WorkBoat August 2023

FEATURES

16 Focus: Carbon Copy

Effort to reduce the marine industry’s carbon footprint discussed at the Inland Marine Expo.

18 Vessel Report: Helping Hand

Several Maritime Administration financing programs are available to tug and barge operators.

26 Cover Story: Bottom Line

The barge market has seen a resurgence and operators are optimistic about future business.

BOATS & GEAR

20 On the Ways

• MetalCraft awarded contract for new Coast Guard long-range interceptor boats • Delivery of Maine hybrid-electric ferry set for 2024 • Biggest contract award ever for Silver Ships • Greenbrier completes sale of its Gunderson Marine operations

30 Electrifying

New hydrofoil ferry will be 100% electric powered

AT A GLANCE

8 On the Water: It ’s hurricane season

8 Captain’s Table: Disagreeing with a Coast Guard inspector.

9 Energy Level: No welcome mat for offshore wind in Texas.

10 WB Stock Index: Strong June for WorkBoat stocks.

10 Inland Insider: Barge maintenance tightens supply.

11 Nor’easter: BOEM deals with offshore wind concerns in New Jersey.

12 Legal Talk: Taking a good witness statement.

12 Insurance Watch: Mental health and workplace safety.

NEWS LOG

14 First monopile foundation for New York offshore wind project.

14 USMMA graduates 212.

14 BSEE announces $3 million in funding to plug oil and gas wells.

14 Corps launches Lower Mississippi navigation study.

2

6

An Ingram pushboat on the Lower Mississippi River.

Photo by Doug Stewart

SAVE THE DATE

Barge boom

Itry to be as positive as possible, and this quarter, it has been easy. Simply put, the barge industry is booming. Well, maybe that’s a bit too positive, but I’m not far off.

The barge industry, as Pam Glass writes in this month’s cover story (see page 26), is enjoying a post-Covid, post-drought surge. Barge operators are feeling pretty good as we enter the second half of 2023.

Just about every barging sector appears to have returned to pre-Covid operations, with revenues, freight rates and barge utilization up, and customer demand strong.

Even demand for export coal has been steady and steel plants are expanding along the inland waterways.

As Jennifer Carpenter, president and CEO of the American Waterways Operators, told WorkBoat, “Demand has been pretty robust in many sectors and folks have some optimism that will continue.”

Operators agreed with Carpenter’s assessment. “Demand for our services is strong across all sectors. Our tank barge and open hopper eets are fully employed, as are our boats,” said H. Merritt Lane III, president and CEO of Canal Barge Co. Inc., New Orleans.

Lane cited several positives including the barge supply and demand equilibrium, a return to pre-Covid pro ts, and increased federal investment to modernize and repair obsolete locks and dams along the inland rivers.

Publicly traded Kirby Corp., the nation’s largest inland tank barge operator, reported much of the same.

“Favorable market conditions have contributed to Kirby’s strong barge utilization” in the low- to mid-90% range, David Grzebinski, president and CEO,

Krapf, Editor in Chief dkrapf@divcom.com

said in an earning’s call. “This strength is expected to continue going forward with continued growth in customer demand, steady volumes from re nery and petrochemical plants, modest net new barge construction in the industry” and the removal of many barges from service for regulatory inspections and maintenance.

Yes, the barge industry is a cyclical business. They often have a couple of good years followed by a couple of down years. But, like Kirby and others, I am very optimistic. If there is a recession, it will be short, with several good years ahead for barge operators.

David

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Morial Convention Center, Halls B, C, D, E & F

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the 2023 edition of the largest commercial marine tradeshow in North America.

EDITOR IN CHIEF David Krapf / dkrapf@divcom.com

SENIOR EDITOR Ken Hocke / khocke@divcom.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Kirk Moore / kmoore@divcom.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Capt. Alan Bernstein • Bruce Buls • Michael Crowley

• Jerry Fraser • Pamela Glass • Betsy Frawley Haggerty

• Max Hardberger • Joel Milton • Jim Redden

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Multistate transmission planning is

needed for offshore wind

Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts announced in June that New England states, New York, and New Jersey had formally requested federal support to establish an interregional transmission planning collaboration.

Successfully integrating offshore wind into the existing power grid requires substantial upgrades and planning, but complex and overlapping jurisdictions have made coordination challenging between the states.

The Business Network for Offshore Wind has consistently called for increased planning and coordination in offshore wind transmission development to drive down costs, increase environmental bene ts, and increase market certainty in industry development.

While the U.S. offshore wind industry hits important early milestones this month, the scale of the industry’s ambition is enormous. Demand for offshore wind already exceeds 80 GW, but we will fail to build out the industry and a manufacturing supply chain to support it without proper development of our electrical grid.

State collaboration is key to overcoming our transmission conundrum and the federal government must play a

central role in facilitating these partnerships.

Successful partnerships like the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission will save billions for ratepayers and foster long-term con dence in the U.S. market, leading to new supply chain investments and job growth.

Sam Salustro Vice President of Strategic Communications Business Network for Off shore Wind Baltimore

Editor's Note: The Business Network for Off shore Wind is a nonprofit, educational organization with a mission to develop the off shore wind renewable energy industry and its supply chain. With offi ces in Maryland, Virginia, Rhode Island, and Maine, the network partners with industry and government to build an innovative supply chain that will create and sustain jobs

WorkBoat encourages readers to write us about anything that appears in the magazine, on WorkBoat.com or pertains to the marine industry. To be published, letters must include the writer’s address and a daytime phone number. Email: dkrapf@divcom.com

OVER 70 YEARS COOLING THE

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BY JOEL MILTON

Milton

On the Water

It’s hurricane season

It’s late June, still early meteorological summer for much of North America, and we are faced with two items that warrant extra attention.

First, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) last month averaged over all ice-free waters, were the highest ever recorded for the month of May.

Second, Tropical Storm Bret, which alarmingly formed very early for the season in the tropical Atlantic Ocean’s main development area (the waters between West Africa and the Windward and Leeward Islands along the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea), is poised to strike in the southern Windwards. And there was another system forming behind it. Bret formed farther south and east than any June system on record since 1853.

In short, the world’s oceans are continuing their steady, long-term warming trend, which means more heat is available earlier (and later) in hurricane season to aid in the development of any system that might form when atmospheric conditions are conducive to it. Once formed, that additional

Captain’s Table

The government, Coast Guard and small business

BY CAPT. ALAN BERNSTEIN

IfI have learned one thing in my 53 years in the marine business, it’s that the cards are generally not stacked in favor of small business when it comes to winning disputes with the government. While there are processes in place to allow operators to disagree with rulings, time is not generally in our favor.

As a marine operator, I can disagree with my Coast Guard inspector. Everyone has the right to appeal a decision within 30 days of an inspector’s notification of a deficiency. This is not a very complicated process. But the problem is that while I must appeal within 30 days of receving a deficiency notice, the Coast Guard has no such time constraint to rule on my appeal.

During this time, I am faced with mounting costs and lost business.

An example, which occurs often in the passenger vessel industry, happened to my company during a drydock inspection. The Coast Guard inspector noticed some pitting on the hull of our

heat can then be used by the system to get stronger faster than it otherwise would. Over the last decade, there have been more and more rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones. This trend is likely to continue as SSTs continue to creep upwards.

Currently, the science is still in its infancy and the ability of forecasters to accurately predict when (or if) and where a tropical system might intensify is relatively poor. This means that the risks in general are higher for all vessels, but particularly for slow-moving vessels like tugs. A similar system that intensified rapidly, Hurricane Joaquin, sank the container ship El Faro with all hands in 2015.

In 1998 Category 5 Hurricane Mitch, which turned out to be a particularly difficult storm to forecast due to weak atmospheric steering currents, drifted and wobbled its way across the western Caribbean Sea, resulting in tragedy for the schooner Fantome.

If you want to read a well-written account of how a captain can make pretty much all the right decisions given the information at hand and still come up short, then read Jim Carrier’s “The Ship and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome.” Be careful out there.

vessel and decided that a significant portion of the hull plate needed to be replaced. I disagreed with this assessment, and we appealed to the Coast Guard. While the appeal was being processed, I was forced to decide to either replace the hull as required or lose a significant amount of business while the appeal was being considered. I made the uncomfortable decision to spend the money and replace the hull rather than lose the business. Ironically, my company won the appeal and would not have had to replace the hull of the vessel if we had waited, but the appeal took almost a year.

