He wants to know why the regulations in place didn't catch the problems earlier.
Upton, after all, was the prime sponsor of the legislation that back in 2000 required the U.S. Department of Transportation to write regulations standardizing reporting of fatal crashes and other information to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Those regulations are in place: The question now is whether they are strong enough -- or being applied effectively enough -- to catch potentially deadly defects as early as they should.
"We were very surprised with the revelations that came forward the last couple of weeks," Upton, R-Mich, said Thursday. "We'll see where it takes us. ... We're going to see what the time line really was. Who tried to connect the dots and why they weren't connected."
Best Small Cap Companies To Buy Right Now: SEACOR Holdings Inc (CKH)
SEACOR Holdings Inc, incorporated on November 7, 1989, is a global provider of equipment and services primarily supporting the offshore oil and gas and marine transportation industries. The Company offers customers a diversified suite of services, including offshore marine, aviation, inland river, marine transportation, crisis and emergency management preparedness and response solutions, commodity trading and logistics and offshore and harbor towing. On March 19, 2012, J.F. Lehman & Company acquired National Response Corporation and its affiliated businesses NRC Environmental Services, SEACOR Response, and SEACOR Environmental Products (collectively NRC) from the Company. In January 2013, the Company sold its energy trading division, SEACOR Energy Inc. to Par Petroleum Corporation. On January 31, 2013, it completed the spin off its Era Group Inc unit (Era).
Offshore Marine Services
The Company�� Marine operates a diversified fleet of vessels, servicing the offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production industry worldwide.The Company�� marine provides its customers with the assembly of offshore vessel services in the global offshore oil and gas industry, including transport of personnel, platform supply, offshore accommodation, intervention, maintenance and repair support, standby safety services, anchor handling and mooring services, wind farm support, lift boat services, offshore construction support, well enhancement support, and lightering services.
Aviation Services
The Company�� aviation services subsidiary, Era Group (Era), is the helicopter operators globally. ra supports the oil and gas industry in the United States Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and internationally. Era provides air medical services, firefighting support, flightseeing tours in Alaska, and Search and Rescue and Emergency Medical Services. Era's affiliate, Era Training Center, offers flight training services. Era also markets and distributes specialty helicopter! equipment and accessories.
Inland River Services
The Company�� Inland River Services group owns and operates modern river transportation equipment; owns covered and open hopper barges, 10,000 and 30,000 barrel tank barges, deck barges, inland river towboats and smaller harbor boats; and provides ancillary services along the United States Inland River Waterways and the Parana-Paraguay and the Magdalena River Systems in South America. SCF Marine operates a fleet of hopper barges along the United States Inland River Waterways and South America, transporting agricultural, industrial, and project cargoes. The liquid division, Supercritical Fluid (SCF) Liquids, is a integrated towboat and tank barge company, specializing in the transportation of chemical, clean, and dirty products. Gateway Terminals is among the newest ethanol and petroleum storage terminals on the Mississippi River, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels and the ability to receive and transfer products by barge, unit train, and truck.
Marine Transportation Services
The Company�� ocean shipping and harbor towing subsidiary, SEACOR Ocean Transport, is an owner and operator of equipment engaged in oil transportation, bunkering, harbor towing, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal support, short sea shipping and logistics, and third-party ship management services. Through all aspects of its operations, SEACOR Ocean Transport focuses to provide its customers with marine transportation solutions.
Commodity Trading and Logistics
The Company�� Commodity Trading and Logistics group specializes in the purchase, storage, transportation, and sale of agricultural and energy commodities, which include renewable fuels, blendstocks, sugar, rice, and salt. The Agricultural group is primarily focused on the global sourcing and logistics of sugar, rice, salt, and other dry bulk products. The Energy group is primarily focused on the domestic trading and transportation of physical e! thanol an! d clean blendstocks.
