Articles – Page 76 – Pacific Maritime Magazine

Port of LA Terminal Operator Looking to Sell: Reports

The majority owner of Fenix Marine Services, which operates a container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, is looking at selling its 90% stake in the company, according to a news report. In September, business news outlet Bloomberg published an article stating that EQT Infrastructure, a division of asset management company EQT AB, is exploring a sale of its controlling stake in Fenix Marine. Fenix Marine Services, located on Terminal Island at the Port of Los Angeles, was previously known as Global Gateway South. It’s one of the largest marine terminals in North America, spanning nearly 300 acres, and…

Port of Coos Bay to Build Multimodal Container Terminal

The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay is partnering with Missouri-based development firm NorthPoint Development to build a multimodal container facility on the port’s North Spit, the two parties revealed in September. The port and NorthPoint say they have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for the project, with the intention of finalizing negotiations and signing a contract by the end of the year. NorthPoint and Coos Bay estimate that the facility, once fully constructed, will move over a million forty-foot containers annually through the port via the Coos Bay Rail Line. The rail spur on the North Spit is…

2 New Execs Appointed at Port of Long Beach

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners in late September selected two new leaders for the Port of Long Beach’s Commercial Operations Bureau. First, Samantha Galltin was appointed managing director of the port’s Commercial Operations Bureau, comprising the Business Development, Tenant Services and Operations, and Security Services divisions. She replaces Kenneth Duncan, who left the port earlier in 2021. Galltin joined the port as Assistant Director of Business Development in November 2020 following a 13-year career at BNSF Railway. Her last position at BNSF was Director of Port Business Development, Pacific Southwest and Gulf. During her time at the railroad,…

Alaska & Hawaii: 2021 Update

As those in the know are already aware, there’s potential for growth in the Alaska and Hawaii regions. For years, West Coast companies have been cultivating a presence in the two states, expanding services, investing in new ships and lending their expertise to projects that are expected to bolster the states’ economies. Whether it’s new vessels or infrastructure projects, interesting things are happening in Alaska and Hawaii. Here’s a look at what’s been happening with respect to the maritime industry within the Aloha State and the Last Frontier. Pasha The Pasha Group’s presence in Hawaii is significant, as the…

Battling Bottlenecks: Congestion Rises at West Coast Ports

It’s no secret that the West Coast freight surge is building toward an even more feverish pace this fall. And why freight surged is also no secret to anyone who pays attention: the consumer-driven U.S. economy was supercharged after COVID-19’s effects waned. Why congestion resulted is no secret either: not enough equipment and people and space for cargo, along with too many mismatches in efficient handoffs of freight pickups and deliveries. Major carriers’ decisions to temporarily restrict shipment flow for hours or days to balance their own freight networks were a factor, too. Those inside the industry recognize both some…

Developments in Deck Machinery: 2021 Update

A good set of deck machinery is vitally important to the success of a vessel and the mariners that operate them. The companies that produce this machinery continue to strive to improve the quality, efficiency and reliability of their products, and some have recently made major deliveries of new products for tugs, barges and other vessels on the Pacific coastline and elsewhere around the world. In recent years, maintaining the natural environment has become a greater priority for deck machinery companies, and they’ve had the chance to work with cutting-edge ships, supporting novel efforts to reduce erosion, spear-heading deck equipment…

Catalina Express: Bringing the World to Catalina Island

Catalina Island has long been a favorite getaway destination for Southern Californians — and indeed receives visitors from across the country and around the world. For the majority of the last hundred years, the island has been a remote location accessible only by slow boat, seaplane or helicopter. It was difficult and expensive to visit. But all that changed in the summer of 1981 when Doug Bombard, his son Greg and colleague Tom Rutter bought the sport fishing boat Checkmate from Washington-based Westport Shipyards and modified it into a passenger vessel to carry passengers to and from Catalina Island. At…

Ransomware … It Can Ruin Your Whole Day!

When I used to drive U.S. Navy ships we would hear a cliché: “A collision at sea can ruin your whole day!” Well, that adage can also apply to a ransomware attack on your ship or port. Cyber-attacks on the maritime sector are on the rise and ransomware attacks have tripled in the past few years. Now is a time to learn more about ransomware and the threat it poses to you, your port and your company. What is Ransomware? Ransomware is a form of malicious software designed to encrypt files on a computer or digital device rendering any files…

Shipping Industry Leaders Call for Decarbonization of International Shipping

About 150 global companies and organizations, including the Northwest Seaport Alliance, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and the Panama Canal Authority, on Sept. 22 called for the global shipping industry to be fully decarbonized by 2050, urging governments around the world to take action. The signatories of the Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization urged world leaders to align shipping with the Paris Agreement temperature goal. “The private sector is already taking important steps to decarbonize global supply chains. Now governments must deliver the policies that will supercharge the transition and make zero emission shipping the default choice by 2030,” the…

US Navy Ship Deployed to Piracy Hot Spot for Training

The USS Hershel “Woody” Williams, a US Navy expeditionary mobile base, was deployed to the Gulf of Guinea in September to serving as the training platform for the exercise Operation Guinex. The military exercise, which ran through the end of September, focused on U.S. and Brazil’s “shared interest in maritime safety and freedom of commerce across the southern Atlantic,” according to U.S. Naval Forces Africa. The operation was one of several maritime training missions scheduled for Operation Guinex, the first U.S.-Brazil joint training to be held off Africa’s Atlantic coast. In recent years, the Gulf of Guinea has been the…