Page 49: of Marine News Magazine (November 2020)

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INLAND WATERWAYS backdrop of restricted travel.

Shipper-owned equipment still plays a role in supply chains. On the dry side, ARTCO is tied to grain giant Ar- cher Daniels Midland (ADM). In the liquid sector, mid- streamers MPLX (a partnership owning 300 barges, linked to Marathon Petroleum) and Enterprise Product Partners have integrated their barge ? eets into broader supply opera- tions, while privately held Magnolia Marine Transport (with nearly 100 tank barges, mainly in the dirty oil and asphalt trades) is tied to the closely held re? ner and marketer Ergon. “ESG” (Environment, Social, Governance) is also ? nd- ing its way into the business, albeit more likely to impact listed companies. SCF, the barge owning arm of Seacor, recently touted its purchases of carbon credits as a way to offer its container on barge customers a much-desired carbon neutral transport alternative. In 2020, Kirby Corp provided a lengthy “Sustainability Report” that included some old themes (safety, no spills, good citizenship) but also broke new ground providing some real numbers on

CO2 emissions for the barge ? eet overall, and for Kirby speci? cally now, and for enhancements to future reports.

The “E” trend shows no signs of abating. Domestic boat owners ought to be looking carefully at the international deepsea shipping sector, where a group of major dry bulk cargo providers (including ADM, Bunge, Cargill and

Louis Dreyfus, all well-known in the inland markets) have agreed, in early October, to measure, and publicly disclose, the CO2 emissions from their shipping activities.

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