It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
U.S. Plots 12 Offshore Wind Lease Auctions by 2028 and Revises Rules
The U.S. is planning 12 offshore wind auctions over the next five years (BOEM)
The Biden administration is moving forward aggressively to expand the U.S. offshore wind energy industry including mapping out a five-year plan for up to a dozen new leases and streamlining and modernizing the rules for development. All of this comes as the industry however continues to struggle to get projects from concept to reality with New York suffering the latest setback in moving forward with approved projects.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the new five-year offshore wind leasing schedule which anticipates auctions in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and the waters offshore of the U.S. territories in the next five years. The leasing schedule includes four potential offshore lease sales in 2024 (Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, and Oregon). It will be followed by one each in 2025 (Gulf of Mexico) and 2026 (Central Atlantic), two in 2027 (Gulf of Mexico and New York Bight), and four in 2028 (California, a U.S. Territory, Gulf of Maine, and Hawaii).
The new schedule is a follow-on to a 2021 timeline that called for seven lease sales by 2025. The previous plan included a commitment to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 and a target goal of permitting at least 25 gigawatts of onshore renewable energy by 2025. Currently, the U.S. has just over 240 MW installed offshore, which is up from 42 MW last year.
Today, they reported that the Department has approved the nation's first eight commercial-scale offshore wind projects, held four offshore wind lease auctions (Including the New York Bight and the first-ever sales offshore the Pacific and Gulf Coasts), and advanced the process to establish additional Wind Energy Areas in Oregon, the Gulf of Maine and the Central Atlantic. Thus far, the Department has approved more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy from offshore wind projects, enough to power nearly four million homes.
While they highlight progress, the industry has also faced significant challenges from the changing economics, interest rates, supply chain delays, and a lack of installation vessels. Ørsted last year canceled development plans for large projects planned off New Jersey and last week New York announced it closed its third-round solicitation without making any awards. They cited economic challenges due to “material modifications,” brought about by GE Verona’s decision not to proceed with a larger wind turbine which would have been the basis for the three selected projects.
New York announced yesterday that it had issued a request for information ahead of a planned next round in the summer of 2024. They are also working to complete power agreements with two projects selected in a round at the beginning of 2024. At the same time, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island are reviewing proposals from their coordinated solicitation while New Jersey plans a new round this year to get its projects back on track.
To aid in the approval process, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) today finalized updated regulations for renewable energy development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Haaland says the final rule increases certainty and reduces the costs associated with the deployment of offshore wind projects by modernizing regulations, streamlining overly complex processes and removing unnecessary ones, clarifying ambiguous regulatory provisions, and enhancing compliance requirements.
Among the key provisions of the new rules, they are citing that it eliminates unnecessary requirements for the deployment of meteorological buoys and increases survey flexibility. It also clarifies safety management system regulations and oversight of critical safety systems and equipment. BOEM’s renewable energy auction regulations are being reformed and it tailors financial assurance requirements and instruments to address concerns raised by the industry. The Department expects that the final rules will result in cost savings of roughly $1.9 billion for the offshore wind industry over the next 20 years.
Damen Launches Pilot Project for Circular Shipbreaking
Damen Shipyards Group is launching a pilot project in which a small tug will be dismantled at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam’s Botlek site in a circular way and entirely in line with the EU regulations. The project will serve as a trial, after which this approach of ‘green’ ship dismantling and recycling will be made available commercially, and also for larger vessels.
“This pilot project fits in perfectly with our ambitions to become the most sustainable shipbuilder in the world,” explains Arnout Damen, the CEO of Damen Shipyards Group. “The question is not just how we design, build, maintain and refit our ships, but also, and precisely, how we dismantle them at the end of their lifespan and, most importantly: recycling.”
The Jan, which was built in 1927, will be dismantled in line with the regulations set out in the Ship Recycling Facility Plan at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam’s Botlek site. That is one of the few sites in the Netherlands on the EU list of certified Ship Recycling Facilities. So the safe and environmentally friendly dismantling of the 15.4-meter-long tug is guaranteed.
