2024-03-28 22:28

March 28 (Reuters) - Halted shipping traffic from the Port of Baltimore, the second-largest U.S. hub for coal exports, will slow the growth in U.S. coal exports and reduce bunker fuel use, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday. Coal exports from the busy U.S. port have been disrupted following the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge which was struck by a massive cargo ship early Tuesday morning. "Since the port is a major transit point for freight and bulk vessels, we expect bunker fuel consumption to decrease," the EIA added. Baltimore handled exports of 28 million short tons last year, making up 28% of total U.S. coal exports and second only to the Hampton Roads port in Norfolk, Virginia, according to census data. "An attractive feature of the Port of Baltimore is its proximity to the northern Appalachia coal fields in western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia," the EIA said. "Other nearby ports, most notably Hampton Roads, have additional capacity to export coal, although factors including coal quality, pricing, and scheduling will affect how easily companies can switch to exporting from another port." About 19 million short tons of the exports in 2023 were steam coal, used to generate power and heat, and the remaining 9 million short tons were metallurgical coal, an ingredient in steelmaking. India was the top destination for steam coal over the last five years, where the brick manufacturing industry is a major customer, while metallurgical coal went to various Asian countries including Japan, China, and South Korea, the EIA said. Baltimore also imported 3,000 barrels per day (bpd) of biodiesel in 2023, mostly from Central America and Western Europe, alongside 4,000 bpd of asphalt from Canada and 2,000 bpd of urea ammonium nitrate largely from Russia. More widely used refined oil products are less affected, the EIA noted. Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/baltimore-port-closure-could-dent-us-coal-export-volumes-eia-says-2024-03-28/

2024-03-28 22:18

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - New York City will begin testing gun-detecting technology in a pilot program at several subway stations, Mayor Eric Adams said on Thursday. The announcement comes after several shootings on the subway system, one of the biggest and busiest in the world, including an argument on a train in March that ended with a man being shot in the head with his own gun. After a 90-day notice period under city law for new surveillance technology, the New York Police Department will begin testing portable scanning machines at several stations, though Adams did not say which ones. In Thursday's event at the Fulton Street subway station in lower Manhattan, Adams showed a scanner made by Evolv, a Massachusetts company that makes security technology. "Today's announcement is the next step in our ongoing efforts to keep dangerous weapons out of our transit system and to provide greater mental health services for New Yorkers in crisis," said Adams, a Democrat who used to patrol the subway as a police officer. The Legal Aid Society, which defends the rights of New Yorkers who cannot afford lawyers, called the plan misguided and an invasion of New Yorkers' privacy. "Simply put, gun detection systems are flawed and frequently trigger false alarms, which induces panic and creates situations that could result in the loss of life," Jerome Greco, an attorney in Legal Aid's Digital Forensics Unit, said in a statement. "New York City should not serve as a testing ground for surveillance corporations." New York state banned people from having guns in what it designates as "sensitive locations," including public transportation, in 2022. The law is being challenged by gun owners' rights groups, which say it conflicts with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier in 2022 that found people have a constitutional right to carry weapons in public. Nearly 4 million trips are made on the city's subway on a typical weekday, and crime remains relatively rare: The city said felony crimes, such as thefts and assaults, were down 15% in March compared with the same month last year. Police have seized 19 guns from people in the transit system so far this year, compared with nine guns in the same period in 2023. Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-test-gun-detection-systems-citys-subway-2024-03-28/

2024-03-28 22:12

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - Colonial Pipeline will delay the shutdown of a small, underutilized section of its pipeline system that delivers fuel to North Baltimore from April 1 to May 1, according to a notice to shippers seen by Reuters. The company, which operates the largest network of refined product pipelines in the United States, told shippers on Wednesday that it made the decision out of an abundance of caution in light of Tuesday's collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore, the notice said. A spokesperson for Colonial confirmed the decision. Baltimore's dependence on the pipeline has grown since the collapse of the bridge, which has caused an indefinite closure of the city's port. Two small subsections of Colonial's main pipeline deliver fuel to Baltimore, one in the north and the other in the port area. The line into the port area has been running at full capacity since Tuesday and the company will pro-rate deliveries from April 9 to April 16, it said on Wednesday. The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/colonial-pipeline-delays-shutdown-baltimore-segment-after-bridge-collapse-2024-03-28/

