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SCA Weekly Report | December 12-16, 2022
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*Please note there will not be a SCA Weekly Report next Friday, December 23, 2022*
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Registration Now Open:
2023 SCA Winter Meeting
February 8-9, 2023
The Biltmore Hotel
Coral Gables, FL
The 2023 SCA Winter Membership Meeting will be held on February 8-9, 2023.The cost to attend the meeting is $575.
SCA Board and Committee Meetings will be held on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 and SCA Staff Reports, the Guest Speaker Panel Sessions, and golf tournament will be held on Thursday, February 9, 2023.
The cost to play in the golf tournament is $250 and the cost to rent clubs for the golf tournament is an additional $80.
Please note that groups for the golf tournament will be finalized by February 1, 2023. If you have any requests for your golf group, please email SCA staff before this date.
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SCA has secured a room block at The Biltmore Hotel for the Winter Meeting. The rate for the room block is $379/ night.
To book a hotel room under the SCA rate, please click HERE.
You will also need to enter the group code on the hotel reservation landing page. The group code is: 6901
The cutoff date for booking a room under the SCA rate is January 9, 2023.
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Winter Meeting Sponsorship Opportunities Still Available
Additionally, sponsorship opportunities are still available for the 2023 SCA Winter Meeting. A full list of sponsorships and additional information on the sponsorship opportunities can be found HERE.
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NEW OSHA SHIPYARD EMPLOYMENT FACT SHEET:
Protecting Workers from Physical Hazards in Confined Spaces
There are two classifications of confined space hazards: atmospheric and physical. Workers in confined spaces often think about atmospheric conditions. However, in the maritime sector, there are also many physical hazards typically found in confined spaces that can increase workers’ risk of injury.
View the fact sheet HERE.
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Congress Passes Short Term Continuing Resolution
The Senate passed a weeklong stopgap spending bill on Thursday night to thwart a government shutdown that would have kicked in Friday, extending federal cash until Dec. 23. The measure, which passed in a 71-19 vote, gives top appropriators more time to flesh out a $1.7 trillion year-end spending package that Congress is racing to clear before the holidays. While negotiators said they had reached a critical compromise on overall spending levels, they have not shared details of the legislation. The weeklong stopgap funding bill now heads to President Joe Biden's desk.
Senate Passes NDAA; Bill Heads to President’s Desk
The Senate voted 83-11 to pass the fiscal year 2023 defense authorization bill, sending the measure to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
The topline of the 4,400-page bill supports $858 billion in national defense spending, which is $45 billion above the amount Biden initially requested. The package also includes a compromise Water Resources Development Act, Coast Guard Authorization Bill, authorizations related to intelligence programs, changes to ocean policy and legislation on Taiwan.
The text of the legislation can be found HERE. The joint explanatory statement for the legislation can be found HERE.
View the SCA Summary on the NDAA portion of the bill HERE. A summary of the Coast Guard Authorization bill can be found HERE.
Read the SCA Press Release on the NDAA passage and statement on industrial base capacity
RELATED
Congressman Garamendi Introduces Bill to Close Anti-American Worker Loopholes
Earlier this week, Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) introduced the “Close Agency Loopholes to the Jones Act,” which would close nearly 50 years of loopholes that disadvantage American workers—known as “letter rulings”—by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Specifically, these loopholes allow federal regulators to circumvent the Jones Act—a federal maritime law that requires transportation and items shipped between U.S. ports to be conducted on ships that are built and operated by American citizens or permanent residents.
“For nearly 50 years, Congress has stood on the sidelines while federal regulators made bad decisions that erode crucial protections for the American worker. The U.S. government should do everything in its power to prevent foreign vessels from paying poverty wages to take jobs from Americans working in our maritime industry. Sadly, it has largely enabled it instead,” Garamendi said.
“This stops today. My ‘Closing Agency Loopholes to the Jones Act’ would finally force federal regulators to enforce the law as Congress intended when it created the Jones Act in 1920. Passing my legislation means maximizing job opportunities for American mariners, U.S.-flagged vessels, and domestic shipyard workers,” Garamendi continued.