Bottelier Slooptechniek Bottelier Slooptechniek is the partner in the alliance responsible for the dismantling and sorting work: the company is a fully certified specialist in circular demolition. “We identify all the materials from the Jan and assess their potential for reuse,” says Nick van Egten, commercial director and co-owner of the Bottelier Group. In that way, the maximum environmental and economic return can be generated from the materials in their residual life.”
Transparency After the completion of the pilot project, there will be complete transparency about the amounts of dismantled materials and how they have been reused, recycled, or disposed of. An approach has already been drafted with respect to the commercialisation and financing of circular ship dismantling projects in the future. Damen Financial Services is working in this area with Offshore Ship Recycling Rotterdam.
The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.
Spill Response Barge ALLISON CREEK Delivered to Alaska Operator
Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) and Dakota Creek Industries (DCI) are proud to announce the delivery of a state-of-the-art oil spill response barge for operation in the coastal waters of Alaska. The barge, named ALLISON CREEK, is specifically designed to meet the rigorous requirements in Prince William Sound. ALLISON CREEK has a capacity of 13,600 barrels, an overall length of 200', beam of 42', depth of 16' and is outfitted with a deck crane and on-deck houses to store emergency response equipment.
The barge is certified by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for the recovery and disposal transport of petroleum products, ensuring compliance with applicable requirements outlined in USCG 46 CFR Subchapter D. Additionally, the vessel is classed by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for Oil Spill Recovery.
EBDG developed the complete contract and functional design drawing and document package as well as managed the submittal and engineering liaison process with the USCG and ABS. Lofting and systems modeling were provided by EBDG in partnership with Adaptive Marine Solutions, Inc. DCI built the vessel at their shipbuilding and repair facility in Anacortes, Washington. During construction, EBDG and DCI worked collaboratively to ensure the safe, reliable, and durable construction of the vessel in accordance with the client's specifications.
"EBDG has designed a wide range of spill response barges and vessels for port cities across our nation. The ALLISON CREEK joins our distinguished portfolio, standing as a symbol of our commitment to the environment and safeguarding precious marine ecosystems" states Michael Complita, Principal at Elliott Bay Design Group.
The ALLISON CREEK joins a fleet of other OSRB's designed by EBDG and positioned in Alaska that will further bolster emergency response capabilities in the region.
The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.
Baltimore accuses firms behind Dali ship that destroyed bridge of negligence
Salvage work continues on the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge as it lies on the container ship Dali on Monday, in Baltimore, Maryland.
April 23 (UPI) -- he city of Baltimore is blaming the the owner and manager of a merchant vessel that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge late last month of negligence.
In a filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division, the city of Baltimore and its council said Grace Ocean Private and Synergy Marine "were grossly and potentially criminally negligent" in their operations of the Dali container ship.
The 985-foot Dali container ship is owned by Grace Ocean Private and it is managed by Synergy Marine. Early March 26, the vessel lost power shortly after leaving the Port of Baltimore and crashed into the bridge, causing it to immediately collapse.
Six people were killed and nearly all commercial transit to the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest in the United States, has since come to halt.
The filing on Monday is in response the companies asking the court to limit their potential liability payouts to $43.6 million. The city is asking the court to deny the firms' request.
"For more than four decades, cargo ships made thousands of trips every year under the Key Bridge without incident. There was noting about March 26, 2024, that should have changed that," the city said in its legal filing.
The city argues that Dali was operated despite being "a clearly unseaworthy vessel."
It said hours before departing, alarms had been going off on Dali showing that it had been experiencing an inconsistent power supply, which was either not investigated or investigated but not fixed.
"The allision was a direct and proximate result of petitioners' carelessness, negligence, gross negligence and recklessness and as a result of the unseaworthiness of the vessel," the city said.
The city accuses the companies of committing 23 acts and omissions related to their alleged negligence, from providing the vessel with an incompetent crew to failing to properly maintain and operate the ship's engine and propulsion system.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also opened a criminal investigation into the collapse of the bridge.
