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EDITORIAL

A Passed Harbor Equity Act Could Be Lifesaver
For months, we have been gnashing our teeth over the decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers not to dredge small harbors. Now, a bill recently introduced by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) could literally be a lifesaver for inland waterways and the stakeholders who use them. It would even help President Obama.

Paul and Graham introduced their bill on November 30. It would, according to their press release, “prioritize smaller harbors for dredging work.” Without it, and without a change of heart by the Corps, many small harbors like Hickman River Port in Kentucky and Charleston harbor in South Carolina would face closure. “Without prioritization, the financial impact on farmers, towing companies, and the small communities they serve would be significant,” the senators said. (The Corps determined that ports and waterways that did not experience a million tons of cargo annually would not qualify for federal funding of dredging.)

Tonnage is not a true reading of value. Moving a million tons of sand might result in qualifying a waterway for dredging; but moving 100,000 tons of high-quality merchandise, while outranking the sand in value, would not meet the Corps’ requirement leading to federal funding.

According to Paul, “Small communities across the country rely on water transport, be it in coastal or land-locked states. And our nation’s commerce hinges on the quality of its transportation infrastructure. Hindering access to these ports through lack of funding and the resulting shutdowns creates a ripple effect through the thousands of small communities whose economic prosperity depends on transport, and the nation that relies on their products.”

No one could make it more clear than Sen. Paul did. To fully understand the significance of his remarks, consider waterways such as the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, each of which represent large projects whose completion years ago resulted in surprising development of commerce. Not only does the Tenn-Tom provide a quiet river trip for vessels during periods of high water, its development produced early on fisheries that gained world prominence. Fisheries were also a product of the Arkansas Waterway. More importantly the projects opened up opportunity in the hinterlands for the location of terminals and ports, which serve as magnets for industrial development.

As we emphasized in this column in the past, shutting down tributaries and small ports and harbors signals a death knell for those developments and signs a death warrant for regional businesses, including farmers, who depend on them to get their products to market. To shut down those tributaries would also have a degrading impact on the major rivers that serve often as the final leg of the transportation activity.

It is unfortunate that mismanaged spending on the part of government has resulted in most negative impacts on critical services such as water transportation. How often have we mentioned President Obama’s desire to increase exports? Very often, we admit. But what we haven’t seen is action by the president that would enhance water transportation, which plays a key role in moving goods bound for export and in receiving goods inbound for the heartland of America.

The old statement, “Cutting your nose off to spite your face” comes to mind. If the president wishes to see such export growth, he should support that which enhances his opportunities to realize his goal.

Those who deal in commerce in this country can bring it out of the doldrums if they are given a fair chance. But accompanying that must be a prioritization of spending so that waste is eliminated and projects necessary for the economic well-being of the nation can proceed.

We acknowledge that the towing industry and water resource development have much support among congressional members. They know the value of such development. The introduction of the Harbor Equity Act shows that Sens. Paul and Graham are taking seriously the dilemma faced by the water transport industry and ultimately the nation’s import/export program. They should be complimented and supported in their effort.

Weekly News Summary For January 9–15, 2012:

Corps To Prepare EIS For Great Lakes/Mississippi River Basin Study

The Army Corps of Engineers has announced that it will prepare a feasibility report and an environmental impact statement for the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS).

In connection with the study, the Corps plans two public conference calls—January 10, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. (CST), and February 8, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (CST). A comment period began December 21, 2011, and will end February 17.
GLMRIS is a feasibility study of the range of options and technologies that could be applied to prevent aquatic nuisance species from transferring between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins through aquatic pathways.

Information for both conference calls: 877, 336-1839; access code, 8506361; security code, 0000.

For more information, contact Ellen Brown at 202, 502-8663….
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Alan L. Bates Dies At Age 88

Alan L. Bates, river historian, marine architect, museum founder, railroad buff and, as Waterways Journal readers knew him best, author of the Old Boat Column in this magazine, died on January 1 at his daughter’s home in Louisville, Ky. He was 88.

Bates’ river career spanned a lot of disciplines, from drawing plans of boats to working aboard them, and later, to writing about them. He designed both the steamer Natchez and the conversion of the Avalon into the Belle of Louisville. The Belle and the Natchez are two of the very small number of authentic steamboats operating today.

In 1968, he published The Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopoedium, an encyclopedia of steamboating rich in detail about the design and construction of the boats.

Other books followed: Moonlite at 8:30: The Excursion Boat Story with Capt. Clarke C. Hawley; Coalboat Water, a novel; McBride’s River, an account of the McBride family of boat operators on the Ohio River; and Belle of Louisville: Ohio River Steamboat.

