Berge Bulk has retrofitted a 2018-bilt Newcastlemax bulk ore carrier Berge Olympus with four large sails. They can be seen in the picture here. It’s pretty impressive. Expected savings are 6 tonnes of fuel and 20 tonnes of CO2 per day. The installation was done during the ship’s first special survey, in China.
The ship trades the Brazil to China route carrying iron ore.
Paul Bartlett Oct 17, 2023
Berge Bulk capesize sail installation expected to clock up double-digit savings
America’s most prominent inland waterway for commerce is the Mississippi River. It’s been plagued this year by low water. There hasn’t been enough rain in the middle of the continent.
Low water causes barges to run aground, and the remedy is to put less in them, reducing the capacity of the routes. That has been the state of affairs on the river this year as we get into grain harvesting times. The majority of grain exports from the US are from the Gulf Coast, using the Mississippi as the feeder.
It’s a financial blow for farmers and their co-ops if grain deliveries slow. Grain is one of the most important of the US export products, and helps to reduce our balance of payments.
You would think that freight rates would go sky high. But they appear to have steadied right now, in harvest season.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes a Grain Exports Dashboard showing numerous statistics. Grain exports from the US are down from both Gulf Coast and Pacific ports this year.
An interesting aspect of the article below is the water level graphs from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). These show a deficit of more than 10 feet at Memphis, and around 3 ft currently at St Louis. Accordingly, drafts of barges have to be reduced, as much as 32% at St. Louis.
Maintaining conditions for commerce on the Mississippi is the responsibility of the US Army Corps of Engineeers.
Grain exports from the Mississippi have been an interest of mine since 2012, when Chris Clott and I and other authors wrote about soybean exports.
John Kingston Monday, October 09, 2023
Water isn’t rising on Mississippi, but barge rates have steadied for now
Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Supply Chains
Tagged Barge drafts, Barge navigation, Barge Rates, freight rates, Grain Exports Dashboard, Grain harvesting, Gulf Coast exports, Logistics, Low water levels, Memphis water levels, Mississippi River, Mississippi River commerce, ocean shipping, ports, St. Louis water levels, US grain exports
Slow steaming is a good way to save on fuel costs and meet the new IMO requirements. So ships have slowed down. But I was amazed at the graph below, showing a trend for quite a while.
Slowing down is an important way of cutting CO2 emissions from fuel oil. It also implies that more ships are needed to meet planned sailings on a scheduled route. It’s a deliberate reduction of individual ship ‘productivity’, since fewer paid cargo-carrying trips can be made in a year. But it may be a better fit with the demand for shipments right now, and it might result in fuller vessels.
We should remember that slow steaming will not eliminate CO2 emissions problems; it’s a stopgap at best. New types of power with very low or zero emissions through their life cycle well-to-wake must be developed. The investments have to be made.
Sam Chambers October 2, 2023
Bulk carriers and containerships moving at slowest speeds on record this year
Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Supply Chains, Sustainability
Tagged Cargo-carrying trips, Climate change mitigation, CO2 emissions, container shipping, Emissions problems, Energy Efficiency, Fuel costs, fuel efficiency, green shipping, IMO requirements, Life cycle emissions, Logistics, Low emissions power, Maritime transportation, ocean shipping, Ship productivity, Shipments, slow steaming, supply chains, Sustainable shipping, Zero emissions
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