Maersk May Set Up Container-on-Barge Service to Reach Baltimore
Contractors work to clear a 35-foot-deep channel for merchant ships in Baltimore, April 22, 2024 (USACE)
Baltimore's shipping channel is closed to deep-draft container ships because of the wreckage of the Key Bridge, and will probably not reopen until the end of May, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. This has an outsize effect on local businesses that depend on the port for logistics: they now have to truck their goods to and from New York or Virginia to get access to ocean freight. But Maersk may have an interim solution - a container-on-barge service, also known in the United States as a Marine Highway operation.
The federal coordinated response - led by the USACE and the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Diving and Salvage (SUPSALV) - has cleared three channels to date. The third and deepest has a controlling depth of 20 feet, and might potentially allow Maersk and other container carriers to ship boxes into and out of Baltimore by barge. There is no guarantee yet, though, and Maersk says that it will reach out to customers directly if it can offer barge service.
Any tug-and-barge service would necessarily be carried out by a Jones Act operator, and would join a small number of similar operations around the country. The U.S. Maritime Administration has sponsored "Marine Highway" container on barge transport services in dozens of coastal ports and inland waterways.
The federal unified command will also temporarily open a fourth, 35-foot-deep channel through the wreckage on Thursday. It will be open over the weekend to allow the vessels trapped in the main harbor to leave (if desired). The ships currently in Baltimore include one carrier, the Swedish-flagged Carmen; five bulkers, the Klara Oldendorff, Balsa 94, Saimaagracht, Phatra Naree and JY River; and the tanker Palanca Rio. Five ships are expected to depart.
In the inbound direction, one container barge, a smaller bulker, and an aluminum carrier are scheduled to enter the port, Captain of the Port David O'Connell told reporters yesterday. (The charterer of the container barge was not immediately clear.) Traffic will be limited to vessels of less than 60,000 dwt, in calm weather, and with fore and aft tug escorts.
Baltimore to Open Larger Temporary Channel as Dali is Readied for Removal
Progress continues as they prepare to open a 35-foot deep channel this week (USCG)
A month after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maryland and Baltimore officials along with the members of the Unified Command highlighted the strong progress that has been made in the recovery by announcing plans for a brief window to move large commercial vessels. In addition to having removed large sections of the bridge debris, they are also now focused on the removal of the Dali in the coming weeks.
Buoys and lights are now being laid in anticipation according to the Captain of the Port David O'Connell of establishing a temporary deep draft channel into the Port of Baltimore. The Unified Command reports it will open, depending on the weather, on Thursday, April 25, with a 35-foot draft, 300-foot horizontal clearance, and 214-foot vertical clearance.
The plan is to run the channel for approximately four days to permit commercial vessels access. O’Connell reports there are seven ships trapped in the port ready to depart and they expect five, including a loaded car carrier, will use the channel in the coming days. In addition, a container barge, a smaller bulker, and an aluminum carrier are scheduled to enter the port. It will be the first movement of large commercial vessels since March 26.
Opening of the channel was made possible by the recent lifts, which between Sunday night and early Monday, April 22, included the largest yet completed. They removed a 560-ton section after two and a half days of prep and rigging. They also cleared debris that was wrapped around the piling to make the deeper channel possible. Another large 460-ton lift was completed on Friday. Governor Wes Moore reported today that a total of 2,900 tons of wreckage has been removed.
(Map courtesy of USCG)
Movement on the deepest channel will be suspended starting next week till approximately May 10 as they prepare to remove the Dali. Coast Guard officers highlighted that they will be focusing on the span laying on the Dali and in early May they will be rigging and then lifting that section. Shortly after that, they expect the Dali will be freed and removed.
The Governor reports that 145 commercial vessels have used the three channels already established and they will continue movements during the upcoming work. This includes the 20-foot channel opened at the end of last week and the two prior channels with 10- and 11-foot draft clearance.
The Captain of the Port reviewed additional conditions for using the 35-foot draft channel which will include a requirement for a tug at the bow and another at the stern of each vessel and a minimum three foot under keel clearance. Due to the proximity to the Dali, speed must also be at or below 5 knots and transits will only be permitted while wind speeds are below 15 knots. They expect vessels below 50,000 dwt will be permitted, while vessels between 50,000 and 60,000 dwt will be individually reviewed, and vessels above 60,000 dwt will most likely not be permitted at this time.
