The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), in coordination with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), is sponsoring a two-day public workshop on marine technology and standards on July 29 and 30, 2010, in Washington DC.
The USCG/ASME Workshop on Marine Technology and Standards scheduled for July 29 and 30, 2010, in Washington DC, is billed as an opportunity for classification societies, industry groups, standards development organizations, government organizations, and other interested members of the public to come together for a professional exchange of information on topics ranging from the impacts of technology on the marine industry, corresponding coverage in related codes and standards, and government regulations.
Topics for the 2010 workshop include application of marine technologies to promote green ships, such as safe and economical use of hydrogen (H2) fuel cells to power ships with zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and compressed natural gas (CNG) powered ships with reduced CO2 emissions. The workshop is an opportunity for the public to provide expertise on technical matters affecting the marine industry and to improve future policymaking, standards development, and rulemaking, including discussion of possible regulatory changes to facilitate green ship technology.
For more information, and to register for the workshop, please
visit www.uscg.mil/marine_event. The deadline for advance registration is Friday, July 16, 2010. The advanced registration fee for this event is USD$300.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Little Movement in SoCal ILWU Clerical Strike Talks
Contract negotiations over the three-day July 4 weekend between maritime clerical workers and their shipping industry employers failed to end a five-day-old strike at the Southern California ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
Officials of the 900-members-strong Office Clerical Unit (OCU) of the International Longshore and Warehouse union said that virtually no progress was made during talks that ran through Monday. A new round of talks is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
The OCU union local, an entity unique to Southern California, is part of the area’s larger ILWU dockworker union. However, the unit directly negotiates its contract with 14 Los Angeles and Long Beach-area maritime employers and not with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the interests of West Coast maritime companies in negotiations with the parent ILWU union. The OCU represents mainly “white collar” office and clerical workers in the “off-port” offices of maritime firms. Local 63 represents more than 900 workers employed at 17 shipping companies and marine cargo terminal operators at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The current contract talks, however, only covers members at 14 area firms.
The OCU offered a final contract proposal to employers just hours before their current contract expired July 1. According to officials with the Harbor Employers Association, which represents employers at the bargaining table, the OCU offer represented a total wage and benefit cost increase of 32 percent over the three-year life of the proposed contract.
An arbitrator has ruled that the OCU did not negotiate in good faith prior to the contract expiration on July 1 and that ILWU dockworkers could not honor the OCU picket lines. The dockworkers continue to report to work at both ports. OCU members are currently picketing at only two of the Southern California port terminals.
Officials of the 900-members-strong Office Clerical Unit (OCU) of the International Longshore and Warehouse union said that virtually no progress was made during talks that ran through Monday. A new round of talks is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
The OCU union local, an entity unique to Southern California, is part of the area’s larger ILWU dockworker union. However, the unit directly negotiates its contract with 14 Los Angeles and Long Beach-area maritime employers and not with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the interests of West Coast maritime companies in negotiations with the parent ILWU union. The OCU represents mainly “white collar” office and clerical workers in the “off-port” offices of maritime firms. Local 63 represents more than 900 workers employed at 17 shipping companies and marine cargo terminal operators at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The current contract talks, however, only covers members at 14 area firms.
The OCU offered a final contract proposal to employers just hours before their current contract expired July 1. According to officials with the Harbor Employers Association, which represents employers at the bargaining table, the OCU offer represented a total wage and benefit cost increase of 32 percent over the three-year life of the proposed contract.
An arbitrator has ruled that the OCU did not negotiate in good faith prior to the contract expiration on July 1 and that ILWU dockworkers could not honor the OCU picket lines. The dockworkers continue to report to work at both ports. OCU members are currently picketing at only two of the Southern California port terminals.
Polaris Signs Lease for SoCal Aggregate Terminal
Financial terms of the lease were not released, however in 2008, a subsidiary of Polaris purchased a separate 12.4 acre site within the Port of Long Beach for just more than $15 million to use for importing sand and gravel.
The 8.3-acre D-44 facility is located on one of the port's deepwater channels and is currently permitted to receive and distribute up to 3 million tons of construction aggregates per year. Polaris has said it plans to use Panamax vessels to deliver sand and gravel to the Long Beach site from Polaris's Orca Quarry situated on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Polaris also exports aggregate material from its Orca Quarry to port facilities in San Francisco, Vancouver and Hawaii.
Permitting and development of the D-44 terminal are expected to take about two years with first deliveries from the Orca Quarry expected to arrive by the end of 2012.
