Tugs were called in to rescue the ship so she could reach the dock, disembark the passengers and vehicles, and make repairs to the aging, 58 year old converted rail car ferry’s engine in hopes of a better return voyage to its home port of Ludington, MI.  The ferry was scheduled to return to Michigan yesterday evening, but that voyage has been postponed until at least Saturday while crews are desperately trying to make repairs to the ship’s more than half-century old duel “Skinner Uniflow” engines.  There were no reports of the findings of any investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard about the exact cause of the ship’s grounding.

A member of the SS Badger’s crew indicated that shoaling and the lack of dredging funds may have played a role in the ship’s failure to reach the dock and running aground. Senior chief engineer Charles Cart told reporters at the scene that the boat ran into sediment that often builds up in Great Lakes harbors during the winter.  He also indicated that a problem with a piston reduced the boat’s engine power, and hampered efforts to free it from the shoal. A tugboat finally freed the SS Badger, allowing passengers and their vehicles to leave. 

The lack of Great Lakes dredging funds may have played a role in the grounding of the SS Badger, supporting the maritime industry’s claim that the dredging issue has reached crisis proportions.  Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Administrator Terry Johnson publicly called for the Obama Administration and Congress to address the crisis just over a week before he was fired by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.  Some speculate that Johnson’s whistle-blowing over the harbor maintenance crisis may have been the most proximate cause for his being terminated by the administration, hoping that it would silence his voice on the issue.    

Whatever the cause, the SS Badger’s failure to reach the dock has snarled the Memorial Day weekend plans of hundreds of families who were thinking about traveling across the Lake over the long weekend. Some families hoping to travel to western Michigan vacation spots for the weekend were hoping to get tickets on the Lake Express high-speed ferry which ferries passengers and vehicles from Milwaukee to Muskegon rather than the unpleasant prospect of facing highway traffic in the Chicagoland area and Northwest Indiana.    

Surely, the owners of the SS Badger, Lake Michigan Carferry LLC (LMC) had hoped for a less ominous opening to their 2012 navigation season.  The coal-burning ship has been under fire by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a number of environmental organizations for the ships current practice of dumping nearly 4 tons of coal ash directly into Lake Michigan every day it operates.  LMC admits that the coal ash contains mercury, lead and other chemicals known to be toxic.  The EPA told the SS Badger’s owners in 2008 that this practice would have to stop and the final deadline for the coal ash dumping comes in December of this year.  Earlier this week LMC filed a petition for yet another lengthy extension for permission to continue dumping coal ash into the Lake.    

Ancient mariners used to capture seabirds to examine their entrails to foretell the prospects of their sea voyages.  Who knows what an examination of the entrails of the gulls flying above the sooty stack of the SS Badger might yield?  

The position will provide a challenging opportunity for an aggressive professional to manage, develop and execute strategic action plans for the Seaport of Monroe, Monroe-Custer Airport and the Industrial Properties operated under the oversight jurisdiction of the Monroe Port Commission. 

Located on Lake Erie and bisected by the River Raisin, the Port of Monroe is Michigan’s only Port on Lake Erie. It is located 35 miles south of Detroit, Michigan and 17 miles north of Toledo, OH.

For more information about the Port of Monroe or about the position, please refer to the Port of Monroe website www.portofmonroe.com . 

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have 3-5 years experience in executive management at a major U.S. commercial seaport (Great Lakes Port would be a plus) with operations, cargo development and marketing responsibilities.   A Bachelor’s Degree is required.  Other qualifications that would enhance a candidate’s appeal would include:  strategic planning, fiscal management, team-oriented management style, grant writing and grant administration experience, public speaking, and media relations skills. The position provides the opportunity for the appointed Director to be a creative port developer, as well as an astute and effective port manager. 

Compensation

The compensation package for the successful candidate will be reflective of industry standards for comparably situated ports and scope of the Director’s responsibilities.  (American Association of Port Authorities Salary data will be utilized).  A employment agreement will be offered along with arrangements and timing for taking the position.  The employee agreement will be reviewed annually with the Director for extension and salary adjustment.   

Contact

Dale H. Brose, Vice-Chair Strategic Business Development, PORT OF MONROE, PO Box 585, Monroe, Michigan 48161-0585; Tele. 734 241-6480;  E-mail: dale.brose@portofmonroe.com

This year, Great Lakes voters again sit at the center of the U.S. political universe. 

