrial park.Located on the shipping lanes of the Mississippi River, the site has been utilized since the 1700s as a port. With its easy access for barge loading and offloading and the site’s proximity to early lead mines in adjacent Washington County, under early French ownership the port was utilized to ship lead cannonballs and shot to Europe to support Napolean’s army.

Plans to develop a new cruise terminal at the Port of Seattle have been derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. The port announced Tuesday it has called off a request for industry proposals for a joint investment to build and operate a proposed new cruise terminal to serve the Alaska market.“Our current focus remains on public health,” said Port of Seattle Executive Director Steve Metruck. “We continue to work with public health partners and cruise stakeholders to determine the enhanced procedures that will make our cruise passenger terminals and facilities safe for the community…

Imagine a power distribution network where excess renewable energy from hydropower, wind, solar, and nuclear energy is converted to hydrogen and used as transportation fuel in the maritime industry. With the allure of a zero emissions fuel, a number of ship owners are starting to seriously consider hydrogen for newly built vessels. As a bold first step, the country of Norway has provided a number of grants to leading maritime companies to conduct feasibility studies into various aspects of this emerging technology sector. Central to this discussion is “how” hydrogen will be transported from its source to end-users.Norwegian based companies…

U.K. based marine services contractor Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited and several of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay $20 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly overbilling the U.S. Navy under contracts for ship husbanding services, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.Inchcape provided goods and services, including food and other subsistence items, waste removal, telephone services, ship-to-shore transportation, force protection services and local transportation…

Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has published a proposal for modifications to its current tolls structure, signaling the beginning of a 30-day formal consultation period for industry feedback, allowing the waterway to continue providing a competitive service to its customers. During the past few months, Panama Canal Administrator Jorge L. Quijano and executives met with Canal customers and industry representatives in Europe, Asia and North America, demonstrating the Canal's commitment to being responsive to its customers. "These meetings with customers in Asia, Europe and North America have been extremely valuable in providing us with a deeper understanding of the industry today…

Throughput at Cai Mep International Terminal, the APM Terminals facility in Vietnam’s Ba Ria‐Vung Tau province, southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, expanded by 130 percent in the first quarter as new service calls added in 2015 began to impact volumes. The container volume has surged by 130% to 277,303 TEUs for the first three months of 2016, as compared with the same period a year ago. This growth follows an 80% expansion in container traffic at CMIT in 2015 over the year prior, to 724,768 TEUs. CMIT, part of the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, is a deep-water facility located in the Ba Ria‐Vung Tau Province, southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, and is capable of accommodating larger deep draft vessels of up to 15,000 TEU capacity, now cascading into Vietnamese trade routes.

Cai Mep, Vietnam - With five new services calls added to Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) since May of 2015, container volume has surged by 130% to 277,303 TEUs for the first three months of 2016, as compared with the same period a year ago. This growth follows an 80% expansion in container traffic at CMIT in 2015 over the year prior, to 724,768 TEUs. CMIT, part of the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, is a deep-water facility located in the Ba Ria‐Vung Tau Province, southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, and is capable of accommodating larger deep-draft vessels of up to 15,000 TEU capacity, now cascading into Vietnamese trade routes.

The government has announced  that it has joined a lawsuit alleging that Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, Inchcape) violated the False Claims Act by knowingly overbilling the U.S. Navy for ship husbanding services from years 2005 to 2014. Inchcape is a marine services contractor headquartered in the United Kingdom. As a ship husbanding services provider, Inchcape arranged for the provision of goods and services to Navy ships at ports in several regions throughout the world, including southwest Asia, Africa, Panama, North America, South America and Mexico. Inchcape’s services typically included the provision of food and other subsistence items…

Keppel Logistics Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd (Keppel T&T), has expanded its logistics capabilities down under with Keppel Logistics (Australia) Pty Ltd. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Logistics will manage a 10,000 square metre warehouse in Brisbane, Australia. Located 10 kilometres from Brisbane City, the Stafford facility recently commenced operations in August and establishes Keppel Logistics' foothold as one of the leading logistics players in the book publication segment. It currently serves as a Regional Distribution Centre serving Wiley's Australia and New Zealand markets, with Keppel Logistics (Australia) providing warehouse management and local transportation services for the global publishing company.

The East Coast Marine Highway Initiative, a partnership between Port Canaveral, the Port of New Bedford, Mass. and the Port of Baltimore, Md. has received recognition as an initiative in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new Marine Highways Program. The Department’s Maritime Administration chose eight projects and six initiatives from 35 applications submitted by ports and local transportation agencies. The initiative proposes to develop a Marine Highway service utilizing a fleet of existing and new-build U.S. flag vessels to transport both domestic and international containers and trailers to destinations along the I-95 corridor in order to relieve vehicle congestion and truck traffic.

On August 11, 2010, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood identified 18 marine corridors, eight projects, and six initiatives for further development as part of “America’s Marine Highway Program.”  In addition, the Maritime Administration made available $7m for which these projects will be able to compete through a Notice of Funding Availability. The Marine Highway Program was fully implemented in April 2010 through publication of a Final Rule in the Federal Register. The Secretary’s designations were made pursuant to the Final Rule…

MacGregor can now offer anchor-handling towing winches (AHTW) with pulling powers of between 300 tonnes and 600 tonnes and will be able to supply them in both hydraulically and electrically-driven versions. MacGregor is part of Cargotec Corporation, the world's leading provider of cargo handling solutions used in local transportation, terminals, ports, distribution centres and ships. Although traditionally supplied as hydraulically-operated, the new range of AHTWs will also be available as electrically-driven units.

MacGregor has received an order for 28 hose handling and provision cranes from Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd (DSME). MacGregor is part of Cargotec Corporation, a provider of cargo handling solutions used in local transportation, terminals, ports, distribution centres, and ships. The cranes will be delivered during 2010 to 2012. They are destined for five VLCCs and two 147,000 dwt LNG carriers ordered by Greek and Brunei shipowners. Each of the VLCCs will be fitted with two 20-tonne capacity hose-handling cranes…

Brittany Ferries’ new 24,641gt RoPax ferry Armorique will shortly enter service for the Western Channel operator featuring a vehicle access outfit from MacGregor. MacGregor has unrivalled experience in developing marine cargo handling and offshore load-handling solutions, and is part of Cargotec Corporation, the world's leading provider of cargo handling solutions used in local transportation, terminals, ports, distribution centers, and ships. Armorique has been designed specifically to run between Plymouth in the UK and the Breton port of Roscoff in France.

Meeting national transportation needs during the current decade should involve a surfeit of new contracts for our domestic shipbuilders. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) mandates double hulls for all vessels engaged in U.S. petroleum carriage. In our non-contiguous trades, renewal programs are needed for the replacement aging container and RoRo fleets. Moving freight containers and trailers on RoRo barges and vessels, and moving people on passenger and passenger-vehicle high speed ferries, provide the obvious solutions to traffic congestion in the population corridors served by at least two of our Interstate highways. Some of these vessel needs are now immediate because of private sector decisions to postpone projects.