Major shipping companies had highlighted that they were closely following these developments. Wallenius Wilhelmsen has a car carrier trapped in the port that had unloaded when the port was closed due to the collapse. Last week, Maersk advised customers that the temporary channels were not deep enough to accommodate the ocean going container vessels that Maersk and other carriers use to call at Baltimore. They reported they were waiting for details from the Captain of the Port. Maersk advised customers today, April 23, that the temporary 20-foott channel, "could potentially allow Maersk and other carriers to operate limited barge services into and out of the Port of Baltimore."
The officials said today they expect to have the 35-foot channel reopened in mid-May. The port is on track to fully have the 50-foot channel reopened by the end of May.
Baltimore Opens Third Channel as Plans Sequence Efforts to Refloat Dali
Progress continues in Baltimore with teams planning the efforts to refloat the Dali (US Army Corps photo April 19)
Recovery efforts in Baltimore continue to make good progress Maryland Governor Wes Moore highlighted in a briefing on Friday afternoon, April 19, reporting that more than 1,300 tons of steel have now been removed from the waterway. While the priority remains on establishing a larger temporary channel to reopen Baltimore harbor, late today they also opened a third temporary channel while the teams are also beginning to converge on the Dali for the effort to refloat and remove the vessel.
Crews they reported have now removed 120 containers from the bow of the vessel and expect to move approximately 20 more in the coming days to clear a path for the salvage team to safely reach the debris resting on the vessel. Governor Moore reported that each of the laden containers weighs between 1.5 and 2.5 tons and that in addition, the salvage teams project that there are 3,000 to 4,000 tons of steel from the bridge sitting on the bow of the vessel.
After the containers are removed, they are planning to build a staging area to address the debris. Representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard reported that they planning the effort to cut the sections of roadway and steel and remove it from the ship and then the refloating sequence.
More than 100 containers have been removed over two weeks from the Dali (USCG photo)
Another 20 containers need to be removed before they begin staging for the controlled demolition of debris on the bow of the Dali (USCG photo)
They declined to specify a timeline for these efforts saying that the focus remains at this moment on establishing the Limited Access Channel. The third smaller channel established today should provide for about 15 percent of the harbor's normal traffic with a controlling depth of 20 feet, a 300-foot horizontal clearance, and a vertical clearance of 135 feet. Maersk earlier in the weekly however informed customers that the channels being established are too small for containerships and that they did not have a timetable for access to the port.
The Army Corp said they are working on debris wrapped around the other pier of the bride after teams modeling the channel identified this area as a priority. However, they noted that three salvage teams are also all working around the vessel as they plan the controlled demolition of the sections on and around the Dali. They noted that sections of the bridge’s pier are embedded in the vessel adding to the challenge to remove the ship. The plan is to take it back to a dock in Baltimore.
Three channels have been established which should permit approximately 15 percent of commercial activity in Baltimore (Unified Command)
Governor Moore highlighted that there are now 80 different assets working in the area and 380 people. They reported that 113 vessels have already passed through the first two channels and they are still on schedule to have the larger temporary channel established by the end of April.
Maryland also announced the next phase of financial assistance programs both for port workers and businesses impacted by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. More than $5.5 million in assistance is budgeted and they will be paying people who worked at the port $430 a week as temporary job assistance.
At the same time today, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro traveled to Baltimore to personally assess the work. He met with both Naval Sea Systems Command and the Unified Command emphasizing the contribution of the Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving in the effort. The Navy is providing its diving expertise and coordinating efforts to aid in the recovery. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assigned the Navy’s SUPSALV with supporting by leading the clearing of the waterway.
During today’s briefing, they said two large sections of the bridge steel have already been successfully lifted. They are currently rigging a third section to be lifted.
