Us Midwest News

Crowley announced it will launch an end-to-end, integrated ocean and rail service between Mexico and the U.S. Midwest region and into Canada. Featuring Crowley’s new Mexico-U.S. ocean route in the Gulf, the service will leverage the inland rail network of Canadian National Railway Company and its U.S. rail subsidiaries (CN). The companies’ combined network provides broad reach across the Midwest and into Canada to increase solutions for global customers in North American market…

More than a half a billion dollars in recent, current or expected improvements at three Midwestern ports will strengthen these facilities and reinforce their important roles in the global freight network. The significant investments at Port KC, America’s Central Port, and Kaskaskia Regional Port District, along with new infrastructure funding recently secured, will spur an increase in barge services and deliver cost efficiencies that drive profitability for the industry. Port KC is located on the Missouri River.

Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District (PPHTD) said it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with several potential partners to development a multi-modal container terminal on the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, La.The signing of the LOI kicks off a six-month due diligence period during which the parties will conduct multiple studies prior to making a final investment decision (FID).The proposed container terminal would encompass up to 1,000 acres and 8,200 feet of Mississippi River frontage just 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

The Port of Oakland’s refrigerated exports have jumped 20% in past year. The Port said it handled 119,756 20-foot containers of refrigerated exports from August 2018 through July 2019. That was up from 99,740 in the same period a year ago."The figures reinforce Oakland’s position as the largest exporter of refrigerated cargo in containers among U.S. ports," said a press release from the container ship facility located in Oakland, California, in the San Francisco Bay.“Our business partners are investing to meet increased overseas demand for U.S. farm goods,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll. “When you couple their expertise with our infrastructure…

U.S. soybean exporters are facing what may be their busiest and most logistically challenging summer due to an unprecedented backlog of soybeans purchased by China that still needs to be shipped and widespread floods in the U.S. Midwest.While there is little hope for a prompt U.S.-China trade deal, some 7 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans bought before talks broke down last month will need to be delivered to Beijing in coming months, U.S. exporters and industry analysts said.China would face steep penalties if it tried to cancel the orders and…

Canada's Port of Prince Rupert, and DP World Prince Rupert announced a new weekly marine carrier service at the Fairview Container Terminal.ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) partnered with the 2M Alliance and has added Prince Rupert as one of their port destinations.With a global reach to over 100 countries, the new ZIM service has made its inaugural call at the Port of Prince Rupert on Wednesday, March 27, 2019 with the arrival of ZIM containers on the Maersk Altair vessel.“The Prince Rupert Port Authority is proud to welcome ZIM. The addition of ZIM to the Port of Prince Rupert further validates the Prince Rupert advantages of speed, reliability and reach.

Grain barge shipping came to a near standstill in parts of the U.S. Midwest on Thursday as recent heavy rain and melting snow swelled rivers, halted barge loading and sidelined the towboats that haul farm belt crops to Gulf Coast export terminals. The flooded waterways sent cash premiums for corn barges delivered to Gulf Coast terminals soaring. Rates hit peaks on Thursday that have not been seen in 18 months, as exporters scrambled to secure enough grain to top off vessels bound for overseas markets, traders said. Barge lines suspended operations on northern sections of the Illinois River, with water levels already near record crests, or forecast to reach those levels by the weekend, according to National Weather Service river forecasts.

U.S. refineries from Ohio to Minnesota are capitalizing on access to cheap crude from Western Canada and North Dakota oilfields, helping their region break a historic dependence on fuel from the Gulf Coast while redrawing oil trade maps. Since the early 2000s, crude and fuel flows from the Gulf Coast into the U.S. heartland have been cut in half, as crude coming from Canada and North Dakota has pushed U.S. Midwest refining activity to record levels. In 2016, Midwest refining capacity rose to 3.9 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, the highest annual volume on record. Midwest refiners such as Marathon Petroleum Corp, Phillips 66, BP PLC and Husky Energy have invested billions of dollars on new units capable of turning sludgy crude from Canada into gasoline and diesel.

U.S. energy firms are scrambling to finish a slew of pipelines that will unleash rich reserves of shale gas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio as the nation prepares to become one of the world’s top natural gas exporters. The pipelines are expected to boost output from shale fields in the three states by giving producers access to new domestic and international markets. Those states could supply about a third of all U.S. natural gas once the pipeline expansion is complete, up from about 25 percent now, according to projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

H.O. Bostrom provides seating solutions for marine, transportation, and other niche markets. The firm’s facility boasts 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space located on a 4.5 acre campus. The firm has about 85 employees. The SeaPost family of pilot chairs and mechanical suspension seating for commercial marine vessels serves a valuable niche in the mid-range price segment of the global commercial vessel market. New product development in the SeaPost line has benefited the company’s portfolio of seating systems and accessories for the commercial marine vessel market.

The Coast Guard has issued a number of river closures and restrictions in response to floods in the Midwest. To keep the public and professional mariners apprised of changes to river traffic, the 8th District will continue to issue press releases capturing all closures and restrictions throughout this period of high water and flooding. Upper Mississippi River closed between mile markers 184 and 179 near St. Louis, Missouri. Illinois River closed between mile markers 0 to 50 from Hardin, Illinois to Grafton, Illinois. Restrictions on Mississippi River from mile marker 110, near Chester Illinois, to mile marker 34, near Billings Landing, Missouri.

