Southwest Louisiana News

The path to decarbonization is defined by partnership and fueled by government funding. This month we examine the players, partnerships, and evolution of Hydrogen Hubs in the Gulf of Mexico.The Green Shipping Challenge, organized by the United States and Norway at COP 27 held in late 2022, brought about dozens of announcements on maritime decarbonization. Among these was a joint statement from the Blue Sky Maritime Coalition (BSMC) – a consortium of North American shipowners and…

Tthe Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) announced this week that it received an apparent low bid from Houma, La. based Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors for the construction of two new ferry boats for the Cameron crossing in Cameron Parish. The bid was $49,706,865.Designed by Elliott Bay Design Group, the new boats will be 190’ x 50’ x 13’ and will replace the M/V Cameron II, which was built in 1964. The boats will be end-loading vessels in order to load and unload large commercial vehicles.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) earlier this month awarded a $50 million federal grant to H2theFuture, a 25-organization partnership aiming to develop a new energy cluster in South Louisiana, spanning the clean hydrogen life cycle, from R&D at Louisiana universities, to an end-use project at the Port of South Louisiana.The award is one of 21 projects from around the country chosen from 529 applicants that were funded by a $1 billion appropriation from the American Rescue Plan Act…

Hurricane Ida pummeled U.S. Gulf Coast energy suppliers, knocking out most of the region's offshore wells and nearly half its motor fuel production and drove prices broadly higher.The storm crashed on Sunday into the Louisiana coast, tearing through U.S. offshore oil and gas fields with 150 mile per hour (241 kph) winds and pushing up to 12 feet (3.7 meters) of water ashore. More than 620,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana were without power.Production losses - including at six Gulf Coast refineries - will lift retail gasoline prices by 5 to 10 cents a gallon, said tracking firm GasBuddy.

More than half a dozen liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers were waiting to enter U.S. export plants in the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Delta marches toward the Gulf Coast.Most tankers were located outside of Cheniere Energy Inc’s Sabine Pass and Cameron LNG’s Cameron plants in Louisiana, according to data from Refinitiv. There were also a few outside of Freeport LNG’s Freeport plant in Texas.Delta is expected to slam into central Louisiana as a major hurricane on Friday, putting the storm closer to Cameron than Sabine.

On March 3, the Coast Guard published a notice that Martin Midstream Partners (MMP), a petrochemical transport and storage company, was seeking approval to modify terminal operations in Beaumont, Texas, along the Sabine-Neches Waterway. If approved, MMP would expand its liquefied hazardous gas (LHG) operations, both in volume and products. Instead of just handling ammonia the change would allow shipments of butane, propane, ethane, ethylene and propylene.Critically, MMP’s expansion would increase LHG vessel transit from 24 ships to as many as 350 per year.

New Cranes Allow Port NOLA to Accommodate Larger Ships and Meet Growing Needs. The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) have voted to approve the purchase of two new 100-foot gauge container gantry cranes to be used at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal. “These new cranes are vital to our success and growth here at Port NOLA,” said President and CEO Brandy D. Christian. “They will increase our efficiency so we can accommodate larger and wider ships…

Dredging operations in the West Calcasieu Port’s west barge basin were completed today and that all tenant operations in the basin have returned to full operations, port officials announced today.Coastal Dredging of Hammond, La., was the contractor on the $1.3 million maintenance dredging project that removed more than 140,000 cubic yards of spoils over a 10-week period. The port’s barge basin depth was returned to a minus-10 feet, and the spoils were relocated into the ports…

The West Calcasieu Port Board of Commissioners voted this week to award the contract for the dredging of the Louisiana port's west barge basin to Coastal Dredging Company, Inc. of Hammond, La.. The successful base bid of $1,334,020 was the lowest among six bids received by the port during its competitive public bid process. “The West Cal Port Board of Commissioners was encouraged to have received such a large number of bid packets for the project,” said Dick Kennison, board president for the West Calcasieu Port.

Oil companies evacuate workers as storm takes aim at Texas. Royal Dutch Shell, Anadarko Petroleum and Exxon Mobil announced they were curbing some oil and gas output on Wednesday at facilities in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a storm expected to hit the Texas coast later this week. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a hurricane watch Wednesday for much of the Texas coast, calling for slow-moving Tropical Depression Harvey to intensify as it nears landfall. Shell said it was evacuating all personnel from the roughly 100,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Perdido oil and gas production platform as a precaution. Anadarko said it had shut in production and was evacuating workers from its Boomvang, Gunnison, Lucius and Nansen platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil traders from Texas to Louisiana braced on Tuesday for supply disruptions as Tropical Storm Cindy, formed in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, threatened to hit refining and production centers with wind and rain later this week. Cindy was located about 265 miles (430 km) south of Morgan City, Louisiana with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles (75 km) per hour. It is expected to approach the coast of southwest Louisiana late Wednesday or Wednesday night, and move inland over western Louisiana and eastern Texas on Thursday, the NHC said. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the largest privately owned crude storage terminal in the United States…

The second of three planned Main Cryogenic Heat Exchanger (MCHE) installations at a large liquefaction project in southwest Louisiana marked a milestone for the U.S. Gulf Coast project. Heavy lift and transportation services provider Mammoet used 40 axle-lines of Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs) to transport the equipment to the installation site. The lift of the MCHE, which is 150 feet long, 16 feet in diameter and weighs a total of 576,000 lbs. (262 metric tons),…

When maritime stakeholders think about dredging, they typically first conjure up visions of harbor deepening projects to accommodate those giant, post-Panamax boxships. Conversely, inland players hope for maintenance dredging in the heartland to keep the nation’s 31,000 cargo barges afloat as they head for the coast. But, there is much more to it than that. In Louisiana, dredging, of course, keeps Louisiana's waterways open for navigation, provides material for coastal restoration and helps industrial plants with drainage. The biggest projects are sponsored by the U.S.