"We are delighted to have secured access to this permitted marine aggregate terminal within the Port of Long Beach. The terminal will serve the highly populated Los Angeles market area which has always been a key target in our strategic plans. Berth D-44 will require much lower capital investment for development than the [12.4-acre] Pier B site and offers lower operating costs. As a consequence, we commenced the marketing of the Pier B site during the second quarter of 2010 and are encouraged by the significant interest received to date," said Polaris President and CEO Herb Wilson.
The two Long Beach Polaris sites sit within the Port of Long Beach boundaries but are not controlled by the municipally governed port authority. The sites are two of only a handful of privately-owned plots within the jurisdiction of the City of Long Beach's Harbor Department. Like all commercial ports in California, the Long Beach port is owned by the state and operated by the city under trust.
The 8.3-acre D-44 facility is located on one of the port's deepwater channels and is currently permitted to receive and distribute up to 3 million tons of construction aggregates per year. Polaris has said it plans to use Panamax vessels to deliver sand and gravel to the Long Beach site from Polaris's Orca Quarry situated on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Polaris also exports aggregate material from its Orca Quarry to port facilities in San Francisco, Vancouver and Hawaii.
Permitting and development of the D-44 terminal are expected to take about two years with first deliveries from the Orca Quarry expected to arrive by the end of 2012.
"We are delighted to have secured access to this permitted marine aggregate terminal within the Port of Long Beach. The terminal will serve the highly populated Los Angeles market area which has always been a key target in our strategic plans. Berth D-44 will require much lower capital investment for development than the [12.4-acre] Pier B site and offers lower operating costs. As a consequence, we commenced the marketing of the Pier B site during the second quarter of 2010 and are encouraged by the significant interest received to date," said Polaris President and CEO Herb Wilson.
The two Long Beach Polaris sites sit within the Port of Long Beach boundaries but are not controlled by the municipally governed port authority. The sites are two of only a handful of privately-owned plots within the jurisdiction of the City of Long Beach's Harbor Department. Like all commercial ports in California, the Long Beach port is owned by the state and operated by the city under trust.
US House Passes $50M for Guam Port Upgrades
The United States House of Representatives has approved $50 million in federal funding to kick off a major upgrade program for the commercial port on the island of Guam.
The funding was contained within an amended H.R. 4899, the $45 billion 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act, and now moves to the U.S. Senate for a final vote. If approved by the Senate, the bill would head to the White House for the President's signature.
An original version of the bill passed the House in late March and the Senate later passed the same version before sending it back to the House for amendments.
"The $50 million in infrastructure funding for the Port of Guam reaffirms this Congress' commitment to ensuring that Guam is prepared for the realignment of forces in our region," said Guam House Delegate Madeleine Bordallo in a statement. "This funding is critical to beginning necessary improvement and modernization projects at the Port of Guam."
The Port Authority of Guam has cited the federal funding as critical to kick-starting a $200 million plan to upgrade the island's commercial port infrastructure deemed necessary to meet anticipated increases in cargo from a planned relocation of U.S. military operations from the Japanese island of Okinawa to Guam. The military buildup, set to begin later this year, will see more than 8,000 Marines, and more than 9,000 military dependents, shifted from Okinawa to Guam by 2014.
The island's port authority and government had failed in several previous attempts to secure initial funding for the port upgrades.
The PAG also plans to use the $50 million in federal funding to secure an additional $50 million loan for port upgrades from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The funding was contained within an amended H.R. 4899, the $45 billion 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act, and now moves to the U.S. Senate for a final vote. If approved by the Senate, the bill would head to the White House for the President's signature.
An original version of the bill passed the House in late March and the Senate later passed the same version before sending it back to the House for amendments.
"The $50 million in infrastructure funding for the Port of Guam reaffirms this Congress' commitment to ensuring that Guam is prepared for the realignment of forces in our region," said Guam House Delegate Madeleine Bordallo in a statement. "This funding is critical to beginning necessary improvement and modernization projects at the Port of Guam."
The Port Authority of Guam has cited the federal funding as critical to kick-starting a $200 million plan to upgrade the island's commercial port infrastructure deemed necessary to meet anticipated increases in cargo from a planned relocation of U.S. military operations from the Japanese island of Okinawa to Guam. The military buildup, set to begin later this year, will see more than 8,000 Marines, and more than 9,000 military dependents, shifted from Okinawa to Guam by 2014.
The island's port authority and government had failed in several previous attempts to secure initial funding for the port upgrades.
