According to news reports the CP has restarted operations though it will take a few days for service to return to normal.
Came across this article today in regards to the Jones Act and this pipeline debacle. Mind you, this article is obviously written by a reporter who works from the comfort of their home, and has little to no idea how the maritime industry and its infrastructure works. Nevertheless, Iâm interested to see what those of you who do work on the frontlines and aboard our ships think.
Isnât Colonial owned by Koch?
One would think they had great IT protection. Certainly can afford it.
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Have not heard or read anything about the Plantation PipelineâŚ.which mirrors the Colonial Pipeline. Why is it not mentioned in mainstream media??
Reading that article, especially this part makes you wonder:
There are actually two US built LNG carriers in layup in Norway and has been for several years. Donât know if they would be âJones Act compliantâ, since they have been foreign flagged for a long time?
There are also a lot of LNG carriers that is US owned, but not US built and flagged. They could be re-flagged and put into domestic trade if the US built requirement was lifted.
There have also been all this talk about just making a law that xx% of all US export of LNG, LPG, Crude oil and even petroleum products, MUST be shipped on US keels.
Being export trade it does not require the ships to be US built, or even owned, only US crewed.
US owner, or even US subsidiaries of foreign owners, could transfer some of their existing ships to US flag to take advantage of this protected trade.
Since foreign buyers of US LNG and oil is unlikely to pay a premium for the honour of having the purchase carried on a US ship it would probably require a âsweetenerâ in the form of compensation for higher operating costs. (That already exist for other US-flag ships in international trade, I believe?)
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Been through many hurricanes and fuel does become scarce, or completely out at times in the south - plastic bags over the gas handle letting you know the station is out. But, there is always this pretty green handle on the pump that never has a bag on it, and never lets me down. Glad I drive an F-250. Is diesel being impacted at the same rate as regular gas? Just curious if the correlation is the same.
The camelâs nose again.
The national security interests were impacted by Colonial shutting the valves in order to protect their billing system. It looks to me like Colonial created a crisis by not pumping manually and keeping old fashioned records of quantities pushed down the pipe.
They paid a ransom. A bit more to this story than just shutting off valves.
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They had been warned their system was not secure.
This was a self inflicted wound. Koch brothers have no one to blame but themselves.
Not a fan of the Koch people. Nobody in this country deserves the pirating goining on. I would like to think we have the technology to block this stuff. Apparently not. Put those billions to block this shit rather than paying people not to work. It is affecting the people who do honest work for a living without the government help. Makes me puke sometimes what âYou owe usâ. I never asked for a dime. I worked hard for my shit.
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Wonder how the Unions rank and file feel? They are crazy if they donât give leadership an earful.
Since this âfuel shortageâ is a short term regional mess that should go away in a week or two I find it hard to argue for spending that time just to pull a ship out of layup for what will probably be a one trip job.
But, rather than let some FoC ship get the work, I think the Navy should load a few of their oilers with product and give the taxpayer some benefit from our investment.
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Can a MSC ship even load gasoline? They donât even have IG.
Just to put a little color on a couple of points above.
LNG tankers are normally built to order for a specific trade from a supplier to a terminal(s) under COA. The foreign built LNG ships are 185 million dollars each and take 9-12 months to build. So to move this tonnage off there existing trades is not going to happen. In the last 5 years there is more of spot market in LNG but it is still a small amount of tonnage available, if you pay a premium for the ships, give them a waiver for not being US built and have qualified US crew then it is possible for something to happen but not in the near term.
LNG Spot rates:
https://www.argusmedia.com/en/hubs/lng
According to the article in the Mar Ex the shipowners didnât want to break out the ships for one trip. Also it looks like it would have taken a while for the U.S. flag ships to deliver any cargo.
According to Reuters, a part of the motivation for the waiver was the timeline required to reactivate idle Jones Act tanker tonnage. At least six (and potentially more) Jones Act product tankers were in layup prior to the Colonial Pipeline shutdown, and industry sources told Reuters that shipowners were reluctant to reactivate these vessels without a firm commitment for longer chartering opportunities. According to one owner, it would take at least 10 days to break these idle vessels out of layup - plus additional time to transit to a loading pier, take on a cargo and transport it to the destination market.
The average member of the general public and also the media have zero understanding of shipping. The idea probably is to dust off the laid up vessel a bit, wash the windows, fuel her up, hit the start button, wave good bye and off you go.
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At least 2 foreign flagged tankers brought a load of gas into my port, they were diverted away from their normal unloading terminals mid ocean.
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If there was even so much as a whiff of a hint that somehow the maritime unions were in any way involved in a delay in getting gasoline to drivers anywhere in the U.S. it likely would result in disastrous negative publicly for those unions.
If there are no U.S. tankers available to load product without delay than best to steer clear.
I donât know where and for how long the tankers had been in layup, but here is an article about what it took WWL to reactivate some of their PCTCs from layup in a Norwegian fjord for about a year (or less):