COS Weekly Newsletter - Friday, 15 July 2022

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority launched a second round of public consultation this week, which will include two information sessions, an online survey, and the opportunity to provide written submissions. This public engagement follows targeted engagement with certain local government officials such as the Islands Trust and the Cowichan Valley Regional District. As reported in the Gabriola Sounder, VFPA intends to establish restrictions for vessels as anchor that will be outlined in a Code of Conduct. The VFPA's summer public engagement will include seeking input into the Code of Conduct. More details are available here.

The Port of Québec officially inaugurated Terminal 30, providing additional cruise berthing at a multipurpose facility. The cruise terminal was built following consultation with the local cruise industry, which had identified the need for a new terminal to improve the reception of cruise passengers in Québec City and ensure a high satisfaction rate. The two-story facility covers 9,447 square meters. It has a boarding bridge with a span of 21 meters from the waterline and can accommodate more than 2,500 passengers at once.  The first ship is expected to arrive Aug. 4, carrying 3,140 passengers and 1,200 crew. During the off-season, Terminal 30 offers storage services for pleasure craft (more than 4,500 square meters to accommodate approximately 65 boats) and hosts large-scale events. The cost of the $31.9m terminal was divided split among the government Québec ($15m), the city ($5m) and the port ($11.9m).

As part of EV Week in Canada, the federal government has unveiled incentives for the purchase of medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles. The Incentives for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicles (iMHZEV) Program began on July 11. Scheduled for four years, the program, will help businesses and communities across the country make the switch to zero-emission vehicles with close to $550 million in incentives. Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are all eligible and purchase incentives are worth approximately half of the price difference between an electric vehicle and a traditional vehicle. The incentive tops out at $200,000 per vehicle (for a class 7/8 coach), and can be combined with provincial or territorial incentives.

The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced $18.3 million in funding for four new projects under the National Trade Corridors Fund, which will help to improve the efficiency of rail networks in Regina and in southern Saskatchewan. The Government of Canada's investment includes $1 million to develop a preliminary design to relocate railroad crossings in Regina, Saskatchewan; $13.5 million for a railway grade stabilization project, where extensive railway work will be undertaken on the Canadian Pacific Rail Interchange near Eston, Saskatchewan; $1.6 million for a new pre-interchange yard on the Canadian Pacific Railway Interchange near the town of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, which will increase operating interchange capacity, allowing increased traffic flow and improved fluidity. and $2.2 million to build 12,000 feet of additional track to address congestion issues at the interchange between the Stewart Southern Railway and Canadian Pacific in Lajord, Saskatchewan.

The clock is ticking for President Biden to decide what to do about a labour showdown that could see more than 100,000 rail workers going on strike. After more than two years of negotiations, railroads and the unions representing rail workers are at a stalemate over compensation and benefits related to their contracts. That impasse is expected to come to a head on Monday, when the deadline for negotiations comes and workers could begin going on strike. If the president declines to intercede in the railroad labor negotiations by appointing a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) before 12:01 a.m. EDT on Monday, the railroads and unions could opt for operational shutdowns or strikes, respectively. If appointed, the board would make recommendations that could be used as a framework for a voluntary settlement. With consumer prices up at a blistering 9.1% annual pace for the month of June, and inflation as measured by producer wholesale prices at 11.3% for the year ending in June, the disruption would be disastrous for the economy.

Navy leaders have disciplined more than 20 senior officers and sailors in connection with widespread leadership and other failures that contributed to the July 2020 arson fire that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard. The ship was undergoing a two-year, $250 million upgrade pierside in San Diego when the fire broke out. About 115 sailors were on board, and nearly 60 were treated for heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and minor injuries. A Navy report last year concluded that the massive five-day blaze was preventable and unacceptable, and that there were lapses in training, coordination, communications, fire preparedness, equipmentment maintenance and overall command and control. And, while one sailor — Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays — has been charged with setting the fire, the report found that failings by about three dozen officers and sailors either directly led to the ship’s loss or contributed to it. More broadly, the crew was slammed for “a pattern of failed drills, minimal crew participation, an absence of basic knowledge on firefighting” and an inability to coordinate with civilian firefighters.

