Weekly News Summary For January 5-11, 2009:
The rip tides of an economy in recession halted operations by RiverBarge Excursion Lines, which ran the River Explorer, the only floating hotel barge on America’s rivers.
Owner Eddie Conrad called the December 22 announcement of the cancellation of the 2009 cruising season a “dark day.” He said the move was required by soft bookings and increased costs.
On September 24, the unique floating hotel had celebrated its 10th birthday at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis with a party for guests and crew. It conducted cruises along the Mississippi and Ohio river systems, the Intracoastal Waterway and the bayous of Louisiana.
Deposits for 2009 cruises are in an escrow account at New Orleans’ Whitney Bank controlled by the Federal Maritime Commission, according to a RiverBarge Excursions source quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In an e-mail to travel agents, the company promised that refunds would be sent to all who booked 2009 trips.
Built in 1998, the River Explorer is actually two connected 295-foot barges named after two early Mississippi River explorers. The forward De Soto and the aft LaSalle, which contained the staterooms, each had their own elevators. The barges could host 196 guests (double occupancy).
The barges were propelled by the mv. Miss Nari, which Conrad himself helped renovate. The Miss Nari claimed to be the first towboat in the Mississippi River system with a twin-propulsion 3,000 hp. Niigata Z Peller 360-degree unit capable of turning the entire tow….
The Pittsburgh Engineer District announced December 30 that a contractor has successfully stabilized Allegheny River Lock and Dam 6.
Last fall, divers on a routine inspection discovered a large void nearly 200 feet long, up to 20 feet deep and extending about two-thirds of the way underneath the dam.
The Corps deemed the dam unstable and took measures to ensure it was operated safely while the damage was repaired. Officials were concerned that ice loads on the dam or large chunks of ice slamming into the dam could knock it off its exposed wood piling foundation and into the river.
The district initiated an emergency repair contract with Brayman Construction Corporation, which quickly mobilized to the site and began shoring up the dam. Crews first installed a steel wall along the toe of the dam to seal off the void, and then filled it with 60 truckloads of concrete designed for underwater placement…
Editor’s Note: Tom Gladders, former president of Gladders Towing, has been engaged to write a series of columns featuring key people within the barge and towing industry. These will appear from time to time in the WJ. Gladders was long active in many industry groups, including serving as chairman of AWO.
Thomas A. Allegretti: president and chief executive officer, The American Waterways Operators, Washington, D.C. Joined AWO in 1985, elected president in 1994. Prior work: 1978–1985 director-domestic waterways, The Transportation Institute. 1976–1978: analyst and assistant to the board, American Trucking Association. Education: bachelor’s degree with honors, The College of New Jersey, 1973. Graduate work, International Studies, The American University, Washington, D.C. Married to Dolores with three daughters.
WJ: What was the state of AWO when you succeeded Joseph Farrell as CEO?
Allegretti: When Joe retired as AWO president at the end of 1993, he left the membership with a trade association that was very strong and sound in all respects. In his 11 years as president, Joe transformed AWO from an organization with a crumbling membership base, financial weakness, and a less-than-effective public policy voice to one with a strong and vibrant membership, solid financials, and broad respect inside the beltway for its effectiveness as an advocacy organization.
WJ: What did you see as your biggest challenge at that time?
Allegretti: The fundamental challenge was to keep AWO moving forward and ever-improving, to build on the legacy that Joe had left. In the mid-1990s, the principal focus was to broaden AWO’s mission from being an advocate protecting the economic well-being of its constituency to also include a genuine role as a national safety leader. This new mission had to address both the industry’s operating practices and a new partnership with government in improving the industry’s safety performance—fewer accidents, reduced oil spills, and zero fatalities.
WJ: Have you had a mentor along the way? If so, who? What’s the best advice he gave you?
Allegretti: Before I became AWO president, Joe Farrell was certainly the most important mentor in my professional life. He was a great leader and an excellent teacher. He reminded everyone who worked for him that we must stay focused on, and we must produce, real results for our members. He told us many times that the key to success in trade associations is to make sure that the value we provide to our members always well exceeds the cost of membership. He often reminded us that the only way to do this is to achieve meaningful results that protect the industry’s role in the U.S. economy and safeguard a member’s bottom line….
Brownsville Marine Products (BMP), located at Mile 57.5 on the Monongahela River, has a history of building marine vessels dating back to 1939. Everyone in the local community remembers it as being the “Hillman Barge” company. Hillman Barge, later operated as HBC by Trinity Marine, closed its doors in 1995.
But its tradition has been reborn.
Joseph Rose and Brian Mueller bought the assets of the one-time Hillman Barge in 2005. The new company, operating as Brownsville Marine Products, launched its first barge on April 26, 2006.
Since then, BMP has rolled out 187 hopper barges. Its 187th rolled out the week before the company’s director of sales and marketing, Tim Delaney, spoke with The Waterways Journal.
The year of 2008 was a year of diversification for the growing shipyard. In March 2008, BMP opened a second production line for specialty vessels, including 10,000-barrel tank barges and boat hulls. In June the first deck barge was launched, the first of 4 deck barges for Heartland Barge Management LLC. As of this year, the company also offers marine repairs and steel fabricating…
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