The growing worldwide demand for marine technologies, port construction and shipbuilding is generating new export opportunities for U.S. companies. As more firms look to boost their bottom line by maximizing their reach to the more than 95 percent of world consumers who live outside of the United States, many are taking advantage of numerous export resources along the way. At the same time, many other businesses have yet to export. International Trade Specialist Maryanne Burke leads the U.S. Commercial Service’s Marine Technology Team, and is based at the Boston U.S.

Spend dollars up on dredging, cubic yards moved down. Combined with a reduction in the USACE federal budget, the situation threatens a perfect storm for domestic requirements. U.S. dredging this decade, measured in cubic yards, is only half as active as it was in the early 1960s, with maintenance down slightly since then and new work off considerably, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or USACE. The nation’s spending on dredging in unadjusted dollars has swelled tenfold since the 1960’s, however.

Commissioner William P. Doyle of the Federal Maritime Commission, has given the keynote address at the Eno Center for Transportation Forum on the Panama Canal entitled: Lessons Learned and Implications for World Commerce. His comments on the future of the canal's LNG trade are also extracted below. Commissioner Doyle noted that the Obama Administration, members of Congress and state and local officials support the tremendous economic, business, job-supporting, energy and transportation related opportunities the expanded Canal will bring to the United States.

Sen. U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., a Senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced a $10 million grant for the Port of Lake Charles through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER Grant Program. Today’s grant will expand the Port’s Bulk Terminal. In April, Sen. Landrieu wrote a letter in support of funding the Port of Lake Charles. Today’s grant will create 1,500 construction jobs and 200 permanent jobs at the Port. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Landrieu helped to secure $600 million in the FY14 Appropriations Act for the TIGER discretionary grant program despite strong opposition from the House of Representatives, which completely eliminated funding for this program.

LNG America welcomes Captain George “Joe” Paitl to position of VP Marine Operations and HSSE Compliance. Capt. Paitl is a retired US Coast Guard senior officer who most recently held the position of Commanding Officer and Captain of the Port, Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur, where he oversaw safety, security, law enforcement, and environmental regulatory compliance across a 39,000 square mile area spanning Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana; the Port Arthur unit includes the nation's busiest commercial military cargo port…

Workboat requirements will soar as heightened safety requirements for LNG transit demand tighter oversight. The Louisiana Gulf is gearing up to export liquefied natural gas from Sabine Pass and Lake Charles in the state’s southwest and Plaquemines Parish in the southeast. Over the next five years, as LNG import terminals begin exporting and new terminals are built, more tugs and channel pilots will be needed, industry experts said last month. A convoy system will be employed to handle outgoing and incoming tankers. Safety rules for the region’s waterways are also almost certain to be revised.

Torrential rainstorms battered Louisiana on Sunday, leaving thousands without power, after pounding southeastern Texas as the remnants of Hurricane Patricia converged with a second storm. The heaviest band of rain moved over the Gulf of Mexico, triggering coastal flood warnings and flash flood watches in southwest Louisiana and soaking New Orleans, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). About 22,000 people were left without power in the greater New Orleans area. Some streets were flooded, while a high tide surge brought some coastal flooding as well. Rainfall has totaled as much as 7 inches (18 cm) since late Saturday night, and forecasters predicted another 5 inches (13 cm) could fall.

West Calcasieu Port officials announced today that the port has completed the $1.5 million purchase of 11.5 acres of adjacent property to the facility on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Hohensee noted that the port expansion would not have been possible without the financial assistance via a $750,000 capital outlay grant from the Louisiana State Legislature. “Most of the credit for procuring the capital outlay grant goes to Sen. John Smith, Sen. Ronnie Johns, Rep. Mike Danahay and the rest of our Southwest Louisiana delegation,” he added. “We believe these elected officials recognize the importance of the port expansion to our regional economic growth.

Tauber Oil Company of Houston has become the West Calcasieu Port’s newest tenant. “Tauber Oil is a service-oriented wholesale energy marketing company with a reputation for reliable performance and untarnished character,” said Lynn Hohensee, port director. Tauber Oil becomes the sixth tenant of the port and is providing ultra-low-sulfur diesel to inland marine vessels. This service enhances vessel stops at the port that already provides the following marine services – barge fleeting, wet-barge cleaning and stripping, dry-barge cleaning, marine construction and diesel engine repair.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Martin Houston, Chairman of Live Oak LNG, has announced a new natural gas liquefaction and export project, up to a $2 billion investment, to be developed in the Calcasieu waterway. The $2 billion plant will be located on the Calcasieu Ship Channel and will create 100 direct jobs and 385 indirect jobs, the governor said. The permanent jobs will pay an average salary of about $75,000. About 1,000 construction workers will be hired. The mid-sized project is being designed for a plant capacity of up to five million tonnes per annum production and will include two 130,000 m3 storage tanks, and port facilities with a jetty for standard size liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.