Current opinion polling would suggest that the 2012 presidential election is shaping up to be potentially very close.  The voters of Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania will likely determine the outcome of the race for the White House.  Professional political analysts have a hard time coming up with scenarios in which either candidate loses four of those five and comes away the victor.

Two Republican governorships are on the line in 2012.  In Indiana, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) is considered to be the heavy favorite to succeed Governor Mitch Daniels (R), who is term-limited.  In Wisconsin, public employee unions have forced a recall election on Governor Scott Walker (R), only the third such election forced on a sitting Governor in U.S. history.  After a hard-fought Democratic primary, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett (D) will face Walker in a rematch of the 2010 race which Walker won by a six percentage point margin.  Current polling in Wisconsin shows a similar margin now trending in Walker’s favor with the election scheduled for June 5.

The Great Lakes states have 16 U.S. Senators and for the second election cycle in a row, seven of them are on the line this year.  The Democrats have to defend their seats in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota.  The GOP will have to defend only the Indiana senate seat where State Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R) recently defeated six-term incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) in the GOP primary held earlier this month.

Barring some unforeseen circumstances, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) should cruise to victory in November.  Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) all currently enjoy double-digit leads over their GOP rivals, but should expect their races to tighten up considerably once voters begin to focus after Labor Day.

The hottest Senate races in the Great Lakes region will be in Wisconsin and Indiana. In Wisconsin likely GOP nominee, former Governor and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson (R) enjoys about a six-point polling advantage over presumptive Democratic Party nominee Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).  In Indiana, polling conducted immediately after Mourdock’s trouncing of the iconic Lugar shows a dead heat with Rep. Joe Donnelly.  Look for Mourdock to open up a lead in the weeks to come, but the race could remain tight.

Of the six seats gained by the GOP senate minority ranks in 2010, four of those came in Pennsylvania (Toomey), Indiana (Coates), Illinois (Kirk) and Wisconsin (Johnson).  The Republicans also retained the seat of retiring Sen. George Voinovich (Portman).

In terms of the races for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, there is more action in the Great Lakes region than there is room in this column.  We'll explore some of those key races in future editions of Great Lakes-Seaway News.

In 2012 it is likely that political analysts will say, once again, as the Great Lakes region goes, so goes the nation.             

At that time, that the state reversed itself, and NYDEC announced that the compliance deadlines in its regulations would be extended until December 19, 2013 – the date upon which the regulations were scheduled to sunset on their own.  The net effect was that all regulatory requirements were eliminated.

While this news was welcome, it also raised the rather obvious question, "What happens after December 19, 2013?"  The answer to that question has now been revealed.

NYDEC has now published its proposed ballast water rules for the period beginning on December 19, 2013 and running through December 19, 2017. 

The proposed rulemaking makes it clear that the State of New York has chosen to embrace rules similar to those recently put forward by the U.S. Coast Guard.  Likewise, it appears the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will adopt similar rules by no later than November of this year.  In addition to the Coast Guard/EPA rules, the State of New York is also planning to include a provision requiring ocean vessel operators to continue to conduct deep sea ocean ballast water exchange, something that the St. Lawrence Seaway System has required since the mid-1990's.

While it took far too much time and effort on the part of industry, it would seem that New York, under Governor Andrew Cuomo's leadership now understands that real and workable environmental protection regualtions are more valuable than ideologically-driven empty gestures.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has indicated that 2012 will be the last year that the EPA will allow the SS Badger to dump coal ash, which contains lead, mercury, arsenic and selenium directly into Lake Michigan.  The owners of the SS Badger, privately-held Lake Michigan Carferry LLC have hired lobbyists and pursued a number of different strategies to try to get yet another extension from the EPA.  None of those strategies has been successful this year.

In addition to the coal and postcard mailing to Michigan state legislators, the group is also urging citizens to sign a petition to federal and state regulators to put final stop to the practice of dumping coal ash directly into Lake Michigan.  The group's petition appeal says:

"For nearly 50 years, SS Badger officials have promised to stop dumping coal in Lake Michigan--someday.  Meanwhile, they have continually sought special favors so they can continue to ignore state laws which ban dumping in our Great Lakes.  Now they want another 5 years to continue toxic coal dumping in Lake Michigan.

