B Us Shipping News

This week at Singapore Maritime Week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is advancing ambitious decarbonization targets for the maritime transportation sector, both domestically and internationally.DOE is teaming with over 15 government and industry partners in Singapore to foster partnerships and collaborate on clean energy solutions aimed at achieving net zero-emissions in the maritime sector by 2050. Domestically, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is joining with ABS to create opportunities for data and information sharing to strengthen U.S. shipping. The U.S.

The CEO of U.S. shipping and logistics company TOTE Group emphasized the importance of the Jones Act in supporting the American maritime industry and economy.Speaking on the American Maritime Podcast, TOTE's CEO, Tim Nolan, said the Jones Act provides the organization with confidence and stability to invest in its fleet and the markets it serves.TOTE's maritime business in 2015 launched the world's first containerships powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), for service between Jacksonville, Fla. and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

U.S. shipping company Crowley has shared first renderings and the names of its four new dual fuel liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered containerships: Quetzal, Copan, Tiscapa and Torogoz.The 1,400 TEU vessels were ordered in 2022 by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) for scheduled delivery from South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in 2025.EPS will charter the ships out to Crowley, who will deploy them on its U.S.-Central America trade connecting U.S. markets to Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

U.S. shipping industry stakeholders told the Transportation Department they "expected increased congestion at some U.S. container ports in the next four to six weeks as shippers re-route cargo to avoid the Red Sea," the department said on Friday.The stakeholders shared their concerns during a call with the department's Office of Multimodal Freight on Thursday, the department said. The call focused on supply chain issues stemming from the situation in the Red Sea, where attacks by Yemen's Houthis have disrupted shipping.(Reuters - Reporting by Rami Ayyub and David Shepardson)

Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) announced a three-year pledge in the amount of $90,000 to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy as the US. shipping company continues to promote women to receive training to enter the maritime industry.OSG said its pledge will go to undergraduate and sea term scholarships and sponsorship of the Academy’s Women’s Network and Sea, Science and Leadership Career Exploration Program. Scholarship recipients will have ongoing interaction with OSG and the opportunity to become familiar with OSG’s business and fleet of vessels.

U.S. shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) announced it will equip all vessels in its fleet with Space X’s Starlink satellite internet service in a move that aims to enhance onboard connectivity for seafarers.Since the introduction to the market of Starlink’s Global Maritime service earlier this year, OSG’s IT department has worked to substantially complete installation of Starlink equipment on every vessel in the fleet of OSG and ATC, with full installation expected by year end…

U.S. shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group announced it will upgrade all four vessels in its Alaskan Class fleet with new methanol-ready engines from MAN Energy Solutions.The vessels Alaskan Explorer, Alaskan Frontier, Alaskan Legend and Alaskan Navigator, all approaching 20 years in age, will receive significant engine and operational improvements, resulting in environmental benefits as well as extending their commercially useful life, OSG said.The lifecycle engine upgrades involve a series of technical and commercial enhancements…

U.S. shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) on Thursday announced it has reached an agreement with BP Oil Shipping Company to purchase the Jones Act compliant crude oil tanker Alaskan Frontier.Built by General Dynamics NASSCO in 2004, the 1.3-million-barrel capacity tanker is a sister to three other Alaskan Class vessels operated by OSG’s wholly owned subsidiary, Alaskan Tanker Company. It was part of Alaska Tanker Company's active fleet  until 2019 when the vessel was placed in cold lay-up in Labuan, Malaysia.OSG said it expects the transaction will be completed in early November. Afterward, the company intends to reactivate the tanker…

U.S. shipping company Crowley and classification society ABS have entered an agreement to jointly explore how to advance the use of augmented and virtual reality technologies for vessels and other marine environments.The ABS partnership agreement builds on Crowley’s new service network using augmented reality on select vessels. Crew wear goggle technology to provide real-time visuals of ship equipment to remote technicians to collaborate on solutions. The technology, developed by Kognitiv Spark…

Danish family-owned company Uni-Tankers has achieved record financial results for the financial year 2022-23 which it attributes to being a “streamlined organisation ready to seize each opportunity.”Earning after tax were USD 61.0 million, an increase of USD 66.1 million from last year’s result despite constrained availability, higher cost of charter tonnage and higher interest rates.Uni-Tankers' fleet is one of the youngest in its core markets, comprising approximately 40 owned and chartered modern and flexible product and chemical tankers.

A shortage of West Coast port workers has forced the busiest U.S.