“Agricultural commodities along with dry bulk, general cargo and containerized goods continued to enhance cargo tonnage on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System during the month of November,” said Betty Sutton, Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. The general cargo dock operated by Midwest Terminals had a good month of November at the Port of Toledo. “The ability to handle a diverse array of cargo at this large facility with new material handling equipment is really helping move the economy of Northwest Ohio forward…

Upon competitive review and analysis of the Port of Seattle/Port of Tacoma Alliance Agreement, the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has voted unanimously to allow the Northwest Seaport Alliance to become effective as scheduled on July 23, 2015. FMC said its decision is based on a determination that the agreement is not likely at this time, by a reduction in competition, to produce an unreasonable increase in transportation cost or an unreasonable reduction in transportation service under section 6(g) of the Shipping Act.

Maher Terminals Holding Corp., the operator of the Port of Prince Rupert’s Fairview Container Terminal, today announced its decision to proceed with expansion of the 7-year-old facility, increasing its container capacity by 500,000 TEUs to accommodate growing container volumes and further enhancing the Canadian gateway’s growing role in North American trans-Pacific trade. “Intermodal customers have been capitalizing on the advantages of Prince Rupert as part of their transpacific trade solution since Fairview’s first phase opened in 2007,” said Don Krusel, President and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority. Since its conversion from a breakbulk handling operation, Fairview Container Terminal has been operated by Maher Terminals.

The Port of Cleveland and Amsterdam-based Spliethoff Group announced today their mutual intent to add a second monthly vessel to the Cleveland-Europe Express (CEE), the only scheduled ocean service for containerized and breakbulk freight operating between Europe and a Great Lakes port. "We are extremely pleased to announce our intent to add a second sailing to the CEE starting next season or perhaps sooner to better accommodate the needs of the containerized segment of the market, which requires more frequent sailings," said Will Friedman, CEO of the Port of Cleveland.

Deep discounts for Brazilian soybeans are creating an unexpected new market with U.S. processors and animal producers far upstream in the heart of the Midwest farm belt where the beans will be shipped on barges. While light soybean imports by U.S. users along the Gulf and East Coast are not uncommon, it has been nearly two decades since South American supplies were unloaded at the Louisiana Gulf and towed up the Mississippi River to inland processors. The current trend reverses the usual flow of barge traffic and sees ports around New Orleans which usually load ocean-going ships with beans switching to unloading arrivals onto barges.

The Columbia/Snake River System defines shortsea shipping, and promises much, much more. Lewiston, Idaho, is perhaps best known to tourists as the turnaround for a Columbia River cruise or the jumping-off point for a trip to Hell’s Canyon, North America’s deepest gorge. For anyone transporting cargo, however, it’s known as the port farthest inland of any on the West Coast – a whopping 465 miles inland from the mouth of the Columbia River. Located close to the border between Washington and Oregon…

To better serve customers making smaller shipments to Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Central America from the U.S. Midwest, Crowley Maritime Corporation’s logistics group is launching a new weekly less-than-container load (LCL) service from Chicago today. The new service utilizes Crowley vessels and a single point of contact within the company to ensure accountability and that the movement of customers’ cargoes is managed and monitored effectively and reliably. “The addition…

Barge traffic on the upper and mid-Mississippi River was slowing this week as a cold snap in the U.S. Midwest created ice on the Mississippi at Guttenberg, Iowa, and northward, shipping officials said on Wednesday. "It's very likely the last tow to move through Lock and Dam Number 10 near Guttenberg will be Thursday because of a build-up of ice," said a U.S. Army Corps official. A tow consisting of six barges was moving south from Clayton, Iowa, and expected by Thursday morning to pass through Lock and Dam Number 10, which is located north of the Wisconsin border. "Temperatures are supposed to reach 20 to 25 degrees F today and fall to 10 by tonight, which is only going to cause additional freezing," the Army Corps official added.

The was joined by two of its rail partners in dedicating the Napoleon Intermodal Rail Yard, a new facility permitting efficient ship to rail transfer of cargo containers at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal. The rail yard provides a new link for NAFTA commerce. Its dedication was announced as U.S. President George Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon meet in for the annual North American Leadership Summit. CN, with a rail network spanning the U.S. Midwest and , is the first Class 1 railroad to serve the new rail yard via its switching agent, the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad. CN is currently hauling about 350 to 400 containers per week using the facility…

The Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM), located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, today launched a marketing campaign to promote the strategic advantages of developing a container shipping port terminal in Sydney harbor. The announcement comes after CBRM recently agreed to purchase approximately 500 acres of greenfield waterfront land for the purpose of building a container terminal that will create jobs and lasting economic benefit for the community of Cape Breton. The regional municipality, second largest in Nova Scotia, will explore the potential of entering a long-term concession agreement with an interested terminal operator.

Low-water levels resulting from severe drought conditions in the US Midwest have potential for significant national economic consequences. The low-water levels resulting from severe drought conditions in the Midwest are a stark contrast to the historic flooding of 2011 but share the same potential for significant economic consequences, said Tom Allegretti, President & CEO of American Waterways Operators, a 350-member trade association representing the nation’s tugboat, towboat and barge industry. The implications of the drought conditions and low-water levels are a one-two punch for the economy, impacting both the agricultural community and one of the major modes of transporting agricultural and other essential products,” Allegretti said.

In early November, 1913, a blizzard struck the U.S. Midwest and the Canadian province of Ontario. The Great Lakes storm of 1913 reached its highest intensity on November 9. A total of 19 ships were sunk and another 19 were stranded on Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie. Cargo losses were in excess of 68,300 tons and were valued at over a million dollars. More than 280 mariners lost their lives in the most destructive natural disaster to ever strike the Great Lakes. (Source: Bryant’s Maritime News)