The Congress worked hard and most importantly together at the end of the recently-concluded First Session in December to finalize and pass Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 appropriations that included the Energy & Water Development (E&WD) Appropriations bill that funds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) work on the nations’ waterways.
It is often difficult to push through the federal government morass to focus on the issues that actually matter to the inland operator. While 2020 inevitably will be a contentious year in American politics, it is critical to stay focused on the items that will have direct impact on the U.S. maritime industry.
In November the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee held a hearing on “Commercial and Passenger Vessel Safety: Challenges and Opportunities.” Testimony covered a range of issues, from recent tragedies such as the Conception dive-boat disaster to antiquated maritime laws.
The Houston Ship Channel reopened on Tuesday morning after a seven-hour closure to raise a fishing vessel that sank in mid-January near the waterway's entrance in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Houston ship pilots association.The ship channel, a 53-mile waterway connecting the busiest U.S. petrochemical port with the Gulf of Mexico, reopened at 10:15 a.m.
The end of 2019 promises to be a busy, and potentially discordant, legislative and regulatory period for the United States maritime industry as both Congress and the Executive Branch look to take decisive action, with both positive and negative potential impacts depending on your perspective.
Even as the United States and Iran appear to signal a keenness to avoid further conflict, oil and gas shipowners are bracing to pay a price for the war of words that culminated in rocket strikes in Iraq over the last week - higher insurance bills.According to industry sources, payments known as war risk premiums for tankers shuttling through the Strait of Hormuz could rise significantly
Greece-based Onex Elefsis Shipyards announced that it will allocate up to $400 million, over a 15-year period, to purchase and finance the operation of the Elefsina Shipyards, west of Piraeus.The Greek shipyard said that the US investment firm Chatsworth Securities has agreed with it to make an investment, as part of efforts to save the complex from bankruptcy.
Chicago-based CC Industries acquired Southern Towing Company (STC) from Trive Capital and McCombs Partners. Founded in 1958, STC is one of the largest operators of towboats and barges along the inland waterways of the United States.This acquisition expands CCI’s portfolio of industry-leading businesses, and marks another CCI investment in the transportation equipment and logistics sector.
Mansukh Lal Mandaviya took charge of the Shipping Ministry Friday as Minister of State (Independent charge).A Rajya Sabha (or Council of States is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India) member of the ruling political party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the state of Gujarat, Mandaviya has become Union minister for the second time at the age of 47.
When enough to meet the need is not enough to get the help.From my office window in downtown St. Louis, I can see a dramatic illustration of the inefficiency in how our country moves freight. My office faces east, and I look down on a stretch of Interstate 70, that major east-west highway that runs from Baltimore to Interstate 15 in Utah.
Virginia officials have established a well-planned, extensive strategy to build out an offshore wind industry, including wind towers for electricity generation and the supply chain to support that extensive infrastructure and operations. The State’s big picture is ambitious: developing 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2028.
Network Innovations and its inland waterways connectivity solution eliminates “dead spot” coverage woes. And, not a moment too soon.The bane of inland operators – or at least one of many – has always been the dearth of reliable and economical vessel-to-shore communications. Even in America’s heartland where cellular coverage is routinely billed as seamless, so-called ‘dead spots’ persist.