Someday has finally arrived.  60 years of dumping coal is enough. Join the conversation. let's tell state and federal regulators that the SS Badger has to follow the same clean water laws as the rest of us. lets tell the SS Badger to Stop Dumping Coal in our Great Lakes.  Learn more at:  StopDumpingCoal.org"   

Can the U.S. DOT Ship Be Righted?

Pity those dedicated souls working at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).  The department of the U.S. government charged with improving the safety, reliability, efficiency and effectiveness of our nation’s transportation infrastructure is taking on water in a maelstrom of its own making.  

When the department was first conceived in the 1960’s it was hoped that by lumping all of the various transportation-related agencies into a single cabinet-level department, more attention would be paid to maintaining, improving and modernizing America’s roadways, waterways, railways and airports.

As the state of our nation’s transportation infrastructure will tell you, that promise has never been fully realized.  At its best, the Department of Transportation can be an organization that helps envision new initiatives, technologies and strategies to partner with private industry to literally move America forward.  It can coordinate U.S. transportation policy for a variety of modal administrations that compete for resources and the fleeting attentions of policy makers. 

At its worst, and it is very close to that now, it is an aging cheerleader with little vision, creaky legs and a tiny megaphone that tries to rally support for myopic transportation policies with no future and little popular support. 

To some extent, any organization, even a large one, takes on the personality of its leader or leaders.  Unfortunately, in recent years, this has been the case at U.S. DOT.  With few exceptions, DOT has mismatched its second-tier cabinet status with third-tier leaders.  Such is the case with Secretary Ray LaHood.  LaHood, a lightly-regarded former congressional back-bencher from Illinois, seemed to boast a willingness to say or do anything for his “Land of Lincoln” political cronies as his principle qualification for the job.  Obama and his Chicago-dominated political team were desperate to find Republicans willing to push a Democratic agenda, and found LaHood to be a willing henchman.

The Obama-LaHood transportation agenda has been dominated by a focus on building a series of one-off, high-speed rail projects with no connectivity from one project to the next.  This brilliant little strategem in one of the georgraphically largest nations on earth with perhaps the world's most affordable air transport system. Yet, billions have been requested from the federal taxpayer to pay for these imaginary rail projects that are unlikely to ever achieve financial self-sufficiency and, if built, would add billions to the ballooning national debt just to offset operating losses.

Maritime policy is an even worse mess.  The United States has arguably the least successful maritime policies of any major industrialized nation, yet the U.S. DOT’s Maritime Administration has done little to modernize maritime policy, while simultaneously managing only to antagonize virtually every major maritime labor organization.

This, while America’s ports, harbors and connecting channels go without critically-needed maintenance funds that have already been paid for by the shipping industry.  The Obama administration has raised the budgetary Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund shell-game to a high art form.

The cherry on top of this sundae of sadness was the petty, partisan, and possibly illegal firing of SLSDC Administrator Terry Johnson by LaHood less than two weeks ago.  As congressional investigators look into this political execution, they should ask LaHood who gave him the order to fire someone without cause who had been duly appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve for a statutorily-mandated term of seven years before those seven years elapsed.

Another important question is, “Can a Secretary of Transportation be effective and can the integrity of the Department be restored after the stain of the LaHood years which are coming to a close at the end of 2012?”        

The answer to that question is a hopeful and optimistic yes.  DOT has had good leadership before.  Notably, Secretary Rodney Slater, who served in the Clinton Administration and Secretary Norman Mineta, who served President George W. Bush were good and decent men who did creditable jobs as DOT leaders. 

There is hope that the DOT ship can be righted, but it will take a leader with a clear vision and good and steady hand at the helm to steer the Department back on course.

April iron ore tonnages on U.S. flag bulkers were nearly 23 percent greater than the 5-year average for the month.  Shipments from U.S. ports totaled 5.4 million tons, an increase of 5.7 percent compared to the April 2011 totals.  That amount included 435,000 tons of iron ore products that were transshipped to Quebec for final delivery overseas. Loadings at Canadian ports rose by 9.7 percent.

Through April 11.9 million tons of iron ore has been shipped on the Great Lakes, an increase of roughly 11.5 percent compared to a year ago and 28.2 percent better than the 5-year average for the January-April timeframe.  Shipments from U.S. ports are up 12.4 percent compared to a year ago and 31.5 percent ahead of their 5-year average. Loadings at Canadian ports are basically unchanged from both a year ago and their 5-year average for the first four months of the year.