The PAG also plans to use the $50 million in federal funding to secure an additional $50 million loan for port upgrades from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Williams Pulls Name from Consideration at Port of Bellingham
Port of Bellingham officials have been informed that Larry Williams, one of the five finalists being considered for the port's executive director position, is no longer interested.
In a letter to the port, Williams alerted port commissioners that he is removing his name from contention, "in order to pursue opportunities that are more in line with my personal and professional goals," according to the Bellingham Herald.
Williams, who currently serves as the assistant director for international trade and economic development at the Washington State Department of Commerce, was named as a finalist last week along with four others by the port governing board. More than 100 candidates applied for the $125,000 to $135,000-a-year position, which has been vacant since executive director Jim Darling left the port in June 2009 for a position in the private sector.
The remaining finalists are: Jeffrey Bishop, executive director for the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay; John Carter, City of Bellingham finance director; Dwight Rives, Port of Seattle director of port construction services; and, Mark Watson, former city administrator of Yuma, Ariz.
Port commissioners plan to interview the remaining finalists in early July, hold a public meeting the next week to introduce the finalists to the public, and make a final selection by the end of the month.
ILWU Maritime Clerical Workers Strike SoCal Ports
Maritime clerical workers in Southern California have set up picket lines at several Long Beach and Los Angeles marine terminals after contract negotiations with employers broke down.
Members of the Office Clerical Unit (OCU) of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 walked off the job just after midnight Wednesday when their 3-year contract with the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association expired.
Port officials said about 30 OCU members showed up at the ports Thursday morning to man pickets.
While ILWU dock workers pledged to honor the OCU pickets, a local arbitrator ruled early Thursday morning that the OCU did not bargain in good faith and prohibited dockers from honoring the clerical workers' picket lines.
The OCU union local, an entity unique to Southern California, is part of the area’s larger ILWU dockworker union. However, the unit negotiates its contract directly with Los Angeles and Long Beach-area maritime employers and not through the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the interests of West Coast maritime firms in negotiations with the parent ILWU union. The OCU represents mainly “white-collar” office and clerical workers in the “off-port” offices of maritime companies. OCU Local 63 represents more than 900 workers for 17 shipping companies and terminal operators at the ports. The current contract talks, however, only covers members at the 14 area firms.
The OCU offered a final contract proposal to employers late Wednesday evening which represented a total wage and benefit cost increase of 32 percent for the employers over the three-year life of the proposed contract, according to officials with Harbor Employers Association.
The arbitrator determined that the OCU, in proposing a contract with such large increases only hours before the current contract deadline, was negotiating in bad faith with employers. A counter proposal from the employers offered $1-an-hour increase over six years and a 10 percent increase in pensions.
The previous contract, according to the HEA, made OCU members the highest paid clerical workers in the nation, with an average annual salary of nearly $97,000 and annual benefits worth nearly $66,000.
While no new talks were scheduled for Thursday, both sides have said they are confident an agreement can be reached.
During the last OCU contract negotiations in 2007, members of Local 63's OCU approved a strike and though the contract expiration deadline passed, never took to the picket lines. The OCU and employers eventually reached an agreement in late August 2007 on the three-year contract that expired at midnight Wednesday.
Members of the Office Clerical Unit (OCU) of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 walked off the job just after midnight Wednesday when their 3-year contract with the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association expired.
Port officials said about 30 OCU members showed up at the ports Thursday morning to man pickets.
While ILWU dock workers pledged to honor the OCU pickets, a local arbitrator ruled early Thursday morning that the OCU did not bargain in good faith and prohibited dockers from honoring the clerical workers' picket lines.
The OCU union local, an entity unique to Southern California, is part of the area’s larger ILWU dockworker union. However, the unit negotiates its contract directly with Los Angeles and Long Beach-area maritime employers and not through the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the interests of West Coast maritime firms in negotiations with the parent ILWU union. The OCU represents mainly “white-collar” office and clerical workers in the “off-port” offices of maritime companies. OCU Local 63 represents more than 900 workers for 17 shipping companies and terminal operators at the ports. The current contract talks, however, only covers members at the 14 area firms.
The OCU offered a final contract proposal to employers late Wednesday evening which represented a total wage and benefit cost increase of 32 percent for the employers over the three-year life of the proposed contract, according to officials with Harbor Employers Association.
The arbitrator determined that the OCU, in proposing a contract with such large increases only hours before the current contract deadline, was negotiating in bad faith with employers. A counter proposal from the employers offered $1-an-hour increase over six years and a 10 percent increase in pensions.
