Page 54: of Marine News Magazine (March 2014)

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PEOPLE & COMPANY NEWS

Houston Authority. Wachel received a

Bachelor of Science degree in civil engi- neering from Texas A & M University.

Thomas Joins Blank Rome

Matthew J. Thomas has joined

Blank Rome’s Washington, D.C. of- fi ce as a partner in the maritime, in- ternational trade, and public contracts group. Mr. Thomas has more than twenty years of experience in maritime and international trade regulation and government affairs. Thomas is a mem- ber of the Connecticut Maritime Asso- ciation, and a member and past Presi- dent of the Maritime Administrative

Bar Association in Washington, D.C.

Lawmakers Boxer, Shuster

Selected For AAPA’s 2014 ‘Port

Person of Year’ Award

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) have been jointly selected to receive the American Association of Port Au- thorities’ (AAPA) 2014 “Port Person of the Year” award. The bi-partisan nomination for AAPA’s most presti- gious annual award was submitted by the California Association of Port Au- thorities (CAPA). Sen. Boxer is the current and fi rst female chair of the

Senate Environment and Public Works

Committee. Having served on the

House Transportation and Infrastruc- ture Committee since being elected to

Congress in 2001, Rep. Shuster now chairs that committee, co-chairs the

Water Resources Development Con- ference Committee, and serves on the

House Armed Services Committee.

Both are champions of the effort to pass the Water Resources Reform and

Development Act of 2013 (WRRDA).

HydroComp Celebrates 30 Years!

HydroComp, Inc. is celebrating 30 years in business. Hydrocomp began in 1984 to meet the specifi c needs of naval architects and shipbuilders in the area of resistance and power predic- tions. Thirty years later, HydroComp has grown into a multi-faceted cor- poration with clients from design to construction to academia in over sixty countries. Founded in 1984 in New

Hampshire, USA by Jill Aaron (Man- aging Director) and Donald MacPher- son (Technical Director), HydroComp was a pioneer in the very specifi c area of applied hydrodynamics.

Gulf Coast Shipyard Group Joins

Port of Gulfport

Gulf Coast Shipyard Group, Inc. announced its expansion by signing a three-year lease with one-year options with the Port of Gulfport. Specifi cally,

Gulf Coast Shipyard Group will use 400 linear feet of dock space on the

Port’s East Pier and 15,000 square feet of warehouse space to outfi t the dual fuel liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) pow- ered vessels it is building for Harvey

Gulf International Marine.

John Dane III, president of Gulf

Coast Shipyard Group said, “We are pleased to work with the Port of

Gulfport and grow our business in

Mississippi.” The Port of Gulfport is undergoing a $570 million restora- tion and is roughly 18 months from completion. Gulf Coast Shipyard ex- pects its fi rst vessel to be at the Port of

Gulfport in mid-March.

Vigor set to buy Seward Ship’s Drydock

The owner of Seward Ship’s Dry- dock has signed a letter of intent to sell the assets of the Seward, Alaska, shipyard company to Vigor Industrial.

The two companies are currently ne- gotiating the terms of the potential sale and expect the sale to be fi nalized after satisfactory completion of envi- ronmental, fi nancial and business due diligence and after Seward Ship’s Dry- dock, Vigor and the City of Seward reach a fi nal agreement on certain de- tails of the agreement. Vigor will lever- age its existing strong public/private partnerships in Alaska to maximize opportunities for the Seward yard.

Harsh Winter Costs U.S. Great

Lakes Fleets; Seaway Finishes with Surge

Weather, ice and cancelled cargos lim- ited U.S.-fl ag Great Lakes cargo move- ment to 7.1 million tons in December.

The fl eet’s year-end total slipped to 89.2 million tons, down 0.4% compared to 2012. Brutal weather also slashed ore shipments to just 4 million tons, also down 21% from last year. Separately, a surge in grain movements led to a strong fi nish for the St. Lawrence Seaway. The

Seaway closed for the season on Janu- ary 1, but a late harvest produced record grain volumes. 4.4 million tons of cargo moved through the Seaway in Decem- ber, exceeding the fi ve year December average by 20%.

Dane III Great Lakes Stone Carrier ShusterBoxer

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