Weekly News Summary for November 24-30, 2008:
A potential revamp of the way the Corps of Engineers works with industry to prioritize its inland navigation construction spending is in the works, the Inland Waterways Users Board was told last week. Gary Loew, chief of the Programs Integration Division at Corps Headquarters, discussed with the board a “path forward” to tackle issues of funding shortfalls and inefficient project management.
But the revamp may not come fast enough for some industry representatives on the board, who have watched as the balance in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund has dropped precipitously in the last few years, and many projects have seen their construction schedules stretched out.
Adding a measure of urgency to a possible new Corps process is the possibility of an injection of additional money via an economic stimulus program from Washington.
The Inland Waterways Users Board was created in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, and is made up of appointed representatives of the navigation industry who provide input to the Corps and Congress on industry’s priorities for spending on navigation projects. Half of that spending is paid for from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund—also created in 1986—which is funded by a 20-cents-per-gallon tax on diesel fuel used in towboats….
Between 2001 and 2007, steel production and demand “surged from 750 million metric tons to above 1.2 billion metric tons, perhaps the largest growth in steel consumption and production in history,” said a November 2007 report written for the American Institute of International Steel. Prices followed booming demand, especially from the growing economies of China and India.
But in the last several months, prices for steel and its scrap raw materials have plummeted from historic highs, leaving steel traders in a worldwide panic. As with the housing market, steel analysts disagree over whether steel prices have found a bottom yet.
The implications of this wild ride for the inland towing and barge industry are not straightforward, however, because other factors are involved….
A major new study commissioned by the Maritime Administration to examine the effects of oil prices on short-sea shipping said that oil price rises are restoring water transport’s advantages.
The report, released in October, was prepared for MarAd by transportation consultants Transportation Economics & Management Systems Inc.
The report, entitled “Impact of High Oil Prices on Freight Transportation: Modal Shift Potential in Five Corridors,” uses historic data from the Energy Information Administration’s databases and forecasts from the BA Short Term Energy Outlook (2008-2009) to create three possible scenarios.
In the “optimistic” one, oil price achieves equilibrium as new sources come online. A “pessimistic” scenario foresees continued strong world demand leading to further oil shocks. A middle option sees oil prices increasing gradually after two or three years of slow growth due to the current slowdown. The middle option still forecasts a quadrupling of oil prices from 1990s levels, leveling off by 2016….
Officials from Bunge North America Inc. and Ergon Ethanol Inc. broke ground for a $100 million ethanol facility October 23 at the Port of Vicksburg, Miss.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour praised the start of what will be the South’s largest ethanol plant, the result of the first joint venture between an energy and agribusiness company.
The plant will handle up to 60 million gallons a year, requiring 21 million bushels of corn a year. It is designed to be a key link between Bunge’s grain-handling facilities on the Mississippi River and Ergon’s petroleum refining and marketing assets….
When Hunter Marine christened the mv. James H. Hunter recently, its owner couldn’t help but smile. Before getting into the river business, Ron Hunter made his living racing dragsters at 220 mph. His new boat averages about six.
On October 18, Hunter Marine christened the mv. James H. Hunter at Nashville’s Riverfront Park.
Built by Quality Shipyards, Houma, La., the towboat is the seventh vessel—and the first new vessel—in the Hunter Marine fleet. It measures 124 by 35 feet and is powered by twin Caterpillar 3516B diesels, supplied by Louisiana Machinery. They are rated 3,500 hp. total at 1,250 rpm.
The engines turn 86- by 99-inch Rice propellers, on eight-inch shafts, through Reintjes WAF1173 gears with a 5.1:1 ratio, from Karl Senner Inc. The closed-wheel boat has Rice nozzles that were designed to have “25 percent better backing and stopping characteristics than normal, with less than half the vibration when going astern,” said the boat’s architect, Corning Townsend.
Townsend’s design also features an “EZ Flow” strut that includes both twist and cant to “reduce propeller-induced cavitation and related noise and nozzle erosion.” The vessel’s tunnel hull is configured to “increase the flanking side force by about 15 percent compared to the conventional riverboat tunnel stern,” he said….
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