Great Lakes industry presses for dredge funds

Great Lakes industry presses for dredge funds    The worst of the economic recession may be over for the U.S.-flag Great Lakes carriers, but many find they still can't achieve full loads.
   Several decades of insufficient federal funds for the Army Corps of Engineers to perform maintenance dredging has allowed silt to rapidly build up in many Great Lakes harbors.
   'Lake Erie is like a big bathtub,' said Noel Bassett, vice president of operations for American Steamship Co., an operator of 18 U.S.-flag vessels on the Great Lakes. 'The winds keep the lake water moving back and forth, pushing silt into the harbors.'
   It's estimated that as much as 15.5 million cubic yards of sediment needs to be removed from Great Lakes harbors to allow vessels to make fully loaded voyages of bulk cargoes between the region's U.S. ports.
   'We're not exaggerating,' Bassett told members of the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force and lawmakers Wednesday evening in Washington at the annual Great Lakes Legislator of the Year event. 'We are at a crucial time.'
   He warned that if the harbors aren't dredged the Great Lakes industry risks watching cargoes shift to other modes like rail and truck, which 'emit more emissions' than vessels, and in the worst case, drive more manufacturing overseas. The Great Lakes region is central to the country's steelmaking industry.
   Bassett further highlighted the need for dredging by noting how American Steamship's vessel Burns Harbor transported as much as 72,300 tons of iron ore pellets in a single record trip in 1997, but in 2010 the same ship transported only 66,000 tons for its biggest single trip.
   'Nine percent of the ship's carrying capacity is negated,' he said. The inability to move that extra 6,300 tons per voyage on the Burns Harbor over the course of a year is equivalent to closing an iron ore mine for two weeks. An ore vessel loses about 250 tons of potential cargo load per inch of lost harbor draft.

American Steamship Co.'s Burns Harbor passing through the Poe Locks

   'When a ship delivers a full load of low-sulfur coal to the Belle River power plant (in Michigan), the cargo can total 70,000 tons or more, and the electricity produced there powers many industries,' said John Baker, president of the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force in 2011. 'Unfortunately because of the dredging crisis, the top cargo in 2010 was 66,000 tons.'
   The Cleveland-based Lake Carriers' Association reported in January that U.S.-flag freighters plying the Great Lakes carried 88.7 million tons of dry bulk cargo in 2010, a 33.4 percent increase over 2009. However, these shipments were off nearly 10 percent from the industry's five-year average due to the economic recession.
   The association, which is a member of the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force, noted the largest increase in 2010 came in iron ore cargoes for the steel industry. Shipments in U.S.-flag lakers increased 75 percent to 42 million tons. 'Again, however, the rebound has to be put in perspective. In 2009 iron ore shipments from ports fell to their lowest level since 1938,' the association said.
   Coal cargos carried in U.S.-flag hulls rose 4.1 percent to 21.5 million tons, but fell short of the trade's five-year average by almost 13 percent. Shipments of limestone (aggregate and fluxstone) improved 19.6 percent to 20.4 million tons, but was nearly 18 percent below the trade's five-year average.
   According to the association, cement cargos slipped about 80,000 tons, salt loadings increased 130,000 tons, and sand cargos dipped slightly. Grain loadings were on par with 2009 volumes.
   The task force, whose 82 members include labor and management representing U.S.-flag vessel operators, shipboard and longshore unions, port authorities, shippers, terminal operators and shipyards, support recently introduced legislation (H.R. 104 ' Restore America's Maritime Promise Act) that requires the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to be spent on harbor and waterways dredging, as it was originally intended.
   'The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund has a surplus of $5.65 billion because the government only spends about $750 million a year on dredging deep-draft ports and waterways,' Baker said. 'As a result vessels working the Great Lakes often forfeit as much as 10 percent of their carrying capacity each trip.'
   Congress appropriated $138 million for Great Lakes dredging in fiscal year 2008, the most funds approved for this work in years. Since then the appropriations have been much less.
   H.R. 104 was introduced by Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., on Jan. 5, and has since been endorsed by a bipartisan group of 37 representatives. 'We absolutely need to spend the money we're taking in' to the trust fund, said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., who was this year's recipient of the task force's Legislator of the Year award and has been an ardent supporter of H.R. 104 and Great Lakes dredging.
   The task force estimates that the Corps of Engineers in the Great Lakes will require at least $200 million a year from the trust fund to remove the silt and maintain harbor depths that allow vessels to fully load.
   'Dredging is a critical investment in the prosperity of the entire Great Lakes region,' Bassett said. ' Chris Gillis