Transportation Route News

Five people were killed after a barge collided with a bridge over a waterway in China's Pearl River Delta near Guangzhou city, causing part of the bridge to break off, plunging vehicles into the water, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.The barge was travelling from Foshan city to a southern district of Guangzhou when it crashed into the bridge at 5:30 a.m. (2130 GMT) on the Hongqili Waterway, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement.Images on state…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded nearly $12 million in grants to eight marine highway projects across the nation under the United States Marine Highway Program (USMHP). The funding will improve the movement of goods along our navigable waterways and expand existing waterborne freight services in Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin, which will strengthen supply chains and ultimately cut costs for consumers.“Our country has always relied on American waterways to get vital goods where they need to go,” said U.S.

U.S. grain and coke exports boosted overall shipping volumes through the St. Lawrence Seaway in June.Total cargo tonnage shipments (from March 22 to June 30) via the St. Lawrence Seaway totaled 11.9 million metric tons, down 8.3% compared to 2021 but gaining ground in comparison to April, when it was down 18% at the start of the season. Other system-wide highlights include an increase in project cargo such as wind energy components and a 55% increase in coke shipments, including exports to Europe for cement production. U.S.

Michigan-based Ryba Marine Construction Company has secured a $991,500 contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Buffalo District to perform dredging of the federal navigation channel in Buffalo Harbor, ensuring accessible depths for large vessels, the continued flow of commodities across the Great Lakes and the economic viability of United States waterways.“In addition to the increase in recreational use along Western New York waterways, the Buffalo and Niagara…

Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd (MOL) said on Monday it has signed a 30-year charter contract with the operator of the Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) 2 project, led by Novatek, for three ice-breaking carriers for the Russian project.The three vessels will be built by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd, costing about 90 billion yen ($859 million) in total, and are scheduled for delivery in 2023, MOL said.The carriers will mainly transport LNG from a…

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line) and Tokyo Century Corporation held the naming ceremony for the newly-built liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier for JERA Co at Sakaide Shipyard of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI).The new vessel was given her name “Enshu Maru” by Chairman of the Board of Directors Akihisa Mizuno of Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. “Enshu Maru” comes from the name of an old district in western Shizuoka Prefecture named “Tohtoumi” which is part of the service area of Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.Under the operation of LNG Marine Transport Ltd., “Enshu Maru” will mainly serve the transportation route between Freeport LNG project in United States and Japan after delivery…

Russian natural gas producer Novatek delivered on Thursday the first ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to China via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) alongside the Arctic coast, which drastically cuts delivery time to Asian consumers.The shipments of LNG from Yamal LNG project via the NSR to China cuts transportation time and costs in comparison to other routes such as Suez Canal.Novatek said a ceremony was held to commemorate the arrival of LNG tankers Vladimir Rusanov and Eduard Toll with cargo capacity over 170…

Nowhere is that more important than on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As 2016 begins, we at the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association (AIWA) are looking forward to participating in the ongoing dialogue regarding the need for strategic investments in the Nation’s Marine Transportation System. Our organization advocates for the ongoing maintenance of one of the nation’s longest water infrastructure projects, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW). Although the waterway has received funding for the past few years, we know that more is needed for this vital transportation route.

Classification society ClassNK has opened a new exclusive survey office in Brunei with operations beginning today.   Brunei is located in Borneo which faces the South China Sea. Together with its neighboring Malaysia, Brunei is a key port on the maritime transportation route due to its location. In addition, it is advanced in oil and natural gas production.   ClassNK has already established survey offices throughout the region including in Sibu, Miri, Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia), and Balikpapan (Indonesia) but through the opening of the Brunei office, the classification society said it aims to provide the Southeast Asian region with even more convenient vessel survey services.   ClassNK said it intends to continue to expand its survey offices.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is set to be a chief beneficiary of a bid by Senate Republicans to weaken new regulations to improve train safety in the $2.8 billion crude-by-rail industry, a key cog in the development of the vast North American shale oil fields. A series of oil train accidents, including the July 2013 explosion of a train carrying crude in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people, led U.S. and Canadian regulators to announce sweeping safety rules in May. Among other things, U.S. oil trains are required to install new electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes. But in late June, the Republican-controlled Senate Commerce Committee approved a measure to drop that requirement, and order years of new research to confirm the safety benefits of ECP brakes.

After six years of digging, General Electric Co. expects to finish this year removing some 2.7 million cubic yards of contaminated river sediment in upper Hudson River in Waterford under its landmark Superfund agreement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. AP reports that long after the last barge dredging toxins from the bottom of the upper Hudson River moves on, scientists will track the slow fade in contamination levels. General Electric expects to remove enough sediment to fill two Empire State Buildings, but environmental advocates say without more work, 40 percent of the PCBs will be left in the river. After six years of digging, crews will have removed most of the PCBs on the river bottom discharged decades ago from two GE plants upriver.

