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| Subject: | CHARLESTON SC DAILY PORT UPDATES | | Date: | Wednesday, August 19, 2009 | | Priority: | Normal | | Notice: |
URGENT INFORMATION - NONE
PORT LIMITS/INFORMATION
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Maximum Depths - (Fresh)
Harbor Entrance - 47.0 ft
Main Channel - 45.0 ft
BERTH LIMITS/INFORMATION:
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Current maximum drafts allowed at berths:
Amerada Hess - Max draft - 40'00
Delfin - Max Draft - 42'00
Chem Marine - Max Draft - 38'00 MLW
Kinder Morgan - berth 1 - 40'00
Kinder Morgan - berth 2 - 40'00
Kinder Morgan - berth 3 - TBA
Kinder Morgan - berth 4 - Max draft 39'00, tide needed for anything
deeper than 36'00
BP - Max draft 32'6" Low water / Salt
Wando Terminal - Max draft 45'00 MLW - Max BM No restriction
North Charleston Terminal - Max draft 45'00 MLW - Max BM No restriction
CST - Max draft 45'00 MLW - Max BM No restrictions
Nucor - Max draft 25'00 (movements daylight & tidal restricted), Max LOA
450', Max Beam 52'
Per pilots - restrictions for Tanker movements:
Drafts of 36'00 or less may transit at anytime Drafts of 36'01 to 40'00 -
window: Start in 1 Hour before low water until 2 hours before high water
Drafts of 40'01 to 41'00 - window: start in 2 hours after low water until
2 hours before high water
Drafts of 41'01 to 42'00 - window: start in 3 hours after low water until
3 hours before high water
VESSEL TRAFFIC:
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FEDERAL, STATE & LOCAL FILING REQUIREMENTS:
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96 Hours - advance notice of arrival required by USCG
48 Hours - advance receipt of crew list by Immigration for any vessel
arriving from a foreign port, or arriving coast wise with detained crew.
24 Hours (minimum) - Foreign cargo must have manifest submitted to
Customs & Border Patrol AMS. Bond must be filed for Foreign flag vessels
or U.S. flag arriving with foreign cargo aboard. All vessels must sumbit
USCG's H1N1 Flu checklist.
24 Hours - advance notice to Pilots
24 Hours - advance fax of crew list and approved visitors required by
Terminal.
72 Hours - post port call, the Port Authority requires bill of lading
figures for all bulk cargo.
Port Security - All persons doing business within Port Authority property
must have security pass from SCPA. All persons wanting unescorted access
to any vessel must have a valid TWIC.
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CURRENT ARTICLES:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2009
South Carolina Ports Top 1.37 Million TEU, Add New Business
Charleston, SC – Despite a widespread decline in global shipping, in fiscal
year 2009 the South Carolina State Ports Authority (SCSPA) handled 1.37
million 20-foot equivalent container units, secured several new major
business accounts and is primed to take advantage of the deepest harbor in
the U.S. Southeast.
“The global economic situation has been incredibly tough on port
communities across the world, including ours,” said David J. Posek,
chairman of the SCSPA. “We should be proud that the people of South
Carolina’s ports have banded together to better serve our existing
customers, while at the same time attracting new business.”
Ocean carriers have idled 10% of the world’s shipping fleet amid the
recession, but the shuffling and juggling of container services today
should play to Charleston’s advantages, said the SCSPA’s interim president
& CEO, John F. Hassell III.
“Fewer, larger ships will handle world trade in the years to come,” said
Hassell. “With the deepest shipping channels in the region, Charleston is
well positioned for this development, as well as for the expanded Panama
Canal in 2014. South Carolina is the place to do business now, and in the
future.”