Harbor and Offshore Towing Services
The Company�� ocean shipping and harbor towing subsidiary, SEACOR Ocean Transport, is an operator of equipment engaged in oil transportation, bunkering, harbor towing, LNG terminal support, short sea shipping and logistics, and third-party ship management services. The harbor towing services group, Seabulk Towing, is a tugboat operator with operations along the Gulf Coast and Southeastern seaboard port system from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to Port Arthur, Texas. Seabulk Island Transport owns and operates four ocean tugs and five ocean liquid tank barges.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Traders Reserve]
For investors who want a piece of this developing trend, Transocean and Seadrill are two of the bigger players in this arena. Other offshore drillers/rig operators are Noble (NE) and Ensco (ESV). Companies that provide services to offshore drillers and benefit from increases in exploration and drilling activity are Gulfmark Offshore (GLF), Hornbeck (HOS), Seacor (CKH) and Tidewater (TDW).
- [By Seth Jayson]
Margins matter. The more Seacor Holdings (NYSE: CKH ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Seacor Holdings's competitive position could be.
Top 5 Transportation Stocks To Own Right Now: Southcross Energy Partners LP (SXE)
Southcross Energy Partners, L.P., incorporated on April 12, 2004, is a limited partnership. The Company owns, operates, develops and acquires midstream energy assets. The Company provides natural gas gathering, processing, treating, compression and transportation services and natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation services to its producer customers, under fixed-fee and fixed-spread contracts, and it also sources, purchases, transports and sells natural gas and NGLs to its power generation, industrial and utility customers. Its assets are located in South Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. During the year ended December 31, 2011, its South Texas assets, which consist of approximately 1,445 miles of pipeline and two processing plants and accounted for approximately 77% of its revenues. Its Mississippi and Alabama assets, which consist of approximately 626 and 519 miles of pipeline, respectively, provide transportation of natural gas to its power generation, industrial and utility customers, as well as to unaffiliated interstate pipelines. The assets in its South Texas region are located between Houston and Freer. These assets consist of approximately 1,445 miles of pipeline ranging in diameter from 2 inches to 20 inches. In March 2014, the Company acquired natural gas pipelines near Corpus Christi, Texas along with contracts related to those pipelines.
South Texas
The assets in the Company�� South Texas region are located between Houston and Freer, a city, which is located approximately 50 miles west of Corpus Christi. These assets consist of approximately 1,445 miles of pipeline ranging in diameter from 2 inches to 20 inches with an estimated design capacity of 590 million cubic feet per day. Its South Texas region also includes 29 compressors with total compression of approximately 35,000 horsepower, two processing plants with total processing capacity of 185 million cubic feet per day and contracted third-party processing capacity of 83 million cubic feet per day, two treatin! g plants and one fractionator. During 2011, the systems in this region had an average throughput of 379 million cubic feet per day, including the processing plants, which processed an average of 75 million cubic feet per day in that period. It divides its South Texas region into four asset systems Vanderbilt and Gulf Coast gathering systems, which it refers to collectively as the Gulf Coast system; CCNG Transmission, which refer to as the CCNG system; Gregory gathering system, Gregory processing plant and Gregory fractionation plant, and Conroe gathering system and Conroe processing plant.
The pipelines in its South Texas segment are connected to multiple producing fields, including the Eagle Ford shale area. In addition to tie-ins to its two processing plants, its gathering systems are also connected to two processing plants owned by third parties and to a range of intrastate and interstate pipelines.
The Gulf Coast system is located throughout 13 counties in South Texas, including parts of the Eagle Ford shale area, and consists of two pipeline systems. The Gulf Coast system includes approximately 743 miles of pipeline ranging from 2 inches to 20 inches in diameter with an estimated design capacity of 205 million cubic feet per day. The system also includes seven compressors with compression of approximately 7,136 horsepower on a combined basis. During 2011, this system had an average throughput of approximately 114 million cubic feet per day.
The Gulf Coast system acquires natural gas from over 100 producers at prices that are at a fixed discount to the Houston Ship Channel Index price. The gas is delivered to third-party processing plants, including the Formosa processing plant located in Point Comfort, Texas and the Hilcorp processing plant located in Old Ocean, Texas. In the case of the Hilcorp processing plant, its customers pay it gathering fees to transport approximately 25 million cubic feet per day from their wells to this processing plant. Its producer ! customers! on the Gulf Coast system range from small independent exploration and production companies to producers, such as Chesapeake Energy and Devon Energy.
