Aging Infrastructure News

Blake Powell, president at JMS Naval Architects, discusses his career, company and latest trends in naval architecture and marine engineering.Please give a brief professional bio, including education, experience and overview of current duties as president of JMS Naval Architects.I earned my degree in Naval Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley where I attended on a Navy ROTC scholarship and was commissioned as a Diving and Salvage Officer after I graduated.

Like many ports, the Alaskan Port of Homer faces aging infrastructure and capital needs well beyond the local funding capacity. The port is a key link in the supply chain for 47 remote, rural, disadvantaged or Alaska Native communities served by Homer, making proposed port infrastructure upgrades critical for shipping statewide as well as for the local community.Enter the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This unprecedented…

New federal money promises dramatic impacts throughout the United States’ inland waterways system in 2022 and beyond. This report focuses on America’s central rivers; the Western rivers will be covered in a future report. These central rivers reach 11,000 miles, from Pennsylvania to Florida and from Texas to South Dakota.Consider the money within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “Civil Works Program Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), 2022 Construction Spend Plan.”In Arkansas…

A U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela-owned supertanker that had mechanical problems since January is transferring its 2-million-barrel cargo of heavy crude to other vessels in Asia, according to three people familiar with the matter.The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Maximo Gorki left Venezuela in November amid an export push designed to generate funds for cash-strapped state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which has been under U.S. trading sanctions since 2019.Aging infrastructure problems, including a lack of oil storage and vessels, frequent refinery outages and export port congestion, are undermining PDVSA's increased oil production, impeding efforts to boost revenue, according to company documents and sources.

The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency's (MCA) future oil spill response plan will be informed by a new report that maps out possible threats to the UK's coastal areas, marine life, and traffic as a result of hydrocarbon releases from energy industry operation and shipping.The report on the review of the hydrocarbon release risk on the UKCS over the next decade was delivered for the MCA, by Xodus Group, in association with London Marine Consultants.The review evaluated the risk of a serious mineral oil release occurring in UK waters from vessels of more than 1…

President-elect Joe Biden touted the diversity of his incoming administration as he introduced former rival Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday as his choice for U.S. transportation secretary.Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would be the first openly gay Cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate if he is approved.Appearing with Buttigieg in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said the 38-year-old would confront the task of upgrading America’s aging infrastructure and restoring what he called “our crumbling roads…

The Statement of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao issued the following statement regarding the President’s State of the Union Address. “Tonight the President issued a bipartisan call to repair and restore America’s aging infrastructure. Over the last two years, due to the President’s policies, our economy has generated historic levels of economic and job growth for Americans and widespread private sector investment. This success is enabled by America’s transportation sector, but aging and insufficient infrastructure threatens to impede future growth.

In the 29 years that towboat captain Joe Gray has worked flotillas of barges up and down the Ohio River, he has witnessed the decline at the heart of industrial America in what is known as the country's Rust Belt. Gray, 46, spends up to eight months a year doing 28-day stints on the barges carrying coal, corn and gravel between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cairo, Illinois. Some 600 million tons of goods still flow each year along 25,000 miles of U.S. waterways. But he has seen a growing number of coal-fired power plants being dismantled, from Indiana to West Virginia, and says barges loaded with coal have dwindled in the face of cheaper natural gas and tougher environmental regulations.

Maintaining the system of buoys and beacons that guide mariners through our nation’s waterways is the United States Coast Guard’s oldest mission. Tracing its roots to the ninth law passed by Congress in 1790 that moved lighthouses under Federal control, the U.S. Lighthouse Service and its vast portfolio of buoys, beacons, buoy tenders and lightships were a founding part of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. Along with the mission, many of the beacons the Coast Guard maintains today date back centuries.

The new release of DNV GL’s Synergi Water includes four modules that have previously been separately licensed. The addition of these modules – Unidirectional Flushing, Pipe Design, Calibration and Pump Scheduling – supports Synergi Water’s position as a uniquely comprehensive, efficient and data smart water modelling solution. “With this release, Synergi Water is taking yet another step toward helping our users improve and maintain water quality standards,” says Kyle Williams, Product Manager, Software, DNV GL. Today, many water utilities are using various tools from different software vendors, in addition to their own in-house tools. Now all existing and new users of Synergi Water can use one application for many different needs, adding significant value.

At 12:01 a.m. today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officially opened the Soo Locks for the start of the 2016 shipping season. The locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan are among 16 locks that form the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system which extends from Duluth, Minnesota to the Atlantic Ocean. Together these 16 locks lift or lower ships 600 feet – the height of a 60 story building. Since the Soo Locks closed in January, the Corps has been busy executing winter maintenance, repair and rehabilitation projects. Projects included the installation of a hydraulic system for the Poe Lock; anchorage repairs and dewatering bulkhead coating replacement on the Poe Lock; and work on the MacArthur Lock’s electrical modernization.

