Innovation at Work

 

[By Tom Peters]

A special, heavy project move for a historic project. It couldn’t have been scripted any better.

The marine towing division of Carver Companies of Coeymans, New York, which owns and operates the maritime terminal located about 10 miles south of Albany on the Hudson River, recently completed the barge transport through the Erie Canal of large bridge components that will form a new entrance span to Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Park, a massive community-driven redevelopment project transforming a 100-plus-acre city waterfront park into a world-class recreational destination.

Tug-and-barge transport along the entirety of the canal, once commonplace, has become a rarity. The complex, 374-nautical mile journey requires traversing 34 locks.

The bridge components departed from Italy in June, crossed through New York Harbor and up the Hudson to the Port of Coeymans, where Carver offloaded the sections onto two 195-foot-long barges. Once assembled and installed, the 266-foot bridge will connect the Lower West Side of Buffalo to the park, which is scheduled to start opening in phases in 2026.

“This project is a significant undertaking, utilizing a vital piece of American history to transport a modern marvel,” stated Carver Laraway, President & CEO of Carver Companies and the Port of Coeymans. “It’s a testament to both innovation and tradition.”

Wind Energy Components

While moving bridge components along the Erie Canal is not an everyday undertaking, moving components for offshore and onshore wind energy projects is becoming an everyday event.

The Port of Galveston is reaping the rewards of expanding its foreign trade zone (FTZ) with the importation of hundreds of enormous wind turbine pieces. The growth was spurred by the port’s move to authorize additional cargo acreage for its FTZ to accommodate its expanding wind turbine import business. Since April, it’s imported approximately 528 blades and tower pieces with several hundred expected from Europe in the coming months.

Galveston’s ro/ro cargo business is also expanding. Through April 2024, new car imports were up 14 percent compared to the same period last year to more than 13,000 tons. Other types of ro/ro cargo, including large agriculture and construction equipment exports, totaled 170,000 tons.

The West Port cargo complex is being enlarged to accommodate ro/ro, breakbulk and other cargoes with an estimated $90-million capital improvement project. The port is demolishing an old grain elevator to add about 30 acres of waterfront cargo laydown area. The phased work includes filling two slips and building a 1,426-foot-long berth. Port staff are working closely with stevedores and tenants during construction to minimize impacts on various ongoing cargo operations.

Farther south, at the Port of Virginia, the Portsmouth Marine Terminal is being repurposed into a U.S. East Coast offshore wind logistics hub. Work is 75 percent complete, says spokesman Joe Harris. The $220-million project is tracking for completion in January 2025. The terminal is already receiving regular shipments of components such as monopiles and pin piles that will be used in the massive Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project.

Harris noted the port recently completed its fiscal year 2024 and processed 284,000 tons of breakbulk cargo, more than double the previous year. He attributed the increase to the “growing amount of offshore wind-related components we are handling and part of the increase comes as a result of the 11-week closure of the Port of Baltimore. We handled several diverted ro/ro and breakbulk vessels during Baltimore’s closure.”

More Innovation

Richard Scher, spokesman for the Port of Baltimore, provided an update on the situation there: “We are currently seeing a steady return of all of our cargoes as we rebound from the Key Bridge incident.” He added that on the breakbulk and project cargo side, Baltimore has a lot happening.

“We recently handled a significant Heat Steam Recovery Generator (HSRG) project direct to rail and direct to truck that included turbines,” he explained. “In July, we handled a shipment destined for Ohio consisting of MAFI cargo (roller platform trailers), over-dimensional and heavy-lift components. Baltimore is the closest East Coast port to the Midwest, and this is a project that will continue through 2026,” adding the port also handled inbound steel mill machinery, compressors, transformers, military project cargo, airplane components and other power generation projects.

The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) is investing $262 million in its Colonel’s Island autoport and Mayor’s Point breakbulk terminal in Brunswick. Improvements to support the increasing breakbulk trade at Mayor’s Point include a new, 100,000-square-foot warehouse with up-to-date life-safety components and flooring upgrades to handle heavy loads.

According to GPA spokesman Ed Fulford, Georgia Ports’ customers are helping boost the manufacture of high-and-heavy machinery from India, leading to an expected increase in imports of finished machinery arriving from India as ro/ro cargo.

GPA handled two million tons of bulk cargo in FY 2024 (July 2023-June 2024), an increase of 25 percent or nearly 411,000 tons compared to the previous year. The Colonel’s Island Terminal handled 876,000 units of ro/ro cargo in FY 2024, up 21 percent.

At the Port of San Diego, a new microgrid at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal (TAMT) – part of a number of electrification initiatives – is helping support the eight plug-in sites for the new, all-electric mobile harbor cranes operating out of the TAMT. The cranes are replacing diesel-powered ones.

“Not only do these cranes eliminate a major source of diesel emissions,” noted Greg Borossay, Principal, Maritime Business Development, “they also increase productivity and cargo business for us. With their combined 400-metric tons of lift capacity, they represent the heaviest lift capability of any crane system currently in place on the West Coast.” Most of the heavy-lift cargoes destined for the region weigh more than 200 metric tons.

Steady Growth

Port Tampa Bay, on Florida’s west coast, reports some impressive cargo growth for the first six months of FY 2024 with cement up by 11 percent to 640,000 tons, limestone up 20 percent to 953,000 tons, phosphate fertilizer up 151 percent to 221,000 tons and grain more than doubling to 75,000 tons. General cargo showed an impressive 45 percent bump for steel and a big jump in vehicles.

“Much of the growth is a result of the expansion of the Florida market, including the construction and building sectors, fueled by continued strong population growth,” says Wade Elliott, Port Tampa Bay’s Senior Vice President, Marketing and Business Development.

Two recent developments are also expected to have an impact on Port Tampa Bay’s bulk, breakbulk and special cargo sections. The port has approved lease agreements with Agunsa (AGS) for facilities at its Eastport and Hookers Point locations. AGS provides ocean transportation and logistics solutions including port terminal services, ship operations, vessel agency, warehousing, trucking and airport services. AGS will operate 18 acres at Eastport plus lease 15 acres at Hookers Point with plans to develop a transload warehouse distribution facility.

In addition, Overseas Shipholding Group Inc., a provider of energy transportation services with a fleet of crude oil and product tankers, has been awarded a federal grant to design a new articulated tug-and-barge unit to be used to transport CO2 captured by emitters in the state to sequestration sites in the Gulf of Mexico.

Across the country at the Port of Portland, Oregon, a major infrastructure project is getting underway this summer at Terminal 6 that will benefit future breakbulk and project cargo operations. The roughly $40-million project will renew asphalt over 10 acres for heavy cargo use and replace yard lighting with energy-efficient LED lighting. It also includes additional pavement upgrades throughout the terminal, a new storm water system and new emergency generators.

Terminal 6 Manager Fred Myer says, “The Port of Portland remains well-positioned for breakbulk and project cargo shipping with ample storage, equipment and capacity along with direct Class 1 railroad access and links to the major north/south and east interstate freeway systems.”

Look for more growth to come!  

Tom Peters is the magazine’s ports columnist.