The 2019 Inland Marine Expo (IMX) wrapped up in St. Louis last week.

Here are some comments from general and education sessions that didn’t make it into my earlier reports.

  • “The incidents of high-water events is increasing.” Ken Eriksen, senior vice president, IEG Vantage (formerly Informa Economics), during his annual state of the industry address
  • “I think the greater concern is what comes after the high water. What kind of mess we’re left with.” — Eriksen
  • “If you look at what farmers have done, it’s remarkable. It’s just a slow slog.” — Eriksen, addressing U.S.-China trade tariffs
  • “The last thing we need is another humongous soybean crop in the United States.” — Eriksen
  • “Some systems can’t be protected,” — Dean Shoultz, founder, MarineCFO, OpsGen, UA Business Cloud on cybersecurity
  • “Get all beneficiaries who use it to pay for it.” — Mark Knoy, president and CEO, American Commercial Barge Line, on inland waterways user fees
  • “There is no enforcement plan currently.” — Capt. Scott A. Stoermer, commander, sector Upper Mississippi River, U.S. Coast Guard, concerning boat owners who do not meet Subchapter M requirements come July 20
  • “… in some cases, we’re finding gross lack of compliance.” — Capt. Stoermer on Subchapter M inspections
  • “We are not surveyors. We are going out to inspect a compliant vessel.” Capt. Stoermer on using the Coast Guard option to get your boat’s COI
  • “Every company has the option to use the Coast Guard option.” — Robert Keister, vice president, Sabine Surveyors, on choosing a third party or Coast Guard Subchapter M inspection for your vessel
  • “Make sure your captains call a TSMS (Towing Safety Management System) a TSMS, even when it’s called something else.” — Keister
  • “It’s the company that’s responsible for that survey.” — Christopher Parsonage, executive director, Towing Vessel Inspection Bureau

 

Ken Hocke has been the senior editor of WorkBoat since 1999. He was the associate editor of WorkBoat from 1997 to 1999. Prior to that, he was the editor of the Daily Shipping Guide, a transportation daily in New Orleans. He has written for other publications including The Times-Picayune. He graduated from Louisiana State University with an arts and sciences degree, with a concentration in English, in 1978.