Seaport Connection

Sustainability, Security and Facility Financing to be Discussed at Upcoming AAPA Cruise Seminar

Western Hemisphere cruise market trends and challenges, as well as issues related to facility financing, "sustainable cruising," safety and security are among the  topics on tap Feb. 9-11, 2011, in Miami when the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) and the Port of Miami host the 12^th annual AAPA Cruise Seminar.  

According to AAPA President Kurt Nagle, the cruise industry is a major economic engine and jobs generator for Western Hemisphere port communities, as well as a vital component of the maritime transportation system.  In the United States in 2009, cruise activities at America's seaports added more than $35 billion to the nation's economy, created more than 314,000 U.S. jobs and generated nearly $323,000 in onshore spending per "average" size ship (carrying 2000 passengers and 950 crew members) where passengers embarked on their cruise.

At AAPA's Cruise Seminar, industry executives from throughout the hemisphere-representing cruise lines, associations and ports, together with private sector financial, tourism, planning and environmental presenters, and representatives from U.S. Customs and Border Protection-will help participants gain a better understanding of what's going on in the cruise industry.  Included will be a special focus on regional markets in North America, Mexico and Latin America, and what is being done to help the industry recover from the economic downturn and grow market share.

 

AAPA Contributes to New York Times Panama Canal Story

AAPA President Kurt Nagle was interviewed and helped in framing the recent New York Times story "A Race to Capture a Bounty from Shipping."  The piece talks about the impact of the Panama Canal expansion on East and Gulf Coast seaports preparing to meet the demands of bigger ships.  Read more via The New York Times

AAPA is Pleased that the U.S. is "on Track" to Meet Goal of Doubling Exports in 5 Years

AAPA has been supportive of President Obama's goal of doubling U.S. exports in five years and Association leadership has met with key Administration officials to communicate the positive impact it will have on the economy. 

Read more via The Journal of Commerce

AAPA President Comments on Earmarks in National Journal Transportation Experts Blog

There's a new era of belt tightening in Washington, and topping the list of spendthrift offenders are members of Congress who seek to fund projects in their districts. Republicans, who were swept into office on a wave of discontent with any spending that smacks of favoritism, are calling for a ban on "earmarks," the dollars that often go toward roads, bridges, or airports championed by the members who represent those areas.

In the transportation world, earmarks also are a tried and true way to win over elected officials on surface-transportation bills costing hundreds of billions of dollars. As one transportation lobbyist put it recently, "How can you pass a highway bill without earmarks?"

It's time to pose this question to the transportation community. Is it possible to shepherd a major transportation-funding bill through Congress without greasing the skids with earmarks? Or does the earmark ban simply mean members need to get more creative in seeking help for their projects? Does an earmark ban put more or less power in the hands of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which will be tasked with the minutia of the bill? Will the experience of negotiating a surface-transportation bill without earmarks convince lawmakers that maybe they're not so bad after all?  Read AAPA President Kurt Nagle's response below:

via National Journal

Port Everglades Named "Cruise Port of the Year" by Seatrade Insider

Seatrade Insider, one of the world's foremost cruise industry trade publications, today named Port Everglades "Port of the Year" during the 2010 Seatrade Insider Cruise Awards ceremony at the historic l' Opera House in Nice, France. The awards ceremony marks the opening of the annual Seatrade Med Cruise Convention, which is taking place this year in nearby Cannes, France.  Read more at: http://bit.ly/gr8i4M. 

 

AAPA Urges Quick Passage of Legislation that Supports Diesel Emission Reduction

On November 18, Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) introduced legislation to reauthorize the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) for five years.  DERA has been extremely popular with public port authorities, as it provides grant funding to reduce emissions from older diesel engines, such as those in use in cargo handling equipment, trucks, rail and harbor craft.  DERA targets emissions from public fleets, as well as those in densely populated areas or near significant sources of emissions, including ports. 

S. 3973 would authorize $200 million per year for five years for DERA - the same amount authorized in current law.  However, DERA has received normal appropriations of only $50-$60 million per year, though it did receive a significant infusion of $300 million in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

AAPA along with the DC DERA Coalition is urging the Senate to move quickly in approving this legislation before the end of this Congressional session.  Demand for DERA dollars remains high, and each DERA grant that is awarded leverages additional funding to reduce emissions and achieve health benefits.  Public port authorities across America remain committed to utilizing DERA funding to reduce emissions at their facilities, and reauthorizing this popular program is critical. 

AAPA briefs environmental groups on port industry's sustainable business practices

On November 10, AAPA President and CEO Kurt Nagle briefed a working group of environmental organizations about the port industry's relationship with the coastal environment.  AAPA and its members promote sustainability as a standard business practice, and as public agencies, seaports serve as stewards of the coastal environment.  Mr. Nagle's presentation highlighted the work of port agencies on marine spatial planning, a key policy area of interest to the groups in attendance.  It also emphasized many of the ways ports enhance the coastal environment, manage their environmental impact and engage stakeholders and community members. 

AAPA's Nagle featured on America's Marine Highways: Investments In Ports & Waterways Boost Nation’s Economy

Given their importance for moving people and freight, creating jobs, advancing environmental protections and raising our standard of living, it’s often surprising that seaports and their connecting intermodal infrastructure are given only scant attention when it comes to federal infrastructure funding and transportation policy legislation.

via America's Marine Highways

AAPA President Kurt Nagle quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek on cargo screening

Although the security of air cargo has grabbed headlines in the wake of the discovery in late October that terrorists in Yemen had planted explosives in packages destined for Chicago, 90 percent of cargo is carried by sea. About 14.5 million loaded twenty-foot equivalent containers reached the U.S. last year, says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says high costs and technology challenges mean a July 1, 2012, deadline for inspection of 100 percent of cargo from overseas will be pushed back at least two years.

via Bloomberg Businessweek

Port of Lake Charles project will create 1,000 new jobs cleaning vessels involved in oil spill response

The Port of Lake Charles announced November 3 that a vessel cleaning project involving at least 1,000 new jobs will begin almost immediately at the port's Industrial Canal facilities. 