The CCNG system is located in the Eagle Ford shale area and consists of over 417 miles of transmission and gathering pipeline ranging from 2 inches to 20 inches in diameter. The system also includes one compressor with total compression of approximately 1,260 horsepower. During 2011, the system had an average throughput of 190 million cubic feet per day. Natural gas is supplied to this system from approximately 35 field receipt points, treating plants and third party gathering systems and pipelines, including Texas Eastern, Kinder Morgan and Conoco Lobo. Producers who supply or transport natural gas on the CCNG system include Swift Energy, EOG, Exxon, Comstock and Apache. Liquids-rich gas can be transported from the western end of the system to its Woodsboro and Gregory processing plants. Dry gas is brought into the dry gas portions of the system along with residue gas from the outlets of its processing plants. Gas in the system is purchased and sold, under fixed-spread arrangements, as well as transported on behalf of shippers. The CCNG system sells its dry natural gas in the industrial market around the city of Corpus Christi. A portion of the throughput on its CCNG system is processed at its Gregory processing plant or at the Formosa processing plant located in Point Comfort, Texas.
The Gregory gathering system is located near Corpus Christi, Texas and consists of approximately 266 miles of pipeline ranging from 4 inches to 18 inches in diameter. The system also includes one compressor. Its Gregory processing plant is a cryogenic natural gas plant comprised of two units collectively having a total capacity of 135 million cubic feet per day. Its Gregory processing plant processes natural gas from the Gregory gathering system, as well as gas originating in its CCNG System.
Produced NGLs are fractionated in the Compan! y�� fra! ctionator located on the same site as the Company�� Gregory processing plant. Purity ethane is shipped through pipeline to Dow Chemical while remaining NGLs are shipped through truck to local markets, which yield a premium to available pipeline rates. All of its customers on the Gregory gathering system pay a flat fee for natural gas to be gathered in the system and processed at the Gregory processing plant. Its Conroe processing plant is a 50 million cubic feet per day cryogenic natural gas plant. The plant recovers approximately 65% of the ethane contained in the inlet natural gas, depending on loads and temperatures.
Mississippi
The assets in the Company�� Mississippi region are located in the southern half of the state and comprise the intrastate pipeline system in Mississippi. The Mississippi assets consist of approximately 626 miles of pipeline ranging in diameter from 2 inches to 20 inches. The Mississippi system also includes two compressors. During 2011, the system had an average throughput of 86 million cubic feet per day. It generates revenues from its Mississippi assets by charging fixed transportation fees to shippers and by entering into fixed-spread contracts with suppliers and power generation, industrial and utility customers. During 2011, fixed-fee transportation contracts comprised 34.8% of the volumes it transported on its Mississippi system and fixed-spread contracts comprised the remaining 65.2% of its volumes.
Alabama
The assets in the Company�� Alabama region are located in northwest and central Alabama and consist of 519 miles of natural gas gathering pipeline ranging from 2 inches to 16 inches in diameter. The Alabama system also includes 22 compressors with total compression of approximately 24,537 horsepower. The system has an estimated design capacity of 375 million cubic feet per day. The gas supply to the system is coalbed methane gas from the Black Warrior Basin with incremental volumes gathered from conventional ! gas wells! . It gathers, transports, compresses, purchases and sells natural gas in Alabama and offers both intrastate transportation and interstate transportation services. During 2011, 81% of the volumes on its Alabama system were transported pursuant to fixed-fee transportation contracts and 19% of the volumes on the system were purchased from producers and then transported and sold to power generation, industrial and utility customers pursuant to fixed-spread contracts.
The Company competes with Copano Energy, L.L.C., Energy Transfer Partners, L.P., Enterprise Products Partners LP and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lisa Levin]
Southcross Energy Partners LP (NYSE: SXE) shares rose 11.05% to $20.61. The volume of Southcross Energy shares traded was 624% higher than normal. Southcross Energy and TexStar Midstream Services announced a combination agreement.