In addition, Hassell noted several accomplishments over the past fiscal
year, such as:
Extending through 2017 a contract with Mediterranean Shipping Company for
the Port of Charleston
Bringing National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia to Charleston with a new
regular service for containers, breakbulk and roll-on/roll-off cargo
Finalizing a two-year contract extension with the Grand Alliance consortium
Adding a new Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics service between the U.S. East
Coast and North Europe
Entering a new 20-year contract in the Port of Georgetown for
Carolina-Pacific to export wood briquettes to North Europe, starting this fall
Signing a new deal with Celebrity Cruises for port-of-call and embarkations
through 2011
Increasing refrigerated and container capacity at the Wando Welch Terminal
Awarding a $55-million construction contract for new container terminal work
Starting a strategic planning process that will be completed in the coming
weeks
Implementing successfully the new federal Transportation Worker
Identification Credential (TWIC) for thousands of longshoremen, truckers
and other working on the docks
Advancing environmental initiatives, including $5.3 million in diesel
emissions reduction projects, an Environmental Management System and the
first port air emissions inventory in the Southeast
Restructuring and adding staff to the marketing & sales functions
Completing customer relations training for all SCSPA employees
Also during the past year, the search for a new president and chief
executive officer concluded with the hiring of James I. (Jim) Newsome III
as the fifth leader in the SCSPA’s history. Mr. Newsome begins on September
1 after a more than 30-year shipping industry career, most recently as
president of Hapag-Lloyd (America), Inc., part of the world’s fifth-largest
ocean shipping company.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the SCSPA handled 1.37 million
20-foot equivalent units (TEU) at its three container terminals in the Port
of Charleston, down 19 percent from 1.69 million TEU in FY2008.
Breakbulk volume in Charleston was down 17 percent, with 549,008 pier tons
handled in FY2009 versus 660,096 pier tons in the previous year.
The Port of Georgetown’s volume was up 3 percent over last year to 286,254
tons of cargo. In addition to the new renewable energy project in
Georgetown, several additional contracts could bring several million tons
of new cargo through the port.
The SCSPA continued to post strong financial results, with an operating
margin approaching 19 percent. Operating revenues were off 18 percent to
$136.2 million, while operating expenses were flat at $111 million, and
earnings decreased by 53 percent to $25.7 million.
About the South Carolina State Ports Authority:
The South Carolina State Ports Authority, established by the state's
General Assembly in 1942, owns and operates public seaport facilities in
Charleston and Georgetown, handling international commerce valued at more
than $62 billion annually and receiving no direct taxpayer subsidy. An
economic development engine for the state, port operations facilitate
260,800 jobs across South Carolina and nearly $45 billion in economic
activity each year.
For more information:
Byron D. Miller
Director, Public Relations
S.C. State Ports Authority
843-577-8197
www.scspa.com
=========================================
Nucor denies claims
Statement: Business wants class-action ruling revisited
By Warren Wise
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Current and former Nucor Steel workers who are suing the company for racial
discrimination at its Huger mill hailed a recent legal victory in the
5-year-old case on Tuesday. But the manufacturer insists the allegations
are baseless and that it is being targeted by lawyers looking to cash in on
its success.
The plaintiffs and their attorneys held a news conference in Charleston to
laud a recent decision by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviving
the case as a class-action lawsuit. That, in turn, triggered a written
public statement from Nucor, which said it will ask the three-judge panel
to revisit that ruling.
Seven black workers at the Berkeley County mill sued the Charlotte-based
manufacturer in 2004 in federal court alleging discrimination in promotions
and a racially hostile work environment. Three remain employed there.
One of them is crane operator Jacob Ravenell of St. Stephen. He said the
past five years have been "quite a long and stressful journey."
"Nothing verbally has been said toward me, but you can feel the unease in
the air," Ravenell said at Tuesday's news conference at the International
Longshoreman's Association building on Morrison Drive. "A level of tension,
it is there."
Giff Daughtridge, manager of the Huger mill, said this week that the
class-action ruling, which would allow other workers to join in the case if
it stands, is not justified.
"Nucor is confident ... it will be vindicated," he said in a statement Tuesday.
Daughtridge said an internal investigation determined no basis for the
allegations of improper promotion practices and that the steelmaker's
harassment policy deals with accusations of racial hostility.
"Unfortunately, as with any successful company, Nucor has become a target
for plaintiffs' attorneys eager to score an economic victory based on
unsupported baseless allegations," Daughtridge said in the statement.
He also said the appeals court ruling "focused upon highly inflammatory
allegations that have little or no evidentiary support and ignored the
district judge's findings."
U.S. District Court Judge C. Weston Houck denied the request for class-
action status, triggering the plaintiffs' appeal to the Fourth Circuit.
Bob Wiggins, a Birmingham, Ala.-based attorney who represents the workers,
said the class-action ruling will refocus the case to change conditions at
the mill.
"We believe working conditions at the company should not exist any longer
in this country," Wiggins said.
According to the complaint, the radio system at the mill broadcast racial
slurs; some employees used racial epithets when referring to black workers;
and e-mails circulated among some workers depicted blacks with nooses
around their necks.