2024-03-28 21:49

March 29 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. Markets in Asia on Friday will be quieter and probably more range-bound than usual with most of the rest of the world closed for Good Friday, but there is always the chance of outsized moves when liquidity is so thin. Especially if Japanese authorities take advantage of the calm to intervene in the currency market and pull the yen up from this week's 34-year low near 152.00 per dollar. The main event for world markets on Friday is U.S. PCE inflation data which will land when the Asian day is over, and most of Europe and U.S. stock and bond markets are closed for Easter. The first quarter draws to a close with global sentiment riding pretty high after revised fourth quarter U.S. growth and inflation data on Thursday boosted the 'soft landing' or even 'no landing' scenario. In Asia on Friday, investors face a batch of Japanese indicators including unemployment, retail sales, industrial production and Tokyo inflation. There's potential for decent moves in the yen - thin liquidity, a raft of top-tier domestic data and the currency already languishing at its lowest levels in decades. A double whammy of soft Tokyo inflation and punchy U.S. inflation could push the dollar back up to 152 yen and test Japan's resolve. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday waded in to the debate: "We will monitor currency moves with a high sense of urgency and respond appropriately without ruling out any options to deal with excessive currency moves." Whether Japan wants to trigger a potentially sizeable move in the exchange rate and spike in volatility on the last day of Japan's fiscal year remains to be seen. But traders will be on their guard. Japanese stocks , opens new tab will be looking to rebound from a 1.5% slump on Thursday but may struggle if the yen strengthens further. Chinese stocks, meanwhile, will be looking just to close the month in the green. They jumped on Thursday after the South China Morning Post reported that President Xi Jinping , opens new tab has urged the central bank to buy government bonds as part of a broader stimulus push. There may be further signs that China is seeking to engage with the international community on trade and business that could boost investor sentiment. After Xi's meeting this week with top U.S. business leaders, commerce minister Wang Wentao will travel to Europe soon for discussions about the European Commission's investigation into whether China's electric vehicle industry has benefited from unfair subsidies. But the property sector black cloud looms large. Several developers on Thursday reported weaker 2023 earnings and Country Garden, China's largest private developer, said it will delay its 2023 results due to "continuous volatility" in what is an "increasingly complex" sector. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday: - Japan Tokyo inflation (March) - Japan retail sales, industrial production, unemployment (February) - South Korea retail sales, industrial production (February) Get a look at the day ahead in Asian and global markets with the Morning Bid Asia newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-03-28/

2024-03-28 21:39

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Texas struck down a climate rule adopted by the Biden administration requiring states to measure and set declining targets for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles using the national highway system. Texas had sued the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in December, arguing the agency lacked legal authority to enact the rule. A separate lawsuit was filed by 21 other states. In a decision issued late on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, said he agreed with Texas in its case that "the rule was unauthorized." The DOT did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Thursday. This final rule issued in December by the DOT's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requires states to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and to establish declining carbon dioxide targets and report on progress toward achieving those targets. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in December the "new performance measure will provide states with a clear and consistent framework to track carbon pollution and the flexibility to set their own climate targets." The FHWA noted it did not mandate how low targets must be and instead gave state transportation departments flexibility to set targets that were appropriate as long as the targets aimed to reduce emissions over time. The agency said it would assess whether states make significant progress toward achieving their targets but noted the rule did not impose penalties for those who missed their targets. The FHWA said the rule was "essential" to the Biden administration target of net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050, but the final regulation did not require states to set declining targets to align with the 2050 goal. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sharply criticized the effort, saying the state would work to stop "unlawful climate mandates." A separate group of 21 states sued in December in Kentucky also challenging the regulation. That lawsuit is still pending. In 2018, the Trump administration repealed a rule issued under then-President Barack Obama requiring states to track greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on the nation's highways. Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-strikes-down-biden-highway-climate-rule-states-2024-03-28/

2024-03-28 21:16

March 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. government awarded the state of Maryland an initial $60 million in emergency funds on Thursday to clear debris and begin rebuilding the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, an extraordinarily fast disbursement after such a disaster. The bridge came tumbling down early on Tuesday after a massive cargo freighter that had lost power plowed into the structure in Baltimore Harbor. Two bodies have been recovered and four others are missing and presumed dead, believed to be trapped in a vehicle beneath concrete and steel that fell into the water. Maryland Governor Wes Moore had requested the $60 million earlier on Friday, and within hours the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration approved the request to fund emergency work. Such funding typically takes days, but President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday he directed the federal government to "move heaven and earth" to quickly rebuild the bridge, which forms part of a highway looping around Baltimore. Moore told a press conference the top priority was to recover the missing construction workers who were conducting repairs on the bridge when the vessel known as the Dali struck a support column around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Officials then hope to clear the channel in order to resume shipping operations; tend to workers, families and first responders affected by the tragedy; and rebuild the bridge. But first a team of experts must assess how to remove the stuck vessel, loaded with thousands of containers and trapped by bridge debris. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was bringing in the largest crane on the Eastern Seaboard to remove pieces of bridge, Moore said. "The Dali is almost as long as the Eiffel Tower and the Dali has the Key Bridge on top of it. We're talking 3,000 or 4,000 tons of steel that's sitting on top of that ship," Moore said. Until diving operations were suspended due to safety concerns on Wednesday night, divers searching for the victims had been impeded by the volume and density of the debris that blocked out sunlight. "In most instances, our divers cannot see any more than a foot or two ahead of them, so much of the operation is simply feel," Moore said. Federal officials have told Maryland lawmakers the final cost of rebuilding the bridge could soar to at least $2 billion, Roll Call reported, citing a source familiar with the discussions. The U.S. Congress will need to fund building a replacement bridge. Maryland officials said the emergency funds would support "mobilization, operations, and debris removal, laying the foundation for a rapid recovery" and that the state may seek additional emergency funding as damage assessments progress. Bound for Sri Lanka, the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali reported losing power and the ability to maneuver before plowing into a support pylon of the bridge. The impact brought most of the bridge crashing into the mouth of the Patapsco River almost immediately, blocking shipping lanes and forcing the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. (This story has been corrected to fix the source of a report from The Hill to Roll Call in paragraph 11) Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-awarding-60-million-maryland-after-bridge-collapse-source-says-2024-03-28/