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| Subject: | CHARLESTON SC DAILY PORT UPDATE | | Date: | Tuesday, January 18, 2011 | | Priority: | Normal | | Notice: |
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 - 30'00"
Kinder Morgan - berth 4 - Max draft 40'00, tide needed for anything
deeper than 38'00
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 38'00 or less may transit at anytime Drafts of 38'01 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:
KMI4 - SPORADES - ETA 1500/20TH
BP - TUG INTEGRITY & 650-4 - ETA 0100/21ST
============================================
FEDERAL, STATE & LOCAL FILING REQUIREMENTS:
---------------------------------------------
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. 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.
=======================================================
Current Articles:
Georgia harbor depth at issue: Savannah's needs hinge on South Carolina
decision
Deepening the shipping channel in the Savannah Harbor comes down to a
paradox 13 years and $36 million in the making.
Navigation experts say the new generation of container ships, a
considerably larger fleet, won't be able to pull into this port without
running aground, except for about 120 days a year -- and only while
steaming at a dangerously slow speed. The channel must go deeper, they say.
Meanwhile, environmental experts say the ecological destruction that would
happen at the proposed depth proves too grave to give the go-ahead. The
channel cannot go that deep, they say.
Both sides recently addressed the Savannah River Maritime Commission, a
group that represents South Carolina's interests in the jointly-owned
channel. Joint ownership means both South Carolina and Georgia must sign
off on the project at a critical time in a changing shipping industry, when
every port in the country wants a competitive advantage.
Commission chairman Dean Moss acknowledges the delicate nature of discussions.
"This is the most important public works project in Georgia," Moss said.
"If South Carolina kills it, it's going to sour relations between the
states. You can't consider it as just a simple yea-or-nay project."
Especially when the two states are supposed to build a joint terminal in
Jasper County.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft report on the Savannah
Harbor Expansion Project in mid-November and asked for public comment from
late November until early January. It proposes dredging the channel from 42
to 47 feet, but the Georgia Ports Authority wants to take the project one
foot deeper.
The report's release followed more than a decade of waiting and tens of
millions of dollars invested, and people interested in the project -- be it
for environmental, economic or political reasons -- lobbied for additional
time to review it. The Army Corps granted a little more than two extra weeks.
New governors
Ports across the country are scrambling for approval and funding to dredge
deeper before the 2014 Panama Canal expansion is completed. As that
deadline draws nearer, the ships get larger and capable of carrying more
cargo than ever -- but also needier.
It's simple science: Heavier ships draw more water and require deeper
channels. And so ports need expansion projects and the money to complete them.
Georgia intends to spend $800 million to dredge from 42 to 48 feet, a depth
South Carolina already enjoys in the right tides. The Port of Charleston
instead needs far less -- an estimated $250 million to $300 million -- to
go from 45 feet to 50 feet deep, but South Carolina lags in taking its
first steps in the project, namely a $400,000 feasibility study.
Governors Mark Sanford and Sonny Perdue shook hands along the South
Carolina-Georgia border in 2007 and promised to move forward on developing
a container terminal together nearby. Both men are gone from office now,
and their replacements make no apologies for trying to get their respective
states a step ahead.
Before taking over in South Carolina this week, Gov. Nikki Haley addressed
the local maritime community at the annual State of the Port event late
last year with a promise to keep this state competitive.
"You now have a governor who does not like to lose," Haley said. "Georgia
has had their way with us for way too long, and I don't have the patience
to let it happen anymore."
In an editorial, The Savannah Morning News recently weighed in, criticizing
the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control's decision to deny
a water quality certification for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.
Under the headline "Sour grapes," the editorial suggested that South
Carolina's delays could give the Port of Charleston a leg up over Savannah,
which grew its container volume in the years Charleston lagged behind.
"This could explain why our neighbors to the north might be jealous of the
booming success of the Georgia Ports Authority," the editorial concluded.
"It is, however, no excuse to sabotage Savannah's decade-long effort to
secure federal clearance and funding for an infrastructure project
important to the economic health of the entire Southeast."
Georgia's new governor, Nathan Deal, last week called for $32 million in
state money for use in deepening the Savannah Harbor.
Gasping for air
For every foot the port gets deeper, the wetlands around it suffer. That's
according to Bob Perry, director of environmental programs for the S.C.
Department of Natural Resources in Columbia. More depth means more salt
water from the ocean spilling into the freshwater marshes, he explained.
The project calls for compensation -- a payout in the form of protecting
adjacent wetlands -- instead of restoring the habitat directly affected by
the dredging. To account for water-quality impacts, the project calls for
something a little more the stuff of science fiction: pumping oxygen into
the water artificially.
