Page 6: of Marine News Magazine (January 2013)

SUBSCRIBESubscribe to the print or electronic edition of MarineNews at www.marinelink.com/renewsubscr/Renew04/subscribe.html or e-mail Kathleen Hickey at [email protected] DAILY NEWS via E-MAIL Twice every business day we provide breaking news, tailored to your speciÞ cation, delivered FREE directly to your e-mail. To subscribe visit http://maritimetoday.com/login.aspx POST & SEARCH JOBSJob listings are updated daily and help match employers with qualiÞ ed employees. Post a position or keep abreast of new employment opportunities at http://www.maritimejobs.com ADVERTISE MN offers a number of print and electronic advertising packages. To see our editorial calendar and advertising rates, visit www.marinelink.com/AdvRates/Rates.asp Online Resources EDITOR?S NOTEThe New Year promises many positive, emerging trends for the commercial shallow draft, offshore, inland and coastal markets. And, since that?s the collective market we serve here at MarineNews , you and I can look forward to an exciting year to come. We also enter the New Year with unanswered questions about the state of maritime transportation, business, and the variables that will eventually impact that metric. For example, 2012 ends with stakeholders exhaling a temporary sigh of relief as the port strike threatening to disrupt commerce from Maine to Texas was, for the moment averted. Separately, a second, last minute release of additional water by the USACE into the rapidly depleting Mississippi River forestalled the effective closure of the nation?s most important inland river for at least another couple of weeks. Both events, coming less than 12 hours apart, only delay what could have been a disastrous beginning to 2013 for the domestic waterfront. According to the American Waterways Organization (AWO) and the Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI), the full majority of towboats cannot operate at less than a 9-foot draft, so navigation could all but cease on or around mid-January without more water. As you read this, you?ll know for sure. Of course, all of that could be a moot point if the port strikes ? delayed for another 30 days until 28 January ? move forward in the absence of a newly inked labor agreement. In that event, there won?t be too many places for that inland commerce to go where it could be unloaded or transshipped overseas. Exciting (?) times, indeed. It isn?t all doom and gloom. Far from it. Buoyed by aggressive  eet renewal programs ? inland, offshore and government ? domestic boatbuilders ride into the New Year on a wave of new contracts and solid, if not fat backlogs extending for some well into 2014. With a weather eye on the likelihood of reduced DOD and DHS spending, savvy builders are hedging their bets with more commercial work, some of which is destined for foreign buyers. In certain markets, American manufacturers CAN compete. This is one of them. Follow along inside as Susan Buchanan provides a timely SITREP of the Gulf Coast, mid-tier boatbuilding climate. Our focus on ferries and passenger vessels keeps the spotlight on the boatbuilders as domestic ferry operators and tourboat operators ramp up their  eet renewal projects. One such yard receiving the bene t of this trend ? riding the wave of goodwill that attracts repeat customers ? is the Gladding-Hearn Shipyard in Somerset, Massachusetts. In the case of two, recent major ferry deliveries, both vessels that the newbuildings replace or augment remain in service. All four are Gladding-Hearn hulls. Enough said. Drilling deeper into the New Year, we see an expanding footprint for the offshore sector in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and  nally, just maybe, the advent of our  rst domestic, offshore wind farm. With the usual caveats that come with rapidly unfolding current events, we simply ask, ?What?s not to like?? Happy New Year from MarineNews . [email protected] Keefe, Editor, [email protected] 6 MNJanuary 2013 MN Jan2013 Layout 1-17.indd 6MN Jan2013 Layout 1-17.indd 61/2/2013 3:40:46 PM1/2/2013 3:40:46 PM