News

Source: Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Lakers are the stars of the Great Lakes.

The up-to-1,000-foot freighters are eye-catching, mesmerizing, romantic vestiges of industrial glory days. And we can’t get over their size, whether they’re powering through Lake Erie or pivoting around the hair-pin curves of the Cuyahoga River.

Interlake Steamship Co., which is based in Middleburg Heights and owns nine lakers, celebrates the beauty of the ships in its annual calendar.

Lakers — make up about 95 percent of freighter traffic on the Great Lakes — move about 4 million tons of iron ore in the nine months the lakes are clear of ice.

Much of it is unloaded onto the Port of Cleveland bulkhead terminal west of Whiskey Island, then transferred to slightly smaller, river-class ships that can navigate the river up to the ArcellorMittal steel mill, including the Buffalo and the Dorothy Ann-Pathfinder. (None of the boats are owned by the steel companies or the port.)

Ships make about 450 round trips on the Cuyahoga each year. Many of the ships are loaded with iron ore from Duluth, Minnesota.

The journey to Cleveland takes about 57 hours, at a top speed of 17 mph.

Want a calendar of your own? Interlake donated calendars to the National Museum of the Great Lakes. You can buy one at the museum for $9.95, plus shipping. To order, call 419-214-5000 extension 200, or go to the website at nmglstore.org.

Source: Freightwaves

Port of Monroe, Michigan, loses cargo after U.S. Customs and Border Protection squashes its plans for moving imports and exports.

The U.S. Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) award of more than $1.1 million to the Port of Monroe, Michigan for a domestic “marine highway” project is welcome news for a port that says its efforts to increase international business has been stymied by the Detroit office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Paul LaMarre, director of the port, said the grant from MARAD will be used to purchase a crawler crane, a crane mounted on tracks.

The port in 2016 had a route designated under MARAD’s marine highway program. The proposed “Lake Erie Shuttle” would be a domestic container service between Monroe and Cleveland, with the possible addition of other ports such as Detroit and Buffalo, and the crane would be used to load and discharge containers and breakbulk cargo.

Currently, if ships loading and discharging cargo in Monroe do not have their own gear, the port has to rent cranes, which LaMarre says can be prohibitively expensive.

The port has been working with Green Shipping Line, on a proposed short sea service, Green Shipping Line was founded by Percy R. Pyne IV, a longtime advocate of short sea shipping and founder of the short-lived American Feeder Lines, which operated a service between Halifax, Portland, Maine and Boston in 2011-12. Pyne continues to look at starting up a domestic coastal service not only on the Great Lakes but on the East and Gulf Coast as well as building specialized vessels for the wind energy industry in the U.S.

The Port of Monroe is now looking at a number of opportunities to move cargo domestically or internationally, with a focus on the automobile industry, said LaMarre.

For example, he says the port could load containers with finished cars and other products and receive containers with automotive parts. In addition to the proposed Lake Erie Shuttle, the port and Green Shipping Line are looking at possibly transporting coils of aluminum made by Novelis in Oswego, New York, on Lake Ontario to Monroe and shipping aluminum scrap back to Oswego.

LaMarre said that the port also wanted to ship automobiles — specifically Ford Mustangs made at an assembly plant in nearby Flat Rock, Michigan — overseas but that effort was frustrated by decisions made by the Detroit office of Customs.

He said the port had done a demonstration for Ford of how the cars would be loaded in containers, but he said “ultimately the containers went back to Europe empty.”

“CBP compromised the entire project. Not only were they going to require inspection and putting their seal on outbound containers, they were going to require 100% scanning. They are still standing on that.”

In another instance, he says Monroe was denied the ability to discharge project cargo — construction material, machinery and supplies — bound for a $500 million fiberboard factory being built in Grayling, Michigan, by the North American subsidiary of the Chilean forest products company Arauco.

He said the project would have resulted in 14 breakbulk ships visiting the port.

