Weekly News Summary For January 16-22, 2006:
Even with all of the disruptions caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 2005 looks like it will wind up being one of the best total-tonnage years ever for the United States inland barge industry. And trends point to another good year in 2006.
The barge industry is benefiting from several positive factors, said Ken Eriksen, vice president-transportation services for Informa Economics, Memphis. For export grain, the “spread,” or difference in ocean freight rates between the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and the central Gulf of Mexico, last week was $12.59. That’s down from its peak of $31.45 a couple of years ago, meaning that shipments from the Gulf are now much more attractive. If the spread continues at that level, look for more and more grain to make its way down the river system, rather than being loaded on railcars for the trip west.
“Importers are going to find it more affordable to grab corn out of the Center Gulf of the United States than the PNW when you put it together as a package deal,” Eriksen said.
Coal has already been showing increases, he said. Informa projects that coal shipments on the rivers in 2005 will end up being some 2 million tons higher than in 2004, helping bring the total inland tonnage to just over 600 million tons.
Informa’s projection for 2005 is about 601 million tons. In 2004, the total was an estimated 598.7 million tons. The Corps of Engineers said the 2003 total was 593.3 million tons, the last official figure available. The highest on record was 606 million tons in 1997….
Midwest Area River Coalition 2000, Waterways Council Inc., National Waterways Conference and American Waterways Operators are preparing for their latest efforts in ensuring the first Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of this century is passed in Congress. The last WRDA bill was passed in 2000.
In 2005, WRDA, which authorizes the nations flood control, ecosystem restoration, water supply, navigation projects and other water resource improvements, passed the House of Representatives (406-14) in mid-July, but as it stands today, the bill has five legislative holds placed on it by senators with reservations or concerns about aspects of the bill since it was reported out of committee in April 2005.
Most notably, WRDA would authorize $1.8 billion for the modernization of locks along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers and Bayou Sorrel on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West….
In 1988, when Capt. Robert Nally was asked to give a helping hand to an author who wanted to learn more about the river industry, who knew what was going to transpire? First a best-selling crime novel would be published in 1989—Killshot by Elmore Leonard—and now a movie is being made. Directed by Academy Award nominee John Madden, the Quentin Tarantino presentation will feature Diane Lane, Thomas Jane, Mickey Rourke and Johnny Knoxville (of MTV’s popular show “Jackass”), to name a few.
Part of the movie is being filmed at Missouri Dry Dock & Repair Company Inc. in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Upper Mississippi River Mile 51.4.
Although 17 years have passed, Nally remembers well his meeting with Leonard.
“We met for lunch,” said Nally, “then I toured and described the drydock to them (Leonard and his research writer). We got on the Curtis Moore of Cape Girardeau Fleeting, took a barge from a passing lineboat, put it in the fleet, squared up the fleet, checked the new barge for damage and for water, then (went) back to the drydock. His research writer had that tape recorder going all the time.”…
While the towboat Redeemer looks nearly identical to the EMS Express—both of which are new vessels that Quality Shipyards delivered to Eckstein Marine Service of Harahan, La. late last year—it is different in one small but important aspect: it is the first Eckstein boat to have stainless steel appliances.
This detail would hardly be worth mentioning except that it is an outgrowth of the current state of the industry. Finding and retaining qualified personnel is becoming increasingly difficult. Providing better accommodations can help.
“The industry is facing a real manpower shortage,” said Vaughn McDaniel, Eckstein’s vice-president of human resources. “We’re all in the same boat. Experienced wheelhouse personnel are hard to find. They’re all getting older, too. We use trip pilots when we have to, but we’d rather use our own.”
McDaniel said Eckstein is progressively training wheelhouse personnel from within its ranks. The company has grown to over 30 boats, with much of that growth coming in the last several years.
“We feel that it is not only our responsibility to train our own people, it is a necessity,” he said….
There was little more than 2,000 acres of unplowed ground on January 21, 1971, when the first barge arrived at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa bearing 1,800 rolls—650 tons—of newsprint for Tulsa’s two daily papers.
While its arrival marked the beginning of water transportation the full length of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) it would be another six months before President Richard M. Nixon stood on the port wharf and formally dedicated the opening of the waterway to the “new maritime states of Oklahoma and Arkansas.”
Nixon spoke from the south end of the port’s 720-foot-long wharf. At the north end was a transit shed with space for a customs office and the port staff; they were the only permanent structures on the port….
Tex-Mex Marine Inc. has been in business since 1989, established as a holding company. Today the company has grown and is now a fully equipped operator of six towboats and 12 deck barges. The firm’s staple is the transportation of sand and gravel. However, the company has also been involved in salvage operations.
Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Tex-Mex pooled its resources and established SAS Salvage to respond to the sudden jump in demand for salvage work. Jeff Yates, vice president of SAS Salvage, reports that in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita, the company has kept crews busy at job sites throughout southern Louisiana. The crews continue to work non-stop, said Yates.
Jeff Sandel, president of Tex-Mex Marine and its affiliates, has been in the industry 16 years. The other principals include Yates; Randy Bradley, vice president of Tex-Mex Marine; and John Stapp, general manager of Tex-Mex Marine. Together they possess nearly 100 years of experience in the marine industry. Stapp actually “grew up” in the business, working with his parents at the former Stapp Towing Company Inc….
After receiving a number of complaints, the St. Louis Engineer District Regulatory Branch conducted an on-site compliance inspection of American Boat Company, Alton, Ill., on December 5, 2005, and confirmed a failure of compliance with some of the terms and conditions of the permit issued in 1993.
The permit conditions found to be out of compliance included the physical dimensions of the mooring facility and connected floating vessels to be in excess of the permitted area. The width of the current operations is about 280 feet, within the permitted 315 feet, but the length of the operations was measured to be about 1,250 feet, 350 feet in excess of the permitted reach.
In a letter outlining the compliance violations and subsequent terms for compliance, it stated: “A review of past compliance visit documentation, each mailed to your (William S. Abbott, of Godfrey, Ill., owner) attention, indicates your continual disregard for ensuring compliance with this special condition. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard and other navigation interests reviewed the proposed project dimensions prior to permit issuance to ensure the riverline operation did not introduce navigational and safety and impedance hazards. The continued disregard to maintain compliance with this permit is a serious issue.”…
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