Chairman LoBiondo showed the U.S. Coast Guard some of the "tough love" for which he has become known during his opening statement which follows:  

The Coast Guard’s acquisition programs have suffered through some dark days and this Subcommittee has been vigilant to ensure the Service has the capability, capacity, and motivation to reform its acquisition process.  I applaud the improvements made by both Admiral Papp and his predecessor, Admiral Thad Allen.  They both made acquisitions reform a priority and focused on the end result: building new assets in a timely and cost-effective manner. 

However, I fear that for every two steps forward, we may still be taking one step back.  I’m very concerned about the recent discovery that Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, the third and newest National Security Cutter, is in need of an emergency dry dock to fix leaky hull plating.  I know there is an investigation into what caused this steel to fail, but it is extremely troubling to see the newest ship in the fleet, and the most expensive cutter in Coast Guard history needing emergency repairs.

I am also upset to hear there is a shortage of spares for the maritime patrol aircraft.  Due to poor planning and budgetary shortsightedness, the brand new fleet of MPAs will face flight hour restrictions for the foreseeable future, further exacerbating the MPA patrol hour gap.

The failure to adequately budget for critical spares points to larger problems with the budget request and the sustainability of the Capital Improvement Plan.  The Administration’s decision to cut the Service’s acquisition budget by 19 percent over the current year has left it scrambling to reprioritize limited funding, forcing the termination of critical acquisition programs, and the reduction in vital capabilities for certain assets.  Trying to squeeze a $2.5 billion annual need into $1.2 billion annual program is not going to work.  Tradeoffs will undermine the Service’s mission effectiveness and costs will increase in the out years.

I also continue to be concerned with the findings by the GAO and others which question the Service’s assertions that new assets are providing increased capability.  For instance, after 10 years and nearly $4 billion appropriated by Congress, the National Security Cutter and the C4ISR program still have not met promised capability.  The three National Security Cutters operating today still lack enhanced small boats, extended aerial surveillance capability, or a crewing plan to increase patrol days.  And the C4ISR program has failed to deliver a common operating picture across all assets.  I look forward to hearing from the Admiral how these acquisitions are a good investment for the taxpayer, and how we are going to get the results we were promised.

Finally, while it important to focus on how the Coast Guard intends to recapitalize its assets, we must not forget that the Service faces a half a billion dollar backlog in shoreside infrastructure.  The Administration’s decision to slash shoreside infrastructure funding by 86 percent and zero out funds to rehabilitate servicemember housing is extremely disappointing.  We ask a lot of the men and women of the United States Coast Guard.  Failing to provide them and their families with adequate housing is just unacceptable.  Admiral, I hope you will be able to tell me when we can expect to receive the complete housing survey report and what the Coast Guard is doing to ensure our servicemembers have the resources and support they need.

Specifically, coal shipments posted a 40 percent increase compared the beginning of the 2011 navigation season.  Coal shipments increased to 600,000 metric tons compared to the same period last year. Midwest Energy Resources Company which has a facility at the Port of Duluth-Superior expects to export 1.5 million metric tons of coal this year as they continue to build on their market strategy to expand their service area into Europe.

Iron ore tonnage increased by 8 percent compared to the same period last year at 1.1 million metric tons, which included transshipments to Quebec for international export.  Bulk materials, which include among other items, construction materials such as stone and cement, increased by 15 percent to 1.2 million metric tons in April compared to the same month in 2011.  Salt tonnage posted a 28 percent rise over last year to 328,000 metric tons as North American cities replenish their reserves for road salting next winter.

“Duluth is off to a strong start with heavy-lift and project cargoes this year,” said Adolph Ojard, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “We’re expecting nearly 20 ships with heavy machinery and other energy-related cargoes through the Port of Duluth-Superior during 2012, the majority of which will include components for U.S. wind energy projects.”

Cargo volume at the Port of Cleveland rose 25 percent in April compared to the same period a year ago, as an uptick in manufacturing led to an increased demand for steel. “In April we received a charter vessel from Brazil carrying steel billets – a cargo we haven’t seen in more than five years,” said David Gutheil, the port’s vice president of maritime and logistics. “We are optimistic that our volumes through 2012 will remain strong as a result of both the growth in steel cargoes and our focus on marketing the port’s capabilities.”