“Overnight, in 2017 U.S. CBP decided a wood breakbulk crate is a container requiring scanning in Michigan and nowhere else in the country. That stands to this day,” said LaMarre. The first shipment of cargo was eventually taken to Cleveland, where it was not required to be opened, devanned or scanned by CBP according to an exhaustive 44-page report prepared by the University of Michigan’s Program in Practical Policy Engagement in May that detailed the Port of Monroe’s jousting with CBP.

The University of Michigan report found “CBP-Detroit imposes clearance requirements on Michigan ports that are not required elsewhere in the United States. This renders Michigan ports unable to handle crated or containerized cargo, putting them at a comparable disadvantage” and that “CBP-Detroit’s policy has damaged the reputation of the Port of Monroe and the state of Michigan, resulting in lost business and the potential loss of region-lifting economic developments like the Arauco project.”

CBP told Crain’s Detroit Business in December that because no two ports are exactly alike, it “must evaluate all requests for services individually.”

The Monroe News in August said a CBP officer in Detroit told it that facilities in Michigan lack the proper infrastructure and technology to inspect containerized cargo and that CBP’s limited resources are a factor in its decisions because working with the port requires pulling staff from their existing responsibilities.

LaMarre said while the initial shipment for the Arauco project was loaded on a barge and moved from Cleveland to the Port of Monroe, the subsequent shipments moved through Cleveland and Canadian ports and then trucked to Grayling.

Wind energy towers manufactured by Ventower Industries at the Port of Monroe (Photo Credit: Port of Monroe)
However, he says Monroe has been highly successful in arranging the movement of project cargo moved by carriers such as Spliethoff and Big Lift, including wind energy towers made by Ventower Industries. The port also installed a $1 million rail spur on its dock to receive a 390-ton generator stator from Rotterdam for the DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 nuclear power plant in Newport, Michigan. It also handles coal for DTE’s coal-fired power station, which is located next to the Port of Monroe.

“I say we are the biggest little port on the Great Lakes,” says LaMarre. “When I started here in 2012, it was an overgrown, grassy field that used to be a landfill. We have gone from not even being able to see the water because the trees were so high to a bustling seaport. And we have done it with very few resources.”

Source: The Monroe News

Federal grant money has been awarded to fund equipment upgrades and training geared toward attracting more cargo to the Port of Monroe.

The U. S. Department of Transportation’s America’s Marine Highway Projects Program announced Tuesday the local port will receive $1.1 million. Paul LaMarre III, port director, said the funds will be used to buy a crawler crane, which will move cargo and heavy equipment.

“The grant is symbolic (of the fact) the Port of Monroe is here to stay and we are in the cargo business,” LaMarre said. “We will relentlessly continue to develop a prosperous seaport for the City of Monroe and beyond.”

The Marine Highway Projects Program, which is administered by the Maritime Administration, works to expand the use of the country’s water systems, including the Great Lakes, which are connected to the St. Lawrence Seaway System via Lake Erie.

Each year the program awards grants to projects that have been identified as Marine Highway Routes. The port and the Lake Erie Shuttle Project, an initiative to spur economic growth in the region, received a Marine Highway Route designation in 2016. Port officials pursued the grant because it presented an opportunity to help fund a project that makes the local entity more competitive in the shipping industry, according to LaMarre.

“There are very few grant programs that exist specifically for port- related projects and equipment,” he said. “We thought it was prudent to apply for funding for what has the potential to be most costly piece of equipment the port will utilize.”

The port will purchase a Manitowoc MLC165 crawler crane, which has a maximum boom length of 276 feet.

“The key to attracting cargo to your terminal is efficiency and economics,” he said. “A crane can single handedly provide both of those things.”

A crane is expensive to rent, which created a disadvantage for the local port, according to LaMarre. Last year, DRM Terminal Service, the port’s terminal operator, spent about $500,000 on crane rentals, he added.

The addition of the crane enables the port to handle different kinds of cargo, LaMarre said, adding the Manitowoc model can be customized with different attachments and other types of equipment.

The port submitted the grant proposal Sept. 20 to the DOT. Once port officials sign an agreement, the port will have 24 months to use the funds provided by DOT.