Red Sea Diversions are Overloading Mediterranean Transshipment Ports
Western Mediterranean transshipment ports are struggling with volume increases due to Red Sea diversions (Tangier Med seaport photo)
Europe’s transship ports serving the Mediterranean have become the latest to feel the repercussions of the diversions from the Red Sea with many of the ports warning of crowing and lack of capacity as well as longer them normal wait times. In a new report by the Financial Times, they cite overflowing storage yards and severe port congestion which they warn is the latest threat to supply chains.
Experts had previously predicted that the popular transshipment ports including Tangier-Med in Morocco and Algeciras in Spain were likely to experience increased traffic and volumes as carriers began to adjust schedules in 2024 after the introduction of the EU carbon charges. The FuelEU Maritime Regulation known as Fit for 55 was expected to increase the volume of transshipped cargo and the use of feeder vessels. Likely transshipment ports were identified for special consideration in the legislation as sponsored projected carriers would increase transshipments.
The Financial Times is quoting executives from the container terminals in the Western Mediterranean as saying they were all experiencing increases in volumes in 2024 attributed to the vessels diverting from Red Sea – Suez Canal routes to voyages around Africa.
“Many vessels are dropping off containers at ports on the western side of the Mediterranean such as Algeciras and Tangier,” writes the Financial Times. They are quoting analysts saying it has caused disruptions as critical ports struggle with sharp volume increases. As an example, they cite a 17 percent year-over-year increase in container volumes at Barcelona in February 2024.
Early in April, Maersk warned customers in its European Market Update that it was taking steps including “a number of omissions, diversions, and flow adjustments,” to mitigate the pressures of high yard densities. Specifically, Maersk said it was monitoring yard density levels, especially in Barcelona, Tangier, and Algeciras.
“Due to a congested line-up and increased waiting times at the Port of Barcelona, yard density has increased, and customers are kindly asked to pick up both their import units and empty containers as early as possible. In Algeciras and Tangier, adverse weather conditions and flow delays have contributed to a similar outcome,” Maersk advised its customers.
Executives in Algeciras told the Financial Times that their facility was “quite full” and warned that “capacity is very limited.” They told the reporters the terminal was restricting the amount of business it was accepting to avoid severe congestion.
Executives in Tangier echoed a similar sentiment saying their yard is “nearly full,” the Financial Times writes. The newspaper’s analysis also showed the vessels are regularly waiting for berths at these ports.
By optimizing connections and reducing transshipment moves as well as obtaining addition moves, Maersk said its teams are working on improving the density levels. They told customers these steps were expected to result in reduced density levels over the next few weeks.
Analysts however warn the overall pressures are likely to continue due to the combination of the new EU rules along with the expectation that containerships scheduled to service the Mediterranean on routes through the Suez Canal will continue diversions in the near term.
China Builds Up its Presence Ahead of Historic U.S.-Philippine Exercise
Chinese maritime militia trawlers in a typical mooring arrangement (Philippine Coast Guard file image)
China has doubled the presence of maritime militia and military vessels in and around the Philippine exclusive economic zone in advance of major U.S.-Philippine naval drills, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 124 Chinese vessels are in the area, with the largest concentrations found near three strategic locations: Scarborough Shoal, Second Thomas Shoal and Pag-asa Island.
"This upsurge is out of the normal," Philippine Navy spokesman Commodore Roy Trinidad told GMA. For the last two months, the Chinese maritime presence has ranged from 33-69 vessels, he said, with an average of 60.
China's coast guard has attacked Philippine supply boats near Second Thomas Shoal in the recent past, and the maritime militia has played a key role in Chinese blockades. Though the uptick in presence is concerning, Trinidad said that the AFP expects Chinese forces to "behave" during the exercises because the U.S. Navy will be there.
"I don’t expect them to do anything illegal because of the presence of foreign warships," Trinidad told Rappler. "Historically, the illegal, unprovoked, uncalled-for actions of China will only be [towards the Philippines]."
Beijing's English-language opinion outlet, Global Times, has expressed outrage that the Philippines will be using an aging Chinese-built product tanker for a sinking exercise as part of the Balikitan 2024 maneuvers. The BRP Lake Caliraya - a decommissioned Philippine Navy oiler - will be targeted with U.S. Navy and Philippine Navy missiles until sunk. Lake Caliraya once belonged to the Philippine National Oil Company, and it was built to merchant tanker specifications by a Chinese shipyard.
"It is a ludicrous performance by Manila . . . showing clear provocative intent," complained Global Times. "We hope that the Philippines will not allow the 'spiritual victory' of sinking target ships to make them too excited, leading to the illusion that they can take on real ships."
The Philippine Navy had planned to use Lake Caliraya as a target ship at least as early as July 2023. The first attempt failed when the derelict tanker drifted aground in a storm. It has since been refloated and prepped for Balikatan 2024.
"The vessel has been used in the Philippines for a very long, long time," Philippine Navy Vice Adm. Toribio Adaci told 24 Oras. "Just like in any sinking exercise around the world, they use old vessels as the target of the exercise and the same thing we are doing with Lake Caliraya."
Sweden Thinks Russian "Shadow Fleet" Tankers May be Used for Espionage
Shadow fleet: a Russian state-operated Aframax in the years before the invasion. This specific vessel is under U.S. sanctions but was not named by the report (file image courtesy SCF)
The Swedish Navy's top officer believes that Russia may be using some of its "shadow fleet" tankers to spy on its neighbors in the Baltic Sea. If true, it would be an expansion of Russia's decades-old tradition of placing military surveillance equipment on fishing trawlers. In the mid-1960s, these over-equipped ships were so common that the U.S. gave them a name: "Auxiliary General Intelligence" vessels (AGIs).
According to Rear Adm. Ewa Skoog Haslum, some of the less reputable Russia-linked tankers in the Baltic have been found to be carrying "antennas and masts that typically do not belong" to merchant vessels. These are the kinds of fittings that intelligence officers associate with Moscow's "hybrid operations," a common Russian practice of espionage and disruption. Her service also has evidence that these vessels are fitted out to pick up signals intelligence from their neighbors.
The "shadow fleet" is a large collection of tankers that serve Russian oil exporters without regard to the G7 price cap, which limits the per-barrel price of a Western-facilitated shipment to $60. To circumvent the cap, these ships have reflagged in low-enforcement registries, obtained questionable P&I cover and class, and often obscure their cargo's movements by disabling AIS and carrying out STS transfers. The ships tend to be much older than average, and given the uncertainty of their insurance cover, they have attracted scrutiny from coastal states for the possible risk of a spill. Espionage adds to the list of concerns.
"It is clear that we feel that there are sometimes other objectives associated with their activities in terms of what is moving at sea," Haslum told SVT. "What is happening now due to the sanctions against Russia could become both a security and an environmental tragedy."
Haslum has warned about risky Russian activity in the Baltic for years, and has described the security situation in the region as "intense and very fragile." One persistent example is the constant GPS spoofing in the Baltic, which is widely believed to emanate from a Russian electronic-warfare installation in Kaliningrad. While this does not affect NATO forces much, it does feed false GPS positions to AIS transcievers, and it makes it harder for authorities to track merchant shipping. More ships are simply turning off their AIS in the eastern Baltic because of the false GPS position information, and that problem is "becoming bigger and bigger," Haslum said last year.
Canada to Investigate Disruptive 2023 West Coast Longshore Strike
Cargo operations were stopped for nearly two weeks in Vancouver during the 2023 strike (file photo)
Canada’s Federal Minister of Labour, Seamus O’Regan Jr., announced the appointment of an Industrial Inquiry Commission to study the devastating labor strike that paralyzed West Coast ports for nearly two weeks and had ramifications across Canada for weeks. Since the strike, Canadian business groups have continued to lobby for changes to federal labor policies to prevent similar strikes.
Longshore workers at Canada’s West Coast ports went on strike in July 2023 which critically impacted cargo and bulk operations at both Vancouver and Prince Rupert, which are two of Canada’s largest gateways. At the time there were calls for the federal government to intervene and they did help to bring about a settlement after the union twice rejected terms and was poised for a third round of action. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became personally involved to bring about a resolution. They finally accepted a four-year contract in August with the minister saying "We do not want to be back here again."