Top 5 Transportation Stocks To Own Right Now: Phillips 66 Partners LP (PSXP)
Phillips 66 Partners LP, incorporated on February 20, 2013, owns, operates, develops and acquires primarily fee-based crude oil, refined petroleum product and natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines and terminals and other transportation and midstream assets. The Company�� initial assets consist of the three systems, which include Clifton Ridge crude system, Sweeny to Pasadena products system and Hartford Connector products system. A refined petroleum product pipeline, terminal and storage system extending from Phillips 66�� Sweeny refinery in Old Ocean, Texas, to its refined petroleum product terminal in Pasadena, Texas, and ultimately connecting to the Explorer and Colonial refined petroleum product pipeline systems and other third-party pipeline and terminal systems.
A crude oil pipeline, terminal and storage system located in Sulphur, Louisiana, that is the primary source for delivery of crude oil to Phillips 66�� Lake Charles refinery. A refined petroleum product pipeline, terminal and storage system located in Hartford, Illinois, that distributes diesel and gasoline produced at the Wood River refinery (a refinery owned by a joint venture between Phillips 66 and Cenovus Energy Inc.) to third-party pipeline and terminal systems, including the Explorer refined petroleum product pipeline system.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Robert Rapier]
Performance so far has been consistent with the advances enjoyed by most of the MLP IPOs over the past year. In fact a few of them made major advances. As discussed in last week�� article No Letup for Last Year�� Top IPO, the best performing MLP of the year so far is Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP), which came public last summer and is up 48 percent year-to-date. Of course, there are some exceptions. Marlin Midstream Partners (Nasdaq: FISH) conducted its IPO three days after Phillips 66 Partners last year, and it has traded below its IPO price since. �
- [By Robert Rapier]
Refiners that have spun off midstream assets have done very well over the past years.�Valero Energy Partners�(NYSE: VLP) is up nearly 60 percent since its December IPO,�Phillips 66 Partners�(NYSE: PSXP) has more than doubled since its July IPO (and is the biggest gainer among MLPs year-to-date), and�MPLX�(NYSE: MPLX) — formed from�Marathon Petroleum�(NYSE: MPC) — is up 110 percent since its November 2012 IPO.
- [By Robert Rapier]
One of the most anticipated IPOs this year was that of Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP). PSXP owns some of the midstream logistics assets of its sponsor, the refiner Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), and the IPO was initially intended to be 15 million shares at an indicated range of $19 to $21. But demand proved to be so strong that the offering was seriously oversubscribed, so the deal was upsized to 16.4 million shares and the price increased to $23 a unit.
Top 5 Transportation Stocks To Own Right Now: Oiltanking Partners LP (OILT)
Oiltanking Partners, L.P. (OTLT) is engaged in the terminaling, storage and transportation of crude oil, refined petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Oiltanking Houston, L.P. (OTH) and Oiltanking Beaumont Partners, L.P. (OTB), the Company owns and operates storage and terminaling assets located along the Gulf Coast of the United States on the Houston, Texas Ship Channel and in Beaumont, Texas. Its Houston and Beaumont terminals provides deep-water access and interconnectivity to refineries, chemical and petrochemical companies, carrier and pipelines and production facilities and have international distribution capabilities. Its facilities are directly connected to 18 refineries, storage facilities and production facilities along the Gulf Coast area through pipelines and common carrier pipelines, to end markets along the Gulf Coast and to the Cushing, Oklahoma storage interchange.
Houston Terminal
The Company operates third-party crude oil and refined petroleum products terminals on the Houston Ship Channel. Its facility has an aggregate active storage capacity of approximately 11.7 million barrels and provides integrated terminaling services to a variety of customers, including integrated oil companies, marketers, distributors and chemical companies. The principal products handled at its Houston terminal complex are crude oil, the inputs for chemical production (such as naphtha and condensate), which are referred to as chemical feedstocks, liquefied petroleum gas and clean petroleum products, such as gasoline and distillates, with crude oil accounting for approximately 64% of its active storage capacity.