I understand if the government is short staffed and resourced challenged. Frankly, that is a way of life for everyone who operates a small business such as mine. But we need to ensure that we are not forced into making unnecessary, often expensive decisions because of inefficient government timelines.

My advice to my colleagues in the maritime industry is to get to know the Coast Guard leadership in your local area so that you can engage them when time-critical issues come up.

These relationships will not guarantee a favorable decision, but it can help speed up the process.

Joel

works on towing vessels. He can be reached at joelmilton@ yahoo.com.

Alan Bernstein, owner of BB Riverboats in Cincinnati, is a licensed master and a former president of the Passenger Vessel Association. He can be reached at 859-292-2449 or abernstein@ bbriverboats.com.

Energy Level

No Texas welcome for wind

BY JIM REDDEN,

Ifrecent past is prologue, don’t expect Texas bureaucrats to hold a housewarming party for prospective developers lining up for a proposed Gulf of Mexico offshore wind lease sale.

During the recently concluded regular Texas legislative session, state lawmakers passed measures that will make wind and solar projects more costly and less attractive to developers. Clean energy advocates, however, breathed a sigh of relief when a corresponding shower of bills they say would have utterly capsized renewables in Texas failed to get enacted.

The legislature has cooled on renewables just as Texas leads the nation in onshore wind and solar power generation. It would seem the state’s powerful oil and gas lobby and its legislative allies see wind and solar as getting too big for their britches and needing to be reined in. Ironically, one of Texas’ leading oil producers, Pioneer Natural Resources, recently teamed up with Florida clean energy company NextEra Energy Resources LLC to build a 140-MW wind farm on a portion of the land it has under lease in west Texas. The generated power will be used primarily to electrify Pioneer’s drilling and production operations.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is moving closer to a possible date for what would be the first-ever offshore wind lease offering in the Gulf. The sale would put roughly 682,000 acres up for grabs in federal waters off Galveston, Texas, and Lake Charles, La. A final environmental assessment (EA) of the two proposed areas was completed on May 30 with no potential environmental consequences identified. If BOEM decides to proceed, a final sale notice must be issued 30 days prior to the sale date.

While Texas lawmakers have not publicly spoken out against the off-

shore wind sale and the newly enacted legislation, the state backlash points to the chasm between some in the fossil fuel and renewables communities.

Conversely, any offshore wind sale will receive a much warmer reception by officials in Louisiana, who have fully embraced renewables.

WorkBoat Composite Index

WorkBoat stocks close out the quarter with a strong June

On the last trading day of the second quarter, t he WorkBoat Composite Index was on track for healthy gains. The index was up over 11% for the month and over 2% for the quarter.

Tidewater Inc. posted big gains during the quarter. During its recent quarterly earnings call in May, the

company commented that the market has remained strong despite the recent pullback in oil prices. “Since 2024, anytime there has been a pullback in oil price or uncertainty in the global economy, it has been used to delay chartering decisions or, at the very least, to reset price talk, ” said Quintin Kneen, Tidewater’s president and

CEO. “This has not happened this time, and we take it as a good sign that our customers and more importantly, our competitors realize that the world is short of all vessel types in all geographies.”

The first quarter was positive for Tidewater and that continued during the second quarter. The recovery in the offshore service vessel market continues.

“The most important indicator of strength in our business, average day rate, continued its upward momentum during the first quarter with average day rates up $1,100 per day sequentially,” said Kneen. “Average day rates within the business are now up approximately $4,000 per day since the recovery began around the end of 2021.

For the complete up-to-date WorkBoat Stock Index, go to: www.workboat.com/resources/workboat-composite-index

Inland Insider

Heavy maintenance schedule tightens barge supply

BY PAMELA GLASS

Theinland barge industry is facing a significant maintenance bubble as regulatory inspections on many vessels converge at the same time, while shipyard space for repairs and maintenance remains limited.

The bubble is underway and will likely continue well into 2024 and perhaps into 2025.

Tank barges undergo major internal structural exams (ISE) by the Coast Guard every 10 years, which typically kicks off the first major reinvestment in a barge by its owner. Steel and mechanical repairs are common at this time, as well as a fresh coat of paint.

“As a result, the barges are out for an extended period of time,” said H. Merritt Lane, president and CEO of Canal Barge Co. Inc. (CBC), New Orleans. “Since there was a bit of a building boom beginning about 10 years ago, those barges will be up for their ISEs.”

He said an estimated 10% of the inland tank barge fleet will undergo inspections each year for the next few years.

“Every region and every vessel class, except for our smallest class of anchor handlers, experienced modest to quite significant day rate expansion during the first quarter.”— David Krapf

“CBC has been experiencing this ISE intensity phenomenon as well, but to a lesser degree than the overall industry fleet because of the timing of our past building programs,” Lane said.

The removal of so many barges from the fleet will extend the already tight supply of inland tank barges and keep freight rates high as long as demand remains strong.

“Limited new barge construction and high industry maintenance requirements for the next two years, combined with lingering inflationary pressures, are expected to further support inland rate increases,” David Grzebinski, president and CEO of Houston-based Kirby Corp., said during his company’s first quarter earnings call in April.

But rate increases aren’t high enough to support new barge construction that would ease barge supply, operators say. The high cost of building barges due to elevated steel prices is also discouraging newbuilds.

The fleet could be thinned further, Grzebinski said, as operators take their equipment into yards for maintenance and then decide it’s not worth making repairs. “A lot of companies will take barges out for their maintenance cycle and look at it and just say it doesn’t make sense to continue,” he said. “So, we will see retirements over the next two years.”

Pamela Glass is the Washington, D.C., correspondent for WorkBoat. She reports on the congressional committees and federal agencies that affect the maritime industry, including the Coast Guard, Marad and Army Corps of Engineers.

Nor’easter

BOEM plays to a tough audience in New Jersey

Battered by months of political pressure, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management brought in its experts to appear at a June meeting in Atlantic City, N.J., to explain BOEM’s draft environmental impact statement for the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project off New Jersey.

With posters and graphics, they dealt with residents’ concerns and complaints about how a future seascape dotted with turbines could affect their property values.

Dead humpback whales were another topic, after a months-long barrage of claims that offshore wind surveys might have been a factor in winter whale strandings. BOEM workers talked about survey boats using observers and protocols to avoid affecting marine mammals during geophysical survey work.

“The type of equipment they use for surveying, plus the precautions we have in place, just don’t indicate that that’s a cause,” said Karen Baker, chief of BOEM’s Of ce of Renewable Energy Programs.

“However, we take it very seriously. All of us are very concerned and impacted by it,” Baker said during an interview at a public information session June 22 in Atlantic City. “You don’t come work for BOEM if you don’t care about the ocean.”

Before joining BOEM, Baker was regional programs director for the Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division from 2019 to 2022, and formerly the Corps’ chief of environmental programs. Living in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, N.Y., along New York Harbor gave her a view of the region’s maritime economy. Offshore wind development adds a whole new dimension.

“I think this is a complex issue. It involves so many different issues. I’ve learned a lot in my year here about what a busy ocean it is and what the competing uses are,” said Baker. “There’s complexity, but a lot of opportunity too.”

The potential visual impact of offshore turbine arrays has been hitting home on Jersey Shore and New York beach communities as developers publish more simulated digital images.

At the Atlantic City session, and another a day earlier in Manahawkin, N.J., seaside homeowners talked about how the Atlantic Shores project would end the clear horizon they cherish.

Some alternatives in the BOEM environmental assessment include possibly reducing the number of turbines to lessen the visual impact.

“I still remain optimistic … even these meetings have given us encouragement,” said Baker. “There’s de nitely concerns but there’s still I think a lot of opportunity for us to continue to have those engagements.”

But New Jersey surf clam shermen say they won’t be

able to work in the planned turbine arrays. For years they have sought a two-nautical-mile spacing between turbine towers.

“Our worst fears have been realized and these dreaded exclusion areas will become the norm in the future for the clam industry and other commercial sheries wherever wind turbines are constructed,” wrote Peter Himchak, a marine biologist and consultant to New Jersey clam companies, in comments to BOEM.

Baker said she could not comment speci cally on the clammers’ position. The agency is working “to nd mutually bene cial solutions whenever we can,” she said. “I think it’s something we put effort into every day.”

Baker said she’s been visiting with shermen at docks throughout the region to learn about their concerns. With so much diversity in the shing industry “it’s de nitely not one voice.”

