Private Infrastructure News

Morgan Stanley's infrastructure investment arm is teaming up with U.S. maritime, energy and logistics solutions company Crowley to advance offshore wind energy solutions for the United States.Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP), a private infrastructure fund platform within Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), will hold a majority stake in Crowley Wind Services Holdings, a joint venture combining Crowley's end-to-end maritime and logistics capabilities with the financial strength and expertise of Morgan Stanley.

Partners Group, a global private markets firm, has agreed, on behalf of its clients, to buy North Star, a UK-based operator of emergency response and rescue vessels, which has recently also dived into the offshore wind sector with several orders made for essential offshore wind maintenance services vessels, from Basalt Infrastructure Partners for an undisclosed price.Aberdeen-based North Star has a fleet of 48 Emergency Response and Rescue Vessels (ERRVs) and Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) and around 1,400 employees.

The White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Friday that John D. Porcari will be the Port Envoy to the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force.Porcari will work closely with Secretary Buttigieg and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) as well as the National Economic Council to address congestion at U.S. ports. Disruptions in global shipping and rapid shifts in demand have led the cost of shipping containers between China and the West Coast to grow more than 90% compared to 2019. Containerized cargo volumes rose 40% in the first half of this year compared to the same time last year at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together handle the largest share of containerized cargo moving through U.S. ports.

Private markets investor Partners Group has provided equity financing for the 500-MW Greenlink interconnector,  the subsea connection between Wales and Ireland in exchange for a stake in the scheme.To-date, Greenlink has been developed by Element Power, an independent renewable energy developer, which, together with funds managed by Hudson Sustainable Investments, is the other major shareholder in Greenlink.Greenlink will use a subsea high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable system to connect the power markets of Ireland and Great Britain, improving the security of electricity supply in both countries and reducing average electricity costs for consumers.

The Coast Guard Marine Industry Training Program offers incredible opportunities for Coast Guard employees to intimately learn specific facets of the marine industry. Participants of the program work directly for industry partners for up to 1 year. In addition to building superior government/industry working relationships, the program affords industry sponsors an opportunity to share detailed business considerations and limitations, so that Coast Guard regulatory activities most effectively promote safety, while limiting undue burden on the maritime industry.

Liquefied natural gas for shipping by 2015 at the latest is the pledge in a collaboration between the Ports of Gothenberg and Rotterdam and private infrastructure companies spurred on by a SEK 305-million European Union grant. "EU support is a clear indication of how important shipping is for sustainable transport throughout Europe," says Magnus Kårestedt, Port of Gothenburg Chief Executive. The Dutch company Vopak and the Swedish gas infrastructure company Swedegas are investing in an LNG terminal in Gothenburg. The terminal will supply LNG to both shipping and industry.

DCT Gdansk, the leading Polish container terminal played host to one of the most important politicians in Poland, when on September 7, 2011, DCT was visited by Cezary Grabarczyk, Minister of Infrastructure in Donald Tusk’s government. The Minister of Infrastructure met with DCT Gdansk's CEO and a representative of Macquarie, the largest private infrastructure investor in the world, to discuss infrastructure priorities in Poland and the opportunities presented by the development of a major hub port in Gdansk for the Polish economy.

The bill includes a major (and lengthy) title devoted to ballast water treatment. This would, if enacted, make it a national goal that, by 2015, ballast water when discharged into waters of the United States will contain no living (viable) organisms. This would constitute a ridiculously high standard and would be virtually impossible to test for. Ships would be required to have ballast water management plans approved by the US Coast Guard, but the agency would be given sufficient…

The Executive Office of the President issued a Statement of Administration Policy in which it states that the President’s senior advisors will recommend veto of the Coast Guard Authorization Act (H.R. 2830) if it includes a provision that would require the Coast Guard to provide security around liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. The concern is that the requirement provides an unwarranted and unnecessary subsidy to owners of private infrastructure that is contrary to the existing assistance framework and would divert finite Coast Guard assets from other high-priority missions. Admiral Thad Allen, Coast Guard issued a statement expressing concern about various provisions in the current version of the legislation. Source: HK Law

Keppel FELS Limited (KFELS), the marine and offshore construction, conversion and repair company of the Keppel Group of Singapore has formed a joint venture with the PEM SETAL Group of Brazil to serve the increasing market of oil and gas exploration and production activities in Brazil and in the west coast of Africa. The joint venture company, FELS SETAL, has signed an agreement yesterday to sublease a Brazilian yard currently named Verolme. The 360,000 sqm yard, owned by Ishibras Verolme Industries, is located in the city of Angra dos Reis, about two hours south of Rio de Janeiro. This signing ceremony was witnessed by His Excellency Anthony Garotinho…