The venture, undertaken by the port, in conjunction with British Petroleum (BP) and Dynamic Industries, Inc. (DII), will provide a state of the art facility for the final cleaning vessels employed as part of the massive response to last summer's Deepwater Horizon oil spill. According to the port, it will have an immediate positive economic impact on the area, including hiring personnel and spending at local suppliers, service providers, restaurants, and hotels.

The work entails final (Stage III) detailed cleaning of the vessel hulls, superstructures, decks, and confined spaces.  The vessels will have undergone two levels of decontamination (Stage I and Stage II) prior to arrival at the Lake Charles facility. Each vessel must pass a Coast Guard inspection and received a certification as being properly clean before being allowed into the Lake Charles channel. 

An estimated six to eight million man-hours of work will be performed at Lake Charles before the project concludes. Operations at the site will take place 24 hours a day, seven days a week over the next three to six months.

The port says the operation will adhere strictly to a waste management plan approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. Additionally, BP and DII are upgrading the sanitary facilities at the site, making it potentially "more attractive," the port says, "for future possible projects." 

The Port, in conjunction with BP, the United States Coast Guard, DII,  and the Lake Charles Pilots, Inc. are working together to ensure that navigation of the channel will not be impaired.

Similar large-scale, professional decontamination sites for final stage cleaning of response fleet ships are also being established at the ports of Pascagoula and Port Fourchon.

Indiana Port Marks 40th Year With Its Largest Project Shipment Ever

The Port of Indiana Burns Harbor celebrated its 40^th year in a big way- by handling the largest shipment of project cargo in its history.  The 134 complete turbine units were carried by 11 ships operated by Canada Steamship Lines and Flinter Shipping from various locations around the Great Lakes. The final two ships offloaded their cargo at Burns Harbor on October 21.  The turbines are being stored at the port pending delivery to their final destination in Bloomington IIL).

This year, the port also handled its first outgoing shipment of wind equipment - two ship loads of turbines manufactured at the Acciona Windpower plant in Iowa for export to Nova Scotia.

The port opened in 1970 and handled its first ship in May of that year, bringing to fruition more than three decades of determined effort.  In 1939, the Indiana Board of Public Harbors and Terminals was established to negotiate for land acquisition and construction of a public port on Lake Michigan. In 1957, the Indiana General Assembly appropriated $2 million for land acquisition for a port in Porter County. While the St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened up the Great Lakes to international ships in 1959, Indiana did not formally select a port site until 1961, and groundbreaking did not take place until October 10, 1966.

Since opening in 1970, Indiana's first port has grown significantly and now contributes about $3.5 billion to the state economy. The port also generates more than 25,000 total jobs and $1.5 billion in personal income as well as $490 million in local purchases and $146 million in state and local taxes.

 

The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor circa 1970 and as it looks today
Copyright © The Ports of Indiana

AAPA President Kurt Nagle Featured as Thought Leader in DC Velocity

Despite its name, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) is a truly international organization. Its 160-plus member ports hail from throughout the Western Hemisphere, from Alaska to Argentina. It's a constituency whose main business is facilitating global commerce; it is fitting, then, that President and CEO Kurt J. Nagle has a long history in promoting international trade.

via DC Velocity

U.S. Foreign Trade Cargo Tonnage Rebound Continues In August

America's waterborne foreign trade had another good month in August.  As in July, the August data reported by the U.S. Census Bureau show double-digit tonnage increases from a year ago for both imports and exports. August's 116.4 million metric tons was the highest monthly total since October 2008.

Imports posted their sixth consecutive month of year-on-year growth, thanks in great part to strong demand for petroleum, steel, and containerized merchandise, but remained below 2008 levels for the month and the year-to-date.  Exports continued to grow but at a slowing pace, with the cumulative total for January-August exceeding tonnage for the comparable 2008 period by just 0.3%.  American coal exports are the highest they have been since 1997.  In sum, cargo trade, though much improved from a year ago, has yet to fully recover from the recession.  Further details are available on AAPA's website.

Ports Awarded Nearly $95 Million In TIGER II Infrastructure Grants

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced the 42 construction projects and 33 planning projects which were awarded funding under the second round of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program for major infrastructure projects ranging from highways and bridges, to transit, rail and ports.  Of the $600 million in available TIGER II grants, DOT received nearly 1,000 construction grant applications totaling more than $19 billion.  Seven of the 42 capital project funding requests selected for awards went to America's ports, totaling $94,840,133, or about 17 percent of the total $556,577,591 in capital grant funds available.

via the AAPA Press Room

August TEUs Jump 16% at Virginia Port Authority

August was the eighth consecutive month of positive growth for the Hampton Roads container trade.  The data, as reported by the Virginia Port Authority, show container throughput totaling 175,123 TEUs, an increase 16%, or 24,118 TEUs compared to August 2009 that gave the port its highest monthly total since October 2008.  Exports accounted for 51% and imports for 49% of the August 2010 figure.

During the eight-month period ending August 31, the TEU count grew 12.4% from a year ago, with increases for both in- and out-bound loads as well as empties.  Containerized cargo also rose, by 7.7% to just over 10.35 million short tons.  Breakbulk cargo tonnage skyrocketed in August, but trailed 2009 year-to-date by 4.1%.