Weekly News Summary For January 15-21, 2007:
The Department of Homeland Security has issued the final rule for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program, which requires background checks of all port workers before they are granted unescorted access to secure areas of vessels and maritime facilities.
The 469-page rule lays out the enrollment process, disqualifying crimes, usage procedures, fees and other requirements for workers, port owners and operators. The rule is expected to impact more than 750,000 port employees, longshoremen, mariners, truckers and others who require unescorted access to secure areas of ports and vessels.
The credential will be a “smart card” containing the applicant’s photograph and name, an expiration date and a serial number. In addition, an integrated circuit chip will store the holder’s fingerprint template, a personal identification number chosen by the individual, and a cardholder unique identifier.
The fee for TWIC cards, which will be valid for five years, will be between $139 and $159. Enrollment will begin in March….
During the 22 months the Section 221 Steel Restrictions were in effect, about 9.3 million tons of steel was lost from the U.S. marine transportation system, according to a study released recently by the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS).
The study, conducted by Martin Associates, said the cost to the economy of the import restrictions—which ran from March 2002 until December 2003—was $391.1 million in personal wages, $360.6 million in business revenue, $77.3 million in federal taxes and $38.2 million in state and local taxes. The losses also meant fewer jobs, as the marine transportation system missed 21.8 million man-hours, or 10,461 full-time jobs over the duration of the import restrictions, the institute reported.
The study also examined individual ports and regions. It found the restriction period affected 631 direct and indirect jobs throughout the Lower Mississippi River Region, resulting in a loss of $11.3 million in direct personal income, $43.1 million in business revenue, and $13.7 million in state and federal taxes.
At the Port of New Orleans, steel imports fell 46.5 percent in 2003 to a historic low of 1.93 million tons. However, after restrictions were lifted, imported steel jumped 109 percent in 2004 to 4.04 million tons….
TPG Marine Enterprises LLC has announced the January 1 acquisition of Mt. Vernon (Ind.) Barge Service Inc., a harbor, fleeting, stevedoring and barge repair business located at Mile 829 on the Ohio River. TPG Marine is a consortium of stevedoring, warehousing and trucking companies based in Indianapolis.
Founded 45 years ago by Arthur “Junior” Bayer, the firm and its affiliate, Mt. Vernon Fleeting Service Inc., have a fleet of six towboats ranging from 400 to 1,200 hp., fleeting for up to 450 barges, a 200-foot drydock for repairs and three 100-ton cranes and related equipment for stevedoring operations at Southwind Maritime Centre, where the company’s office barge is located.
Don W. Miller Jr., former executive director of the Ports of Indiana, will serve as president. He and Daniel Altman are the principals of the new company, TPG Mt. Vernon Marine LLC.
Bayer will continue with the company as a consultant….
Wepfer Marine, Inc. has expanded into the Paducah, Ky., area by taking over the shifting and fleeting operations at the Calvert Coal Terminal at Tennessee River Mile 14. The Memphis-based firm also provides fleeting and harbor services at the Caruthersville, Booths Point, Cottonwood Point, Huffman and Heloise areas on the Lower Mississippi River in addition to its larger operation on McKellar Lake at Memphis.
Executive Vice President George Leavell said his firm has established Wepfer Marine of Calvert City LLC and has assumed all the shifting and fleeting services previously provided to the busy coal transfer terminal by First Marine, also of Calvert City. Wepfer also bought First Marine’s 1,000 hp. Kim Laurie, which had been assigned to the terminal’s operation. He said the Kim Laurie has been taken to Memphis for refurbishing.
The firm has brought the Ricky Robinson from Memphis to work at Calvert City until the Kim Laurie returns, he said. Wepfer has purchased another boat, which is also being refurbished. The firm is planning on having it working at Calvert City by mid-February, Leavell said….
Basic economics 101 paints a bright picture for the inland waterways and the barge industry’s immediate future.
Towboat and barge companies’ strong performance is due mainly to the balance in supply and demand for vessels for the first time in many years, according to American Waterways Operators (AWO).
“It’s also important that we have achieved this equilibrium at a time when the nation’s economy is strong,” read an AWO release.
Dan Martin, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for Ingram Barge Company, noted that rising demand has come from a variety of commodities, including coal and limestone for utilities.
“Utilities are increasingly using high-sulfur coal, and they use lime or limestone for the scrubbers,” Martin said.
The synthetic gypsum byproduct also has provided back-haul opportunities for the industry….
The ethanol industry is ready to balloon like a popcorn bag in the microwave.
Not only did 2006 ethanol production (4.9 billion gallons) grow by 25 percent over 2005, but the current 97 ethanol plants in the United States soon will be joined by 33 more currently under construction, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. The new facilities should increase capacity by at least 42 percent.
That doesn’t include the current facilities that plan to expand production, and new facility plans.
“Within the next two or three years, this industry will double itself,” said Geoff Cooper, director of the ethanol program for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).
Currently, only about 3 to 5 percent of all ethanol is moved on inland waterways, while about 65 percent is transported by rail and about 30 percent goes by truck. The reason for that is that the biggest U.S. market for ethanol by far has been in the West. California alone makes up about one-third of the entire U.S. ethanol market.
However, that should change as capacity and demand for ethanol is growing throughout the country, Cooper said….
A high-ranking official from the New Orleans Archdiocese may have said it best when he thanked Florida Marine Transporters for the firm’s commitment to the city and to its people.
Speaking at the christening of three new Florida Marine towboats that he blessed November 28 at the Riverfront Hilton, the Rev. William Maestri told the crowd that much of the country has written New Orleans off, sure that it’s not going to come back. Through the efforts of companies like Florida Marine, though, the city “is back,” he said, “whether people like it or not, and that’s a fact.
“That’s a fact,” he repeated, “because (people like those at Florida Marine) have the ability to go on. We will continue to grow and develop and we will actually be better than we were before.”
There is little doubt that New Orleans will “be better than before” if its growth and development is anywhere near as robust as Florida Marine’s, an observer noted. The company had 30 single-hull tank barges and nine pushboats when a former employee, who began as a deckhand at the age of 17, leveraged his ownership in a boat and invested his life savings to buy it in 1999.
Today, Dennis Pasentine and his dynamic firm are currently in the midst of what is likely the largest continuous tank barge and towboat building program in recent history. The barge fleet has grown to include 135 new, double-hull, 30,000-barrel tank barges with 45 to come, and Florida Marine has to date received nine new towboats of an unprecedented 25-boat run….
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