The Company�� storage and distribution network is integrated with the Houston petrochemical and refining complex. The facility handles products through a number of transportation modes, primarily through pipelines interconnected to local refineries and production facilities, including Houston Refining�� refine! ry in Pasadena, Texas, PRSI�� refinery in Pasadena, Texas, ExxonMobil�� refinery in Baytown, Texas, which is a refinery in the United States. Its Houston terminal also handles products through third-party crude oil, refined petroleum products and liquified petroleum gas tankers and barges arriving at its deep-water docks. Its waterfront capabilities consists of six deep-water ship docks, allowing for the dockage of vessels with up to 130,000 deadweight tons (dwt), of cargo and vessel capacity, and two barge docks, allowing for barges with up to 20,000 dwt of cargo and barge capacity. Its deep-water ship docks can accommodate vessels with up to a 45 foot draft, including Suezmax tankers, which can navigate the Houston Ship Channel. During the year ended December 31, 2011 (during 2011), the Company generated 22% of its Houston terminal revenues from throughput fees charged to non-storage customers.
The Company�� real property at its Houston terminal consists of approximately 327 acres, including 63 acres of nearby parcels that could be connected to its Houston terminal through existing owned rights-of-way. The Company owns approximately 24 acres at the Crossroads Interchange approximately six miles from its Houston terminal.
Beaumont Terminal
The Company�� Beaumont terminal serves as a regional strategic and trading hub for vacuum gas oil and clean petroleum products for refineries located in the upper Gulf Coast region. Its facility has an aggregate active storage capacity of approximately 5.6 million barrels and provides integrated terminaling services to a variety of customers, including integrated oil companies, distributors, marketers and chemical and petrochemical companies. The principal products handled at its Beaumont terminal complex are refined petroleum products, which accounted for approximately 99% of its active storage capacity as of December 31, 2011.
The Company�� storage and distribution network is integrated with the Beaumon! t/Port Ar! thur petrochemical and refining complex, and provides its customers with the additional services of mixing, blending, heating and marine vapor recovery. Its Beaumont facility handles products through a number of transportation modes, primarily through third-party pipelines interconnected to local refineries and production facilities, through its own pipeline system to Huntsman�� chemical production facility in Port Neches, and through third-party crude and refined products tankers and barges arriving at its deep-water docks. Its waterfront capabilities consist of two deep-water ship docks, allowing for the dockage of vessels with up to 130,000 dwt of cargo and vessel capacity and drafts of up to 40 feet, and two barge docks, allowing for barges with up to 20,000 dwt of cargo and barge capacity and drafts of up to 12 feet.
Operations
The Company provides integrated terminaling, storage, pipeline and related services for third-party companies engaged in the production, distribution and marketing of crude oil, refined petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas. The Company generates its revenues through the provision of fee-based services to its customers. During 2011, it generated approximately 75% of its revenues from fixed monthly fees for storage services, which its customers pay to reserve storage space in its tanks and to compensate the Company for receiving an agreed upon average periodic amount of product volume, or throughput, on their behalf.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Aimee Duffy]
The role of the barge can't be underestimated. Barge receipts increased more than two percentage points year over year, and this is a great place for investors to look for opportunity. Companies with maritime resources benefit from this trend, as well as growth in exports. Three such companies that are worth a look are:
Kirby Corporation (NYSE: KEX ) , which operates 30% of the coastal tank barges in the U.S.� Oiltanking Partners (NYSE: OILT ) , which has storage capacity of 12.1 million barrels and six deepwater docks on the Houston Ship Channel Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ: MMLP ) , which operates a large fleet of inland barges and controls 31 marine terminals�These companies won't be the only winners, but they are a good place to start your research.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Oiltanking Partners LP (NYSE: OILT) were down 7.23 percent to $59.79 after the company priced an offering of 2.6 million common units. - [By Richard Stavros]
The good news is that midstream MLPs are already part of the crude-by-rail story and will likely be part of the growing gas-by-rail story. Indeed, there are numerous names in the MLP space with at least some exposure to the crude-by-rail trend, including�Enterprise Products Partners LP�(NYSE: EPD), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP�(NYSE: KMP),�Genesis Energy LP�(NYSE: GEL), and�Oiltanking Partners LP�(NYSE: OILT),�among others. Barclays estimates that MLPs have already invested $2 billion in railroad terminals, including acquisitions.
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