The previous contract, according to the HEA, made OCU members the highest paid clerical workers in the nation, with an average annual salary of nearly $97,000 and annual benefits worth nearly $66,000.
While no new talks were scheduled for Thursday, both sides have said they are confident an agreement can be reached.
During the last OCU contract negotiations in 2007, members of Local 63's OCU approved a strike and though the contract expiration deadline passed, never took to the picket lines. The OCU and employers eventually reached an agreement in late August 2007 on the three-year contract that expired at midnight Wednesday.
Longview Port Attracts Third Steel Manufacturer
The Washington state Port of Longview has signed a 12-year lease with a subsidiary of Luxemburg-based ArcelorMittal that will see the construction of a $9 million pipe fabrication facility at the port.
Under the terms of the deal, the port will lease 15 acres of its West Industrial Park to contractor IDM Longview. IDM will build the proposed 156,000 square foot manufacturing facility and sub-lease it to ArcelorMittel's New Jersey-based subsidiary Skyline Steel. The port will also lease 20 adjacent acres--to be used for storage and parking--directly to Skyline.
At the end of the lease in 2022, Skyline has the option to buy the facility from IDM. The lease also provides that if Skyline does not buy the facility at the end of the 12 years, the port can purchase the facility from IDM for a maximum of $9 million.
ArcelorMittel, the world's largest steel manufacturer, plans to use the Longview facility as Skyline's main production facility for western North American, with a distribution area ranging from Canada to Mexico. The facility will manufacture large spiral-welded and straight-seam steel pipes mainly for the construction industry.
Because the lease contains a buy-back clause that could lead to the port authority owning the pipe factory, IDM will be required to pay prevailing, or union, wages during the construction of the facility--whether or not they hire union workers.
The pipe facility, the third steel-manufacturing facility at the port, is expected to open in February, 2011. Once open, according to the lease, Skyline will be eligible for a monthly lease break of $3,500 if it can generate ship calls to the port.
Under the terms of the deal, the port will lease 15 acres of its West Industrial Park to contractor IDM Longview. IDM will build the proposed 156,000 square foot manufacturing facility and sub-lease it to ArcelorMittel's New Jersey-based subsidiary Skyline Steel. The port will also lease 20 adjacent acres--to be used for storage and parking--directly to Skyline.
At the end of the lease in 2022, Skyline has the option to buy the facility from IDM. The lease also provides that if Skyline does not buy the facility at the end of the 12 years, the port can purchase the facility from IDM for a maximum of $9 million.
ArcelorMittel, the world's largest steel manufacturer, plans to use the Longview facility as Skyline's main production facility for western North American, with a distribution area ranging from Canada to Mexico. The facility will manufacture large spiral-welded and straight-seam steel pipes mainly for the construction industry.
Because the lease contains a buy-back clause that could lead to the port authority owning the pipe factory, IDM will be required to pay prevailing, or union, wages during the construction of the facility--whether or not they hire union workers.
The pipe facility, the third steel-manufacturing facility at the port, is expected to open in February, 2011. Once open, according to the lease, Skyline will be eligible for a monthly lease break of $3,500 if it can generate ship calls to the port.
Feds Slam NOAA Fleet Move from Seattle
A federal auditor has castigated the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for its decision last year to move NOAA’s Pacific research fleet of four vessels from Seattle, Wash., to Newport, Ore., saying that NOAA limited its search to solutions that consolidated the research fleet in one location and failed to properly consider the cost savings of utilizing existing federal facilities in Seattle.
Called for by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the report was conducted by the United States Department of Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser. Sen. Cantwell is chair, and Sen, Snowe the ranking member, of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard. NOAA operates under the auspices of the Commerce Department.
"We are unable to provide assurance that NOAA's award of the lease to the Port of Newport provided the most cost-effective solution ... for the government," said Zinser in his report, which examined whether the NOAA decision to relocate adhered to federal, departmental, and NOAA requirements.
In his report, Zinser also criticized NOAA for not subjecting the new location search project to "a rigorous capital investment planning and oversight process." He noted that NOAA policies for facility capital planning and investment are unclear in their scope and requirements, which left the search process subject to few requirements, lacking in meaningful oversight and driven unnecessarily by schedule demands.
Though relatively severe in his analysis of the process, ultimately, Zinser concludes that the outcome of the NOAA decision would not likely have changed even if proper procedure and policy had been followed.
Zinser points out that two of the four locations had lease rates beyond what NOAA is authorized to pay. A third location was located in a floodplain and received a lower technical rating than Newport.