"It would require machinery, fuel," Perry said. "It would not be considered
a 'green' project in a day and age when people are thinking that way. If
these types of systems here break down for an hour, that means oxygen
levels would be deprived. Fish cannot hold their breath for an hour."
Plus, he said, the mechanical oxygen system has never been used on this
large a scale.
Perry's department plans to recommend dredging to 44 or 45 feet, adding,
"We believe that the alternatives for a lesser amount of dredging is about
as far as we can go, from an environmental standpoint, and be comfortable."
That's why the Coastal Conservation League, a South Carolina environmental
group, supports a port project in Jasper County instead, according to
Andrea Malloy in the League's Beaufort office.
Because the Jasper project is a truer "ocean terminal" with considerably
less river navigation required, it requires a little more than half the
dredging of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.
"If you stop at Jasper and made Jasper the vehicle for accommodating ships,
it would not impact the freshwater habitat at all," Malloy said.
Like so many others, she and her colleagues also want more time and more
information about the Savannah Harbor project.
"There's this overwhelming sense in Savannah that, because the Corps has
studied it for (more than a decade), everything's perfect," Malloy said.
"That's not actually the case."
Slow steaming
For every foot lost from the dredge plan, shipping suffers.
Charleston's former top Coast Guard official, Capt. John Cameron,
discovered that the new class of larger ships, even when carrying less than
a full load, only could call 120 days per year without hitting the bottom
of the harbor, charts show. Cameron also said that number includes ships
traveling only at the "debilitating" speed of 6 knots.
Hired to study navigation by a consultant to the Savannah River Maritime
Commission, Cameron points out that ships travel faster than 10 knots in
Charleston's 1,000-foot wide shipping channel, whereas this channel gives
only a 570-foot berth.
He said that the channel, under the proposed expansion, proves neither wide
enough nor deep enough and unable to handle the traffic predicted.
Completing this project incorrectly, Cameron said, could damage the area
for the Jasper terminal development later on.
"If we underestimated something and crossed a line, that river is
untouchable," he said.
Army Corps public affairs officer Billy Birdwell said his agency did not
send a representative to the recent Savannah River Maritime Commission
meeting and that he could not respond to information until the Corps
receives comments formally.
Despite navigational experts saying the channel must go deeper and
environmental experts advocating a shallower solution, commission chairman
Moss said a "clean path forward" still exists beneath the muck.
When the deadline for reviewing the report rolls around Jan. 25, the
commission plans to recommend minor deepening or just maintenance on this
project and a focus on the Jasper terminal.
"I think there's a path there," Moss said. "Of course, it's not the path
that Georgia wants. I'm kind of at a loss to figure out where to go. If you
make it any deeper, you make environmental problems worse. If you don't
make it any deeper, you wind up with suboptimal conditions for shipping."
=======================================================
SC ports streamline container operations
Associated Press
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
CHARLESTON — The South Carolina State Ports Authority is streamlining
container operations at the Port of Charleston.
Beginning Tuesday, all gates at the port’s three container terminals will
be operated by the same company — Charleston Gate LLC.
In addition, the ports authority will now oversee all operations in the
yards used to store containers loaded on ships. In the past, some areas of
the container yards were licensed to specific shipping lines.
Ports officials say the new system makes it simpler to use the port
facilities, will mean longer gate hours and should boost port capacity by
about 10 percent.
=======================================================
CURRENT ISSUES:
01/27/11 - 0800 NAV OPS MEETING
FUTURE/ONGOING ISSUES:
02/08/11 - 1145 - CWIT Luncheon
02/08/11 - 1700 - COMMISSIONERS OF PILOTAGE
02/11/11 - MARITIME ASSOC. ANNUAL MEETING & GALA
02/2011 - CHARLESTON PROP CLUB OYSTER ROAST
2014 - ETA FOR NEW CHARLESTON PORT TERMINAL TO BE COMPLETED
===============================================
SECURITY LEVEL: MARSEC 1 -
HURRICANE STATUS - 5 - OUT OF SEASON
===================================================================
Tides for Charleston (Customhouse Wharf) starting with January 13, 2011.
Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
/Low Time Feet Sunset Visible
Tu 18 High 6:22 AM 6.0 7:21 AM Set 6:11 AM 94
18 Low 12:47 PM -0.2 5:39 PM Rise 4:36 PM
18 High 6:43 PM 5.0
W 19 Low 12:49 AM -0.9 7:21 AM Set 6:59 AM 98
19 High 7:10 AM 6.2 5:40 PM Rise 5:45 PM
19 Low 1:33 PM -0.5
19 High 7:32 PM 5.2
Th 20 Low 1:40 AM -1.1 7:21 AM Set 7:43 AM 99
20 High 7:58 AM 6.3 5:41 PM Rise 6:56 PM
20 Low 2:19 PM -0.7
20 High 8:21 PM 5.4
F 21 Low 2:30 AM -1.2 7:20 AM Set 8:22 AM 98
21 High 8:44 AM 6.3 5:42 PM Rise 8:05 PM
21 Low 3:05 PM -0.9
21 High 9:11 PM 5.6
Sa 22 Low 3:21 AM -1.1 7:20 AM Set 8:58 AM 94
22 High 9:31 AM 6.2 5:43 PM Rise 9:14 PM
22 Low 3:52 PM -0.9
22 High 10:02 PM 5.7
Su 23 Low 4:14 AM -0.9 7:20 AM Set 9:34 AM 87
23 High 10:19 AM 5.9 5:44 PM Rise 10:22 PM
23 Low 4:40 PM -0.8
23 High 10:56 PM 5.7
M 24 Low 5:09 AM -0.6 7:19 AM Set 10:09 AM 79
24 High 11:10 AM 5.5 5:45 PM Rise 11:29 PM
24 Low 5:30 PM -0.7
24 High 11:53 PM 5.6
Tu 25 Low 6:07 AM -0.3 7:19 AM Set 10:46 AM 68
25 High 12:04 PM 5.2 5:45 PM
25 Low 6:24 PM -0.5
W 26 High 12:54 AM 5.5 7:18 AM Rise 12:36 AM 57
26 Low 7:10 AM 0.0 5:46 PM Set 11:25 AM
26 High 1:03 PM 4.8
26 Low 7:23 PM -0.3
Th 27 High 1:59 AM 5.4 7:18 AM Rise 1:42 AM 46
27 Low 8:15 AM 0.2 5:47 PM Set 12:09 PM
27 High 2:05 PM 4.6
27 Low 8:25 PM -0.2
F 28 High 3:05 AM 5.4 7:17 AM Rise 2:46 AM 35
28 Low 9:20 AM 0.3 5:48 PM Set 12:58 PM
28 High 3:10 PM 4.5
28 Low 9:29 PM -0.1
Sa 29 High 4:08 AM 5.4 7:17 AM Rise 3:45 AM 25
29 Low 10:22 AM 0.2 5:49 PM Set 1:52 PM
29 High 4:13 PM 4.5
29 Low 10:30 PM -0.1
Su 30 High 5:07 AM 5.5 7:16 AM Rise 4:39 AM 17
30 Low 11:18 AM 0.1 5:50 PM Set 2:49 PM
30 High 5:11 PM 4.6
30 Low 11:25 PM -0.2
M 31 High 5:59 AM 5.6 7:15 AM Rise 5:27 AM 10
31 Low 12:08 PM -0.1 5:51 PM Set 3:48 PM
31 High 6:03 PM 4.7
=========================================================================
OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST
Synopsis...WEAK HIGH PRES TODAY WILL GIVE WAY TO A COLD FRONT PASSAGE LATE
TONIGHT. HIGH PRES WILL RETURN WED THROUGH THU. ANOTHER COLD FRONT WILL
MOVE ACROSS THE WATERS EARLY FRI... WITH HIGH PRES THEN SLOWLY BUILDING
BACK INTO THE REGION ON SAT.
Today...N winds 15 kt...becoming W 5 to 10 kt. Seas 5 ft... Subsiding to 3
to 4 ft. Areas of fog this morning. A slight chance of rain early this
morning. Patchy drizzle at times through midday. A slight chance of showers
late. Vsby 1 nm or less this morning.
Tonight...SW winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft...building to 3 to 4 ft
after midnight. A chance of showers.
Wed...W winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft.
Wed Night...NW winds 5 to 10 kt...becoming N after midnight. Seas 2 ft in
the evening...then 1 foot.
Thu...E winds 5 kt...becoming S in the afternoon. Seas 1 foot.
Thu Night...S winds 10 to 15 kt...becoming SW 15 to 20 kt after midnight.
Seas 2 ft...building to 3 to 4 ft after midnight. A chance of showers in
the evening...then showers likely after midnight.
Fri...NW winds 15 to 20 kt...becoming N. Seas 3 to 4 ft. Showers likely.
Sat...N winds 15 to 20 kt...diminishing to 10 to 15 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft. A
slight chance of showers.
| | Notice posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 | |
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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