APRIL 13, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Port of Duluth-Superior Welcomes Season’s First Saltie in Dockside Ceremony

Duluth, Minn., USA — Earlier today, Adolph Ojard, Executive Director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority officially welcomed Captain Luis Jardin (pronounced “shar–dan”) of the Dutch-flagged vessel, the MV Medemborg, as the Port of Duluth-Superior’s First Ship of the 2009 Seaway navigation season. The welcoming ceremony took place at 11 a.m. today near the pier at General Mills Elevator A in Duluth. Others on hand to welcome the captain included: Superior’s Mayor Dave Ross and Port Director Jason Serck; Rev. Tom Anderson from the Twin Ports Ministry to Seafarers; and Gene Shaw, Director of Public Relations for Visit Duluth.



The Medemborg actually arrived in Duluth beneath the Aerial Lift Bridge on Sunday, April 12 at 10:27 a.m. She is loading 8,100 metric tons of beet pulp pellets here for final delivery in Morocco where they will be used as livestock feed. In his remarks, Shaw announced the winner of this year’s First Ship Contest, co-sponsored by Visit Duluth and the Port Authority. Zach Zutler of Minneapolis was just 15 minutes off with his winning guess of 10:15:32 a.m. for the arrival of this year’s first “saltie” (i.e. oceangoing vessel). Over 2,000 entries were received.



The shipping season’s second saltie also arrived on Sunday – little more than an hour later at 11:32 a.m. The Federal Welland proceeded to Superior’s CHS grain terminal where she will be loading 23,100 metric tons of durum wheat before setting sail for Algeria.



2009 marks the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The Port of Duluth-Superior truly became a world port when the deep-draft St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959. This maritime highway – the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System – linked our inland port to the Atlantic Ocean 2,342 miles away, creating a vital international trade route and a cornerstone of this region’s economy and culture.



While the Soo Locks opened this year on March 25, the Welland Canal and Montreal Lake Ontario sections of the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to vessel traffic on March 31.The Port’s earliest arrival of an oceangoing vessel was April 1, 1995, an Indian vessel LT Argosy.

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Contact: Adele Yorde, Port Authority Public Relations Manager, 218-727-8525.

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Duluth News Tribune:http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/117737/
Published April 15 2009
Saltie owners blast Wisconsin ballast rules
Superior port officials and ship owners assail the Wisconsin DNR effort to curtail the spread of invasive species.

By: John Myers, Duluth News Tribune

Opponents of the new rules say the Department of Natural Resources’ current proposal brings too much regulation too fast for the shipping industry to meet, and may force oceangoing commerce to avoid Wisconsin ports.

“The state’s current plan would be devastating for CHS in Superior,” said Tim Powers, vice president of the local CHS Inc. grain terminal. Powers estimated the facility, the largest grain terminal in the U.S. by capacity, would lose half its business and might be forced to close under the DNR regulations.

The 655-foot Federal Welland, owned by Montreal-based Fednav, is Superior’s first saltwater ship of the season. Docked at the CHS facility, it has been taking on 23,000 metric tons of durum wheat bound for Algeria.

Superior officials are asking the DNR to wait for a federal standard on ballast water or relax rules to match Minnesota standards already in place.

The DNR in February announced plans to regulate ballast in oceangoing ships starting in 2012. The plan would require salties to treat ballast tanks and kill living organisms to a level 100 times greater than the International Maritime Organization has proposed in existing ships and 1,000 times IMO levels for new ships. California and New York have adopted similar standards.

“It’s nearly an impossible situation for us to meet,” said George Robichon, Fednav’s senior vice president, noting no on-board treatment system has yet been proven completely effective. “You can’t just go to Wal-Mart and buy a ballast system.”

DNR officials said the proposal allows for exceptions for ship owners if there is no viable treatment available by 2012.

Minnesota enacted its ballast rule in September, giving ships until 2016 to start treating ballast and adopting the less stringent IMO level of treatment. Minnesota’s law goes further than Wisconsin’s, however, by also applying to Great Lakes freighters that never enter the ocean.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year announced it, too, may consider imposing ballast treatment regulations on a national basis. The Coast Guard and Congress also are considering ballast rules, although, despite a decade of discussion, no single federal standard exists.

“Everyone is waiting to see what the U.S. federal standard will be,” Robichon said, adding that the patchwork of state laws is unworkable.

Superior Mayor Dave Ross said the DNR plan threatens the Twin Ports’ 2,000 waterfront-related jobs and millions of dollars in payroll and taxes.

But others note that more than 180 nonnative organisms have entered the Great Lakes since the 19th century, killing native species, fouling intake lines, disrupting ecosystems and damaging sport angling that supports tourism.

Paul Luebke, the DNR wastewater specialist drafting the permit, said there is no time frame for the agency to make a final decision.

Duluth and Superior are especially vulnerable to ballast invasions because a high percentage of ships arrive empty or with less than full loads and must carry ballast water to help balance the ship. As cargo is loaded, the ballast water often is released.

3 comments

fred s. 04/15/2009 10:59 AM
These guys don't give a damn about our lake, only profit. They're just smaller versions of Wall Street Banks and Health Care Businesses. Whining wealthy capitalists that don't want their profit stream to slow. If they spent less on lobbying and more on treatment solutions, this wouldn't be an issue. Their first response is always the jobs lost paper tiger. BS.

