AgTC Members Speak Out on SOLAS Amendment
Tomorrow, five prominent members of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) will explain the major detrimental impact that the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Container Weight Documentation Amendment will have on the US agriculture and forest products export industry. The amendment is scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2016. The Agriculture Transportation Coalition's SOLAS Container Weights Working Committee, comprised of U.S. agriculture and forest products exporters and their freight forwarders and trucking companies, has been active on this issue for months, reaching out to the steamship lines, Federal Maritime Commission, U.S. Coast Guard, and Congress to draw attention to the significant problems this amendment poses to the industry.
Charleston Gains Cold Storage Capacity
South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) officials celebrated the newly-expanded New Orleans Cold Storage (NOCS) facility in North Charleston, an important addition to SCPA's ability to serve the growing refrigerated cargo market. Driven by SCPA's 38 percent growth of refrigerated cargo since 2011, Charleston has attracted significant investments in cold storage over the past year, SCPA said. "NOCS's expansion is significant to SCPA, especially given the strategic importance of refrigerated cargo to our business," said Jim Newsome, SCPA president and CEO. Completed in November 2015, the expansion increases the facility's blast freezing capabilities by 50 percent. The addition of 81,000 square feet more than doubles NOCS's local footprint, which now offers 136,000 square feet of cold storage.
International Shipholding Returns to New Orleans
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and International Shipholding Corp. President Erik L. Johnsen announced the company will relocate its corporate headquarters from Mobile, Ala., to New Orleans, where the business was founded in 1947. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange as ISH, the company owns and operates a global fleet of waterborne cargo vessels. ISH recorded annual revenue of more than $310 million in its just concluded 2013 fiscal year. After Hurricane Katrina, recovery challenges led the company to relocate its corporate headquarters to Mobile.
Port New Orleans Pleads for Aid
According to reports, the Port of New Orleans is in dire need of federal and state aid to save some of its most damaged operations and businesses, the port's president and chief executive told the maritime industry in his annual state of the port address. Gary LaGrange said the port is in a battle to retain the nine maritime businesses that operate along the Industrial Canal, a 1,000-acre tract of port property that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Together the businesses generated about 9,000 indirect jobs, LaGrange said. At least one of them probably will have to relocate soon, he said. The port does have several things to celebrate, he said.