BY KIRK MOORE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Contributing Editor Kirk Moore was a reporter for the Asbury Park Press for over 30 years before joining WorkBoat in 2015. He has also been an editor for WorkBoat’s sister publication, National Fisherman, for over 25 years.

Deck Barges

Hopper Barges

Tank Barges

Covers

BY JOHN K. FULWEILER

Legal Talk

Taking a good witness statement

Anyone can write a witness statement, but writing a great one is tough. Here are few tips, should an accident, violation or other such event occur aboard your vessel or in your shipyard.

• Remember why a witness statement is helpful. Time erodes memories and sometimes changes motives. A witness statement preserves testimony for future use.

• Who is this witness? Make sure the witness statement identifies why this witness is qualified to make the statement. For example, have the witness describe his position (crew, passenger, bystander) and consider having the witness state he has personal knowledge of what’s being said.

• Why should we listen to this witness? If the witness has experience which will lend credibility to her statement, mention that experience.

• Ask yourself what you want from this wit-

Insurance Watch

Mental health and workplace safety

ness. Before you seek a witness statement, think about what evidence is required to support the reason you’re getting the statement. If the weather wasn’t a factor, you probably don’t need this witness to talk about the weather. The key is to obtain witness statements that support a position.

• What’s this witness saying? Keep the witness focused on information that supports your position. Sometimes, a witness statement can lose its effectiveness if it includes a lot of flotsam and jetsam.

• Ask if your witness can really testify on the issues. The witness should be rock solid about what’s contained in his or her statement. If the witness waffles, or doesn't remember, then the statement (or at least that portion of the statement) is not worth getting and may ultimately hurt your claim.

• You’re not promising the witness anything, right? Witness statements should be voluntarily given.

• Is your witness a business associate? The best witness statements come from disinterested parties.

stress on people and systems, and in turn these increase a company’s risk exposure.

BY DAN BOOKHAM

Dan Bookham is a vice president with Allen Insurance & Financial. He specializes in longshore, offshore and shipyard risk. He can be reached at 1-800-236-4311 or dbookham@ allenif.com.

Wehear more and more about mental health in all aspects of daily life, and while this new openness is welcomed it can still cause squeamishness for employers and concerns about intrusion and privacy that a cut or a burn may not. Even so, it is an important risk factor for workplace injuries and vessel and shipyard accidents.

First, the why. Mental health is a workplace safety issue because if issues aren’t recognized or challenges addressed, they can lead to negative consequences. Mental health problems can impair an employee’s ability to focus, concentrate and make sound decisions. This can lead to terrible outcomes, both for the employee and for others.

Mental health problems can result in an increase in injuries and accidents, decreased productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. This can cost employers a significant amount of money. In addition, mental health problems can lead to poor morale and increased stress levels. This can create a negative work environment, which is not conducive to safety. All of these are drivers of

There are several things employers can do to address mental health in the workplace and help create a safe and healthy workplace for everyone.

• Provide proactive mental health awareness training to employees. This can help employees understand mental health issues and how to identify and support someone who may be struggling. Your workers’ compensation/P&I insurer will likely have resources they can refer you to, as will occupational health clinics and local health care providers.

• Create a culture of open communication about mental health. Encourage employees to talk about their mental health and to seek help if they need it. The military are real leaders in this area and offer proven, concrete examples of functioning programs for populations where talking about feelings and mental health may not be a default setting.

• Offer mental health resources to employees. This could include providing access to mental health professionals, offering on-site counseling, or providing financial assistance for mental health treatment.

• Promote a healthy work-life balance. Encourage employees to take breaks, get enough sleep and have a life outside of work.

John K. Fulweiler of Fulweiler LLC is a licensed mariner and maritime attorney. He also served as a staff captain with a New England towing and salvage firm prior to law school. He can be reached at john@ saltwaterlaw.com or 1-800-383-MAYDAY.

The POWER of ONE

The Complete Solution for Sensor Connectivity

Each SmartBoat module is an all-in-one gateway that can simultaneously convert multiple NMEA 0183, J1939/J1708/1587 engine interfaces and analog device data to NMEA 2000. Built-in ­menu-driven software makes network bridging, sensor setup and PGN filtering fast and easy. And the industry’s best alerting allows for custom, user-configured alarms for any device on the network. SmartBoat modules save money and time on every installation.

South Fork Wind will install the project’s first U.S.-built offshore

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy graduates 212

TheU.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Kings Point, N.Y., recently held its 87th commencement exercises for the class of 2023, graduating 212 new merchant marine and military officers. This year’s commencement also marked the first graduation under the leadership of Superintendent Vice Adm. Joanna M. Nunan, who became USMMA’s 14th superintendent in December.

BSEE announces $3 million in funding to plug oil and gas wells

In June, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that South Fork Wind, New York’s rst offshore wind farm, has achieved its “steel in the water” milestone with the installation of the project’s rst monopile foundation.

Later this summer, South Fork Wind will install the project’s U.S.built offshore substation. The project remains on track to become the rst U.S. utility-scale offshore wind farm to be completed in federal waters.

The goal of the project is to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035.

The announcement comes just a few weeks after the completion of the rst monopile foundation at Vineyard Wind 1, the nation’s rst commercial-scale offshore wind project.

An offshore installation vessel, Boskalis’s Bokalift 2, is transporting and installing the foundations. South Fork Wind includes the rst U.S.-built offshore wind substation. More than 350 U.S. workers across three states supported construction of this South Fork Wind substation, a topside structure that will collect the power produced by wind turbines and connecting it to the grid.

The two projects will be staged out of the ports of New London, Conn., and New Bedford, Mass., using local labor and supply chain participants. Additional foundation components for South Fork Wind were fabricated in Providence, R.I.

Advancement of the South Fork Wind project includes additional key U.S. milestones, as the project includes the rst U.S.-built substation for offshore wind and will be serviced by the ECO Edison, the rst U.S.built service operation vessel for offshore wind.

“We have achieved steel in the water,” Business Network for Offshore Wind CEO Liz Burdock told CBS News. “America’s rst two commercial-scale offshore wind projects have now both installed their rst foundation components and will soon be delivering clean, reliable power to the grid.”

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) recently announced a $3 million investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help reduce the risk of pollution from orphaned infrastructure on the federal Outer Continental Shelf. The funding will specifically support BSEE decommissioning service contracts in the Matagorda Island lease area in the Gulf of Mexico. The funds are part of a $64 million commitment to address orphaned oil and gas wells on public lands, announced by the Department of the Interior in June. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is delivering the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in U.S. history.

Corps launches Lower Miss navigation study

InJune, the Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, announced the launch of the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study. The five-year, $25 million study will make recommendations for effective and practical management of the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of the study is to identify recommendations for the comprehensive management of the region across multiple purposes, including: hurricane and storm damage reduction, flood risk management, structure and nonstructural flood control, floodplain management strategies, navigation, and water supply.

South Fork Wind will install the project’s first U.S.-built offshore wind substation.

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FOCUS Inland Marine Expo Carbon Copy

The race to eliminate greenhouse gases.

He said the signi cance and unknowns of industry decarbonization are represented by the growth in BSMC’s membership numbers. In 18 months, the coalition has increased from 22 original members to 110.

At the heart of BSMC lies the spirit of collaboration. Comprising governments, shipping companies, environmental organizations, and technology innovators, this global alliance harnesses collective expertise and resources to drive change. By fostering partnerships and knowledge sharing, the coalition aims to accelerate the development and adoption of sustainable maritime technologies.

RENEWABLE DIESEL, BIODIESEL

Also on the panel was John Scharingson, executive director, Chevron Renewable Energy Group. He laid out Chevron’s high-level strategy, and where his company believes the industry is headed.

By

Efforts have escalated in recent years in the maritime industry to shrink its carbon footprint. Such efforts have made words and phrases like decarbonization, electrication, and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction — the environmental and technical bene ts and challenges to reducing GHG emissions in the industry — commonplace.

“What is it going to take to transition this industry into something that doesn’t generate greenhouse gases?” David Cummins, president and CEO, Blue Sky Maritime Coalition (BSMC), asked the audience at the recent Inland Marine Expo (IMX) in Nashville, Tenn.

Cummins said the problem needs

to be solved through an industrywide approach, and not be left to individual companies to gure out.

“We had to look beyond the vessel itself, to the ports and the fuel providers, as well as the engine manufacturers and the class societies, government and academia, and other nonpro ts,” Cummins said during an IMX education session on “Decarbonizing Your Marine Operations.”