========================================
Container volume off 20 percent
With traffic suffering because of recession, agency preparing for new chief
in September
By Allyson Bird
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
That sore subject of cargo volume played prominently into the State Ports
Authority's monthly meeting Tuesday as the agency looked back on another
year of dramatic declines and looked ahead at how to reward its incoming
chief executive.
photo
Newsome
Staff reported a nearly 20 percent drop in container shipments for the year
that ended June 30. That follows a 10 percent drop the previous fiscal
year; and, as vice president of marketing and sales Fred Stribling put it,
"virtually the same number of containers as back in 1999."
Instructed to focus less on the bottom line and more on growing business,
the board voted Tuesday to compensate its top executive for volume and
strategic planning instead of operating margin.
Shipping executive Jim Newsome starts work Sept. 1 and will qualify for as
much as $100,000 in bonus pay on top of his $300,000 salary based on the
following criteria:
--45 percent volume (30 percent containers; 15 percent breakbulk tons);
--30 percent operating margin;
--20 percent strategic plan implementation; and
--5 percent safety and more.
Newsome will help implement a new incentives program for the rest of the
agency. Former chief executive Bernard S. Groseclose Jr. earned a bonus
based on 50 percent operating margin, 40 percent individual goals and 10
percent safety .
Groseclose, who made $264,000 a year, resigned during a performance
evaluation in January.
By then, container volume at the Port of Charleston had begun its downward
slide, and the agency's top customer, Maersk Line, announced plans to move
services elsewhere.
Around the same time, lawmakers began calling for an agency overhaul. In
June the General Assembly passed into law a port restructuring bill that
called for, among many changes, a public board vote to approve compensation
for the CEO.
Following Groseclose's resignation, then-board member John Hassell took
over as interim chief executive. Tuesday marked his final board meeting in
that position, and the group approved a resolution honoring his service.
"It's been an experience I'll always remember," Hassell said. "So let's get
back to work."
Hassell estimated that the recession has led ocean carriers to idle 10
percent of the world's shipping fleet, a trend that has had a stark local
impact. Operating earnings at the SPA fell nearly 53 percent in the
recently completed fiscal year, in part because of rate cuts that were
implemented to attract and retain business.
The total dropped from nearly $55 million in 2008 to less than $26 million
in the year that ended June 30. Board chairman David Posek asked SPA staff
members if they anticipate any shipping line bankruptcies in the coming
months but received no definitive response.
In other business, port officials shared with the board that they plan to
drive sheet piling this week at the container terminal being built at the
former Navy base. They also said they expect to recommend a firm to develop
a master plan for the cruise terminal facility.
As the SPA prepares to welcome Celebrity Cruises in the interim, it plans
to paint two sides of a warehouse facing the terminal so that passengers'
first glimpses of Charleston won't include a rusty building.
=========================================
CURRENT ISSUES:
FUTURE/ONGOING ISSUES:
09/16 - 0815 - CHS MARITIME ASSOCIATION - BOG MEETING
09/17 - 1200 - SAVANNAH - STATE OF THE PORT
09/22 - 1100 - NORFOLK - VPA MONTHLY BOARD MEETING
09/24 - 0815 - CHS - NAV OPS MEETING
10/08 - 1200 - SAVANNAH - PROP LUNCHEON
10/08 - 1800 - CHARLESTON - CWIT DINNER/AUCTION
10/10/09 - TBA - CWIT - Luau Auction
11/24 - 1100 - NORFOLK - VPA MONTHLY BOARD MEETING
2014 - ETA FOR NEW CHARLESTON PORT TERMINAL TO BE COMPLETED
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HURRICANE STATUS - Alert level 4/Seasonal -
TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
800 AM EDT WED AUG 19 2009
FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO...
THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER IS ISSUING ADVISORIES ON HURRICANE
BILL...LOCATED ABOUT 460 MILES EAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS.
CLOUDINESS AND SHOWERS OVER THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS...SOUTH FLORIDA
AND THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA ASSOCIATED WITH THE REMNANTS OF
TROPICAL DEPRESSION ANA ARE GRADUALLY DIMINISHING. THERE IS A LOW
CHANCE...LESS THAN 30 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL
CYCLONE AGAIN DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.
ELSEWHERE...TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE
NEXT 48 HOURS.
FORECASTER AVILA
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Tides for Charleston (Customhouse Wharf) starting with August 17, 2009.
Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
/Low Time Feet Sunset Visible
W 19 Low 1:28 AM 0.0 6:46 AM Rise 5:44 AM 3
19 High 7:27 AM 5.7 8:00 PM Set 7:29 PM
19 Low 1:37 PM -0.7
19 High 7:58 PM 6.8
Th 20 Low 2:20 AM -0.3 6:47 AM Rise 6:56 AM 0
20 High 8:24 AM 6.0 7:59 PM Set 8:05 PM
20 Low 2:32 PM -0.7
20 High 8:49 PM 6.8
F 21 Low 3:08 AM -0.5 6:47 AM Rise 8:06 AM 0
21 High 9:19 AM 6.2 7:58 PM Set 8:38 PM
21 Low 3:26 PM -0.6
21 High 9:38 PM 6.6
Sa 22 Low 3:55 AM -0.5 6:48 AM Rise 9:14 AM 3
22 High 10:11 AM 6.3 7:57 PM Set 9:10 PM
22 Low 4:18 PM -0.4
22 High 10:26 PM 6.3
Su 23 Low 4:42 AM -0.4 6:49 AM Rise 10:20 AM 8
23 High 11:03 AM 6.3 7:56 PM Set 9:43 PM
23 Low 5:10 PM -0.1
23 High 11:12 PM 5.9
M 24 Low 5:27 AM -0.1 6:49 AM Rise 11:26 AM 15
24 High 11:54 AM 6.2 7:54 PM Set 10:17 PM
24 Low 6:03 PM 0.3
24 High 11:59 PM 5.5
Tu 25 Low 6:14 AM 0.1 6:50 AM Rise 12:29 PM 24
25 High 12:45 PM 6.0 7:53 PM Set 10:55 PM
25 Low 6:56 PM 0.7
W 26 High 12:47 AM 5.2 6:51 AM Rise 1:31 PM 34
26 Low 7:02 AM 0.5 7:52 PM Set 11:37 PM
26 High 1:38 PM 5.8
26 Low 7:51 PM 1.0
Th 27 High 1:38 AM 4.9 6:51 AM Rise 2:30 PM 44
27 Low 7:52 AM 0.7 7:51 PM
27 High 2:33 PM 5.6
27 Low 8:48 PM 1.2
F 28 High 2:31 AM 4.7 6:52 AM Set 12:23 AM 54
28 Low 8:47 AM 0.9 7:49 PM Rise 3:24 PM
28 High 3:29 PM 5.5
28 Low 9:46 PM 1.4
Sa 29 High 3:26 AM 4.6 6:53 AM Set 1:14 AM 63
29 Low 9:43 AM 1.0 7:48 PM Rise 4:12 PM
29 High 4:24 PM 5.5
29 Low 10:41 PM 1.3
Su 30 High 4:22 AM 4.7 6:53 AM Set 2:08 AM 72
30 Low 10:39 AM 1.0 7:47 PM Rise 4:55 PM
30 High 5:16 PM 5.6
30 Low 11:32 PM 1.2
M 31 High 5:16 AM 4.8 6:54 AM Set 3:04 AM 80
31 Low 11:32 AM 0.9 7:46 PM Rise 5:33 PM
31 High 6:05 PM 5.7
Tu 1 Low 12:18 AM 1.1 6:55 AM Set 4:01 AM 87
1 High 6:06 AM 5.0 7:44 PM Rise 6:06 PM
1 Low 12:20 PM 0.8
1 High 6:49 PM 5.8
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OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST
Today: SSE wind 6 to 10 kt. Mostly sunny. Seas around 2 ft.
Tonight: SSE wind 9 to 11 kt. Partly cloudy. Seas around 2 ft.
Thursday: SSE wind 7 to 10 kt. A slight chance of showers and
thunderstorms. Seas around 3 ft.
Thursday Night: SSE wind around 10 kt. A slight chance of showers and
thunderstorms. Seas 2 to 3 ft.
Friday: S wind around 11 kt. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms.
Seas around 2 ft.
Friday Night: S wind 8 to 11 kt. A slight chance of showers and
thunderstorms. Seas around 2 ft.
Saturday: SSW wind 7 to 10 kt. Partly sunny. Seas 3 to 4 ft.
Saturday Night: SSW wind around 9 kt. A chance of showers and
thunderstorms. Seas 4 to 5 ft.
Sunday: WSW wind 8 to 10 kt becoming SSW in the afternoon. A chance of
showers and thunderstorms. Seas 3 to 4 ft.
| | Notice posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 | |
Disclaimer
For quality assurance purposes please note well that while the above information is regularly vetted for accuracy it is not intended to replace the local knowledge or expertise pertaining to port conditions of our marine operations personnel. Port précis should always be verified by contacting the corresponding marine department of a particular location for the most up-to-date information.
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