New Lakers Will Have Latest Emissions Scrubbing Technology

By Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

Algoma Central Corp., one of the largest owners and operators of Great Lakes vessels, is installing fresh water, exhaust gas scrubbers on six new vessels.  These scrubbers will remove 97% of the vessels’ sulfur oxides emissions. The scrubber systems are a new technology from Wärtsilä Ship Power using fresh water recirculating in a closed-loop system.

Captured contaminants can be isolated and held for disposal at facilities in port, enabling zero-discharge operation when underway. Algoma is including the exhaust scrubbing system on all 6 of the new, more efficient vessels it is building for its Great Lakes fleet.  Wärtsilä claims that the new vessels “will set new standards for environmentally sustainable shipping on the Great Lakes.”  The scrubber systems enable ships to use lower cost, heavy fuel oils and still comply with new sulfur limits established by the International Maritime Organization and adopted by Canada and the U.S. Without such scrubbers, ships would have to burn more expensive diesel oil.

Michigan Initiates 2011 Ballast Water Reporting Program

By Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

The DEQ’s Office of the Great Lakes announced that it has initiated the 2011 Ballast Water Reporting Program, authorized by Section 3103a (MCL 324.3103a) of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, which was added in 2001. The program requires the DEQ to determine the following:

• whether ballast water management practices provided by the Shipping Federation of Canada are being complied with by all oceangoing vessels operating on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence waterway; and,
• whether ballast water management practices provided by the Lake Carriers’ Association and the Canadian Shipowners Association are being complied with by all non-oceangoing vessels operating on theGreat Lakes and the St. Lawrence waterway.

Any owner or operator not identified on the list of complying vessels, or any persons in the state who have contracts for the transportation of cargo with a vessel operator that is not on the list, are not eligible for new grants, loans or awards administered by the DEQ after March 1, 2012.

Ballast Water reporting forms may be submitted electronically. Details of the Ballast Water Reporting Program are available online.

Saginaw Bay Area Contemplates Establishing a Port Authority

By Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

Community leaders in the Saginaw Bay area are contemplating establishing a Port Authority that would manage air, rail, and commercial shipping in the area and serve as a stimulus for local economic development. The only official Port Authority in the state is the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority. The Port of Detroit is an international deep-water port that operates one of the largest Foreign Trade Zones in the country. It is hoped that the Port Authority structure could facilitate building similar economic development engines elsewhere in the state. A Port Authority could coordinate multiple modes of transportation, improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of moving commercial traffic through the region.

Michigan Ports Meeting in Lansing to Promote Waterfront Economies

Report Says Great Lakes Shipping Supports 227,000 Jobs & Generates Billions of Dollars

Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

By Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

The Great Lakes Shipping industry has released the results of a study of the economic impacts of shipping in the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway system. The study found that maritime commerce supported 227,000 jobs; contributed $14.1 billion in annual personal income, $33.5 billion in business revenue, and $6.4 billion in local purchases; and added $4.6 billion to federal, state/provincial, and local tax revenues. North American farmers, steel producers, construction firms, food manufacturers, and power generators depend on the 164 million metric tons of essential raw materials and finished products that are moved annually on the waterways. Additionally, marine shipping saves companies approximately $3.6 billion per year in transportation costs compared to the next least-costly land-based alternative.

U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, expressed support for the study results: “This report bears out what we’ve long known – that the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway is crucial to the U.S. economy. Not only is marine transportation the single most fuel-efficient and cost-effective way to haul goods from one place to another, but it also supports hundreds of thousands of essential jobs and generates billions of dollars in economic activity.”

Detroit Opens Public Dock and Terminal on the Detroit River

By Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

The new Public Dock and Terminal on the Detroit river opened in July as part of an effort to bring Great Lakes cruise ships to the city’s riverfront. Located  on Atwater Street, between the Renaissance Center and Hart Plaza, the new port is the culmination of a $22 million effort that first broke ground in 2004.

