Weekly News Summary For February 9-15, 2009:
The nation’s commercial marine industry was not spared from the brunt of the worst ice storm on record to hit the Ohio Valley Region on January 26 and 27. Paducah-area river firms managed to operate with limited resources and much ingenuity as they recoiled from the catastrophic ice storm that caused more than two dozen deaths while leaving half a million residents in four states paralyzed and isolated without electric power, running water or communications. Some counties and communities in the region may not have services restored for up to a month, according to spokesmen for several area electric utility companies.
Many Paducah area marine firms operated with limited personnel because their office staff and support personnel were stranded in outlying areas with roads blocked by fallen trees and power lines that snapped under the load of up to two inches of ice topped with an inch or more of snow. Some company headquarters served as relief centers for staff that managed to get to their offices but had no heat or power at home.
Capt. Cecil Duncan, port captain at Western Kentucky Navigation Inc., said, “We were fortunate enough to have power throughout most of this whole scenario.” He said operations continued with sporadic disruptions in telephone service caused by fallen land lines and loss of power to cell phone towers. Communications with their boats and American Commercial Lines—for whom they operate several boats—were successful via computer for the first 48-hour period, he said. He said, “At one time we considered driving out of town several miles to find an area with cell service so we could make some important calls.”
Several company personnel took refuge in the WKN office facility where they could take advantage of restrooms and showers as well as the kitchen in the crew lounge. Duncan said he lived at the office from Tuesday through Saturday. Families rotated in and out of the facility as power was restored to their homes or generators were brought in and hooked up at their residences….
The Coast Guard held a groundbreaking ceremony January 30 for the new Sector New Orleans building and the Integrated Support Command (ISC) facility, which together could total $120 million in construction contracts.
Commandant Adm. Thad Allen served as the keynote speaker. He saw first-hand the devastation to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when he served as the primary federal on-scene coordinator, and locals give him much of the credit for moving quickly to jump-start the stagnant federal response following the massive storm.
The Coast Guard’s Integrated Support Command Center, situated on the Industrial Canal adjacent to the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock, flooded as levees failed in the city in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane.
The ceremony was held at a site adjacent to Federal City, the former Naval Support Activity (NSA) facility that was closed by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC). City and state officials secured the area and designated it Federal City, offering the land for consolidated federal office space in the city.
Located on the West Bank of New Orleans, the Coast Guard property will be the new location of Sector New Orleans. It includes seven acres transferred to the Coast Guard from the Navy. Across the levee is dock space on the Mississippi River…
Associated Terminals, a stevedoring firm operating near the Gulf Coast and on the Lower Mississippi River, christened a new derrick barge on January 22 in New Orleans. The new derrick barge, named the T. Lange after Tom Lange, senior vice president of the company, joins Associated Terminal’s growing fleet of 11 other floating cranes.
“This is a very big day for our Associated Terminals family,” said David Fennelly, president of Associated Terminals.
After Fennelly thanked the men and women who worked on the crane and an invocation from Deacon Richard Henderson, he introduced Kerry Robertson, senior operations manager.
Robertson provided the audience with details on the giant rig, thanking each vendor along the way. Gottwald Port Technology was the first to be recognized as it provided the main attraction, the G HPK 6400 B crane, with a 164-foot boom and 125 tons of counterweight. The massive crane can load or unload cargo at a rate of 1,200 tons per hour, said Robertson. The Gottwald crane is powered by a Cummins 1,900-hp. engine. Additionally, the crane is equipped with a self-lubricating system, a self-fueling system and special cameras that allow the operator to see deep in the ship’s hold for accurate bucket placement. The operator eye level is 75 feet above the water.
Later in the ceremony, Dr. Robert Wassmer, chief executive officer of Gottwald Port Technology, informed the crowd that it is the second floating crane to be delivered to Associated Terminals (the first being the Glenn S, see WJ January 29, 2007), and the 10th crane to be operating on the Lower Mississippi River. He gave his blessings on the crane, wishing it “enough bulk that it can earn its money.” Wassmer also presented Lange with a commemorative key to remember the event….
Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel Company, the contractor hired by the Corps of Engineers, began dumping what will eventually be almost a half million tons of rock to permanently close the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) on January 30.
Roughly paralleling the Mississippi River to the north, the Corps dug the MR-GO in the 1960s as a shorter, low-current channel to New Orleans. But the channel was never widely used by deep-draft shipping and it became known as a “hurricane highway” by locals.
While computer modeling showed massive hurricanes such as Katrina inundated the entire marshland southeast of New Orleans, local officials convinced the Louisiana Congressional delegation to push for the closure.
Last year, Congress deauthorized the MR-GO and provided funding for a rock dike to permanently close it off at Bayou La Loutre.
Deep-draft vessels that used the 36-foot-deep channel often ran near full power, sucking water out of the surrounding marshland and creating a wave behind as water rushed back into the marsh after the ships passed. The wash eroded the soft mud banks to the point that, at places, the 650-foot-authorized channel was 3,000 feet wide….
The mv. A. M. Thompson, a twin-screw towboat built in 1949, will be auctioned on March 11 in Greenville, Miss.
The boat was seized from Eagle Marine Towing Inc. of Roslyn, N.Y., its last owner, in September 2008 to satisfy outstanding debts, according to attorney P. Scott Phillips of Campbell DeLong LLP of Greenville. “A lot of parties are intervening,” Phillips told The Waterways Journal.
Negotiations with creditors and the arrival of a new judge have lengthened the case, Phillips said. Campbell DeLong represents Economy Stone Midstream Fuel, the plaintiff in the case that occasioned the seizure.
The auction, called an interlocutory sale, will be conducted by the United States Marshal’s office on the steps of the U.S. Courthouse at Main and Poplar Streets in Greenville. Bidding will begin at $2 million for the boat and all its equipment in an “as-is, where-is” condition. It is currently docked at Superior Boat Works in Greenville. Only qualified vessel operators can bid….
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