Ewing News

Humans have sailed the world’s oceans for thousands of years, but they haven’t all reached port. Researchers estimate that there are some three million shipwrecks worldwide, resting in shallow rivers and bays, coastal waters and the deep ocean. Many sank during catastrophes – some during storms or after running aground, others in battle or collisions with other vessels.Shipwrecks like the RMS Titanic, RMS Lusitania and USS Monitor conjure tales of human courage and sacrifice, sunken treasure and unsolved mysteries.

Regulatory reform is one of President Trump’s priority agenda items. Upon taking office, the President issued a number of Executive Orders focusing attention and demanding action on the myriad of regulations impacting American businesses.Last May, the reform spotlight fell on maritime regulations when the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), published a Request for Information (RFI) on how the government should “prudently manage regulatory costs imposed on the maritime sector.” OMB…

Initial reports show that the towing industry is adjusting well to the new normal on inland rivers. In fact, it is business as usual for most.July 20, 2018 was a critical date for tow boat operators. That was the deadline for all U.S.-flag towing vessels – over 26 feet, or less if used to assist with transport of oil or hazardous materials – to be in compliance with Subchapter M, the U.S. Coast Guard’s towing vessel safety regulations. It’s been a long time coming. As a regulatory program…

After more than 30 years of frustratingly slow progress, cost overruns and more than a few mistakes, Olmsted is finally poised for success. That’s something to celebrate.It is official: The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) wants Olmsted operational by October. After more than 30 years, the ribbon cutting to officially open the Olmsted Locks and Dam took place on August 30. The very old (1929) upstream locks and dams – Nos. 52 and 53, which Olmsted is replacing – will be dismantled by December 2020. Before that happens, Olmsted’s performance will be tested and confirmed.

The greening of America’s energy signature will not come without the usual discussions, regulatory oversight – and opposition from a raft of special interests.Amidst an atmosphere of possible resurgence in the domestic offshore oil energy, maritime stakeholders are also reminded that there is more than one kind of energy available for development off the four collective coasts of the United States. That process is underway in the Great Lakes; it has already happened off of New England.

The Army Corps of Engineers, in coordination with The Waterways Council, Inc. provided a press tour today at the almost completed Olmsted lock and dam project. Inland stakeholders will cheer this critical infrastructure upgrade. MarineNews contributor Tom Ewing was there and had this to say:As waterways operators know, Olmsted is the Corps' megaproject finally coming to an end. "Mega," of course, for engineering and contracts, mega for budgets - over 3 billion dollars and for project history - starting in 1988 but, unfortunately proceeding fitfully over the decades and countless  federal budget sessions. As a construction site, Olmsted is winding down prepping for the official ribbon-cutting next month.

Industry frets about the coming deadline. Shipping desperately wants to be ready, but will global shore-based infrastructure and refining capacity match the demand that is sure to come? And … are regulators listening to industry’s concerns? In early June, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a public workshop in Washington to help the agencies prepare for the January 1, 2020 deadline for worldwide implementation of very low sulfur marine fuel that meets the new 0.50% sulfur cap as set forth by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The U.S. Coast Guard identified locations and dates for the Hudson River Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) Workshops. Dates in November have been identified for two groups of waterway users and stakeholders to participate in two-day structured workshops to ensure the PAWSA process is a joint effort involving waterway users, stakeholders, and agencies to identify ways to improve the safety of the Hudson River. The Coast Guard has completed 52 PAWSA studies nationwide since the program’s inception in 1999. On November 7-8, a workshop will be held in the Mid-Hudson region. On November 15-16, a workshop will be held in Albany, New York. The Coast Guard is selecting participants based on their waterway expertise and to create a broad cross-section of Hudson River stakeholders.

Where commercial marine and safety considerations allide with recreational and other peripheral agendas, the discussion can sometimes be contentious. One such example of this reality is now playing out on the Hudson River in New York. On June 9, 2016, the U.S. Coast Guard published a three-page Federal Register notice, seeking public comments on a proposal suggesting new anchorage grounds in the Hudson River, from Yonkers to Kingston, N.Y. Officially, this was an advance notice of proposed rulemaking…

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) and Schlumberger today announced a new multi- and wide-azimuth (M-WAZ) multiclient reimaging program in the highly prospective Central U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Final results are expected in early 2018, ahead of a period when substantial block turnover in the area is anticipated. The new Fusion M-WAZ reimaging program comprises data covering more than 1,000 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) blocks (~23,000 km2) from 3D WAZ programs previously acquired by TGS and Schlumberger with the WesternGeco Q-Marine* point-receiver marine seismic system between 2008 and 2012. This large reimaging program will process data from the Mississippi Canyon…

Brazilian shipbuilder Engevix Construcoes Oceanicas (Ecovix) is expected to file for bankruptcy protection from creditors in a local court this month, the newspaper Valor Economico said on Wednesday. The company, based in Rio de Janeiro, has more than 6 billion reais ($1.7 billion) in outstanding debts, according to Valor. Ecovix did not immediately respond to requests for comment made via phone and email. According to Valor, Ecovix's creditors include state-run oil company Petrobras, suppliers, China's Cosco, Norway's NOV and also local banks Bradesco, Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal. The company's expected request for protection from creditors is intended to give it room to negotiate a debt restructuring and the sale of company assets to new investors, the paper said.