Major global wheat exporters Ukraine and Russia see positive signs in discussions which could lead to the resumption of Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports after Wednesday's talks in Istanbul. It is hoped that Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations will sign a deal next week aimed at resuming Ukraine's grain exports. Ukraine's Black Sea ports have been blockaded since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, sending global prices of grains and sunflower oil soaring. Chicago wheat prices have since fallen back to pre-war levels due to the new crop in the Northern Hemisphere. French wheat prices also fell by 2% on Thursday, partly on the talks which would establish a shipping corridor to transport Ukrainian grain to global markets, and partly on improved crop forecasts.

Following consultations, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced details of its new simplified, value-based toll structure.  The new structure includes clarification of its application to vessels in ballast condition and empty containers, and a deferral of new tolls for passenger vessels until 2024 in view of the ongoing challenges.  All other tariffs will be implemented gradually from January 2023 to January 2025, including proposed modifications to the loyalty program for containerships, which will be phased out by January 2025. Incentives for return voyages applicable to containerships and liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels will be eliminated by January 2023 when the new structure comes into effect. Additionally, the visibility charge currently applied to full container vessels, and classified as Other Marine Services, will be eliminated prior to the implementation of the new tolls to avoid an overlap with the Total TEU capacity (TTA) charge.

The global pool of shipping containers increased by 13% to almost 50 million TEUs in 2021, which was three times prior trend growth. This reflected lessors and ocean carriers ordering a record number of containers, while retiring fewer aging units, as congestion across global supply chains meant containers were an estimated 15% to 20% less productive than in pre-Covid-19 times, according to Drewry’s recently published Container Census & Leasing Annual Review & Forecast 2022/23 report.  Drewry estimates that each container averaged 18.1 lifts in 2021 compared with 19.2 in 2020 and between 19.5 and 20.6 in the 2010s. Moreover, the number of containers per slot of vessel capacity increased by 8% in 2020 when the pandemic started and remained at this level throughout 2021. Drewry estimates that as many as 6 million TEU of surplus containers now exist in the global equipment pool.

Renewable energy company Drax Group and Japanese shipping company MOL Drybulk are working together to reduce the emissions and fuel costs associated with shipping biomass by deploying wind power technology on its vessels. The companies plan to facilitate the development of wind-powered vessels to transport bulk cargoes of Drax’s wood pellets to its customers in Japan, where the biomass is used to generate reliable, renewable energy, which displaces fossil fuels. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the two companies will study the feasibility of deploying a first and second generation Environmentally Friendly Bulk Carrier (EFBC) to carry Drax’s biomass. The MoU with MOL Drybulk follows Drax’s previous work with the Smart Green Shipping Alliance to look at the potential of fitting innovative sail technology on ships transporting biomass from the US to the UK.

MS Medstraum is the world’s first zero-emission fast ferry and will be operating the commuter route between Stavanger and Hommersåk on the west coast of Norway. It will be equipped with two electric motors and a battery with a capacity of 1.5MWh and a charging power of over 2MW.  The vessel will reduce emissions by 1500 tonnes a year, despite operating on one of the least energy-demanding routes.  Project partners developed and demonstrated a new and emission-free propulsion system that can maintain higher speeds than before, and have also adopted completely new modular design- and construction methods that will revolutionize the way boats are constructed in the future

Cruising speed during operation: 23 knots
Max speed: 27 knots
Length: 30 meters.
Width: 9 meters.
Battery capacity: 1524 kWh
Electric engines: 2×550 kW
Charge capacity: 2,3 MW

In 2015 the world’s first fully-electric ferry, Ampere, was built at the Fjellstrand shipyard in Hardanger, Norway. That marked the start of an electric revolution on Norwegian ferries. Now, only seven years later, there are approximately 70 emission-free ferries operating in Norway.