“In 2021, Chevron sold 732 million gallons of renewable fuel, globally,” said Scharingson. “About 90% of that was in the United States, which was comprised of 395 million gallons of biodiesel, 138 million gallons of renewable diesel, and 179 million gallons of petroleum products that we use to blend with biodiesel and renewable diesel.”

Chevron is investing $8 billion in its Geismar, La., renewable diesel facility, which will increase production capacity from 100 million gals. per year to 350 million gals. per year. That plant is expected to come online by the second quarter of 2024, making it the second-largest renewable diesel plant in North America, and the third largest in the world. “By this time next year, Chevron will have about 750 million gallons of annual production capacity of biodiesel and renewable diesel,” he said. “By 2030, our strategy intends to have 1.5 billion gallons of global production capacity.”

Both speakers noted the inexactness with longer-term alternative fuels.

Benjamin Hayden, Contributing Writer

The 78-passenger ferry Sea Change uses water-sourced hydrogen fuel cells that charge two banks of lithium-ion batteries powering a pair of 300-kW traction motors that spin a pair of fixed-pitch propellers.

All American Marine

David Cummins, president and CEO, Blue Sky Maritime Coalition

“Nobody knows what technology is going to win,” said Scharingson, “so we think we have a tremendous bridging solution with renewable diesel and biodiesel because those products are made at scale. For every gallon of renewable diesel, or biodiesel that replaces a gallon of MGO (marine gas oil), or LSFO (low sulfur fuel oil), or HSFO (high sulfur fuel oil), it’s 100 percent CO2 emission reduction today.”

Sharingson said biofuels are better than electrification. “Renewable diesel and biodiesel, in both the brownwater and blue water space, no engine modifications are required. That technology is available today. Hydrogen, green methanol, and green ammonia are certainly part of the solution, but vessel life expectancy and CapEx investments in new technologies will prolong their implementation.”

Cummins stressed that Blue Sky’s focus is on regulatory frameworks, not alternative fuels. “We’re very agnostic about fuels. And, frankly, that’s not the most important thing for us to be working on today,” he said. “When you look at that vision of the future and work backward, we need to be

working in a totally different way. What are the barriers to decarbonization, or to the removal of greenhouse gas emissions? Yes, they’re going to come from new technologies and fuels and infrastructure, but they’re also going to come from different types of policies and regulations.”

Cummins said there are barriers in the ways that policymakers work with industry.

“A fundamental principle that we’ve come up with over the last almost two years is you’re not going to change this just by doing things the way we’ve always done them with a different fuel. It just flat out won’t work.”

Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) scores were discussed by both speakers.

Blue Sky conducted a study that illustrated the flaws that exist with carbon measurement methods currently proposed by the IMO, specifically CII

scores and Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) regulation. In it, the company studied nine medium range tankers operated by Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. These exact sisterships have the same engine design, propeller, and hull form, all of which have almost identical EEXI (Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index) scores.

“The only thing that’s different about them is that they do different types of service,” said Cummins. “And the ones that do short-haul service get a CII score anywhere from B, which is pretty good, to E, which is when you’re about ready to pull it out of service. And there is nothing less efficient about either. It is just what you choose to do with it.”

He cited the need to directly measure emissions to establish a baseline, the need to work with real data and not calculations that are based off an engine under ideal conditions. To do this, three of Blue Sky’s members have installed measuring devices on their vessels, and “the learnings have been through the roof,” according to Cummins. “On an LNG vessel, we found out that if you slow steam, it is way worse for the environment because you dramatically increase the methane slip. It’s not about what’s getting burned in your engine. It’s not about what the engine manufacturer’s numbers were.”

On that same vessel, BSMC also found out that 95% of its engine emissions were coming at station. To resolve that, the vessel company put batteries onboard and is running a net zero emission operation from time to time on LNG and batteries.

“Climate change is real. I don’t care if you believe it or not,” Scharingson said. “If Exxon and Chevron can acknowledge it’s real, it’s real. I spend about half my time calling on large fleets like Amazon, PepsiCo, Walmart, and FedEx. They are all willing to pay a premium today in excess of this relatively scarce commodity that is low-carbon fuels. The demand for low-carbon fuels is not going away.”

The Inland Marine Expo was held in June in Nashville, Tenn.

The Inland Marine Expo

John Scharingson, executive director, Chevron Renewable Energy Group

VESSEL

Tugs and Barges

Helping Hand

Tug and barge companies can take advantage of U.S. financial assistance programs.

By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor

There’s an old saying that goes, “I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in.” That’s a good description of the tug and barge industry.

Yes, there are always problems such as droughts and oods, personnel shortages, overbuilt barge eets, and lock and dam failures. But the inland industry has been dealing with these problems for decades. Tug and barge companies know how to navigate those strong currents.

“In the 22 years that I’ve been in this industry, the three downturns that I’ve been a part of, the resilience of this industry is incredible,” Clark Todd, president and CEO, Blessey Marine Services, Harahan, La., said at the Inland Marine Expo (IMX) in Nashville, Tenn., in May. He said that currently, the inland marketplace “is in a true state of equilibrium.”

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Still, no matter how experienced business owners are, a little help is always welcome. The U.S. Maritime Administration (Marad) has nancial aid programs that can do just that.

Marad sent Daniel Ladd, its director of the of ce of nancial approval, and Travis Black, director, Inland Waterways Gateway Of ce in St. Louis, to IMX to discuss a few of Marad’s nancial programs available to

the tug and barge industry.

Ladd said Marad has a vessel assistance program that exists to support the economic and national security objectives of the U.S. to “strengthen the maritime industry — critical to our economy, maintain domestic shipbuilding and maintenance, and sustain a vibrant U.S. merchant marine.”

He discussed the Federal Ship Financing Program (Title XI), which provides funding to construct new vessels, reconstruct existing vessels, and modernize shipyard facilities. Currently offshore wind farm boats are considered vessels of national interest and are being given processing and funding priorities, including new construction, and rebuilding of existing vessels.

Under Title XI, Marad provides up to 75% of the cost for barges and up to 87.5% of the cost of certain vessels for a period of up to 25 years. The interest rates are based on U.S. Treasury rates.

Canal Barge Co., New Orleans, had a $53.3 million Title XI loan application approved last summer for the construction of 17 barges and three towboats.

Other Marad programs discussed at IMX included the U.S. Marine Highway Program and Small Shipyard Grants Program. Small shipyard grants can make a difference as to whether a barge, towboat, or tug construction project can move forward.

The shipyard grants program nances capital and related improvements to quali ed shipyard facilities that will be effective in fostering ef ciency, competitive operations, and quality ship construction, repair, and recon guration, according to Marad. It will also provide training for workers in

American Electric Power photo.

shipbuilding, ship repair, and associated industries.

Historically, the program has selected roughly 15 to 30 applications to receive funding each year and the average grant amount has been approximately $1 million. The feds pick up to 75% of the funding, with the shipyard is responsible for the other 25%.

This year, Marad doled out $20.8 million in grant award money to 27 shipyards in 20 states. Since 2008, Marad has awarded $303 million to almost 350 shipyards in 32 U.S. states and territories.

“There’s been an awful lot of activity from the inland waterways for this program,” said Ladd, “particularly with companies trying to get in Subchapter M compliance.”

Marad’s Marine Highway Program has one major goal: expand the use of U.S. navigable waters. Marad works closely with public and private organizations to:

• Develop and broaden marine highway service options and facilitate their further integration into the current U.S. surface transportation system, especially where water-based transport is the most efficient, effective, and sustainable option.

• Highlight the benefits, increase public awareness, and promote waterways as a viable alternative to “landside” shipping and transportation options.

Marine highway transportation includes the carriage by a documented vessel of bulk, liquid, or loose cargo loaded in tanks, holds, hoppers, or on deck bulk, liquid, and loose cargo (including carriage of cargo and passengers).

It includes shipments loaded at a port in the U.S. and unloaded either at another U.S. port or at a port in Canada or Mexico; or loaded at a port in Canada or Mexico and unloaded at a U.S. port. (No grant funds can be used outside of the U.S.)

Marine Highway Program grant funds can be used for port and landside infrastructure, cargo handling equipment, a new or used vessel purchase,

lease, or modification, and planning, preparation, and design efforts in support of Marine Highway Program projects (Marine Highway Program funds cannot be used for market related studies).