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SECNAV: Navy Needs to ‘Be Realistic’ in Pursuit of Next Destroyer, Sub, Fighter
In an interview with USNI News, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said that the technologies developed for the Navy’s next destroyer, submarine and fighter must be mature and cost-effective before the new platforms go into production.
We ought to test those technologies out before we fully commit to producing ships, aircraft, submarines in far larger numbers. So, my hope, in the Department of the Navy and the Marine Corps, is that before we move forward with producing the next DDG(X), SSN(X) and NGAD, is that we have designed maturity on these platforms. That takes tremendous discipline on our part, not to rush to production … It’s going to take a lot of compromises, a lot of balance, to come up with the right answers,” he said. “Let’s be realistic about how fast we should move forward before we’re ready to commit to a major [acquisition] program.”
Naval aviation, surface and submarine warfare all are in the early stages of developing replacements for ships and aircraft designs that are decades old. The Navy is working on the DDG(X) next-generation guided-missile destroyer, the next-generation SSN(X) nuclear attack submarine and the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program that will develop a new F/A-XX fighter and unmanned combat aircraft.
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Chinese Shipyards Feast on Record LNG Tanker Orders as South Korea Builders are full
China is making fast inroads in the market for newbuild liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers as local and foreign shipowners turn to its shipbuilders for the specialty vessels because long dominant yards in South Korea are fully booked. Three Chinese shipyards - only one of them having experience building large LNG tankers - won nearly 30% of this year's record orders for 163 new gas carriers, claiming ground in a sector where South Korea usually captures most of the business.
LNG tanker order books for Chinese yards tripled as China's gas traders and fleet operators sought to secure shipping after freight rates soared to records following the upending of global energy supply flows by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. With South Korean shipbuilders swamped by orders to service Qatar's massive North Field expansion, Chinese yards also attracted more foreign bookings.
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BOEM Moves Two Atlantic Coast Offshore Wind Projects Along its Pipeline
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced the availability of two more draft Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for offshore wind projects for public review and comment. The projects, Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Wind (CVOW) project and Ørsted and Eversource’s Sunrise Wind project, if approved, could provide over 4,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy capacity. The projects are the fourth and fifth projects at this stage of regulatory review by BOEM.
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U.S. Energy Secretary Calls for Investment in Crude Oil for a 'Managed' Energy Transition
The Biden administration is committed to a "managed" energy transition that is likely to lessen fossil fuel demand but, for now, increased investments to boost US oil production and refining capacity remain necessary to meet energy security needs, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Wednesday. Her remarks during a meeting of the National Petroleum Council, an oil and gas advisory committee to the Department of Energy, contrasted President Joe Biden's "there is no more drilling" comments at a political rally last month that riled Republicans and oil executives.
The NPC, at its meeting, also voted to approve and adopt a new study it conducted following a July request from Granholm to advise the department on short-term actions and transition strategies. The report lays out near-term actionable steps the administration can take to help increase oil and refined product supplies. Those steps include energy infrastructure permitting reforms, Jones Act waivers, postponing refilling the SPR, relaxing fuel specifications and labeling during supply disruptions, supporting crude and product exports, and increasing domestic production.
Louisiana Governor Announces $1.8 Billion Port Expansion Project
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has announced a historic public-private partnership between the state of Louisiana, the Port of New Orleans and two leading maritime companies to build a $1.8 billion state-of-the-art container facility on the Lower Mississippi River. The new Louisiana International Terminal (LIT), located in St. Bernard Parish, will be able to serve vessels of all sizes, dramatically increasing Louisiana’s import and export capacity and stimulating the creation of more than 17,000 new jobs statewide by 2050, Port NOLA estimates. The project is currently in the design and permitting phase of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental review process. Barring unforeseen delays, construction is slated to begin in 2025 and the first berth to open in 2028.
U.S. Container Imports Near Pre-Pandemic Levels in November
U.S. container imports fell a whopping 19.4% in November compared to the same month last year as economic turmoil, a reduction in retail transactions, and high fuel costs are finally starting to leave their mark on import volumes, according to logistics technology firm Descartes Systems Group. Compared to October 2022, U.S. container import volumes were down 12% last month, to 1.95 million TEUs, which is only 2.8% higher than pre-pandemic in November 2019, Descartes reports.
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If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the SCA staff.
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