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sued COIs as of July 6, 2021, out of 5,227 such vessels overall. Trade associ- ation the American Waterway Opera- tors (AWO) in an early June newsletter reported that USSG Commandant,

Admiral Karl Schultz, speaking to an online audience, “…remarked that he thinks industry is ‘on a good trajectory’ with Subchapter M, noting that while there had been a learning curve, almost 75% of towing vessels are expected to be certi? cated under the TSMS op- tion.” The TSMS option, short for

Towing Safety Management System, enables Third Party Organizations (TPO), rather than by USCG inspec- tors, to conduct vessel examinations as part of vessels attaining COIs.

With the Colonial Pipeline outage in May, earlier this year, “resilience” has taken on powerful meanings for the inland re? ned oil products barge busi- ness. A blog from Vanderbilt University details research on this very topic, not- ing that gas stations in Nashville, Chat- tanooga and Knoxville (accessible by in- land barging) fared far better with fuel availability than those in land-locked

Charlotte, Asheville and Raleigh- where stations saw widespread closures due to supply outages. IHS’s Eriksen agrees: “At the time [of the outage] there was not much known on the full impact so barges became an insurance to get product moving and positioned.”

Kirby, in reporting its second quarter results, chimed in, saying, “Barge de- mand was further increased by the Co- lonial Pipeline outage that occurred in

May,” noting that its inland utilization had temporarily increased up to near 90%, touching pre-pandemic levels.

Sustainability, which is intertwined with resilience, is a major theme now www.marinelink.com MN 27|