ACL presents stewardship awards for safe handling of liquid cargoes

(JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind.) — American Commercial Lines Inc. recognized 35 customers with its Marine Environmental Stewardship Award today in Houston.

The customers recognized by ACL safely handled over 2 billion gallons of chemicals, petroleum products and other liquid cargoes with the barge transportation company in 2013. Recipients of the award are: Axiall Corp.; BASF Corp.; Bayer Corp.; Bunge North America; CCI Manufacturing; Chemium International; Citgo Petroleum Corp.; Consolidated Grain & Barge Co.; Cymetech Corp.; Dow Corning; Eastman Chemical Co.; ED&F Man Liquid Products LLC; Formosa Plastics; GulfMark Energy Inc.; Koch Shipping; Kolmar Americas Inc.; MEG Energy; MEGlobal Americas Inc.; Neville Chemical Co.; Old World Industries LLC; Phillips 66; Quality Liquid Feed Co.; Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena LLC; SABIC Innovative Plastics; SeaRiver Maritime Inc.; Shell Chemical; Shell Trading Co.; Stryker Fuels LLC; Styrolution America LLC; Sunoco Logistics; Texas Aromatics; Tricon Energy Limited; Valicor Inc.; Vertex Energy Inc. and Vitol Inc.

"We are pleased to present the Marine Environmental Stewardship Award to these valued customers who share ACL's commitment to safety and protection of the marine environment," Mark Knoy, president and CEO of ACL, stated. "We are proud to provide them with the safest, greenest, and most fuel efficient mode of transportation and thank them for entrusting us with their cargoes."

Inland barging is the safest and most environmentally friendly mode of transportation. The rate of large spills (more than 1,000 gallons) for inland barge transportation is less than that of rail and truck (2.59 gallons per million ton miles for barge compared to 4.89 for rail and 10.41 for truck), according to a study by the Texas Transportation Institute. The comparison study also documents that inland barge transportation emits fewer air pollutants, including hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides, than rail or truck. Barging is also noted by the study as the most fuel-efficient mode of transportation with the ability to move 1 ton of cargo 616 miles per gallon of fuel, 138 miles farther than rail and 466 miles farther than truck.

American Commercial Lines Inc. is an integrated marine transportation service company owned by affiliates of Platinum Equity LLC and operating in the United States Jones Act trades. The company is headquartered in Jeffersonville, Ind., has approximately 2,300 employees and operates a fleet of approximately 100 towboats and 1,900 barges. For more information about American Commercial Lines Inc., visit www.aclines.com.

By Professional Mariner Staff