Report a Violation

Patrick S. Moose Lake, MN 04/15/2009 7:13 AM
Thanks to Wisconsin DNR for trying to enact rules that might actually be effective. (From Pawlenty's Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Business Scams)

Report a Violation

trent w. Duluth, MN 04/15/2009 6:54 AM
People need to wake up. This is not just about Lake Superior. Once these ugly things make it to the Harbor they can spread across all our inland lakes. We already have spiny water fleas spreading across the BWCA and Voyagers. We have VHS knocking at our door. What's the economic impact of VHS across our inland lakes??? What will our children think when they find out we could have prevented this but lacked the political will to do it?
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Superior Telegram:http://www.superiortelegram.com/articles/index.cfm?id=34536&section=news

As shipping season begins, ballast issues looms large on the horizon
Shelley Nelson Superior Telegram

Published Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The arrival of the Federal Welland — the second ocean-going vessel to reach the Twin Ports on Sunday, marked the beginning of the 2009 international shipping season in Superior.

The Federal Welland was loading wheat at Cenex-Harvest States Tuesday as local officials celebrated the arrival of the international shipping season. But a cloud hung over the festivities.

A Wisconsin proposal to enforce ballast water treatment requirements 100 to 1,000 times more stringent than the neighboring port of Duluth looms large, and the requirement would go into effect four years ahead of Minnesota’s standards at a time when the technology to treat ballast water is limited and not readily available.

“If the water ballast proposal would go through, it would put Wisconsin requirements at a higher level than all the other state’s around it,” said Tim Paurus, assistant vice president of terminal operations for the elevator. “Ocean-going vessels like this one would have the ability to just go across the harbor and load in Duluth. It would have a real devastating effect on CHS.”

Currently, half the grain shipped in the Twin Ports is shipped from the Superior facility near the Blatnik Bridge.

With grain shipments declining in recent years and new regulations that could send ships to other ports, Paurus said “it may cause us to close down possibly. We’re not anti-environment, but we do need to have a level playing field from all the states.”

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has proposed ballast water permit standards that exceed those adopted by the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization, and five Great Lakes states — Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Under the proposal, Wisconsin would require existing ships to meet a standard 100 times the IMO standard and new ships would have to meet a standard 1,000 times the IMO standard by 2012.

“As written, the permit will put Superior and all Wisconsin ports at a competitive disadvantage and jeopardize jobs that are so important to our community,” said Development Association Director Andy Lisak.

The Federal Welland is among the rare ships today that has technology aboard that can combat the spread of invasive species by ocean-going vessels, said Georges Robichon, senior vice president and general counsel for Fednav, owner of the Federal Welland and the largest fleet of seaway-sized ocean-going vessels that call on the Great Lakes.

“This is a very special ship,” Robichon said. “It has one of the most advanced ballast water treatment systems on board — a prototype system.”

The system called Ocean Saver uses nitrogen and compression to remove oxygen from ballast water to kill organisms that may live in ballast tanks.

Robichon said the system meets the standards set by IMO but Wisconsin’s standards are much more stringent. He would like to see a regulation that’s more “harmonious” with other Great Lakes states.

The technology needed to meet Wisconsin’s standard doesn’t exist and technology like that aboard the Federal Welland is not readily available or commercially available, Robichon said.

“It really is about jobs on our waterfront,” said Mayor Dave Ross, who serves on the board of the Great Ships Initiative, which is working to test proposed technology that could be used to treat ballast water to prevent the spread of invasive species. “This port means a lot to the city of Superior. Over 2,000 jobs have a direct or indirect impact of the activity on this waterfront — over $200 million in economic activity. And you know what warm’s a mayor’s heart is over $3-and-a-half-million in property taxes as a result of waterfront activity, and over $1 million in occupational taxes. This waterfront is vital to a vital economy for the region and in the Twin Ports. It’s an important part of our heritage and our past, and great part of our future.”

Local leaders are working with state legislators to ensure Wisconsin standards don’t leave ports like Superior high and dry.

Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, in a letter to DNR Secretary Matt Frank concerning the issue, recommended a tiered timetable that would require saltwater vessels to meet IMO standards by 2012 and phase in the higher standard as the technology becomes available. The senator does favor stringent standards to protect Wisconsin’s waterways

“However, as necessary as it is to set strict standards we must adopt realistic measures mindful of economic realities to assure that the rules are practical and achieve the desired goals,” Jauch stated.

“We’re here and we’ve been here for over 150 years because of the port,” said Douglas County Board Chairman Doug Finn. “The people before us recognized this is a great place for shipping, for employment … I can remember when these grain elevators were built. I can remember when the St. Lawrence Seaway opened (50 years ago) and how significant it was to this community and the Great Lakes as a whole. The port of Superior does more shipping than any other port on Lake Superior.”
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Maritime Global Net:http://www.mgn.com/news/dailystorydetails.cfm?storyid=9829
BALLAST WATER SYSTEM APPROVED

Thursday, 16 April 2009

NORWEGIAN-based OceanSaver says its ballast water management system has been given full Type Approval Certification by DNV, on behalf of the Norwegian Maritime Administration. It confirms OceanSaver’s compliance with IMO’s International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship’s Ballast Water and Sediments.

“The type approval certification completes one of the strictest and most complex compliance procedures by the IMO and national approval Authorities, “says OceanSaver Managing Director Stein Foss. “The certification proves the biological efficacy of OceanSaver’s unique system and unique ballast water management technology”.

“OceanSaver is a robust and suitable ballast water management system for shipboard environments and occupies a minimal onboard footprint,” says Foss. “We offer the market a ballast water management system in compliance with all applicable regulations now and into the future. It is an optimal solution for marine applications,” says Mr Foss.
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