Dock Services News

A recent dry dock rehab project in Chicago provides new options and money saving opportunities for inland and Great Lakes stakeholders alike.From software to steel plating, Indiana-based TPG Marine Enterprises provides a range of services in the Great Lakes and inland waterways markets. River based tug and barge services are based in Jeffersonville and Mt. Vernon, IN, on the Ohio River, as well as on Kentucky’s Green River. The company also owns TPG Chicago Dry Dock, located on the Calumet River.

Enterprise Products Partners LP said on Wednesday that companies using its crude oil storage facility in the Houston Ship Channel must pay extra for dock services, brushing off complaints from client BP Plc . "We believe if you want a service, you pay for it," Enterprise Chief Operating Officer Jim Teague told analysts when asked about concerns, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, that the company's strong position in Gulf Coast storage gives it too much pricing power. Britain's BP has reportedly told the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that Enterprise, a major midstream company, has started charging $1 a barrel in dock fees for crude it handles at the Houston site, on top of storage fees. Since Houston is the top U.S. petrochemicals port, the dock fees could add up to big revenue.

Maritime services provider Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) is advising of a new schedule of dock services and charges at the Kinder Morgan Galena Park and Pasadena terminals, Houston, Texas, from September 1, 2013. The new schedule includes a Maritime Safety and Security Fee of $2,500 per ship, per call, for all ships berthing at the terminals from this date. Primarily used by tanker operators and ship owners, Kinder Morgan has given notice to all agents and ship owner representatives using the Galena Park and Pasadena terminals that it has assumed all of the costs associated with the Maritime Security System (MARSEC) regulations to ensure secure facilities for a number of years…

Saga's newly acquired cruise ship, currently called the Astoria and to be transformed into Saga Pearl II, the latest addition to their fleet, is to undergo her refit and total refurbishment in Swansea Dry Docks, Wales. The Harris Pye Group, based in Barry in Wales, has won two major contracts connected to the work on the vessel being undertaken over the course of the next five months. The first contract won by Harris Pye Group for a cruise vessel in South Wales is for the provision of the dry dock, and dry dock services which include the complete overhaul of the main engines, auxiliary engines, boilers, HVAC systems, electrical and automation as well as a large quantity of steel and pipeworks…