The grant was awarded on the contingency that the port also generate additional funds to purchase the crawler crane — the grant program requires a community match.

The total cost of the crane, its installation and associated training is approximately $1.7 million. LaMarre said the port will use a combination of its own money, funds from DRM Terminal Services and financing to cover the nearly $600,000 still needed.

“We have a reasonable amount of time to come up with the local match funding,” he said.

The port worked with New Jersey-based grant writer Tiffany Torrey on the 10-page grant proposal. LaMarre said Torrey is respected within the maritime community.

“She is very familiar with the field in which we operate,” he said. “She has been highly successful with her applications for projects.”

Though the crane will be owned by the port, DRM Terminal Service will use it and handle its maintenance, which is a common industry practice, according to LaMarre.

In addition to the business the new equipment will help attract, LaMarre is looking forward to flying an American flag from the top of the crane. He also plans to fly a “Don’t Give Up the Ship” flag, a motto LaMarre has used as a rallying cry as the port remains embroiled in a regulatory dispute with U. S. Customs and Border Patrol. During the War of 1812, Cmdr. James Lawrence of the American frigate Chesapeake ordered his crew ′ Don’t give up the ship’ after he was fatally wounded during a battle near Boston Harbor in 1813. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry won his naval battle with the British on Lake Erie three months later while flying a blue battle flag inscribed with those words.

For several years CBP has imposed regulations that have limited the port’s ability to handle international cargo. LaMarre contends the regulations, which were handed down by CBP’s Detroit office, are inconsistent with expectations at other Great Lake ports. An independent study determined those regulations have cost the port several millions of dollars in revenue each year.

With the aid of U. S. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and U. S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, LaMarre has been seeking to operate more freely in the international shipping business as he works to comply with requirements set forth by CBP.

Last year Peters brokered a meeting with CBP officials to address the issue.

He supported the port’s recent grant application, highlighting the importance of the maritime highway and its economic impact on the area.

“I was proud to support the Port of Monroe’s application for the grant, which will allow it to upgrade equipment, make more investments to continue growing and delivering the products families and businesses across Michigan rely on every day,” Peters said.

LaMarre said there isn’t a set date for the installation of the crane. Given what the port has faced in recent years, it’s not going to rush the process, he added.

“With so much support for our continued prosperity for the American taxpayer, we would hope that (CBP) would recognize that the Port of Monroe deserves its resources and support,” LaMarre said. “All of our recent challenges have forced us to be patient. … We will ensure the (crane) is installed when it makes the most sense.′

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) today announced that the Port of Monroe will receive a $1.1 million federal grant to expand its maritime commerce operations. Peters supported the Port’s application for the grant that was awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s America’s Marine Highway Projects Program. The grant funding will allow the Port to purchase a crawler crane and train staff to use it, which will allow the Port to boost operations and meet the increasing demand for cargo service throughout the Great Lakes region.

“The Great Lakes are a vital transportation system and an invaluable economic resource for Michigan — and the Port of Monroe is an especially important economic hub for manufacturers, small businesses and the efficient transport of product goods throughout the region,” said Senator Peters, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “I was proud to support the Port of Monroe’s application for this grant, which will allow them to upgrade equipment, make more investments to continue growing and delivering the products families and businesses across Michigan rely on every day.”

“The announcement that the Port of Monroe will be receiving a Marine Highway Grant to purchase a key piece of cargo handling equipment comes with great pride and admiration for our Port Team and community partners,” said Paul LaMarre, Director of the Port of Monroe. “It represents a critical step for our continued growth but also as an acknowledgement of our recent success. Senator Peters has been at the forefront of that success, and we’re grateful for all of his efforts including supporting our grant application. The unrelenting support of he and his team for the Port of Monroe and Great Lakes St Lawrence Seaway System is truly priceless to us and serves as further motivation to keep moving ‘full speed ahead’ as Michigan’s Gateway Port.”