Brazil's new sugar terminal at the port of Suape in the state of Pernambuco will load its first ship on Friday, opening a new export corridor for mills in the Northeast at a time of strong demand for the sweetener.   The Suape Sugar Terminal (TAS) was built by the Agrovia do Nordeste consortium, which is controlled by the logistic arm of Brazilian engineering conglomerate Odebrecht and by transportation firm Agrovia.     (Reporting by Gustavo Bonato; Writing by Reese Ewing and Marcelo Teixeira)

TGS and Schlumberger today announce commencement of the Dual Coil Shooting* multi-vessel full-azimuth acquisition Revolution XII and XIII surveys in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The surveys will cover approximately 7,150 km2 (306 blocks) in the Green Canyon, Atwater Valley and Ewing Bank protraction areas of the Central Gulf of Mexico. The Revolution XIl and XIII surveys will be acquired using the Schlumberger WesternGeco Q-Marine* point-receiver marine seismic system combined with the proprietary multivessel, Dual Coil Shooting acquisition technique, which will provide broadband, long-offset, full-azimuth data. This combination of leading-edge technology and technique will improve illumination and imaging of the sub-salt and other complex geologic features in this highly active region.

A fire at the Rumo sugar and grain terminal in Brazil's Santos port that started early Thursday restricted operations but caused no injuries, according to a spokesman for the company controlled by sugar and ethanol producer Cosan SA. The blaze broke out around 4 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and the company expects to resume normal operations by midday Thursday, the spokesman said. The fire started at a conveyor belt which connects two of Rumo's warehouse complexes and was controlled within an hour, after loading and unloading were temporarily suspended. News of the incident in the world's biggest sugar producing nation triggered a more than 4 percent rally in sugar prices . Futures have pared back some early gains but are still trading up 2.5 percent at 11:00 a.m. local time.

Brazil's Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Thursday before the Senate's Agriculture Committee that he would oppose a government proposal to tax farm exports as a way to cover a growing deficit in the country's social security program.   The president's Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha told the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper published on Thursday the tax was part of a proposal to reform Brazil's social security program. (Reporting by Leonardo Goy; Writing by Reese Ewing)

Chevron plans to sign a 5-year agreement to lease berthing space for its vessels from U.S. oil service company Edison Chouest Offshore, Chouest's head of Brazilian operations said on Tuesday.   Chouest's 950-million-real ($275 million) base is located at Prumo Logistica's Port of Acu, on the northeast coast of Rio de Janeiro state. It is scheduled to be completed by mid-2017, Chouest's Brazilian head Ricardo Chagas told reporters. ($1 = 3.4485 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Jeb Blount; Writing by Reese Ewing; Editing by Daniel Flynn)

A new battery storage solution for offshore wind energy will be piloted in the world’s first floating wind farm, the Hywind pilot park off the coast of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Batwind will be developed in co-operation with Scottish universities and suppliers, under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Edinburgh on 18 March between Statoil, the Scottish Government, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and Scottish Enterprise. Battery storage has the potential to mitigate intermittency and optimise output. This can improve efficiency and lower costs for offshore wind. The pilot in Scotland will provide a technological and commercial foundation for the implementation of Batwind in full-scale offshore wind farms…

Stevedores in Santos, Brazil's largest port, have scheduled a 24-hour strike for Monday, demanding wage hike adjustments for inflation as the country's main commodity markets gear up for the export season. Stevedores are due to suspend work at 07:00 a.m. Brasilia time for a full day but could extend the strike indefinitely, union President Rodnei Oliveira da Silva said. "All terminals will be affected," he said. It is still unclear what types of cargo will be affected. Typically dry bulk loading of soybeans, raw sugar and corn continues uninterrupted during stevedore strikes, as manual labor needs are limited for those operations. But loading of containers and other more labor-intensive goods could suffer.

Up to a dozen containers carrying chemicals caught fire at a terminal at Brazil's largest port of Santos on Thursday, restricting ship movement, representatives of the port authority Codesp said. The fire at the container terminal operated by logistics company Localfrio in Guaruja, on the eastern side of Santos, started around 3 p.m. Brasilia time (1700 GMT) and continued into the evening, sending plumes of smoke across the shipping channel at the commodity exporting port. The port authority said in a statement it had stopped ships from docking at a terminal operated by Santos Brasil next to Localfrio's Alfandegado terminal because of smoke, but otherwise the port was operating normally. Santos Brasil also said its operations were stopped indefinitely.

Brazilian police said on Monday they were looking into possible bribes paid in contracts signed by state-run oil company Petrobras and shipbuilder Sete Brasil with Singapore's Keppel Fels. Federal police carried out a fresh wave of searches and arrests on Monday in the ongoing "Operations Car Wash" corruption investigation that started nearly two years ago. Brazilian engineering giant Odebrecht, one of the main companies at the center of the scandal, said its offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and in Bahia were searched by police.   Reporting by Reese Ewing

U.S. High-ranking government officials, policy influencers, port authority CEOs and senior staff from throughout the Western Hemisphere, along with a host of maritime industry leaders will converge on Washington, D.C., April 4-6, to participate in the 2016 Spring Conference of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) – the unified and recognized voice of seaports in the Americas. Among the conference highlights will be a keynote luncheon address by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx on April 6…

Murilo Ferreira quit as chairman of Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-controlled oil company said on Monday, without disclosing the reason for his decision. Ferreira had been on a leave of absence since Sept. 14, and Nelson Carvalho replaced him on an interim basis. In a securities filing, the company known as Petrobras said Carvalho would stay in that position until the board convened to elect a new chairman. Ferreira, who has been chief executive officer of Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA since 2011, became Petrobras chairman of Petrobras in April, as the company was sinking deeper into its the worst crisis in history. Prosecutors…

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA said late on Tuesday in a filing it had completed the sale of four very large ore carriers (VLOC), also known as Valemax class ships, to a consortium lead by ICBC Financial Leasing. ICBC is a subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited. The deal was valued at $423 million and the resources were transferred to Vale on Tuesday. Each VLOC has the capacity to carry 400,000 tonnes of ore. Reporting by Reese Ewing