Lower Transportation Costs News

Nearly $5 million in grant funding awarded this week will help enhance existing marine highways serving ports in Louisiana, Virginia, New York and Connecticut, and support the development of new container-on-barge services in Kentucky and Rhode Island.On Wednesday, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced $4,872,000 in grants for six projects through the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Marine Highway program, works with public and private stakeholders to support the expanded use of navigable waterways to relieve landside congestion…

The marine industry is becoming increasingly competitive, with many looking to lower transportation costs while demanding the highest environmental and safety standards. Automating vessel operations and systems can significantly improve a vessel owner’s competitive edge in the market, by reducing staffing requirements, improving asset management, maintenance costs and minimizing risk of environmental incidents due to human error. On a ship, there are many parameters that needs to be controlled or monitored including: temperature…

Just two weeks ago, the world watched as the first commercial vessel, M/V COSCO SHIPPING PANAMA, successfully navigated the Panama Canal’s new expanded locks. The inaugural event was broadcast live to a worldwide audience as the Panamanians in attendance cheered and waved flags in celebration of their country’s newest engineering marvel. Along with numerous heads of state and with representatives from many nations, I had the opportunity to attend the ceremony to congratulate the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) and the citizens of Panama on a successful expansion.

China plans to make use of Arctic sea route for its shipping to shorten the distance by 30 per cent compared to the ocean passages traditionally used to connect the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Panama Canal. Chinese ships will navigate the Arctic via a Northwest Passage route that will be 30 per cent shorter than the ocean passages, official media here reported. “Once this route is commonly used, it will directly change global maritime transportation and have a profound influence on international trade, the world economy, capital flow and resource exploitation,” said Liu Pengfei, the ministry’s spokesman, at a news briefing.

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s Miami-based subsidiary specializing in Customs clearance of imported perishable apparel and refrigerated products, said it could begin clearing certain produce requiring cold-treatment from Peru, Uruguay and Argentina into the Port of Charleston, S.C. as early as this Spring. This development would indicate an expansion of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) cold treatment pilot program that has previously been rolled out in South Florida and in Savannah, Ga. Cold treatment is a process whereby perishable fruits have their pulp brought to a certain…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $134.5 million contract to the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company to begin dredging work for the expansion of the Savannah Harbor. The project, known as the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP) deepening the entrance channel to a depth of 47 feet and represents the first step in deepening the 40 mile long shipping channel and harbor. It's intended to enable larger container ships to use the harbor. Great Lakes plans on using a mix of cutter suction and hopper dredges to perform the work. Dredging operations are expected to commence later this year and be completed by summer 2018. The project is part of the $706 million Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP). Georgia has committed $266 million to that project.

Shipping consultancy Drewry and shipment management software solutions provider CargoSmart have expanded their cooperation agreement to cover a broader exchange of market intelligence data on the container shipping market. The two companies first announced their cooperation agreement in April 2012, when Drewry began using data from CargoSmart to augment its coverage of ocean carrier service reliability on key container shipping trades. “This broader collaboration will enable Drewry to take greater advantage of the data available from CargoSmart’s system…

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s Miami-based subsidiary Customized Brokers recently cleared the first shipment of Uruguayan citrus to enter the U.S. in nearly 20 years, a major agricultural milestone made possible by the combined, dedicated efforts of the importer, USDA and Uruguayan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. To mark the historic occasion, Customized Brokers’ John Donohue, trade development specialist, joined the importer, U.S. agricultural representatives, Uruguayan dignitaries…

Officials with the World Trade Center Mississippi River Alliance (WTC MSRA) and the Big River Coalition (BRC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining a cooperative effort to preserve and promote economic growth on the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MRT). The organizations will work together in support of increasing the draft in the Lower Mississippi River deep-draft channel to 50 feet to equal the maximum draft to be available when the new Panama Canal locks open in 2015. Along with this agreement, both parties will be given access to broadcast their organizational information and updates to each other and its members. “The timing for such a partnership with the Big River Coalition is ideal.

The Port of Greater Baton Rouge announced a new weekly short-sea shipping service for containers via barge to the Port of New Orleans. This regular service is scheduled weekly to facilitate demand from local industry. Osprey Line operates the container terminal at the Baton Rouge port’s Inland Rivers Marine Terminal and launched the first weekly shipment Friday, January 9, 2004 to the Napoleon Street Wharf Container Terminal in New Orleans. Osprey Line President Rick Couch said, “With this weekly container-on-barge shipping schedule, local companies who import and export products to and from the Port of New Orleans can take advantage of lower transportation costs. Most products can be moved by container-on-barge.

MarineNews is pleased again this year to showcase the thoughts and opinions of workboat industry luminaries and executives, including: Terry Becker, President, Riverway Co.; Larry Daily, President, Alter Barge Line, Inc.; Cherrie Felder, Vice President, Channel Shipyard Companies; William D. Friedman, Executive Director, Ports of Indiana; Berdon Lawrence, Chairman, Kirby and Peter H. Stephaich, Chairman of Campbell Transportation Company, Inc., and C&C Marine Maintenance, Inc. President Riverway Co. For those who may not be familiar with Riverway Co., we are a "medium" sized barge line that operates approximately 500 barges and eight line haul towboats, moving dry bulk commodities primarily on the Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway.