Weekly News Summary for January 1-7, 2007:
Mariners on the Lower Mississippi River are watching the disposition of a case in Savannah, Ga., in which a pilot on a tanker was found guilty of excessive speed and parting lines on an LNG tanker that was discharging.
“We on the Mississippi River deal with heavy traffic and many barge fleets, and facilities very close to main channels,” said Capt. Chris Rieder, vice president of the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Association (NOBRA Pilots).
“We do have complaints from time to time with vessels having problems with passing ships and large tows,” Rieder said. “Slow-downs well in advance of a facility is the key, and is paramount to safety on our route.”
Rieder said he was passing on the information to pilots “to let them know their slow bells are working out there and to keep them abreast of what is happening around the country.”
A Coast Guard Administrative Law judge in Savannah found a ship pilot guilty of negligence and misconduct for speeding on the Savannah River and impounded his license pending final disposition.
John C. McCarthy III was piloting a tanker at an estimated speed of 12 to 14 knots about 4:30 a.m. on March 14 this year when he passed the Southern LNG facility on Elba Island, where a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker was offloading….
The mv. Texian with one loaded barge and one empty barge allided with the Galveston Causeway Bridge during heavy winds and strong currents December 25, damaging about 30 feet of fenderworks and one of the barges, according to the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office in Houston.
An all too common occurrence, said Raymond Butler, executive director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association, the incident underscores the urgent need to complete construction of the highway and railroad spans, and install an adequate fendering system to ensure safety in the meantime.
The bridges, within 400 feet of one another, have 105-foot navigation spans because of the fenderworks. In 2001 the Coast Guard declared the railroad bridge to be an unreasonable obstruction to navigation.
The new causeway bridge will have a 300-foot navigation span. It is scheduled to be completed in 2008, but the railroad bridge project remains idle, waiting for sufficient funding. When finished, it will also have a 300-foot span, but until then it creates a definite hazard to navigation, Butler stated.
The cost of replacing the railroad bridge is estimated to be $40 million. So far, half of that has been appropriated for the project. An additional $2 million is likely to be appropriated in 2007. By law, 80 percent of the funding is needed before construction can begin….
An additional security fee should be paid by shippers at the nation’s 361 seaports and divided among the U.S. ports to provide additional security, said a task force established by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The task force also urged that the nation adopt mandatory security standards for cargo and that the President appoint a port security czar to coordinate the federal agencies that oversee seaports, according to WINS Radio in New York and a Coast Guard web site.
The findings were endorsed by New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who visited a Port Elizabeth, N.J., terminal to outline the findings. The report will be forwarded to Congress and the Department of Homeland Security.
“It is more than these containers, it is that whole supply chain that exposes our society, and we need to make sure that we are doing everything that is possible,” Corzine said.
He added a nationwide credentialing system for port workers is still needed. The system currently being developed, featuring background checks, is close to implementation but the maritime industry believes problems have not yet been resolved, he said….
Site work began in early December on a new $20 million fuel terminal at the Crossroads of America Industrial Park in Boligee, Ala., at Mile 259.5 on the Tombigbee River, with operations slated to begin in late 2007.
The “fuel hub,” a joint effort by TEPPCO Terminal & Marketing Company and Sempra Energy Trading, will build the terminal on 80 acres of land leased for 60 years from the Greene County (Ala.) Industrial Board. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2007.
TEPPCO Partners L.P., a Houston-based, publicly-traded partnership with an enterprise value of $4 billion, will rebuild the port facility, build a stub line from the Colonial Pipeline Company’s pipeline that runs through the 1,500-acre industrial park, and build a 500,000-gallon tank farm for fuel.
“It will be a center for distribution,” said Greg Hebrank, Sempra Energy’s manager of light products. “It won’t be just another truck terminal.”
Most terminals serve retailers in a 50-mile radius, Hebrank said. With barge facilities, this terminal will distribute fuel within a 200-mile radius to retailers in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee that do not have access to a major pipeline….
More than 280 river industry officials, executives and friends were on hand at Paducah December 14 as the Seamen’s Church Institute presented its prestigious River Bell Award to Mark Knoy, vice president of American Electric Power and president of AEP River Operations. The major fund-raising event was staged at “The Walker Building” an attractive banquet and dancing facility transformed several years ago from a former downtown warehouse by veteran river man Paul Walker, one of the founders of the former Walker Boat Yard and related river interests.
Seamen’s Church Institute began awarding the “River Bell” seven years ago in recognition of people, who, according to board member Tom Prendergast, “demonstrate leadership in the industry, give generously to charitable causes, help raise awareness of industry issues and who have the highest ethics and standards.”
Prior to presenting the mounted bell to Knoy, Prendergast said, “This is a man who loves working on the river and who deeply cares for his brothers and sisters working on the water.”
Rev. Jean R. Smith, president and executive director of Seamen’s Church, described Knoy as a tireless champion for the industry who also gives generously of his time and talent in leadership positions, as she recounted his service as chairman of the Waterways Council Inc., director of the Inland Waterways Users Board, a member of the Board of Directors of the Midwest Area River Coalition (MARC 2000), as well as serving as a member of the Federal Reserve Industry Council….
The Coast Guard is reminding commercial and recreational boaters that effective January 1, 2007, they are prohibited from using both 121.5 and 243 MHz Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs). Boaters wishing to use an EPIRB must have a 406 MHz model.
The regulation applies to all Class A, B and S 121.5 and 243 MHz EPIRBs. However, it does not affect 121.5 and 243 MHZ man overboard devices, which work with a base alerting unit and not a satellite system.
Satellite processing of distress signals from all 121.5 and 243 MHz beacons will end February 1, 2009.
The change is in response to unreliability of the old beacons in emergencies. According to Coast Guard data, just 2 percent of the alerts were genuine distress situations….
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