US Ports Get More Than $280 Mln in MARAD Grants
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced that it has awarded more than $280 million in discretionary grant funding through the new Port Infrastructure Development Program. This funding is designed to improve port facilities at or near coastal seaports.The Port Infrastructure Development Program supports efforts by ports and industry stakeholders to improve facility and freight infrastructure to ensure our nation’s freight transportation needs, present and future, are met.
Edison Chouest Opening Mississippi Shipyard
Edison Chouest Offshore locating shipbuilding operations, TopShip, LLC, in Gulfport, Miss. Gov. Phil Bryant and officials from Edison Chouest Offshore, an offshore energy service and supply company, officially announced today the company is locating shipbuilding operations at the Port of Gulfport in Gulfport, Miss. The project represents a $68 million corporate investment and will create 1,000 full-time jobs. Edison Chouest Offshore’s new Gulfport operations, TopShip, LLC, will be located at the Port of Gulfport’s new inland port on Seaway Road.
Ingalls Donates to MGCCC’s Transitions Academy
Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division has donated $53,640 to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) for the purchase of welding machines to be used at the school's new Transitions Academy. The academy will be housed at MGCCC's West Harrison County Center in Long Beach, Miss. "Ingalls Shipbuilding and MGCCC have a longstanding partnership in workforce development and training," said Brian Cuccias, Ingalls Shipbuilding president. The academy…
Northrop Grumman Grants to Gulf Coast Schools
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has awarded five gulf coast school districts grants of $5k each to use for specific science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) projects. Each district will select a middle school within their district to implement and improve necessary STEM resources. "We are investing in a workforce and a community that has supported us for generations," Irwin F. Edenzon, sector vice president and general manager for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Gulf Coast, told the educators.
USACE Seeks Comment on Gulfport Harbor Navigation Project
The US Army Corps of Engineers is seeking public comment on its Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) relating to the Federal Gulfport Harbor Navigation Project in Harrison County, Mississippi. Comments should be submitted by April 2. Source: HK Law
FEMA's Marine Debris Removal Projects Detailed
As the work to clean up beaches, waterways and the Mississippi Sound continues, four of 16 projects are finished and two others are nearing completion. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which heads the multi-agency effort with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and other partners, is moving forward with ten other projects. Of the $230m allocated for Mississippi’s marine debris removal, $222m is part of an intra-agency agreement that began October 1, 2006. So far approximately $8.5m has been spent on the four completed projects. Three of the four completed projects were initial test sites for the marine debris removal initiative: Enger Street in Jackson County…
Potential Bidders Eye Waterway Contracts
State and federal officials held a meeting at the Harrison County Courthouse on March 7 for potential contractors who will bid to clean up inland channels and waterways in the three coastal counties. An overflow crowd of 150 demolition and salvage professionals packed a courtroom to learn from the U.S. Coast Guard and Mississippi's Department of Marine Resources the work they will have to do to get the contracts. The federal government has issued a solicitation at www.fedbizopps.gov for the first group of several contracts to clean marine debris in Jackson, Harrison and Hancock counties. The Coast Guard said that at least 15 percent of work for each contract would have to be done by locals as a stipulation of using a possible $33 million in FEMA disaster funds for the cleanup.
HCDC, Edison Chouest Agree on Deal
The Harrison County Development Commission approved a land deal with Edison Chouest Offshore, in which HCDC is to sell 23 acres in Bernard Bayou Industrial Park to the company for $994,500 and to lease 7.8 acres along the industrial seaway for $10,850 per month. The company has declined to discuss its plans. The transaction now has to go to the Board of Supervisors. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald)
Coast Guard Searches for Man Overboard
A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station New Orleans and a boat crew from Station Gulfport are searching for a Northport, Ala., man that fell overboard from the Carnival cruise ship Conquest between 12 and 1 a.m. this morning. The accident occurred in a stretch of the Gulfport ship canal between Cat Island and Ship Island. The crews of motor vessel Pattiesmack, a Gulfport pilot boat and boats from the Harrison County Sheriff's Office, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, and the National Park Service are assisting with the search. The Conquest safely moored in Gulfport at about 1:30 a.m. this morning. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office Mobile is working with the Harrison County Sheriff's Office to investigate this incident.