The U.S. Great Lakes shipping fleet has begun the annual transition from sailing to scheduled periods in regional docks and ship repair facilities for repair, maintenance and modernization.This year alone, U.S. Great Lakes shipping companies will invest more than $126 million in their vessels—from over 1,000-feet to smaller tug and barge combinations—at shipyards and facilities across the Great Lakes, according to trade group the Lake Carriers’ Association. This includes more than $48 million in Wisconsin…

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.

The Biden administration late on Sunday approved a waiver of U.S. shipping rules to address Puerto Rico's urgent need for liquefied natural gas (LNG) after Hurricane Fiona. The Homeland Security Department (DHS) issued a waiver of the Jones Act, a century-old law that requires goods moved between U.S. ports to be carried by U.S.-flagged ships "to address Puerto Rico’s needs as recovery efforts from Hurricane Fiona continue," the department said. In late September, the DHS approved…

The Biden administration on Wednesday approved a waiver of U.S. shipping rules to address Puerto Rico’s immediate energy and other essential needs in the wake of a devastating hurricane.Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he approved "a temporary and targeted Jones Act Waiver" to ensure Puerto Ricans "have sufficient diesel to run generators needed for electricity and the functioning of critical facilities after Hurricane Fiona." The waiver will allow the use of often cheaper or more readily available foreign-flagged vessels.An estimated 349,000 homes and businesses remained without power in Puerto Rico on Wednesday after Hurricane Fiona hit Sept.

Container xChange's latest annual benchmark study of demurrage and detention charges recently showed that the ports in the U.S have the highest demurrage and detention (D&D) charges among the top 60 ports worldwide. Demurrage and detention tariffs have two main purposes: (1) compensating the shipping line for the use of its container and (2) encouraging the merchant to return the container as soon as possible for the shipping line to re-use it and have a fast turnaround. Demurrage is the charge that one pays for the use of the container within the terminal beyond the free time period.

A U.S. trade group representing companies selling luggage, backpacks and other travel products has written President Joe Biden asking that regulations on shipping and other fees be strictly enforced to help bring down the cost of shipping.The Travel Goods Association, whose companies do some $1 billion in U.S. sales annually, asked for "immediate action – aggressive enforcement, leadership to bring the full gamut (of) stakeholders to the table, provide immediate relief, and more."They…

SEACOR Holdings Inc. completed its acquisition of U.S. Shipping Corp (USSC), a privately owned provider of long-haul marine transportation for chemical and petroleum cargoes in the U.S. coastwise trade, operating under the Jones Act.

U.S. shipbuilder Conrad Industries has signed a license agreement with the Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group to build two Damen Multi Cats 3013 for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation.The two vessels covered by this agreement will be the first Damen Multi Cats to be built in the U.S. Fully compliant with the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stability criteria, the versatile Multi Cat is the ideal platform for dredging support operations."This is a milestone moment for the U.S.

The Biden administration granted oil refiner Citgo Petroleum a maritime shipping waiver allowing it to move fuel between U.S. ports on a foreign flagged vessel, two sources told Reuters on Friday, making it the second company to secure one this week.The waivers are intended to help ease distribution of fuel after a major pipeline serving the U.S. East Coast was forced shut by a cyberattack last week, triggering widespread shortages of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.The Department of Homeland Security had announced the second waiver on Friday…

The construction of a new inland port at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers took another step forward on Tuesday as the Alexander Cairo Port District completed a project labor agreement (PLA) with the Illinois AFL-CIO. The project labor agreement ensures that more than 500 jobs created by the construction of the Cairo port will be filled by local Illinois union workers.The Alexander-Cairo port represents one of the largest investments in Southern Illinois in decades.

Louisiana-based company 2nd Wind Marine plans to design, finance, build and operate two Jones-Act-compliant jack-up vessels aimed at the growing U.S. offshore wind market. The company has this week revealed the SuperFeeder design for the vessel planned to be used for transporting next-generation offshore wind turbines from the US marshaling ports out to awaiting wind turbine installation vessels."The MiNO Marine SuperFeeder design being built in coordination with 2nd Wind Marine is a modern, Subchapter I compliant vessel 124.5 m in length and 40m wide (overall) with a 5m hull depth.

The U.S. maritime industry takes great pride in our motto: “In Peace and War.” It sums what we’re all about. From colonial times, through the Revolution, the Civil War, two World Wars, several regional conflicts, and many natural and humanitarian disasters, we got the cargo delivered because our economic security and our national security depend on it.Today, we confront a new kind of enemy: an invisible, debilitating, and too often deadly disease. Yet, just as the courageous merchant…