Weekly News Summary For January 22-28, 2007:
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is studying the possibility of building a rail-unloading facility at its Allen Fossil power plant in Memphis.
“We’re considering rail to determine if it’s more cost-efficient,” said Gil Francis, a TVA spokesman.
Francis cited rising freight rates for barges and low-water conditions on the Mississippi River and McKellar Lake, where the Allen Fossil plant is located, as reasons for the study.
“Cost is always a factor—cost and reliability,” Francis said. “Last year, in particular, there were low-water conditions on the Mississippi, and that did cause some issues. You need a certain water depth. If you can’t get your barge through, then you have to reduce draft and that means less coal and more expense.”
Francis estimated that the study would be done in about six months….
Four barges broke free from the mv. Roberta Tabor’s tow at about 1 a.m. January 16, as the boat cleared the locks heading upriver at McAlpine Dam at Ohio River Mile 606.8 near Louisville.
American River Transportation Company owns the towboat.
Two barges went through McAlpine Dam. Those barges, both carrying salt, ran aground before they reached the Sherman-Minton Bridge on Interstate 64. One sank and another was secured.
The bridge was closed to traffic temporarily in case the barges hit the bridge.
A third barge, carrying urea, lodged against the dam. The salt barge and the urea barge lost their loads of about 1,451 short tons each….
Tell City Marine, a proposed barge-building operation in Tell City, Ind., has cleared a couple of hurdles. The start-up company, headed by former American Commercial Lines chief executive officer Michael Hagan, received all of its state and federal permits.
“Typically, permitting takes 18 months, but we were able to truncate that process,” said Greg Wathen, executive director of the Perry County Development Corporation.
The Tell City Marine site on the Ohio River will be at the former Maxon Marine facility, which last operated in the 1990s. The site will need updating and some clearing, Hagan said.
Trees need to be cleared by April 1 before the Indiana bat begins its breeding season, he said.
Hagan hopes the new shipyard can begin operating this year.
“As a practical matter, the first launch would have to be late in the year,” he said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done before we’re up and running, including relocating the port.”
However, it seems to be a good time to get into the barge building business, he said.
“The industry likes where it is right now. People are still nervous about how long it will last. Everybody is looking at steel prices, but there’s no perfect hedge for that—except maybe the tax code for depreciation,” Hagan said….
Recent rain and repair work at John H. Overton Lock and Dam No. 2 on the Red River may lead to elevated water in pool No. 2. Heavy rain from a winter storm significantly increased water levels on the Red and Ouachita rivers.
As part of the repair work, the Vicksburg Engineer District has stop logs put into place to keep water from flowing through dam gates 1 and 3 as they are repaired. The gates were damaged two years ago by loose barges.
Water conditions are making it difficult to remove the stop logs, said Frank Worley, deputy for public affairs for the Vicksburg District.
“We were hoping to get one set of stop logs out, but weren’t able to remove it,” Worley said. “We sent a barge out to remove one set of stop logs, but it experienced some mechanical difficulty.”
Removing one set of stop logs is estimated to lower the pool by 2.5 feet, he said.
“This morning (January 17), the pool still is at 64.6 feet, but we are expecting it to crest at 70 to 75 feet on Sunday (January 21),” Worley said. “It depends on several things. If we get the stop logs out and flow rate doesn’t increase, it should crest at 70 feet. Of course, if it rains, that could increase water levels and push back the crest date.”…
The Tulsa Port of Catoosa reported that 2006 was the port’s second-best year for total shipping tonnage in its 35-year history.
“This has been a great year for shipping at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa,” said Steve Kissee, chairman of the City of Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority. “…More than 2.3 million tons of cargo in 1,400 barges moved through the port in 2006 compared to 1.8 million tons in 1,000 barges in 2005—an increase of 28 percent.”
The port’s year ended just 4 percent below the record set in 1998, when 2.4 million tons were transferred over the port’s docks.
“If agricultural markets for fertilizer and grain are buoyed by continued good weather and high commodity prices, and demand for steel in the construction and manufacturing industries continues to be strong, the port should break the all-time record in 2007,” Kissee said….
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