Mayor Dave Bing, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and other dignitaries were on hand for the ribbon cutting. The Public Dock is part of a larger riverfront revitalization effort that includes the $220 million modernization of Cobo Center, the enlargement of Hart Plaza and the extension of the Detroit RiverWalk.  The new facility has six slips an embarkation lounge, and Customs facilities.

Solution Proposed for Great Lakes Dredging Crisis

By Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

Recent news reports have spotlighted industry and port authority concerns about a threatened waterway crisis resulting from lack of adequate dredging in the Great Lakes.  A House Bill seeks to address the root problem – H.R. 104, the RAMP Act (for Realizing America’s Maritime Promise).

The problem arises from the ability of Congress to use money from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, which was set up to fund operation and maintenance of ports and harbors, for purposes other than harbor maintenance.  The Trust Fund is itself funded by the Harbor Maintenance Tax, a tax paid by shippers using ports based on the value of the goods being shipped through the ports.  The tax and trust fund have themselves been controversial.  Nevertheless, they provide a steady revenue source that can fund the necessary dredging if Congress would make the required appropriations.  The RAMP Act seeks to require just that.

Michigan Ports, Shipping, and Windmills

By Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

I was in Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday and Friday of last week for the Michigan Port Collaborative conference, where much of the discussion focused on how to increase ship traffic in and out of Michigan’s ports, thereby generating local revenue and economic development.  I spoke briefly about the West Michigan Port Operators alliance and about the use of ports for shipping wind turbine parts.  In one of those strange coincidences that sometimes happen, on our way out of town, we saw a ship passing through the locks carrying wind turbine blades.

Windmill blades from Denmark en route to Canada via Soo Locks

The Chronicle Journal from Ontario contains an article describing the shipment of blades and other turbine parts that arrived on Saturday for the Greenwich Wind Farm project in Dorion, and which we saw passing down the St. Mary’s River.  In all, the paper reports, there will be 43 windmill assemblies and their 145-foot blades arriving from Denmark by three ships.  In the article, the port’s harbor master views the wind park as a significant economic benefit for the port and the local economy. These are not the first wind turbine shipments this port has seen, and the harbormaster said that “we’re hoping to expand on that in the future, to get contracts for Saskatchewan and Manitoba.”

It is clear that Michigan needs to move swiftly so as not to miss the economic opportunities presented by the development of wind parks in this region.

Muskegon Community College Establishes Maritime Jobs Training Program

By Tim Lundgren, Water Law Attorney

With job demand for officers in the maritime industry predicted to increase, Muskegon Community College (“MCC”) has set up a job training program with the Great Lakes Maritime Academy at Northwest Michigan College leading toward jobs in the maritime industry, according to the Muskegon Chronicle. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the job demand in the maritime industry will grow by 15% between 2008 and 2018. Demand for officers such as engineering officers and mates is expected to exceed supply.

On March 16, MCC is hosting an open house for interested students to learn about the program, which will begin next fall.   Muskegon is home to the largest deep-water port on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore.

Searching for Any Port in an Economic Storm

by Bruce Goodman

As Michigan charts its economic future it needs to make certain it identifies and leverages its natural assets.  In the past it has used its timber resources to foster the furniture industry, the special character of its sands to foster the sand casting foundry industry, and its abundant water to foster water intensive manufacturing.  Now it is time to use its central location and access to the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, and the Atlantic to foster manufacturing of the next generation of large wind energy equipment.  Windturbine components and finished wind energy goods are bulky, and shipping them is expensive.  Rail and over-the-road transportation are increasingly a limiting factor in how big these can be. So transportation in and out of our state by ship and barge would provide an economic and logistical solution.  The port cities of Michigan need to consider how to take advantage of this confluence of shipping advantages and the state’s manufacturing talent to kick start the location of wind turbine industry(s) right here.  As the only state with access to four of the five Great Lakes, we need to make lemonade out of lemons.  Our peninsular geography can turn intermodal transportation (rail, truck, barge) into an asset.  The logic and logistics seem obvious.  Bring in the big cranes!