He began writing the Old Boat Column in December 2002, following the death of James V. Swift, who had written it for about 40 years. During the next nine years, Bates penned more than 470 columns. Although he used e-mail for correspondence, he preferred to send the column to the St. Louis office by mail; always in a large, white envelope that invariably arrived on the first day of the week….
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Foss To Build New Columbia River Ferry

Foss Maritime Company announced January 5 that it is joining with Washington state and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to build a state-of-the-art replacement for an aging 63-year-old ferry that’s been a vital transportation link across the Columbia River.

The new ferry will replace the Martha S, which launched in 1948. The Keller Ferry crosses the Columbia River at its confluence with the Sanpoil River from Ferry County and the Colville Indian Reservation on the north bank to Lincoln County on the south. Approximately 60,000 vehicles travel each year on the Keller Ferry, which is a link in a rural highway, State Route 21.

Foss officials said construction will begin in early 2012 at the company’s Rainier, Ore., shipyard, on the Columbia River near the port of Longview. There, the vessel’s aluminum hull and systems will be constructed and pre-fabricated, then sectioned into three modules and shipped by road transport to the final assembly site located at Crescent Bay on Lake Roosevelt. Final assembly and testing will take place at Crescent Bay beginning in fall of 2012, with vessel delivery scheduled for May 2013. Foss will manage the Crescent Bay phase of the work, and will partner with the Confederated Tribes to do the work.

Gary Faber, president and chief operating officer of Foss, said the project’s benefits will have a ripple effect across the state: “The Foss bid is good for the Northwest economy, as it creates jobs at our shipyard near Longview and in eastern Washington, and we’ll deliver a highly efficient new ferry to serve a vital cross-Columbia transportation link.”…
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Parker Adds First New Boat In Three Decades

When Parker Towing Company christened its new towboat Megan Parker at its landing November 18, the Tuscaloosa, Ala., barge line put on display some unusual wrinkles in boat construction. The towboat was designed by CT Marine of Edgecomb, Maine, and built by C & G Boat Works in Mobile, Ala.

At 148 feet long by 34 feet wide, it is the largest vessel in Parker Towing’s fleet of 24. It is also the first new towboat the company has built in 30 years; the Rhett Parker, built by Mississippi Marine, was delivered in 1981. The Megan has 4,600 hp. from twin General Electric diesels. It was designated a “Significant Boat for 2011” at the International WorkBoat Show in December.

One unique feature of the new-age boat is a pilothouse that looks for all the world like a Chinese pagoda, for lack of a better comparison. Its shape is that of an octagon with eight large windows. It is not the first octagonal pilothouse on the waterways—that distinction goes to Gnots Reserve’s mv. Coon Wise, a 1,200 hp. boat designed and built by Dan Wise and Welton Theriot in 2009—but it is by far the largest.

Creating better visibility aft for the company’s pilots was the focus of Parker’s project manager, Chas Haun, and naval architect Corning Townsend when they set out to design the Megan. Townsend originally drew the boat up with a six-sided pilothouse, but when he presented the plans to Parker Towing, Haun told him what they really needed was a view aft. “He made a change to the drawing,” Haun said, “and we loved it.”

Haun explained that many of today’s new boats with six-sided pilothouses, which allow a direct view forward and to the sides, are operated by carriers who face up to the end of a tow. “But, since we operate in an “H” pattern (three barges on each side with the boat faced up in the notch to two others), our pilots have to turn around to see the aft of the tow.”…
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Structures Keep A Dynamic River Open For Navigation

Every winter as the water level in the Mississippi River gets lower, rock structures in the river start to emerge: long dikes of limestone jut from the banks, and arch-shaped chevrons point upstream. These river training structures are a part of the innovative engineering that allows for safe passage of commerce on the Mississippi River, saving taxpayer money and creating habitat in the river.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a congressionally mandated mission to ensure that our inland waterways are navigable. The Corps’ St. Louis District combines a tradition of river engineering with award-winning innovation to accomplish its mission and keep the Mississippi River open.
The Mississippi River is in an alluvial valley, which means the riverbed is made up primarily of moving sand and is prone to changes in depth, like shoaling. The ability of waterborne commerce to move on the river plays an important role in the nation’s economy: more than 300 million tons of barge cargo moves on the river annually, including 60 percent of America’s agricultural exports.

Shannon Hughes has worked on the Mississippi River for more than 22 years, starting as a deckhand and working his way up to port captain for Kirby Inland Marine. In his career, Hughes has seen the difference river training structures have made for the river transportation industry, reducing the need for a tricky practice known as flanking.

Flanking is a maneuver used by towboat pilots headed downstream into a bend. The tow slows to match the speed of the current and goes into a river bend at an almost sideways angle. The strong current in the heart of the bend then straightens the front of the tow downstream….
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