Insights: Edward E. Belk -  Chief, Operations and Regulatory Division Directorate of Civil Works, U.S. Edward E. Belk, Jr. currently serves as the Chief of Operations and Regulatory Division for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He also provides leadership and oversight for activities and programs within the Corps’ Lakes and Rivers and North Atlantic Regional Integration Teams. Selected by the Secretary of the Army into the Senior Executive Service in May 2012, Mr. Belk provides national oversight of the development, resourcing and delivery of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) programs for the Civil Works infrastructure portfolio and for Corps operational programs such as hydroelectric power…

International inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) company Harkand aims to be a $1 billion company. MR’s Tom Mulligan recently met with John Reed, the company’s CEO, to discuss his vision for the future and how Harkand aims to achieve its goal of being the leading subsea IRM and light construction contractor globally. Established in 2012 and headquartered in London with operations bases in Aberdeen, Houston, Mexico, and Ghana, global subsea IRM group Harkand has been expanding its business operations rapidly throughout North America…

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) yesterday concluded an agreement with Miyaji Engineering Group, Inc. (MEG) whereby, effective April 1, 2015, MHI will transfer a 51% ownership stake in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Bridge & Steel Structures Engineering Co., Ltd. (MBE), a group company, to MEG. Simultaneously, a shareholders agreement was also concluded between MHI and MEG. The Japanese market for social infrastructure is currently very robust, with strong demand in widespread evidence for projects to spur recovery in regions affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, for upgrades to the nation's rapidly aging infrastructure, for new expressways and Shinkansen (bullet train) lines, and for facilities of various kinds in the runup to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Missouri River Basin Water Management Division is maintaining above normal releases at the four lower dams on the Missouri River. The excess water will allow the Corps to extend the navigation season and provide higher winter releases. Navigation service to the mouth of the Missouri River will now be extended until December 10. Conditions in the basin affected by tributary inflow could extend the season for days after that. Increases in shipping along the Missouri River are being seen north toward Sioux City for the first time in 11 years. The Siouxland Chamber of Commerce suggested that increased shipping on the Missouri River and all the way to the gulf, complements the air, rail and road infrastructure Sioux City prides itself on.

Trucking, rail and port panelists will explore the benefits of improving America’s intermodal freight transportation system. On May 13, American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) President and CEO Kurt Nagle will join forces with CEOs representing trucking, railroad and other transportation interests who will offer a host of oftentimes startling facts, surprising statistics and unique stories about the value of investing in our nation’s freight transportation infrastructure in Washington D.C.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced a $10 million TIGER grant for the Duluth Intermodal project, one of 52 transportation projects in 37 states that will receive a total of approximately $474 million from DOT’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2013 discretionary grant program. Acting Maritime Administrator Paul “Chip” Jaenichen visited the Port of Duluth-Superior today to tour the project site and meet with local officials for the TIGER announcement. “These TIGER projects are the best argument you can make for investment in our transportation infrastructure,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) has called on the South African government to realise the potential of the ship refuelling market in its ports and the impact this will have in supporting regeneration. Speaking at the recent African Ports Evolution conference in Cape Town, IBIA chief executive Peter Hall told delegates that whilst more than double the number of vessels move around the Cape of Good Hope than transit the Straits of Gibraltar, the South African bunkering market has declined whilst Gibraltar’s continues to grow. Last year around 600 ships a day moved around South Africa, whilst the volume of bunkers sold in Durban hit a twenty year low with 1.1m tonnes traded in 2012.

Chairman American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) explains  the importance of dredging to the industry & the US economy. Jerry Bridges, the American Association of Port Authorities’ Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority in his testimony informed  the hearing, entitled 'Water Resources Development Act: Growing the Economy and Protecting Public Safety', of the fundamental importance of dredging to the industry. He said:  “Having been a port director at major ports on both the East and West Coasts…

AAPA Chairman Testifies Before Senate Committee on Water Resources Development Act; Testimony emphasizes importance of investment in waterside infrastructure. Jerry Bridges, the American Association of Port Authorities’ Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority, testifying today on behalf of AAPA before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, stressed the need to authorize new navigation projects to keep the Nation competitive in the world economy and promote jobs and economic activity in the U.S.

American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) quantifies infrastructure needs in airports, marine ports & inland waterway sectors. Aging infrastructure for marine ports, inland waterways, and airports threatens more than 1 million U.S. jobs according to a new Failure to Act report from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Between now and 2020, investment needs in the nation’s marine ports and inland waterways sector total $30 billion, while planned expenditures are about $14 billion, leaving a total investment gap of nearly $16 billion.

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (KY-01), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Power, with Representative Jerry Costello (D-IL-12), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today filed the Waterways Are Vital for the Economy, Energy, Efficiency, and Environment Act of 2012 (WAVE4 Act) with bipartisan co-sponsorship. The Act aims to ensure safe, dependable, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable navigation on the U.S. inland waterway system. “Efficient and reliable transportation of goods on our inland waterways is essential to economic development, job creation, and remaining competitive in the global marketplace,” said Representative Whitfield.

SCI awarded three honorees at the River Bell Awards Luncheon on December 9, 2010. Stephen Little of Crounse Corporation (River Bell Award), Buck Lay (River Legend Award), and the Rev. James Wilkinson formerly of SCI (Distinguished Service Award). In December, the inland waterways industry impressed SCI fundraisers with sponsorship dollars surpassing the budget aim for the Seamen’s Church Institute’s (SCI) River Bell Awards Luncheon, an annual event held in Paducah, KY recognizing contributions of an individual, company, or organization to the inland maritime industry. Income from the awards luncheon, which supports SCI’s Ministry on the River, the nation’s only full-time pastoral care ministry on the Ohio and Lower Mississippi River systems, soared close to $180K.