Weekly News Summary For February 1-7, 2010:
Vessel traffic began moving on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) before dawn January 28 after it was halted following a January 23 oil spill caused by the collision of the tankship Eagle Otome and a two-barge tow being pushed by the Dixie Vengeance at Port Arthur, Texas.
“It was one of the largest stoppages of vessel traffic in the history of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and rivaled the stoppage in the wake of Hurricane Ike,” said Raymond Butler, executive director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA).
Eastbound traffic began moving about 4 a.m. and is expected to continue until the tide turns to ebb about midnight when westbound tows will be allowed to proceed. Butler said almost 200 tows were affected and were being held up as far away as Corpus Christi and New Orleans.
Some vessels on the Sabine-Neches Waterway at Port Arthur began moving on January 27, five days after an 807-foot tank ship collided with the chemical barge tow and spilled an estimated 462,000 gallons of oil from the ship into the waterway that is one of the busiest stretches of the GIWW.
A unified command center was set up to cope with the crude oil spilled from an eight- by 15-foot gash in the starboard bow of the Singapore-registered Eagle Otome. The orange-hulled ship was inbound for Beaumont January 23, when it collided with the lead barge of the tow….
Four months after a catastrophic miter gate failure at Markland Locks and Dam on the Ohio River, a second miter gate at a busy Ohio River lock has failed.
The Corps of Engineers said a support piece for a miter gate at Greenup Locks and Dam’s main 1,200-foot chamber failed January 27, leaving the miter gate “slipping,” but not totally off its hinges, according to Peggy Noel, a spokesperson for the Huntington Engineer District.
Unlike at Markland, the gate remained attached, but it was loose; the Corps had to stabilize it with cables to keep it from swinging. A five-barge American Commercial Lines tow was in the chamber at the time of the gate failure, she said.
The auxiliary chamber was also closed until the miter gate was stabilized, so Ohio River navigation was completely shut down at the site, which is at Mile 341.1.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. announced January 27 that it has signed a purchase agreement to acquire four terminals from Slay Industries for about $98 million. The facilities include a marine terminal in Sauget, Ill., a transload liquid operation in Muscatine, Iowa, a liquid bulk terminal in St. Louis, Mo., and a warehousing distribution center, also in the “strategic” St. Louis market, according to KMP’s press release. The terminals all have long-term contracts with large shippers.
As part of the deal, KMP and Slay Industries entered into a joint venture agreement involving the Kellogg bulk terminal in Modoc, Ill., and the North Cahokia terminal in Sauget, which has 175 acres to develop. All Sauget assets have access to the Mississippi River and five rail carriers.
“This acquisition, along with the joint venture we have entered into with Slay, will give customers unparalleled access to major markets via rail and waterway,” said Jeff Armstrong, president of KMP Terminals.
Eugene Slay, chairman and chief executive officer of Slay Industries, said, “We look forward to a long-term partnership with Kinder Morgan in developing the joint ventures. Both companies share the same vision in realizing the full potential of these strategic waterfront properties.”…
Kirby Corporation reported last week that it had reduced its shore staff by a total of 21 percent since the company’s peak headcount in October 2008. The reduction has come about through “early retirements, staff reductions and through attrition,” said Joe Pyne, Kirby president and chief executive officer. He said the company has also taken other steps to reduce costs, including a reduction in the number of chartered towboats the company operates, reduced maintenance on laid-up equipment and other ongoing cost-reduction initiatives.
The announcement was part of Kirby’s quarterly earnings announcement, in which the firm reported net earnings of $29.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, equal to 54 cents per share. In the same period in 2008, the firm earned $38.4 million, or 72 cents per share.
“2009 has been a challenging year for Kirby with the current economic environment,” Pyne said. “A decline in volumes in all four marine transportation markets resulted in lower tank barge utilization levels industry-wide that led to increased downward pressure on term contract and spot market pricing throughout 2009. Our diesel engine services segment’s marine and railroad service levels and direct parts sales have also remained well below 2008 levels due to weak marine transportation, offshore oil services and railroad markets, which resulted in deferrals of maintenance on customers’ idled equipment.”
Pyne said the company took a $4.8 million, or five cents per share, charge for the shore staff reductions. Other extraordinary charges included $1.9 million for impairment of goodwill of Osprey Line, and a $2 million net positive impact from the reduction in Kirby’s allowance for doubtful accounts….
Twenty-eight years ago, a young boy by the name of Tom Janoush broke a bottle of champagne over the H-bit of a towboat that had been named Mr. Tom in his honor. Just recently, his daughter, Alex, who is a seventh-grader, did the same thing for a new vessel named after her, the Miss Alex.
The similarity of the two events was not lost on Joe Janoush, the proud father and grandfather of the two namesakes, who proclaimed to the crowd that had gathered for the christening of the Miss Alex, “Today is a special day!” The christening was held in Rosedale, Miss., November 14.
Both boats were built and are owned and operated by JANTRAN Inc., a 16-boat company with 240 employees that is based in Rosedale and specializes in custom towing from the Gulf of Mexico to the head of the Arkansas River. Joe is the company’s president and one of its founders. His late father, also named Tom, was co-namesake of the mv. Mr. Tom.
Joe designed the 4,000 hp. Miss Alex, as he did the Mr. Tom. Company workers built it at the firm’s Rosedale shipyard. The vessel measures 114 by 35 by 11 feet. It is a closed-wheel boat powered by a pair of Caterpillar 3516 electronic diesel engines rated 2,000 hp. each at 1,600 rpm. from Thompson Machinery in Greenwood, Miss.
The engines are coupled to Reintjes 873 reduction gears with 7.087:1 ratio, from Karl Senner. They turn 96- by 92-inch Sound four-blade, stainless steel propellers on 9-1/4-inch shafts….
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