Hathaway News

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers ramped up exports in October, to 7.92 million metric tons, according to data provider LSEG, the second-highest monthly level on record.Exports were just shy of the record 8.01 million metric tons in April this year, and were up from 7.12 million metric tons in September, when plant maintenance reduced U.S. production.The U.S. was the world's largest exporter of LNG in the first half of this year, according to the Energy Information Agency, ahead of Qatar and Australia.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy's Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Maryland will shut for about three weeks of maintenance starting around Sept. 20, according to pipeline data and analysts.Officials at Berkshire Hathaway Energy on Wednesday confirmed the pipeline and compressor station maintenance will start on Sept. 20 but would not confirm the shutdown of the liquefaction plant until about the day before an outage.Traders noted the reduction in gas flows to LNG export plants should weigh on U.S.

Union Pacific Corp container shipments from U.S. West Coast seaports to one of the railroad's major hubs in Chicago will restart early next week after a seven-day suspension, Chief Executive Lance Fritz told Reuters on Thursday.The railroad on Sunday night paused cargo shipments from the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and Tacoma to its Global IV facility in Chicago in a bid to clear "significant congestion.""We're starting to see containers clear, so I anticipate in the seven-day period ...

The Canadian province of Quebec on Wednesday rejected a liquefied natural gas export project for the Port of Saguenay, citing environmental concerns, in the latest blow to North American LNG development.Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette said the proposed Énergie Saguenay project will not come to pass due to concerns over its emissions and would not support a transition to cleaner energy sources."This project has more disadvantages than advantages," Charette told reporters.The C$9 billion ($7.2 billion) project by privately held GNL Quebec had plans to export 11 million tonnes of LNG

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) has launched a full line of marine insurance products in France and appointed Muriel Birre Julvécourt as Head of Marine. The company said that the new marine offerings included Inland Marine, Ocean Cargo, Stock & Transit, Project Cargo, Freight Forwarders Liability, Ports & Terminals, and Subsea Insurance.Muriel Birre Julvécourtcomes to BHSI with more than 25 years of marine underwriting experience. She was most recently Head of Marine at RSA Group. Before that, she held various management roles in Marine at Groupama Transport.

U.S.-based water treatment company Scienco/FAST announced it has acquired the InTank ballast water treatment system (BWTS) from Envirocleanse, a division of Charter Brokerage, LLC, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. Scienco/FAST will offer the InTank BWTS under its Scienco Water Treatment and MarineFAST Type II MSD product lines.With patented nozzles inside the ballast tanks and a robust hypochlorite generator, the InTank BWTS is an “InVoyage” and unique, ballast water management system which…

U.S. furniture company RC Willey Home Furnishings is so concerned that new global clean air rules will cause transport disruption that it brought forward the shipment of arm chairs and sofas from China by two months.The tougher regulations, set by the United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), come into force on Jan 1. Costs will rise for ships towards the end of this year and there will be a knock on effect for trucks and other transporters…

Envirocleanse is billed as the first approved BWTS to treat during voyage: No Filter, No Change to port activities, The highest confidence of compliance with the least impact to vessel operations.Envirocleanse LLC, division of Charter Brokerage LLC, a BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY company has announced a fleet sale commitment from Enterprises Shipping & Trading S.A.both for the bulker and tanker arms. The initial installation will be in the 2nd Quarter of 2019, with an additional 30+ vessels over the following 5 years.Mr.

Envirocleanse LLC, division of Charter Brokerage LLC, a BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY company, has announced the submission of an application to the US Coast Guard for Type Approval of its patented inTank Ballast Water Treatment System. The Envirocleanse inTank BWTS is the only applicant to date which treats ballast water during the voyage. There is no disruption to cargo operations and all in-port, ballasting and deballasting activities are completed as normal – including gravity discharge of isolated top-side tanks. Another featured benefit of the inTank BWTS is that no filter is required.The inTank BWTS uses a unique dispersion system developed by marine consultancy Glosten, Inc. and patented by the US Geological Survey for mixing the active substance (sodium hypochlorite) in the ballast tanks.

BNSF Railway Co on Monday said it could resume service Tuesday on a stretch of northwestern Iowa track damaged when a train left the track and crude oil spilled from derailed cars. The crude oil train derailed near Doon, Iowa, on Friday sending 32 rail cars off the track and spilling an estimated 230,000 gallons of oil into flood waters and toward a nearby river. Crews are nearly finished removing oil from damaged cars and repairing tracks, BNSF said in a statement. Its crews are using booms to contain the oil and skimmers to remove it from the waters, said BNSF, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The railroad said booms also have been…

Workers have contained nearly half of the crude oil spilled near Rock River in northwest Iowa over the weekend following a freight train derailment on Friday, BNSF Railway Co said. About 100,000 gallons had been hemmed off using booms out of the estimated 230,000 gallons spilled, BNSF said in a statement on Saturday. The spill has raised concerns about drinking water downstream. The company did not respond to questions on Sunday about the progress of the cleanup. No one was hurt in the derailment, in which 32 cars came off the rails, 14 of which leaked at least some of their contents, BNSF said. The derailment happened south of Doon, a city of a few hundred people.

Seaspan Corporation announced  that David Spivak, Chief Financial Officer of Seaspan, has given notice that he is exercising his right to terminate his employment with Seaspan effective June 29, 2018 to pursue other opportunities. Spivak will continue in his current role until May 5, 2018, after which Ryan Courson will be appointed Chief Financial Officer and Spivak will continue with Seaspan as Special Advisor to the President and Chief Executive Officer through the end of June. Courson joined Seaspan in March 2018 as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. He played a significant role in Seaspan's recent acquisition of GCI, working closely with Chen,  Spivak and other senior executives at Seaspan on all aspects of the transaction.