"Based on our analysis," Zinser wrote, "we also concur that the outcome is unlikely to have changed in the absence of these weaknesses and errors."
Last year, NOAA awarded the Port of Newport with a $2.5 million-a-year 20-year lease for a new facility. The state of Oregon gave Newport a $19.5 million subsidy to construct a new dock and office facility for NOAA.
Opponents of the move from Lake Union, where NOAA has operated out of for nearly 50 years, pointed out that Newport has no major maritime facilities and is more than 200 miles from Seattle where the researchers are based.
Proponents argued that, over the long run, the move would save taxpayers money.
Fidley Watch - Oil and Water
Chris Philips, Managing Editor
On April 20, an explosion on the British Petroleum drill rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and injured 17 more.
The rig burned and sank, and started a massive ongoing offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which is now considered the largest in US history.
The tragedy, of course, is the loss of eleven lives. The Coast Guard searched continuously for three days with an effort consisting of 28 air and surface sorties, covering approximately 5,375 square miles. On April 23rd, the US Coast Guard suspended the search for survivors, and our condolences go out to their families. The news of their deaths, as well as the successful rescue of the other 126 souls aboard the rig, was quickly overshadowed by the massive spill.
On May 6th, with oil still gushing out of the broken well into the Gulf, President Obama announced a six-month deep water drilling ban, based on a report by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar claiming a panel of experts had recommended the ban. Secretary Salazar has come under scrutiny, and the report itself has come into question, because the experts consulted by Secretary Salazar specifically recommended against a blanket moratorium, and have been vocal in their support of continued drilling.
Immediately, oil companies started looking at other countries where their expensive rigs could continue to operate.
Back in August of 2009, the US government loaned billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin, near Rio de Janeiro.
Reuters reported late last month that, with an estimated 35 oil rigs idled in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are looking to move their operations to Brazil, where vast discoveries in recent years may soon turn the country into a major crude exporter.
“What is bad for some may be good for others,” said Fernando Martins, Latin America Vice President for GE Oil and Gas, which provides services to drillers in Brazil. “Since operators are shutting down at least temporarily in the US Gulf, some companies are planning to move their rigs to Brazil now,” he said.
The potential loss of the deepwater oil jobs is a catastrophe.
Prince William Sound was devastated by the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. The safeguards put in place since then, both mandated and voluntary, have virtually ensured that no such spill will happen again, and the area has largely recovered (although the legal issues remain, and could for decades). If the President at the time had imposed a six-month moratorium on oil shipping, the resulting chaos would have affected the entire coast. Thousands would have been unemployed, and ship owners, who have to keep their ships full or they lose money, would have sought greener pastures.
Oil tankers are obviously much more mobile than deepwater drill rigs. After a six-month hiatus, the West Coast oil transportation industry would have come back to serve the pipeline terminus in Valdez.
At press time, a federal judge in New Orleans had halted the deepwater drilling moratorium, saying the government never justified the ban and appeared to mislead the public in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The Washington Times reports Judge Martin L.C. Feldman issued an injunction, saying that the moratorium will hurt drilling-rig operators and suppliers and that the government has not proved an outright ban is needed.
Feldman also said the Interior Department misstated the opinion of the experts it consulted. Those experts from the National Academy of Engineering have consistently opposed the blanket ban.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says the administration will appeal the decision, and intends to ask Feldman to stay his ruling pending an appeal.
Oil company executives last moth told Congress they lose up to $1 million a day per idle rig, and said there are opportunities elsewhere. The uncertainty injected by the White House is almost as damaging as the ban itself. The Obama Administration’s initial ban could have been seen as a knee-jerk reaction by an inexperienced manager trying to manage the situation. The subsequent “amended” report by Interior Secretary Salazar falsely claiming scientific support for the ban could be seen as political meddling at best and borders on malfeasance.
The continued attempt by the White House to prolong the ban can only be seen as an attempt to destroy the deepwater oil industry in the Gulf.
The US needs oil, and we’ll take it from wherever we can get it. If we can’t get it from our own backyard, we’ll pay more for it.
If the deepwater rigs leave the US Gulf Coast for Brazil, they might not be back. The newer, safer rigs are in higher demand, and they will be the first to leave. Many, if not most, are owned by foreign companies, which will just as easily hire Brazilian labor, thereby leaving thousands of US family-wage jobs on the beach. This is the real cost of the of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
While the oil will eventually dissipate, if the rigs leave for good the Gulf economy could take decades to recover.