The Marine Highway Program, said Black, “works with manufacturers, vessel operators, ports, and public and private stakeholders to build economically competitive alternative supply chains

that utilize our waterways, incorporates routes into the National Freight Strategic Plan and National Multimodal Freight Network for an integrated transportation system, and administers grants to address capital risks and other obstacles to service development.”

He said there is $12.4 million available to applicants for fiscal year 2023. “People are taking advantage of these programs.”

BARGING INTO OUTER SPACE

In2015, Conrad Shipyard signed an $8.5 million contract with NASA to refurbish the 310'×50' barge Pegasus, which was built at Halter Marine in 1999. The space agency used the barge to move the space shuttles’ external tanks and other hardware. Bristol Harbor Group (BHGI), Bristol, R.I., designed the barge modifications.

The shipyard took possession of the barge in 2014 and delivered it the next year. NASA estimated that to build a new barge would have cost an additional $8 million.

Conrad had to cut out a 110' section and put in a new heavier duty 165' plug section, a new canopy, and increase the ballast system. All cables had to be reworked.

Pegasus now carries the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System. The core stage is made up of the engine section, liquid hydrogen tank, intertank, liquid oxygen tank and forward skirt.

Earlier this year, BHGI was awarded a contract from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to design a river and oceangoing manned roll-on/roll-off barge for the transportation of its Vulcan Centaur rockets. The barge will be supported by an operations and cargo monitoring crew.

BHGI will also aid in the bidding process for prospective shipyards and provid construction oversight.

BHGI said the experience gained from design work on the Pegasus will help in its design of the new barge. The company was tasked with designing the structure of the Pegasus hull for transport and load on/load off of new structural test assemblies. — K. Hocke

Canal Barge’s Title XI application was approved last summer.

Bristol Harbor Group

New barge will haul Vulcan Centaur rockets.

Conrad Shipyard

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY AT WORKBOAT YARDS

MetalCraft to build new Coast Guard long-range interceptor boats

drug busts that set new records in the U.S. war on drugs,” Clark said.

The vessels will feature a David Clark Co. wired crew communications system that will allow the crew to maintain communication with the LRI or the Military Sealift Command mother ship for instructions via wireless to VHF connectivity. The system has a 300' range that allows the crew to communicate while boarding another vessel in proximity. The David Clark system replaced a previous system that could not withstand the rigors of LRI mission requirements.

The advanced navigation system is from Raymarine and FLIR. Suspension seating is supplied by Shockwave and Shoxs.

MetalCraft Marine, Watertown, N.Y., was recently awarded a second contract from the Coast Guard for the third generation of long-range interceptor boats (LRI III). Long range means 200 NM.

MetalCraft has made many incremental improvements to the design based on input from Coast Guard crews around the U.S. Improvements include a ner bow entry, improved collar design by Wing, window and door improvements for better egress/ ingress, full walk-around cabin, higher thrust jets, redundant bucket controls, redundant sea water systems, independent crew heating and other small yet extremely important details, according to MetalCraft partner Bob Clark.

“The 11-meter LRI II has been a very successful platform for the Coast Guard,” Clark said. “The LRI was the rst design to successfully navigate the recovery bay at the transom of the 418' national security cutter. The

LRI can operate over the horizon from the mother ship and can travel 236 nautical miles on any given mission on plane giving it a very wide swath to patrol after the mother ship’s electronics have detected something suspicious.”

The 35'×11'1"×4'8" LRI IIIs will have twin Cummins 6.7L diesels, producing 473 hp each, that power two Kongsberg A29 waterjets through ZF 280 marine gears. The propulsion package gives the boat a 40-knot speed. The LRIs are mission capable to sea state 5 (13') conditions at up to 12 knots. The boats will have a closed or open cabin arrangement that allows them to be operated nearly completely open in good weather or fully closed in inclement weather.

The boats will have 28" drafts and be built using ISO 12215 Category A unlimited aluminum. The success of the NSC program in apprehending drug smugglers and illegal immigrants “has been nothing short of remarkable and has included several

The boats will have a portable ballistic panel package designed to be mounted to the boat’s forward/side sections in eight minutes for speci c high-threat missions. The ballistic package is designed to protect the ve-person crew from a 200° eld of re. The panels are provided by Safariland and are mounted to external brackets on the xed superstructure and sliding doors.

The open cabin arrangement allows for crew to provide return re over a wide range with good crew protection.

Carrying a crew of ve and up to 10 passengers, 17 LRI IIIs will be delivered over the next ve years.

The goal is to make a best-in-class platform for Coast Guard operations in both Equatorial and Arctic locales that gets the crew home safely every day, said Clark. The new LRI IIIs will be deployed from national security cutters and new Coast Guard polar security heavy icebreakers.

— Ken Hocke

MetalCraft Marine

The 35' boats will have twin Cummins 6.7L diesels, producing 473 hp each.

BOATBUILDING BITTS

Delivery of new Maine ferry set for 2024

Casco Bay Lines (CBL), Portland, Maine, continues to make progress on the construction of its new $25 million, 599-passenger, double-ended, hybridelectric ferry. The ferry is being built at Senesco Marine, North Kingstown, R.I.

The 164' passenger-vehicle ferry will replace an existing diesel-powered ferry, the Machigonne II, a 36-year-old 122'×37' passenger-vehicle ferry that services Peaks Island in Casco Bay. CBL estimates that the change will result in a reduction of 800 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

The average age of CBL’s eet is over 26 years old. The useful life of a passenger ferry is around 30 years.

The ferry, designed by Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG), also has room for 15 vehicles. It is expected to enter service in 2024.

Hank Berg, general manager at Casco Bay Island Transit District (CBITD), spoke at a recent Propeller Club Meeting in Portland on its plans to update the ferry eet with dieselelectric hybrid technology.

With one of the rst public dieselelectric hybrid passenger ferries to hit U.S. ports, CBITD is at the forefront of bringing alternative propulsion to passenger ferry systems.

The new passenger-vehicle ferry will be a true hybrid vessel with the ability to operate using a diesel-electric system, a zero-emissions, fully battery-powered system, or a combination of the two.

CBITD said that due to pandemicrelated supply chain problems, the hybrid ferry’s cost has risen to $25 million, an increase of about 75% over EBDG’s $14.2 million estimated cost in 2021.

Spear Power Systems will provide the ferry’s lithium-ion batteries, with a goal to achieve a 10-year battery life. The batteries will be charged only at the Portland location. The Peaks Island service schedule only

TheGreenbrier Companies Inc. announced in May that it had completed the sale of its Gunderson Marine operations to Oregon Green Manufacturing LLC (OGM). The purchase included Gunderson’s 58-acre industrial waterfront site in Portland, Ore. The acquisition by OGM preserves approximately 300 jobs at Gunderson. Other terms of the transaction were not disclosed. OGM was recently formed by two Oregon businessmen, Terrence Aarnio and Marvin Burch. Aarnio was the chairman and majority owner of Oregon Iron Works Inc. until its acquisition by Vigor Industrial in 2014. Burch is the president of Advanced American Construction (AAC). OGM plans to continue operations at Gunderson Marine, operating from the largest side launch ways on the West Coast.

The Boston Fire Department has selected Moose Boats to build a new, custom dive boat. The 46' model M1 will be powered by two Cummins QSC

controls will allow for tight-quarters maneuverability that is sometimes needed in Boston Harbor, and the catamaran’s inherent shallow draft will allow this boat to go into shallow waters that are inaccessible to other boats.

8.3-liter engines delivering 1,200 hp. The boat will be a major upgrade from the department’s current 2010-built 30’ dive boat. HamiltonJet AVX Express

Austal USA hosted a keel-laying ceremony in June for the future USS Pierre (LCS 38), an Independencevariant littoral combat ship, at the company’s Gulf Coast shipyard in Mobile, Ala. Austal USA has delivered 17 LCSes to the Navy since 2009, most of which have been deployed with the Pacific Fleet. The shallow-draft Independencevariant LCS enables the Navy to access locations where its vessels had not been for years. The 421'6"x103.7' LCS is a high-speed, agile, shallow draft, focused-mission surface combatant. It’s designed to conduct surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and mine countermeasures missions in the littoral near-shore region, while also possessing the capability for deepwater operations. With its open-architecture design, the LCS can support modular weapons, sensor systems and a variety of manned and unmanned vehicles. Each aluminum trimaran LCS has a displacement of 3,200 MT, a 15.1' draft, and is powered by a pair of 12,200hp MTU 20V8000 diesel engines and two 29,500-hp GE LM2500 gas turbines. Austal USA also celebrated the official start of construction of the future USNS Point Loma (EPF 15). EPF 15 is the second EPF Flight II ship built by Austal. EPF Flight II provides a Role 2E

WorkBoat fi le photo Gunderson Marine was sold in May.