While reiterating the government's belief in collective bargaining, O’Regan said “Canadians experienced an economic disruption that no single dispute should be responsible for,” referring to the 2023 port strike. “Our ports are vital to our supply chains, and the scale of the disruption was a burden on the many businesses and workers that depend on them. They deserve long-term solutions. They deserve answers.”
The government says the official goal of the inquiry is “stability.” O’Regan said Canada’s credibility as a trading partner “depends on the stable operation of our supply chains.”
In October 2023 he charged two independent industrial relations exports to identify the questions that needed to be answered about the port strike. He asked them to propose terms for a more comprehensive review. They concluded that the West Coast ports represent a unique case study that requires a deeper examination said the labor minister.
He appointed a commission to study the underlying issues in longshore labor disputes at Canada’s West Coast ports. The commission will be headed by one of Canada’s most seasoned mediators and arbitrators, Vincent Ready. His career started in 1965 and they report he has been involved in arbitrating and mediating over 7,000 labor and commercial disputes and over 600 collective agreements. He is familiar with the West Coast labor dispute as he was brought in by the government to mediate the deal last summer.
The commission will meet with the stakeholders and review submissions from relevant parties. It will present a report to the Labor Ministry in the Spring of 2025.
The biodiversity of invertebrates is key to planetary health
OIST Professor Evan Economo was named the Japan National Champion of the Frontiers Planet Prize for his research on global biodiversity
OKINAWA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (OIST) GRADUATE UNIVERSITY
On Earth Day, April 22, the Frontiers Planet Prize was announced, and Professor Evan Economo, head of OIST's Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, was chosen as the National Champion for Japan for his team’s recent research. This puts him in the running to be named one of three International Champions, which comes with a prize of one million Swiss Francs to further the research.
The Frontiers Planet Prize was established by the Frontiers Research Foundation in Lausanne Switzerland on Earth Day 2022 to recognize scientists whose research helps humans live safely in Earth's ecosystems. In its second year, 20 science academies and 475 leading universities and research institutions from 43 countries participated in the competition, showcasing transformative and globally scalable research that “mobilizes science for a global green renaissance” and accelerates sustainable solutions for healthy lives on a healthy planet. Twenty-three individual researchers were designated National Champions worldwide.
Prof. Economo's paper in the journal Science Advances in 2022 led to his selection as Japan's National Champion. This paper represents the first high-resolution global biodiversity map for any invertebrate group, organisms that have been called “…the little things that run the world” for their critical roles in ecosystems. This global picture allows invertebrate biodiversity to be used in global conservation planning and provides a guide to further discovery.
To achieve this milestone, the researchers focused on ants, a globally widespread, ecologically dominant, and economically important insect group. Ants play an important role in most terrestrial ecosystems, from nutrient flow to mutualistic partnerships with other plants and animals, but like other insects, their global diversity patterns are not well documented. Over the past 12 years, the team assembled fragmented information from 300 years of research, from obscure museum collections to old papers, to personal collections from people around the world and data extracted from nearly 10,000 scientific publications. However, creating a unified database was not enough. “Even when we consolidate all the world’s information on ants in one place, there are errors, biases, and gaps. For example, we lack exploratory research in many areas of the world that have high biodiversity, but completing a global inventory with traditional methods will take decades or centuries more at the rate we are going.”
To solve this problem, the researchers turned to modern data science, applying tools from informatics and machine learning. “We wanted to get the most insight out of imperfect and incomplete data.” To lead the design of the innovative workflows, Economo turned to a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellow in his lab, Dr. Jamie Kass, an expert on ecological modeling and co-first author of the study. Dr. Kass, now an Associate Professor at Tohoku University, worked with OIST researcher Kenneth Dudley and others to put together what Prof. Economo calls “the most complex computational workflow for a paper I have been a part of in my career” that addressed everything from interpreting 200-year-old specimen data, to predicting the distributions of individual species, to predicting hidden “hotspots” of diversity that may yield undiscovered species.