Peters has led numerous efforts to support the Port of Monroe. This past August, through his role as Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Peters pressed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on an agency decision that has blocked the Port of Monroe from receiving certain types of international cargo. Peters also supported the application of Paul LaMarre to the U.S. Marine and Transportation System National Advisory Committee. Last year, LaMarre was appointed to the Advisory Committee for a term of two years.

Source: Freightwaves

U.S. Maritime Administration to provide $7.5 million for projects around the country.

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) has announced more than $7.5 million in grants for nine “marine highway” projects.

“The America’s Marine Highway Program is dedicated to expanding the use of our inland waterways for freight movement,” said Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby.  “This round of grant funding will be used to continue that expansion and ensure that our waterways are used effectively.”

The nine projects are scattered across the U.S.

MARAD awarded $1,291,800 for the proposed Fernandina Express container-on-barge service between the Port of Fernandina, Florida, north of Jacksonville in Nassau County, and the Port of Charleston, South Carolina. The funds will support the purchase of marine terminal handling equipment in Fernandina essential for the efficient loading and unloading of cargo.

Christopher Ragucci, director of the Ocean Highway and Port Authority of Nassau County (OHPA) and CEO of Worldwide Terminals Fernandina, which operates the port, said OHPA and Worldwide have identified three exporters near the port that move forest products such as kraft liner board, high-end cellulose, and lignins that can be manufactured into chemicals and additives for manufacturing and construction. Those companies move products in containers by truck to Savannah, Georgia, for shipment to Asia and Europe. At the same time, he says, there are importers moving cargo through Charleston that currently move containers by truck to the region around Fernandina and Jacksonville.

“Those are two specific flows that we are in the process of trying to capture to be the core to start this thing,” he said, but he added that the service could potentially move cargo even further north or south if there is demand.

The goal is to shuttle loaded and empty containers between ports by water rather than moving them by truck. OHPA’s immediate focus is on international container movements, but he said the company would be happy to move domestic containers as well.

He said the port is negotiating with some tug and barge operators, but “if that does not bear fruit we would be prepared to try and operate it ourselves.”

Ragucci noted that while there has been interest in short sea shipping for decades, it has been slow to catch hold in the U.S., in large measure because of competitive truck rates and the convenience of trucks. However, he said there may be opportunities to move overweight, hazardous or less time-sensitive cargo by barge.

The other grant recipients are:

• The Paducah-McCracken container-on-barge marine highway project. MARAD said a $480,000 grant “will be used to support the purchase or lease of facility and transportation equipment at a Baton Rouge facility that will be used to load and unload containers.” The grant was sponsored by the Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority in Kentucky.
• The Baton Rouge-New Orleans container shuttle. The grant of  $1,040,000 will be used to purchase six purpose-built barges and lease one towboat. The vessels will support a growing container service between Port Allen — across the river from Baton Rouge — and New Orleans. The grant application was sponsored by SEACOR AMH, which has seen its business grow rapidly with the boom in exports of plastic resin from U.S. producers.

• The Lake Erie Shuttle. More than $1.1 million was awarded for a project sponsored by the Port of Monroe, Michigan. The funds would be used for the purchase and installation of a crawler crane and the training associated with its use in the port to support the Lake Erie Shuttle Service. That service was described in an earlier MARAD publication as a proposed service to carry cargo for Ford Motor Company and other shippers between the Port of Monroe, Michigan, Cleveland Ohio, with the possibility of adding Detroit and Buffalo to the rotation.
• Expansion of barge services along the Columbia River between four locations: Port Morrow — near Boardman — and Portland, both in Oregon, and Vancouver and Longview, both in Washington. The $1,623,200 grant will support dredging and other improvements to marine terminals in Port Morrow.
• Development of an operational plan by the Port of Houston Authority for a  container-on-barge service between terminals. Funding totaling $180,000 was awarded for a study.
• Additional equipment to support the Port of Virginia’s container-on-barge service on the James River between Richmond and marine terminals in Hampton Roads. About $190,000 was awarded for equipment in Richmond.
• A new trestle and combination dock/ramp to support the loading and unloading of barges and research vessels at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a commercial space launch facility located at NASA’s Wallops Island facility. MARAD awarded a $96,425 grant to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority.
• Conversion of two vessels used in the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry Service from diesel to hybrid-electric propulsion. MARAD is providing $1.5 million to help pay for the conversion, which it said will result in a significant reduction in emissions.

