Michigan maritime: Ports set to grow economy throughout the state
MONROE, MI – A new law that gives the state’s 32 ports tools to expand and grow the maritime economy started out as a community project for a handful of University of Michigan students.
U-M students first worked with the Port of Monroe in 2012 and over the next decade would make the case for investing in ports around the state to increase container and industrial shipments, which is expected to lead to job creation.
The Maritime and Port Facility Assistance Grant Program Act, which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed in July, sets up an office in the Michigan Department of Transportation to oversee the grants. It puts the Great Lakes state ports in line for federal grant dollars that neighboring states have enjoyed for years.
The Port of Monroe, Michigan’s only Lake Erie port, received $5 million in state funding this summer, which helped it to leverage an $11 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in November. The funding will help it build a container cargo scanning facility and a riverfront wharf for vessel transfer of wind energy cargos and other improvements.
Paul LaMarre III, port director for the Port of Monroe and chairman of Whitmer’s Port Advisory Committee, said the work of U-M students was foundational in the port’s growth strategies.
“The University of Michigan has been involved with the Port’s rebirth,” LaMarre said. “Our introduction to Liz Gerber in the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan is likely one of the most fruitful relationships that I have had since being at the Port of Monroe for roughly a decade.”
Gerber, the Jack L. Walker Jr. Collegiate Professor of Public Policy and director of the Program in Practical Policy Engagement at the Ford School, said that studying policy alternatives is an important part of the coursework.
“The port is now bringing in a lot more money serving more customers and providing an environmentally friendly transportation alternative to heavy materials relative to trucks, which is how most heavy materials get moved around,” she said. “Also, by changing policy, there are potential long-term benefits for the state as well. It’s setting up a mechanism to support the maritime industry throughout the state, which can provide real benefits to not just the ports themselves, but also all the stakeholders who benefit from activity in the ports.”
The students’ research found that Michigan’s ports were underutilized and could contribute to the state’s growing economy if given more investment.
Read the rest of the article here: https://impact.govrel.umich.edu/ports-grow-michigan-economy/?fbclid=IwAR2jaO1dCe_4QS8CseB17_-N8s3kpNVXZ29st7nGCR_EMBadyYD2AYo9AuE
Michigan Impact, University of Michigan
Manistee magic: Shipping season begins, first ship arrives
MANISTEE, MI – Coming and going, Sam Laud turned some heads the past two days.
The 635-foot freighter sounded its ear-piercing horn just after 8 p.m. Wednesday — one long blast and two short blasts to signal its long-awaited arrival to Manistee — that officially begins the shipping season for this Lake Michigan port.
If it seemed like a maritime deja vu, it was — Sam Laud was the same ship to sail past the historic Manistee Lighthouse and Pier last shipping season, too. The diesel-powered ship — launched in 1975 — is expected to make a return trip to TES Filer City in about two weeks and several more times this shipping season. On Wednesday it delivered over 13,000 tons of coal from Toledo, Ohio. The next ship scheduled to arrive in Manistee is expected to be the Mark W. Barker.
According to MarineTraffic.com, the Mark W. Barker was expected into Ludington’s harbor late Thursday night.
After word got out, and information was posted on various shipping-related websites, that Sam Laud would enter the Manistee harbor at about 8 p.m. Wednesday, the river-channel and shoreline became inundated with area residents and many others from surrounding communities who converged on the area to watch the ship slowly make its way into Manistee Lake.
Many who were sitting in the cars, honked their horns. Those standing along the riverside and shoreline, shouted, whistled and waved their hands. Of course, just about all of them took pictures.
Coming and going, it was a raucous welcome and parting, to be sure, just as it is just about every time a great ship like Sam Laud does the same. And there is a fantastic fleet of such vessels that come and go.
U.S. Coast Guard Machinery Technician Petty Officer Second Class (MK2) Caitlin Woodworth stood outside Station Manistee Wednesday to watch Sam Laud as it once again became the first ship of the season to pass by that Coast Guard building, and she watched again the following morning from the opposite side of the river as it left at 10 a.m.
“It came in a little quicker than I expected this year,” she said. “Really, time has been moving really quick, and it just means that we’re about to have more people coming here and it means we’re going to have to get ready, even sooner.”
Ludington Daily News
NACC Quebec first arrival at Oshawa
The first vessel of the 2023 shipping season at the Port of Oshawa, NY, was the NACC Quebec. The vessel arrived from Port Daniel, delivering cement to St Marys Cement on March 27.
Captain Orval Bouchard has been with Algoma for nearly three years. He was a senior captain with BC Ferries on the West Coast and has a naval background.
Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
Using hand-held marine VHF radios on land law reminder
You must have a special license, called a marine utility station license, in addition to a ship station license, to operate a hand-held marine radio from land — a ship station license IS NOT sufficient.
You may apply for this license by filing electronically in ULS with the FCC. To be eligible for a marine utility station license, you must generally provide some sort of service to ships or have control over a bridge or waterway. Additionally, you must show a need to communicate using hand-held portable equipment from both a ship and from coast locations. Each unit must be capable of operation while being hand-carried by an individual. The station operates under the rules applicable to ship stations when the unit is aboard a ship, and under the rules applicable to private coast stations when the unit is on land.
FCC
Paul LaMarre III, port director for the Port of Monroe, said the work of U-M students was foundational in the port’s growth strategies.Paul LaMarre III, port director for the Port of Monroe, said the work of U-M students was foundational in the port’s growth strategies.
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- Paul LaMarre III, port director for the Port of Monroe, said the work of U-M students was foundational in the port’s growth strategies.
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- NACC Quebec at Oshawa
