Monday, August 4, 2008

NYK FINALIZES AGREEMENT TO TRANSPORT BIOFUEL

August 5 - NYK has concluded a three-year charter contract with Japan Biofuels Supply LLP (JBSL) that comes with an option to extend the contract for two additional years. A 37,000 DWT class chemical tanker will be used for shipments of the biofuel bio-ETBE (ethyl tertiary-butyl ether).

JBSL, a partnership involving 10 major oil companies in Japan, has agreed to blend 840,000 kiloliters of bio-ETBE into gasoline in fiscal 2010 in response to the government’s request to achieve the emission reduction goals for Japan mentioned in the Kyoto protocol.
MISSISSIPPI RIVER NOW OPEN TO TRAFFIC AFTER BARGE-TANKER COLLISSION AND SPILL

August 4 - The US Coast Guard has announced that the entire length of the river is open to navigation, but safety restrictions remain in place. Salvage operations on the partially sunken barge Tintomara continues. More than 500 vessels have been cleared and released since operations began on July 23. A summary of findings was announced by USCG pending a full investigation.

No mechanical or competency issues were found on the tanker involved. The conditon of the towboat is under investigation. It was determined that the master of the towboat was not on board and the steersman apprentice was not authorized to operate the towboat without direct supervision. The towboat did not respond to radio calls from the tanker or from the USCG Vessel Traffic Service (VTS).

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