Source: MarineLink

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) on Monday announced more than $7.5 million in grants to nine Marine Highway projects. The funding, provided by MARAD’s America’s Marine Highway Program, will go toward enhancing existing services in Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington

“This $7.5 million investment will improve our country’s vital fuel-efficient waterway transportation system, which makes an important contribution to exports and economic growth,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao.

The America’s Marine Highway Program supports the increased use of the nation’s navigable waterways in order to relieve landside congestion, provides new and efficient transportation options, and increases the productivity of the surface transportation system. The program works with public and private stakeholders to achieve these goals.

“The America’s Marine Highway Program is dedicated to expanding the use of our inland waterways for freight movement,” said Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby. “This round of grant funding will be used to continue that expansion and ensure that our waterways are used effectively.”

Projects receiving funding are:

Florida, South Carolina – M-95 Fernandina Express Container on Barge Service (awarded $1,291,800): Sponsored by the Ocean Highway and Port Authority of Nassau County, the grant will support the purchase of marine terminal handling equipment essential for the efficient loading and unloading for the Fernandina Express container barge service between the Port of Fernandina and the Port of Charleston. The route the service will operate has demonstrated potential for growth and the creation of an estimated 110 jobs.

Kentucky, Louisiana – Paducah-McCracken Container on Barge Marine Highway Project (awarded $480,000): Sponsored by the Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority, the grant will be used to support the purchase or lease of facility and transportation equipment at a Baton Rouge facility that will be used to load and unload containers. The Paducah-McCracken Container on Barge Marine Highway service will be centrally located at the confluence of five inland waterways and operate to the international export ports of Louisiana.

Louisiana – Baton Rouge-New Orleans Shuttle of the M-55 (awarded $1,040,000): Sponsored by SEACOR AMH, the grant will be used to purchase six purpose-built barges and lease one towboat. The vessels will be used to support the growing Port Allen to New Orleans container shuttle. In addition to increasing the shuttle’s capacity, this award will help stimulate the U.S. shipbuilding industry on America’s inland waterways.

Michigan – Lake Erie Shuttle (awarded $1,101,735): Sponsored by the Port of Monroe, the grant will be used to support the Lake Erie Shuttle Service, including the purchase and installation of a crawler crane and the training associated with its use.

Oregon – Port of Morrow M-84 Barge Service Expansion (awarded $1,623,200): Sponsored by the Port of Morrow, the grant will be used to support the expansion of barge services from the Port of Morrow to Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, Washington; and Longview, Washington. The expansion will include the enhancement of two marine terminals that will ultimately allow the port greater access to the region, increasing the economic potential in this rural area.

Texas – Houston Gateway and Gulf Container on Barge Central Node (awarded $180,000): Sponsored by the Port of Houston Authority, the grant will support the development of an Operational Plan. The planning efforts and outcomes from this study will provide the necessary data to establish a business case to support shipping container movements by barge between terminals.

Virginia – James River Expansion Project (awarded $189,840): Sponsored by the Port of Virginia, the grant will be used to purchase equipment in support of the existing James River Expansion Project on M-64. The equipment will help the Richmond Marine Terminal provide a more efficient barge service operation to current and potential customers.

Virginia – Wallops Island M-95 Intermodal Barge Service (awarded $96,425): Sponsored by the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, the grant will be used to design a new trestle and combination dock/ramp to support the loading and unloading of barges and research vessels at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS). The project will improve public safety, generate jobs in a rural area, and increase the site capabilities of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

Washington – Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry Service (awarded $1,500,000): Sponsored by the Washington State Ferries, the grant will be used to support the conversion of one of the two ferries used in the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry Service from diesel to hybrid, resulting in a significant reduction in emissions.