b'8American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comUS funds help Las Water InstituteMulti-purpose vessel/heavy lift develop early warning shoalingship outlook along the Lower MississippiBy Ed Bastian, Director of Global Sales for BBC Chartering USA, Special to the AJOTBy Stas Margaronis, AJOT Atpresentwefindthecurrentandaggressivegovernmentstimulus state of the MPV/HL [Multi-Purposeresultedinawhipsaweffectonthe The Water Institute of the Gulf isdisasters and economic shocks. Vessel/Heavy Lift] sector, the work- supply chain. The only real solution to harvesting depth sounding data fromInaninterview,BobbyLandry,horse ships of the project business, toimproving the supply chain is getting a fleet of tugs working in LouisianasSeniorAdvisorWaterInstituteofthebe in fairly good shape. We have seensupply and demand back into balance stretch of the Mississippi River so asGulf, toldAJOT: The purpose of thea slight pullback in container demandwhich will take time.todevelopanearlywarningsystemproject is to provide a good predictivefor MPV tonnage, but it has not yet that anticipates shoaling problems formodel for whats going on the Missis- reflecteddramaticallyinrespecttoiMo r eGuLations& f Leetr eneWaLsriver shipping and ports.sippiRiver.Tosomeextentwehavetimecharterrates.SinceAugustofIn2020internationalshipping With grants from the U.S. Depart- betterdataaboutthesurfaceofthe2020MPVtimecharterrateshavewentthroughasignificantchange ment of Commerces Economic Devel- Moon than we do about the riverbed ofmore than tripled. So, the current flat- whentheIMOintroducedtheSul-opment Agency, the Statethe Mississippi River. tening of the time charter rates shouldphurcontentcapformarinefuels. ofLouisiana,PortofLandry added: Wenot come as any surprise after the hugeThe allowable Sulphur content went NewOrleans,Portofdont have sufficient datarunup we have seen the last few years.from 3.5% to 0.5% unless the vessel South Louisiana and otheralong the tributaries andThe last time I wrote on this subjectwas equipped with scrubbers. These partners, the Institute willattheportsandespe- wasMayofthisyearandInotedchangesinregulationswereover develop a Lower Missis- cially at the smaller ports.thatCOVID-19,thesupplychain,10 years in the making and allowed sippi River SmartPort &Currently, we cannot pre- and inflation were all flashing red asownersampletimetoprepare.The Resilience Center (Smart- dict or anticipate a prob- we moved into the summer. It seemsresulting increase in fuel expenditures Port). lem. I was very surprisedthat two out of the three have at leastandotherassociatedcostsinmost TheInstitutesaysto find that a lot of tugsshownsignsofimprovementwhilecase was passed along to shippers in theSmartPortprojectdidnotcarrysoundinginflationhasnot. Wearestartingtothe form of higher freight rates.will forecast shoalingequipment. It is impor- see the first signs of how high energyAsweapproach2023theIMO atportfacilitiesalongtant that I emphasize atprices impact our everyday life. Ear- will again flex its muscles and intro-theMississippiRiver,Bobby Landry, Senior Advisorthis point our data col- lier in the supply chain crisis, shippersduce a number of new regulations and improveportopera- Water Institute of the Gulf lection and analyzationwerescreamingaboutthedramaticmilestones in order to further reduce tions and benefit a variety of stake- arenotdesignedfornavigationbutrise in freight rates but the market hasvesselemissionsandreducecarbon holders who need to understand howwill certainly aid in commercial con- had no choice but to accept and passintensity for all ships by 2030. These sediment builds up in the Mississippicerns along the River. along these increases to the end user.regulations will have the most impact RiverandwillbecoupledwithaPreviously, Landry worked at theAfter collapsing in the second halfon older vessels resulting in an accel-suite of weather, river, and road trafficPort of New Orleans where since 1989of 2020, global demand for goods sky- eration of investment in new and more analyticstoimproveefficiencyandhe served as the Director of Market- rocketed past pre-pandemic levels. Theenvironmentally friendly vessels. The help the regions ports become moreing,SeniorManagerofOperations,change in consumer spending habits,maritime industry is not only feeling resilient in the face of future natural(DEVELOPcontinued on page 12) collapseinservicesectorspending(OUTLOOKcontinued on page 14)'