Moose Boats 46' dive boat for Boston.

allows for a 10-minute charging window. CBL has purchased a Germanbased Stemmann-Technik charging system. Upon docking, the captain will deploy a charging mechanism that can be attached within 30 sec-

onds. The charger requires 1.3 MW to operate.

One of the challenges ferry operators face is electrical demand rates. It would be cost-prohibitive to charge the ferry during peak demand

rates. CBITD supports a proposal from Maine’s Public Utility Commission to implement reduced rates for electric vehicles.

The difference in cost would be drastic, “pennies versus $15 per kilowatt hour,” Berg noted.

If the proposal is not approved, the company has a Plan B — battery banks. To bring down charging costs, batteries positioned at terminals would be charged during non-peak demand rates and discharged during hours of operation.

The Peaks Island service is a 4.5 nautical-mile round trip that uses 220 kW.

CBITD is also planning to replace the 29-year-old Maquoit II. The design phase of the Maquoit II replacement project is expected to begin this summer, with construction starting in 2025.

The estimated delivery date is the spring of 2026.

— Benjamin Hayden

Silver Ships lands its biggest contract

Silver Ships, Theodore, Ala., has been awarded a $6 million contract to build and deliver up to 246 high-speed maneuvering surface target (HSMST) custom vessels for the Navy. The contract is the largest and most lucrative in Silver Ships’ history.

The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the total value of the contract to $48.25 million.

The aluminum boats will be built based on the shipyard’s AM800 RIB series. As target vessels, the 27'×9'6" boats are subsequently destroyed by the Navy after delivery.

Since 1994, the U.S. military has operated Silver Ships RIBs throughout all branches. The shipyard has built and delivered more than 800 RIBs, many used by the Navy to support ship, aviation training and operational needs.

Elliott Bay Design Group

599-passenger, double-ended, hybrid-electric ferry.

The AM800 target boats have air or foam collars depending on the boat variant. Each AM800 will be out tted with a specialized compartment designed for installing remote control systems and electronics.

These target boats are fully operational and built to the Navy’s speci cations and payload requirements depending on the boat’s speci c mission.

Most of the HSMSTs ordered will be powered by twin Suzuki 225-hp outboards. The remaining boats in the contract will be powered by Mercury diesel outboards and placed on Navy vessels that don’t carry gasoline.

HSMSTs are designed with several uncommon design elements speci c to their unique mission. One example is an above-deck fuel tank allowing operators to replace tanks quickly and easily.

Steven Clarke, the shipyard’s CEO, said most of the vessels are remotely operated but can also be run by a one- or twoperson crew for training purposes. The boats are not targeted when a crew is aboard.

“Someone can fully operate these boats,” said Clarke. “It’s a fully operational boat built to the Navy’s speci cations and payload requirements depending on a boat’s speci c mission.”

Clarke said Silver Ships is dedicated to meeting all the Navy’s operational needs while offering maximum crew safety and performance. “We’re one of the most consistent builders for them,” he said.

Being able to deliver on time means Silver Ships must have the workers to build the boats. “It’s been a bigger challenge to recruit recently, but our retention rate is high because we invest a lot in training,” Clark said. “We have workers here that have been with us 20-plus years and some even 30-plus years. They tend not to leave.”

“During my Navy service, I greatly bene ted from being able to train with the Silver Ships HSMST vessels during predeployment live- re events. Their durability and survivability are invaluable and really have made a big impact on eet operational readiness over the years,” said Shawn Lobree, a retired Navy captain and Silver Ships’ HSMST project manager.

The rst HSMST target boats will be delivered in March 2024.

— K. Hocke

Silver Ships

27' target vessels for the Navy.

BOATBUILDING BITTS

(enhanced) medical capability which includes, among other capabilities, basic secondary health care built around primary surgery; intensive care unit; ward beds; and limited x-ray, laboratory and dental support. The EPF’s catamaran design provides inherent stability to allow surgeons to perform underway medical procedures in the ship’s operating suite. Enhanced capabilities to support V-22 flight operations and launch and recover 11-meter (36') rigid hull inflatable boats complement the ship’s medical facilities. These Flight II upgrades along with EPF’s speed, maneuverability and shallow water access are key enablers for mission support of future Distributed Maritime Operations and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations around the world. Flight II retains the capability of the Flight I to support other missions including core logistics missions.

Damen Shipyards Group has unveiled the latest vessel in its compact tugs product platform. The 69' ASD Tug 2111 features numerous safety features. For

example, it boasts a high freeboard, which keeps water on deck to an absolute minimum. It also features ample tumblehome, enabling it to safely get up close to an assisted vessel. Another feature is the tug’s full vision bridge, which provides a 360° view from the deckhouse over the surrounding waters as well as the deck both fore and aft. A boost to efficiency comes from the tug’s 2.4-meter diameter propeller, the large size of which offers increased thrust. The ASD Tug 2111 also features the Damen twin fin to ensure better course keeping and predictable sailing behavior during both free sailing and bow to bow operations.

69' ASD tug features a high freeboard.

Bottom Line

With the historic Mississippi River drought and Covid restrictions behind them, new business opportunities, and important federal funding and policy wins, the barge industry is feeling pretty good as it enters the second half of 2023.

Just about every barging sector appears to be back to predrought and pre-Covid operations, with revenues, freight rates and barge utilization up, customer demand strong, and inland lock and dam modernization projects nally progressing or inching toward completion.

There have also been several business opportunities as demand for export coal due to the war in Ukraine has remained steady, steel plants are expanding along the inland rivers, and offshore wind farms are revving up along the East Coast.

“Demand has been pretty robust in many sectors and folks have some optimism that that will continue,” said Jennifer Carpenter, president and CEO of the American Waterways Operators. With low water comes high water in the spring,

she noted, and the industry adjusts accordingly. “This is an industry that operates in a dynamic environment and through all kinds of conditions.”

STRONG MARKET CONDITIONS

Many operators see it the same way. “Demand for our services is strong across all sectors. Our tank barge and open hopper eets are fully employed, as are our boats,” H. Merritt Lane III, president and CEO of Canal Barge Co. Inc., New Orleans, told WorkBoat

Industrywide rates and utilization have increased while the supply of barges has remained constrained by high steel prices that discourage newbuilds, he said. “The high price of steel should keep most operators from building new barges, and a wave of regulatory inspections for the inland tank barge eet is further reducing available barge days.”

As bright spots, Lane cited the barge supply and demand equilibrium, a return to pre-Covid pro ts, and increased federal investment to modernize and repair obsolete locks and dams along the inland rivers. Strong re nery utilization has resulted

With business strong, the barge industry is feeling pretty good as it enters the second half of 2023.

By Pamela Glass, Washington Correspondent Doug Stewart photo

The barge sector is enjoying a post-Covid and post-drought surge.

in more barge movements of inbound and outbound cargo, he said, and new business has developed hauling products that support offshore wind, LNG plants, and construction nanced by the federal infrastructure law, especially bridge components.

In the tank barge sector, which moves black oil, re ned petroleum like diesel and gasoline and chemicals, good nancial results have been reported, buoyed by high freight rates, low supply of barges and heavy demand for services from chemical plants and re neries.

Houston-based Kirby Corp., the nation’s largest tank barge operator, reported in April that its total revenues in the rst quarter of 2023 hit $750.4 million, compared to $610.8 million the same time last year, exceeding Wall Street estimates. Kirby’s inland marine division revenues were up 22%, despite navigational dif culties along the Gulf Coast and lock closures along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Barge delays caused by these closures were signicant. Kirby had 4,125 delay days during this period, an increase of 31% over the same time last year.

“Favorable market conditions have contributed to Kirby’s strong barge utilization” in the low- to mid-90% range, David Grzebinski, president and CEO, said in an earning’s call. “This strength is expected to continue going forward with continued growth in customer demand, steady volumes from re nery and petrochemical plants, modest net new barge construction in the industry” and the removal of many barges from service for regulatory inspections and maintenance.

He added that as the barge supply remains tight, spot and term contract renewal rates will stay high.