Ship owner Seaspan Corporation announced that Ryan Courson will take over as the company’s chief financial officer following David Spivak’s decision to leave the post in early May. Spivak will continue as CFO until May 5 and will stay on as special advisor to the president and chief executive officer through the end of June. Courson joined Seaspan in March 2018 as senior vice president of corporate development. Prior to joining Seaspan, he spent three years at Falcon Edge Capital, and before that worked at Teton Capital as an investment professional and acting CFO of Teton’s largest investment, Davos Brands. Courson began his career working at Berkshire Hathaway. He is fluent in Mandarin and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Washington University in St.

The United States Navy will commission its newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), the future USS Omaha (LCS 12), during a 10 a.m. PST ceremony Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Broadway pier in San Diego. The future USS Omaha, designated LCS 12, is the 11th littoral combat ship to enter the fleet and the sixth of the Independence-variant design. It is the fourth warship named for the Nebraska city. The first ship was a propeller-driven sloop-of-war. The second ship was a light cruiser and the third Omaha was an attack submarine. Former U.S. Senator from Nebraska, 35th Governor of Nebraska and Medal of Honor recipient, the Honorable Bob Kerrey will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Mrs.

Envirocleanse LLC, division of Charter Brokerage, a BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY company, announces the completion of all land-based and shipboard testing for its patented inTank Ballast Water Treatment System. Having successfully concluded these tests, Envirocleanse will now be submitting application in the First Quarter of 2018 to the US Coast Guard for Type Approval. Type Approval applications for IMO/Flag will follow after the appropriately scheduled MEPC meetings. The inTank BWTS uses a unique dispersion system patented by the US Geological Survey for mixing the active substance in the ballast tanks. reatment of the tanks is performed in transit, which means there is no disruption to in-port cargo operations.

Envirocleanse LLC recently submitted a Letter of Intent to the U.S. Coast Guard and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) indicating that the company will apply for Type Approval of its patented Envirocleanse inTank ballast water treatment system (BWTS). Envirocleanse, a division of Charter Brokerage, a BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY company, produces a BWTS called inTank, which combines a proprietary membrane technology for the production of the nontoxic, noncorrosive biocide hypochlorous acid (HOCl) with the U.S. Geological Survey patented “nozzle system” for dispersion in the ballast tanks. Seattle based marine consultancy, Glosten, is a strategic partner in this endeavor, holding the patent rights to the nozzle system and providing engineering expertise.

Safe Harbor Pollution Insurance broadens panel of security, increases marine pollution capacity    Vessel pollution liability insurance company Safe Harbor Pollution Insurance announced it has expanded its carrier partnerships to include Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI) and Argonaut Insurance Company.   With this expanded panel, Safe Harbor said it has more than tripled its in-house capacity. BHSI, which carries a financial strength rating of A++ from AM Best, and Argonaut, rated A by AM Best, join A rated Starr Indemnity & Liability Company on the Safe Harbor panel.   Safe Harbor Pollution Insurance is a member of the Falvey Insurance Group, a MGA group specializing in cargo, yacht and marine pollution.

The Navy will christen its newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship, USS Omaha (LCS 12), during a 10 a.m. CST ceremony Saturday, Dec. 19 in Mobile, Alabama. Omaha, designated LCS 12, honors the city of Omaha, Nebraska. The Honorable Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy, will serve as principal speaker. Susie Buffett, an Omaha philanthropist and daughter of Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will serve as the ship’s sponsor. "More than 4,000 American craftsmen have made this ship possible, craftsmen from Mobile and all around the country, making components of the ship and its systems,” said Mabus. “That partnership between our uniformed men and women, our Navy civilians, industry, and the American people, is one of the great strengths of our system.

1882-At 2: 30 a.m., during the prevalence of a strong southerly gale upon Lake Huron, the schooner, Colonel Hathaway, lying at the wharf at South Harrisville, MI was wrenched from her moorings and driven ashore. The morning was intensely dark and rain fell in torrents, but the schooner drove so far up on the beach that her crew of five men found no difficulty in saving themselves without aid. While drifting in, she collided with the schooner Garibaldi, she too broke adrift and drove ashore. The crew of this vessel, five in number, were equally fortunate in getting ashore without trouble. Word being sent about noon to the life-saving station at Sturgeon Point (No.

U.S. coal-burning power utilities are being forced to turn to barges and more expensive trucks to move coal, desperate to shore up stockpiles left dangerously low by the widespread bottlenecks on rail networks. The shift in how coal is being delivered to some power plants from mining regions such as Illinois Basin and comes amid persistent railroad delays that began during last year's severe North American winter. The delays have been perpetuated also by a surge in rail deliveries of crude oil and grain…

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.

Berkshire Hathaway is acquiring Phillips Specialty Products Inc. (PSPI), a flow improver business, from Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX). In exchange for the share capital of the wholly owned subsidiary, Phillips 66 will receive shares of Phillips 66 common stock currently held by Berkshire Hathaway. The specific number of shares will be determined by the share price at deal closing. “The flow improver business is a high-quality business with consistently strong financial performance, and it will fit well within Berkshire Hathaway. I plan to have James L. “I have long been impressed by the strength of the Phillips 66 business portfolio,” commented Warren E. Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway chief executive officer.

As the interconnector of global trade shipping facilitates every other part of the economy, and decision making around low-carbon pathways in other transport modes and industries will both influence and constrain decarbonisation in shipping. Whatever the outcomes at UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris the shipping sector faces a huge challenge of rapid decarbonisation. Clear emission reduction goals and unequivicol leadership is essential. The shipping sector’s energy efficiency improvements are to be commended but to meet the scale and speed of decarbonisation necessary to reach the globally agreed 2 degree target step change technologies need to be rapidly developed.