The U.S. and Canadian Seaway Corporations marked the opening of the Seaway's 57th navigation season today, with the transit of the newly-built CWB Marquis through the St. Lambert Lock. The vessel is the first of two Equinox-class lakers ordered by Winnipeg-based grain marketer CWB that are being purpose-built for trade in the Great Lakes Seaway System. In 2014, over 12 million tons of grain moved through the Seaway, the highest volume recorded since the beginning of the 21st century. Ian White, President and CEO of CWB, served as the keynote speaker at the opening.

Maritech International  has completed a USD $14.5 million a subsea power cable installation in for New Foundland Power Inc., Maritech announced. Maritech, a provider of subsea installations and marine works to the international oil and gas, telecommunications and power transmission industries, installed 12km of subsea power cables from from Bell Island to Broad Cove. “The new cable system, which has an expected service life in excess of 40 years, is set to completely eradicate the repeated power outages,” said Byron Skaftouros, Projects & Development Director for Maritech. “With annual repairs to the previous power link to Bell Island hovering near USD$1 million, thousands spent in repairs will be saved.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is visiting Africa, has accelerated its drive to draw the continent into the Maritime Silk Road — Beijing’s ambitious transcontinental initiative, reports The Hindu. The core of the "One Belt and One Road" initiative, the creation of a Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, is infrastructure construction. China should also include Africa in the initiative and encourage the transfer of its labor-intensive industries to Africa. China thinks that a modern standard-gauge rail link between Nairobi and Mombasa will linkup the capital of Kenya and the country’s well-established port has much larger implications.

A reactor and a cold high-pressure separator is delivered to the site of Rosneft subsidiary Syzran Refinery for the constructed diesel hydro-treater. The unit is designed for the removal of sulphur and nitrogen compounds, as well as of other solids to improve diesel-fuel and to bring its environmental specifications to Euro-5 level. The weight of the reactor is 400 tons, the length is 36 m, and the diameter is 4.5 m. The weight of the cold high-pressure separator is 345.5 tons, the length is 26.5 m, and the diameter is about 4.5 m. The equipment has been delivered by water with the use of marine and river transport. It has made 4 thousand km from Port of Ortona to the Volga river within 45 days.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has disclosed a list of federal and state subpoenas it has received linked to investigations into a scandal over deliberate lane closures at a major transportation route. The list, the most extensive disclosure of the matter so far by the usually reticent authority, was part of a bond offering document for a $834 million bond sale later this month. It includes flagship projects such as the $1.5 billion Goethals Bridge replacement and the World Trade Center. "The Port Authority has received and is responding to several grand jury subpoenas for the production of records," the authority said in the Aug. 6 document. The list of subpoenas covers a page of the document.

Global Diving & Salvage, Inc., under contract to Atkinson Construction, provided diving and salvage services throughout the investigation and debris recovery phase after the bridge collapse. On Thursday, May 23, 2013 while traveling in the southbound lane of Interstate 5, a truck hauling a heavy and oversized load struck the support structure of a bridge crossing the Skagit River in Mt. Vernon, WA. The damage inflicted by the truck caused the 160’ long four lane span to collapse into the river below, completely severing the interstate. While the truck cleared the bridge before it collapsed, two passenger vehicles caught up in the failure of the bridge were destroyed with the passengers emerging shocked and scared, but alive.

MarineNews spoke with Jim Stark, Executive Director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) about his background in the industry, current projects on the canal, issues facing GICA’s nearly 250 members and his goals for the organization. Can you describe your background and how you came to be Executive Director for GICA? I spent 28 years in the Coast Guard. I’m a commissioned officer and have served all over the country including a considerable amount of time on the Gulf Coast.

James Stark was named Executive Director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA), effective July 6, 2010. GICA’s mission is to ensure the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is maintained, operated and improved to provide the safest, most efficient, economical and environmentally-sound water transportation route in our nation. Stark most recently has been consulting on the response and recovery operations associated with the Deepwater Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He also served as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Assistant Administrator for Gulf Coast Recovery.

By Debra Colbert, Waterways Work! In our fast-paced, contemporary world, it is sometimes hard to recall the historical origins of modern-day advances we take for granted. A good example is this country's inland waterways navigation system which allows for the transport of key commodities such as coal, grain, chemicals, and petroleum. And while our national waterways system today is a critical, integral component of the manufacturing, distribution and industrial economy of the United States and its ability to compete in world markets, its origin stems from a small river expedition of two young explorers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.