On another positive note, the towing and barge industry reached a key safety milestone last year. After years of development and revisions, the new federal towboat inspection program (Subchapter M) took full effect when the industry met a July 2022 deadline to have 100% of the inland eet in compliance with certi cates of inspection (COIs) under the new safety regime. This was com-

pleted without major interruption to river commerce. Now focus shifts to drydock and internal structural examinations and COI renewals every ve years, among other regulatory requirements.

GOING GREEN

Progress has also been made in moving the industry further into the green zone as new vessel and engine technologies have helped companies take steps to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions.

Crowley Maritime Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., is expected to soon begin operating the 82' eWolf, the industry’s rst all-electric harbor tugboat in San Diego. The electric tug will replace one that consumes more than 30,000 gals. of diesel per year.

American Commercial Barge Line (ACBL), Jeffersonville, Ind., will operate the world’s rst methanol-fueled towboat, the Hydrogen One. Both vessels are scheduled to be launched later this year.

The EPA’s Tier 4 emissions requirements are also driving the new generation of tugboats. New York-based McAllister Towing, for example, is building three new tugs to keep up with high demand in the New York area for these more ef cient and low-emission engines, according to Buckley McAllister, company president.

Meanwhile, Canal Barge has made major investments in engine upgrades

to its pushboats. “While we made these investments in the name of ef ciency, we are very glad to know that these solutions are also greener,” said Lane of Canal Barge. “We have also experimented with the use of biofuels and have learned to measure our company’s carbon footprint and continuously track progress in reduction. One important message that we need to continuously share with policymakers and our customers is the green advantage of moving cargo by water.”

Even as the industry moves away from using fossil fuels in its operations, it continues to be an important low-cost transporter of coal and petroleum products. With many coal- red plants across the U.S. closing, barge lines that operate in this sector have lost business and begun to diversify into different cargoes. Some companies are still busy lling long-term contracts while others have been hauling coal destined to Europe, which is hungry for energy since the Ukraine war began disrupting energy markets last year.

“Coal markets are still very strong, and we enjoyed tremendous demand from our steel and utility customers for the last year,” said Peter Stephaich, chairman and CEO of Campbell Transportation Co., (CTC) a Pittsburgh-based inland marine transportation and services company. “A lot of customers signed contracts with coal companies last year and these are still in place. There’s also been the ripple effect of the Ukraine war

Elliott Bay Design Group

American Commercial Barge Line will operate the Hydrogen One, the world̓s first methanolfueled towboat. Maritime Partners and Elliott Bay Design Group are designing the vessel.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION: STILL A CHALLENGE

Like many other industries, barge operators continue to experience prolonged difficulties recruiting and retaining workers.

Operators say “people management” is one of their biggest challenges in running their businesses in both the short and long terms, forcing them to develop innovative recruiting methods, turn away new business for lack of crews, refine benefits and salaries, hire full-time recruiters, invest more in training programs, and spend more time marketing their company to existing employees than to their customers.

on river coal hauling, isn’t waiting for this to happen, and has begun to diversify its business lines. “We decided the best area for us would be in the liquid space in the Gulf,” Stephaich said. “We all understand that as a company we need a future, so we’ve invested heavily in the liquid side and the idea is that as the coal market shrinks, we’ll transfer our assets to the liquid side. It’s expensive, but not very complicated.”

Over the past year, CTC has made two major acquisitions to position itself as a player in the Gulf liquid barge market. Last year, it acquired the marine assets (six towboats, 16 barges) of Houstonbased E Squared Marine Service LLC. In March, it acquired marine assets located in the Gulf area of NGL Marine, increasing CTC’s total eet to 1,250 barges operating throughout the inland waterways, including 95 tank barges.

“Recruiting is still a challenge, but we are doing well with retaining talented mariners and have been able to remain fully crewed,” said H. Merritt Lane III, president and CEO of Canal Barge Co. Inc. (CBC), New Orleans. “We avoided layoffs and furloughs despite the Covid-related downturn and maintained our training and development pipeline, which has been beneficial as business conditions have improved.”

He said CBC has extended its geographic recruiting drives and encourages employees to refer possible new recruits. Once new hires are onboard, “we make sure their early career experience is meaningful and that they are being mentored and connected to the company and their teammates.”

Some companies, despite robust recruiting efforts, have come up short with new hires and have had to turn away new business. “Absolutely we’ve had to say no because we don’t have enough mariners,” said Buckley McAllister, president of New York-based McAllister Towing and Transportation

McAllister appeared at a press conference in April with his local congresswoman and a group of other towing companies to make an appeal for workers in the New York area.

He said it takes time to effectively train mariners and get them through to their required licenses. A number of mariners retired during the pandemic, and this created a void. “As the industry rebounded, the whole industry couldn’t just make new sailors appear for licensed positions.” Licensing delays at the Coast Guard haven’t helped, he added. — P. Glass

that gave the coal business a shot in the arm which no one expected. That’s starting to stabilize now, but things have been very busy here in the past year.”

Predictions about the quick demise of coal as an energy source are overblown,

Stephaich said. “I’m of the belief that the death of coal is prematurely discussed in the media. I don’t think coal will go away as quickly as many think. It will go away. It’s a matter of how quickly.”

But CTC, which has built its business

“It’s been going well there,” Stephaich said of the company’s foray into the Gulf energy market. “There’s a shortage of tank barges because no one is building new tank or day hopper barges because the price is so high, and older barges are being scrapped and not replaced with new ones. So, there’s a shortage of equipment and it’s getting worse. That’s better for us, worse for the market.”

AHOY TO HEADWINDS

Storm clouds loom, however. Concerns include in ation, supply chain disruptions, a national labor shortage, a possible economic recession, severe weather events, the 120-day closure of the upper Illinois Waterway for lock maintenance, and international developments that directly affect U.S. barging, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine, competitive grain production in South America, and uctuations in demand for exported grain and from global energy markets.

“The headwinds are pretty big,” said Ken Ericksen, a senior vice president who follows agriculture and the barging industry at S&P Global Commodity Insights, a data and information rm. Operators carrying grains for export should be concerned about possible drops in demand from China, the U.S.’s

Some tug and barge companies, despite rigorous recruiting efforts, have come up short with new hires and have had to turn away new business.

Campbell Transportation Company

biggest grain export market, as the population there declines and ages, he said. In addition, U.S. agriculture faces enormous competition from other countries, notably in South America, but this could be offset if domestic demand remains strong to use grains for renewable diesel and the general energy transition.

“There’s much global competition, and the U.S. has lost its market share for grain,” Ericksen said in an interview. “How long we remain a viable competitor in the global grain trade market and how much we participate will be the challenge.”

Then there are problems with the supply chain and the costly impact of in ation, which hit a high of 8% in 2022 and now hovers around 5%. In ation is jacking up prices for everything, from communications equipment to fuel, rent, crew changes, winches, groceries, cleaning barges, and building new equipment.

“The prices for newbuilds are going up far more than the rate of in ation,” added McAllister, whose company has three tugs and one ferry now under construction.

Lane of Canal Barge said that over the past two years marine companies have paid more for onboard and shore-based wages, supplies, repairs, third-party services and insurance. “During the Covid market downturn, carriers had limited ability to pass these costs onto our customers. Freight pricing is starting to catch up with these costs, but so far in ation is only moderating, not attening out,” he said. “Everything continues to cost more and take longer, causing us to have to carry more critical spares and supplies and perform more services for ourselves to ensure we can maintain continuous service.”

Supply chain problems have been improving since the pandemic but still cause headaches for companies. “At the beginning we couldn’t get cleaning products, now we have long delays for marine paint, and when you’re putting vessels in for repairs, it’s necessary to order all parts way in advance,” Lane said. “The yards don’t have materials in inventory anymore. We’re seeing delays for engines of up to 18 months to be delivered. Before it was off the shelf.” There are also long delays in newbuild construction as a result.

Campbell’s Stephaich said his company must wait two years to get a new Caterpillar engine and there are long waits for things like windows. CTC has begun to stockpile equipment and

parts needed to overhaul or repower a boat far in advance and store them in a warehouse. “If you don’t have them, you can’t do your job,” said Stephaich.

Also looming is the possibility of a national recession, although Ericksen thinks it will be less pervasive as some have predicted. An economic slowdown worries barge operators as it could be very disruptive to domestic and global demand for the commodities they move. Lane put it at the top of his headwinds list, although he added that constraints on barge supply could keep the barge market healthy during a long recession.