The value of this research is in both the biodiversity map for ants that can now be used in conservation planning, but also in establishing methods that can be applied to other understudied organisms. Prof. Economo says that “in a way, this study bridges the gap between Victorian-era natural history explorers and modern big-data and machine learning-driven research.” Prof. Economo emphasized the importance of his collaborators, including numerous OIST staff, Core Facilities, and research groups around the world. “This project is a broad team effort, and any recognition belongs to the group.” Dr. Jamie Kass, co-first author of the paper, commented that “estimating biodiversity patterns for understudied groups like invertebrates is certainly difficult and requires the work of many researchers, but the end result aids in the discovery of new species and helps us better prioritize areas for conservation that include branches of the tree of life so important for ecosystems and human wellbeing.”
The three International Champions will be announced in June at the Villars Symposium in Switzerland.
A chemical mystery solved – the reaction explaining large carbon sinks
LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY
IMAGE:
DAVID BASTVIKEN, PROFESSOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AT LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN.
A mystery that has puzzled the scientific community for over 50 years has finally been solved. A team from Linköping University, Sweden, and Helmholtz Munich have discovered that a certain type of chemical reaction can explain why organic matter found in rivers and lakes is so resistant to degradation. Their study has been published in the journal Nature.
“This has been the holy grail within my field of research for over 50 years”, says Norbert Hertkorn, scientist in analytical chemistry previously at Helmholtz Munich and currently at Linköping University.
Let us take it from the beginning. When, for example, a leaf detaches from a tree and falls to the ground, it begins to break down immediately. Before the leaf decomposes, it consists of a few thousand distinct biomolecules; molecules that can be found in most living matter.
The decomposition of the leaf occurs in several phases. Insects and microorganisms begin to consume it, while sunlight and humidity affect the leaf, causing further breakdown. Eventually, the molecules from the decomposed leaf are washed into rivers, lakes and oceans.
However, at this point, the thousands of known biomolecules have been transformed into millions of very different-looking molecules with complex and typically unknown structures. This dramatic chemical transformation process has remained a mystery that has confounded researchers for over half a century, until now.
“Now we can elucidate how a couple of thousand molecules in living matter can give rise to millions of different molecules that rapidly become very resistant to further degradation”, says Norbert Hertkorn.
The team discovered that a specific type of reaction, known as oxidative dearomatisation, is behind the mystery. Although this reaction has long been studied and applied extensively in pharmaceutical synthesis, its natural occurrence remained unexplored.
In the study, the researchers showed that oxidative dearomatisation changes the three-dimensional structure of some biomolecule components, which in turn can activate a cascade of subsequent and differentiated reactions, resulting in millions of diverse molecules.
Scientists previously believed that the path to dissolved organic matter involved a slow process with many sequential reactions. However, the current study suggests that the transformation occurs relatively quickly.
The team examined dissolved organic matter from four tributaries of the Amazon River and two lakes in Sweden. They employed a technique called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to analyse the structure of millions of diverse molecules. Remarkably, regardless of the climate, the fundamental structure of the dissolved organic matter remained consistent.
“Key to the findings was the unconventional use of NMR in ways allowing studies of the deep interior of large dissolved organic molecules – thereby mapping and quantifying the chemical surroundings around the carbon atoms.” explains Siyu Li, scientist at the Helmholtz Zentrum and lead author of the study.
In biomolecules carbon atoms can be connected to four other atoms, most often to hydrogen or oxygen. However, to the team’s surprise, a very high fraction of the organic carbon atoms was not connected to any hydrogen but instead primarily to other carbon atoms. Particularly intriguing was the large number of carbon atoms bound specifically to three other carbons and one oxygen atom, a structure being very rare in biomolecules.
According to David Bastviken, professor of environmental change at Linköping University, this renders the organic matter stable, allowing it to persist for a long time and preventing it from rapidly returning to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide or methane.
“This discovery helps explaining the substantial organic carbon sinks on our planet, which reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere”, says David Bastviken.