“We do worry about the recession pulling back on re ned products,” said Kirby’s Grzebinski. Consumers might not spend on big ticket items, but he doesn’t think they will cut back on their travel so “it feels like the demand won’t pull back a lot in our trade lanes. Our customers are making money, demand is holding up. I remain very optimistic. If there is a recession, it will be short lived, with the supply and demand balance (of barges), we have multiple years in front of us.”

“It’s a cyclical business. They have a couple of good years and a couple of down years. For many it’s about cash management and being prepared for the lean years to come and glide through those as best they can,” said Ericksen, the analyst at S&P Global.

RAptor 2400 Methanol CTV

WorkBoat

photo

Coal markets have been one of the many bright spots, with elevated demand from utility customers.

Electrifying

New hydrofoil ferry will be 100% electric powered.

By Michael Crowley, Correspondent

Waterborne transportation periodically gets redefined. In the 1930s, the use of the automobile meant that narrow, sharp-ended ferries designed to lie broadside to a dock would not work, thus broader sharp-ended ferries with a deck to carry cars began appearing.

Nearly 100 years later, ferries just might be on the cusp of another transition. The issue is how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by developing cleaner power options.

How about a ferry with zero emissions that’s capable of 30-knots (34.5 mph), yet is billed as quiet and smooth running? What’s not to like about a ferry with those attributes? They describe the P-12 Shuttle as a 100% carbon-fiber, 39'×14.7' catamaran ferry that’s 100% electric powered. The P-12 is designed by Candela Marine Tech, which builds high-tech electric boats in Stockholm, Sweden. Propulsion comes from two Candela C-POD 50-kW electric pod drives mounted on the aft hydrofoils.

“It’s anticipated the first P-12 will be launched in September,” said Michael Mahlberg, Candela’s head of public relations in Stockholm. After a testing period, the new ferry will enter Stockholm’s public transportation fleet. Though the first P-12 has yet to hit the water, Candela is already promoting

the ferry as “the world’s fastest electric passenger vessel.” At maximum speed or less, the P-12 will carry 30-seated passengers, one captain and wheelchairs and bikes.

FIRST ELECTRIC HYDROFOIL

It’s not the speed that sets the P-12 apart from other ferries, it’s the hydrofoil system. The system lifts the hull out of and above the water. “It’s the first major electro-hydrofoil boat,” said Mahlberg. The P-12 can be operated as a planing catamaran, but in hydrofoil mode, energy and service costs can be reduced by 90% and CO2 output can be reduced by 97.5% compared with a traditional fossil-fuel ferry, according to the Candela website. Even when comparing the P-12 Shuttle to a hybrid-electric bus, Candela has a “90% reduced fuel cost,” when operating at 25 knots.

In the hydrofoil mode you won’t be able to ignore the Candela P-12 ferry as it cuts across a harbor or along a nearby coastline. When traveling at speeds up to 30 knots, the twin hulls are “above the water by about four feet,” said Mahlberg, supported by what looks like, to the uninitiated, five red poles, leaving behind very little wake. The wake is mostly

The P-12 Shuttle ferry is powered by two Candela C-POD 50-kW electric pod drives, mounted on the aft hydrofoils.

Candela Marine

spray. Beneath the surface, the poles are matched up with three carbon- ber wing-pro led hydrofoils, with a large, straight main foil near the center of gravity and two smaller T-foils aft, each having a Candela C-Pod electric drive with a contra-rotating propeller. That and the hydrofoils lift and propel the 8.5-ton, 39' P-12 Shuttle above the water, all the while decreasing its drag. There’s no engine box below deck with shafts, bearings, and gears, and placing the electric motors underwater avoids potential problems with heat. Another bene t is silence. There is no earshattering 90- to 100-decibel outboards when you jack up the P-12

Hydrofoils function like airplane wings. As the water ows over the foil, the interaction between water and foil creates an upward force, lifting the boat out of the water. The foils are retractable for tying up to a dock, storage, shallow water operation or when using the as a planing catamaran. The electric

Candela Marine

BOATS & GEAR Green Technology

diesel vessel of the same size, including its emissions from production, operations over 30 years, and recycling.”

the rst one hasn’t been launched — has already been granted an exemption from Stockholm’s 12-knot-speed limit, allowing it to travel at higher-than-normal speeds into the city’s center, based on the idea it won’t affect other boats or sensitive shorelines.

The electric hydrofoils make life

easier for passengers and operators. Eliminating the combustion engine “is a major bene t to the climate,” according to the Candela website, quoting a cycle analysis by Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology that concluded “a P-12 ferry will emit 97.5% less carbon dioxide over its lifetime compared to a

Last year, Candela opened an of ce in Sausalito, Calif., which the company bills as its “ rst test-drive center” in the U.S. Veronica Cargay, project manager for Candela Marine, said in an interview with ABC7 News in San Francisco, that after the P-12 Shuttle is launched and tested later this year she hopes “that it’ll be in the Bay Area.” She noted that while the traditional ferry takes 30 minutes to go from Sausalito to San Francisco, the run will be able to be made “in half that time with an electric ferry. Its mission is to help accelerate the transition to fossil-fuelfree waterways.”

Cargay said that being just under 40' creates the potential for increasing the frequency of ferry runs and having greater design exibility. “You can stop using large heavy ferries and move to eets of small, nimble craft.”

YOUR PARTNER ON THE WATER.

HELPING

Whether

Candela Marine

Looking forward in the P-12 Shuttle’s cabin shows many of the ferry’s seats, a bicycle and the red strut that connects with the forward hydrofoil shown in the accompanying photos.

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https://jobs.wm.edu/postings/54149 To apply visit our website or email: Competitive Rates / Excellent Benefits www.vtbarge.com crewjobs@vtbarge.com Van Enkevort Tug and Barge is a leading provider of dry bulk cargo transportation on the Great Lakes. Assistant Engineer Offshore Positions Wanted JPADD RESOURCES STAFFING Email Resumes to: j.padd@yahoo.com

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LOOKS BACK

AUGUST 1963

• Interest in hydrofoil boats should show a substantial increase now that the rst of a eet of ve passengercarrying hydrofoils is scheduled to begin regular commuter service in the New York area. The boats to be used will be 33', 24-passenger vessels of the type pioneered by Marine Systems Corp., of Florida and built by Wilson Shipyards, Wilmington, Del.

• Placed in service in the coal trade on the Green River recently, two 74'x26', 1,020-hp sistership towboats, the Annabel and the Nancy B, have expanded the eet of Green River Towing Corp., a subsidiary of Crounse Corp., Paducah, Ky.

• Three 20-year-old 100' harbor tugs and a 60-ton oating crane, being transferred to Turkey under the foreign aid

AUGUST 1973

• Users of the Tennessee River waterway saved a record $65.6 million in transportation costs on barge freight carried on the river in 1972, according to the annual estimate by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) economists. The estimated bene t was nearly eight times as much as the 1972 costs of operation and depreciation on waterway facilities, which totalled about $8.5 million.

• A vessel traf c system (VTS) for all maritime commerce in New York

AUGUST 1983

• Oil eld activity off the U.S. West Coast continues to pick up. Fabrication yards are vying for work space to produce platforms speci cally for West Coast applications, activity which means more work in the future for workboat operators and shipyards. In Los Angeles, Exxon and Kaiser are hoping to acquire property on Terminal Island for a future site to build deepwater jackets.

• Marinette Marine Corp., Marinette, Wis., recently announced plans for construction of a new ship erection facility to be built at its existing Marinette shipyard.

• Marco Seattle recently completed the rehabilitation of the 208' Thomas G. Thompson, a research vessel operated by the University of Washington under a charter party deal with the U.S. Navy.

excess property program, left New Orleans recently for Istanbul.

Harbor, its approaches and tributaries, plus all of Long Island Sound and the Hudson River from Albany, N.Y., south, will cost $10 million to $15 million to build. It’s now scheduled for completion in 1977. The system, which ultimately will consist of ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communications, is built around the concept of passing the movements of one vessel on to another.

“We selected Karl Senner, LLC and REINTJES onboard the M/V Travis Terral because of their excellent product support, and robust equipment that is built to endure a demanding operating environment.”

– Johnny Martin, COO, Terral RiverService

Karl Senner, LLC is proud to equip the M/V Travis Terral with REINTJES Gearboxes.

Onboard Karl Senner, LLC supplied two REINTJES WAF 3445 / 4.044:1 Horizontal Offset Reverse Reduction Gearboxes, Torsional Couplings, and the Main Propulsion Control System.

Vessel Owner: Terral RiverService

Operator: Terral RiverService

Shipyard: NewSouth Marine Construction

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